I have to say that the last two weeks have been long and drawn out - yet flown by! Not too much has been going on - other than the usual! :)
I have been busy with a sick calf - who has taken up alot of my outside time, poor thing - we are hoping that he gets better soon! Phebe - the (hopefully) last Lab we will ever have - has been on a roll of mass destruction! She destroyed a planter full of flowers after I got them all ready, then she dug a hole in the new area of yard that we just leveled and seeded, she chewed up a shoe, she chewed up some irrigation drip line.. and then she killed all but four of my baby chicks! ARGHHHH....
The kids have been busy in school.... Little J has been having some "challenges" coping with other people lately, and that has taken alot of redirection and "patience" that is starting to really exhaust me! I hope that with a new month coming - I can get back to keeping the blog up to date... heres to hoping!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
What a slacker!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
April Snow Showers bring May Flowers???
Yep - woke up to snow on the ground and snow falling... You have got to be kidding me!!
Oh well - I guess the plants I set in the garden are toast - nothing like the weather to help stimulate the economy by making people buy more plants! Arghhhhh!!!!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter fun
Sunday was a gorgeous day! We were able to have our Easter Egg Hunt outdoors! The Easter Bunny went easy on the boys - who decided after last year that there was no such thing as an Easter Bunny! Neither boy complained or had any negative feedback this year - what a relief!!
Since each kiddo had their own individualized hunt for eggs and prizes - they worked together to help each other!
Big Al hunts around a tree for one of his clues.. while lil sis is telling him to look for an egg! We heard the word "duuuuuuhhhhh" muffled - but not quite enough!
Miss O had to be involved in EVERYTHING! Here she is helping Little J try to open his egg to find a clue!
Miss O and Little J seem to work pretty well together when it comes to stuff like this... unfortunately - they are very much like two peas in pod when it comes to behavior!
Someone had a clue to check for eggs in a hen-house!! How original!! Good thing the hens did not get upset about it!
The gruesome threesome enjoyed the beautiful morning while doing the hunt.. we all probably walked about 2 miles before it was all said and done!
The Easter Bunny must have been on a tight budget - or he/she finally figured out that the kids (Big Al) literally make themselves sick by eating all the candy in 15 minutes or less! This year it was more little toys and less candy! Here - Big Al is showing off his goods!
Miss O had a blast! She really gets into parties and celebrations of any kind... she squealed most the morning and had to talk all about the "wab-it" that brought her stuff!
Little J, who was the nay-sayer last year had only good things to say about the easter bunny this year - hmmmm imagine that!Monday, April 06, 2009
No longer babies... now little "men"
Mooooooooo to you says Brownie - who was fortunate enough to only get one shot out of the whole deal!
Baby shows off his new "do"... he was not happy!
Bambi just gives up and sports his new duct tape look!
Ahhh the wonderful act of banding! Poor Baby!Last Tournament of the year
Well, Saturday was our LAST wrestling tournament of the year - and probably the one that was the best and the worst!
The Good.... the gym was not too crowded, the school was nice, things moved pretty fast and it was really organized, oh and Big Al won 3rd place!
The Bad.... both boys had really tough competition! Including each other!
The Ugly... in the consolation round, Big Al and Little J had to wrestle each other... the winner of that match would go on to wrestle for 3rd place... I actually added video this time :) as it is both my boys - so yelling at them was justified!! haha! Actually, it was a tough match, which I think that they both enjoyed... until the end! Big Al beat Little J on points... 14-4... He was unable to pin his little brother, who did put up a fight! Both boys hugged at the end, and Little J actually was smiling before walking off the mat.. then, all Hell broke loose! Little J stormed up to his seat in the stands and was completely unconsolable for the next 45 minutes. Tears, violent rocking, kicking... it was UGLY! Not until he walked off the mat did he realize that HE was not getting a medal... he believed 100% (and still does) that his brother is 100% responsible for him not getting one! No matter how many times you tell him the FACTS, like his brother still had to wrestle again to get a medal and actually win... does not matter.. according to Little J its all his brothers fault.... oh well... whatcha gonna do? The kid is totally NOT reasonable when he gets in one of his moods.. which happened to last the whole rest of the day... argh! 
Here are the two brothers getting ready to face off in the consolation round!
Big Al, sporting his bronze medal after his 3rd place win!I am very thankful that wrestling is OVER! No more major sports stuff until fall!! Whoo hoo! The nice thing is that next year, the boys won't have the threat of having to wrestle each other since they will be in different age brackets... what a relief!
Thursday, April 02, 2009
The match of the season
Last night, Big Al and Little J had their end of season inter-league wrestling match. Unfortunately, our worst fears came true... the boys had to wrestle each other! Big Al was extremely cocky prior to the match, saying he was going to cream his little brother on the mat... this of course got Little J's confidence way down.
I had to video the whole thing of course - which I can't post - due to the fact that I broke my promise to myself to keep quiet and just record.. haha! It is a challenge to cheer for both evenly... it didn't happen of course, I did end up cheering louder for Little J, since he was by far the underdog!
In the end, Big Al pinned Little J in the final round - near the end.. I think that Little J was worn out! Both boys made me proud by congratulating each other and being proud of how they did. Little J was happy with himself that he didn't cry!
The boys placed 1st and 2nd in their bracket and got another nice medal to add to their little collection!!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
My how they've grown!
Here are Cuddles and Brownie at 2 months old (plus a few days)... they are still cuties.. but not as fun to bottle feed! I am having challenges weaning them off the bottle, especially when the little guys, Baby and Bambi are around! I am hoping that in the next few weeks they will start to graze on actual grass.. so I can save the hay!!
Bambi and Baby are doing really well! Baby is now on the bottle full time.. I think after a few of the force feedings with the tube that he decided to get with the program! He is growing and is almost as big as Bambi. Tomorrow, Baby is 2 weeks old and Bambi is 2 weeks 2 days...
Tomorrow, I'll have to post a picture of my new chicks... they are adorable!!
Meeting a movie star......??
Looks almost fake, doesn't he???
On Sunday, we stopped by our feed store to get some fencing items, and of course to see a movie star! This horse, Pelome, was in the Zorro movie w/Antonio Banderas! Here in our town - that's pretty cool! This horse was actually INSIDE the store, and as you can see from the photo, there was nothing holding him down! He sorta just stood there and watched everyone! The kids got to pet him and get their picture taken with him... they even got autographs! Well, it was a hoofprint on his picture.. still... they had fun! Monday, March 23, 2009
Our newest additions
Meet our two newest additions! Bambi and Baby!
His first medal !!
Saturday we had another wrestling tournament.... Both boys did pretty well... even though it was an extremely LOOONG day for the boys (and us too!) The boys did weigh in at 7am and we did not leave until almost 8pm! ARGH!!
Needless to say... it was a happy day for both boys!!
Little J won his first match - which was a great feat for him! Big Al lost his first match to a really good kid - but he was ok with it - since he knew the other wrestler had LOTS more experience.. Little J won his 2nd match - as the other wrestler forfeited! So, due to that, he was automatically in the finals round for 1st or 2nd... Just pure luck we think.. but he does not care!!
Big Al won his second match and qualified for the consulation round... just so happened he got a bye - and got to wrestle for 3rd or 4th place!
In the finals round - Little J got pinned in about 30 seconds - but still took 2nd place over all... he was so concerned that since he got pinned so quick that he would no longer get an award... his main concern!! :) So, he took 2nd in the weight class.
Big Al had a great 3rd match.. he won 17-3... the other wrestler was pretty agressive, but Big Al had more skill and won on points. So, Big Al took 3rd in the weight class!
Both boys were extremely happy and proud to get their medals!!!
Below is Big Al starting his match for 3rd place
Little J was just getting started.. I barely had time to get any video before he got pinned!
Big Al taking on his opponent in his match he won.
A quick picture of Little J (the blur in red!) in his first (and only winning) match of the day!
I did not add any video this time... I yelled too much - so all you hear is my screaming and cheering for the boys!! I need to take some tape for my mouth next time!! We are very proud of both boys who did great jobs in their matches and exhibited some great sportsmanship!!Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Happy Birthday Papa!
Since he was a St. Patrick's Day baby... its tough to find an "appropriate cake!"... so above is the end product....
Miss O was in charge of mixing - you can't see it well.. but we dyed the cake batter GREEN! She loved it!
Miss O and the boys did some birthday shopping and of course wrapped the gifts in green!
Papa was happy to get a chess set from Little J.... (though none of us play chess!)
What's new here.....
I am going to go backwards on what has happened since my last post... so bear with me! Yesterday was Agriculture Appreciation Day - which hosted all the students in 3rd grade from around the Valley to learn about all the "ag" related products produced here! I decided to tag along with Miss O... just for fun - well... and to see a few more of the boys in Little J's class to figure out which ones he needs to be seperated from in 4th grade... there were so many - it is going to be hard to choose! haha!
At Ag Day - they brought in different kinds of livestock... Miss O is here talking to a Holstein mama-cow... she enjoyed it! She also loved seeing the Baby cow and the chickens... funny - since she sees those every day at our house!
At one of the inside stations, Little J is attempting to plant a bean in a baggie... hmmm.. Miss O had to get in on the action and watch as well! They also had a wagon ride - that we went on, all the kids loved that! Unfortunately, the only bad thing was the weather... snow and cold! Oh well... it was a fun 2 hours!
Over the weekend, Uncle Jim and Aunt Erica came over to help with the calves... both "boys" got their horns pasted to help them fall off.. (we don't need any horny cows here - we have other problems!) And they also got "banded"... I decided for their privacy to not show the pictures of that! Basically, its a simpler method of castrating... Aunt Erica is really good at this... I'll give her credit! You have to get all their "goods" together, then a special rubber band is placed at the base... apparently in a few weeks, they will have two less body parts! We made the boys help and watch the process... with a warning to never mess with Aunt Erica!! :)
Miss O has been working on what she likes to call "homework".. which we practice saying her letters and tracing them... she seems to think that she is more than qualified to grade Big Al's homework!!
And take a look at the picture below and see if you can figure out what is missing and altered??? Poor Lyger is a long-haired cat.. occasionally we have to clip under his arms/legs to keep the mats of hair from getting too big... apparently, I screwed up and left the clippers on the bed.... a certain someone FOUND the clippers, and since Lyger is so gentle when he is sleeping... well... he woke up with a "new do"! He is minus his eye-whiskers and his whiskers around his nose are well... cropped close! Poor thing has not wanted to go outside at night to hunt!! Miss O apparently wants to study cosmotology when she gets older!!
I hope that everyone is having a great week so far!! Friday, March 13, 2009
I'd like to thank..........
My friend, Debbie, gave me this lovely award! Sort of the making lemonade out of lemons theme! Debbie is currently in Ukraine - TRYING to finish her adoption of her adorable 15 year old daughter who just so happens to have the same name as my little O! Debbie is "nearly" done and my heart goes out to her as she has probably had more small delays than she should have.. She will have been in Ukraine for almost two months by the time she returns home! She has also so graciously offered to meet up with my friend George to help purchase a cell phone for Sergey, our boys brother... she is an angel!!
So - on with the awards!!
Here are the rules...
Put the logo on your blog or post.
Nominate at least 5 blogs that show attitude and/or gratitude.
Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
Let them know they have received this award by commenting on a post.
Nominate your favorites and link to this blog.
Christine - Though I know Debbie already gave this to you... consider it your second award of the day!!
Charlene - Charlene and John are still in Ukraine and almost done with their adoption as well... they have had a really long and stressful trip! Their new son is ADORABLE!! You're almost done my friends!
Meredith - Wonderful Meredith always amazes me... she deserves way more than blog awards!! Four adorable children and one more on the way... AND she continues to do wonderful advocacy for those children left behind... truly inspiring!
Jennifer - Miss Jenn only updates her blog when I force her - haha! She is such a great person - and I am keeping my fingers crossed for her on her next adoption!
Erica - Erica and her family have had a tough year... they have lost a loved family member, a failed adoption trip to Ukraine, and now they just are wait-wait-waiting for their daughter to be ready for them in Ethiopia! Her blog is great - and she has more patience for things to happen than I ever would!! Hugs my friend!!
Enjoy your awards! Be sure to pass it on!!
Monday, March 09, 2009
News from the homefront!
For some reason - this post took me forever to get on here! Last weekend we took the boys to the first wrestling tournament of the season in Yakima. This was Little J's very first tournament! He had loads of anxiety.. there was a lot of nervous crying (something he is very proficient in!) and lots of stress for him....
Big Al was ready - there were no big issues for him! The only challenge he faced was that he had to wrestle a GIRL right off the bat! That threw him for a loop! He ended up beating her without too many problems.
It turned out that Big Al and Little J were in the same weight class - something that we were concerned about... they are about a pound apart in weight. The first match - Jason had to wrestle - he did end up losing 7-2... at least he scored points! The second match, he wrestled the same girl that Alex beat... It was Jason's first win... though it was stressful for him - he was very relieved!
Here is a very bleary picture of Little J starting his first match (he lost to the same guy that beat Alex - who did end up winning the weight class)
Here is Little J down in the referees position....
Big Al starting off the match he ended up losing to the same boy who beat his brother.Monday, March 02, 2009
Swagbucks - I'm hooked!
I normally don't send mass emails to people when I sign up for a program or shop online.. but this one, well... In the month I have been signed up, I have earned $20 in gift cards by basically searching online (instead of google).
I don't get alot of emails from them - its easy and I get something back - something that I can use!
Give it a try - signing up is super easy - and when you sign up, I get a little bonus as well! :)
Click here to go to Swagbucks!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Mission completed and dancing with girls!
Big Al, who is in 5th grade has been working on a project for the last two months called Celebration of Cultures. It has been ALOT of work! He has had to not only do research on his own, do alot of writing and creative projects (neither are his strengths!), he has had to learn some new songs, put together a board about Ukraine, make a Legacy book, and learn to dance with girls!
The entire 5th grade sang many cultural songs from all over the world... I have to say that they sounded SO much better than any other concert! (maybe because its the last one I have to attend for him!)
Miss O escorted me to the event... she wanted to dress up, since she saw all the older girls dressed in skirts and dresses.. or at least I "think" that is why she wanted to dress up... maybe she just wanted to get into the box of clothes from Allie!
Big Al danced with his little sister after we watched the kids all do their jazz dancing!
Alex put together his country board... he has been studying Ukraine... he actually learned a few things and was able to put to use alot of the things we purchased on the last trip (2006). He was only one of a small handful of kids that were the only person in their group. Considering he has a really hard time with homework - this was a major feat for him... his teacher was amazed that he was able to pull it together! (so were we!)
Here is the video of his 5th grade class doing their dances (Big Al is in the blue shirt with khaki pants!) The best part was watching the facial expressions of the kids when they had to ask each other to dance... classic! Apparently - lots of cooties were exchanged!! hehe
Molly - feel free to high-jack the video!!
Our newest additions....
It's a bird... it's a plane.....???? Nope... its.......
BABY COWS!Last Tuesday, I did something I was not sure I really ever wanted to do... but, its done! The kids and I picked out 2 calves to raise! Since we have handled the "eating the pig" thing from last year, we figured that this would be a good time! We have two adorable little Jersey bull-calves! One is about 37 days old, and the other around 45 days old. We are currently bottle-feeding them twice a day.. fun! Actually, it is sort of an arm workout - as they get a little pushy when really hungry! At this age, they are super cute! Hard to believe in 18 months they will be on the grill! We have yet to name them.
This one cow is a little more "friendly" than Miss O appreciated! He is a little "flirty"! He will need part of his "man-hood" taken care of shortly!
Little J was in charge of bottle feeding last night
Big Al did bottle feeding this morning
I hope that all the kiddos will enjoy this experience! The calves will be living in the pig pen for the next few weeks, until we get a seperate pasture set up - so the horses don't make kicking targets out of them! Next critter project will be our baby chicks that we will have at the end of March! What fun! (quick - someone do a sanity check on me!) Monday, February 23, 2009
Wow - where has the time gone???
This last week has been really trying! So many things have been going on and we've been trying to keep some sort of "normalcy". (That IS funny - is there such a thing??)
With the hubby working in Seattle four days a week, that means 3+ of those days I am pretty much a single parent.... and the boys are starting to really figure out that my tolerance level is getting really low!! It makes me really thankful when the clock reads 7:45pm - because that means that it is brush your teeth and get ready for bed! Gotta love that! Unfortunately, #1 boy is still finding ways to make bed time a real challenge... though we are working on it... it makes things stressful! Boy #2 has real challenges the next day if he does not get his full amount of "beauty" sleep... which easily translates to my day becoming a real - not-so-beauty-ful day!
Here are some of our weekend activities!
Sunday afternoon - we had this really weird snow system move through... the flakes were truly the size of a CD... you can't see if very well in the picture... it was insane! Big Al was running around catching them - since he tends to get wrapped up in his activities - he only ran into one of the trees once! Little J and Miss O both enjoyed running around with this crazy snow! I have never seen such huge flakes!
Sunday morning, we went to the park and the kids rode their bikes on the access road... it was cold, but good for them to get out and burn more energy! Here is all three.
This was Miss O's very first biking outing! We thought that she would get tired after about 15 minutes - but no - she went the full hour with no complaining! She can really get going on her bike! She is very competitive when it comes to keeping up/beating her brothers!
