Well I am going to try and get back in to some blogging.  I have so much to share after being gone from my blog for so long!  Our family now has a fabulous horse.  Her name is Ona.  I am starting a new blog for her called momentswithona.blogspot.com  There is a link to the right.  Happy New Year!

Spam!

I will need to close the comments section to my blog until I can take the time to figure out how to block spam from leaving comments!!!!  Sorry!

A no pic update

We have been socked in with winter weather this week starting on Wednesday.  With a bad call by the school district for a 2 hour delay with 5 inches of snow expected by the time the boys school was to be let out.  Wyatt's morning kindergarten was cancelled but the other two went in.  After watching the high school bus and Max's middle school bus spinning out  I was very hesitant to send Cooper.  His bus did the same thing so I spent the rest of my morning and afternoon stressing about them coming home.  I was worried the buses would get behind schedule and that Cooper wouldn't make it home until after dark.  But the school district pulled their heads out and starting releasing the high schools and middle schools out early so all ended up well.  Silly, but I was very relieved to see their smiling faces.  No school on Thursday or Friday and Monday is a scheduled day off for the a teachers workshop or whatever so the boys are getting 5 days off!!  Barry has been working the last two nights which of course have been the nights where we have had the freezing rain and temps in the teens and twenties.  Always scary to send him out the door.  But today we are already up to a whomping 32 degrees and at the moment the sun is shining!  Beautiful! 
Our animals have made it through.  Chickens have been pretty unhappy.  They end up spending way to much time in their coop.  Our heated water bowl is in their large run which unless the ground is completely bare they won't venture out there.  Hindsight, on day one I should have moved it.  So I made several trips a day out with new buckets of water.  We had one or two hens with bleeding feet.  A quick search on the internet and they possibly got stuck to the frozen ground.  I spread some hay in "run one" and it helped them to come out a little more and no more bleeding feet :)  The bunnies are hanging in there.  On Tuesday I prepared for the weather a bit by making sure they had fresh hay for some warmth.  Cooper's high maintenance bunny had crap caked all over her back end.  I had to give her a little bath!  So gross!  But I was glad we found out about it before the temps dropped down so low.  Would not have been fun finding that out when the snow and freezing rain was coming down!  So their hutches got covered in tarp to protect them from all the element and they are enjoying the tarps being opened up today.
Need to try to make it to the library and feed store today.  Rally the boys to do homework.  Some snow clean up and Joe's special for dinner!
My wrist is getting better!  Still sore but very much on the mend!
R

Cruising through our pics

I was looking at our recently uploaded photos and found this one.  Our poor Cooper had the flu last weekend.  Apparently, this is a photo opportunity????  Even when he is sick this kid can find some humor.  I asked him how he was doing and he said "well....we have a couple of things going on here!"  The poor guy gets the flu like his Mom.  Coming out both ends and shaking like a leaf!  Oh how I felt bad for him.  Just for the record Cooper when you are older and see this picture it wasn't me who dressed you up in a rabbit fur hat and took your picture.  It was all your Dad!! 

Rough start to a Wednesday :(

We had a rough morning.  Cooper and Wyatt sometimes are the best of buds.  In the morning they are a great team.  The two of them spend their morning in somewhat of a  harmonious rhythm.......until... Well this morning Wyatt was in a singing mood and Cooper was in a teasing and controlling mood.  Wyatt wouldn't be quiet so Cooper poked him in the eye.  It was not his intention to aim for the eye but it is where his finger ended up.  He got in trouble which brought out all of Cooper's fury!  Stomping and crying and yelling about all that have done him wrong lately.  The girls at school are mean to him!  A boy on the bus is mean to him!  His best friend doesn't go to the school anymore.  No one will play with him on the playground.  We don't listen and we don't understand.  My kind, funny, fun, thoughtful Cooper at this point is worked up into a complete frenzy!  A mouth full of saliva because he is so mad and has so much to tell us about that he won't even stop to swallow.  We manage to sit on the couch to read our favorite Skippy John Jones.  He starts to relax and then the cloud over his head starts to pass and he starts feeling horrible for his outburst.  Our Cooper is back!  Lots of hugs and understanding.  In this house we all have our moments of decompression.  Unfortunately, it is way more than any of us in this family like to admit or more than anyone outside our family would understand.  But we all forgive each other.  Tell each other how much we love one another and move on with our day.  There is a lot of personality in this house and sometimes we just don't gel!!!!!

R

Back in a routine

We are off to a great start.  Second day back to school and they are up eating, brushing teeth, getting dressed and out the door with barely an arguement.  It is a surprise to me that no matter how much fighting or how crabby they were or how tired I am after winter break that when the bus shows up to pick them up and I have spent the last ten minutes telling them all the exciting things school will have for them that when I turn around and head back to the house I am crying because I already miss them.

R

Happy New Year!

We had a very nice holiday here.  Family came and shared the day with us.  We ate and drank and played games.  Hot tubbing and relaxing.  Stayed put and enjoyed.   There was a few melt downs.  Wyatt is such a Christmas fanatic.  He talks about it all year long.  In his wonderful little mind he truly thinks it is a magical time.  So he had some moments of disappointment.  It is hard.  As parents we try out best within our means to create a fabulous time for our kids.  He is really good about talking about the true meaning of the holiday so I know he gets it.  But this was his year I guess for a little reality to set in.  Soooooo.........anyway....Christmas eve's potato bar was a half a success.  I don't think I liked the potatoes cooked in the slow cooker.  It really simplified the day but I think potatoes are better in the oven or even microwave.  The lasagne's were very good and with a nice fresh green salad it was a nice way to finish off the day.  Garry and Susan gave the boys a bingo set.  We had a bunch of fun playing.

We spent the week between Christmas and New Years slowly putting decorations away and the boys played with all their new video games and toys.  Barry and Max went hunting a few times.We had no plans for New Year eve which is the way I like it.  Friday while Barry and Max were hunting, Coop, Wy and I headed to the club for some swimming.  It always feels so good to get back there.  It wasn't over crowded and the two boys had fun swimming again.  Saturday was a beautiful sunny day here.  Wy got new rollerblades for Christmas so he and I headed out in the cul de sac to practice.  Max and neighbor Caleb joined us and soon after Cooper came out.  We have a park very close by that recently added some nice winding paths around some ponds with ducks and geese so we jumped in the car and headed down there.  Nice park!  Embarrassing that I haven't taken my kids down there before.  We had fun in the sun but at the very end Wyatt clipped me and I went down.  Right on my wrist.  I did my best to hide the pain because I really didn't want Wy to feel bad.  He was so sorry and I felt bad for him.  We headed home and my wrist was swelling.  My foot situation has really made me realize that if you get hurt, have it checked out.  I don't want to have surgery on something 15 years later to try to correct something.  Had an x-ray and luckily nothing is broken.  A bad sprain though.  So my wrist is in a splint for a week to 10 days.  A bit of a set back.  Not the way to have a fresh start to a new year! 

So the kids are back to school today.  We didn't practice any school work but did a lot of reading with the boys.  I am going to try and have a better outlook on Wy's kindergarten class.  His teacher is officially back and she has a fantastic reputation so I need to see how the rest of the year goes.  I am going to SHAKE OFF that unsettled feeling.   On to bigger and better things!!!

R