Random stuff

This is a random blog we have spent the weekend working on the sheep business., going to the show at Alma to see how the sheep we sold did and delivering sheep to buyers to get them off our feed bill. We also spent the week following are kids to different activities.


This is Allissa doing the high jump at the Riley Relays not bad form. I was impressed I could never get my butt off the ground to make the high jump work right.
We spent Saturday evening at the Grade School they have their annual carnival. They set up games in all the hallways and it cost so much for the tickets that allow the kids to play the games. The money is used to support different activities throughout the year....the kids have a blast and now that my kids are older Duane and I look like those looser parents because we sit on the benches and hang out instead of volunteering to run a game. (the girls would rather be with their friends then mom and dad) I figure I put in enough hours of volunteer time with cheer leading!! This is Kaylee and two of her best friends.
Allissa and some of her friends posed for a pic. not hard at this age to convince them to do so..the school also has a dance for 7Th and 8Th graders after the carnival so the girls where all dressed up and looking very cute.
Jacob had the opprotunity to go to Kansas City to the speedway and watch races this is a picture that he text me, think he was trying to rub in the fact that he was some place way kewl and we where stuck at home....he succeeded...would have loved to have been at the races. Thought he did a great job catching a car on his phone with how fast they go.

Art Trip

I get to go on a few field trips around this time of year, I love them. I know, I know I must be crazy on a bus all day and filled with High school kids but I think it is great. The kids are usually very well behaved and outside of a classroom you often see a new side to students that gives some great insight. Every year the first year art classes go to the Nelson/Adkins art museum in Kansas City. If you haven't been there and art is an interest to you at all you really should go see it they have several pieces that are amazing. I will post some new pictures in a couple weeks of the next field trip on the 30Th I get to go to the Omaha zoo...yeah!!This was one of the trees out in the front court yard they where every where and it was so beautiful.
This is my boss, now you know why I love my job any guy that looks like this cannot be to hard to work for, he is very laid back and easy going. He let his hair grow out the last year and it is taking some getting used to.
We ate a Japanese restaurant in Topeka. They cook the food right in front of you and they involve the kids. The kids reaction is the best I have been their several times now and it is never the same because of the kids and what they think....it is great!!
This is the group we were getting ready for a group picture so i snapped one of my own...what a great bunch of kids.

Traditions

There are some things that are considered family traditions I am sure you have some in your families that have nothing to do with holidays, ours is the circus. My grandpa was a Shriner something that I was and am very proud of I can remember walking into the circus when I was very little and my grandpa in his funny hat with the tassel and knowing that he was important in someway and felling very good about it (later understanding that feeling was pride in my grandpa.) The Shriner's help thousands of kids every year and expect no payment so helping to support them while enjoying a show how great is that!!
We sit in the same spot most years this is the view we see of the three rings

We even invited Scooby Doo to join us this year and the kids let him borrow a hat and glasses for a disguise so that he could watch the Circus without being bothered.

Alex, Kaylee and Allissa getting ready for the Circus to start.
Alex had to try out the slide....Go.. Alex...Go!!

Allissa got a beautiful face painting done in blues and purples
Kaylee got hers done in green and looked like a butterflyThen there is Jacob, he is wearing his hat that he bought and borrowed Allissa's sunglasses...isn't he cute!!!

The Ring

Wow what a weekend!! I have a lot to post but will start with Saturday. Duane and I went to the State Sale at Hutchinson. It is a sheep sale with some major breeders so for us to get in was a great opportunity, it helped us get our name out there and we did ok as far as sales went and for our first year I thought it went alright. The downer for the day was that Duane lost his wedding ring...so NO we are not getting divorced, I love my husband very much.
I think Duane was more upset about it then I was not that I wasn't upset I was/am but there is so much more to being married then a ring on a finger.

Reasons why I was maybe not as upset as everyone thought I should be:

• Duane is my soul mate and my best friend
• I cannot imagine my world without him
• He is the only person that I know that can put up with my mood swings and still love me (besides my parents)
• He validates my feelings and believes in my dreams as much as I do.
• He has turned out to be a pretty great business partner
• He makes me laugh
• He is a wonderful, caring, patient father
• He is the logical side of me. He needs to think things through and I just do it without as much thought as I should have sometimes.

Now do any of these things have anything to do with whether my husband wears a wedding ring or not? No they don't. This is why I wasn't as mad as everyone thought I should be that the ring was lost because it is just a symbol to the outside world not what our marriage is based on and not what our marriage will be.

Pork Chops

I truly believe that opossums are the ugliest little creatures out there. They look like a giant rat, they hiss when trapped and when you think that you have successfully killed it, it gets up and walks away. These little creatures like cat food and show up on a regular basis to eat on my back patio if the cats get fed to late in the evening.

Their counter parts are much cuter but much more of a nuisance. They like cat food too and when there is no cat food they have learned how to take the lids off the trash cans by grabbing a edge and leaning backwards to pop the lid off. Living in the country I expect to see certain animals on my porch or even in my yard then there are things that make me laugh out loud.

This would be one of those things. It is sad when the first thing I think when there is a pig eating cat food on my back patio is grab the camera this is blog material!!! I am used to seeing raccoons, opossums, and my cats on my back patio but the pig is a first. No he is not ours, he belongs to the landlords son who has pigs across the road, he was out for a stroll and decided to stop and dine on the back porch. I just have to wonder if he realizes how close to the BBQ grill he is standing....mmmmmm pork chops!

This week....CHOCOLATE WEEK

This week was a chocolate week and I don't mean just one slice of that cake above I mean the whole damn thing....you know that you are having a bad week when the best day from Monday to Friday was Monday.

Yes people I am about to vent the beauty of blogging and people being able to read my blogs is this--- if you only want the happy, fluffy foo-foo moments then wait to read until next week because I don't think this blog will be what you are hoping for but if you are faithful readers that pull up my blog to see how our lives are really going then continue to read...it might even make your week look better.

Monday was a beautiful day, no i don't mean the weather, I do mean that it came and went without a crisis or a hitch.

Then comes Tuesday it rained it was nasty I got told how to run my cheer program from a lady that thinks it is her destiny in life to make mine miserable...she might succeed (I didn't kill her..bonus points) & had a terrible day at work and with my job if I have a bad day it usually involves guilt of thinking that I could have done something different (I couldn't have so I should get over it) my co-workers supported my actions but it doesn't make it feel any different.

Wednesday get up to go to work, day is off to a great start no disagreements with the hubby, the kids managed to not fight and we are out the door on time...Yes week is looking up.....Ha that was a short lived thought. Why? Because it is 7:30 I am sitting in my driveway and the blazer refuses to start. Hubby has to come back home and get me and the kids to go to school, get to school and find out information that I won't go into on here that just tops off the day.
This week can not get any worse right? Wait......it's not over Thursday is coming. Wednesday night parents are sooooo great bring me an extra vehicle to drive and dad decides it is fuel pump going out on the blazer (Oh great a very expensive part!!) I love my parents they are great to us...thank you!

Now where was I? Oh yes Thursday got out the door on time and all four of us pack into a single seat truck with enough equipment to support a homeless person for at least one month, drive to Riley drop off Jake at his dad's (lucky dog doesn't have to be at school until 11-state testing) now to drop the girls off at school. This is where Thursday goes bad I get stopped by a cop going 30 in a 20 and in the school zone.....at this point you just have to laugh! I tell the cop I am sorry but if I was speeding then I guess i deserve a ticket it could not possible make this week any worse....I got a warning!! (This maybe one of the few positives this week and to top it off I forgot to put my seat belt back on after I dropped Jake off) the rest of the day was pretty uneventful until 2 had Jake call the golf coach to see if they where going to have practice now remember it rained all day and they still hadn't called it. Coach says yep practice is still on so I drive 14 miles home to pick up golf clubs (there was NO room to take them that morning) then I drive 14 miles back to find out that in the time I have been gone he changed his mind and canceled practice.....UGH!!! I also managed to break my favorite sunglasses and everything at home was standing in water that I spent the evening sludging out or re-bedding.

Friday is here.....so far very good it scares me to even talk about it for fear that I will jinx it. I write this not to bring you down but to give me a place that when I think I am having a really bad day I can look back on this and remember the week from down under then maybe that moment will look like a moment that just deserves a slice of cake and not the whole thing.

Big 40

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband (he turns 40 today) I know he occasionally reads my blog I think he just checks to see what the I am telling the world about him...so world Duane is 40 today!!!

What are you having for lunch?

I had the funniest conversation with my 9 year old the other day went something like this:

Kaylee: Mom why are we having BBQ frog for lunch
Me: What are you talking about boo?
Kaylee: The lunch list says that we are having BBQ frog
Me: Even if lunch is bad I highly doubt that they will serve you BBQ frog
Kaylee: Your book says we are having BBQ ribbtte, so we are having frog see look I told you (while shoving my planner into my hands)
Me: Laughing hysterically you are having BBQ sandwichs for lunch...not BBQ frog.
Kaylee: I don't think it is that funny but I am glad I don't have to pack a lunch.

I have laughed everytime I have thought about this...my kids are so GREAT!!