It's me again

Wow, has it been that long? Seems with my facebook account that my blog has slipped through the cracks this past year. This is partly because of our internet issues, but for the most part it is probably laziness. I don't want to take the time to download pictures let alone write about them. My focus for the summer is to get pictures printed and in albums, and to catch up on life. It seems to have run away from me this past year. SO, my commitment at this point is to blog at least once a week, and to like it darn it! Here is a picture of my big boy. We brought him over from my mom's house to eat down all the grass. Since we don't have the cows anymore, it was getting a bit out of control. Wow! I'm just realizing how much has gone on since I posted last year. LOTS to catch up on!

Found it!

Lookie what I found? Actually, I made Chris look for it since he was the one that downloaded the pictures to the wrong folder. My question was, "Why do we have 3 different folders to download pictures to anyway?

Here are my kiddos on the first day of school this year. It is a tradition to take the picture next to my truck. It helps me to put into perspective how much they've grown. Not to mention the fact that my 10 year old is wearing bras now. Freaking out about how much she's changed. Sheesh! Lots of girl changes going on around here. Mood swings, crying, having fits that we don't normally have...draining!!! I've been quiet here in blogland as of late. I think I'm trying to get into the swing of things with our schedule, and with myself. It's the quiet times in the morning when no one else is awake that I tend to recharge for my day. I sit and watch the chickens chase away the birds out of their yard, listen to the quiet breeze in the trees that bring down the changing leaves, and wait to hear the bedroom doors open. Speaking of doors opening, I just heard one. Ready, set go! Have a wonderful weekend!

It's that time!

Is it that time already? Back to school? Soccer? Homework? Work? Evan's birthday? Time flys even when you do nothing all summer! The good thing about staying around the house for summer vacation is the kids are really excited to go back to school. Evan was excited to start his second year of soccer and turned nine. He was excited to start 4th grade, and even more excited to have the same teacher that Amanda did last year. She goes light on the homework. Yay! Sadly, the computer ate the picture I took of them on the first day of school. Yet another thing to hate the computer for. Probably my husband messing with settings yet again. I can't find anything on here and he doesn't get why I get mad! Sheesh! Hopefully I'll find it. It seems a lot of the pictures I took in August have vanished, just like my patience! I'm looking forward to Fall, cooler weather, and getting into a groove with life. It helps me quiet my mind and soul, which I need to do a lot of lately. For right now, I'm tired of looking through files on the computer, and there is a nice breeze outside. I think I'll go open windows and take a deep breath. Have a nice evening!

Summer projects

I've been doing some little sewing projects this summer. Some were to use up fabric scraps and some were to practice for bigger projects I've got in mind.

These are coffee bands. I still need to sew the buttons on, but otherwise they are ready for a trip to Starbucks. I like to keep these on hand to give away as little gifties, but I also LOVE them. They are fun and cute to take to get a coffee. Um, no thank you. I don't need a paper band!

Here is my project that helped me with getting more precise with piecing squares. I have a larger quilt in mind that I already have the fabric for but wanted to wet my feet with something smaller. I'm a sucker for cherry fabric and needed placemats anyway. I liked how they turned out, but decided I hate stitch in the ditch. It is impossible to make it go in the ditch the entire time!!! I've found a different way to follow the squares that I'll do next time that won't be so aggrevating.

This isn't sewing, but a project I've been trying to perfect over the summer. I made my own sourdough starter that I've been turning into bread. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the right consistency in the bread and I've been eating WAY too much of the attempts. The flavor is great, it is just so heavy. I even added more yeast to the dough. Needless to say I'm moving on from sourdough starter and bread.

I've got more to finish and I hope to be done with all of my half started projects by the end of the year. It feels good to get some of my shelves cleaned out!

moments in life

My daughter is a special kid. I know every parent says that, but with all of the corrections and parenting I do during the day sometimes I'm in awe of being able to sit back and watch her learn and grow. With this whole horse deal we were presented with, I gave Amanda some major decisions to make. When this started I told her that we had an opportunity to go look at an older mare that needed to retire from being a lesson horse. "With older horses you can't just decide to not do it in a couple of years and sell them. With this decision comes the knowlege that this horse will be our responsibility until she dies. She will need special care when she is no longer rideable, and probably special food. There is extra care in the winter to help them maintain their weight, and this will all be your responsibility. That means you get up early before school to go care for her, blanket her, check her feet, and pay attention to her even when life gets busy. You will be out there when it's pouring rain, if you are sick, and when it's dark. You will be mucking through the mud, and wearing slickers while you curse at the wind and wet. They need your care no matter what. If you are still interested, let me know and we can go look at her." She thought about it a good long time and said she wasn't sure if she was ready for this responsibility yet, but she'd wanted to take a look at her. She said this with tears in her eyes. When I asked her why she was crying she said she didn't know, but that she knew this was a big deal and she didn't want to make a mistake. I told her if she wanted to see her, she could and to let her heart and her mind decide. The fact that she just didn't jump at the idea cinched the deal for me. That was what I was looking for. I didn't want a quick decision, but a thought out one. She took this very seriously. I was so proud of her. I also knew that when she saw her she'd fall in love. Chic is such a ham, very expressive, and perfect for Amanda. She's got some swaying in her back, and has seen a lot of life and experiences, but I couldn't ask for a better girl to show my girl how to take care of a horse-rain or shine-good or bad-you do it because you LOVE it. They become part of who you are.

For now she is over at grandma's house. We have some work to do on a gate to allow better entrance to the pasture so I can separate her from the cows. We are also taking advantage of Amanda being able to walk her down the hill to take her lessons from her old owner. That has been such a blessing.

Being a mom can sometimes be such a thankless job. There are so many moments where I feel like I'm just making sure they don't kill themselves and yelling for them to pick up their junk. But when there is a big decision or opportunity for your children and you see them take the right steps to make a good decision, it makes all the bickering and frustration seem worth it. I'm so proud of my girl, and when I see her from a distance, whispering to her girl, hugging her, feeding her, just being with her, it makes all of the expense worth it. Chic will become her best friend, her companion, the one she goes to when she's angry or sad, and wants a friend. Chic nickers when she sees Amanda, and that makes my little girl's heart sing. What more could I ask for?

Summer fun

We started out the summer with our little vacation and not much else planned until the end of this month. We'd wanted to take a little weekend trip to the bay area, but then Chris's car died, and we have 3 large bills due, and then we decided it was better to be responsible and stay home. Blah. On a more exciting note, we had a great old mare dropped in our laps at the perfect time for Amanda to love on and learn from. The lady that gave her to us said she wanted to find a little girl to love on her and after meeting Amanda, it was a perfect match. Emerald Chickadee is her name. Amanda is taking lessons from this lady on Chic and spends countless hours loving on her, brushing her, and drawing pictures of her. It brings back memories of my first horse and how proud I was to have her.

I've been doing some sewing this summer, and of course had to make Amanda a top with horses on it to wear. I am enjoying the fact that she'll still wear things I make for her. She also picked out 4 or 5 different fabrics to make shorts. I know those days aren't going to last much longer. She's growing up right before our eyes at an alarming rate.

Here are the kids with their redneck hot tubs. A boring, hot summer day forced them to get creative. The funniest part was they spent about 2 hours out there in those tubs. That made for a nice quiet afternoon inside the house! I won't post the pictures of them watching tv or playing video games, of which they've done too much of this summer. I'd rather act like I have them outside running and playing, never fighting, and using their imaginations. Sounds good to me!

School starts soon and then we'll be back to our routines, but for a couple more weeks we can sit around in the mornings, soaking in the cool air and figuring out what each day will bring us.

Good bye San Diego

My husband works very hard at his job. I think one of the most enjoyable things was to see him let go after a couple of days and really enjoy himself. Evan asked him if he'd bury him in the sand. Then the digging began!

Here he was, up to his neck...makes me all itchy and scratchy just thinking about it!

Amanda wanted no part of the burying and chose to build a sand castle instead.

This is the end of the vacation pictures I'm going to post. Don't get me wrong, there are LOTS more, but there are lots of things going on and it's time to move into summer pictures here at home!