6 Year Old Wisdom

Fisher and I were having a careful conversation about the difference between girl parts and boy parts.

Fisher~ "So...girl's have special parts for having babies?...and what do boys have special parts for?" "Oh yeah!...." "Playing Xbox!"

How could I argue?

The "Wrap Up"

The "Not So" Early Birds, Christmas Morning! They didn't wake up until 8:30 which was very appreciated from this 3:30er!
Dad got up before anyone and I think he even did a load of dishes! This was a wonderful day. Everyone was so very appreciative.

Even though Santa gets ALL the credit for the hard work and effort put into the day, it was worth it to see happy and smiling faces.

We have loved the snow, which came a bit later this year, and in excellent timing, a few days before Christmas. No one has forgotten how to have a killer snowball fight:)
The day of Christmas was freezing rain, but it couldn't diminish any happiness around these parts!

I hope your Christmas was wonderful! and Mellissa, I thought the very same thing about wishing people a Merry Christmas, but I don't ever want it to become a thing that's so Politically Correct that I couldn't say it. I would wish someone a Happy Hanukkah too!!
Happy New Year friends and Family!

Just Letting You Know...

Rider is on some serious crazy-manic high that involves styrofoam, popcorn kernels and a lot of talking to himself...

I'm a bit nervous...

Todays Funny Quip

Me~ "Trapper, we need to get ready for the Christmas Program."
Trapper~ "OK, but first I need to suffocate this ant."

Then he proceeds to put this tiny ant (real and alive) into his Nintendo DS Case, careful that it doesn't sneak back out, he zips up the case, eagerly anticipating if experiment "ant suffocation" would be a success.

The ants don't always keep marching on, I guess!

You have to claim them all

Or so I have been told....


Seriously, he is hilarious:)

Help Me

Yesterday I was substituting in a small school, made up off about half Amish. I was substituting a kindergarten class.
Now, imagine for a minute that you have been raised Amish, speaking "Amish" and came to school 3 weeks ago. Wouldn't that be a big change? Wouldn't you feel some major disequilibrium, especially if you came in 2 months late and needed hearing aids on top of all of this?

There was a sweet, quiet and incredibly shy and timid girl in this class, the one that I am speaking of. We are going to call her Mary.
The day before yesterday I took her and the rest of the class to art. But as we were leaving class to go, she breaks down in sobs. I am not just talking a simple whimper, I am saying "sobbing." I ask her what is wrong and the other Amish girls tell me that she is afraid in art. I take the class outside,(art is in a trailer) and she breaks down again. Through whimpers and tears she quietly pleads, "help me."
I took this as helping her in art. I told her I would help her. The teachers always leave the class at the door. I decided to stay. Before we go in, the art teacher starts yelling at Mary to stop crying. She tells me in front of this girl that she is doing it all for attention. That Mary just wants someone in there doing all of her work for her. The art teacher tells me to leave her, that after she bawls for a while she starts doing her work. I told her I would stay with her, if only for support. This girl is still transitioning into school.
That's where it all started.
The next day, it was art again. Once again with tears in her eyes she pleads "help me." I said that I would.

The art teacher stops me at the the door and says that I am to leave this girl with her, that she will not allow me to come in today because this girl is just trying to get attention and I am "feeding into it." Mary is already bawling. There is fear in this girl's eyes. There is nothing "attention getting" from this situation except Mary is clearly confused and scared.

I told the art teacher that I would help make this transition easier for Mary. I would merely be in there for support, and help her with whatever she is struggling with in art class. This art teacher said no. There was no love in this teacher for this girl. Remember this girl has been in school 2 months late and only for 3 weeks, and came from an entirely different world.

I told the teacher that if I couldn't come in that I wasn't going to let Mary come in. The art teacher said that I wasn't allowed to make that decision. But I did. I wasn't going to hand over a girl into a situation that I felt uncomfortable about. We went on like this for a bit. I stood my ground.

Then I went into the principal. Here is a man that earlier in the day told the kindergartners that if they didn't do good at their Christmas program it would be like handing their mom a "dead mouse" for Christmas. That she would be coming, excited to see their performance, paralleled it to like unwrapping a Christmas gift, and if the performance was bad, it would compare to unwrapping this gift and having a dead mouse inside. This man yells at the kids. Yells like he is going to throw a punch. He is a bully.

The principal talks to this girl, Mary, like he is trying to make a business deal. He rattles on and on and she is looking at him the whole time in confusion. He looks up at me and I ask "does she even understand a word you're saying?" Then the secretary across the room says "she might not understand, I think she needs hearing aids." That's when I had had enough and said "So, here is an Amish girl 3 weeks into school that needs hearing aids, and is 2 months late to school and we aren't letting me into art class with her? This doesn't make sense to me? This is not attention seeking? This is pleading for help. I wouldn't want my child bawling hysterically at school!"

The principal ran through his speech with Mary and then said "we are taking you back to class." I gave him her hand and said "you are going to do it then, because I don't support this at all." He took her precious little hand, she starts bawling. He drops her hand she walks into me and he stands out in the hallway.

"You know Mrs. Allen, you are putting me in quite a jam here ya know!"
"I just wanted to be in art class with her, how is that putting you in a jam? The art teacher wouldn't let me in the door."
"Just take her back to the classroom."
"Can't I just take her back to art?"

I took her back to the classroom. She looked up at me a few times and meekly smiled. A song came into my head.
Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world they are..... Amish
The principal said that he needed to talk to the art teacher.
He came back in my room right before school got out and said he needed to talk with me. He should have said that he needed to talk at me.

I tried to explain, but as soon as I opened my mouth I could tell that wasn't what he wanted.
I told him that I hold myself at a high standard, if I feel uncomfortable about something, I need to make the best decision for my student. He told me that I had crossed the line, that they had everything worked out with "Mary." I asked him how was bawling hysterically because of art "all worked out?" He told me to leave, that I was not welcome, that he isn't going to call me back.
I said "well, since you won't be calling me back, let me mention something. Your little spiel downstairs about the dead mouse, that was disgusting."
"You have no idea what I was trying to say" he said
"and you're a sub-standard principal, I don't know how you made it here."
"Leave now." he said
"You say that as if I am going to mind leaving here." I said
Poor Mary, I pity her. If her parents knew that her homeroom teacher won't let the aid comfort her when she cries, because Mary is a "baby" or an "attention seeker" I think they would be sad. If they knew that the art teacher yells at her impatiently, not caring what is going through Mary's little brain, I think they would be sad. If they knew that the principal is actually the attention glutton that makes all the kids run like little robots and doesn't want the children comforted because he thinks that makes them "wimpy," I think they would be sad. He will yell in the face of a wee little Amish girl if she is not looking right at him when he is talking.
The list goes on...
The principal claims to be this great Christian man, even prayed over the Thanksgiving Feast, but is overlooking so much.
I bet I don't even have an inkling of how Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane, but in Mosiah 3:19 it says:
"For the natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he... putteth off the natural man and...becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him (i.e. like mean people), even as a child doth submit to the father."
Afterwards I came home, shed a few tears, and gave my kids a great big hug and kiss!
I feel for my kids, I hope the adults at school are kind to them. Don't you?

Thankful for Christmas!

I am terrible! I skipped the Thanksgiving pics and went straight to the cutting down the Christmas Tree pics! I guess I will work backwards! Today, as with tradition, we went and cut down a Christmas Tree! We aren't on the mountain somewhere in Utah, but we are on Mr. Palmer's property cutting down a farmed tree on his property.

Shylee shed a few tears, remembering all the fond memories of driving up on the mountain with Grandma and Grandpa and all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins and hot cocoa, and Lane shooting a tree down with his shotgun! Oh! The memories!!
She had her sweet friend, Jules to comfort her:)

The wonderful thing was that Santa knew we were there and dropped some candy down from his sleigh, while flying over to let the boys know they were on the "Nice" list and to keep up the good work:)
Lance Albern was our saw man and cut down our tree this year. He is quite an amazing young man and at 5' 10 1/2" and 160 pounds he is a young man!

Lonely Mom, Nice Boys, & Paper Friends

I have been substitute teaching to bring in some extra dough. I have been pretty darn busy the last few weeks, working more than I want to be, but Chris Cringles Closet must be stocked with a few important items, and we need help getting there:)

I get home anywhere from a few minutes to an hour after the boys get off of the bus, and Rider is home with Shylee (online school this year).

I was mentioning how I missed them and thought of them often during the day.

Fisher felt bad that I felt lonely and missed my kids during the day, so he made me a paper friend to take to school with me.

I keep it in my planner and look at it a few times during the day.

This morning as he was leaving for school he turned and asked me if I was going to miss him today. I told him~ "yes, I am going to miss you."

He told me "But mom, you don't have to miss me, you have your paper friend."

I was torn, I wanted to bawl and giggle at the same time.

Why are they so much more well adjusted than me?

I love my girl and boys. I love my paper friend:)

My Marionettes

Trapper~ "mom, why do you need a bra?"
Me~ "To keep them up."
Fisher~ "And if you pulled it (the bra) really tight it would pull them waaay up.....and if you took it(the bra) off they would go waaaay down."

I laugh for two reasons: First that he has noticed how a bra works (for me:), and second, that his statement is entirely true!!!

They go where I pull or let down, it's like having my own little puppets on a string, AKA: adjustable shoulder straps:)

Leaves Glorious Leaves!!!!

I have mentioned before the amount of leaves that have fallen here at our home. But to clarify, my children and husband have been raking for about 2 weeks and burning piles upon piles of leaves.

It smells delicious,the burning leaves, it's a fall smell...

I am so thankful for their hard work. Our yard is ready for winter. We won't be raking gooey leaves and pulling up half of our fresh grass this spring, because we didn't get around to it. That's what happened last year:)

I made quiche for them to come in and smell and eat. It was a perfect evening to end all their hard work. I am sure they will be back out there, but I have to say, it's worth it, to have all these glorious majestic trees in our yard. Don't you like how I said that? I, being the one that hasn't been raking! But someone has to cook and clean, and take all the pictures!!

Me~"I am mopping the floor, so don't come in unless you want to intentionally slip and crack your heads open." "...and if you fall down and crack your heads open I will still swat your bottom for not listening..."
Fisher~ "Mom, we wouldn't even be able to feel the swat on our bottom because we would be dead from our getting our heads cracked open."
Me~"Good point, Fisher."
Feeling extremely proud with his thoughtful comment and with a big smile on his face, happy as a ray of sunshine he says...."Thanks Mom!"

It's the little things in life!

The pics below are of "Nelson Cliffs." Which compared to the fact the Ohio is flat they are a grand site. They are very beautiful. Shylee is gaining my love for photography, so together I bet we took hundreds of pics! So, just be glad I didn't post all of them:) The waterfall pooled under this cliff. We could crawl way back under the rock, I was waiting to see some creature living under there. But it was just my little creatures playing under there!
Shylee had them take silly pics of throwing leaves in the air! It was hilarious!
We let the kids play at the park across the street and there are some pics from that. Enjoy...

A Shout Out To Fisher!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Fisher!

He had pink eye and stayed home from school on his birthday!
So, here is a portion of Fisher's story to this world...
He was born 3 days early via c-section at a nice 9 lbs 11 oz. and 22 inches long.

He had tied a "true" knot in his cord and was suffering from some fetal distress. When he came out he had meconium in his fluid.

They figured he was so large and then trying to descend and every time he would engage, he would pull on his cord that had a knot in it, and show signs of distress.


He is 2 1/2 in these 2 pics .

Before we knew all of this information, my wonderfully perceptive- to- the spirit Doctor had a "feeling" that we needed to perform a c-section and get him out.

We did, and he was as beautiful and healthy as could be.



I have to admit that he and I are two fruits from the same basket. He is deliriously happy most of the time and a bit scatter-brained. We are happy go-lucky and fiery within the same 5 minutes. He looks a great deal like I did at the age, minus a few things, here and there....though Lance Albern is a carbon copy of my face (which does that mean that I looked like a boy, or that he is sissy-looking?...I tell Lance Albern that it's 'cause he is sissy-looking, it's only fair that he finds out now:).

And the best part of all this, is that Fisher is a Mama's boy:)
I can NEVER do wrong, well.....except hurt his feelings...a lot....

Besides that, all is well.
I am sooo glad I went through everything to get him here to the world, most of all, our family. He is wonderful and adds so much joy and fun to our family!

Happy Birthday Fisher!

Deer or no Deer...

My hubby and I sat back on our tree stand last night and whispered about the past week, about the beauty that we were taking in, that a camera could never do justice....We were going to go "hunt" again, but Trapper came in and had put on his camouflage clothes to go with his dad. And, did his Pa hesitate? I say, Nay. "Get your socks and boots on then." Was his response. Then flying down the stairs when he hears the news was Rider Rufus Monroe Allen. "Can I go huntin' wiff you dad, can I can I can I?" "Do you mind grabbing his clothes, Lor?" Was his dads response to that.

Lance talks, teaches, loves, and hunts, in that order. Just like his dad before him and so on and so forth.
Lance and I both love hunting. So, it's been passed down to our kids. But, isn't it great how it's not just about shooting a bow, or rifle?

I am so grateful that at the spry age of 19 I was wise enough to see an amazing husband and father inside the hunk of a 21 year old man's exterior:)

Froggie Baby

There isn't anything much cuter than a Froggie Baby.

I am a frog lover. Shylee took these pictures when we were at Nelson Ledges today. I wasn't feeling very good today, and this lifted my spirits. She set Mr. Frog on an existing carved heart with the arrow.

Around here we can't simply call it a frog. It's either Froggie Baby, Mr. Frog, Mr. Froggie Baby, and on.

Most are gone and hibernating, except for this little guy. It was a wonderful fall surprise.

Falling For Fall

I love Fall.

I walked down our lane (Melanie's Lane) to take pictures of my manly husband using his chainsaw to cut firewood for the winter, and I took these pictures on the way. Unfortunately when I got to him, my battery was totally dead in my camera :( So, I missed my pics of my Jeremiah Johnson!

The pictures of our Springer Spaniel, Moqui, look like they were taken in a studio!! It cracks me up! Our photogenic dog! I love her! She has got to be the best darn dog in the whole wide world!

The color change here is amazingly beautiful. Even better and more vibrant than last year. I will be taking more pictures when my batteries have charged. I want to go into Middlefield, a town just down the road from us, and take some pics of the vast Amish Farms and rolling hills with trees, ooooohhhh...It's beautiful!

I am loved

Trapper and Fisher made this just for me!!!

I didn't clean the floor they made it on, but we have made different versions of SLIME over the past 2 days! It's Nice to that I am appreciated!