A New Family Hobby

This past spring the husband decided it would be fun to relive his younger days and get a dirt bike. I was hesitant at first because as we all know, older folks who haven't ridden in a while + a motorized 2 wheeled machine could result in not good things for said older folks.  That being said, this older gal decided it would be fun to join in and we ended up getting a big bike for papa, a medium bike for mama and a little bike for middle brother. On a side note, this whole adventure started after attending some awesome cross country races to watch a couple of awesome local boys. That and our 2nd oldest boy found our youngest a cute little bike.  We got it all fixed up and everyone had a blast riding it but, as I said, it was decided to get bigger bikes for bigger people. So, we are now the proud owners of 4 bikes, and a rabble of riding gear that has taken over most of the garage. This fact will make me sad when it snows for real and I can't park in the garage. We have been out a few times and so far have only had one accident that landed us in the ER....and our backyard, at times, resembles a racetrack. My husband taught my middle boy how to pull a wheelie and now wheelie practice has become a main after school activity. I guess practice makes perfect!! The only downside (according to my youngest) Gabe won't stop stealing Rollie's bike! (Its an better bike for doing a good wheelie! 😉) I hope next year we have more time for more fun!

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!  :-)

Are You Ready For Some T-Ball?

When our oldest was younger she kept our early summers occupied with rookie baseball and then softball.  It was a great time but Mother Nature was very unkind at times.  Well Emily has moved on to bigger and better things so now the title of Sports Jock has fallen to our 7 year old Gabriel.  He was in little kid basketball his kindergarten year and was your typical "I would rather be playing tag with my friends than pay attention" kid. (as was most of the kids in this league)  Well this past year, after watching his first game, we thought "here we go again."  Well, on the way home from that first game, Albert had a man to man talk with him about being a good player and paying attention.  So he started practicing out in the driveway. Well that lasted a day or so but the talk must have stuck with him because at the next game and all the ones after he was an animal. He literally got almost every rebound, including the ones he fought his teammate for....:-/.  Well the same went for T-Ball.  The first game consisted of him playing tag with his friends and not paying attention at all!  In his defense, they only have 1 real practice before their season starts and he didn't get a good feel for the game last year because Mother Nature rained out most of his games! Well, Albert had another man to man with him and now he pays attention better but tries to get every ball in the outfield and always wants to be first at bat.  Hopefully by the time he gets to the higher levels of play, he will have a better understanding that his teammates are actually there to help him! :-)  I also hope that when he is a senior in high school playing basketball, he still waves to me and tells me "Mom, I love you!"

Gabriel playing 2nd base. (in the red shirt...his team is called the Cherry Bombs)

Still on 2nd base

Getting ready to bat.

Slugger!

Just made it to 1st after an awesome hit!

What Rollie does at the T-Ball games.

(notice the lovely shade of blue on his toes...his Dad loves it!)

Another photo op for little brother!

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!