This is what is happening here today!

Yep snow!  I think it is suppose to stick around for a day or two...and all of our snow stuff is in the crawl space!  Ugh.

This kid capitalized on some nice weather earlier in May and the fact that he had finished some state wide school testing, so had a slow day at school and went fishing with his dad.

This picture cracks me up!

Benjamin's play was this past weekend! It was called Crhyme and Pun-ishment. A spoof on Mother Goose. He played the part of Little Boy Blue. It was a great play! Unfortunately with the lighting, did not get any good pictures or really video for that matter. I was not expecting the hilarious factor in the play. The drama director's husband is going to Boston University for a doctorate so they are moving. Not sure if there is any else who will step up to the plate.

The boys recently went to a 2 year old birthday party for a neighbor's little sister.  It was very strange looking for something for a girl and something for such a young one.  We decided on this, because she likes Minnie Mouse.  I gave it to Benjamin to carry up front and he refused!  He finally took it but walked with it behind his back.  Oh my word!

Since Joseph's birthday is in the summer, we recently celebrated it in his classroom.  Root beer floats for everyone!

Not a good picture, but he sat on the birthday stool while everyone sang to him.

It is sweaty season.  Ugh, the one thing I do not like about warmer months...you smell my boys before you see my boys.  The feet, socks and shoes are the worst.  I feel like I am always battling the locker room smell.

Joseph has decided to befriend some ants.  Not sure why he chose ants, but he has names them (crawly ~ because he crawls fast, bitey, we even have twin ants!)  His little imagination cracks me up.
This was a pet we had for a few days.

Jacob had found it while rattle snake hunting.  They were shocked to hear that we had horny toads growing up.  When the toad was in the house, it would not move around much at all, but once you put it outside in the sun, it was so happy.  I think Jacob felt bad about it not being in it's element, so we ended up giving it to one of JR's clients.

Bree has been loving being able to go into the field.  We have started leaving the gate open and the back door cracked.  So, she runs and plays and then when done, she just comes on in.  It is interesting because now that the gate is open most of the time, the allure of running off for long stretches of time is gone.  I guess so it is with kids...has made me think about boundaries with the kids and when the forbidden stuff is not restricted, would it not be an issue/problem anymore?

I forgot I never posted this picture.  This is for you, Michelle M.  I finally followed through with an April Fool's prank on my boys...except the joke was on me and I got my days mixed up and did it a day early!  It is suppose to be cake pops.  I have never made cake pops and boy, are those buggers hard to frost.  No matter how hard I tried, they kept sliding around and I could never make them look good.  It did not matter, the boys fell for them and the best part, it worked out so they all walked into the kitchen at different times.  Therefore, they all got to take a big ol' bite.  Instead of cake though it was meatballs!  Too funny.  I think I have started something because now the boys are scheming up other pranks they can do.  A running string of pranks would be fun, as long as it does not get out of hand.

This kid being a goof ball!

Benjamin out shooting with his dad!

It appears he hit his target!

I am trying a new way to attach videos...lets hope it comes through.  One of Jacob shooting hoops in the driveway.  (If it does not load, I will try something different next time)

Benjamin's 4H group is the longest running group in our county.  They met for many years and for reasons I am not real sure about, the club disbanded.  Four years ago a small group of people got the group up and running again.  For our most recent meeting, we met at the one room school house where the former group use to meet years ago.  (I am not even sure how long ago it was, probably 40 years)  It was such a fun evening!

The outhouse!

Just what I would imagine a one room school house would look like.

The old swings and see saw.

Loved looking at this.  I betcha it still works.

Found this little tid bit interesting.

 Not sure what was up with the light, but they played good ol' tug o war, along with sack races.  I wish they had played Red Rover, Red Rover...that was always one of my favorites.

The days have been beautiful lately.  I am heading off to the tennis courts 3 mornings a week.  It is so nice out, that is until the high schoolers show up for P.E.  The first time we were there, some of the students were walking by.  The teacher told them if they could be respectful they could play next to us.  One of the girls piped up and said, 'we don't know how to be respectful'.  How true that is with a large part of the younger generation.  Just sad.  Hard to imagine what things will be like in 50 years.

I have talked further with the filming guys.  They are still on for their project.  They are hoping to film the first four chapters of the book and then send it off to Fox (I think it is) to show them that there is great interest for them to tackle the book again and that it can be done well and according to script.  Benjamin will do some filming later in May and then probably won't film again until late fall.  I guess most of what they need to film must be done in the winter.  Since they are footing the bill, instead of that really cool grant, they don't have the money for lots of props, accessories, etc.  One of their mothers is in the process of making Benjamin some pants!

Benjamin's drama club performance is this weekend.  It sounds like a really fun play.  He is struggling with his part though, because his character is sad and depressed.  Most of his lines are said as he is sulking in his chair.  He finds it hard to project his voice and yet still seem sad.  I think he is enjoying all of the musical/singing stuff.

I received this from one of Benjamin's teachers

I guess one of the teachers brought in their pet snake.  Surprised to see it on his shoulder.  The hands in the sweatshirt crack me up.  I certainly would not have been in that photo.  If I had been in that photo, you would have seen that we are literally dead even as far as height goes.  So, give it another week or two and he will have edged me out be a millimeter or two.

I received these two pictures today from the behavioralist from Joseph's school.

"I love Mrs. Hinshaw.  I hope that you take care of each other."  It always warms my heart when my boys are considerate like that and take time to draw pictures/write notes.

It is this time of year again.

I found all the s'more fixins on sale.  I have them safely hidden away in the hopes that they will last us most of the summer.  (Yes, the ugly grass stains...one of the main things that frustrate me with Bree.  We have been leaving the back gate open in the hopes that she will just go into the field every time.  She is pretty good about coming back.)

I have been hitting the tennis courts several times this week.  Really enjoying getting back out there.  Might even look at a tournament this summer.

JR has finally found some rattlesnakes. I think he got about 10. He took a few days off this week and just walked, about 5.5 miles.

This happened a few days ago.

Joseph was over at a neighbor's house. There were some kids jumping on the trampoline at the house behind the neighbor's house. Joseph and some of the other kids had climbed up onto the fence and was looking into the other yard at the kids jumping. There was a dog in the yard and the dog jumped up and bit Joseph's hand, which was hanging over the fence. It was not a bad bite, more of a surface bite. However, his pinky was swollen and looked deformed. Not seeing what happened, I was not sure if somehow he got his finger stuck as he pulled it back and hurt it. So, we headed off to Urgent Care. On the way, I stopped off at the dog's house and the owner, whom I don't know, said all shots were current. Of course at Urgent Care they told me I had to report it, which I did. The Health Department and Animal Control both followed up with me. I never quite realized the process. Animal control contacted the owner and got the name of the vet and called the vet. The vet said shots were not current. So, the dog was removed from the home and quarantined for 10 days at a vet clinic. One of the boys asked me if I feel bad for getting them in trouble. I do feel bad, because the dog did nothing wrong. However, I found a teaching moment and told them that dog owners are responsible for keeping up to date on shots and that family had not done that. That being said, Bree has an appointment next week to get current on her shots! (The finger is healing but the Urgent Care doc was a little concerned that there could be an issue with a tendon because he can not fully flex it. I guess time will tell but might need to get it checked out further).

There was a huge snag in the filming of the book recently. Actually a show stopper. Not sure how this was not discovered or known, but the filming rights for the book are owned by a large production company and they are lifetime rights. So, they cannot shoot the movie. They might be considering doing a short clip to send to the production company anyways. Not really sure. They are discussing their options and how or if they will end up using the grant money. They have Benjamin penciled in to do some filming in a few weeks.

There has been lots of fishing and hunting going on lately.

Jacob went out with JR recently to start the rattlesnake hunt.  I think they are still holed up in their dens because they did not see any.  However, by the end of the week, it should be close to 70 so the hunt will continue.

It has been a very wet April, especially the last 2 weeks.  I have no idea how much rain we have gotten, but it has been the slow steady rain!  I think we have seen the sun maybe 2 days in the last 10 days and it looks like only 2 more sunny days in the next week forecast.  Can't complain though!

Last night I took Benjamin to meet the guys who are doing the movie.  I guess this was like an audition, although I don't know that they are looking at anyone else for the part.  There are three of them.  One is the producer, one is the camera and special effects guy and then the one we know, he is more of like the behind the scenes/manager type.  They put Benjamin in costume (from waist up because they were only filming from the waist up) and had him go through 4 different scenes.  I wished I had had my good camera with me, but a few pics.

Physically, he is what they imagined the character to be.  So that is good.  He still struggles with throwing it all out the window and getting into total character, but I think they saw potential.  They are wanting him to learn a slight British accent.  We also talked about him getting on a horse to see about his horse allergy and if Benadryl would be a solution.  We even talked about getting him contacts, as I don't think they want the character to be in glasses.  I asked more about this project.  From what I understand, they are wanting to do a short 3 minute clip and then use that to put on Kickstart to see if they can raise more money for the project.  The camera guy did apply for a grant from the state (because they are willing to film most of it in the state and show off the state) for $50,000.  He got the grant and when he received the grant, they gave him $100,000.  So, these guys are serious and getting this done.  They are anticipating that the grant will get them a 1/3 of the way through the book.  There are 4 books in the series, of which we just ordered them all so he can read and reread them.  I am also going to try to find some online acting 'classes'.  The author is having a local book signing next week, so we will go meet him.  The film crew approached the author a while back about the idea, but I don't think the author knows how serious they are and they have a grant.  Anyway, can you tell that I am excited about this opportunity.  Hopefully it will be a good fit and a great experience for Benjamin.

I am looking at changing the settings on my blog to a private blog.  I keep hearing stories of people lifting photos from one blog and using the images somewhere else.  I don't like knowing who might be lurking around and watching our family.  (Not paranoid, you just have to be so much more aware with technology, etc.)  That is one reason I have never specifically mentioned things by name.  I try to keep our camping spots, places we visit somewhat vague.)  If my blog was private, only those I invite could see what I type and then I would not hesitate to be more specific.  SO, IF YOU ARE READING MY BLOG, SHOOT ME AN EMAIL, LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW, CALL ME AND LET ME KNOW.  I WILL BE SURE AND ADD YOUR EMAIL TO MY LIST WHEN I DO MAKE IT PRIVATE, SO THAT YOU CAN STILL CHECK IN ON US.  IF YOU GET MY BLOG EMAILS, YOU ARE FINE AND THE PRIVATE SETTING SHOULD NOT CHANGE YOU BEING ABLE TO SEE MY BLOG.  I probably won't make it private until this summer, because I know some followers don't check it as frequently.

Enjoy your weekend.  It will be a quiet, wet one here!

Things keep rolling along here.  The resort has now closed and off season for JR is officially here.  It is nice for him to have a little bit of flexibility in his schedule.

We had a quiet Easter.  We went to church early for their breakfast and then church.  We went out to eat last minute with some friends...to the truck stop.  I never would have imagined Easter dinner at a truck stop, but it was fun.  As we were leaving the table, Jacob put his left over food in a container.  Joseph wanted to take his french fries home.  I told him to put the french fries in with Jacob's food.  Joseph did not want that.  So what does he do...he un tucks his shirt and creates a pocket with his shirt and puts all the fries in it.  Sometimes my boys amaze me with their improvision and other times I just shake my head in disbelief.

The boys did not hunt eggs and none of them even asked about it.  I had made the decision that I did not want to hunt eggs because it was all candy.  If I put money in the eggs, then they just go to the dollar store and buy candy.  The more I stay away from sugar, the more I see how it is truly a drug and your brain reacts to it the same way it does hard drugs.

The working out is continuing to go well. I have 2 more weeks left on the 12 week eating plan.  The scale has been slower to move, but seeing some body composition changes.  I am having mobility issues with my mid back and left shoulder.  My coaches have a great relationship with a local PT and he periodically provides free movement screenings for the athletes.  They hooked me up yesterday.  I think the PT was surprised how tight I was through my thoracic spine.  He could not really figure out what was going on with my shoulder, but it was really tight too (although he said the rotator was totally fine).  He gave me some good stretches.  One of these days I will be able to properly lift things above my head and to do a hand stand push up!

Anyone know what this is....

The newest toy...a fidget spinner.  You hold the middle with two fingers and spin, spin, spin it.  I am amazed how much time they can play with these.  It is suppose to keep hands occupied, which it does but the teachers find it distracting ~ ha.

I was going through some recent pics JR took with his phone and found some of this kid, when he went to work with dad.

Looks like he does great work!

Always gets a nap on the way home...

Looking forward to continued warmer weather!

The middle of April...how time just keeps on moving!   I am close to putting up the snow gear, but will hold off for another 2-3 weeks, cause you just never know!

Through a friend of mine, I was able to hook JR up with a landowner for hiking and hunting.  They have over 10K acres.  One of the things she is interested in, is JR finding the rattlesnakes.  I guess she has a neighbor who paid over 3,000 dollars for someone to come in and capture/kill over 400 rattlers.  (It is incredibly fascinating to hear how one catches that many snakes...pretty ingenious actually.)  Although JR is going for hunting privileges in exchange for some dead skins.  The snakes create lots of problems for their horses and the riders.  It created a lively conversation on snake bites, cost of antivenim, etc.  Fortunately, there is cell service out there if anything were to happen.  It also made us wonder about the rattlesnake roundup that is held every year in Texas and where in the world do all those snakes come from!

When I went with my horse friend out to this 10K acre ranch, we came across this.  I was so intrigued, I had to take a picture.  (You can tell it is in the middle of nowhere.)

I had to buy 3 cookies!  That is country hospitality and trust right there!

Jacob is now signed up for football!  There is a family at church who donates week long camp scholarships to students that complete a list of tasks.  Both Benjamin and Jacob have completed their items, so we are filling out the paperwork for them to go to christian camp for a week.  Benjamin is also planning on going to 4H camp this summer.  All the boys are looking forward to summer and all the roaming and playing that entails.

Here are some (grainy because it is dark) photos from a recent trampoline park outing.  The boys had a ball.

Easter is this weekend.  Pretty quiet weekend lined up!  Yay!!!

I feel like I am coming out of the fog of winter and wanting to document our lives again.

This kid, I mean young man, got new glasses and it totally changed his appearance.

4th quarter has started and Benjamin signed up again for Drama club.  They are doing a musical this time around.  Not sure the name, but a spoof on Mother Goose?  He was cast for Little Boy Blue.  He thinks he is going to have to sing in this, which would be fun.  Not sure what kind of a voice he has, but maybe could get some training and develop it (the drama club director's wife, is a choir director, so maybe he will help out).  Benjamin also has another potential acting gig.  There is a college student at our church, who helps produce/director small films done locally with two other friends.  They are wanting to film the first chapter of a book called Eragon.  This student at our church has asked Benjamin if he might be interested in being the lead role.  Of course Benjamin got all excited.  If they do it, it would be late summer or early fall.  Not sure if it will pan out but at least exciting to see another avenue for Benjamin.  Theater is way different than movies.  Benjamin does not know anything about the book, so we will be checking it out this week so he can read it and see if it even interests him.

I have recently befriended a gal who has horses and has worked with horses for many years.  Her husband is a horse trainer and was looking for someone to help him out when he trains (non paid).  I have introduced Benjamin to Joe and Benjamin is going to start helping him out periodically. Really excited for him to learn more about horses, work ethic, etc.  Benjamin is allergic to horses, but hoping that Benadryl can take care of that!  I have also made a contact with a couple at our church who are both pilots and this summer I am hoping Benjamin can spend some time with them, learning about planes, maybe going up in their small plane, seeing controls, etc.  Now, if I can just find him an avenue in a kitchen, alongside a chef.  I need to keep this kid busy.  I have told him this summer will have a great mix of free/play time and work time.  He is almost 13 and up here, kids can start taking drivers ed at 14.5 (scary).  So, he needs to start thinking about ways to save money.  As I have heard friends around here say, the 'fumes' will soon start taking over for Benjamin....perfume and car fumes and both of those require money!

The other day, I took Bree out.  She was so spastic and running all over the place.  I decided she needed a more intense run with the van.  She ran 3 miles.  Then decided that she was hot so found a mud puddle.  Not only did she get in the mud puddle, she laid in the muddle puddle and she rolled around in the mud puddle!  Ugh.

I made her run a little further to dry off.  Then I brought her home.  She has learned what the bathroom means, so she runs the other way when you call her from the bathroom.  I got a few treats and then led her to the bathroom and shut the door.  I turned on the water and to my amazement, she jumped into the bathtub and stood there calmly.  (I wonder if all the mud was driving her nuts too).  We found a tick on her recently, which seems really early in the year.  Or maybe she had it a while, since her coat is so thick!

Later this week we are suppose to be in the low 70s!  One of the ski resorts is closing this week and not sure that the other one will make it until their closing date of Easter.  Yet, I am sure we will be getting one more snowfall!

We are at the tail end of Spring Break.  Has been a fairly quiet week.  We road tripped one day to a trampoline park.  The kids had a good time with friends!  I unfortunately did not jump.  I strained my knee and was taking it easy!

Yesterday we celebrated this kids bday! 10 years old!  Hard to believe!

And today he got his braces off.  I am sure they will put them back on after some more teeth come in, but sure is nice to see those pearly whites!

We have recently invested in a new bed for Benjamin and a nice mattress topper for us.  Benjamin slept like a champ last night.  He was even up really early and all I can figure, is that he slept well!

The weather is very weird right now!  We are suppose to be 70 tomorrow.  Sure does not do much for the skiing!  I don't know that we have any snow in the forecast between now and the end of March!

Not much else happening around here.  Pretty quiet.  Hopefully I will get motivated to pull my camera out soon and get some pictures!

Oh, it has been a while!

Benjamin has had his play and he did a good job.  I went to the dress rehearsal and then both of the evening shows.  It was fun to see the kids get more comfortable in their roles and even improvise more with every show.  They did Jookalarum, a short sampling of O Henry stories.  I never knew much about him, but an interesting author, with quite a back ground.

I still have not been called back to do my home assembly stuff.  I guess the company still has not secured a new military contract.  I have enjoyed the down time, although I don't feel like I have much down time.

I am slowly trying to get our house cleaned up.  We would like to move but not in a hurry.  We are somewhat specific in what we are looking for.  I talked with a realtor and we are looking at a quick timing thing.  Basically, since what we are looking for is few and far between, but out there, we need to have our house ready to be put on the market within 24 hours.  Then when something we like comes available, we have to have our house on the market before a serious offer on a house we want to buy would be accepted.  In my mind, I have a 2 year time frame in which I would want to move.  In 2 years, Benjamin will be pushing 15, which means another driver and his friends with cars and me really wanting a place with a game room, of sorts, for kids to hang out in.  I have started doing touch up paint and getting a mental list of all the things we need to do.  If I can just get the boys on board to keep everything picked up.  Fortunately JR has a storage unit for work, so we have a place to take a few things to get them out of the house, so it is easier to keep the house 'show ready'.

We are in a lull with extra curricular activities.  I think the only thing we have between now and summer will be football for Jacob, and that starts probably late April?  I guess Benjamin will have another round of drama club, after spring break (which is in 1 week).  This time around they are doing a musical.  I sure hope he continues to pursue drama.

I continue with Crossfit 5 days a week and love it.  The eating plan is going well.  It is not recommended but I am weighing myself every morning.  I find it very fascinating what certain things will do to my body.  If I have salt or any simple carbs, I can almost always plan on being 1-2 pounds heavier in the morning.  I can tell before I even get out of bed if I retained water overnight.  I am competing in the Crossfit games, every Friday for 5 weeks.  It is a worldwide event, where all athletes complete the same workout and then report their scores.  The first workout is done and I was about 90 seconds from fully completing it.  I am in the top part of the bottom half for my age group.  Not great, but pretty good considering I have only been doing Crossfit for 6 months.  I can only imagine how much stronger I will be in 2018.  If you are bored, google 'Crossfit games 2017 workout' and check out some of the insanely amazing athletes.

Not much else happening these days.  Sorry for the few and far between posts.  My days just all seem to run into each other!