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We try to post the latest happenings here... May 6 I haven't been very good lately about getting our pictures up, so over the next few weeks I expect to catch up... First our Great Flood! Our road was covered at the end of our driveway and we waded our vans through to get out and to town. Luckily we were not blocked in totally. I know that many were. Our prayers and hearts were with those who suffered losses. As you see, the kids had a lot of fun with Lake Will-Be-Gone! Hre is the morning mist over the lake and road, our mailbox on lake-front property, girls and horses, canoeing, our muddy island, and Belen with her animals.
April December 28 This year for Christmas we went to Adrian's parents' house in Texas. We thought we were leaving our chance for a white Christmas behind. Lucky us--it snowed in Texas and NOT in Kentucky. In all the years I grew up in Texas I never remember having this kind of snow on Christmas! What fun! Note the five-tiered alien snowman with one eye. They had to stand on shoulders to get it done. It is probably our last Christmas together since Shelvin is leaving this spring to serve as a missionary for two years. He has been called to Spain, Bilbao!
Before it snowed, the days were a balmy 70 and we were at the park in our shirt sleeves--typical Texas weather!
Earlier in December, our church put on a Festval of the Nativity and we had about 75 nativity sets displayed from around the world that members had brought in. It was absolutely beautiful! There was also a live nativity on the lawn. Shelvin is the shepherd on the right. He was well-bundled as it was a cold night. Aunt Tahlee (Chock's sister) came to visit and if anyone wants to know where Sage gets her red hair here's the evidence...
Katie had puppies! Nine little wigglies. See more pictures on our puppy page!
November 19 Here are our pictures of what we have been up to for the last several months.... First, and most recent, is putting the roof on our shelter when we finally had a calm day, dad could be at home, and it wans't raining all at the same time. Also the celebration of "write love on your neighbor's arm" day. I think it's some Facebook invention.
A few weeks ago Belen made ginger snaps and decided to build a castle using the cookies as blocks. They're always playing with their food, as evidenced by the icing beards that they so proudly displayed on the camera.
Aria's and Tiana's birthdays always fall close together.... Aria's cake was a blue ribbon, but we forgot to take pictures before consuming... Tiana's was a hill with horses on it...in case you couldn't guess. And of course, fall in Kentucky wouldn't be fall at all without leaves and leaf piles.
This October the youth at church participated in a pioneer encampment. Belen and Bryce were a part of them as they pulled handcarts around Long C Trails for two days and then met at the meeting house for a smaked dinner that Chock, Adrian and Shelvin helped to prepare. Part of the adventure was carrying a "baby" with them, assigning "mishaps" such as a broken leg or fever, and making their own food from salt pork and flour. They were very grateful for the yummy meal at the end of the journey. Chock has the men mesmerized as he is cutting into the smoking meat. Adrian was assigned to the cobblers, and Shelvin helped everywhere.
Here is Aria mounting Dandy for the first time. He has been lunged, long-lined, patted, desensitized, etc. Aria wanted to make sure he was well mannered before trying to mount. He is doing great! Aria put her weight an each side and draped over the saddle from both sides as well before getting on. She has done a great job!
Puppies in a basket, pony with a cart and girls milking goat. (July) We have been bringing in the puppies twice each day to weigh them and supplement the ones who need a little extra. Annie has been doing so good with them! The girls rigged a harness and tied the wagon on behind. I guess they're headed for the chariot races! Snoopy was a little weirded out with the strange contraption. We supplement the puppies with goat's milk from Amy, who had just weaned her kid--good timing! Tiana's friend Gabby is helping her.
Clason's birthday was July 21 and I made a red velvet cake in a 9 x 13 pan, then used blocks to create a race car. He loved it! Here are the steps. I like to glue cake pieces together with jam or jelly. It was his idea to put the extra red piece on top!
Sage's birthday was July 7 and her cake was pretty plain with a toy horse stuck on top. She doesn't know what to think, especially since I couldn't find the virthday candles and used our emergency candle stash!
My it has been a while. When we have puppies everyone gets busier--especially when we have 14! July 1 Annie has 14 puppies! We haven't taken many pictures because we don't want to disturb them too much. It's hard work nursing all those little squiggly things! Adrian's parents spent almost a week with us. They brought us a load of ceramic tile for our basement that we had bought from my brother-in-law's company in Dallas at a dirt cheap price (discontinued). They kept it for us until Dad and Mom could haul it out here. What a blessing family can be! Aria is the only one who went to state horse show this year. She is so excited to have won first place in English Country Pleasure Walking Class. She won a huge belt buckle and has no belt worthy of it yet.
June 25 What a surprise when we found a car in our goat field. Warning! The driver was using a cell phone and accidentally drove off the road. She took out the neighbor's mailbox as well as two fence posts. They called a tow truck, helped us put the fence back up and went on their way...
June 18 District horse shows were this week... This was Tiana's first year and she showed Alfalfa, Rebecca Van Horn's horse, in showmanship...and she won first place! Aria won two firsts and a second. Belen showed Dakoda for the first time and they did great.
June 9 Bryce was inspired by all the get-ups he saw at the festival and bought some wire for chain mail. His first piece is a coif that is just started.... All the little ones wanted to try it on.
May 30 I finally got around to a project I have been wanting to do. Years ago we picked up some rock and I started to lay it down by the back steps. Clason lifted them all last fall and I hadn't gotten around to fixing them and finisheing the job. Here it is, finally! Also went to the Tennesse Medieval Festival over the weekend and really enjoyed it! It is the first time our family has attended something like this and it was fun! so much to see and enjoy and learn. Lots of activities for the kids and shows to enjoy...
May 15 Aria and Tiana both made skirts for 4-H projects. This weekend they got to model them. Bryce made some pajama pants, but didn't really want to model, so they hung his pants on the wall. Also had a nice Mother's Day. This is Aria's creative expression of chocolate for dear mom. I always love anything that involves chocolate! Don't ask me why the girls sprayed their hair purple and took a picture. I don't know!
April 30 NEW ARRIVALS! Belén's goat Amy and Aria's goat Abby both have babies. Amy had 2 and Abby had 1. It's always fun to see new babies and watch them grow. Watching them scamper and play and watching the moms care for them are great reminders of how nature provides and how families are the best in caring for their own.
Here is the carport the elders built. Here is the wreckage from the rot torn down making room for the carport the elders built. Here is the widow's house attached to the wreckage torn down making room for the carport the elders built. Here is the new roof next to the widow's house that was attached to the wreckage torn down making room for the carport the elders built. You get the picture! Sister Trapane, we love you! Way to go, guys!
April 20 Lots of fun stuff going on...Here are Aria on Bitsy and Tiana with Snoopy at 4-H horse camp and a new bike. Doesn't it look pretty? Wanna buy it? Chock and the boys worked hard getting it ready.
March 19 Chock and boys are still bringing home bmw motorcycles to fix up and resell or part out and sell the parts. This time Clason got to go along and I think he's hooked! (It's just a windy day; he's not really riding it...yet) Belén was on Dakota when he spooked and crashed into a fence. It's not fun to watch, but it comes with having horses. Ever since the twins were little I have been grateful for the help of guardian angels in caring for the kids, and this is no exception. The joy in working with animals more than pays for the inherent risk. Just ask Belén! She's a 3-horse girl! Crystal, a Golden Retriever, has 3 AKC Golden Retriever pups. This one is the darkest; ain't he darlin'?
It snowed here after things had started blooming, but the snow seemed to insulate our fruit trees and tulip tree so that the blooms didn't freeze and drop off. We are excited to have some fruit this year! The puppies sure loved the snow, also.
February28 Belén has been asking about getting a new dog and finally chose a tri-color red Australian Shepard puppy. She has been researching Aussiedoodles and when Rylla is old enough next year, she will be having a gorgeous litter of Aussiedoodle puppies! Of course, as pretty as she is, she can't help but have gorgeous puppies with our Buddy!
February 16 Celebrated Esther's birthday this week. Mom and Sage have been sick so Aria made Esther's birthday cake. She made a barbie cake with a dress out of frosting, but the skirt didn't cooperate. It looks like Esther loved it anyway, and Mom sure appreciated Aria's and Tiana's help. Her favorite presents are always Barbies, of course.
Last week we also finally got around to hauling branches broken in the ice storm. We made a pile and used the horses to drag the big ones. Pete wasn't sure about the whole thing, but he did great with Shelvin to guide him. Snoopy the pony will do just about anything the girls ask. We didn't get much damage, and only lost power for a flicker.
February 6 Puppies eyes are open! They are starting to play and are so fun to watch. They are still so young that they want to sleep a lot, so they fall asleep in the middle of playing. We survived the ice storm fine. Not too much damage as we were on the southern edge of it all. Chock and the big boys went to western KY with chain saws and pruners to help clean up and clear out homes and roads. It's an awful display of what nature can do, and provides some unique photo opportunities.
January 23--new puppies! See puppy page for more...
During this week as there is so much press coverage of the presidential transfer and the new administration, I have so many thoughts running circles in my head I have to put them down somewhere. My ideal president is the one who steps in and says that he doesn't need a retirement plan. I think it ludicrous that we elect a man to lead our great country and then don't have the faith in him to provide for himself. Even if he were to become disabled in office, having been the president would give him the resources to earn a luxurious income with speaking engagements and such. I think a man astute enough to be our president ought to be expected to plan for his retirement and save just like we do. Don't we pay him enough? I'm not just looking for the tiny bit of savings that this would represent in our national budget, I'm looking for a man who thinks that the average American citizen is as important as his own political career. Any politician in any party in this day and age primarily looks out for his(er) own special interest. He(She) seeks solutions that will promote his(er) own agenda and garner support for him(er) and his(er) cronies. I could offer some real solutions for the illegal immigrant problem, the budget problem, and a host of others, but no one would listen. The real solutions make too much sense and would not benefit any special interest group, and therefore would not garner any measurable support. Show me a man or woman who can not only say the right words, but can also do the right things and truly think about what is best for our country as a whole in the long term, and not just how to appease the whiners in the short term so they'll vote for him(her) again. I also want a politician who can do math. If we truly want to pull the country out of a crisis, then we need to aid business and industry, because that's where our gross national product comes from. "Creating" jobs through government means siphoning money from commerce. What takes more money--to offer a job, or to pay taxes for the government to offer a job, which requires a beaurocrat to hire a worker and oversee the job, as well as a committee to make sure the money isn't being misused? Giving a job to those who are unemployed will create more strain on business and make more unemployed. Our country became great from the makers and the doers, just like he said, but I don't see him enabling the makers and the doers to make and do. He's going to double the huge debt load on our country and add government jobs which will drain money from commerce and prolong whatever recession or depression we are going through. So give me a president who can give back by refusing his retirement income and offering to cut back personally, just like we are. Give me a president who can push the simple but tough solutions that a complex problem needs. Give me a president who can talk tough to the whiners and do the right thing for everyone.
January 9, 2009 Just winding down tonight from another double birthday party. Belén and Bryce decided to have their parties on the same night, so we shipped off the little ones to a friend´s house and filled ours up with teenagers. This time the cake was a chaos cake with a jumble of brownies, ice cream, pudding, whipped topping and frosting shaped into a map and with little figures placed on top. I had forgotten to get candles, so our stash of emergency candles had to substitute--they had something to blow out, anyway. They both enjoy playing Last Chaos and work on advancing their characters when they get a chance. Here´s the cake, the Inn Fighting card game and the girls watching one of our favorite old black and white movies, "Arsenic and Old Lace."
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