It has only been a 1.5 years this time.....

Hello my faithful readers! I went 4 years between posts the last time, and this time it was only 1.5 years. My blog is always on the back of my mind and when something great or funny happens I always think "hey, I should remember that and write in my blog about it." 1.5 years......you see how far I have gotten with that idea..haha. 
   Well lets see, what has happened in the last 1.5 years......My oldest child did, in fact, graduate! True, she still lives with us, but she got that diploma, nonetheless! My first middle child is a senior this year. She wanted to quit school last year, but she is navigating along better this year. (Thank God) She was recently nominated for Homecoming Queen but that deserves a separate post. :) My 2nd middle child is now in 7th grade. We had an extremely difficult year last year which almost resulted in homeschooling. (Not sure how that would have went. ;) ) This year we are off to a much better start. He is in Junior High and has to move from class to class which is a nice change for him. My youngest is in 5th grade. He is still my comedian and best little buddy (his siblings call it being a Mama's boy) and he still dislikes school. He doesn't like the sound of getting a job at 10 years old (which I told him is his alternative if he quits school) so he muddles through week after week. As his mother I cant understand because school comes easy to him and he seems to be well liked by his peers. Hopefully I don't have a hermit in the making!! (or a serial killer)
   Al, as I said before, has been dabbling with sand carving. He loves his new hobby and does very well with it, and hopefully someday he will be able to do it full time! As for myself, I am still as busy as ever. Being a chauffer is a big part of my day these days, oh and I have also become a nurse without going to school.....nurses around the world---you have my immense respect!!!! I also recently acquired a sewing machine. I have always wanted one even though I have never used one in my life. Strange I know, but hopefully with time I will become an expert without sewing any fingers together. I have also recently been flirting with the idea of learning sign language.....seems fun, right?
   Hopefully I can write a few posts today....it is cold and gloomy so it is a good day for it. Thanks for reading, and I will catch you on the flip side.

4 Years in 4 Minutes....Annnnnnnd Go!

Since my last 2012 post, some things have happened. Some that I remember and some that I don't. I will do my best to highlight what my aging brain can remember. (it is, after all, 4 years older and over 40 now.)
   In the last 4 years my oldest has endured school and is now a soon-to-be graduating senior. Whaaat?  She has also become a Viking, apparently.

 Those who know her know that her small ponytail is now a long braid through the magic of hair extensions. She has become addicted to a show called Vikings and chooses to look the part....sort of.  It is a look that will never be forgotten due to the photographic evidence of Senior pictures. :)  She don't leave the house much so that's all there is to say about that. ;)
   The 2nd oldest is now a sophomore in high school. Just yesterday we were fighting over 6th grade math!! She has been a cheerleader the last 2 years and we are super proud of that!!

                                      

Oh and they both have gotten their driver's licenses!

    The 2nd middle is now in 5th grade (thank God he made it). He just finished his 6th year in basketball. We are hoping he will go out again next year....he will get to play against other schools which is exciting! He wants to play football like his big brothers but he says it's still not the sport for him because he isn't big enough. He started baseball practice last week. He started with T Ball in Kindergarten, and now this is his first year in the Majors. My sweet little man will be 11 in May!! Oh, and he had his 1st band concert at Christmas! It was more fun for me because I finally got to buy dress clothes for a little boy! :)

 Our youngest little man is now a 3rd grader. He has his ups and downs with school but I think he has finally made peace with the fact that school is his "job" for the next 9 years and he ain't getting out of it! ;)  He has always been my adventurous one, usually sporting a Mohawk with weird colors. He had one such hairdo that earned him the nickname Skittles. I usually post his funny random saying and advice on Facebook but I am hoping to catch a few gems for here! ;)  The newest thing to happen for him was glasses....he was the last in the family to get them. I think they make him look pretty handsome! ♥

 As for me and Al, I would have to say our biggest news would be that we became grandparents!! (Weird right??...I always thought grandparents were little old people with white hair, not cool hip people such as ourselves!)  Little Taylor Rosemary was born on September 10, 2015.  She can be a turd bird but we LOVE her just the same! ♥ We love her Mama to pieces and we could not ask for a better mother to our grandbaby!! Oh and her dad is pretty great too! :) Al found a new hobby sand carving glass. I will have a separate post about this because it is so awesome and so is he!
   As a family, we got a dog. Her name is Jayda Blue and we got her 1.5 years ago. She is a turd bird but we love her just the same! ♥ We have the 4 cats that we have always had but we did acquire a fish last fall. (By us I mean Emily got it as a gift from the volleyball coach as a gift for Senior Honor Night) His name is Levi....he is a turd bird but we love him just the same! ♥ (because fish are so darn hard to take care of...)
   I am sure that more than this has happened in 4 years but like I said....the memory thing! That and some things are worthy of their own post! Until next time....







Let Summer Vacation Begin......

The kids got out of school for summer vacation exactly 2 weeks ago today.  Other than the "I'm bored! What can we do?" bit, all is well. Except I forgot how much kids eat. When they are in school, there is still food in my pantry....when they are out of school--you might as well call me "Old Mother Hubbard"!  I was really hoping they would all get jobs for the summer but I guess it is hard to come by gainful employment when you are only 5 and can barely read.  He can write his name so that is a plus. 
   I am posting some random pics from our summer so far......hope you all have a great summer!

The first four pictures are the kids playing with the hose.  Albert had to let the water run because he was working on the irrigation hole. The kids had a blast---way more fun than a boring old sprinkler!

Gabriel, Rollie and Sabien were dragging each other around in the pool.

Gabriel had just flipped out from under his "turtle shell". He was chasing the little boys.

A beautiful sunset from my front porch.

A large full moon from my back deck.

A beautiful rainbow after a morning storm.

This was my project. It was full of weeds and wood chips and gravel. Now I have a clean slate!

(I always forget to post before pics!)

Crazy ominus clouds above our house.

More clouds.

My sweetie, Farmer Al!  :-)

Watch Out For That Hole.....

My husband started a project a little while back.  He decided he wanted to dig a hole in the back yard big enough to hold a big barrel that he wanted to use as a filtration system to irrigate our yard. Well after a lot of talk, he went out and just started digging one day.  I looked out the window one day and wondered where he went and then all of a sudden his head popped up out of the hole! (hahaha)  I decided I better check it out and turns out he had dug it deep enough to stand in! Well, then he had to dig on the other side to try and meet in the middle and that is when the little boys were employed as free slave labor. (who are we kidding? They love helping Dad!) I am very proud of the all the hard work that they have done and we are almost finished!  I will benefit the most from this project since I am the CEO of the Water and Irrigation Dept. at the Myrstol Ranch. (I say ranch because we have an acre...which I get to water and mow....and we raise 2 cats and 4 wild animals here :-)  Hmmm...does that make it a ranch or a zoo?

 Great job boys!

Gabriel digging out the rocks for Dad.

Rollie manning the shovel.

Rollie stopping for a photo opportunity.

"Hurry up and take the picture Mom! I'm busy!"

When We Were Farmers.....

On Sunday June 3rd Munga and JJ came out to the house to plant the garden.  We had terrible luck last year...we planted it on the hottest day EVER and then the garden got hailed on and flooded the very next day!  When things started to finally sprout up a lot of it was not where we had planted it. :-)

Well my sweet littlest man decided he didn't want to get dressed that day so we had help planting from "Superman". They are fuzzy pajamas...he had to be sweating! I was sweating!  When we sat down to take a break Gabriel looked at me and said, "I didn't know we were farmers but we are now."  Apparently his dad told him earlier that since he helped plant he was now a farmer.  I am grateful for the experience that we all got to spend time together and it will be something that the little boys will always remember!  Now lets just hope that Mother Nature cooperates this year because I really really want some cucumbers from the garden!!!!!!!!

Superman helping Munga plant corn.

Superman just being his cool self.

Munga, JJ and farmer Gabe.

   

How many men does it take to tamp the dirt? :-)

I Told You I Would Be Back

Well here I am.  I have survived a preschool graduation and an 8th grade graduation. I have survived making 3 sheet cakes and 48 cupcakes. I have survived cleanup after 8th grade graduation and I have survived letting my little man go to his 1st ever sleep over with someone other than family. We all had a great time and the best part is that I didn't have to fight to get the kids ready for school!  Please enjoy the following pictures of our graduation adventures.....like any good bad mom, I didn't get a very good
picture of my 8th grader but I will be posting some when the "better" ones come to me. Have a great day!

Rollie's preschool graduation cake

Preschool cake....again

Waiting his turn at the famous preschool track meet

Dad was Rollie's race buddy

Maddie spruced up for graduation

Gabe got bored and decorated Munga (Grandma)

I got the graduate and JJ(grandpa) in one picture

Heading over to get his diploma

1 of 2 8th grade graduation cakes

 

                           Cake #2 of 8th grade

                           

48 cupcakes for 8th grade graduation

8th grade graduation class motto (LOVE IT!)

Emily actually getting her diploma (I don't claim to be a professional photographer)

oh, and we ate another smurf!

I think I see Sun.......Now What?

I woke up this morning in a panic.  My alarm goes off at 5:45am, I hit snooze a few times and then I am up usually no later than 6:15.  Well this morning, I couldn't remember how many times I had hit snooze and with the sun shining brightly in my bedroom I thought for sure that I had overslept!  I was afraid to look at the clock and even more afraid of telling Albert that I overslept.  Well it turns out he was living the same horror because when I got up to turn off my alarm, he jumped out of bed asking what time it was.  He thought for sure that it was at least 8 because of the sunlight.  Oh well, at least he was up early which made my job easier!  We watched the morning weather and turns out we should continue to see the light for the next week or so.....but of course there is chance of showers. (In Montana that is code for ---keep the umbrella handy!)As long as the sun is shining that means my kids will play outside and not be inside fighting on my lap!  I am to the point where I will take what I can get! So here's to Mr. Sun..........keep on shining--- and just to be safe I will keep the sunscreen and umbrella at arm's length and brush up flooding & tornado safety procedures....isn't Montana life great?

P.S......I know a soldier in Afghanistan who said the temp has been getting into the 110's. Makes the rain seem not too bad.......

3 Months Is A Looonngggg Time...

I say 3 months and you say "but she has been gone for a year?!".  It's true. I have dropped out of the blog scene for roughly a year but I am really wanting to get back into the swing of things, so here goes.
      I say 3 months because that is how much {precious} time I have gotten to spend with my wonderfully pleasant husband of 12 1/2 years.  Wow...when I say that many years out loud, 3 months doesn't seem so bad!  On January 23rd, 2011, I had a dream that my husband had fallen off a ladder at work and met a very undesirable outcome. (for those of you who are wondering....he died. I know, I know its horrible. I know.)
ANYWAYS, on January 25th, 2011 my sister called me (she works with my husband) to tell me that my husband had fallen off some scaffold at work. "He is breathing and alive but complaining of back pain. Don't panic, he's fine she says." My first thought was "My dream came true! I am a horrible wife!"  After securing my kids at Munga and JJ's (that is code for Grandma and Grandpa but that is another story) I pointed my car west towards Bozeman having no idea that this would be the first trip of MANY.  Luckily Mother Nature was kind to me and held the snow off.  I made it there in record time and yet was completely calm.  I found my husband's boss, my sister and my stepson in the waiting room. (They were hard to miss with the piles of dirt and sawdust they left everywhere.)  After they brought me up to speed, I went back to see my man.
   Long story short, we spent 2 days in the hospital, took a lot of good drugs, made A LOT of trips to Bozeman to see 2 doctors...one for the pelvis and one for the wrist (which irritated me because they worked in the same office but we never could see them both in one trip--no, we had to go at least 2 or 3 times a week in the beginning!) learned how to get around and up and down stairs with a walker and then modified crutches. He was finally cleared to go back to work just over 3 months after the accident and is back on the job as we speak. (Thank God!....I mean, I love you honey!)  I do want to say that he was a pretty good patient and he tells me that I was a pretty good nurse. He just says that because he was thankful that I never made him sleep with a pillow over his face.....
   Through it all we learned that we still love each other after almost 13 years (i am not sure that the kids would say the same....Al is kind of an instigator--no, it's true) that we can get through anything together and thank God for Workman's Comp and AFLAC!

Bedtime....Always Fun!

School is finally in full swing.  Having said that, I think my kids are still on the summer schedule.  Around our house, bedtime is 9:00pm. (My husband wishes it was 7:00)  I have come to the conclusion that if I want my darlings in bed by 9, I'd better start herding them in that direction around 7:30 and then maybe, just maybe things will fall into place.  My children are the masters of distraction.  When I say it is time to get ready for bed, they head towards their room and then shut the door and get lost in the TV.  When they are that quiet I forget (for only a moment) where I have sent them and why but, nonetheless, am enjoying the peace and quiet.  When I finally go back to check on them I get crazy because they haven't done one thing that I have asked.  Seeing the crazy in my eyes they hop to (or pretend to) and get ready for bed.  Apparently they have a condition that doesn't allow them to go to sleep unless I have tucked them in. (and it has to be ME, not even Dad will do at this point...I think it may all be part of their devious plan to avoid bed) After many mooches and hugs and tucks (and I say MANY because if I give an "incorrect" hug or mooch we have to start all over) I finally get out of there and by now it is usually past 9:30.  What procrastinators......(I think I have worked with people with this same condition!)  Funnily enough, it doesn't end there.  After I get them all to bed and have made it to bed myself, there is nothing like the feeling you get when you are just drifting off and you open your eyes and you have your nine year old 2 inches from your face.  She has, yet again, heard noises and wants to sleep in our room.  I tell her that there are 3 other people sleeping in the room with her...if the boogy man does show up she needs only to outrun her brothers and sister that I don't care but she has to sleep on the floor.  I only let my kids sleep on the floor in my room.  You would think that this would discourage them from it......not my kids.  When I get out of bed in the mornings I get to run an obstacle course of bodies.  All of my kids sleep with their blankets over their heads so if I happen to step on someone I can usually tell who it is by the noise they make.  I have accidentally step on a few of them and you would think that would discourage them....not my kids.  And don't even get me started on what it is like trying to explain to the husband why I am "not in the mood".....it is very hard to get the romance going with all of your previous "creations of love" just waiting to question your every move......I can't wait until bedtime tonight....maybe I will start the proceedings at 6 tonight......

Yeah! For Happy Hour, I Think.......

For all my Facebook friends that saw my page last night and for anyone else who missed it......I celebrated Happy Hour again yesterday with a good ol' Costco sized bottle of wine. (again) I stopped at my sister's house to visit and we decided that a nice vat of wine was a very good idea. Well, after it took me 1/2 hour to go from 5th street to the Grand to fetch the wine, it really did taste good. I told her that I just wanted a quick glass so that I could get home to cook supper. Well, 1 hour and 1 large bottle of wine later my phone went to ringing! It was the husband! I let my sister answer my phone. When he asked her what we were doing she said, "We are sitting here watching...(a slight pause) absolutely nothing on TV. I should probably mention that we had been listening to music and the TV wasn't on. She failed to notice that little detail before she tried to pull the wool over his eyes! HE decided that he was gonna stuff his pockets with some cans of beer and head on over. WE decided that he needed to go to the Grand and get more wine. Well, he liked the wine so much that I am pretty sure that he drank most of the second bottle by himself. (darn him....that is my favorite wine) We then decided that it would be a good idea to go uptown to pick up some pizza for dinner. A few beers and a couple of pizzas later we were on our way home. I decided that it would be a good idea to stay up for a bit and drink a couple 5 gallon buckets of water (and maybe a few Advil) so that I would wake up human in the morning. (Lucky for me 2 of my kids decided to wake up in the middle of the night.....if nothing else, at least I was able to whiz out a couple gallons of that water I drank) I decided that I would check Facebook real quick and see what was going on! Well, apparently I was in the mood to take 100 of those dumb quizzes that are hardly ever right, but at least now I know that if I ever want to get a part in the movie Twilight or Van Helsing I apparently am a werewolf. If I decide to be a superhero I could become The Flash because it says that I can run at the speed of light. (The people that made up this quiz obviously never had gym class with me) If I were a symbol on a totem pole I would be the owl.....it has amazing vision bringing the gift of insight -- its about time someone besides me realized this. (I guess it could have been worse...I could have been the hyena....what do you think, Ed?!) And last but not least, I found out that if I were and evil leader I would be most like Adolf Hitler, the 2nd most evil leader. I wonder who the most evil leader was......
I also apparently have a deep secret love for Bob Barker because I quoted him. You have to admit, it really is a good message he was trying to send and who doesn't love The Price is Right?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! or a spritely 80+ year old?!?! If only I were 50 years older I would be all over that!!!!!