a day in the woods...

We had good intentions…

4 years ago today we set out to adopt a new member of the family.

We came home with the most precious little girl! She even had her own blankie and her own bed.

I can’t believe she was ever that small.

This morning I saw on Facebook that our local animal shelter was offering FREE adoptions TODAY. Little Man and I have really been wanting to adopt something cute and furry. When I saw the offer, I was all over that. I went to their website and sure enough – they had FOUR guinea pigs available for adoption.

I announced to the boys we were going “out”. Loaded them up and off we went. We joyfully arrived at the animal shelter and announced our intentions to the first employee type person we saw.

“We want a guinea pig,” I said. Little Man stood next to me holding my hand nodding his head as hard as he could and giving the employee man the biggest smile he could. The man responded, “We have guinea pigs.” He proceeded to show us to the right building.

We walked in and employee man came back to us and announced that they did NOT have any guinea pigs available for adoption. The look on my face was, well, it was that look that you make when you really, really, really want to just push the rewind button and have a different outcome and you think if you stand there with that look long enough that it will actually happen and he’ll come back with the answer that you were after in the first place. But alas, that didn’t happen.

He delightfully went on to explain that they had 2 momma guinea pigs in L&D nursing babies, but they were only a week old. We could go fill out an application and wait for the babies to be ready to adopt in 4-5 weeks. I looked at my 3 year old, back at employee man, back at the 3 year old.

Uh, no. 4-5 weeks was NOT acceptable. We wanted our guinea pig. We were not going home without our guinea pig.

So, we loaded up and headed to the pet store. And there we found not one, but two bundles of cuteness.

This is Cupid. She’s the feisty one. She’s still a little unsure of her new surroundings.

And this is Valentine. She’s a little older, calmer, wiser than Cupid. She likes to be held. You’ll have to be sure to ask K3 what happens when you hold them a little too long. Heehee!

Little Man is beside himself with his new pets. Big Man? (aka Hubby) He’s not so beside himself. I tried to explain how it all evolved – I really tried to do something GOOD. We did have the best of intentions. But these 2 needed a home just the same.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Project

It was time.

Time to clean out and organize the pantry.

Waaaayyyyyyyy past time.

So “way past time” that I was too embarrassed to even take a “before” picture. I should have. But I didn’t.

Pinterest is NOT helping the “to do” lists around the world. Instead of getting shorter, it grows longer by the minute. Such is the case at this house. Poor hubby.

He announced that he needed to burn some vacation hours this weekend so he would be around. Wrong words to say to a wife who has a Pinterest wish list that is pages long. I got busy gathering up all my ideas and pictures for my soon-to-be newly renovated pantry. I presented them all to him one evening last week. He hid his complete emotional outburst of excitement quite well. Now that I think about it, he was really much calmer than I expected him to be. His only response was, “Oh.” For him, that one word can mean a thousand different things. I chose to define it as “I’m just so excited over this project I hardly know what else to say to you right this minute.” I know that’s what he meant.

This was my first step. My pantry has too many bags and bags are just hard to keep neat and tidy. I’m a baker. So the bags of cookie chips were the first to go. I have been saving jars for awhile – I just can’t bring myself to throw away a perfectly good jar. I put some of them to use. They now hold my cookie chips. What you can’t see is that I also cut out the recipes on the back of the bags and put those on the back of the jars. :) I’m just so clever.

The next morning hubby got to work designing.

His part of the project was to build me a fantastic new spice rack that would hold ALL my spices. They were everywhere and it was hard for me to know exactly what I had. So I gave him a picture and said “build it”. Please, I know I said that too. As you can see from this picture, the 3 year old was already busting at the seams to “help”.

My part of the project, other than completely emptying the pantry and organizing everything in it, was to PAINT the pantry. Some of my “idea” pictures had painted walls in their pantry and it just looked awesome. So, when I announced that I would also like my pantry to be painted, while we were at it, hubby kindly said, “Ok, I’ll buy you a paint brush.”

Oh contraire my sweet pumpkin – lest you forget – I’m allergic to paint. Actually it’s the latex. I batted my eyelashes as sweetly as I could and tried to look apologetic about that fact. It didn’t work. Here’s what he did:

Yep – that sweet man of mine bought me a WHOLE BOX of latex-free gloves and loaned me one of his work shirts. Then he said, “have fun!” And off he went to build my spice rack.

And then it got complicated. I have a 3 year old who LOVES art projects of any kind. When he heard the word “paint” he was raring to go. Let me make it a little more clear – he was JUMPING FOR JOY at the thought of getting to paint with me. He was under me, behind me, all around me. Finally, I had to pull the “Daddy really needs your help building my spice rack” excuse. It worked.

And I was off! It’s actually a lot harder than it looks – I got quite a workout contorting my body to positions that would reach under, above and between all the shelves. But I was on a mission.

Hubby finished the spice rack and I finished the painting. While we waited for paint to dry, I continued to organize and get ready to put it all back.

 

Thanks to a clearance sale at Kroger, which I stumbled upon on a trip to the store for milk, I found some great stackable containers and cute wire baskets that were perfect for my project! It’s the little things…..

 

And then I started to fill the shelves. I was giddy. It took me forever.

Because hubby also added another shelf at the top, I had lots more room to store those bulky things that never have a good place to go.

Everything in its place.

Ahhhhh…..now all I needed was that spice rack.

TaaaDaaaa!!!!!!! It’s PERFECT. It is exactly what I asked for. He did a fantastic job! What a handy man I have. I think I’ll keep him.

13

#3 turned 13 yesterday. It was momentous.

Several times he reminded us NOT to get him birthday presents before his birthday – he wanted to go shopping on his birthday. Um – Ok.

Yesterday morning when I woke him up with his happy birthday song, I asked him what we were shopping for that day. His response?

SOCKS.

Yep – you heard it right. {Or rather, you read it right.} Anyway – he wanted to shop for socks. Now, granted, he was VERY specific in the type of socks that he was looking for – you know, they had to have SWAG.

SWAG?

I think I have officially recognized the generational gap between me and my children.

So, after his shark dissecting session, we went shopping. For socks. And we found socks.

And then we had to have shoes that matched the socks.

And then we had to have a hat that matched the shoes.

It’s all about the SWAG.

I am getting old. It’s official.

After the shopping trip, we headed south to watch the birthday boy play basketball. I don’t know what it is, but all of a sudden he has found his niche on the basketball court. It’s so much fun to watch.

See the SWAG on his head? Nice huh? Like we needed ONE MORE HAT in our house.

I wish someone would tell me exactly what SWAG is. Because the kid is cracking me up with it, whatever it is. The dimples get me every time.

But on to the basketball game. Good game. I got some fun pics. I am still trying to figure out my new camera – I really need to just read the manual. It does so much!

Nice shot #20!

VERY good block here. Not easy to guard a guy twice your size.

Focus.

Now – in this picture you can see what’s coming. Kade is doing a good job guarding #23. But check out the guy on the left – he’s on a mission. And here is the progression….

Poor thing! He didn’t stand a chance!

I got a good laugh out of those shots. So did my player.

It was a fun game to watch. He has loved playing with this team. I love that he loves it.

After the game we headed to the birthday dinner. For the next pictures he cannot blame me – he’s the one who chose the destination.

They made him do it.

And then they gave him a big YEEHAW.

Happy birthday to my K3! It was a GRAND day!!!!!

Hunter/Gatherers

I could have been a pioneer woman. I think. Maybe.

Ok, maybe not. But I enjoy pretending sometimes.

One beautiful December afternoon found Hubby, Little Man and me all home at the same time. Hubby needed help gathering firewood – a cold front was coming! We had to prepare because this is the house in which we DO NOT turn on the heater until the temperature drops below 20. And I’m being almost completely serious. Actually – the rule is – no heater till Momma gets cold.

But Momma loves, loves, loves a fire in her fireplace when the weather turns cold. Hubby knows this. So off we went in the jeep to tackle some dead trees.

Little Man is in heaven in the jeep. I’m not entirely sure that K3 is going to get to keep his jeep – Little Man has laid claim and doesn’t let it leave its parking spot without him perched in the backseat.

And this precious face hops in the jeep anytime she gets the notion. She kind of takes up the entire back seat. Little Man usually has to push and shove to hold his ground.

For his size, he is the hardest working little boy I’ve ever seen! He loves to help – with anything, and everything, and then some. He even helps when you don’t need it. But it’s usually the case of you just don’t know you need his help. He knows.

And this one? Well, she’d love to be a big help. Really she would. But her little legs are so short that by the time we load and move to the next spot, she’s just catching up to us. She has to scout the area for varmints first. That’s her job.

 

And she’s quite good at her job. She takes it seriously.

This was my favorite view of the day. It was just beautiful. I found myself so thankful for quiet afternoons with my boys, life in the country, wood for my fire, blue skies, and on and on and on. Blessed, I am.

My Birds

I am like my mother, in a lot of ways.

She loves animals.

I love animals.

She has animals.

I have animals.

She loves birds.

I…..like….birds.

Now, I say this to point out the subtle difference here. She loves birds to the point where she enjoys them in cages in her house and outside of her house. She loves to take care of them, talk to them, watch them. And they love her.

Me? I like the birds, but not in my house. And I’m certainly not enough of a bird lover to clean a cage every other day.

But I love to watch them in my back yard.

My mom actually gave me this bird feeder. I have started keeping it filled with sunflower seeds on a regular basis. And the birds love me for it!

These are the bossy little ones that fuss at each other just like hummingbirds do. They make the red birds wait their turn. The red birds are my favorite.

Thanks mom for passing on your love for nature!

Magical

Christmas with a 3 year old is just M*A*G*I*C*A*L. I had forgotten. I’m so glad that I get to remember.

It began with the Christmas tree.

As we got all the boxes out and the tree assembled, his level of excitement rose exponentially with each nativity, each decoration, each stocking that we unpacked. It just made my heart so happy to see the wonder in his eyes.

This year he really was a big help. The teenagers, of course, bolted and were too cool to help me decorate. But not this guy – he was at my side the entire day. He’s quite opinionated too – I think I’m just going to put him in charge next year and I’ll be the elf.

Yes – this is his personality to a “T”.

Given his wonderment of this holiday – it was no surprise to me that he could NOT wait for his preschool Christmas program. I think he asked me 5 times on the way to school that morning if I was going to stay with him and watch. I assured him that I’d be back and there was no way I was going to miss it.

Luckily I was able to sit very close to the front. When he saw me he was all smiles and waved with BOTH hands.

This is Little Man’s best bud, at least in his eyes. He talks about him ALL.THE.TIME. I think they get along quite well.

Now it’s normal in any 3 year old singing program for the kids to get slightly….bored. I was able to capture this phenomenon for you.

 

It was very hard for me to keep a straight face while watching this unfold.

But they did a fantastic job and the teachers timed it perfectly. The little restless stars were able to escape and eat their cupcakes in the nick of time!

I am so thankful for this Little Man and the magic that he’s experiencing this year! Makes it magical for all of us!

More November Stuff

I cannot move on to December until I finish all the November “stuff”. I’m chronologically challenged that way. Even though I have yet to finish our Washington DC trip on here, which was way back in July. As you can tell, I have lost sleep over this fact. But we must move on. As my sister-in-law would say “must press on”.

So – K3 has joined a new 4-H club and he’s hooked. It’s the shooting club – are you surprised? I must admit, I’m almost as excited about it as he is. It’s a fantastic club with amazing facilities. Our county is very lucky to have a state of the art shooting range for these kids. Several in the club have gone on to compete in the Jr. Olympics. How cool is that?

The first big activity for the kids was the “Super Shoot”. The kids and most of the families camped out at the gun range the night before the day of fun. Little Man and I opted for our own bed. K3 had plenty of “family” out there.

I headed back out there early the next morning to watch the fun. Just as they were about to begin the first event – a familiar face surprised us – none other than K3’s PawPaw. I had no idea he was coming. I have no idea how he even found the place because it is in a very, very, very remote location in the middle of nowhere. He’s resourceful that PawPaw! He got to sneak up on Kade – um, no – wrong word, you never “sneak” up on someone holding a loaded gun. He got to surprise Kade with his presence and Kade lit up.

These two have always shared a love, a passion, for hunting and shooting. There was no way PawPaw was going to miss watching his first competition – even though it was just for fun.

He’s the best PawPaw ever, even if I am a little partial.

And my sweet niece came along for the ride as well. It was hard for PawPaw to just sit back and watch. I know everything in him wanted to be right up on that station with K3, coaching him and guiding him. He did a good job of restraining himself.

Have I mentioned before how intense this kid is?

Unlike baseball or basketball or even football – there is NO cheering in this sport. Do you even know how hard that is for this mom? And to top it off he was HITTING those little orange things flying through the air. I wanted to clap and jump every time!

I think I accidentally let a little teensy weeny “yay!” slip out and this was the look I got. Not good.

I learned my lesson though and we carried on. It was a fun day.

Little Man even took his gun and found a friend to play with. I have a feeling these 2 are going to be hanging out a lot at these events in the future!

This was a different type of shooting – sporting clays. They came out from the trees, just like real birds. It was a lot more difficult than the normal skeet houses – but K3 handled it remarkably well.

There are some awesome coaches in this club.

I think it’s going to be an adventure that we’re all going to love!

Thanksgiving Feast

We were held hostage for Thanksgiving this year. Not really, but sort of. Because we had to work the football game, we couldn’t go far. SO – the family came to us.

Little Man was just a wee bit excited to have his cousins here. He LIVES to play with his cousins.

Hubby is not much different – he LIVES to play outside with the boys.

Sometimes when the cousins are here we don’t even take time for clothes. Some of us, not all of us.

Little monkeys.

These two literally do not stop the entire time they are together (& awake). They are quite the combination.

From hard hats to cowboy hats – they played every role they could think of.

Marley gets just as excited when the cousins come as Little Man. ESPECIALLY when the canine version of her cousins show up.

She suddenly becomes the biggest lap dog you have ever seen.

My sweet Big G loves to read! He’s growing up so fast.

The ping pong got pretty intense. No, it got VERY intense.

The pre-feast picture. Yes, we ate on paper plates. Yes, it was MARVELOUS. NO ONE complained because they knew that they would be the one doing the dishes if they did.

This year we all have so much to be thankful for. I am so thankful for our family. I’m thankful we live in a country where we are free to gather and fellowship with each other.

The End of Another Season

For the past 2 years we have been involved with working at the concessions stands at A&M football and basketball games. Turkey Day marked the end of our 2nd football season to work concessions. Even though we would all have preferred to have been home with our families – we made the most of it and had the best time!

We take our job very seriously – can you tell?

Very seriously.

Gosh – now that I think about it – maybe we take our work just a little too seriously.

I mean – we love each other, but sometimes we just get carried away.

And by the end of an evening of flipping burgers and slapping dogs on buns and sloshing drinks – we’re all just a little…..delirious.

Delirious I tell you….

I think Mir had a little too much soda…..

Wait, what? I think I was supposed to be guarding the money. I think I was a little on the tired side.

Some people can still count by the end of the evening – that’s why they are in charge. Me – I’m not in charge of counting anything. Just the camera.

Joyfully serving our customers while everyone else sat comfortably in their own home, by their fire, tummies full – watching the game on their big screen. But, I tell you there was not an ounce of bitterness in our group. Ok, maybe there was an ounce somewhere, but the joy and fun far outweighed any disgruntledness that might have existed.

We are a happy bunch. Turkey day in the concession stand was no different. I have truly loved working with this group of parents and kids. Lifelong friendships have been established and THAT is why we do this.

It’s the MOST wonderful time….

Of the year!

No, I’m not talking about Christmas – that ranks right up there though.

I’m talking about PIG DAY. Hubby came in early this morning as we were getting ready for church and announced that today was the day!

AND THEN…..

He said I got to be the one to go with my girl to pick them up. I almost cried. I’ve never been invited/allowed to go to the pig farm. I got all flustered and started running around wondering what to pack. Oh wait, it’s just a 2 hour drive. Then I remembered the camera. Then I felt like a dork, but I grabbed it anyway.

At the end of a fantastic sermon by a guest speaker – Chuck Norris’s pastor to be exact – the girl & I bolted out of church and headed north to the pig farm. I was absolutely giddy. The girl kept looking at me like I had truly lost my mind.

We got there and had to wait on Mr. Pig Farmer to come back to the barns. The girl told me I could not just take off and start petting all the pigs. Mr. Pig Farmer is very careful not to “contaminate” his pigs with outsiders. OF ALL THE NERVE. So I stayed put.

When Mr. Pig Farmer came back to where we were, he took us to the nursery! YES – he has a nursery! I was in heaven. The babies were no longer tee-ninecy, but they were all still little enough to be adorable. Oh wait, they’re always adorable.

I really had to restrain myself from just jumping right in to the pens with all of them and loving on each and every one. I didn’t want to embarrass the girl in front of her breeder – so I held myself back. I did talk to all of them though.

She finished all of her pickin’ and we loaded ‘em up and headed south. Oh – and just to mention – it was 20 degrees cooler at the pig farm than it was at home. Texas weather is SO FICKLE.

We got home about the same time as our boys finished up at the gun range. Here was Sweet Baby’s reaction to what waited for him in the back of the truck.

I think he’s been looking forward to this day as much as I have!

We got their pens all ready for them, got them unloaded and tucked them in for the night.

These 3 I think we’ll call Larry, Curly & Mo. They are not near as skittish as our previous little pigs have been at first. Two of them were ready to play!

This little guy is MY project. He has already stolen my heart. He’s the most docile of the bunch. He loves to be loved. I think I even heard him call me ‘Momma’, but don’t tell the girl I said that out loud. She’ll ban me from the barn forever.

And this is the 4th one. Not sure what we’re going to call him. Sweet Baby has already claimed him. We’ll see what he comes up with for a name.

Yes, I know how the story ends. But every year I hold out hope that just maybe I can keep 1 of them as a pet. This just might be the year!