My Happy Place Today

This is my happy place today.

All four of my guys, participating in the same activity, and LOVING it.

I think what made me the most happy was knowing how happy Jeremiah was.

He has waited lots of years for this time to come, and he couldn't have looked more pleased.

This is the beginning of many more fun times for this band of riders...wonder which one will be the first to outride DAD?!?!

I think he would die trying to NOT let that happen...we have to keep reminding him that he IS getting older!!

Most definitely saw that little speck of competitiveness come out in ALL of them when they were out there....he only has his gene pool to blame for that one... :)

I, as "Pit Mother", will stand close by with my camera and bandaids (for owies and egos) and smile inside and out while I watch...'cause God blessed me with dirt bikes and mud...not barbies and tea parties...but I am beyond grateful.

Book review

I just finished reading this book this morning. Wow. I haven't read a book this good in a long time. I actually sat on the couch and read it last night, got up this morning, and in between every chore, read it AGAIN. I couldn't find a good spot to stop, and I didn't want to! It started off a little slow, but as the pages flipped by, I found myself totally captivated by this woman's life.

Meet Sarah Agnes Prine, frontier woman to the max. She will make you feel like the biggest wimp by about halfway through the book, but you can't help but ache for her, love her, laugh with her and cheer her on. I could only hope to be half the woman she was.

In between all of the trials she faces, there is an amazing love story that will wrap you up so much that you feel it with her.

It brought me to tears more than once.

The last 10 pages are the most heart wrenching, and if the boys had not been home with me this morning, I probably would have bawled like a baby...BUT, they were looking at me a little weird as I was sniffing and holding it back.

I don't think boys get into books like girls do... :)

I have always been one of those people who really FEELS the books she reads!

Anyhoo, needless to say, I am very much looking forward to reading the next two books.

This is book #2, and Book #3 will be next! I will probably grab both off of the shelf at the library, just so I have them!

If you get a chance, grab these yourself!

Waaaaa.

Wow. Is it cold and flu season STILL?

Why if the beautiful birds are singing in my trees outside, are we all hacking and blowing our noses inside!??!

We have been hit a little hard this week by colds, double ear infection and a terrible case of the icky, body ache, cough flu for the hubs.

I have seemed to survive with just a runny/plugged nose (depending on the minute) and a nice headache to go along with it. I am thankful, since all of my fellow housemates have needed constant attention! I love my guys, but there is something to be said about what I have deemed "The Man cold"... Sooooooo much different than when us Moms get sick.

Anyhoo, I only have one home today...the hubs just attempted to go into work (we will see how long that lasts)...and Travis' teacher has already called to inform me that he has had at least one episode of emotional crying...:) Hopefully, he will make it through the day.

Is it SPRING yet??!?!??! I'm ready.

Until then, let's leave with this happy thought:

Wonderful, happy, HEALTHY children!

SNOW in February?

Oh yes, SNOW in February. We awoke to quite the Winter Wonderland yesterday!

Of course, all I wanted to do after I checked about school closure was go back to my nice flannel sheets. The little two, however, had other plans.

Just as the sun was rising, they were READY to hit the snow.

Seriously children? Don't you know that snow days are for going back to bed?!??!

=

Suprisingly, this snowball did not get thrown at me. Punk.

This one looks like he is still asleep.

And this one, well, he just doesn't get all giddy about snow like he used to. He prefers to enjoy it undisturbed from inside. He was not happy about his brothers going out and messing it all up. But, he did throw a few snowballs...and maybe, just maybe, made his brother cry.

And THIS one, well he got the rips in the snow for about...2 seconds, and then promptly joined me on the porch, where his little footsies wouldn't get cold.

By 10 am, we had green grass again...AND blue sky. Short lived, but beautiful. AND, we got to stay home and do NOTHING. Great day.

Be My Valentine

Ahhh...Valentine's Day. ALWAYS fun when you live in a house full of MEN.

We actually had a really nice day celebrating with friends at school, and then eating Spaghetti and garlic bread by candlelight!

YeS, you read it right...Candlelight.

Not complete darkness, as that would have been "weird" as stated by the 13 year old in the house. But, we lit candles on the table and they actually thought that was kind of fun.

I received a most beautiful little bundle of roses from the hubs, and I showered all of them in chocolate. The boys also each got some goofy spinning toy that I have almost been hit in the head by too many times to count since then.

Good times.

These things always SEEM like a good idea in the store....

Now, a week later, almost all of the candy is gone (Thank Goodness). Amazing how fast they can put that stuff away.

New Babies

Well HELLO there little one!

Ahhh...the sound of chirping chicks...at ALL hours of the day and night!

We have been incubating 41 eggs for the last 21 days. YES. 41.

Hatch date was 2/9/11.

Only one little one made it out that morning...and the rest have been steadily arriving since.

We currently have 13, with one working hard to come out. The rest of the eggs appear to be doing nothing, so we will give them a few more days and see what happens.

I finally made Jared move the incubator into the office, because the little boys couldn't sleep through all of the racket.

It is always fun to watch the wonder of things being born...such an amazing process, all created by God in such an amazing, well-orchestrated way. So. cool.

I love the way they all pile on one another when they sleep:

These little lovelies will be our up and coming layers this summer. Now, hopefully they aren't all roosters. That. would. not. be good.

Finally done with these!

I have been attempting to make these curtains for our office for about..uh....two months say? Finally rounded up all of the material, then measured wrong, and had to go buy more...then realized it wasn't long enough, so had to search for a coordinating fabric to sew on the bottom...


THEN, after sewing the final panel, discovered that I had sewn the back piece inside out. AGH. I enlisted my mother to tear it all out while on a car ride to Portland. I just couldn't do it.


This project has been wrought with disaster from the beginning.


BUT, alas, they are finally done, and they don't look half bad.


YES. Those are polka dot curtains.


YES. I asked dear husband (who shares this office with me) what he thought about the fabric before I started, and he just shrugged and said "Well, at least they are brown."


YES. He informed me that they were a little girly, AFTER they were done and hanging. WHAT?!?! You agreed! Sorry Charlie!

I think they bridge the gap of man/woman shared office space quite nicely. What do you think?

What did he think I was going to put in there...Motocross curtains? SHEESH.