Down From the Door. . .

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

2012-01-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

Bird Day

2012-01-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the day for getting lots of pictures of lovely birds:) Here are a few for your enjoyment:

American Robin

A wren of some kind, I believe (?) These guys were tiny, hanging out on the river's edge and had little spots of bright yellow hidden under the tips of their wings at the base of their tails and their shoulders.

A very large Red-tailed Hawk

An assortment of Mallards and American Coots. The female coots were such little lovelies. Beautiful rich brown feathers and so dainty on the water.

Well...

2012-01-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

It's decision making time for me. To join the mountain bike team this year or not. I raced last year with the plan of joining the team this year after I'd found out whether or not I like racing (yes, I did) and to show my interest to the "senior" team members so that I could be invited to join. Now it's time to sign my name on the dotted line. Or not.

It's quite a time and energy commitment and my problem is this: I have been on my bike exactly twice since the last XC race of last summer. At the end of June. I did not even make it to any of the short track races etc. I've been sick a lot of that time, or just feeling crummy and not able to work that hard. So, I'm concerned about being able to keep up my end of the bargain. Which includes spring training week (a week of riding long rides every single day. A sort of last minute whip you into final shape for racing), four cross-country races and eight hours of volunteer work either maintaining trails or working with the boys and girls club and being at all the short track races to help out etc.

Nate is not planning on joining this year for various reasons. Cost, school, being the babysitter while I race being among them. He has said he will do my eight hours of work for me if I'm not up to it and doesn't see anyone having a problem with that.

I REALLY want to race. Heck, I want to get on my bike at all. I'm just so torn about making a commitment to other people that I don't know if I can fulfill. Did I say that already?

I have until this Wednesday at the latest to decide... *Sigh*

Where the Ocean is Blue...

2012-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Need to be here, where the ocean is so bright blue that I forget everything else. Craziness, goodbye for a moment while I take a deep breath of ocean air. Ready to sink into the peace that passes understanding. Ready to sink into HIM in Whom all things live and move and have their being. "Holy Spirit come/Holy Spirit stay/I need to feel Your fire/I need to feel Your gaze..." So, here I go...

Brothers 2011

2011-12-31T10:43:00.000-08:00

Ocean surveillance

Left-over snow :)

Watching chicks hatch

Playing/watching a mtb race

Waiting for kid's race

Playing ball in the park

The joy of running

Feeding lorikeets

Brothers

Burning trash for Grandma

Fascinating shale

Fun in the ocean--Cancun

Joshua 2011

2011-12-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

Waves and tennis shoes don't mix :)

Busy snow boy

I do Not want my picture taken

Heartily cheering on the mountain bike racers

Kid's race in Bend

Kung-fu at last :)

Could you be more excited about a broken kite? I think not :)

Brave boy, finally tall enough to ride all but the Zipper

Dance moves

Putting out the burn pile

Studying rocks-shale is fascinating stuff

Bumper boats in Cancun

I love you dear son!

Brannon 2011

2011-12-31T09:59:00.000-08:00

Ham

Loves his chickens

New "do"

Hide-and-seek after some trail building

Love those swimming lessons

Seahorse race

At the fair

Mmmmm

Worn out

Exploring

Birthday boy:)

I love you so much my boy!

Where we were:)

2011-12-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

And no, I didn't wait until after my cold:) I must be feeling a little better this afternoon.

The boys had soooo much fun in the swimming pool. Way down south, where we were...

I didn't want to mess with my "big" camera on the trip, but I did end up wishing I had it because there were so many pelicans and cute little seagulls. It was great fun watching the pelicans dive only feet from the beach.

Nate got to play beach volleyball several times, he was very excited:

We got to go to Mexico. All the way down the the Yucatan peninsula. To a little town called Cancun. To spend six days at a resort there. Now, I would never pick a resort for a vacation spot personally. But I have to admit, it was really nice not to have to cook or worry about food for a week:) After to first two days it got a little crowded and I had to tune it out as much as possible. Brannon was pretty overwhelmed with the size of the hotel, all the servers constantly asking if you need anything, and the number of people there. Joshua was quite the trooper and just took it all in. He loved the buffets and being able to pick out his own food every day. I never saw him get anything he wasn't supposed to have (with our food restrictions combined with his love of eating and independence that's a big deal!!) and he always asked if he wasn't sure.

One of the funnest things we saw was the night we went to the mall. The storefronts were all open the the outside, so instead of indoor hallways to all the stores it was outdoor walkways/streets. There were guys dressed up as statues posing here and there. We saw three of them, I'm sure there were more, we didn't make it everywhere before we were tired.

The boys got a scare with the first guy and wouldn't go near any of the others. So Nate got to be the lucky one to take pictures with them. This was my favorite guy:

The first one we saw (that I don't have a picture of) was a soldier who looked like chocolate(in front of a chocolate store)-he's the one who scared the boys--after Grandfather told them it was a real statue. Ahem.

And...Bumblebee:)

Joshua bought some fun pipes at a souvenir shop. I love hearing him play them:)

And a puppet:

The view from our balcony. Again.

Straight down. There were always a bunch of guys working on the landscaping. Not to mention employees constantly sweeping and scrubbing pool chairs etc...

On Saturday we went to a water-slide place that was a few minutes bus ride from the hotel. The boys had the most fun with the bumper boats I think

There was this cool playground with water flowing through it everywhere out of pipes and sprinklers.

And a wave pool.

And the ever-present seagulls

And a good time was had by all :)

2011-12-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

We were invited to come with Nate's folks on a warm vacation just before Christmas:) They had been the year before after being asked to come year after year by some friends of theirs. They had so much fun they wanted to take us with them this time.

Here's the view from our balcony...

Brannon taking pics with his new camera

Joshua, worn out from flying all day the previous day...

Early morning walk on the beach:

The boys were so excited about the pool it was difficult to convince them to try anything else:) But we convinced them to check out the beach with us. They spent the entire rest of the day in the pool though:)

When I has taking pictures of the incredibly blue waves I kept saying to Nate, "We'll get home and I'll look at these pictures and they just won't be the same color." Close enough though:)

Where, you ask? (Except, of course, those of you who already know)

A Week in the Sun

2011-12-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

Can you guess where? :)

More clues to come:) Maybe when this head-cold lets up a little...

Why yes...

2011-12-06T09:16:00.001-08:00

These dear little bare footprints are in the FROST on the deck.

But, the boy was taking pictures with his brand new Birthday/Christmas camera, so I can't really blame him ;)

Cousins

2011-12-01T11:38:00.001-08:00

"We should get pictures of the kids together before we leave," says one mama to another. "We should." says the second. "We could take them on your front steps like we did last time," says the first. "We could do it today." The second replies, "Yeah. That would be good. You're leaving to soon, it came up fast." Neither mom moves.

Then Grandma chimes in, "Well, are you going to do it now?"

We look at each other. Sore throats and headaches speak louder than motivation. The couch is very comfy. The three oldest are happily occupied outside, doing whatever they are doing. "We'll let them play a while. We'll do it later, when they get bored..." ;-)

"You're going to take our pictures?" Says Joshua. Yup. "Good! I want to pose like we're sword fighting, ok?" Awesome, I say, Let's get a few quick ones on the steps first, then you guys can pose with swords for me. "Ok!"

"Take our picture now!"

"No, Jubilee, you've got to put your sword touching my shield."

"Good job Jubilee. Now we're ready Mom."

Jubilee makes her favorite request of Brannon, "Can we go hold chickens?" So, off they go.

Joshua, bored of that particular occupation, elects to stay behind. When Jubilee tried to convince him to come along he assured her he would be waiting to join then again when they came back. Then he proceeded to not only climb the apple tree but to go as far out on a branch as he could without falling off...

(not garbage, bags of leaves waiting to go on the garden:)

Agmess, one of Brannon's hens

Holding Coraline. This is the first time I've seen one of the chickens in a nearly featherless molt. She looks quite sad. Jubilee was inspecting the feathers growing in.

A First Meeting

2011-11-23T17:41:00.001-08:00

Both seven years old, they meet on hands and knees on the carpet between the couch and the bookshelf. Their parents, near-strangers, stand awkwardly above them exchanging stilted greetings. Between the legs of the grown-ups two small faces alternately regard one another and a Lego vehicle in a pair of small hands.

On one of these glances up into the face of his guest the owner of the Legos (and a generous number of adorable freckles) says, "Do you know how to spell 'Sebastian?"

Joshua cheerfully answers, "No." With an inviting lilt at the end of the word.

Sebastian says, "S-e-b-a-s-t-i-a-n. It's nine letters."

"My name is almost nine letters. It's Joshua." Says Joshua. "J-o-s-h-u-a."

A moment later they have vanished down the hallway and into a bedroom and jolly sounds leak down the hall for the next few hours. I peeked a few times. The first time Joshua and Sebastian had just abandoned the Legos and were intent on building a bridge with wooden blocks. Brannon was engrossed in Legos and Aubrey (also 7 [twins:)] ) was flitting around the room like a little golden butterfly.

Now, if only their parents had it so "easy" ;-)

(We, in fact, had a fantastic time as well. Meeting new people is not easy for me any time. Spending several hours [it wasn't supposed to be near that long, if that tells you anything] at someone's house was severely stressful for me. I survived. And am still astonished at eating a dinner that is one of our staples at home [unusual!] and staring at mason jars full of nuts and whole grains and beans. And tiny bottles of flavored stevia, and herbal supplements, and lovely teacups. And eating durian [Eeww, I have to say. But I'd try it again]. And talking about unschooling, and homeschooling, and public school, and adrenal exhaustion [what a thing to have in common, kinda sad really, but interesting and encouraging to talk to someone who's experiencing the same thing] and so on and so on... It feels promising:)

Friendly Photo Shoot and Fun in the Park

2011-11-21T11:23:00.001-08:00

Some friends of ours had asked me to take pictures of their family for them. I nervously agreed. I have a good time taking pictures of events and scenery and sometimes end up with some great candid shots of people. But I have no experience with taking actual planned portraits. I have no idea how to pose people etc. I was really hoping not to disappoint them!

Our first try was at mid-day at a park in town. For starters the littlest member of the family did Not want to stop running around and pose for the camera. Here he is trying to be sweet and smile when his mama told him too:

Heeheeheehee...

Here he is a little later "posing" for me:

We eventually got all the pictures taken and I got a few candids that I love. The portraits didn't turn out so well though. Some of them are posed badly. Some have cluttered backgrounds and other are blurry. *Sigh* )I guess I need more guinea pigs to help me practice, right?)

We decided to try again a few days later. We were restricted on time due to a combination of soon-to-change weather and matching everyone's schedules.

We met at the same park. I had the boys with me this time and we met my sis and niece there a little early to play:)

I was trying to get a pic of them throwing leaves in the air. First Brannon and Joshua threw their leaves and Haylie hung on to hers. Brannon kept posing (Lol!) until Haylie finally threw her leaves, but by then Joshua had decided that a fierce face was in order (shortly after he charged across the grass growling):

Our friends arrived and the sun was going down faster than we had anticipated. Littlest gave us his best camera face again:)

By the time "dad" arrived from work we were nearly out of light, but we managed to get a couple decent pics in (minus the soccer ball in the background, lol)

Sunset

Ok, this looked a bit different (and cooler!) to my eye through the lens. If only we could capture what we actually see:)

"you have need of endurance..."

2011-11-18T14:06:00.001-08:00

(Hebrews, uh... somewhere. And on one of Bear's office walls)

Right now I feel like I feel during a physical therapy work-out when Bear says, "Just four more." And I'm thinking "Yeah right! I'm lucky to still be upright right now, let alone do That four. more. times! *Gasp!* I don't Want to do this any more!" And yet, often I manage it. Trembling usually. Gasping for air, definitely. Sometimes I feel triumphant, sometimes I do not.

With this crazy emotional roller coaster I've been on this summer/fall I've been letting myself get pretty stressed. I'm doing better on that front right now. Finding a level space inside me. Remembering to be mindfully worshipful and grateful throughout the day. Not just letting negativity roll along. Remembering that there is No neutral ground. There is not unbelief, only belief in the wrong thing.

Still, I feel like I do when I'm at that point in my exercise when I hear "Just x more" and I'm thinking, "I want to be done Now, thank you very much." But I can't be done. I won't give up on mindfully, thankfully walking through each day while bearing the weight of pain that sometimes feels endurable and sometimes feels as though it is going to crush me. Because the Holy Spirit is with me every step of the way. He doesn't mind when I cry every day. He's always ready to comfort me the moment I look for Him. And because my loved ones need hear truth from me. They need love that is not afraid to be rejected.

I'm so thankful for friends who tell Me the truth, and encourage me to be who God made me to be. I'm thankful to my wonderful husband who is always ready with a hug and support. Who reminds me to separate people from their actions, to always think of love first.

And so, I'll keep walking. Keep climbing. Keep talking and singing and writing. I will learn more endurance and deeper love along the way.

Brothers :)

2011-11-15T11:20:00.001-08:00

There seems to be some dispute as to the ownership of this ~~stick~~ sword

Ha Ha! Love the one eye covered up:D

Sword fight:

Retreat!

Snack time (Yay for pomegranate season!)

Scienceworks

2011-11-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

A Neat Blessing

2011-11-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

We had quite a lot of trouble with our garden this year. In the first place we planted a lot of things late, and some things not at all. Then, with the cool, wet summer, things grew very slowly. There were still scads of green peppers on the plants when the frost killed them. A lot of our winter squashes were very small still when the frost came. Then, too, we had a white mold attack our squashes and melons at the end of summer, killing a number of plants and seriously stunting others. Out of my three "Fairytale" pumpkin plants, sprawling in all their pumpkin vine extravagance over a huge section of garden space, I ended up with one pumpkin. We've had trouble in the past with poor pollination of these and I need to have my act together next year and plant more pollinator attracting flowers in the garden. Or something. Take up beekeeping maybe.

Anyway, I watched that pumpkin get bigger and bigger. The frost came nearer and nearer. It was still green. The skin got darker green after a while, but never turned the deep brown-orange I was waiting for. I had prayed for that pumpkin a lot. I bought a little pie pumpkin when I needed to make spicy pumpkin soup for a party. I kept telling myself I needed to stop at a particular store this week and buy a couple more pie pumpkins because the one was so good.

I got my honey to bring the big, heavy green pumpkin inside. I thought I'd at least try making a mock apple pie with some of it. Nate cut it open for me. Imagine my surprise to see this:

And it smelled delicious too! One of the things I love about this particular pumpkin is that it smells like melon. I'm not a fan of the squashy winter squash smell:) We cooked up some of it and it tasted great. So, I spent two days cooking and pureeing pumpkin. I've got quarts and quarts of it in the freezer! So, hurray for pumpkin pies, and cupcakes and bars and soup and whatever else we come up with.

I also discovered, by trying it, that pumpkin works great as a substitute for the ketchup or tomato sauce in meatloaf, yum:)

Broken

2011-11-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

Broken. Undeniably. Irrevocably. The family I once knew and cherished is no more. The bitter pain that has kept me from writing all summer and half of autumn, is this. This thing that has been building for years. Mostly unseen. Hidden in the shadows of 'keeping it together', of 'normalcy'. The fractured bits like shards of glass, carefully reached around to avoid injury. To avoid blood, and pain. And, finally, a divorce. Children struggling in greater and lesser degrees not to take sides. To support both parents. To let anger and grief run their course and be followed by forgiveness and grace. Children who (speaking for myself, and perhaps my siblings) are grateful to be adults with families of their own. Spouses and children who are anchors in our pain.

The sun shines on and the pain, eventually, comes and goes. Between waves I can feel almost normal. I begin to think that the intensity has waned. Then I am suddenly drowning again.

There are so many things that cannot be shared here. Things that last too long, that leave too quickly, that come too soon. Old hurts that surface at inopportune times and make little rifts wider. Emotions on edge. A family that used to be one of the happiest and strongest families I knew is left in fragments.

At times I forget to trust the Holy Spirit. I forget to rest in the arms of my Heavenly Daddy. I forget that ALL things work together for the good of those who Love HIM!

Even the prickly aliens that don't belong on this landscape...

Down to the smallest detail, the largest pain, He is present and Powerful. His Love for me in Unending! His delight in me never ceases!

As I watch my precious boys exploring today I am reminded once again of God's love for ME!

There is beauty All around me today...

There are even wildflowers in November...

Small Talk

2011-10-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

What a Fantastically Gorgeous month this has been. I think the spectacularly beautiful October is making up for our cold, rainy June. :) We haven't been out of doors as much as would be good for us because of two 'colds' in a row, but boy we've been enjoying what we can of it:)

In lamenting the loss of our short summer I'd forgotten how much I love fall. A very few days of golden light, and golden breezes and golden smells reminded me:)

Brannon is planning for his birthday (I like to get him started early so I can figure out how to make whatever kind of cake he comes up with. I've relaxed a little on the "no 'white' cane sugar even on birthdays and holidays or mom will hyperventilate" thing a bit which makes cake decorating a whole lot easier, but I still like to plan ahead). He decided on a "Native American" theme:) He was picking figures out of his 'cowboys and indians' stash to use. I noticed he had all the "indians" but one and tried to put it in the pile. He took it back out. When I inquired why this fellow couldn't join the party he informed me that "Iroquois don't wear buffalo headdresses mom, they wear feather ones." Oh. Neither do Iroquois live in teepees. No, they lived in longhouses. So much for the sugar cone teepees idea... ;-D (Of course I should have expected that my dear little detail man would have a particular tribe already in mind)

So, guess what we're getting at the library this week? Books on the Iroquois of course. We'll do some internet reading as well. "Native American Facts For Kids" looks like a good place to start.

Joshua is still going to his Kung Fu classes which he enjoys immensely while he's there. Getting ready to go is another matter altogether. He just can't stand stopping what he's doing, even if it's "nothing", and getting ready for something. He's like this about everything, getting ready to go Anywhere is always a big fuss. So far we've told him that as long as he's agreed for us pay for another month of classes he's obligated to finish out the month whether he feels like going or not. So far he keeps agreeing to sign up for another month at the end of each one. Of course, we always ask him after class, not before lol...

Our annual "Soup and Donut Party" came off as well as ever. We had fun trying half a dozen different soups (everyone makes such yummy ones!) then stuffing ourselves on donuts while visiting happily. It was a very warm day and didn't cool off drastically in the evening, which was a big surprise, but very handy for an autumn indoor/outdoor party.

We made caramel apples for the first time ever this month. It was fun:) We made our first caramel with a mixture of maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and honey. Very Sweet. The kiddos loved it ;) I tried a batch today with honey and coconut milk. I think I'll work on modifying that one to my taste, in the hope of coming up with something I can use for some old Christmas candy recipes. Maybe use half brown rice syrup and half honey etc. Should be fun:) The boys will like having all that candy around anyway.

We're Back :)

2011-10-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

Now for lots of "boring" mundane news of what we've been up to...

On the garden front: I have one large, green pumpkin sitting out in the garden. I don't think there's any hope of it turning orange before the first frost kills the vine. I hope there are some good recipes for green pumpkin out there :) I always kind of wanted to try making pie with it like in Little House on the Prairie. Remember when Ma makes the pie out of green pumpkin and Pa thinks it's apple pie?

I also have heaps of green Serrano chiles. Nate was going to make salsa and never got around to it. I'll have to get him to slice them for me (I Don't like handling hot peppers) and I'll pickle them for him. Though, he hasn't eaten his jalapeno slices from last year. I think he forgot about them.

We missed the fall crop of raspberries. Such a short window compared to spring. And only made two blackberry pies and one jar of syrup. No jam, or anything else. I made one pot of pear butter and froze it in small containers. I started to make applesauce one day and decided to make pie instead. I have six jars of tomato sauce in the freezer and one jar of dried tomatoes. And that's it on the preservation front. I really planned to do much better this year. Oh well.

We tried our first crop of meat chickens this year. I have to say, the processing is not my favorite thing to do (obviously.) But it's worth it to have meat in the freezer. We have lots more to do and will be doing a few each weekend until it's done.

Our "keeper" flock has grown as well. We now have six roosters and eighteen hens. So many pretty and fun boys we have trouble getting rid of them all. So, we need six more hens for the four-to-one ratio that's supposed to be best for them :) Nate really wants some more mille fleur booted bantams (if you find a picture of "Little Red on here that's the breed and color) so we'll probably try to get some eggs from our friends who have them and fill our quota that way. The boys each picked two laying hens to order when we got the meat chicks. Brannon chose "Easter Eggers" which are mixed breed Auracanas, Joshua chose Barred Rocks. I find it fascinating that they both chose the same breeds as last year (I guess I expected them to change their minds :) Sadly their previous hens met sad ends, presumably in predators stomachs. Brannon named his girls "Owl" and "Agmes". Joshua originally named his "Black Eagle" and "Agnes". Then he switched to "Agmes" and "Agnes". Now the two girls are unnamed because he can't decide what he wants to call them. Now if we can just keep the girls alive through the deadly months of April and May we'll be doing good. I think these must be the "baby months" and the predator moms and dads are extra bold and desperate because we lose chickens in broad daylight when we're all home. It's just when there's lots of new fresh food around and the chickens are eager to be out and about after a rainy, cold winter of sticking close to home or being stuck inside. We're planning to build a covered run for them so we can let them out during the dangerous months and still keep them safe.

Our Madrones and Walnuts have been attacked by web worms this year. Wretched beings. The boys were even willing to forgive wasps for being wasps when they heard that they eat web worms. We cut lots of web worms out to the Madrones that we could reach, and thankfully they didn't hit our fruit trees badly at all, just a branch here and there. (the chickens really liked the branches full of caterpillars we kept dumping up there for them). Our big walnut tree survived pretty well. I've seen several trees in town with no leaves left and web all the way to the ground!!

Nate's been really busy with school while working most weekends. The boys and I are always looking forward to the weeks between terms when we actually get to See him :) He's enjoying working for the fire station. He had a really fun time doing open houses with kindergartners. He said if all public relations were with five-year-olds we would Love to it :D

2011-10-20T11:02:00.001-07:00

We are back online at long last :) Now, to get back in the habit of posting. And hopefully be better at it than I have the first 3/4 of the year ;-)

I have not vanished forever!

2011-09-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

Computer's been down at home again. For a couple months, if you hadn't noticed. We are all still alive and kicking ;-) Do not know when I'll be back as we did not get around to dealing with the computer during my Honey's break from school. Too many other things to do! He's back to full time studying tomorrow which means No spare time for things like calling old friends and spending a whole day wrestling with a recalcitrant machine. So... In the meantime, I may get around to posting here before two more months go by, and I may not! :)

To Marci and Analene-- Marci I know you love seeing pics of the boys on here, I will try to get some up before too long. Analene, I just had a quick peek at your blog:) Beautiful photos as always. Looks like you guys are having a great summer:) wish we could have made it up!! Maybe next year we will visit you both! Wouldn't that be a blast? Anyway, love you guys tons!

A Use For Old T-shirts...

2011-07-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

...other than the rag bag that is :)

Hula hoop loom

One very happy boy:)

Who gave his first rug to his big brother and is ready to make another for himself:)

2011-07-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

I've been avoiding posting here any of the negative/stressful things that have been going on in my life the last few months. I was avoiding posting at all for a while, not knowing if I should "go there" or not. I started this blog as a sort of journal and an outlet for bits of writing and photography etc. As you know if you've followed at all it's really a hodge-podge of family journaling and my thoughts and photos and so on. I've used it as a place to share triumphs and to process grief. I love that I can stay in touch with old friends through it.

I still don't know what I will share on here, if anything, of the struggles I've been going through. Some are deeply personal. Some are controversial. Some feel like whining after years of the same pain. So, if posts are few and far between that is the main reason. The other reason is one of the negatives-poor health. And all the energy I am putting into finding out how I can be the healthiest I can be, it's taking a lot out of me. As well as the discouragement of being here still, again, whatever. And that's where the feeling of whining comes in...

I know this is a good outlet for me and can help me focus on the positive. The happy pictures and fun times:) I will endeavor to keep up with at least a few posts of what we are up to if nothing else. I want to be able to look back on this summer and remember the spots of joy.

"Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am

your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with my righteous

right hand

Isaiah 41:10

Savoring This Moment

2011-07-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Chickens, Visiting Cousins, and Garden Goodness

2011-07-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sweet new baby! I always forget how small bantam chicks are :D

Big Chicken, guarding the path to the coop
One of our new batch, he doesn't have a name yet. But he does have five hens of his own by virtue of being the only rooster out of 14 not currently in the freezer. He's the same breed as Gimpy and Cora and Coraline and was the underdog in the pack we had before. I really wanted to keep him, he's the only one of that color that hatched out, so I was glad he was calm enough to join the crew...

Two of his ladies:

Part of the happy chicken family. You can see the boss, Gimpy, keeping a sharp eye on me! :)

We had Haylie over for a few hours the other day. After a bit of...um...discussion over what activity to engage in the boys convinced her that riding bikes would be fun...

Joshua stayed close for the most part ;)

And when she needed help to get up the hill...

Hmmm....Pulling didn't work so well. Maybe you'd better get off...

I'll push it up the hill for you...

(She insisted on coming over in her pajamas, Lol! Maybe it seemed more like a party that way?)

More rose lusciousness...

Blaze

Charisma

Dublin Bay *LOVE*

A GIANT squash blossom. Seriously! It's the size of a dinner plate.

Squash leaves

Raspberry lane. One of several!! These things go crazy in the garden. Grandfather was out there with the weed-eater making room to walk...

Radish blossoms...

and honeybee visitors:)

Swimming Lesson Joy

2011-07-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

One of Brannon's very favorite activities is swimming lessons. It all started with Grandma Karen Really wanting her boys to have swimming lessons for safety reasons. Now Brannon chooses the lessons every summer:) He LOVES it, it's so fun to watch him!!

He really struggled with his backstroke when he first started doing it. He'd always kick water in his face. He'd stop over and over again on his way across the pool. Sometimes he'd cry. But he kept at it, this boy who would much rather quit anything that frustrating.
He dives beautifully...

:)

Teacher love

Happy boy

Workin' hard!

Graduating from his second lesson this summer

And on to a third (the first year he's ever made it through more than 1 1/2 two week lessons without getting sick for so long he had to quit until next year!!)

Myrna would have the other kids watch him dive as an example and boy did he love that!

He also made friends with a six-yr-old girl in his class and taught her how to do a few things while they played together. He was very proud of himself and pleased to have won a friend so quickly :)

On the second to last day of every lesson there is "life saving day" where they all jump in the pool with their clothes on and learn what it feels like to float with extra weight...

When they're littler they then jump in with life jackets on and practice grabbing the hand or ankle of another kid until they are all linked together. This year though the bigger kids practiced...

How to save someones life without endangering your own...

If you accidentally let go of your article of clothing while tossing it you slip into the pool, hang on tight to the side and offer your legs to the struggling person

And, after a successful stint at life-saving practice you get to race your water "ponies" across the pool

The only time you are expected to keep your face out of the water...

Swimming stars:)

I'm so proud of you Brannon! I loved watching your confidence grow this year. I'm especially proud of you for overcoming a difficulty and continuing through frustration (and your back stroke improved tremendously). I appreciated, as always, your kindness and patience with someone younger and less able than yourself. And I so enjoyed your joy! I love you Son! Great job:)

Beach Fun

2011-07-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

We had a great little family escape to the beach last week:) The four of us plus Mom, my sis and niece ran over the coast for a few hours. We were all super tired after a stressful couple of weeks and we didn't play as much as usual (except Joshua;) but it was great resting on the beach and enjoying each other.

Mother/daughter fun

Joshua was SO looking forward to flying his kite at the beach since it's not really windy enough at home. But he had cut the tails off and so it just went round in circles.

I think he's still enjoying himself though...
Looking for a good spot to settle in

A little rock climbing...

A warm pool...

and warm sand...

I had equal fun watching Brannon standing still enjoying the view and Joshua running in the waves. They were both having such a good time:)

Pressing the water out of the sand...

Fascinated...

Warming up again, Lol!

Making friends

Grandma trying to keep Haylie warm

Hi Babe

Shenanigans

A Leetle Bragging...

2011-07-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, these girls in 1st and 2nd place are seriously skinny! Ha. And, you can't see it but they have Really buff legs! I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself ;-) for completing four cross-country mountain bike races in my current state of health especially.

Oh, and, that chick in 3rd place? She's lost 18 pounds since the end of March

(Going on 20 now. Still hard to believe sometimes, lol!)

Roses of My Very Own!

2011-06-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Remember my rose fence Nate built for Valentine's day??? Hopefully to keep the deer from eating my roses and killing them! Then for our anniversary the lovely man went to buy me another rose bush (I had three--one from Mother's day last year, one from some other time, and the third from Valentine's day along with the fence:) and since the roses were on sale for one to two dollars each he brought home no less than 15 bushes!! *Swooon* ;-)

And now they're blooming!! My first rose garden ever!!!! Yay!!!!!!! :D

Here is "Charisma"

"Gold Glow"

(not looking very gold, these yellow lovelies apparently fade really fast. Still pretty though:)
"Dublin Bay"
a climber bought to replace my "Don Juan" my first Mother's day rose. I couldn't find anything nearly as dark as Don Juan when we were searching...

And... Drumroll!...Don Juan was not dead after all! :) My favorite dark red beauty in growing wonderfully and covered in buds! Yay! (Since I took this picture though the stinking deer reached through the fence and nipped the almost fully open flower and the bud next to it. Aaaaurrgggh! The wretches. There's a whole wealth of food around here, Leave My Roses Alone!!!!) This pic doesn't do justice to this color...

"Fourth of July"

"Pascali"

An amazingly brilliant white, they really do look like they're glowing

"Joseph's Coat" another climber

"Dublin Bay" again, that's the same flower as the bud earlier

Not the best pictures, but I was very excited. I have more! But, not to give you a rose overload I'll save them for another day;)

Joshua

2011-06-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've been telling family members "You should come watch Joshua at Kung Fu if you can. Just to see him stand still!" :D
He really will stand still, hands at his sides, no talking for minute after minute. Waiting for class to start. Waiting for his turn to run and jump...

And a week ago he was very proud to receive his first belt:)

Mama was chosen for the traditional role of wisdom passer-on-er (yes, a technical term) through the pulling of the belt...

I think he's a little happy here... :D

My sweet boy! I'm so proud of you my dear!

Afterward he asked me what knowledge and wisdom I passed to him through the belt. We were in the car at the time and I told him I'd wait to tell him until I could look in his face. He said, "Well, I know some of the things. At least I can guess."

"Really? What knowledge do you think I gave you?"

"That you love me. And that you are very proud of me. And that I did a really good job."

So very true. And later, when I told him the other things I had in mind for him during that little ceremony--knowledge of the value of patience; strength to persevere through difficulty-- the shining of his little face filled my heart to overflowing. I love you Buddy, and I love watching you grow up.

Who Says You Need Wind

2011-06-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

To fly kites!! :D

(Auntie and cousins visiting from Australia:)

2011-05-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

My Second Race

2011-05-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (the 14th) I participated in my second cross country mountain bike race! Yay! and all that fun stuff:)

The course was 4.5 miles up, then 4.5 miles down. I think the longest I've ever climbed at once is just over a mile. Needless to say, it was a very long climb for me. As I was pedaling (and walking when I had to) up that climb I was thinking, "Why is this fun?" Not in an "Oh my gosh, WHY am I doing this?" way, but in a truly curious way. How can something so painful be something you want do again. And again. And again...

I did enjoy it, truly. Around the moments I was thinking it would be really good if I could stop now. Fortunately those moments were very few :)

I mentioned last time my disgruntlement with standing on a podium and accepting congratulations I didn't feel I had earned. I was feeling that way again. I sat down next to Natalie (one of the ladies on team Pistis) and we were chatting. She helped me change my mind about that podium. (Me=second of two this time) She said who cares if there are only two or three ladies. You earned it because you came out here and finished a race and no one else did. And I thought, well you have a point there...

And so I felt quite a bit better about getting up there. I was still nervous in front of the crowd though and didn't carry myself very well, but...Oh well. :) (Ok--I stayed on the podium the least possible amount of time and hopped down, forgetting to look to see if the first place gal was on her way up or not. DUH!! A number of people had left already and there were a few empty podiums, and it was a little walk for most of the crowd to the stage...somehow I had it in my head that she was not coming. Whatever.)

My First XC Race :)

2011-05-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend it was off to Bend for a mountain bike race. We drove up on Saturday and set up camp in a team members yard. In spite of the fact that it was supposed to get down around 33 degrees that night. One can only afford so many hotel rooms.

After meeting our gracious host and setting up our tent we changed clothes and headed up to the course for a practice run. My mom had come along to watch the boys for us (Thanks Mom!!! On Mother's day even:) After a series of small mishaps, including a missing nut off my front tire, we finally set off.

We began on "the steepest climb" of the course (as I was repeatedly reassured by several kind folks) and wound our way around a couple miles of track. Part way up the longest climb Nate and I decided to turn around for my sake. So I wouldn't be too tired the next day. Because I'm still pretty puny at this active stuff. But, hey, I'm out there doing it!

I kept thinking, "I could wait until I'm less overweight, more in shape, less clumsy, more confident. Or, I could just get out there and do what I keep saying I want to do." I've opted for the latter. With much encouragement ;-)

Soooo, we turned around to take a short-cut over to the start loop so I could check out some of the more technical stuff and see what I could ride and what I would have to walk. Only...we took a little wrong turn. One little wrong turn. In the opposite direction we were supposed to go. Fortunately we didn't end up too far out of the way. Only a few miles down the road and then back up to the cars. *Sigh* Oh well. I didn't really want to conserve any energy for tomorrow, did I?

We had a lovely potluck/hang out time all evening as all the team members who were there for this race were staying at the same place. Our hostess was very gracious coming home to a house Full of strangers and near-strangers. Then we slept (um...Tried to sleep) out in the freezing cold. The boys woke up at 5:30 am. Of course. :-}

I had been so nervous all week, but I woke up Sunday morning feeling more excited than nervous. If you know me very well you know that I like to know what's going on. How things work and exactly what I should be doing. So, I did get a little anxiety here and there through the beginning of the morning, but not near as bad as the rest of the week. My worst moment was when it was time to line up for the start of the race, but it passed quickly as the other ladies in my group were very friendly and chatty.

I fully expected to be the very last person right out of the gate. But it was still disheartening to watch everyone in my group pull away immediately. Everyone. At one point not far into the first road climb I heard huffing and puffing behind me. I thought, "Oh good. I'm not the very slowest." Then...a little, slightly chubby fellow who couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve, chugged right on by me. Oh yes. I felt grand right about then.

Anyway, I managed all fifteen bumpy, up-and-down miles of the course. I rode a lot. I walked some. I enjoyed most of it. I was a little lonely at times (mostly on a long, levelish part of the course while nearly blinded by snow. Oh, yes. It snowed on us. Then a little sun. Then...wait for it...hail. Haha! Strange weather for that race I'm told) and a little discouraged at times (trudging up a particularly steep hill, or having to stop entirely and rest, or waiting and waiting for the fast guys to zoom by so I could get back on the trail--only there were more coming just near enough I didn't have time to get anywhere, but far enough I had to stand there a moment and wait, then, here come more of them! [we were doing laps, see, and so the fast guys lap the beginners--well Some of the beginners *ahem*--before the beginners finish their single little {15 mile} lap], slightly embarrassed (chatting with the sweep rider as he follows the last person-me- around the track), More than slightly embarrassed (Not getting out of somebodies way who was trying to get around me in time and him tagging my back tire. Soooo thankful he did not wreck, that would have been the worst). But, over all, I had fun. I enjoyed being out there. I finished! And I am very proud of myself in the best way:)

And my dear Mommy took some pictures for me:) (I missed taking pictures! I like to take pictures...)

Bear

Page (Janis' son)
Look closely...You will see my boys perched in a tree:)

Zach (Bear's oldest son)

Janis (smiling as always)

Me, again

Kid's race! The boys were so excited:) Then we found out they were doing a big, long technical loop of the track. Around 3/4 mile, with logs and rocks and other difficulties. But all the kids said they wanted to do it...

Chatting with a new acquaintance

"Go!"

Hmm, Joshua looks rather distracted here

Joshua navigating a technical spot:)

Whoa!!! Scary drop!

Brannon, sadly, wrecked pretty spectacularly part way through and decided he was DONE. I was really proud of him for trying though. He is often rather timid on his bike and I was impressed by his effort.

Joshua's getting a little help from Papa up a too steep hill (it's perfectly legal in the kids race for the adults to give a helping hand:)

Me and my default third place. I wasn't too thrilled to have to stand up there and be congratulated just because there were only three ladies in my age group. Everyone else seemed to think that was silly though.

All tuckered out...

Procrastinating

2011-05-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Big news! I participated in my very first cross-country mountain bike race on Mother's Day!!! :D I was going to write a post today with pictures and everything, but... it hasn't happened yet. Maybe tomorrow ;)

Boy Shenanigans

2011-05-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

2011-05-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Read this today and wanted to share it. I have not been up on the news and have not watched any of these "celebrations" but it saddens me deeply to hear it. I agree with Jessica--Why are we acting toward our enemies in a way that horrified us when they did the same?

Today's Pictures...

2011-05-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today we missed church and a birthday party because Joshua was feeling a bit under the weather. We didn't know if it was a cold or allergies so we decided to play it safe and not expose anyone else. Turns out it was/is a cold as Mama is coming down with it as well.

But, on the bright side, no one is terribly ill and the boys and I had a Lovely day together. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for the first day of May:-)

I had a fun surprise first thing this morning! We have a pair of ravens that calls this area home. I love them and think they are fascinating, and would Love the get their pictures! But, they are also wary of humans and Very smart. I've been relatively close to the juveniles when they start exploring, they are not as skittish as the adults and evidently think humans are rather fascinating themselves. They still don't get very close, although I've had one circle me before, possibly trying to figure out what sort of creature was walking in his woods. Another time I sat and listened to one practicing his various noises in a tree above our chicken coop.

The adults, however do not let me even as close as that. If they are outside they fly off as soon as the front door cracks and don't come back! So, this morning when Joshua mentioned a large bird landing in the compost bin I grabbed my camera without much hope. I shot two quick shots out the window...

And one through the open door!!! First time ever:) I don't know if you can tell here, but he's a big one. (When we visited Momma Bug last July I woke up the first morning hearing ravens outside. I looked the window to see three of them perched on Nate's bike, pecking at the shiny parts. They took off the moment they saw movement at the window though, so no pictures of them either)
I tip-toed outside and crouched in the driveway with my camera ready. Eventually I spotted him again... And of course, he had his eye on me and no intention of getting anywhere near :-)

This little guy was more obliging though. I don't know what he's eating off the antlers. Bugs? Or the antler itself?

Two very handsome fellows

I love the green-gold light through the maple leaves

Wood hyacinths (or bluebells... Are they two names for the same thing?)

I've been slacking on the blog lately so I haven't told you about the additions to my rose garden. Remember my Valentine's day present? A fenced area to plant roses in so the deer can't (hopefully) get at them. Well, for our anniversary my honey went to buy me another rose bush. The store he went to was having a clearance sale on their roses and he brought home 15 bushes for about the price of 1!! How fun is that!!! :-D He sent me a text message on his way home (I still thought he was bringing me ONE rose...or maybe two) "I love you and lavish you with roses) I laughed. Then when I expressed my continued amazement over the never-ending flow of bushes out of the back of the car, my dear said "Don't you think I know the meaning of the word lavish?"

I am still giddy:) And, I've got this lovely clematis (snow queen) keeping my "Don Juan" company in one corner now... I can't wait until she opens all the way:)

(We were getting some ground-cover plants and some seeds at the same time. When Nate went back to grab the clematis for me it took him a bit. I went back to make sure he remembered which one as there were three different white ones. Of course, the boys ratted me out! "Mom was coming to check on you because she thought you wouldn't remember which one was the right one" And he was very smug, because he had remembered the right one, lol!)

Ornamental strawberry! There's a house on one of our regular "walking" streets that has these. I always moon over them but never thought I'd actually have an excuse to get some;-) (They look rather sad just now, recently transplanted and covered in dirt)

Dandelions--sunshine on the ground

Chickens!

Hello?

Come now ladies, there's plenty of room for all ("Cora" and "Coraline")

We had marvelous success hatching chicken eggs this year. After last year's disastrous attempts I almost didn't try again. But I got the "bug" and went for it. Happily almost all the eggs we set hatched! Unhappily most are roosters:( I was SO looking forward to all those hens and fun different colored eggs...

Rooster

Roosters

Silly chicks hiding. They did eventually come outside today (this pile is probably 2/3 roosters)

Papa and his buddy BJ took down the old broken rope and put up a new swing for the boys a couple weeks ago and they've really been enjoying it

Another mohawk rooster. The white one in back we are not sure of yet, but suspicious

"Big Chicken" and his girl "Penny"

"Gimpy" and "Lily" (Gimpy is sadly nicknamed for a permanent limp, he's our favorite roo and he really deserves a better name, but there you have it)

Brannon always takes such good care of any injured or ill chicks. Here he's adding some extra "boyness" to the job. Surely she'll enjoy sitting up in a tree as much as I do!

Big Chicken again, in a huff about something or other... (he's named for his disposition as much as his size by the way:)

Another of many roosters (and two of the chicks that passed away recently were hens *sigh* At least the roosters are pretty:) But, we have to figure out what to do with the excess. The freezer seems the easiest solution to me, but we have a Loudly protesting seven-year-old in the mix. Hmmm. Need wisdom on this one for sure. I love his tender heart, and he has some spectacularly gut-wrenching arguments. But, he still likes meat, intends to keep eating it. Including chicken. As long as it's birds he has never met and doesn't know who killed them)

It was a lovely day (did I say that already?) in spite of some discomfort for Joshua and I. Since we didn't get to go to the potluck/birthday pary today we decided to have a family potluck. I had black bean sweet potato chili in the crockpot already. Joshua made dessert, a chocolate peanut-butter concoction to dip pretzels in. Brannon made a great salad with lettuce, spinach, parsley, brussels sprouts and lime juice. Joshua declared that his brother should be a salad chef at a fancy restaurant (high praise coming from the aspiring chef). Brannon, after tasting his salad agreed with his brother. :P

We spent most of the rest of the day outside playing, reading, drawing and watching chickens. I am really grateful for it all:) Now the boys are in bed and I'm trying to talk myself into bed (No, waiting up til midnight for hubby to get home is Not a good plan!:)

Are We Hiking...

2011-04-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Or napping here?

2011-04-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Why are relationships so hard? One of the most wonderful, rewarding things we can work and love and sacrifice for--closeness with family and friends, letting yourself See and be Seen, is also the most troublesome, painful activity on the planet.

I suppose you can guess I am writing from a place of pain tonight.

We trust and trust and make ourselves vulnerable. We reveal parts of ourselves we would rather keep hidden. We lean on God every moment of the way. We reap amazing rewards of love, companionship, covenant.

Then, when the going gets tough we trust some more. We ask God for strength and compassion. We ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom. We hope we are hearing Him clearly, telling us which way to go. What to say and what not to say. We suspect we are not.

Have you ever been in a place where you know that you know that you know that you have to say something. Certain in an intangible way. Then the response that comes in all it's red hot thorniness makes you second-guess what you know. You wait and hope that you didn't screw up royally. You wonder if your own brokenness caused you to see completely wrong. You try to make peace. You hope your words sink past defensiveness and come to a tender place in the heart across from you. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.

In the meantime? You just try to not let the emotions take over your life. Not snap at your spouse, sigh at your children. Try not to fall into a dark, beckoning hole that belongs in your past, not your present. You know you should be in a better place. In a place of perfect peace. Absolutely certain that your God is so much bigger than prickles in a relationship. Bigger than swirling, painful emotions.

Plum Blossoms and a Honey Bee

2011-04-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Race Day...

2011-04-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

A day in which I did not race, sad to say. I rode the course with Nate the day before and had to walk a good 2/3 of it. I was physically not quite up to all the steep climbs, even though most of them weren't terribly long. And a few of the downhills were too steep for me as well. I'm out of practice since last summer!! :-) But, I gave it a shot and did the best I could. Did I mention that, what with all the walking, it took us nearly two hours to make around 5 miles? It IS a difficult course from all I've heard, but still...the race itself was 2 1/2 laps for beginners.

Waiting to start...

Joshua got in a lot of bike riding this weekend. Here's the top of a lovely steep hill down to a creek crossing (I ate in on this one the day before :) when the hill is slippery and you start sliding sideways you have to let go of your brakes to straighten out...I managed just barely on the hill before this one when I started to slide, but it's awfully difficult to convince my fingers to move when they are hanging on to the brake levers for dear life... ;-} )

Joshua loves to cheer non-stop for all the racers--he takes after his Papa:D

Nate, halfway down the hill to the creek

And coming up out of the creek. I did not have the right angle to get pics IN the creek, other photographers (not toting semi-littles) having been there before me;)

Brannon, just hanging out enjoying everything

Janis

Hanging out with new friends

Final stretch

Super muddy and tired...

Our adventure of the day was when I had followed Nate to the van after the race and Mom was watching Joshua and Brannon play. Joshua kept looking for steeper and steeper hills to ride down. He zoomed down too fast to stop and became rather too close friends with a fence, resulting, thankfully, in nothing more than a black and blue knot on his chin and a bitten lip. Needless to say he was Done for the day and wanted nothing more than to go sit in the warm van. Other than some exhaustion from trauma and difficulty chewing his dinner he seemed to recover quickly though and cheered up after a short nap in the van.

Random

2011-03-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

My new hobby this week is counting calories :) It's not fun starting out, but it shows me how much I've really been eating. Ha. So not good. Anyway, it's day four and I'm already getting used to it. We've been enjoying school lately. We've been doing little workbooks and crafts. One thing we started that the boys Love so far is doing field journals. Each boy picked a topic and they have little blank books from Barebooks that they use. Brannon picked "Chicken behavior". Each day he draws a picture and writes a sentence about chicken behavior. Since we have chicks right now he's been doing his observations on them. Today he drew a picture of our outdoor cage we put them in when it's warm enough out and he wrote "Chickans lic to go out side and play in the sun." Joshua chose to do his journal on things he's built. I love seeing what they put in them. The best part is they love to do it. They will happily draw and write with little prompting from me. That's my kind of school :) I've slowed down school with Brannon and we've been going over the same words and reading the same book all week. He seems to be improving slowly and gaining a tiny bit more confidence as he begins to read easier. So, until we can get into the eye doctor to talk about dyslexia, I think this is how we'll keep on. He really likes the math books I got for him and he and Joshua enjoy doing addition flash cards together. Especially when every couple days whoever gets the most cards gets a little prize. This also motivates Joshua to practice with me on the side:) Our first race is in a little over a week. I don't feel ready at all! But, it's only ten miles and I know I can make it that far "easily", I just don't know how fast I can do it... I'll be practicing on our trail Saturday and a trail across town Sunday. If I have a babysitter for the race I'll definitely try it... So, update to come:) I've been waiting for the rain to let up so I can get out in the garden. There are things that need to be planted now...or a couple weeks ago! And yesterday when it was lovely warm and sunny I wasn't allowed to garden because I'd just had my back adjusted. And today it's cold again, and I'm feeling rather lazy... :P I Did work out this morning, that may be the most I get done today, lol...

Picking Myself Back Up

2011-03-27T02:04:00.000-07:00

I just read this post http://downfromthedoor.blogspot.com/2010/07/racing-and-stretching.html from last summer and I'm so glad I wrote it. I needed the encouragement just now. All my plans for racing short track last year went down the drain. I raced a second race in Jacksonville, but it we had just returned from Idaho the Friday before and I guess I was drained from travelling or something because even though I'd kept up on my riding I had a terrible time with the race. It was the same track as the first one I did and I struggled even harder than before. Then, as I was standing there wondering if I was going to attempt any of the Pistis short tracks in the following weeks I won a special prize in the raffle. All five Pistis races free. Well, that pretty much made up my mind for me ;-) I thought "Ok, Lord, I think You're talking to me here" The first race I had a cold. The second one we had to be at a ministry team meeting. The third race I had a cold. The fourth race I actually signed up for and rode a practice lap to warm up. I didn't even push hard and by the time I was 2/3 of the way through I was shaking so bad I couldn't continue. The fifth race we were rushing back from out of town, but due to doing a favor for a friend who was with us we showed up at the track just as the beginner category was crossing the finish line for the final lap. It was such a fiasco the whole month, I was so discouraged. Then, due mostly to lots of viruses and other health issues I barely rode a handful of times in the next five months. And in December and January I gained ten pounds. A year and a half to lose it, a month and a half to gain it back. I was So stressed and depressed for a couple months. I've cheered up now. Kind of picked myself up and started trudging forward again. It's still a struggle every single day. I'm still fighting the slack eating habits I slopped into throughout the winter. On the exercise front though I've been doing cardio workouts with friends two to three times a week and strength training once or twice a week. Which is a whole lot better than nothing!! I rode my bike two and a half;) times this week (the half time being an aborted attempt to ride up our hill). I seem to have lost what little technical ability I had gained last spring and summer, so trail riding is a bit scary at the moment, but I know I'll gain it back quickly. I plan on racing cross country races this season. The first one is coming up on April 10th. It's a difficult and sloppy/muddy trail though and I've been strongly advised by my hubby that we have to get there early the day before so I can ride the trail and see if it's beyond me or not before I decide if I want to race it. I'm super nervous all over again, being so out of shape. But, I think I've put my finger on why I want to do this. It doesn't have anything to do with being competitive or not. It's because I want to be strong. I've been physically weak for so many years now. Many of the times I was laying there I was imagining being athletic in some way. Now having found a sport I love those dreams are waking up again. I would appreciate your prayers, my friends. I am so easily discouraged these days. I need to keep fighting for the health of this body of mine. I need it for me, my family needs it. Thanks for listening to me ramble:)

Snow, Cute boys, and Chickens

2011-02-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

This fence happens to be the beginning of my new rose garden, a valentine's gift from my hubby! The deer always eat my roses to the ground and they die (no fences or dogs), so Nate decided to fence a spot behind the herb garden for me to plant roses:)

We got three or four inches of snow(big deal around here:) and it broke several of our plum trees :( They were kind of sad anyway, needing pruning and all.

In the veggie garden...

Busy boy

Raccoons (maybe our chicken killers)

Daffodils

PeriwinkleHe kept gleefully throwing himself down in the snow:) (this is day two of the snow-it had partially melted, but there was still just enough to play in)

Joshua's hen--he is very proud of the eggs she lays:)

"We are NOT going in the snow--now, will you please get out of the way so we can dash back inside?"

Cute couple

Our boss rooster "Gimpy", a bantam cochin. He came to us free last summer along with a couple of hens and four chicks. He looks like sometime his leg was broken and it healed wrong, so he limps quite badly. Fortunately for him our big roo is a big "chicken" and doesn't challenge him.

Snow boy:)

Sweet smile

We wandered farther and farther up the hill looking for more animal tracks (found a few coons and some deer) and Papa came looking for us :)

Down By The River

2011-02-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a wonderful family outing in the sunshine the other day...

Note the very convenient bit of driftwood stuck in the sand by the river's edge

Skipping stone

Shadows on stones

A bit of new green

A fun hiding spot

Very tall queen anne's lace

The sun sparkling on water has to be one of the best sights in the world. I love water, I'm so grateful we live next to a river, and countless streams, and only two hours from the ocean!!

See that patch of red clay up on the bluff there? That's the back side of our place :) Joshua goes, "What! I had no idea it was so high! No wonder you don't want me getting close to the edge." Hmm. Hopefully he'll remember that next time we're up there, Lol!

I have pictures of the bridge from up there. I don't remember if I've posted them here

Sun over the bridge...

Then it was off to get our van from the shop and spend the last half hour or so of sunlight at the park. Then Nate went to drill and the boys and I went home for an mellow evening:)

Brannon's Side of The Story :)

2011-02-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

He did a lot of listening to little brother...

And a little story-telling of his own... :)

Healing a Broken System

2011-02-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

I am posting today in response to this post . (I recommend reading it if you have the time as this is where I'm jumping off from, though I ended up going a slightly different direction than I first thought I was headed...) We have been praying for Aimee's healing and for strength for the whole family. Nolan's mom is my friend Janis.

You may or may not know my own "radical" views on health etc. I keep pretty quiet because I don't feel it's my job to get anyone to see my point of view. I figure my friends and family have the right to make their own choices regarding how they live. I'll offer my opinion if it's asked for. But, today reading Nolan's post I felt like saying a few things.

Aimee's situation was desperate. With a large mass in her chest that had collapsed one lung and was putting pressure on her heart, having lost way too much weight and hardly able to breath. Her family was desperate for solutions. Nolan mentions at first he was happy to agree to the drugs. Anything to help his wife.

To a much lesser degree I have felt the same way in the past. For the first six years of his life Brannon had asthma. This disease affects a number of our family members. I noticed him wheezing as soon as he started to crawl. I'd had suspicions before because of a couple things I'd noticed with him. But I knew for sure one day when we were playing on the bed, he was crawling around laughing and wheezing. I knew the sound well from hearing my mom and brother all my life. It was devastating to admit it out loud though. Saying "My baby has asthma" was so difficult. Then came illness after illness, every cold he got turned to nights awake making sure he was still breathing.

The worst part though was that I couldn't get a doctor to listen to me and believe me. Somehow at every doctor's visit he was breathing just fine. When we went to the ER they said "Don't label him with that disease. It's just a virus causing temporary wheezing'' No matter what I said to any doctor they didn't listen. One doctor even said "Well, he wheezes when he runs on grass. He's allergic to grass, let's get him some allergy medication" I had just explained various situations, NOT just the one. I said "What about his wheezing when he laughs?" The response was, "I don't know why he would do that, but for the grass let's try this..." Aaarrrgggghhhh!!!! Was what I was thinking about then. Needless to say I did not fill a prescription for allergy medication.

It never occurred to me to go to a naturopath at that point, mostly because it was not covered by insurance and we could not afford it.

Finally when Brannon was 3 1/2 I found a doctor (a respiratory specialist) who listened to me and believed me. At the time Brannon was to the point where his passages were so inflamed he was wheezing almost all the time. I gladly accepted the drugs offered.

As time went on and I realized the side effects of the drugs were to weaken his respiratory system further I was horrified. But, I didn't know what else to do. I kept giving my son the drugs even though I was tortured by what I was doing to him. Eventually through a set of circumstance that I won't go into today we began to see a naturopath. He prescribed a series of homeopathics for Brannon, which I gave him while still keeping up his other drugs, but I didn't see any changes. I wonder now if it was because of the weakness caused by the drugs that I didn't see any effects from the homeopathics. But, I was not brave enough (some would say stupid enough) to wean him off the drugs while trying the other. Then, God healed Brannon and it wasn't an issue any more. His pediatrician looked over all his info and said to take him off the medication but to expect to need it again when he enters puberty (Ha! I don't think so! I'm not accepting that word of doom after all the miracles I've seen:)

We also at that time discovered a number of food allergies and changed our diet accordingly, seeing a big change in our overall health, though it took quite a while, but we were pretty far down the illness road as far as the allergies were concerned, it took our bodies a while to recover. Which makes me wonder, if we had had holistic care available to us years earlier than we were able to afford it on our own, would we have had to walk through some of the devastating things? I agree with Nolan. There's no money in holistic care. There's no money in training our medical doctors in nutrition. There's no certainty of an immediately visible result when you set out to heal the whole body instead of to mask a symptom. The general public is also trained to expect immediate relief from symptoms.

Now, understand that I am not saying we don't need doctors etc. I'm just saying the system is not there for the people who are seeking care. It's not designed around making people well. I could go on about agriculture and education and so on, but really what do we expect. The world is a broken place, it's going to operate in a broken manner, when left to itself. The thing is, we, the Body of Christ are not supposed to be leaving it to itself. We are not designed to sit in a pew and wait for the "rapture bus".

"For all creation is waiting eagerly for the manifestation of the sons of God" Or "For all creation is waiting eagerly for that day when God will reveal who His children really are." Romans 8:19 And from one of my favorite passages "I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of His power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and He gave Him this authority for the benefit of the church. And the church is His body; it is filled with Christ, who fills everything everywhere with His presence." Ephesians 1:19-23

Understand when I say church, I don't mean a gathering in a building on Sunday morning. I mean every believer filled with the Spirit of God, the literal body of Christ living a life filled with LOVE and Power walking the streets every day, changing the world as we know it. If "everything everywhere" is filled with His presence the world would look a lot different than it does now. WE are the carriers of His presence. I've heard it said that Christians should be the most creative people on the planet. It's true, we have the Creator of all living in us. We have the literal mind of Christ (according to my bible). That means creativity and life-giving power in EVERY arena of life. Medicine, government, media, everything.

So today----

I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of His power for us who believe Him!!

Joshua

2011-02-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

(I Love this last one :)

My dear "baby" boy is turning 7 this month. Seven. Can you tell by all the missing teeth? It's happy and sad all at once, this watching your kids grow up business. It's wonderful to watch them growing up, getting to be big and responsible and independant and all. It's sad because I miss their little selves.

I really enjoyed this account of their morning's play. I loved watching Brannon's expressions as he listened to his brother's account (and amazingly enough didn't try to take over the story-- growing up:)

Sunny Moments and other things...

2011-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

2011-01-14T11:11:00.001-08:00

Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord...
I realized that a lot of the "anxiety" I've been feeling lately is actually grief. I think these two emotions have so often been mixed in my life that I can easily mistake the one for the other. With a death in the family and a dear friend's family touched by cancer it's been an exhausting week. I don't always know how to let grief and the perspective of God's vastness and Love reside in the same heart and mind.

New Years--Girl Time...

2011-01-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Heavy

2011-01-09T00:56:00.000-08:00

Heavy with sorrow

grief an aching weight on my chest

death is awkward and unwieldy for us

humans who were created to live forever

Friendship, past, but not forgotten

stronger still, blood-ties

wishing you were near so I could come

to you and hold you tight

Your life, brimming with newness

sparkling with hope and strength

dealt a death blow

a shock to shake anyone to the ground

I declare for you this night

the darkness that comes

will be only that darkness of grief

temporary and healing

No killing darkness will touch you

no blight will mar

the effervescence that belongs to you

I declare Life abundant

I think of you with your little ones

gathered around you

and my heart aches for you

dear cousin, I hold you as I can--

in my heart...

Boys On The Beach

2011-01-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

After a long, fun day--What's better than ice cream before bed? :)

What Do YOUR Kids Do When You Send Them Outside?

2011-01-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

New Year's Drum Circle

2011-01-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

So, when I heard folks trying to pound holes through the ceiling (thus ending my "nap") I figured it must be near midnight. I wandered upstairs and found it was only 11 pm...

Caylee and Don (Caylee, Joy, and Andrew are siblings. Don is their uncle)
Bear (who belongs to Lorna)

Mom and David (David belongs to Sue)

David and Janis

Philip

Nate on the didgeridoo

Andrew and Zach

Joy(dancing) and Sue(videoing--is that a word?)

Joy

Rowdy (who belongs to Janis) and Renee

Renee

Sue and Lorna (mom to Elijah, Zach and Cameron)

Dad:)

Mom

Janis and Mom

Don and Danita (they belong together and their kids are Alisa, Elizabeth, and Lydia)

Mom and Janis (don't they look like they are having fun?)

After we counted down midnight we went out on the deck for a few minutes and made crazy noise out there (the neighbors called the police!). Then we came inside and had communion.

A little more worship first...of a quieter sort

Then communion together, in the quiet, dim room, in the best of company...

Thank you Father so much for showing us Your love in so many wonderful ways. Thank you for friends who are like family. Thank you for the Gift of Your Son to us. I love You!

New Years Get-Away--More Pictures

2011-01-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

Still Friday :)

Dancing to worship music while cooking dinner

Oh, wait, you're taking our picture?!?!?!?! Aaauuugh!!! At least let us POSE!

Downstairs movie watchers...

A really, really cool lamp

Happy
Do you think these ladies are excited to be together? :)

I just love watching the big boys play with the little ones:)

The really cool lamp compels you to Touch it...

Philip, who's pictured here came back and wrote on facebook about the wonderful weekend with friends, worshiping God and fellowshipping, and how God's been teaching him about family this year...and I just happened to have this great photo...

While on the deck taking pictures of the beautiful beach I turned around and was struck by the warmth and friendship visible through the windows...

Not terribly well composed, but I thought they were fun anyway:)

More dinner making

Elijah--dancing and clapping and singing and running from room to room saying hi to everybody. Soooo sweet and cute, I loves him:)

The drummer girls and Nate (Janis got her drum for her birthday and Mom got hers for Christmas and they are excited for any excuse to use them together:)

More to come:D Next, pictures of our midnight drum circle/worship session. The boys slept through it even though our bedroom was downstairs and it sounded like they were literally pounding holes through the ceiling!!! Woke me up. I didn't actually want to be asleep and miss the New Year's celebration anyway, I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. So, I was Glad to be woken up. I was really excited my kids stayed asleep though ;-)

New Years Get-Away--A Few Pictures

2011-01-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

From the first part of Friday:)
Janis and cartwheels:)

Mom's fav thing to do on the beach--run barefoot!

Observing tag being played (Alisa)

Just enjoying the ocean (Joy)

Running for a hug from the photographer!

Playing tag! They drew "islands" in the sand and you could only run on the islands. If you run out of bounds (or get pushed out!) you are it(as well as if you get tagged of course).

Nate, Joy, and Caylee

Bear and Cameron

View of the game from the deck of the house

More to come... :)

(Come on! No one wondered about the limo???:D )

A Teaser...

2011-01-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You...

2011-01-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful weekend away with our friends and family!!! Pictures are coming soon! :) Facebook first so that everyone who was there can see their pictures. It takes so long to upload them, even on our fairly fast computer. And you know I can never pick just a few... Well, if you knew how many hundreds of pictures I take, you would see that I really DO pick only a few. Ahem. ;-}

Brothers 2010

2010-12-29T20:59:00.000-08:00

January

February
March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Joshua 2010

2010-12-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

January

February
March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Joshua, my sunshine! I can't believe how big you've gotten this year. (I mean, of course you have, it's what kids do, they grow. But still...) With your missing front tooth you look so much older to me. I've watched your character develop so much in the last month and I look forward to a bright next year with you. I love you my dear boy!

Brannon 2010

2010-12-29T19:50:00.000-08:00

January

February
March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

My bright, shining boy! How you've grown this year. I can't believe you are in "double digits" now. We have a bright new year ahead of us, full of more structured school than you are used to (have to make sure you are ready for those third grade tests coming up) and unknown adventures waiting, I can't wait to share them with you. I love you dearly my son!

Anticipation! And Some Artwork...

2010-12-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

I'm busy getting ready for a weekend trip to the coast, Yay!! Our Thursday night Bible study group is going together. One of the families that comes owns a beach house and offered it for our mutual use. A few of us who pray together a couple times a week have been really aching to "get away" for a few days together with our families, outside of our usual daily routine, and just Listen together. So, Yay!! :-) Not to mention I've been longing to go the the beach, winter or no! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

So, lots of laundry and cooking to do. Gotta make gluten free bread, and gluten free cookies and hummus and tuna salad and... You know, the usual. I can't ever rely on communal food stocks when we take a trip with a crowd. I now REALLY appreciate it when I don't have to cook all our own food for a community dinner.

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be crazy with all the cleaning and packing we will be doing. Fortunately I have two big, smart little boys who can do a large share of their own packing now- a-days :D Hurray for me:)

Hopefully in a few days you will be "treated" ;-) to beach house pics

In the meantime, here are my three latest painting/collages. Note that flash photography does not nearly do them justice...

This one is acrylic paint, my own photographs, and quotes from "The Ecstasy of Loving God" by John Crowder, and song lyrics from The David Crowder Band, oh, and the clipart earths:

*Sigh* I wish you could see it in person, it's really neat;-) Nate said it was my best one yet:) I think I'm finally finding my groove and getting into what I like to create. This whole painting thing still surprises me. I never painted as a kid or young adult. I did do several collages though.

Acrylic paint and paper mache (of a sort). I love the colors on this in person--green and white and yellow and almost-unexpected splashes of metallic bronze. Nate loves the texture. I almost don't want to post these sad-in-comparison-to-the-real-thing pics...

And the very latest: Paper mache, paper, acrylic paint... On Christmas evening I couldn't get my mind off the blood of Jesus. His incredible sacrifice and all it means for us, more than I think we yet imagine. So I took my paper mache background I had made on a canvas a few weeks ago and painted it red. Then I added the cross. I was still filled with the image of Jesus' blood so I made the red drips coming off the cross (wish you could see it better!)

The next day I painted the red on the bottom and the gold drips coming from heaven. Later in the night I did drips of glue (which you can't really see, being clear) off one side of the cross representing the water that came from Jesus' side. I'm going to call it "Heaven's Flood" I think.

You can also see my wonderful tabletop easel my dear Hubby got me for Christmas, liberally baptized in red and gold splatters and glue:D

"See" you after the weekend :)

Gingerbread Personalities

2010-12-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

One child decorated one side of the roof (sorry for the blurry pic, I was in a hurry at the time)

And the other child decorated the other side... :)

And both were very pleased with the beauty of their designs:D

Today so far...

2010-12-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

Today...
I finally feel better.
For some reason I thought that once on antibiotics I'd be out of pain really fast. Silly me.

Nate is at fire academy, his last weekend. After tomorrow he'll be able to go on calls. A couple days ago he brought home a radio/pager thingy that he plopped down on the end table between the couch and the wood stove. You know, the only one I have Christmas decorations on? Yeah. Boys. Sheesh. I wisely decided to not say anything, not having a cleaned off surface to offer as an alternative;-) You could say that's why he chose that spot, but... it's next to "his" spot on the couch, near a handy outlet... And it's not like after Christmas decorations are put away there's going to be anything on that table. Just, you know, my female sense of aestheticism is slightly offended :D

I made a totally scrumptious batch of gluten-free gingerbread cookie dough thanks to Shauna over at Gluten-free Girl and the Chef. Thank you Shauna and Danny! :) I can't wait to try the baked version after tasting the dough, Yum!! I don't keep ginger around since I am allergic to it. I was thinking that cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and molasses would still make a worthy cookie. But, I wanted that heat that would be missing without the ginger. Seeing that the recipe included black pepper in the spices reminded me of chai, so I added a little cayenne as well for extra heat. I also used fresh tangerine zest since I had them handy instead of oranges. Did I mention yet that that dough is delicious??? :D

My boys made sugar cookies (also from Shauna's blog come to think of it:) with Grandma while I wrapped Christmas gifts and worked on a project for Joshua. He loves to cook and loves to get kid's cookbooks from the library and pick recipes from the pictures and beg me to let him cook them. This can be more than a little frustrating since we have several dietary restrictions that make cooking a challenge at times. And he wants to make it just like the picture. Not always possible. I ordered some blank books from Bare Books, the big hard back, spiral bound ones. I'm typing or copying and printing our favorite recipes and a few we have yet to try and making him cookbooks of food we can eat by gluing the pages into the blank books. I'm giving him two for Christmas and two for his birthday in February. They aren't the prettiest thing, but I think he's really going to love them:)

I broke up the peppermint bark I made for Nate last night. I'm so glad one of his favorite Christmas treats is so stinkin' easy to make. Melt some almond bark, crush some candy canes, melt some chocolate...

I WILL get some writing (more than this here post) done this afternoon...

And make a gingerbread house with the critters...

AFTER I take a nap...

I hope...

:D

Rambling

2010-12-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I've actually written anything on here. I've found it difficult to express my thoughts lately. And, also, we've been sick a lot, so I haven't felt like writing. I tell myself I ought to write anyway, but...

I just experienced a very painful illness, that fortunately was not contagious. I ended up having my mom pick me up to take me to Urgent Care yesterday. Nate was at one of the fire stations doing some training. He doesn't take his phone in to work with him, obviously and I found out in the midst of an emergency that I had no idea how to get a message to him. I left a few messages on his phone, hoping he'd check it at lunch. No luck there. My thought processes were very sluggish by the time we were headed to the doctor, I couldn't even remember which station my hubby said he'd be at. My mom called a dear friend, Janis and told her the situation. She stopped at the fire station nearest her and told them who she was looking for and why. They called the station Nate was at and he was able to come meet us right away. I said to Mom after she got off the phone with Janis, "It's so great to have friends!"

I definitely felt all my family's and friend's prayers yesterday. By the time I saw a doctor the pain and nausea I was feeling had subsided greatly and the prognosis was much less dire than we had guessed it would be! "All my confidence is in You, O Lord! No wonder I can sing Your praises!" {Thank You Daddy so much for touching me and healing me yesterday! I love You!} And while I was sitting in the car waiting for Nate to pick up my prescriptions the sun broke through the clouds for just a moment and shone right in my face, an amazing blaze of light and warmth. My heavenly Daddy saying "Hi there. I'm thinking about you:)"

While I'm sad to be missing church yet again this morning, I'm enjoying the rest and the bits of blue sky outside my window. I'm thinking I'll take a little stroll pretty soon. Maybe check up on my chickens or have a look around the pond. Fresh air is always good for healing:)

With all this "resting" I've been doing the last month I'm sadly behind on all the home made Christmas gifts I had planned. With how involved one of them was it's looking like I'm going to have to make other plans. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. Time is short, and I want gifts that are well thought out and lovingly crafted. That's the fun of giving gifts, whether made or purchased, the love you show by your thoughtfulness and attention to the person receiving the gift...

Well, I'm off to enjoy a bit of blue sky before I lie down again. Blessings to you all, hope your day is wonderful, wherever you are:)

Mushroom Hunt!

2010-12-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

But first: The Birthday Boy!!! Brannon is ten years old today:)
We spent an hour or so tromping around seeing how many mushrooms we could spot. There were hundreds and hundreds, and we didn't even get very far from the house. Here are a "few" (haha. The term is relative, as you will see as you scroll down, and down and down...) of the ones we found. I'm hoping we get out again Thursday or Friday to look for more.

These guys are pretty clear in the picture but we almost missed them right under our feet...

A False Morel...

Lots and lots of teeny-tiny guys

Joshua took the prize for the "most camouflage" mushroom. Can you spot it?

Here it is...

Not just the picture, these guys were really purple

Papa carried a couple of his finds around for a while. I suggested the boys Not do so, not knowing exactly how poisonous some of them might be

Not a mushroom, but still pretty fascinating. It looks like a moth cocoon to me. On the other side you could see the indentation where it used to be attached to a twig

Some of the mushrooms actually look like they are luminescent, in the pictures, not to the naked eye...

Brightest color we found today. Not as bright as the yellow ones we found last year. Neat orange color though

Mushroom hunters

There's one similar to this in our book called 'stinky squid'

We have Lots and Lots of these...

Very happy mushroom hunter/dancer-in-the-sunshine!

More luminescence...

This was how we remembered to go mushroom hunting--we'd see these beauties every time we went down or up the driveway

Remember how I said Nate was holding a couple mushrooms for a while? Well, this is one of the types he picked up early on. And discovered it's covered in a mucous-like slime that makes it very unpleasant to hang onto. We presume all the dead bugs are suffocated in slime. But why does the mushroom make slime? If we identify this one I'll let you know (supposing I remember to do so...)

Mama takes the prize for the "funkiest" mushroom found today. Just when some were losing interest too:) I'm thinking this may be one of the edible types? Not that I'm volunteering to try it. White button mushrooms from the grocery store are about as adventurous as I'm willing to go with fungi.

Is this the start of one of those purply pine-conish things that grows out of the ground around he

The only puff-ball type we saw today. Usually we see plenty of white ones. And sometimes grayish ones full of nasty black ooze. I don't think I've ever seen this color...

And that was our mushroom adventure on Brannon's birthday:)

Yet More Cyclocross Pics--And Three Super Cute Little Boys:)

2010-11-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

Last race of the Southern Oregon Outlaw series. Nate was working so he wasn't there, but I had fun watching Janis and Bear, and taking pictures of kiddos and visiting with Lorna :)

'B' getting ready to start

Off they go...

If you have to make something visible, why not have fun with it:)

Janis

Ed keeping score and boys wrestling in the leaves. I was glad there was a convenient leaf pile And a gravel pile right by the start/finish so the boys were happy hanging out near me instead of jonesing for the playground

Brother Love

Elijah. So cute!!! He had so much fun walking back and forth through puddles and leaves. Walking is fairly new for him and he was having a great time:)

'A' getting ready to start

Bear

Running up some stairs

So fun to have big boys to play with:)

More Brother Love

And look who got to be on channel 12 news:) Lorna said "Oh look, Bear gets to talk. How nice for him" Lol! He does like to talk. And the piece on cyclocross on the eleven o'clock news came out very nicely, I enjoyed watching it (recorded and watched the next day though:)

Bonfire

2010-11-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

YAY---Pictures:)

2010-11-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

I'm actually going to scream I think. Why can I suddenly not drag my pictures down the page to where I want them??? *Sigh*

Anyhoo, out of order or not, here are some more cyclocross pics...

Lovin' the double lines once again--signs and cyclists:)

"A" group's run start

"C" group getting ready to start

More from Saturday's cyclocross. It was Nate's second and last opportunity to race cross this year:( He was actually dreading this course as he really didn't enjoy it the past two years, but they changed it up this year and he really enjoyed it. Joshua loves to run alongside his Papa while he cheers for him :D

The "Vortex"
Zach

The weather's so obliging to give us this puddle across the road every year, lol...

This was the only spot on the course where you really Had to pick up your bike. There were some little teeny barriers you could ride over. Also most people carried their bike around the center of the vortex because it was faster.

Gotta love those perchable trees :)

Cyclocross

2010-11-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

Well, it let me upload 3 pics...
Joshua thoughtfully procured free hand warmers for his mama. He's shaking them up to activate the chemicals. Reminds me of glow-sticks :)
And here's Bear. See the all the ribbons and riders behind him? They had set up this spiral where you rode round and round and round until you got to the middle, then round and round and round back out the other side.

I like this picture a lot:) I do wish I had been able to get a clear focus, at least on the lead rider. I guess I just need to keep practicing my picture taking skills, lol!

And that's all for today. Maybe tomorrow you'll get some pics of NATE racing. If I can upload pictures. We'll see...

Apparently

2010-11-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

Still no pictures allowed