Today Jacob had a track and field day at his school.  He signed up to run the 100 yard dash, 800 m, mile and a few other events.  (Because of the field trip with Joseph, listed below, I was not able to go watch him.  He said he got 3 ribbons though, although he has not received them yet.  He told me he ran the 800 (1/2 mile) in 3:10.  He ran the mile in 6:22!!  I pointed out to him that his mile time was almost exactly half of his mile time, which meant he paced himself almost perfectly.  I told him he should get with his cousin, who ran track in high school and collage, and get some tips from her.  Who knows how he could improve by the time he is in 7th grade...which is when you can run track at the middle school.

Joseph finally got his 10,000 page reading prize. The principal took 45 kids and I got to go as a chaperone!! That is 450,000 pages read at the school. We went to West Yellowstone to the Grizzly and Discovery Center and then we saw Amazing Predators at the IMAX (Joseph had never been in an IMAX). I loved the movie, just incredible photography, or is it videography.

All of the animals were born in captivity. Once an animal is maimed or has become a problem (not afraid of people), they are relocated. Of course once they are relocated, they can never live in the wild again. Some of the wolves were howling and it was amazing to hear.

To keep thing interesting/stimulating/real life for the animals, things in the habitat are changed/moved daily, food is buried, scents are put out, etc.  We kept waiting for this bear to stand up on all fours, but he was way more interested in rooting around.

This was a pond in one of the wolf habitats.  Every couple of weeks they restock the pond.  We happened to be there on restocking day.  Too bad one of my pictures did not show the fish shooting out.

The wolves had just been let back into their area, so not too concerned with the fish.  It was neat though to watch them find the scents and hidden food, although they did not immediately eat the meat, so I think the ravens flew away with it.

One of the displays in the museum

They had a display of bear proof containers and containers that bears had gotten into.  If something is 'bear proof', it is filled with something very enticing for them (fish) and then put in their habitat.  If after 90 minutes of bears messing with it, it is still intact, then they truly call it bear proof.

This picture was by far the most hilarious one I took all day.  I found it taped inside of a bathroom stall.  I know toilets are different all over the world, but can't imagine someone trying to post on the left!!!!!

Speaking of the world, there were lots and lots of tour busses of asian people.   They were fascinated by all of us.  They would video us walking by, they kept saying hello and loved for opportunities to high five/fist bump the kids!


Now that the snow has melted, the new favorite thing at the house is pogo sticking.  The younger two are getting pretty good and Joseph has been practicing at least 10-15 minutes a day.  From the looks of the pictures, I need to find something more challenging, or build something more challenging for him.

I keep telling him he must wear a helmet because if he fell backwards, look out.  They make really nice (professional) pogo sticks, that allow you to get 4-6 feet of air, which would mean you could do flips, etc.

My niece, Kristine, and I have decided that we are gonna hike 100 miles this summer.  Okay, maybe I just decided it and told her she was gonna join me!  Anyway, we are 2% toward our goal, as we did a 2 mile hike last weekend.

Joseph celebrated his 9th birthday recently at school. (None of my kids have ever had a birthday during the school year, so they always celebrate it early. His classroom treat, which was a huge hit.
Chocolate pudding with crushed oreos and gummy worms....aka dirt worms

Flag football season is here!!

I love how easy he is to spot in pictures.

This is the last week for baseball for Joseph. However, some of the teams are talking about extending the season, so looks like it will still be crazy around here for 3-4 more weeks.

That time of year, where things get crazy with school.  Joseph has an all day field trip next week and I am going as a chaperone.  Then Jacob has 2 different all day field trips.  Benjamin has a 4-5 hour field trip and I have signed up as a chaperone.  Not to mention all the field days.  Of course two of them have stuff on the same day, so I can only make it to one of them.  14 more days of school!

One more week of baseball!  Next week the team gets to play on the big boy field ~ our local minor league, of sorts, team.  It has been fun to see how the kids have improved.  I think half the battle is figuring out the rules and learning how to move with the ball and keep it straight as to where you are suppose to throw the ball, based on where the base runners are.  During tonight's game, one of our boys was playing third base and the ball was thrown to him and he forgot to touch the base to get the runner out.  The coach, who loves baseball and can be pretty intense, started talking to this boy. He is always looking for teachable moments.  I was sitting next to the boy's mother and when she saw the tears in her son's eyes, she got upset and walked over to the coach and told him to stop, that the kids are only first and second graders.  She went on to say that she was tired of seeing all the kids cry.  A coach, from the other team, who was coaching third turned around and told her that the coach was only saying positive things and building her kid up.  A very tense situation.  After a bit she came back and sat down.  I tried to encourage her with how hard it is to watch those interactions...she was not really interested in a conversation with me at that point.  I just wanted to tell her she might think she is helping her son, but she really should sit back and let coach handle it.  I think too many parents rescue their kids and try to shield them from life.  He was not being spoken to rudely, the coach was bringing constructive criticism and trying to encourage him at the same time.

Totally random thought...  .One of my boys has this thing about clipping toe nails.  Seems like every other day he is clipping his nails.  Actually, you can't even see any whites to the toe nails because they are so short.  Sure enough, one of them got infected.  We headed to the doctor.  Ended up getting medicine for it and was told if they continue to clip, it could mean removing part of the toe nail.  I was hoping that might be some good motivation, but not sure that it will be.  Time will tell on that one.   Yet one of the many ways that I have tried to came along side them and instruct/help and they are not really interested, so I just remind them that it is their toe nail, not mine!

Our neighbors have their townhouse for sale.  Their unit is an interior unit, just like ours, so I have been anxiously watching to see what it sells for, so we would have a direct comparison for our place.  It has been on the market 3 weeks and no offers.  In our market, some homes are getting offers in less than a day.  So a little disconcerting.  I do think they priced it a little high, as my realtor thinks the same thing.  However, the biggest concern prospective buyers are mentioning is the building in the back.  In the end we will be like any neighborhood, but maybe all the noise, etc for the next year or so has people concerned??   I guess it has made me kind of back of on actively looking, knowing we might have a hard time selling at the moment.  I don't think our place will lose any value through it all.

Bree sure enjoys all the gophers in the field.  Anytime I see a field of gophers, I just imagine Bree.  So many little critters.  It would be hilarious if the gophers would play that game like I have seen in arcades...where they pop up and then back down.  Would drive her nuts and keep her running and digging for hours.  She also uses the pool daily.

We put this kiddo on a plane earlier this week for Washington DC. After all the fundraising this year, great for him to finally get to go.

Some of the itinerary stops: Ford's Theater, Kennedy Center, White House area, Capitol Building, Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Holocaust Memorial, MLK, FDR and Jefferson Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima Memorial, Smithsonian, Air and Space Museum, Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, WWII and Signers of the Declaration Memorials, National Cathedral, National Zoo, Professional Baseball game, Mt. Vernon and Old Town Alexandria. Typing all of that makes me tired. The rumor is they walk over 10 miles a day!!!

He also got a phone just prior to leaving. I was hoping that might mean we would get some pictures along the way, but does not appear the case! That's okay, know that he is having a great time!

Also fun family news....I am a great aunt as of yesterday! My niece Kelsey had her baby (a few weeks early). They did not know the gender but it is a boy. Colton Michael. Having 3 sisters, she is in for a huge learning curve!!

JR and Jacob recently returned from a 9 day road trip. They took his 1985 little Toyota pick up down to south Texas (Laredo) to hunt on some private land. Remarkably, the truck had no issues at all!!! They could not always hit top speeds, but supposedly they got lots of look from others on the road. It is hard to miss.



The bunk house!!

A vehicle that had the blind up top.

The ranch manager had caught a rattle snake (in shorts none the less) and then Jacob had fun finishing it off.

The total fish count for the week was JR 1 and Jacob 12!!!!

The lone fish JR caught.

Sitting and waiting for the hogs.

They had hoped to see a lot more hogs, but that is how it goes.  JR was able to drop 2 of them and I think Jacob had 1 or 2, but they both ran off into thick brush and they were not able to follow them.  I guess there were 17 different blinds on the property and were only able to get to a few of them.

Despite few hogs, many memories were made!

Baseball season is in full swing.

And my favorite picture...

And this kid hit his 10,000 page reading goal for the school year!!!!! Sounds like the prize will be ice cream and movie with the principal.

Last weekend I was in North Dakota, on edge of Theodore Roosevelt National Park at a women's retreat with some ND friends!!  Met up with one friend Thursday afternoon and we kicked around and then Friday morning visited an amazing creation/dinosaur museum.  The retreat was Friday eve through Sun morning and the speaker was really dynamic!!  Great time away.  Would have loved one more evening to decompress, but have it on my calendar for next year.

While there we took a short hike.  We followed a trail for a bit and then as we came over a small hill, saw a Buffalo laying down right in the middle of the trail.  We decided it was time to turn around.  We also saw some wild horses!  I wished they had been doing something wild, like running on a bluff, but they were just grazing right off the road.

Benjamin is registered for his high school classes....what, how did that happen!!!  I can't remember what he plans on taking in the fall, but should be great semester.  The school has said 8th graders can go to the high school gym and start working out for fall sports.  He is considering heading there at 6:15 in the mornings.  I think it would be great for him.  The football coaches told him he has a great build for lineman, if he put on some muscle.  Hopefully the encouragement will spark some motivation.  (I am just so ready to see him throw himself towards something other than video games!)

JR and Jacob made it to Texas in his 1985 Toyota pickup.  He loves that truck and has put a lot of work/money into it.  They will head to a ranch south of San Antonio to hunt hogs for the week.

You know you are a budget nerd, when the high light of your day is figuring out how to print these!

These are my budget envelopes and I finally took time to figure out how to print a ledger on the outside of them!!!

This morning we woke up and saw this outside the bedroom window.  So cool and there was also a second one.  Usually they fly east, but for some reason they were over us.

All last summer we had a kiddie pool out in the backyard for Bree, but she never used it.  We filled it up for the first time today.  We had been in the back field, in the sun, throwing the ball.  She was so hot and tired, she immediately got in the pool.  I think she is hooked now.  It will be one of her favorite places to hang.  The downside, then she is wet and that does not go well when she wants to come in.....hum!

She gets cooled off and then runs into the field and feverishly digs for gophers.

See to the left of Bree, the orange pill bottle...that has been target practice lately!!  I guess those days will soon be gone!

The other day I took Bree running with the car.  At one point the river ran close to the side of the road.  She took off for it and I knew trouble was coming.  She obviously cannot determine depth or swiftness of the river so she ran in, thinking it was shallow.  She was trying so hard to get back out and could not. Her tail end had gotten downstream and she was doing all she could to stay afloat.  I jumped out of the car and ran to river's edge.  It was not rapids, but moving quickly.  Since we were in the country and not a lot of houses around, I had decided running to her that I would not go into the water to get her.  (I was not concerned about going under, but more about ending up wet and cold in the middle of nowhere when I finally got to the bank).  I ran through the thorns.  The back of her head was pushed against a branch, otherwise she would have quickly floated downriver.  I had to grab her collar and literally lift her out.   She was really scared.  Hopefully she won't be so quick to run into moving water.  We certainly have to watch her this time of year with all the snow melt.

Here is progress behind our house :-(.  That fire hydrant is shoulder height and the hydrant that is just behind where I was standing is waist high.  I am assuming the road will have a slight incline to it??

Literally ground moving equipment.  It is cool though to be so close to construction that you can see all the steps involved!!

We took Bree out back this evening, with the chuck it and the ball.

It was comical, Ben had the camera.  He was acting like paparazzi with Kristine (my niece).  He was continuously taking pictures and rotating the camera for all kinds of weird angles.  This was one of her "stop it now" pictures.  When she saw this picture, she said it summed up her time staying with us.  (She sadly moves into her new place this week)

Ben is currently taking a Family Consumer Science class, where he is learning to sew, etc.  He made a really, really cool pencil pouch, that honestly, looks better than anything I could sew.  In his woodworking class he made this really nice box, with a tight fitting lid!

Our quiet little corner of the world is no longer quiet.....

There has been activity in our field for a couple of weeks, but last week they started putting in a road.  Look how close other houses/multi family units are going to be!!  Sad.  I think when the entire field is built out, there will be close to 600 units/houses. At least it will be a great place to officially walk Bree in weekends/evenings. 

As you can also see in the picture, it was just beginning to snow.  We got several inches early April and again last week.  The weather is quickly changing day to day.  I am ready to be able to put up our winter stuff.

Joseph has his first baseball game tomorrow.  He plays every Tues and Thurs for the next 5 weeks.  About the time his season ends, Jacob's flag football season will be starting.

JR and Jacob are heading to Texas in about 10 days to do some hunting.  It is gonna be a long drive for them, as they are taking JR's beloved little truck, but it doesn't max out at 80 mph.

Benjamin heads to DC on his 8th grade trip in 3 weeks.  Before long, summer will be here!

We are still watching the housing market.  Not much has come up that would work for us.  Not sure how all the new building will affect housing prices.

I am still working, and it looks like there is a handful of us that will continue working and not take a break between contracts!  I have enjoyed only working 8 hours a week, versus 15-20.  I am focusing on a few other projects around the house!

Not much else happening.  Been quiet, minus the wild and crazy weather!!

We all survived Spring Break last week! We had a great mix of down time and getting out and being active.

We hit the local slopes! For some reason, Joseph is the only one that was really around long enough for pictures.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day!!!

The resort totally redid their beginner area and it is so nice!!  They even have another tunnel and lift up top, so lots of room for beginners.

I decided to hang out in the lodge.  At one point I looked up and saw a ski patroller walking in with Joseph.  My heart skipped a beat.  Turns out that Joseph, Jacob and our neighbor were skiing down a run, everyone doing great.  Then, they came to the top of a hill that Joseph remembered from last ski outing.  Him and his cousin Kenna got stuck on the hill and could not come down.  Joseph kind of freaked and refused to try it.  They ended up calling the ski patrol to give him a snow mobile ride down.  Next time I need to make sure I go up with him and get him to conquer his fears.  Oh the mind games we play.

We took an outing with a bunch of friends to an indoor nerf arena.  The boys had a blast and I enjoyed sitting in the quiet with the other adults talking!  We also hit the hot springs.  I joined the kids and we had a great time swimming and hanging out.

We also celebrated Jacob's 11th bday.  Pretty low key (no party) but he did get in lots of friend time!

Jacob is working out with 3 other boys for a 3-on-3 basketball tournament!  Sure love his enthusiasm and dedication to basketball.  Now that the snow is melted, I love hearing the boys out in the driveway playing!

Joseph decided last minute he wanted to play baseball.  So got him signed up and one of the options is to sell $1 candy bars...240 of them!  He was all excited to get out and sell, so why stifle his fire!  I was getting ready to go out walking with him.  At the same time niece Kristine came by to get Jacob for a grocery store run.  Right after they left, I walked out to catch up with Joseph and could not find him...it had only been 1 min, so assumed that he had jumped in the car with Kristine and Jacob.  A bit later, Kristine texted me about I mentioned Joseph.  She told me Joseph was not with her.  Oh boy!  It was about 45 minutes until dark and Joseph was walking the streets somewhere with chocolate and money.  We started driving around and I knocked on a few doors.  Identified one house where he had been, but no one else on the street had seen him.  I asked a few friends to help look.  We had probably 10 out looking.  I was starting to panic a bit and wonder if a 911 call needed to be made.  I had just decided to call 911 when Jacob called in, telling me he was home (I had just been home, so thought it odd I did not pass him).  When I got home, there was a sheriff's car. 

I just assumed when he was going out to sell, that he was going door to door.  But instead, he decided he was only going to knock where he knew people lived.  Therefore, he had gone much farther, much quicker than any of us anticipated.  The sheriff had happened to pass him a bit before and stopped him.  They bought some chocolate from him and kept going.  I guess a bit later, they decided they should check back with him.  They stopped him a second time and asked him if he had sold all his chocolate.  He told them no but he did not want to go home until he did.  They bought a few more bars.  Joseph told them he was gonna head back home and they offered to give him a ride.  Turns out he had gotten all the way to a friend's house, who lived about 1 1/2 miles.  I never would have looked that far for him.  When I got home the sheriff said in the future not to wait to call them.  It is easier to call people off than bring in more to continue a search after some time has passed.  I hope I never have to go through that fear again!

The snow is melting...yay!  We are starting to reach the 50s!!  So excited for dry roads and hiking trails to dry out!  Another quiet weekend ahead!

Spring Break starts today!!!  It is suppose to be a beautiful week and looks like sun most of the weekend!  We have had a gloomy, cloudy winter!  So ready for some sun and shorts.  Yes, we tend to pull out the shorts when it hits 40 and sunny!!

What has happened the last month....a lot of the same stuff.  Living life!

Benjamin has finished all of his official 'DC fundraising' and I am so excited.  The trip is paid for, now he is working towards his spending money!  Details are coming together for his 8th grade graduation.  Hard to believe in a month or two they will start registering for high school classes!  I am ready for the responsibility, hopefully, that will come with high school.  Benjamin is one of the youngest in his class, so he will not be old enough to drive until after his sophomore year!  I have told him he better really enjoy this summer, because next year, he will be old enough to get a real job, so this will be the last truly free summer he has.

Jacob recently was asked to play in a 5-on-5 basketball tournament with some friends from school.  Just the opportunity I was hoping he would get.  The tournament was last weekend.  While they played good, they went 0-4.  Since it was a new team, they had only practiced for 4 hours, where some of the other teams had been playing together for 3 years.  Quite the humbling experience!  The first game they played (which was against the team that ended up winning the tournament) was 46-7, the half time score was 28-0!  Every game they did a little better and there is talk of continuing on and trying to find some more tournaments.  He really enjoys the coach too!  I was proud of him and how well he handled the losses.  He is by far the most competitive one I have.

Speaking of, a very interesting dynamic appeared recently.  The older two were doing Kids CrossFit classes.  The first month it consisted of the 2 of them and 2 of Jacob's friends.  The second month, Jacob's friends did not participate, so it was just Benjamin and Jacob.  They were on the fence about just the two of them in class, but continued throughout the month of February.  The last class of February, things got weird.  The two of them were doing a particular lift with a barbell.  Benjamin had great form and the weight was pretty light for him.  So the coach suggested he add on more weight.  As she was putting more weight on Benjamin's bar, Jacob piped in that he wanted more weight.  The coach told him no and it did not make Jacob happy to see his brother get ahead of him.  At that point, Benjamin's form took a nose dive.  The coach later commented to me that it was crazy to watch how Benjamin chose to miss his lifts because he did not want to deal with competitive nature of Jacob.  After class Jacob was really upset and I decided then that things were gonna stop.  The coaches are encouraging Benjamin to try an adult class...hoping he will go with me next week to an 11am class.  Jacob is taking a mandatory break.

Sweet little Joseph recently got braces.  In two days his teeth have already come together.  He is plugging away at his 10,000 page reading goal.  We are close to 7,500!  I am hoping by end of spring break we will be at 8,500!  We have until early May to finish!  Not hard to do if you are just consistent with 3 books a night!  He recently wanted to try bananas in his cereal, which was huge, and he liked it.  Now if he would learn to eat eggs again, it would make breakfasts much better.  His school is having a first annual science fair later in March.  I am glad he wanted to participate.  We are going to nail down his project next week.  I think it might be as simple as making putty or slime, but will be fun to watch him pull it all together.  Hopefully this will spur him on to desire more stuff like this. 

Several nights this past week, Bree has woken us up several times with what I describe as dry heaving.  It was only getting worse so took her to the vet.  How embarrassed I was when the vet told me it was a cough.  I guess I never heard a dog cough.  Anyway, some medication later and looks like things are getting better.  She is really ready for the snow to melt..then it won't be so muddy and we can get out and get more running in.

This past week I have not done any dishes.  I finally came up with a plan that seems to be working.  I got tired of the boys leaving plates at the table and on the counter.  They did not seem to understand the concept that even rinsing the dishes makes it easier to wash them later.  (We have never had a good working dishwasher so always did them by hand)  So, each boy took one day and they had to do all the dishes from that day.  Even the dishes I dirtied while they were at school.  Before they went to bed that night, every dish had to be clean, dried and put away and counters and table wiped down or they got another day of dish duty.  Basically a totally clean, to mom's standard, kitchen. They balked early on but the older two have finally learned what a clean kitchen looks like and rocks it.  Hoping to continue things for another week and then we might see if everyone can take care of their own dishes or the boys continue with the whole day. 

I have told them we are just warming up to lots of responsibilities this summer.  I am hoping to ramp up my work at home stuff and try to do 20 hours most weeks.  If I do that, they are taking more of the house responsibilities.  We have had many conversations about what things would look like if everyone just took care of their own stuff, immediately and were responsible with all areas of their lives.  I told them....imagine a house with no rules....because everyone was capable of managing all of their stuff and responsibilities.  Hopefully we can pull some of that off.

Things for JR are slowing down a bit, because the snow has tapered off.  He is itching to get out onto the trails and do some hiking and camping.

We are still casually watching the housing market.  Seen a few things that could work for us, but none that just really grabbed me, except that one house.  Every thing I am seeing on line says they have a pending offer.  A part of me wishes it would go back on market and they would lower the price a little.  God knows what He has for us....I just need patience!

A quiet weekend ahead.  Hopefully I can get some pictures next week and post before another month passes.

We are in the middle of some cold temps!  The good news, it is almost mid February, so it won't last long.

Jacob is in the middle of his YMCA basketball season.  It has been a huge learning experience for him.  The league is for 4th-6th grade.  When the Y put the teams together, they did not ask playing experience or anything.  Jacob is the only 5th grader on his team of 4th graders.  A lot of his teammates do not have much experience.  I told him instead of being frustrated and upset that all of his friends are on another team and his team is the youngest, that this is his opportunity to shine as a leader.  As the oldest he can set the tone on the court.  He has stepped up and done that the last 2 games!  So proud of my boy.

Benjamin is coming to the end of his DC fundraising.  He has stepped it up and done well.  I still think bagging groceries has been his favorite.  It is always fun to see him in situations where he rises to the occasion.  He is so personable and quickly turning into a young man.  High School is just around the corner!!

The other night at 2:45 am, we were both woken up by a knock at the door.  I instantly realized what was going on.  Bree had been put outside at 10:30 before we went to bed and no one let her back in.  A neighbor knocked on our door because she finally started barking about 2 am.  Poor dog.  I don't think I have ever seen her run upstairs to her bed so fast.

We all found a house we really liked!  All of us could see us in the house and had several conversations about where things would go, etc.  However, there is not a peace to make an offer on this house.  I don't understand it, but we will wait.  Maybe it will come together later or another/better house will come our way.  There is quite a bit of building that will happen this summer, two huge subdivisions, so maybe to our advantage to wait. 

Plans are underway for some upcoming travel adn summer plans.  Can't believe it is time for that!