Farm Skiing

This weekend was very eventful.  The nights went so late that I often didn't have much time to write.  Of course it is good to know that not writing exciting things does not mean boring weekend.  I told you about the amazing Homecoming game on Friday, but I haven't had a chance to tell you about Saturday or Sunday.  Saturday before leaving to the morning activities I went out to the chicken coop to find a wet, cold, sad chicken that did not get locked in Friday night.  Sometimes they don't all go in at the same time and so it resulted in us losing a hen.  We think two chickens were left out and one was taken by the resident owl.  There is no feather trace or fowl (foul) play evident.  So now I am down one animal.  This loss leaves an animal sized hole in my heart.  It is game time so we drive over to volleyball pictures and game where we beat the other team with all the parents jumping to their feet and screaming "WHOOHOO!"  We tried to be humble, but we were so proud of our SPIKERS(team name).

Flying high on the win we headed home to do the usual chores.  I took a quick nap and my hubby trimmed trees and cleared brush around the pond.  He came inside drenched in rain and sweat as I woke up from my snooze.  There is nothing better than a nap on a wet and overcast afternoon.  I did some chores around the house and made a wreath for my aunt.  It was approaching dinnertime for the pony and goats so I wander out to the barn to feed them.  The barn sprung a leak in the roof and as I was trying to rearrange Christmas decorations in the barn I forgot to close the gate to the pony/goat enclosure.  I see the goats run out and start munching on all the fresh green growth around them.  They look like kids in a candy shoppe going from plant to plant sampling each one and often returning to the previous plant for a second taste.  I rush over to close the gate before the pony follows suit, but the pony sees me and runs out of the gate.  I'm supposed to chaperone Homecoming Dance and if I leave my goats out to forage my husband will freak out.  The goats enjoy eating my patio furniture and the pillows and, well, EVERYTHING.  I get a special goat treat and lure Belle in to the back of my Yukon XL.  She jumps in because she loves riding in the car.  Pip refuses to join her.  I drive Belle down to the barn and put her away.  I return to convince Pip to get in the car.  She refuses once again and so I am left using the dog collar around her neck to drag her to the barn.  I begin to drag her and she gets a little spunky as she is hearing the cries of her friend Belle who is stuck back in the barn enclosure.  She isn't very big, but she manages to cut me in three place and bruise me with all her thrashing.  Chloe turns to me at one point and says, "Mom, she's throwing you like a rag doll!!"  Meanwhile I am being followed by three nosey cats and a dog and while I'm not in my usual farm outfit, I am sporting my husband's flip-flops.  I'm being dragged by a goat with "skis" on, PERFECT!  The pony decided to join his friends later in the evening.  It helps to know that he enjoys socialization.

I have to shower after this farm skiing ordeal and get ready to be a chaperone.  I do so in 45 minutes and jump in my car.  I'm pulling out of the gate when I see a package from UPS.  I open the car door to grab the package and hear, "MEOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!"  I look on my roof and spot my outside cat, Kiki.  She is puffed and scared.  I slowly reverse to get her closer to the house and further from the road and the traffic.  I stop and she finally jumps off my car and runs faster than a bullet in to the brush.  Poor Kiki.

I attend the dance and it is fun and no one gets hurt, in trouble or in a fight.  I call that a successful dance!  Fast forward to Sunday morning and as we are leaving church Chloe starts to tell me about her and Grandma's adventures from the previous day. "Mom, Grandma and I accidentally went in to the men's bathroom at Michael's yesterday.  We both had to go so bad and Grandma asked if she could use the stall first and I turned to her and said, 'Why yes Grandma, I will just use the URINAL!'  That is when we realized we were in the wrong bathroom!"  "Hmmm, interesting.  I guess the sign on the door wasn't a good indicator.  Well, good thing not very many men go to Michael's."  Good times.

We return home and I help my mom pack her car to go back to Laredo.  I jump in the car to run a couple errands in San Antonio.  I have to run in quickly to Petsmart to get fish for the pond.  They have the usual adoption center set up at the entrance and I do my usual visit to see all the cute and not so cute dogs.  You see, I'm not a dog person.  Yes, I have a dog, but he is very special.  I look at each one and ask questions about them and talk to the ladies.  I even pet a dog or two, even though my hand is going to smell like dog.  Then I see him.  He is sleeping in the corner and he is tiny and cute.  He is a Schnauzer and is very calm and has those eyes.  The eyes that say, "TAKE ME HOME!!"  I take a quick photo and jump in the car.  I have thirty fish to get to the house and so I start driving him and meanwhile send the photo to my husband.  I tell him to ask my daughter if she will accept this dog and leave me alone about getting her a big stinky dog.  She agrees without even thinking twice.  I turn the car around and return to adopt him.  The process takes an hour and many of my fish die.  I feel terrible for the fish but if I come home without a dog it was not going to be good.  Sadly, the pet sized hole in my heart is not filled.  Maybe when the baby chicks hatch they will fill the void left by my sweet hen who was carried off in the darkness on Homecoming night.

I think I've had enough excitement for one weekend, don't you?

the wreath I made for my aunt.

The dog I adopted today.  His name
is Tuxedo.

Plenty

I couldn't wait for my chickens to lay eggs,
now I am coming up with creative egg recipes.

 Today one of my hens went missing.  I'm not sure what happened to her.  My husband was working outside today and didn't hear any commotion.  He is upset that a hen was taken, "It would've been better if we had one less rooster!" he said.  As much as I like the laying of the eggs, my roosters are all such great big personalities that I would miss them terribly.  I'm hoping to solve the disappearance.  I will keep you posted.

A common brown spider with her babies riding on her back.

The other night I went outside and when I was walking I saw something move in the darkness. I used my phone flashlight to spot this beautiful brown spider carrying her babies on her back.  It reminded me of one of my favorite books, "Charlotte's Web."  Brett was so excited when he found this photo on my phone.  He was upset that I didn't catch her for him to witness her superior mothering skills.  He also wanted to know why I didn't carry him on my back.  

I did find a scorpion with babies on her back under a log outside.  I resisted taking a picture and instead smashed her.  I still feel a little sad about it.  Just a little.  I don't have much to say tonight, but I hope you are enjoying the rain if you are in South Texas.  Goodnight FRIENDS!

Little by Little

Today has been an incredibly scheduled day with two pep rallies, one tailgate party, one homecoming game in the rain and our team beating the other undefeated Division 1, 2A, 6 man team to have a 6-0 record!!!I'm exhausted and ecstatic all at the same time!!  Although it seems like I would have all sorts of stories to share about the day it was delightfully uneventful.  So, instead you get a pictorial tour of my new water plants.  

If you read the recent blog post about our visit to "Pond World" (not the real name) you might recall our water plant purchases.  We have also purchased hundreds(exaggeration) of goldfish and Koi.  The Koi are so small they are not seen in these or any photographs unless you happen to see a speck, yes a speck, of orange.  My husband has placed some of the the plants in the waterfalls to act as filtering plants while some of them are in the actual pond area.  We bought iris, water lilies, and other random plants to fill our plantless pond and to give the fish a hiding spot or two, from Brett.

I'm happy to report our turtle, Turtle Lee Stricker, still resides at the pond.  He occasionally pops his head out of the water and he also has NOT done any damage to our water plants thus far.  I mentioned in the early blog that I will have to make Turtle Stew if Turtle Lee eats my plants.  NO JOKE.  Ok, I just reviewed the photos and you should probably know that it does look a little lackluster in the plant department.  I am, nonetheless, proud of my tiny plants and hope to watch them grow over the years!!

I hope you can look at the photos and imagine what they will be and not what they are right now.  

I imagine it to be much like the starter landscape on a new home and after ten years in a home the landscape is full and luscious and offers a beautiful compliment to the home.  We invest small knowing that the future holds a greater return.  I think so many thing in our life are this way.  Retirement accounts, our home furniture, our clothing, and even our children seem to be a small investment that grows in to something useful and beneficial.  I can recall sometimes being slightly envious of the new neighbors who fully landscaped their home with large, mature flowering plants.  The home looked instantly perfect.  I also recall the sense of satisfaction as I photographed my yard over the course of seven years and enjoyed the oasis we created as a family.  Plant by plant and section by section and eventually a sprinkler system, too!  The joy we felt when we sat in our yard and reminisced about the junkyard it was when we bought the place.  Don't be afraid to invest small as long as you are committed and deliberate about the things you do, they will eventually grow in to something great!  I imagine as God created the heavens and the earth over the course of six days, he rested on the last day, we too shall take time to create.  Don't rush to the finish line or do everything in one trip.  Do all things excellently and with a strong foundation.  click here for a reminder of Creation;  little by little.  I hope you enjoy my baby steps toward pondtopia!! 

The Diabetic Pony

May 2012

September 2012

While I was making dinner and thinking about what I would write about this evening, Brett was sitting on the toilet singing, "Mary had a little poop, little poop, little poop.  Mary had a little poop to poop poop poop poop pooooooooop!"  Sigh.  Boys love to talk about all of the body parts and their functions.   Shortly thereafter was the ritual scream about bringing him some water and fiber gummys to help the process along.  Considering we never deliver I'm not sure why he keeps asking.

I spoke to a friend of mine who also happens to be a vet.  She informed me, from my description, that I am fattening my pony and he is likely to become insulin dependent.  "Hello everyone, meet my diabetic pony, Charles!"  The former statement is NOT how I want my pony to be known, but I am doing an excellent job of growing him to an obese weight.  I like to say I've done  "pony" backwards.  I got a pony and then learned how to have one.  This situation is likened to having children; give birth and then figure it out.

In my family we often felt loved through the sharing of food.  Meal time and eating was directly connected to the amount of love being handed out to each one of us and it is for that very reason my pony suffers from fatness.  He responds lovingly to food and comes trotting over to be fed when he knows I'm heading to the barn.  I love him very much and therefore I feed him.

I think I even do this to my children.  "Hey kids, let's go to Dairy Queen for a delicious treat!"  "How about a candy treat since you've been so good."  "You have been extra good all week so let's celebrate by eating at your favorite restaurant!!"  You get the idea.  Food is a very easy way to reward the people you love for good behavior.  Unfortunately, food is a terrible thing to reward yourself especially if you don't want to struggle with your weight for all eternity.  Reward yourself with a smile in the mirror, an extra two minutes in the shower, or maybe an extra crunch in your abdominal workout.

Come to think of it, yesterday after the shot disaster my children wanted a surprise.  They would've settled for ice cream, but I resisted.  No treats!  Especially no treats for screaming children who survived the flu shot disaster.  I might consider getting my child a treat if they do not cry, resist the shot giver, or make a scene.  In short, a treat for NOT embarrassing me.  I'm so excited to know that one day when they are older and we are at the doctor for some reason or another I will throw a huge fit and embarrass them and then ask, "Do I get a surprise?  How about a sticker?"  Although I will enjoy this wild display of hilarity, I will avoid peeing in my school carpool line like my son did when he was two because, well, he was two.  I'm sure many of you do not agree with my parenting strategy, but I'm almost so excited about throwing a fit at the doctor's office I might have to do it sooner rather than later.  Maybe I will do it every time we go to the doctor!!  YES!  Ok, no.

Wait, I think I just went off on a tangent!  So let's get back to the heart of the blog today.  Don't overfeed anything, but especially not your pony.  Although it seems like they love you more, they really will love you the same if you feed them in moderation.  Hmmmm MODERATION.  That is an entirely different blog post.  Maybe next week.

Do I Get A Surprise?

I started the day with dropping the kids off at school and driving to a far away location to take smartbarre with my dear friend.  We wanted to see if it was all they said it would be.  "They" refers to everyone who swears by the results of the class.  They were slightly incorrect about smartbarre.  While fun and great exercise, it was not my exercise of choice, but that could be because no exercise is my exercise of choice(besides Pilates or dance class).  I was expecting it to be like the New York City Ballet workout and so I was disappointed.  If I had done my homework and actually knew what to expect then I would've been quite happy, or maybe I would've not gone.  I also found out that a college friend of mine is great friends with the creator of smartbarre and so I therefore have loyalty to her and must make an official statement on the record, "Smartbarre is a wonderful workout and combines a clean space with a low impact/high intensity sweatfest.  I will not be returning due to my preference to a regular ballet class.  I had a great instructor and would encourage my friends to attend if they were not ballet snobs like myself."

After my workout I headed to lunch with my husband and a work friend who also happens to be a family friend.  We had a tasty lunch and we taught our server how to properly say the word "Delicious" (DeeLeeShus in case you are wondering).  We talked about work a bunch, but I did get to talk about some farm stuff.  Occasionally I would just interject farm stuff for my own entertainment since the conversation had spent too much time concerning work.  Yuck!

I drove back to Boerne to pick up my kids because I promised to take Brett to the doctor to check out his throat clearing situation that was causing my husband to worry.  On the drive the kids starting talking about getting shots.  "If I get a shot, do I get a surprise?" asked Chloe.  I reply, "If I get a shot do I get a surprise?"  She gives me a twisted look and sighs.  "If I get a flu shot I might consider running away.  Look, I'm fine with needles as long as I'm not the one getting the shot.  I know it doesn't actually hurt.  I just don't like needles!  Now back to surprises, do I get one?"  I laugh and say, "Do I get a diamond ring if I get a shot?"  Chloe shoots back, "You already HAVE a diamond ring!  I think I should get a playhouse(very expensive) for the shot."  I think about the diamond ring for a second and respond, "Well Chloe, you can never have too many diamond rings."  "Grrr!" is all I hear coming out of her mouth.

We get to the doctor and Brett has allergies and so the treatment is simple and straightforward.  The doctor finishes up and says, "While you're here how about a flu shot?"  CHLOE HITS THE ROOF!  First she hits my arm and screams, "NO!"  Then, as if I didn't feel it the first time, she hits my arm harder and screams again!!  I grab her arm and explain to her that hitting me is unacceptable behavior and that she will, in fact, be getting a shot today.  There is screaming and crying and major drama.  She is trembling in fear and she is trying to speak to me but her words are jumbled because she is crying so hard.  Brett doesn't really say anything, he just hides under the table.  There is about seven minutes of waiting before the sweet and beautiful nurse makes her way back in.  I'm embarrassed because my nine year old is giving an Academy award winning performance and my son is still hiding underneath the table.  I hold Chloe and the nurse begins to ask her about the book she is reading and then the shot is over.  "That was nothing!  You are done?"  quips Chloe.  I want to strangle her for putting on the dramatic show of the century and then acting as if she didn't just have a melt down.  Shortly after Chloe's shot I had to drag Brett out of the corner of the room where he tried to run and escape the shot.  He cried a bit, but mostly whining.  He asked if they could give him a cast because now his arm felt broken.  I think the drama comes from my husband's side of the family(ha).

Finally we are walking out to the car and Chloe says, "They didn't even give us a sticker!"  I quickly reminder her, "Your attitude and histrionics were not worthy of a sticker, my dear."  She crosses her arm and rubs her shot spot quietly mumbling something about it being sore.  We drive to our next destination....Costco!  We are driving and a really bad female driver in front of me is weaving through traffic and then directly in front of me she hits a big orange and black barrel and swerves off the road and back on to the road, crosses three lanes of traffic and then pulls in to a gas station.  This all happens in 5 o'clock traffic on the highway access road right near Costco!!!  We make it in and out of Costco without event and home.

I come inside and put my stuff down and grab a container in which to retrieve eggs.  By the time I make it to the chicken coop Brett has his shirt full of eggs and informs me that the broody chicken(a hen who has the urge to sit on eggs)wanted another egg so he put one under her.  I scold him for stuffing an egg under her fluff and begin to stick my hand under her fluff to find TWELVE eggs!  I think Brett has been sneaking her eggs all week!!  I grab my candling tools to see which eggs need to stay under her and which can come inside.  Eight of the twelve are on their way to being baby chicks!! UGH!  Normally I would rejoice, but guess who their mommy will be when they hatch?  Yeah, likely me.  Oh well, what is eight more babies!

I think I'm officially ready for the day to be done.  I sit down at the computer to write my blog and on my search history is the following, "what to do if you have a low grade fever and you want to sleep till the world ends."  Chloe should consider a career in drama.

If you read last night you will recall my entitlement rant...darn it, I think I'm raising entitled children.  A surprise for a shot??  I think we need to work on this problem before it gets out of hand.  I think I deserve a surprise for sure after the drama at the doctor's office, but since I'm not going to act "entitled" I will settle for just being their mom.

Return On Investment (ROI)

Today I was at the grocery store and I happened upon a mother with her two young children.  She looked as if she had just rolled out of bed and the kids still had their jammies on.  I smiled as I caught the eye of her youngest child with a head of unkempt curls.  It was not too long ago that I was that mom; the one who got out of bed and made it to the grocery store for an outing where other adults congregate.  I recently recall seeing a picture on Facebook with a caption attached where a mom is on the phone with children all around her and one in her arms and she is saying something about calling her back in five years.  I can completely relate to that photograph.

When I had my first child and a job I was very together.  My child was always dressed to perfection.  When we left the house she was my BEST accessory.  I worked out everyday because I was a dance teacher.  I went places and did stuff.  I traveled and lived life.  I adopted the Babywise philosophy and had her sleeping through the night at six weeks and I was a pro-mom.  THEN, we had a second child, I quit working and moved out to the country.  I was "living the dream!"

When I transitioned into mom of two in a new career(stay at-home mom) and a new house and city, I changed in to the mom I saw at the grocery store.  It was obvious her purpose was to be a mom, housekeeper,  and chef.  Don't get me wrong, the years I spent working full time as a mom were the HARDEST years of my entire life!!!  I am so happy to be on this side of mommyhood.  The side of mommyhood where your children don't pee, poop, and throw up on you often and without warning.  Even my chickens give me a warning squawk before they poop on me!  I'm not sure when I changed from the workout clothes wearing mom that prayed for adult interaction and clawed the walls waiting for her husband to get home so she could get a BREAK!!  Ok, so I didn't claw the walls all the time, just on rainy days.  Unfortunately for me, there was a sudden rainy season during my early days in Boerne.

I know you often hear that being a parent in a thankless job.  Well, the votes are in and although it is one of the most difficult jobs in the world, it is also the most rewarding job.  I look around me and see successful individuals and know they have smiling parents whose hearts are filled with joy knowing they were able to take part in the raising of that child.  There are also days when I want to ask God if I can come to heaven for a spell to decompress from parenting, mothering, working, just life.  Yesterday my daughter had a volleyball practice and she was exhausted.  I forced her to attend practice and she cried for the entire 1.5 hours.  At one point a few moms turned to me and asked, "Don't you think she's had enough?  I want to cry for her."  I took her home and fed her and she bathed and was asleep by 6:45p.m.  She was BEYOND tired.  It is those days that make being a parent difficult.

I think the other thing that is hard for some parents to grasp, but is a very important thing to remember, is that our children deserve our love and affection just because they are our children.  We are not entitled to some big settlement when they strike it rich in their 20's nor are we able to end their life since we carried them for nine months...although tempting at times.  We are parents and our job is to love, support and provide the best possible life we can while teaching them morals, ethics and the Word of God(these are the rules at my house).  If you recall from an early blog post that we must also teach them skills because just loving them doesn't teach them how to be independent and self sufficient so they can move out and and go to college and get jobs!  BUT be so careful to remember that your investment does not entitle you to reap their reward.  You may pat yourself on the back and say, "Good job raising that kid!"  You raise them, feed them, clothe them, give them an education and pay for their wedding(if they are lucky) and you aren't going to get any of that money back.  If they lose their job or get a divorce it does NOT entitle you to collect and with interest!!!!

We live in America where so many people have an entitlement mentality.  I admit to having it sometimes, too.  We are NOT entitled to anything.  Work hard and do the right thing and you may or may not have a fair shot.  Be honest.  Be kind.  Be hardworking.  Be loving.  Be true.  Be patient.  I mean, take a look at the beginning of this blog post, I seem entitled to a better life as a mom.  Right?  No, absolutely NOT!!  What you need to know is that among the many seasons of parenthood there really isn't a better or worse, but there is a letting go.  We must let out children go and become something.  We must not think that their success is tied to us and that we deserve some sort of monetary compensation for our job as a parent!

I can just imagine the conversation with Brett, "Brett you owe me $24, 962.45 for all the creatures you brought in the house and their containers and food and so forth!"  or "Chloe, you owe me well over $1million for all your girl stuff and books....always books!"  We are parents and we are in it for the long haul.  If you had children to be your financial security in the future you need to get your brain checked.  Enjoy this season of parenthood and remember to squeeze every bit of life out of each season as they pass so quickly.  Some days I wish I was still that mom in workout clothes with two kids fresh out of bed wandering around the grocery store.

What is Your Gift?

Since the birth of my children I've prayed that God would clearly show me my children's strengths.  From the time Brett was old enough to find things he was mesmerized with bugs.  He went through the usual phases of cars, trucks, trains, and then there was a very strong love of keys.  I still find keys all over the house as people would gift him old keys and he would carry them around with him.  I remember a story when I was house sitting for a friend.  She gave me her spare key and I set it in my console.  Somehow Brett spotted it and I later found it in my bed where he had carried it inside and dropped it between my mattress and footboard.  Luckily my friend is kind and loves my son.

Very early on I began to see a love affair with lizards.  At his Mother's Day Out when he was about fifteen months old he would grab lizards for his teachers.  They were harmless Anole lizards, but he loved these lizards.  We also had a very wet year in Boerne and when my husband would mow the law there were baby frogs jumping every direction.  Brett would follow the mower with a basket and collect all the frogs.  He was fifteen months old.  I should've clued in that this boy is a nature lover.  

I continued to pray that God would show me his strengths because it was obvious that his weakness was his strong will.  Clearly he got his strong will from his father!!  I didn't realize how obvious it was that this child loved nature until I began to flip through my photographs.  I included a bunch of photos from November 2011 through now of Brett's friends.  Some have gone on to their appropriate heavens and others have returned to the wild.  I included captions for the photos that seemed confusing.  

I continue to pray for my children and ask God to please make them in his image.  Although Brett is very much a human, he has such a loving heart toward all of God's creatures great and small.  Today at practice he approached his friend's mom and told her, "Your son killed a spider today."  He was looking up at her with sad eyes.  She smiled and said, "He knows that lots of the teachers are scared of them."  She knew there was no way he would understand the rationale except to ruffle his natural protecter instincts.  His face changed as he realized the heroic efforts that his friend had taken, but you could see the wheels turning in his head.  He would not take such heroic efforts unless he actually witnessed one of these beautiful creatures truly terrorizing his loved ones.

It is amazing how God crafts us into such unique and special beings.  Even twins are different.  We are each uniquely created and handcrafted.  What a joy it is to witness the exclusive gifts growing in our children.  Take a walk backwards through my photo album below from the last year and you too can catch a glimpse of the obviousness of God's gifting in Brett's life.  What is your gift?

I found a nice neutral location to take a spiritual gifting quiz.  Click here.  

Bugs lined up in his room

Bucket of scorpions and other bugs.

Lots of friends.

The day we picked up Augusta Belle.

the friendly tarantula

I made him let the butterfly go.

The leopard gecko is around his neck and he is pretending to be scared.

Looking for friends...frogs.

Hermit crabstravaganza