Sunday, December 26, 2010

Aaah, Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend.
I hope you all did as well.

Caden put out the cookies and milk for Santa this year and completely on his own added a note of Thanks. Pretty cute.

The kids waiting very patiently for Daddy'O to get the video camera set up.

Dad's favorite gift. I took the kids to the mall and got it done Friday.

I absolutely love it!

We had completely decided against getting a puppy for the kids -long story, but Colton's girlfriend ended up bringing this pup over on Christmas afternoon. She did say that she'd take her back home if we really didn't want her and of course all the kids wanted her, so she is here to stay. No name yet, but a few Cinderella - call her Cinder or Ella, Black Friday - Friday, Black Diamond - Di, Chewy, Nevada and Alabama are in the running.



Krissy came over and we put on the best feast! I tell ya we gals can really cook!

The table was so loaded with food we couldn't put it all on! Pass the dish and back to the kitchen counter it went. I love having Krissy for holidays! It's like having family here. We visit, bitch, complain, giggle, rag on the kids/each other and in general totally enjoy ourselves!


This afternoon I took the kids into town to do a little ice skating.



Our good friends joined us too.


Chyann and Caden skating together.



Then biting the ice!



Caden bounces right back up, but



Chyann has got to fix her hair and make sure her new phone wasn't damaged in the fall. Jeez.




Can you believe that she wants to cut all those lovely locks off again?
She is just beautiful.




Got to talk to all my family members on Christmas too.

I sure loved that.

My Daddy also said Happy Birthday - in six months.

Apparently he can only remember my Birthday is exactly six months from Christmas.

He even commented that he can't believe I'm gonna be sooo old (40, yikes). I told him I couldn't believe how old that will make him!

Back to the grind tomorrow, but at least it's another short week!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

My nephew , secret Santa and more

Wow!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged!

Busy time of year for us, as I'm sure it is for everyone.

My nephew Cody, is going home to his family, my brothers, for Christmas tonight.
He has been in Afghanistan and is done with his tour now.
The kid is 19 and it's hard for me to fathom that he has been there, as a soldier, when I can only see him in my minds eye as this cute little curly haired blond baby with the blue eyes.
So, happy that he has made it home in one piece.

We have been Secret Santa'd.
Who, knew what an impression that would make on me.
I opened this very ordinary looking Christmas card last night and got a bit choked up.
Someone.
Someone I don't know who -- completely anonymously,
sent us a letter saying a couple in our town wanted to help make our holiday extra special by being a secret Santa. They gave us a gift card to our local market!
What a thoughtful, nice, gift.
And I have absolutely no idea who would do this.
So, Thank you, whoever you are.

The kids have been out of school for Christmas break since the 22nd.
So far no one has done much other than sleep in and play in the snow.
Which is fine, for now.. Next week they will get cracking on rooms/basement and those other projects I've got lined up for them.

Tomorrow I'm finishing the last of my shopping. Me and about half the state I'm sure.
I am hoping to get an early start and be home by noon for a nap.
That is probably wishful thinking, but right now it's sounds like a reasonable plan.

Toodles, for now.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

This years Christmas Card..

Due to increasing age, forgetfulness, people getting impatient when their picture is being taken, and my decreasing ability to send cards on time here is my card to cover every holiday.


Happy freaking Everything!


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Horse play...

Love to watch the horses when they play.

Went to Chyann and Cadens' school Christmas programs yesterday afternoon and last night.

They were wonderful as usual :)

Sure was nice to work early and have the evening to be with the family.

Still cold here. I think it was only -15 this morning and the forecast is for more snow when it warms up today. Lovely.

Happy hump day!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Big Snow

Well, that was fun!

As you've probably heard, we had a big ol' storm here in the mid-west over the weekend.

Boy was it a whopper!

I heard we got about 18" of snow.
Kind of hard to tell with all the drifts in my opinion.

All the horses were in the barn for over 24 hrs.
They were all frisky when we let them out yesterday.

4' drift in front of the shed, at the bend in the driveway.

Buried hot tub.

4" snow drifts all the way around the pool.


The back porch, there is a table under all that snow. The Hubby used the snow blower to clear this off.




A friend of ours came by and did the driveway for us.


Sure enjoyed our Saturday though. Watching movies, napping and one aborted snow machine ride (snow was too fluffy, we kept getting stuck).

Sunday was all about moving that snow. With the wind blowing it was very cold.
Looks like the kids will have school today. They were sure hoping for a snow-day.
A lot of schools in the area are closed due to the wind chill factor.

Stay warm.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Sunsets, puppies, snow and more

Somehow it's Sunday again.

It's been another busy week.
Saw this sunset the other night and ran out to get some shots of it.

Absolutely lovely!

The Hubby's quest for a puppy for Chyann has more become a quest for a family puppy since Chyann has got it into her head that her Daddy wants this new puppy to be Casey's replacement.

So, Colton's girlfriend has a Chihuahua and mini-dachshund mix puppies
(same kind Casey is)
and we went over to look at them.

There are 3 black with a little brown and white females (that look just like Casey did when she was a pup).



A very sweet brown male that Caden wanted soo bad (that little guy was already spoken for though).

An adorable gray and white female that I thought was the cutest.



And this little guy, you can barely see the little freckles on his nose, but they are there.

And would you look at those fun spots. Colton was there when the pups were born and named this one Snoopy.



Pretty cute little buggers.

Anyhow.. they are only five weeks old and we shall see what happens.
I know we don't need anymore poopers and pee'ers in my house.

Winter has arrived here in the form of snow. Yesterday morning when I went out to start the van for work I ended up also sweeping off about 3 inches of freshly fallen snow. Just what I wanted to do - drive to work on a Saturday in the dark on unplowed country roads. I credit my Alaskan driving skills to getting me there in one piece as all the crazy WI drivers were out trying to run themselves and me into the ditch!

Chyann has recovered from her ear infections, thankfully and has declared that she WILL NOT miss anymore school because making up all that homework was a pain. I think that is wishful thinking as I know she will be missing at least three weeks in Feb when she has her operation.

Caden and his buddies at school have been banned from playing football on recess due to being excessively rough (tackeling) for two weeks. That is a huge thing for him and his buds as they LOVE to play football.

Colton and his band have been booked to play a big venue in Milwaukee in Feburary!

They are sooo EXCITED!!

For the longest time The Hubby and I didn't think the boys even had a name for the band, but they just didn't want to tell us what it was. When we finally found out the name we were appaled. No I wont even tell you the name.

So, now they have this big concert at a well known venue. I told Colton that they will NEVER go far with that kind of a band name and that I had actually told a few friends the name and they all agreed - bad name.

Colton passed this info onto the band members and it looks like they are all in agreement to change to name!! I can't tell you how happy I am to hear this!

Last I heard the new name was going to be Orchard Wardens, which I really like.
I have no idea what it means or even if it has any significance to anything.

I'm going to do some Christmas baking today and maybe help load wood into the basement.

Happy Sunday to you:)