Horse Poop Bonfire! Redneck?

We spent the day clearing out the Mini's pasture of the downed trees and other miscellaneous stumps. We burned it right on a big pile of horse poop. Brandon got out the marshmallows and roasted a few until he decided they really didn't taste very good. I am not sure if they did not taste good because they were old or because he was roasting them over wood that was burning right on top of horse dung?! He said to me, "Mom, these taste nasty, here try it." Ummm, no thanks!

My first baby is 10!

I remember the day I first saw Brandon....it was December 21st, 1999. The social worker brought him to where I worked and set him on a chair in the reception area. He had a blue and grey/silver coat and had a blue blanket sorta wrapped around his little legs. I remember thinking he was such a cute little baby with round cheeks and dark round eyes. I was doing foster care and was only supposed to have him for a few weeks. I grabbed him up from that chair and talked to the Social worker for a few minutes before I had to leave to drop him off at home with my roommate so I could finish out my day at work. He would start at the daycare in my building the next day. When I got home that night he was getting attached to my roommate and I was a tiny bit jealous. I scooped him up and told him, "I am your mommy!!" Little did I know at that point that I would become his mother. It was a maddening rollar coaster of highs and lows on the way to becoming his "legal" mother, but it was all worth it and could not imagine my life without my bubba. (I rarely call him that anymore since he is getting so old and "grown-up", LOL) The adoption was final on April 12, 2002. That was the happiest day of my life when I could finally relax and not worry about him going anywhere else. We had a great ceremony (1st time in Hennepin County that an adoption was done outside of the courtroom) and feast with lots of family and friends present to witness our special day.

We really did have a rough journey and its still a journey of growth and love and I love him so much my heart aches at times. He is growing up to be a fine looking little man and has great qualities that he will share with the world. He is full of life and loves spending time being active with his brothers and sisters or his friends. He is a very social kid. He is athletic and loves baseball and his martial arts practice. He would also like to play hockey and football or basketball. He will play just about anything. He is comical and tries to crack jokes (sometimes gets himself into a bit of trouble with this) at just about anything or anyone for that matter. I sometimes wonder with amazement at the doctors and others that come in contact with him for short spurts of time and say, "Why is he so quiet?? Is he like this all the time?" That is just crazy talk, cause Brandon is very full of life (and noise!) and constantly looking for his new adventure and companion to go along.

He decided to have his birthday party at H2Oasis, an indoor water park in Anchorage. He had 3 friends come along and of course siblings and a couple cousins. Everyone had a blast! Here are a couple pictures of him and 2 of his friends - Bailey and Atillio.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!

A New Baby!

Dozer had her baby early this morning and here she is! (I think it is a girl...will have to get a closer look later on.)

She is still learning to nurse. Hasn't quite got it down yet. She tries to nurse from her mom's armpit, her neck, her nose, her butt....all the wrong places. Hopefully she will figure that out soon. She is strong and healthy it appears, she is already trotting and running around. Her mom fast on her tail. Dozer doesn't let her get too far away yet. She let me pet her and touch her so that was good. When I tried to look under her tail, she jumped her rear end up a bit though like she wanted to kick me. It was the cutest thing.

Scary story....

So, our mini-mare is pregnant right...you all know this. Well she is due any day now, but I am not so excited as I once was to meet her little baby. I heard a story today from my friend Abby. She has another friend who has mini-horses and one of them got knocked up and it just recently had its baby. A MULE! Apparently the donkey got to their mini-mare and their love session created a baby mule. (Everyone picturing Donkey from Shrek, right?) I am sure its cute and all, but I would rather NOT have that kind of surprise on D-day.

If you never hear of our pregnant horse again or its spawn, then you know something didn't turn out right. BUT, if she indeed does have a baby horse like we are anticipating, then I will gladly post pics, upon pics to show you how cute it is.

BTW, Dozer is extremely ornery these days. She doesn't want anyone even touching her. I can only imagine how miserable I would be if I had to carry a child (or horse) for 11 months. Yuck!

Checking in...giving updates.

So, Lance Mackey won the Iditarod. 3rd time in a row for him. It was fun watching and keeping track of where all the racers were.

Austin got his cast off on Wednesday, April 1st. He is learning how to use that arm again and gaining strength in it again. He has had a few episodes where he doesn't know how to catch himself when he falls. He used to have a very solid brace against the floor. Bath time is MUCH easier now too.

Dave and I are working on our house plans. Dave is pricing everything and coming up with a plan. We designed our kitchen with Jason at Home Depot. That was ok. I really am not picky, but when you have to make decisions about where to put what and how you want it to look, it is hard to decide. Its hard to picture it in your mind and how you would use it all. Oh well....it is coming together.

I wanted to post a couple pictures of myself and my weight loss progress. I hadn't compared til recently and was shocked to see how different I look. I think I am in desparate need of some tanning sessions though since I look so pasty.

This first picture was taken when I was in MN/ND in July of 2008. I got a decent tan. Bobbie was pregnant in this picture and didn't know it yet, but I did, ha ha!! Her baby was born on our anniversary of March 14th. (Geez, I wish I had her beautiful hair!!)

This picture was taken April 1st when Austin got his cast taken off.

Anyway, I have lost a total of 31 lbs now. Its going very slow but steady. That is all I can hope for I guess. I still got LOTS to go.

Joanna and I were given a wonderful night out for our 4th anniversary last night. My parents got us a night at a bed and breakfast in Willow. It was a rustic experience and included an outhouse.... in our room.... or would that actually be called an inhouse? Here's a couple of pictures... check 'em out now before she deletes them!

*Edited by Joanna*
*Disclaimer - I posed for this picture and had my underwear up, so NOTHING was exposed!!!!*

Current Leader Lance Mackey

Here's a couple photos of the current leader, Lance Mackey, shortly after leaving Willow.

Iditarod Restart in Willow

Fun in the sun and snow!

We had a fun day outside. Temps were about 28-30 degrees so fairly warm.

Here is Brandon headed down backwards.

Here is Logan coming down the little hill by the house.
Here is Austin and Grandma Sue going down the driveway backwards too.

Dave and my Father-in-law Larry.

Grandma Emma and Grandma Sue just getting back up the hill from their ride down on the sled. Grandma Emma insisted on going down and nobody could talk her out of it!

10 month preggo belly shot

Here is Dozer, our pregnant Mini-Mare. She is about 10 months pregnant, due to give birth Mid April to end of April. She has a nice BIG round belly and I am so glad we human aren't pregnant for that long!

I gave her a haircut today as well. She has massively bushy hair and it just got bushier with it shorter. Oh well. She is cute anyways!

Teens and letting go

Well, it is one of the most difficult things a parent probably has to do, but its necessary. At some point you have to let go and let God, as they say.....Let them go, have more freedoms, have more decision-making and experience the consequences for both to help them become reasonable, responsible adults. And at the same time, pray that they go down the right path.
I was really having a hard time letting Kristen do things with her boyfriend and friends and I had to really think about why. I had to remember what I was doing at that age and remind myself that I turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself!), so its not all bad and treacherous out there in the real world. It all came down to me wanting to protect her from all the hurts and pains that can come along with making a few wrong decisions, but in the end, she needs to experience some of that stuff in order to gain strength. The thing is, she is fairly good. She has had her struggles with stuff, but she doesn't drink, she doesn't smoke, she doesn't do drugs. Those are things she has decided for herself and I am proud of her for that. So, she needs to have a little more trust and freedom to start her separating, growing up process.
I feel much better about that now that I have "let go". I feel more content in letting her spend more time doing her things, whatever they may be and feel she may make decisions I may not, but they are her decisions. I do feel confident that most of her decisions will be good for her though!!

I also remembered during this soul-searching event that my own mother went a little crazy right around the time that I was 17 too. I couldn't understand why she was all of a sudden "hovering" and being weird and crazy and she finally confided in me that she was going through a "stage" with me growing up and all. So I am not all that out of line....its normal for parents to do this...at least normal for my mom and me. So that makes it normal, right?

Austin's Cast

Austin got his cast on yesterday. We got him a blue one and promptly added some personalization to it. He thought it was pretty cool that people could write on it.

As you can see, it hasn't dampened his spirits. He is still a happy, smily baby.

BUT, he was trying real hard to cut that cast off!