Well, just looky here...

You know, hubby and I are avid amateur farmers.  We love our 5 chickens (as well as the eggs they are laying!)  We have an awesome vegetable garden, which offers great produce in the summer.  We ALSO have a huge "herd" of 3 mama cows.  Two of those cows predictably dropped baby calves back in late December.  They are adorable.  The other cow, however, had not produced a baby.  We were quite sure that she just HAD to be pregnant, because, seriously, y'all, she was PLUMP.  (I hesitate to say "fat", because, after all, I HAVE been pregnant myself a few times.  Nobody who has ever been pregnant would EVER call another pregnant female fat.  Even a "bovine" female.)  But I digress.  We began to think perhaps she had a tumor?  (Yes, I know, it's a stretch, but hubby is a doctor, so he was looking for a diagnosis!)  Anyway, we had pretty much given up on old Bluebonnet, the cow.  After all, the other calves were born a mere one day apart.  We assumed she had not met our handsome bull, Hot Rod, who came to visit awhile back.  Perhaps he wasn't handsome enough for her?  Maybe she thought he was too fresh.  But, apparently, she was just playing "hard to get", and she just made ole' Hot Rod wait until his last day on the ranch.  Just LOOK what was waiting for us when we got back from our little "mini-vacation" the other day!Meet "Billy Bully".  We named him after my darlin' older brother.  (Yes, I know that sounds a little strange, but when I was a little kid, my brother and my two uncles named EVERY stray dog who came around the farm after me... as if being saddled with a name like "Betsy" wasn't enough fun for a young lady!!)  So now, every chance I get, I name animals after my brother.  It's really not quite fair, because this baby is CUTE.  

I feel an apology is in order to Miss Bluebonnet the cow - I thought she was just "plump", when in fact, she was just saving the best for last!  Welcome to the farm, Billy Bully.  We just love you!

Ski Pics

OK!  Thanks to my wonderful SIL, Roxanne, I now have pics to show you of our fabulous ski trip to Santa Fe.  I DID take my camera, and I DID take a few photos, but MOST of these are from Roxanne... hers are better than mine.  Also, we didn't take our "good" camera to the slopes... we took little disposable cameras.  (Long story... Luke lost our first ever digital camera at the top of a mountain in Colorado one time... but I digress.)

So, without further ado, here are the pics!

Love this picture of my babies in front of the fireplace in the lobby of our hotel!Here's our whole little family.


Here is my brother with his family.  (Minus little Aidan... he got to stay at home and have some quality time with Grandma!)
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture.  The older kids are just sittin' and takin' in the view from the top of the mountain!
Here is brother Bill's family again.
Kate and Sarah V. liked the hot cocoa!  Yum!!
Here is Sarah, cruisin' down the slopes.
Grace and Aunt Rox made a "snow bunny".  How cute is that?
We had an AWESOME snowball fight.  Check out Kate's ear... she got whacked so hard with a snowball that the snow got stuck in her ear!
Here's Caleb chunking a snowball.  That boy's got an ARM!
Look at might Miss Grace!  She skied like a pro!
Kate, Abby, and Caleb, cruisin' down the bunny slopes.
Brother Bill, Luke, and myself.
The whole little fam.
The cousins, hangin' out atop a little pile o' snow.
There are many, many, more, and maybe I'll post a few more later.  We had a GREAT time.  Can't wait to go back!  (And, thanks, Roxanne, for making sure we had photos of our trip!!!  :-)

Basketball Ends...

Tonight Kate's little dribbler basketball team finished off their season.  And, BOY!  Did they go out with a bang!!!  They played possibly their best game of the year.  When the final buzzer sounded, the score was tied.  The league rules state that in the event of a tie, the game will be decided by free throws.  Each team chooses 3 players to shoot, and it is sudden death.  SO... we lined up our players, and off we went.  Kate was one of the players chosen to shoot.  Their team won the coin toss, and elected to shoot first.  Their player shot and scored.  Our first player, Casey, lined up to shoot.  She had to make it, or the game was over.  SHE MADE THE SHOT!!  So, on we went to the second round.  The other team lined up to shoot, and their player missed the shot.  Now it was Kate's turn to shoot.  No pressure... she shot the ball... AND SCORED!!!  Kate's shot won the game!!!  She was over the moon!!  (Luke did get all this on video, and when my internet is running a little faster, I will definitely have to post it.  It is priceless!!)

I have to tell you, this little team was BY FAR the most improved team in the league.  I couldn't be prouder of them.

Here are some pics of the game... great job, Red Rockets!!

Here is Kate, lining up to shoot the winning basket.

An action shot - Kate's looking for an open player under the goal.

Here is "Mom, the Coach", giving a little advice during half time.
And, finally, here is the entire team after the game, proudly wearing their medals.  (I was taking the picture... their other coach, Becky, is proudly posing with them.)
Great job; great season.  (Now, on to softball!! :-}  )

Home

Home.

Finally.

Tired.

Laundry.  (Yuk.)

More soon...

Ski Santa Fe

We are in Santa Fe, having a wonderful time.  The weather is AWESOME, and the skiing has been great.  If I had remembered my camera cord, you would be seeing lovely photos of us in the snow.  IF I had the camera cord.  BUT, I don't!  

Story of my life!! :-)

**ACK!**

Boy, am I overwhelmed.

We are taking a little break from reality later this week.  

We are going skiing with my brother and his family, and we are so excited.  New Mexico, here we come!!

However, until them, I will be STRESSED, because all of the preparation and planning will fall upon my shoulders.  

And, I need to get started.  So, if I am out of touch for a while, know that I'm away somewhere.... being stressed, so I can be relaxed.  :-}

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day this year, hubby and I went out on a "date" with 7 other couples to a local winery.  It was a big group, but, OH!  We did have a good time.  I haven't laughed that hard in a LOOOOONG time.  We did take a few photos, but it's late, and the amount of time it would take me to upload them to blogger..... it's just not worth it to me tonight.  Maybe tomorrow.  But, to the others who went with us, thanks.  You all are really FUN.  :-)

The Butterfly

Since I'm still playing "catch-up", here is the very belated post about Abby's latest play at school.  Her class presented the play "Frog and Toad".  Abby was a beautiful butterfly.  Here's a picture of the butterfly as she awakened.Here are all the butterflies together.  They are a pretty cute bunch, I think.
The play was great.  Their music teacher does an AMAZING job with these performances!!

Valentine's Day Gifts for Teachers

It has been quite a while since I have participated in "Works for Me Wednesday" over at Rocks in My Dryer.  I'm not sure why... time just gets away from me, I guess.  But, you can check out lots of great tips right HERE.  Go check it out and see what is working for other folks!

What is working for me today is making easy, inexpensive gifts for all my kids' teachers.  ***SPOILER ALERT***  IF you are reading this and you ARE one of my kids' teachers, STOP READING NOW, or you WILL find out what you are getting for Valentine's Day on Friday!! :-)  Between my 3 daughters, they have 9 teachers, so no gift idea can be TOO pricy!

I made "Valentine Cookie Making" Gift bags, and here's how what they look like.  

They include Valentine Cookie cutters, which I found on the "Dollar Aisle" at Target (except they weren't a dollar... they were $2.50.  False Advertising, Target!!)  Anyway, after I got them, I saw Valentine Cookie Cutters at HEB yesterday for 99 cents, so they are everywhere right now, and they are not expensive.  They also had cute rubber Valentine spatulas at Target, but they were almost sold out.  So some of my bags have those, and some don't.  However, you could add any baking related items you might find - I have done this before and added measuring spoons or colored sugar or sprinkles.   

You'll also need a package of sugar cookie mix.  I got mine for $1.67 at Wal-Mart.
Then, to wrap up your gift, you'll need clear cellophane.  I got his at Target for $2.99 a roll, and it wrapped 5 teacher gifts per roll.  I also got some shredded paper to put in the bottom for 99 cents.
I added curling ribbon (which I already had at my house), and attached a Valentine card to the bag.  There you go!  An inexpensive, unique gift!  As a former teacher, I was always glad to receive unusual gifts (that weren't apple-themed).  The cookie mix is consumable, and if they don't like cookies, they caould donate it to the food bank, because it is shelf safe!  As for the cookie cutters, even if they don't make cookies, they could use the cutters in their classroom with play-doh, or in an art center as stencils.

Hope this "Works" for you!

Build-A Bear

I'm still trying to play "catch up" with all the things that have been going on in our lives the past few weeks.  We've been busy.

On Grace's actual birthday, Luke had to work, so my Mom and I decided to take the girls to Build-A-Bear.  They LOVED it.  Here's a pic of the girls on the way in... they chose their animals, and were ready to stuff them.Before stuffing the animals, the girls had to chose a Heart to go inside their bear.  They made a wish, and then put the Heart (complete with their wish) inside their bear forever.  Here's Abby making her wish.

After the heart, it was time to step on the pedal that starts the stuffing machine.  Here's Kate stuffing her bear.
After stuffing, they had to move on to the "bath" station.  You press a pedal to start the air machine.  You use a brush and the blowing air to "bathe" your bear, and remove any excess stuffing.  Here's the Birthday Girl, giving her Panda a little wash.  
After the bath, the girls chose outfits for their animals, made adoption certificates on the computer, named their animals, and after plunking down a huge amount of money, we were done.

As we were leaving the mall, we had to walk through a large department store.  They had a display where the shirts were stacked on a shelf, and then there was a little step below it.  Grace decided it looked like a stage, and so she decided to get up on the "stage" and give us a little impromptu concert.  She danced and sang.  People passing by stopped to watch.  It was SO classically GRACIE!!  I video-ed it on my phone, but can't figure out how to upload it... But, I also took pictures.  Here is the performer, posing on her stage.
We had a great time, and it was a wonderful way to celebrate Miss G's 4th birthday!!

The "other" Room

Before all the birthdays and all the sickness, I was telling y'all about the big "re-do's" that have been going on upstairs in our house, and I promised that I'd show you the photos of Abby & Grace's new room.  SO!  Here are some pictures.

Here's their dresser and pictures (now imagine that I had taken time to move the cordless phone and the hammer... hmmm.)  (Also, imagine that there isn't a huge "flash" reflection on the glass of that picture.  Sorry!  A photographer I am not.)
Here are their bunk beds, complete with new purple and yellow "fairy" bedding.  (Look in the bottom bunk... there is a little Gracie hiding in there!  She was so excited about her bed, she wouldn't get out of it!!)
And, last but not least, their closet doors.  They really like the butterflies and flowers that I added.  They were so easy... peel and stick!  Gotta' love it!
And there is the big re-do reveal!  The girls are still loving their rooms, although this weekend when Grace was sick, Kate and Abby had a little "sleep over" together in Kate's room, and (even though I don't think Kate would admit it), they had a wonderful time being together again.  It was pretty sweet.  Can't hide that "sistah love!"

..and I'm not even superstitous!

I am crossing my fingers and knocking on wood and throwing salt over my shoulder and everything else I can think of today, because I think everyone is healthy at my house.

At least nobody is actively vomiting.

And for that, we are so grateful.

Hello. Please meet my new friend!

His name is "The VIRUS", and he won't go away.  Clearly, he likes it here in my house, and no amount of Lysol will usher him out the door.

I am FINALLY feeling better today, but, guess what?

Grace is vomiting.  About every 30 minutes.

I feel so sorry for her... she doesn't have anything else to throw up!  (And, yes, I realize that's TOO MUCH INFORMATION, but, we're all friends here... you, me, and Mr. Virus!)   :-)

The Virus...

...still isn't quite done with me.  I'm still just a little on the "puny" side.  Maybe just one more day of rest...

Luckily, you can't catch this "virus" through your computer...

****Yuck!****

The stomach virus has hit me.  Hard.  I've been in the bed for a few days.

I'm feeling a little better, so hopefully I'll be back in business tomorrow!