Heir-Raising Tales

Here is a tale I'm going to confide,

A tale of pot-bellied pigs and a pony ride.

Yeah, I can't go on for long in verse

Unless, of course, it is rehearsed.

I know, I know, enough already. Are your ears bleeding?

So today we went to the safari. Our time was short, as we needed to be back by 2pm for my husband (whose nickname will be announced soon) to head to a poker tourney.

We left here a little after 9am. And then, maybe 5 minutes from our destination, our tire blew out. And I mean it BLEW out. It was flopping and rattling, as we drove on the rim into a stranger's driveway.

Let me tell you, God always has our back. The kindest couple came out with offers of help. The gentleman helped my husband change the tire, and offered us room to play in his yard and garages, and then he proceeded to air up our spare and the rest of the tires, to boot! Such unexpected kindness from a stranger. It was a wonderfully noble gesture for my children to witness.

Sooo, on to the animals!

This, my dears, was Little Lad's first-ever pony ride!!

He looooooved it, by the way!

We've never done the pony rides before, because I'm way too frugal to spend $3 dollars for a couple laps around a tree. Outrageous. But today they did all the rides for free!

Again, God cares about all of the little pleasant surprises.

How do you like this fashion statement?

He's going to start trends with the whole snappy-flap hanging out.

My husband has animal magnetism, let me tell you!

The following picture, of my Artist and the rabbit, is dedicated to Ann-Marie.

You always come to mind now, when I see a fluffy bunny!

Hmmm...and this one is dedicated in memory of Sweetheart.
May she live on forever in our hearts!

This was my husband's favorite critter. Seriously.

Just chillin' with the goats.

Plllthhhaaaaa!

On to the driving part:

Dash gripped the steering wheel with some trepidation as he maneuvered the rough terrain
(he had a bit of help from his Daddy.)

The drive home was gorgeous. Just amazingly warm, breezy, bright...sigh...

I could live like this year 'round.

My precious angel fell asleep on the way home.

Despite the flat tire and walking around for hours, sunshine gives me renewed energy. SO I cleaned out the van, cooked chili, and played with the boys outside, while hubby and The Artist were at poker. Apparently he didn't fare too well, but I'd still call the day a success.

(And, yes, I can assure you that my title play on words was intentional!)

The decorating bug!

Okay, come on. You can tell me. What have you been up to?? I know I'm not alone in the household jitteries. Christmas was barely over when I started packing all the stuff away. It's so beautiful and fun to decorate...but then it seems to suffocate me and my house. Just too much STUFF. So away it went, back to the attic and shed to await another crisp November day.

And then it happened. I was bit by the decorating bug. "Things must change," the little critter whispered. "Do this." and then "what about that?"

And before I know it I'm painting and modge podging, and the kids are finger-painting and doing block creations, side walk chalk, and sculptures.

I received some beautiful papers for Christmas.

Remember my philosophies regarding my home? "It doesn't have to be perfect to be Beautiful" (from the Nester, of course,) and "Why NOT?" Anything is fair game if I enjoy it. As long as it makes me smile (and my husband can live with it,) then it passes the test. What freedom and fun!!

This is a pic of the counter side, in progress. See all those scuff marks and doodly drawings? Away they went, under cover of whimsy paper.

And here is the finished project. Something sweet, colorful, cheerful...

I modge podge my stuff on, and then spray it with this wonderful stuff:

Spray it on a nice day, so you can open the windows. This stuff is smelly!

Next I went after the kitchen/schoolroom door. The new color plus Nature Man's rocket picture made it perfect!

Then the sewing table at the end of the hall. It was plain white before. Wish I had thought to take "before photos."

Isn't this fun paper?! Ahhhh.... refreshing.

When I ran out of obvious stuff to glue paper to, I began rearranging, and bringing nature treasures in. I love these wild sticks. Mrs. Smiley and I gathered them on a hike the other day. (I still have yours, by the way.)

Some here, some there, some everywhere, even on the lights. :-) That is definitely a smile-inducer for me. I love nature, sunshine, and God's creation is certainly better than anything I could create to go up there!

Oh, and here's a plate I moved. See the new wire birdie that my sis gave me? I know, it's not a great picture. Trust me, the bird is precious.

So, what have you been up to?
Give me some more ideas! :-)

"I said what I meant and I meant what I said," God is faithful 100% percent

Wow!! It's been a busy week!!!
Last Monday we went to see a presentation by The EquiSpirit Riding Academy in OK. The building was Frrrr-eeee-zing cold, but the kids enjoyed the Clydesdale and Quarter Horse. Nature Man even did some riding.
Then we had a few Christmas celebrations with friends...
Mrs. Smiley and her little boys made the kids paper mache masks, flingers and ammo, and awesome magnetic jars among other things. School among Thorns Teacher was kind enough to include a first-aid kit in my gift. HA! Perfect for me. I don't make it 24 hours without a cut or scrap (miraculously, I have never had stitches!!)




We also visited my grandparents in town. Their house is an odd mix between old people' s home and petting zoo. At least they don't have the goats anymore. There was a dog in the den that kept growling at us. Scared me pretty bad. But the kids enjoyed bunnies, gerbils, hamsters, fish and this freaky cat that has one green eye and one blue eye!
There's also a massive owl collection and license plate collection in that house. I should have taken pictures of that, too.

This is my Dad's dad holding my Little Lad. My baby didn't know who had him for a minute, or he would've been howling. Still, I'm glad I snapped this picture. My grandparents don't get out much, due to her polio, and they love to receive pictures of the kids.

And then there's the in-law Christmas, which we did yesterday morning. Hubby's sisters, nieces, grandma, and his Dad and stepmom were there. We haven't had the one with his mom and stepdad, brother, and two other sisters yet. Life gets a bit crazy with so much family! :-)
It can be hard to remember the REASON for the season when in-laws bicker, and people go crazy tearing into packages.

At our home (and my parents') we always read the passage in Luke before opening gifts, and then one person passes the gifts out. It's not a mad dash for more stuff. Still, there are things I plan to change. Several of my friends have mentioned their 3-gift rule. I like that. Three gifts for each child. It becomes more about finding special things for that person than about just collecting more things to open. There is less money spent, less time wasted, and less clean-up. (Besides, they'll still get plenty from family and friends. ;-)

After the in-law fiasco, we went to Natural Falls. Can you believe this incredible weather???
My Mom took these shots.

Look at that handsome dude. Looks just like his Daddy. The poor boy needs a haircut. I think he may go for a Beatles look, so we can wait on the trim.

Little Lad got VERY unhappy on the hike. He did NOT want to hike...he wanted to stand by the water and chuck the rocks in. And never leave. So my Mom took him up to the playground area while we hiked down to the falls.

You can click on the collages to enlarge.

And, yes, I still plan to post about the Home Management Binder. I'm trying to reinstate it, so I can spend less time doing the urgent, but unimportant things. I need a system in place. There's a part of me, though, that sabotages systems. Argh. God is working on me in that area, I think.

Christmas (over and over and over)

Ahhh, I love Christmas. Or should I say I love the MEANING and JOY of Christmas. It does get exhausting, though, to celebrate SO many times in such a short amount of time. :-) It may take me all weekend to get my house back in order.

But, I'm not complaining!! It was great to see so much family, play games, visit with friends, cousins, grandparents, in-laws. And the weather was gorgeous, too!! We even went to a nearby state park today, after another in-law celebration this morning (!!!)

I'm quite backed up with pictures, as you can imagine. So I'll just post one photo collage for now.

Hope you all had a peaceful, relaxing, JOYOUS celebration of our Lord!

(Okay, I can see that this is too small. Phooey. I'm too tired to change it right now. I'll have to switch around some stuff this weekend. Bear with me! :o) If you just can't wait and you desperately want to see more pictures of me, my kids, and all of my extended family, please jump over to my sister's site for all of the fab pictures that she so swiftly and smoothly posted. Yeah, you beat me to it this time, girl. And I think you've been watching too much Kung Fu Panda, Jules!

In the meantime, here are some quickie details you can try to spot from the above collage:

The Artist read the Christmas story this year, for the first time.

There's a picture of me in there with NO make-up on. You may never see one like it again.

Two of my boys got walking sticks for gifts. They tried these out today as weapons and then for a hike.

A Very Smiley Christmas

Wondering where your Christmas card is? Don't be alarmed. No, you aren't on my "naughty list." This is the first year EVER that I have not done Christmas cards. I fully intended to, but time just escaped me. I had already purchased some cute cards, with a place for a photo, but my attempts at getting the kids to smile ALL AT THE SAME TIME were unsuccessful this year. I'll show you some of the failed cracks at it when I get a chance to upload them.

I've been seeing these SmileBoxes everywhere. After getting about my 5th one through email, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and make my own. Saves me all the postage, too.

These are just random "happy moment" shots throughout the year. Enjoy.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Trail Trek, "boy style"

The weather wasn't too bitter yesterday. In fact, it was downright pleasant in the sun. Mrs. Smiley and I took 5 of our boys for a nature hike. Boys have their own way to do everything.

Here our journey begins...

This is our "official" lookout.

Rock-throwing-- Is there anything better??

Even Mrs. Smiley's baby got in on it.

Deer tracking

Vine swinging, Tarzan-style (by the way, check out Nature Man's shirt. My grandparents ordered it for him from this great site. It says "Super Homeschool Student.")

Climbing...ahh, well he has to get that extra practice somewhere ;-)

Guess who fell in the water? Nope, it wasn't this little guy...

Field-running Nice wide open spaces Heading home as the sun starts to set

Hope you all enjoyed some good weather and got out in the fresh air before it turned bitterly cold again. Ayaya, I hate to be cold. I'm shivering right now, wearing two shirts, a jacket, jeans, and slippers. Brrrrrr.....