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!

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.

Spring goodness

We've been dabbling outside with some planting in between storms this Spring. The weather has moved from not quite as wet to overcast. The sun peaks through on occasion. Can't say I mind the mild weather but the garden doesn't care for it much. It's rather puny!

We made up a couple of little cactus gardens. I'm a nut for cactus but don't want them anywhere that I can't contain them. I just like the mini sized gardens! I remember as a kid rubbing my hands up and down the "smooth" cactus at my grandparent's house when I was a kid. Ugh! I was miserable for a couple of days. I'd lay there and scrub my hands on the carpet to try and get the microscopic pokies out. NEVER did that again!
Here is the beginnings of my new rose garden...in the middle of a weed patch. I had to give up my last rose garden at our old house when we moved so now I'm starting over. These two I got for Mother's Day. I hope to have it grow in size as needed. It's a lot of work to start a fresh patch! I tried to play pathetic so Chris would help but he wasn't buying it.

We've had so much going on these past couple of months and although I want to share it here, our 3G internet doesn't allow for a lot of picture downloads in a month before it goes over the usage limit. With the kids on the computer more it's amazing how fast those megabites disappear. We're going on vacation in a week so I'll sneak some in before we go since we'll not be using the computer while we're gone. The kids are out of school next Thursday so summer is quickly approaching!

Sorry, more chick pictures!

Easter break-could the timing be any better for baby chicks?

Out of 12 eggs 4 hatched

One proud momma!

I apologize for the endless amounts of chicken pictures. I just can't get enough of these little babies! You don't realize how small they are when they are born until you see them right out of the shell. They are TINY! This is one proud momma. She makes sure I know when they need food, and she's showing them around the back yard. One got stuck in the fence and one fell in a hole so I'm constantly checking on them. Chickens just keep moving if one falls behind. She has to watch out for the other 3. Sometimes she will come back, bringing the rest with her, but I guess the babies have to learn to get a long on their own, just like our kids do I guess. The cutest thing is to watch them all squish under her to get warm, and then one by one pop out to run around. Then she takes them for a stroll in the tall grass. One by one they follow her, running to keep up. Sometimes I feel like that. Life runs on ahead of us, and we chase after it one by one, trying to keep up. I'm just trying to remember to have God leading me. I just wish he wouldn't let me fall into so many holes or get stuck in so many fences...I guess my job is to survive!

Here bunny bunny!

The kids already colored their eggs. Once again, I grumbled (for a second) about having to go buy white eggs at the store to color. Then I remember trying to dye brown eggs as a kid. It doesn't really work. Since we don't eat the hard boiled store eggs, I leave them sitting out as decorations all week. Then Evan plans to take them outside to shoot with his bb gun. Boys.

Doi, I'm an egg, duhh, me too, durrr, who are you? Gotta love dumb face stickers.

We got a little creative with some scotch tape and multiple dippings this year. That was fun. This is about the only time of year I can find something to do with my Great Aunt's glass bowl. I love this bowl because I remember it as a kid, but I just can't seem to make it fit in with my house. So, I use it as an Easter egg bowl.

Happy hunting! If it's not raining we're planning on a 3 acre hunt! Ha, ha. Chris and I should be able to sit and drink coffee for a good couple of hours! Maps and proper egg count will be needed.

Achoo!

The pollen is all around us right now with lots of trees blooming. Just looking at these pictures makes my head hurt! The apples are spectacular!

The bees are busy pollenating.

These pink blooms don't even look real. I have no idea what this tree is. It was chopped back completely when we moved here. The stump started sprouting so we let it.

This crab apple is loaded as well. That just means a mess. They fall all over the cars and make the driveway slimey. I'd like to get rid of it but Chris loves it. I prefer fruit you can eat!

Have a wonderful Easter Week!

Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things.

Let this be known throughout the earth. Isaiah 12:5

Spring

Well, Spring is springing up all over around here. Sometimes it doesn't feel very Spring when it's still frosty in the morning. Chris took some cool pictures of his car all iced up the other morning. It was pretty cool.

We tried to install a new weather vane the other morning as well, but he didn't like his accomodations and left in a huff.

These little girls get to stay here though. Awww. After we got 8 babies at the feed store, we found 2 of my chickens that are able to fly over the fence sitting on about 20 eggs in the bushes along the side of the house. Probably 1/3 of them will hatch, but needless to say I didn't need to go buy chicks. Now I'm going to have too many!

Many other things going on at the moment. Just starting to download the pics from my new camera. Will try to get caught up this week! Happy Spring!

Happy Birthday!

My hubby turned 41 last week. He prefers a quiet day without any celebration. He's been struggling with getting more "mature". It brings back memories from the movie City Slickers where Billy Crystal's character talking about aging and how each stage has it's own milestones. I think Chris is up to the "minor procedure" stage. Shh! Don't tell him that! The funny thing is I still think of him as being 30. I did buy him an electric blanket for his birthday! Ha, ha, ha. Are we old or what? It's because I'm an energy miser and turn the heat down to 61 at night and he doesn't like it cold and tosses all night. Yeah, that's it...



It's hard to believe we've celebrated 18 birthdays together! Wait a minute! That means I'm getting older too! Aw, man! Glad I can go through it with you!

Happy Birthday honey!

Hello, sunshine!

So, we're on day 10 of rain. Being a native Cali girl I've struggled with not having at least a couple of days of sun in between storms. Last night I caved and started microwaving smores and drinking Diet Coke, sulking about feeling like I was coming down with something. Today, however, I started out on the treadmill with some Daughtry and a better outlook. Mood is all about choice, and I'm not getting sick I tell ya! I'm choosing to treat my children like they are an important part of the house and will try my best to not raise my voice at them. I'm choosing to make dinner every night this week, instead of getting bored or frustrated with the complaining about why can't we have pizza or hamburgers instead. I'm remembering to pay attention to the little things around me(including the laundry pile that I'm ignoring cause "I don't wanna") I'm also choosing to distract myself from the sunless environment by starting some new projects. Heck! I can always use a few more projects in my stack!


Meet my new quilt project. I decided I wanted another flannel quilt for the couch. We fight over the other one so I'm making more! Here are my colors. The large salmon color is the sashing and border strips in between the bricks. We'll see how it goes!

Here is my other project that isn't quite as fun. I'm ripping off the wook paneling in the dining room. I'd rather have glued up, primed, textured walls over the wood paneling! I can't take the darkness! Who knows how long it will take me to get it finished, but I've got a lot of work to do to retexture where the glue is and get it painted. I've only got the one wall ripped down and 3 more to go. Chris gave me a look that told me I was on my own, as he was completely happy ignoring the wood paneling for a few years. I better start screwing something up so he'll come rescue me! Ha, ha.

Christmas morning 2009

Christmas morning had a different feel this year. It's the first year without a Santa. Although Sophie still thinks Santa is a cool guy. I have to put her stocking up Christmas Eve otherwise she sticks her nose in her stocking and pulls out all of the toys containing squeakies.


Amanda got her first taste of long nails. She loved the press on nails she got in the stocking. She didn't, however, realize how annoying long nails are when you aren't used to them. That was a quick $5 down the drain. She did last one day though. When we went over to Grandma Dolley's house late in the day Aunt Lorna thought they were her real nails, which Amanda thought was funny.

Here is the big gift for the kids. They've wanted Guitar Hero since they got the XBox last year. I, however, don't see the fasination in it. I'd much rather play Super Mario Brothers or Lego Indiana Jones. Evan busily put together his new Lego sets that day as well. He has a surprising level of focus when he has to put them together. Uncle Jimmy was over around lunchtime Christmas day and helped Evan put the Crystal Sweeper together. It has around 40 pages of directions to it. Evan knows Uncle Jimmy is the Lego Master. He even told his friend about Uncle Jimmy being the Lego Master.

True to form. I forgot to take my camera to the rest of the festivities at my mom's house so this is the end. Last year I didn't take it to Chris's parent's house. I need to velcro it to my arm! We had a busy year and I'm kind of glad it's over. I have high expectations for 2010! Happy New Year!

Snow day!

We had a MAJOR snow day a couple of weeks ago. The kids were out of school for 2 days and we had snow hang around for 5 days in our yard. That's pretty major here, as usually the snow melts the same day it falls. There were lots of trees breaking and it was beautiful all around us!

The cows were a little freaked out by the white ground. They did come for hay though. I had to chip thick ice off of their water for 3 days! That was getting old.

The kids had a great time playing in the snow. The best part was that they could come inside and dry off unlike when we go to the snow. Once you're wet and tired we go home! The dryer got a work out until Daddy lit the fire. Then I cooked the clothes until they were dry.

I love how the snow accumulates on the fences and tree branches. It's amazing how it builds up on the smallest surfaces.

Here is my German Shepard. Look at how DEEP it was!!! Ha, ha. Just kidding. She's a Corgi and only has 4 inch legs. I think we ended up with about 8-10 inches. Sophie LOVES the snow and jumps around making little paths with her belly. She's a cold weather doggie.

Here's my car. It had a snow "blanket" for 2 days. Then it finally melted enough and slid off in the parking lot when we went driving into town on day 2 of the kids being home from school. Um, 2 snow days can be a little hard when the had just come off of a weekend. Snow days should happen on Thursdays and Fridays, not Mondays and Tuesdays!

Ok, that was enough snow for a while. We aren't used to snow that much so after a couple of days we're tired of it. I couldn't live with it for months at a time. No way!

A couple of holiday crafties

Merry Christmas! I'm a sucker for crocheted Christmas stuff. I think it reminds me of my Grammie Crabtree sending out little tree ornaments every year along with various other homemade items. She made snowmen, wreaths, trees, etc. all out of yarn. I still have a couple of her ornaments hanging on the tree. (That's one of the fun parts about decorating the tree. I love to pull out an ornament and remember what the story is behind it.) My sister in-law Jessica(Chris's sister) asked what kinds of things to make for Christmas for her craft website where she makes handmade items to sell. I asked about a snowman. Then she sent me a pic of the man with an orange scarf. Then I asked about a snow lady. The red hat wearin' snow lady was born. Well, you can't have a snow couple without a couple of snow kids to go along with them! Now they are sitting on my counter!

I also made my first "real" quilt this past fall, which means it wasn't frayed edge. I did quilt as you go on this one. It is a bread warmer that I made for my mom out of Christmas fabrics. I have lots more crafties to finish before Christmas. School teacher gifts, piano teacher gift, birthday gift, Christmas pillows that I've been wanting to make, aah, I'm not sure I'm going to get it all done. Oh well. There's always next year for my pillows. The other stuff can't wait!!! Better get busy! Hope you're all enjoying your holiday preparations!

Yeahhhhh! Heeeyyy thereeeee! Been a while. Lots of things going on and not much in the way of picture taking and blogging. Not been inspired as of late.


Of course I always have animal pictures. Molly thought she had an edge on the fish finally when I was changing rock a couple of weeks ago. I thought she was going to jump right in!

My dog can be a bit of a pest in the kitchen...as you can see. Hello mommie! Whatcha doing up there???

Umm, I think I can taste test it for you...

See? I told you I've not been inspired! I'll try to get some snow pictures up. Yep! We had a bunch of snow this month! Quite festive for the holiday season! Hope you're all toasty warm! Peace out!

Summer memories

I'm playing a bit of catch up on my pictures this week. Lately, every time I try to post pictures it fails on me. Today it worked! As I looked through my pictures, I'm always reminded of my childhood and what summer was to us. We spent most of our time outside getting dirty!

We spend 4th of July each year at Marcy and Sean's house doing fireworks and drinking beer(the guys anyway). The kids LOVE the fireworks and since we can't do them in the county we live in we are fortunate to have this tradition.

Boy, the sparklers really suck now. When we were kids we had the grey ones with metal handles that really sparked. I think I even have a picture of when we'd "write" names with them in the air. Then someone complained or sued since they got to something like 800 degrees on the tip and kids were burning themselves...us kids didn't...maybe we knew not to touch the glowing end...dummies...what's next? Make flaming marshmallows illegal?

Here is Amber enjoying the 4th as well. Nothing like bellying up to a bag of BBQ chips. I'd have done it too but someone needed to take the picture...

They enjoyed some water fun while waiting for it to get dark. Remember asking when you could start? It seemed like the longest day ever!!! I remember when we got some illegal fireworks in Wyoming on a road trip we took with our parents as kids. Who said bottle rockets were unsafe? Um, they are kinda scary. I think we waited until New Year's to light them off. They were cool! Did I mention my brother was somewhat of a pyro as a kid? Must be a boy thing. Evan's eyes were glazed over the entire evening and was running around with a lighter lighting anything that had a fuse on it. It was too funny!

Another part of my childhood was having purple hands for a couple of months. Every time we'd walk past the blackberry bushes we'd stop and pick. Nature's candy! Yum! Never mind the road grime and spider webs. We'd eat it anyway. My parent's road used to be dirt so you can imagine the added "flavor" they had. The kids and I went with grandma this week to do some picking. Of course the first thing we made with them was blackberry pancakes. My fav! Now, you can't get me to use maple syrup on said pancakes. Talk about wrong. We made blackberry syrup to go with them.

If there is one thing I learned from Grammie Crabtree, there isn't anything better to cook your pancakes in than a biggo dollop of butter. I, of course, usually spray a light coating of Pam on my griddle. With berry pancakes, all healthy thoughts go out the window. The only thing that keeps these babies from sticking is butter, and lots of it!!!! Talk about golden brown and flavorful! YUM!

Guess what the best part of the homemade syrup is? Wait for it, wait for it...today I smashed the rest of the berries up and mixed them in the syrup. Now we're off to the store to get the fixins for some homemade blackberry ice cream. I'm using my Daddy's recipe and there's none better. So many memories. It really takes me back to standing in the kitchen after listening to the ice cream maker turn and turn on the back deck, waiting for the paddle to come out of the can so we could lick it off, dripping all over the place. I have a feeling I'll be mopping later today. But first...showering! Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh, a few more thing. Sheesh I downloaded a lot of pictures today.


Here, in the garage, we have a fridge that is waiting for a new electrical outlet so it can be plugged in. I guess Chris is going to have to hurry and get this done on his vacation next week.

And you say, "Why is this so important?"

This is why. About 4am I heard a major bang out in the kitchen. Here is soda can #2, blown up in my fridge on Tuesday morning. He tried to get huffy at me and say that he set the oven timer so when it went off I could remind him to take it out. Hello! I was with the kids over at grandma's house swimming Monday evening so I never HEARD it go off!!!! Here's a thought...put soda in the fridge when you take the last one out and you won't have a problem!!! He is now banished to the garage fridge. Annoyingly, it is Friday and I still have stalactites and stalagmites in my freezer. Hello, we have a deep freeze that he could transfer the stuff to so he could clean it. He is obviously waiting to see if I'll clean it. I'm slowing wearing down. He has more patience with filth than I. Hey, it does get annoying when I take things out of the freezer and frozen bits of soda fall on the floor and melt into little sticky droplets. Since I'm grocery shopping today I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet. And he's going to have to climb in the attic. I clean, he wires.

What's this? The kids got my camera. Yet another Webkinz to add to their collections. This is the Grey Arabian they bought with their own money. Actually, Amanda bought Evan's for him with her money. She said it was his birthday present. Does that mean I don't have to buy him one?

Since Amanda is obsessed with horses she's hired the cat to practice on. Are they bored or what? Talk about memories...Marcy and I used to catch my cat and stick her in the oven I had and sit out in front of the door singing, "For he's a jolly good fellow" over and over again. Then she'd shoot out and we'd do it again. Poor cat! I can't remember what cartoon we got it from, but I remember a group of men catching a tiger or something and carrying it on a pole hanging upside down, all the while singing that song on their way back to camp. It seemed like a fun idea at the time...

Here is Molly, all saddled up and looking like she's ready to buck.

She didn't really get too annoyed until Amanda tried to put the bridle on her. That was more committment then she was ready for. Goofy cat.

Ok, now I'm done. Caught up for the most part. Have a great weekend!!!