We Go Out Walking...

They say it takes a village to raise a child. What does it take when you have four children?

Ashley riding Summer, Aiden in the wagon, Grammy walking in the green shirt, Tim pushing Isaiah in the stroller, and Stephan riding his monster truck. Check out his video below.

Last Thursday evening, we found that our entire family was home at the same time. We took full advantage and went for a walk. Ashley immediatly proclaimed that she was riding her horse, she was not going to walk with us. Stephan quickly laid claim to his monster truck. That left Tim and I and the twins. Ashley quickly made that decision for us - they would ride in the wagon and she would pull them. May I remind you that she is riding her horse. While I was in franticlly searching for my shoes, Ashley found a piece of bailing twine, tied it to the wagon, and loaded up Isaiah. Tim already had Aiden in the stroller. When I finally ran out the door to catch my family, the sight that I saw had me laughing. Check out our walk. (Tim's mom joined us too!)
Both of these videos are funny. The first is Ashley pulling Isaiah in the wagon, and the second is Stephan riding his monster truck.

Tim with Aiden, Stephan, and Grammy.

Can you believe this horse is allowing a wagon to be pulled behind her? Summer is the best mare. Yep, for those of you wondering, Ashley is bareback with shorts on. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Persnickity

Ashley began her 4H adventures at the ripe age of 5. She bought a $50 goat from a ranch in a nearby town. Not knowing what to do with it - we brought it home in my dad's motor home (the goat ran around), left it in the backyard (where else?), and played with it like it was a dog. In fact, it acted like one of the dogs. Ashley named her new goat, Shadow. He is a black agute. Shadow proved to be a great show goat. Ashley won the Booster Showmanship Award and many blue ribbons that year. Sadly, Shadow didn't like being away from home. He didn't drink or eat. We finally started bringing water from home to the show barn to keep him hydrated. When we finally got to bring him home, we decided he would be allowed to retire and roam the property at his leisure. (Yep, the ripe age of 1 year old. We should all be so lucky.)

Shadow has a lot of property that he roams throughout the day now. Tim's parents live next door, and Shadow has decided that Gramps has better grain than we do, but he isn't too picky. He also spends time out with the roping steers and still finds time in his busy day to visit our horses and cows. Occasionally, he will wander to other nearby houses and eat their weeds or trees, whichever he is hungry for.

Lately though, he has been acting weird. Now before you wonder how a goat can act weird, let me remind you that he lived in my back yard for a time. He has a definite personality. So, acting weird...the last few days he has been snorting at the cows and steers and head butting them into a confrontation with him. (I forgot to mention that he has NO FEAR! I once saw him head butt a coyote and chase him off the property!) All day long he walks around with his fur puffed up and snorting at the cows.

Is it the change in weather that is making him ornery, or is he afflicted?

No worries - this steer is not dead. He is sleeping, but will very quickly be awakened by the snorting, head butting goat. Poor little baby just wanted a nap.

Ashley Has A New Baby...

"Texas Holdem", "Tex" for short, arrived at our house on Saturday afternoon. I don't know much about him. He is gentle, kind, black, and cuddly. Tex is a Maine Angou steer. Oh golly, I should have consulted with Ashley on his exact heritage. (She usually prefers Maine cows - but now that I think of it her current fav heiffer is a Cimontal, I think.) Whatever ~ it is a black steer people. That is what is important. And he is soooooo cute! You should come see him.

Tex is just one of the many steers that Ashley has raised over the years. To date, she names her steers from cards. Since she has run out of cards, she chose her favorite card game, Texas Holdem. Welcome to the family, Tex.

Little Blessings...

Today was crazy. I showered last night, thank goodness because I haven't a clue where the time went today.

First of all, I'm going to have to make a confession. I have a lady and her husband come and clean my home every other week. They are very nice, very affordable, incredibly understanding about my constant mess, but most of all ~ they love my children. So, here I am in my pj's running around trying to get the boys fed and the house cleaned before G&A arrive.

I've already changed diapers, got all three of the boys dressed and taken Ashley to the restaurant where she gets picked up for the remainder of her commute to school. I'm wondering how my house gets so cluttered and messy? What the heck? We just had Bible Group at our house last night and it was straightened then? Do little gnomes come in during the night? What is the deal?

Searching for the next home to mess up!

And yet I digress.. Moving along. So, the boys and I head off to the park with our gear in tow: wagon, monster truck, diaper bag, blankie, water bottles (that I had to stop and buy because I left ours at home!), stroller, lunch box, kick ball, and baby toys.

As we pull into the local quick stop place for our h2o hydration, it dawns on me that I haven't washed the truck in about 2 months. Hmm... let's do it now. With a freshly, yet poorly washed truck (the dirt was seriously caked on) we finally made it to the park. We played and played. Grandpa, Grandma Betty, Katie, and Gage were able to stop by for a little while as well.

By the time we made it home ~ we were all exhausted. All three of the boys slept at the same time. This has only happened twice before. There wasn't a single child crying, whining, pouting, or shouting. It felt so calm and peaceful. Then I looked at the clock and thought - yikes! I need to leave now to make it to Ashley's volleyball game on time. (She played out of town again today.) But... the house was peaceful, and the angels were singing, and the boys were all asleep at the same time! What is a mom to do? Well, this mom sat down and opened a book. What the heck - they were worn out and needed to sleep.

Don't worry - I did go to Ashley's game. Through a comedy of errors (I was lost) ~ I paid my $ and walked in the door to find both teams shaking hands. Our girls had won both volleyball games in 34 minutes. What the heck did I pay my money for? No reason to whine ~ laugh it off and go eat! Ironically, all three boys, Ashley, and I had a great dinner ~ and we were not eating at home! Monumental. Eating out with 9 month old twins, and a 2 year old is always a challenge. Usually one I don't want to deal with. I would rather go home and cook. That way no one can comment on what messy eaters the twins are. Do all babies make such a mess on the floor? I wish we could take a dog with us. That way the floor stays clean ~ works that way in our house...

I love their orange chicken.

After dinner, Ashley wanted to run into the Christian bookstore. Why not? We don't get to town very often and she has never been to this store. She spent FOREVER wandering the isles. I was ready to shoot her. But then... she took the babies to load them into the truck and I paid for her purchases. I didn't question anything she got - in fact, I didn't even look. I just told the lady that I was here to pay for the items that the princess left. (I'm the peon.)

I got into the truck with 2 screaming babies and a stressed out 14 year old. That always is a fun thing to do - try it. I'll loan you mine. The 2 year old was remarkably good. (Could be because he not only ate his Panda Express Kids Meal, but he ate what the babies didn't eat, and mine! Oh SNAP! That means a growing spurt is coming on. Hello new wardrobe.) Anyway, Ashley turns to me and says, "Did you see the shirt I got?" "No," I replied. "I just paid for them, I didn't look at the stuff." "Well good," said Ashley. "I bought something for you for Christmas." (cha-ching! Is my girl good or what?) Then, she melted my heart. She told me that she bought the shirt for Stephan. Wow!! She was thinking of her 2 year old little brother that she usually tries to ignore. AAHH... big sigh of relief. All of the stress of the day suddenly dropped from my shoulders. Thank you Lord.

It's Official...

I have fallen off the wagon. This summer I declared that I would not drink another Starbuck's coffee due to the inflated calorie content. I still haunted the grocery isles aimlessly while enjoying the time in town and catching up on the local gossip ~ but I was drinking the Tazo passion fruit tea. Less money, fewer calories, and I could still enjoy the exotic aroma of Starbuck's coffee. I could sit at the drive through window of a Starbuck's all day long simply enjoying the wafting scent of coffee. However, life has thrown me a loop and I choose COFFEE! I've decided to work my way through the menu. I have some definate likes and dislikes. Fortunately, the Starbuck's crew know me by name (not hard in a town like this one), and they are always up to the challenge of creating an even better drink for me ~ they even tell me what I won't like, and laugh when they make something hideous and I make funny faces. Silly Starbuck's crew - it just makes me want to come back all that more often...

Today's choice was:

White Chocolate Mocha

The verdict:

Never order again.

What is it about sitting outside amid the garden flowers enjoying hot tea or steaming coffee? It is peaceful and deliberate.

By the way, I believe I was enjoying a Caramel Macciato the morning that I took the photo. I have the vanilla left in (duh~it's always the men who ask if I want it left out), and add 2 pumps of mocha. Okay - I don't personally add the extra pumps, I pay the Starbuck's people to do it for me. Once a Princess...

Wow...

Yeah! I figured out the video thing. The video itself is not very good. I don't usually use the video function on my camera, but overall I think it is ok. Next time, obviously I will need to zoom in first. I couldn't get the zoom to work while I was filming. Maybe I should read the instruction booklet...

Roping Arena Play Time ~ In Color

I thought this was so cute - the kids were watching the guys in the header's box.

Isaiah
Grammy and Gramps with the twins.
Stephan ~ waiting to get out of the playyard.

Roping Arena Play Time

Just some photos from today... Enjoy!

Life in the Fast Lane

Today, we ditched church so Tim could go roping. We went to a neighboring ranch. The weather was beautiful. Stephan even played with other kids a little bit. The highlight of our day was Stephan riding the horse with Daddy. Stephan has only lived with us for about 2 months. He was not exposed to large animals until he came into our care. Since then, we offer him the chance to ride whenever we are out at the corals or at a roping. Today, for the very first time, Stephan rode with Dad. I was so excited. I took a few photos, then went back to paying attention to the babies. All of a sudden I heard squealing from Stephan. I look up and Tim is loping around the arena. Stephan is loving it! I took a video on my camera ~ if I can upload it to the blog I will. I'm not sure you can hear his squeals of excitement though. Overall, it was a good day. (And hey, money wise - Tim broke even. That is always good.)

I hope the video shows the excitement of Stephan..

All Because Two People Fell in Love...16 years Ago!

On October 3, 1992, Tim and I were wed. It was your traditional western wedding with all the bridesmaids and groomsmen in boots. Me Too! (Much to the disappointment of my dress alteration lady.)

Then came:

Robyn's ATV accident...

Ashley :) A blessing...

Moved to our small rural town...

Robyn's cancer...

Tim's ribbon roping accident...

20 lbs - not sure where that came from! (No, Tim didn't gain it ~ I did!)

Adopted the twins...

Fostering Stephan...

Now, 16 years later...

Are You Happy Now Larry?

Does this make you smile Larry?

Hi Chandler and Cameren! Thanks for keeping up with me!

Who thinks my tractor is sexy?

Aiden LOVES to be with Tim. All Tim has to do is put Aiden in the back pack and he starts kicking his feet with excitement. The morning that we started the chicken coup ~ he helped level the ground with the tractor. He would hang over the side as if he were telling Tim how to do it. He totally cracks me up!!