4 is 5

Teagan is another year older. :o(

He asked for a monster truck cake this year and I must say, his Dad did a super job making one.

Yep, my baby boy is 5. I'm going to go cry now.

The Circle of Life

Get it?

The kids had chicken nuggets for lunch.

And brought home a bucket of chicken for dinner.

My office has been invaded by baby chicks.

This will be their home eventually.

Bobby and Tanner finished up our new hen house yesterday.

We figured, we got this big old barn. Might as well use it for something right? We've talked about getting chickens for a couple years now and finally just dove right in. It should be an experience.

Let's hope they're all hens.

One warm day

We've had one warm day this week. Okay, maybe two or three. But today is rainy and yucky. We did get out to enjoy the yard on the warm days though. Or rather, the little peeps enjoyed it. I picked the trash up out of the yard. What is it about plastic toys that makes them irresistable to dogs? I can't tell you how many chewed up shovels, cars, and cups I picked up. Not to mention the fruit roll up and popsicle wrappers.

Yes, there are no big kids around. They disappear when it's warm.

Back on the wagon

Fell off for a bit. With trying to finish up the last assignments for school last week and my aunt's death, I just couldn't focus on eating right and exercising.

My aunt's viewing was last Friday. Krista and I stood in line for a little over an hour. She was a well loved lady and everyone wanted a chance to say goodbye. On Saturday, after the funeral, there was a celebration of life party that was attended by many. It was a very nice way to remember Norma. I am happy that my uncle and cousins have so much love and support around them.

And I am very happy to be done with this quarter. Oh how I hate research papers. Passed all my classes with A's though! Spring quarter may be a little overwhelming. I am taking 4 classes this time in order to finish school a little early, and most of them are pretty technical. The ins and outs of women's health. Now, on to find a preceptor......

Oh, and clean my house. It has been quite neglected the last few weeks.

Saying goodbye

The time has come to say goodbye to my Aunt Norma. She has been in the hospital for months, recovering from one transplant, waiting for another. Sadly, her body just couldn't hold out anymore. She died yesterday.

I am sad to see her go, but even sadder to know how much she will be missed by all who loved her. Her children and grandchildren will be in my thoughts. Please take a moment to hug the ones you love and send a little strength to my uncle and cousins who I know are hurting more than they ever thought possible.

Another round

Despite the fact that I lost ABSOLUTELY NO WEIGHT my last go round with Jillian, I am giving her another chance to prove that her 30 day shred really does work. I am only on Day 2 and let me tell you, push ups make your boobies hurt. I haven't done Level 1 in awhile so I sort of kind of forgot about the push ups.

I'm trying to be smart this go round. I figured out this new method for losing weight. It's called, get this...... Diet AND exercise. Imagine that. If you put the two together, purportedly, you will lose weight.

Purportedly..... I like that word. It means allegedly for those of you that don't hang out with those hoity toities Merriam and Webster. 

Anyway, supposedly, all you gotta do is diet and exercise to lose weight. Hmmm, we'll see. At this point, I would be happy to lose 5 pounds. While I've enjoyed the 160's for the last several months, I really would like to tell them Sayonara baby, see you in the 150's.
Haven't seen them for what, like, how old is Travis?
A long daggum time, let's just say that.

Speaking of going another round, Vader is on his second round, or should I say, his second life. He is our indoor/outdoor cat. Thursday morning he got hit by a car. I think we might have been in more pain paying the vet bill than he was after the incident. Bobby wasn't too thrilled forking over the dough for "a stray".

Um, yeah, Vader was a stray.
The kids found him in a tree and brought him home,
to be a member of the family,
over a year ago.
I don't really think we can call him a stray anymore.

Apparently (not purportedly), his diaphragm was pushed up into his lungs, with one of his lungs collapsed. The vet couldn't be sure that his liver wasn't also pushed up through his diaphragm. She gave him a cocktail of antibiotics, steriods, and a pain killer, and told us we would just have to wait and see if he improved.

He didn't have any bladder control after he was hit, so we locked him in the bathroom the first night home, where he slept on the rug, panting and barely moving .He's doing a whole lot better today. His breathing has returned to normal, he's eating, using the litter box, and jumping up onto the changing table to sleep.

His new name is "That Damn $400 cat".  

Chop, chop

A couple little peeps needed some haircuts.

Can you tell?

This poor girl couldn't see without ponytails. And let's not even talk about the hair encrusted in the snot nose.

I asked Daddy to cut it at her eyebrows. I think he kind of forgot that hair shortens up a little when it dries.

And no, it's not really that crooked. It's just starting to curl up. I think.

She used to be blinded by her own hair when she would pull the ponies out.

Another child blinded by hair.

Ah, the cute little boy has returned.

Halleluiah! I can see!

(Edited since I initially chopped their heads off. In the pictures, I mean)

My dancing queen

Tatum is in her third year of ballet.

This year she also started an acrobatic class.

They had an observation day over the weekend.

I was quite surprised with her progress. She is actually really good.

They had them doing cartwheels, roundoffs, cross overs, one handed cartwheels, and back bends.

Some of the kids were nervous about doing cartwheels on the wooden floor without a mat.

But not my girl, she's apparently fearless.