Dec. 2013- April 2014; A Little Catching Up

Wow, being a mom is hard!!

I'm falling behind in so many areas that I once really enjoyed.  I'm mostly OK with it all and determined to get somethings back on track so to speak.

So here goes a little catch up of the past few months!

December 2013 was of course Kase's first Christmas.  It was fun to have my "own kid" for Christmas, not that I would ever trade the exceptional moments I shared with either of my sister's kids.  But there is something about having your own that makes it different.

Chad and I put up our first tree in 8 years and are going to try and get a few of our own Christmas traditions going for Kase.  We decided to start with the tree because it was the easiest place to start!  (0:

The hauler that I had tried to hire to bring Fiona home, well I'm not 100% sure how to put this...

Kinda turned into a flake.  After 2 months of contact off and on, (the off part was her disappearing), she contacted us to let us know she could squeeze us in.  Neither Mike nor I was impressed with the run around we got, so when she gave us 2 days notice that she'd be in the area, we decided to pass.  As a team, not just him and not just me.  Fiona has fit into his herd so well that it made no difference if she wintered there or here, so there she stayed.  I paid bored and Mike fed her.  Mindy and I plan on picking her up and doing a mini clinic with Mike the end of May.

January 2014 was pretty uneventful.

I found myself barely able to get my basic chores done, let alone snow removal too.  Chad has been picking up my slack at work as Kase and I are usually there only for about 4 hours a day.  We're having a hard time getting Kase to sleep at work and by 12:30 he is almost unbearable...  Until you get him in his car seat and he knows we're headed home, then he couldn't be happier.  So rather than worry about it, I hired someone to plow the driveway.  Nice guy, best $35 I could spend if you ask me...  He came out 4 times.  I have an extension cord running across the driveway for the horses water.  Blake would make sure it was un-plugged before he started plowing and the plug it in for me on his way out...he even shoveled the sidewalk for me once.  Probably NOT going to ever do the driveway myself again.  (0:

Feburary 2014 was a little disappointing...

We missed Wyatt's 4th birthday.  We had scheduling problems, Mindy had scheduling problems.  It was a mess.

And Horse Girl tried to poke out her eye.  I was in the habit of not going out and touching them everyday due to cold weather and a baby who wouldn't nap, so when I found her injury it was at least a couple of days old.  Now I do see them everyday, but from a distance, so something like a runny, swollen, gross eye wasn't visible.  /0:

I'm not going to lie, I had a fairly dramatic breakdown.

Then I put on my big girl pants and decided that even if I had to go out with a flashlight at 4:00 a.m. and again at 9:00 p.m. I'd start touching them everyday.  I had all kinds of eye stuff raging from drops to salves along with my bute stores, I just started doctoring her myself three times a day.

She healed up pretty good, but I think she did end up with some eye damage that didn't heal or vision loss...

I only "assume" this because even though her eye healed, she still has some blue scaring at the bottom of the afflicted eye.

She is neither jumpy or odd acting on this side, but I my guilt won't let me believe anything less. 

March 2014 spring fever started.

I've got lists, lists, and more lists.  Things broken down in order of importance for horses, dogs, kid.  Oh, man it's so HARD to be a mom.  (0:  

I have also decided to be OK with not even getting 1/4 of the things on any of the lists done.  I also informed Chad this month that we will be doing something for our 5th wedding anniversary.  Our wedding was the last time we went on any type of vacation.  I think it's due time.  We've decided to take a 4 or 5 day weekend just him, Kase, and I.  Maybe a dog or two, but we're not 100% sure.  I am also in charge of it all...  Thank God I've got until October to decide on something!  (0:

Got any ideas?

Pass 'em on!

I also started walking the pup and dogs this month.

Man am I out of shape!  (0:  

Unfortunately Kage is having a harder time getting back into shape than I am.  He's 11 and all the time off since Kase was born and winter hit has really hurt his muscle tone and cardiovascular system.  I'm not sure how far are walking, but I'm going to down load the Map My Tracks app to my phone and see.  I would like to make our walks longer, but can't figure out what to do if my dog can't make it any farther.  Sigh.

April 2014 isn't going too bad so far!

Kase loves going for walks, and seems to be understanding me when I ask him if he wants to go for a walk while holding his camo coat.  I've been doing the same thing that I do with my dogs and horses, using a visual clue with a verbal command/clue.  I'm not sure if it really works, but he certainly doesn't get as worked up when I get out his blue coat and ask him if he's ready to go to work.  LOL!!

I've got Remi's shoes on on Wednesday and am trying to figure out what kind of schedule I can get going so I can ride.  My Aunt Marti has offered to watch Kase on her days off or weekends when she's not doing something else.  I'm having a hard time asking for help and scheduling that help.  For the last 20 years I've just gotten on and went when I was damn good and ready.  Thinking about calling Aunt Marti makes me sick to my stomach.  I know it's ridiculous, and I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough.  (0:  

I'm not ready to give up our family time once Chad's home from work to saddle up and leave him and Kase in the evenings just yet.  Chad is 100% supportive of me still being me, but this is my hang up.  I want our kid to see/remember us together at home, not just at work!  (0:

And that's about it!  I'm going to try and get some new pictures of the girls and get them up.  (0:

Dogs too.

I've got tons of baby pictures though!  LOL!!

And that's what's been going on here for the last little while!  (0:

Want To Know How To Make Your Blog Page Views Jump?

Don't post!  (0:

Those spammers are all over this little spot....

I'm working on a post...

I've scrapped several...

I'm still reading everyone I've always read...

Kase makes it hard to post/comment.  He is Mr. Grabby Fingers already...

He really wants to type...

Which has caused a few computer/lap top issues...

I'm about to give him a dummy keyboard.  I'm just worried that he'll get a key off and eat it...

He also doesn't nap for anything....

25 minutes here, 45 there...

What about those kids that take 3 hour naps...

Do their parents drug them?

How do you get your kid to shut down?

Seriously, I'm not that interesting!

The weather sucks...

I thought this was March!??

I'd feel bad for myself, but the rest of the nation didn't seem to have it worse!

Spring where are you?????

I took this picture about a month ago... But I think it's funny...and how I feel some days!  (0:

Thanksgiving Pictures, And A Few Words Too!

We got to Mindy's Wednesday night...

Kase had his first and the Good Lord Willing inconsolable melt down. 

I guess a little over 8 hours in his car seat just did him in...

It was not fun... 

Thursday morning he was his normal charming self!!

The boys and their "wake up" parents...

They then did some bonding on the bed.

Wyatt told Kase all of the fun things that they could do together once Kase got older.

He even told Kase about eating bacon...

Made my heart warm! 

Bacon is it's own food group 'round here!!

We didn't do any wild stuff this year...  (0:

We just about bored poor Wyatt to tears....

Mindy and I did some "Black Friday" shopping...

With nothing to buy really... So we didn't leave the house until 8:00.  (0:

Grabbed a coffee, a couple of gifts and then picked up Chad and the kids for lunch.

Which by the way was GREAT!!

Freddy did a little bit of "lighting" on his windmill...

The windmill was his birthday present this year.

I've gotta admit, I've got a little bit of windmill envy.

It's pretty awesome.

Right now, it's just a decoration...but there's talk that could change...

Mindy and I grabbed a quick ride.

It was my first ride since April/May!!

Why risk injury, when you can ride your nephew's new horse!  LOL!!

That's right, this cute as a button full sized horse is Wyatt's horse.

She is cute steady as a rock and pretty fun to ride too.

Best of all Moose, is only 6 years old.

Of course Wyatt doesn't ride her without his mom, but this horse was born to be a kid's horse.

I had a ton of fun, and was surprised at a few things.

1.) I've still got my balance!!

2.) I've got some weight to loose, that DID affect my ability to mount up.

It actually struck me as odd that I probably could have used a mounting block to help with the dexterity I'd loss being heavier.

3.) Riding REALLY does make good times even better!!  Well that one wasn't really a surprise... (0:

Mindy rode her new horse...and I am kicking myself for not carrying my camera with me as we rode.

There was no danger of my dropping it.  And I'm not really sure why I left it.

Oh, well!

I also realized that this is the first year that Speedy wasn't home for Thanksgiving...

He's off being started and learning how to be a "big boy".

Maybe next year!!

Seven took several naps in odd places...

She LOVES going to Aunt Mindy's...she did get in trouble a couple of time for "deviling" the cats.

She is sporting a few marks on her nose to prove it.

She also got a couple of spankings.

Bad girl!!

They love her anyway, thank God!!

Wyatt and Mindy read to Kase.

And Wyatt shared some of his favorite Mickey Mouse and Helicopter video's with Kase.

Kase found his Aunt Mindy amazing...

The third picture for this series of photo's is at the bottom of the page...

Oh, Blogger how I love you...

NOT!!

We were duped by Pinterest.

They convinced us that putting your baby's feet on ornaments with glue and glitter was easy.

Well, it's not.  I'm not sure we got one that was worth a hoot.

Wyatt's hands on the bulbs however turned out pretty good.

That boy has some mitts on him!  And he's at the age that these kinds of things are fun!

Kase really just had to do what we wanted...  (0:

Yeah, not as easy as they said...

Wyatt loving the "art project"!

All done in...

Chad and I got to sit on the floor...

(0:

We really had yet another great Thanksgiving!!

Hope everyone else did too!!

Inspired By Shirley...

Shirley over at Ride A Good Horse seems to have a knack for getting great pictures of her gelding Rio with his tongue out after drinking.

I rarely see the girls or boys drinking when I have my camera.

I really don't know why, but it's just not something they do when I'm out taking pictures...

But this Sunday, Remi decided to take a swig while I was watering, camera in hand!

I probably took about 30 pictures of her drinking, trying to get a picture of her tongue out water dripping form her lips.

Well, apparently Remi doesn't stick her tongue out to drink.  

I'm not sure if that makes her a lady, shy, or what.  But I went through all of the pictures, and not a one has a tongue in it!  So these are the ones I liked the best!

Maybe next time I'll catch someone else drinking....

Tongue out, water dripping!  (0:

Now Falls Frozen!

So I turned 39 on Saturday.  It doesn't seem right...usually my birthday is closer to Thanksgiving.  So had it not been for my mom, I honestly may have forgotten my birthday...and so would have Chad...and Flops Like Fish!  (0:  

Now I wouldn't intentionally forget my birthday because I'm getting older...  That's just life.  I'm good with aging.  I feel like I'm 25 for the most part...  Chad says I act like I'm 16 most days...

So that's not too bad, right?  (0:

I usually make birthday resolutions, rather than New Year's Resolutions.  I feel like it's a bit more original...

But as I've said before their not set in stone types of things.  Just like a to do if I can list.  No reason to set myself up to fail!!

I'm working on this...I'm blaming my almost forgetting my birthday as the reason I'm a wee bit behind on this!

What did I get for my birthday?  

A washer and dryer.  Maybe I am getting old...  (0:

I got Chad 6 lbs of gun powder for his birthday.  Are we weird?

Probably, lets not answer that!!

Took the dogs for a run today...  It was 9;00 am and warmed up to a whopping 29.

It's been pretty dang cold.  But at least it wasn't snowing!

I know we need snow, but I'd rather it wait until we get back from Thanksgiving before it lets loose.

Makes it easier on our house sitter and easier on us while driving.

So this is what the scenery looked like....

I had no idea how gross this puddle was until I went through it.

I'm a fair weather quad/danger rider.  I don't climb hills, forge water or ice.  I like smooth even ground.

I tried to take the easiest route, but still ended up gripping the steering wheel and cussing like a sailor!

On the way back, I tried another route...ended up getting stuck and tossing Kage onto the floor...

He of course gave me a look like, "How dare you?"  I reassured him that if I had done it on purpose, he'd have been tossed entirely out of the Danger not just onto the floor.

I doubt he believed me, but trust me, I did not want to come to such an abrupt halt.  Nor did I want to toss him in the floor...

And in the list of things I didn't want to do, I also didn't want to have the small heart attach that I did when I thought I may be stuck in that ice mess.

Luckily reverse fixed our situation...

I can't even imagine Chad's response if I'd have called him to come help me...

(0:

Fall Is Getting Snowed On! (0:

This isn't the "reflection" puddle, but you get the idea.  There would be no reflection on this dog run.  What cracks me up about this picture and the entire trip/run is the amount of tire tracks on this little road.  It's hunting season here.  Which I have NO problem with, but I do have to wonder...out loud...

Why would anyone think that they could hunt here successfully?

Are there deer here?  Yes, I've seen plenty.  Moose?  Yes, they are the reason I took my camera out on Sunday.  I was hoping the weather and the hunters would have them moving around some.  Elk?  Not sure, but seems like there should be some...

Are there joggers, horse back riders, kids riding motor bikes/snow mobiles/quads out there?  Why yes, yes there is/are!  

It's been my experience that ANY road directly off of a main highway and near 4 different housing developments is going to get A LOT of traffic.  Thus not conducive to good hunting.

But, then again, what do I know?  (0:  

I don't hunt...because I don't like venison...and I was raised that if you killed it, you ate it.

Do I think you should hunt?  Indeed I do!  (0:  That's why, even though I feel like its a waste of effort to hunt this road, I make sure I take the dogs out late, so as to not ruin anyone's chances.

And I still see 2 or 3 rigs with hunters.  I just smile and wave...

All the while thinking...

MORON!!  (0:

Every once in a while, it's not hunters looking for something, but hunters dropping off what they a;ready got.

This makes Seven pretty happy!  I find joy in watching her run all out, trying to not trip over her treasure.  Kage and Abbi don't have the enthusiasm to try and pack home a treasure...but for Seven, it's the little things that make her day!  (0:

These two pictures are out of order...  But about 6 weeks ago we had a wind storm come through.  It really didn't seem all that bad, but the tree on the left (lower picture) blew down.  Well partially down.  It got hung on the tree on the right.

The people who put in the barn really should have fell these trees then, OR built up the bank around them.

We opted to have both trees taken down rather than risk the second tree falling down.

And although this snow doesn't look like much, it was wet and heavy.  We got about 6 inches all together.  

It broke trees all over our place, as well as our area.  We ended up loosing power on Saturday for about 11 hours in a solid block and then it went off and on for the remainder of the day.  

We have a generator, so we had heat, lights, and internet.  (0:

The t.v. isn't plugged in to a generator fed outlet...but that's O.K.  We could unplug it and plug it in elsewhere.

I chose to surf the net for half of Saturday and go to work the other half.  (0:

Power wasn't out in town!!

As a side note, I saw 2 rigs off the road and on their sides.

Both Dodges.  Both lifted with big tires.  Both driven by men.

Hmmm...  (0:

I decided that I had better get more of my winterizing finished...

So I turned off faucets that we don't use, picked up hoses, hung hoses in tack room for watering the horses, plugged in water heater, plugged in tack room heater, picked up temporary fence, and turned on the heaters in the apartment.

Our power bill just rose $75...  (0:  

I love winter!  LMAO!!

Remi is so cute!

No one wanted to have their pictures taken on Sunday.  They just kept trying to get me to give them treats...  Or grain....  Or extra hay....  They stayed at the gate the entire time I was outside.  They all got an apple.  I am weak, but not too weak! 

We are still working on getting Fiona home.  

Mike decided to take a "winter" job...  So now we've got to schedule...

I am considering a hauler.

Sucks 'cause then I can't ride and hang with Mike and Erin...

And I will not get a lesson from Mike on how to ride my newly trained  horse!

(0:

I'll keep ya posted!  

Falls Here! (0:

Although I missed enjoying summer (it was too hot for me being preggo) I am still happy to see the leaves changing and the temp dropping!  I am a little sad that the days are getting so short, but you have to give a little to get a little I hear!

 Rain has found us, and even a spit of snow popped up...  But the rain gave me a couple of photo op's when I took the dogs out to run last weekend. (This weekend it's not looking too promising as the weather is awful right now...) But we will see!!

Anyway, thought I'd share a few.

On the horse front, Mindy and I sold Tari.  She is going to one of Mindy's horse acquaintances.  I may or may not have mentioned Fiona that spent some time with a trainer named Brian for some work...  Well if I did or didn't, that is who purchased Tari.  She just isn't fitting Mindy's style/program, and now with Fiona with all of this time and work under her belt with Mike, I just don't want/need her back.  /0:  I've got mixed emotions, but I know that Brian already knows and likes her and he is the best home that Tari can land in for promotion of Speedy.  Hope full that we will get updates and that she will be a total rock-star in the end! 

I also talked to Mike last weekend.  He and Erin are going to see if they can't actually haul Fi up here and stay for a few days.  Bringing horses for themselves too...  Mike wants to spend a few days with me and Fi training me so that I don't booger up his hard work!  

It's a real relief, as I was trying to figure out how to haul with Kase.  With Mindy busy and 8 hours away, it wasn't viable for her to come up and then head south with me for 8 more hours in a truck...  Chad's really busy at the shop and can't really take a 4 day weekend.  Desperation was about to set in and I was seriously considering trying to con either my mom or my dad into going with me.  

Although spending time with either one of them would have be great...  The trip would have definitely been colorful to say the least!  LOL!!  Also please note that I didn't say my mom AND dad... The two of them together with me and the baby and the dog (Kage is my traveling partner.) would have really be something to blog about!  (0:

Love you both, mom and dad!!