Manhood Restored

I was on the phone with Lance, telling him that Rider was watching a Strawberry Shortcake movie. Rider exclaims " Don't tell Dad I was watching that...it's a girl show!" Then the disgruntled Rider talks into the phone to his Dad and says "I was watching a Power Ranger show...she forgot (meaning I was mistaken about the movie he was watching). Rider then looks at me with the face of " WHEW!" "That was a close call." I guess even at 4 years old your man-hood can be at stake :)




I posted it to my Facebook status :) I couldn't help it!

Boys in a Bucket

I walked into the living room and there is Fishy and The Ride hangin' tight in a bucket. They are chillin' and watching the tube. I love it. The kids are diving into all the new games, toys and sugar a-plenty and Lance and I are just trying to recoup. I like to call the day after Christmas, The Christmas Hangover.

It's the closest to an actual hangover I think I will ever get. It's the I-stayed-up-into-the-next-day-ate-2-tons-of-candy-got-up-way-too-early-assembled-25-and-a-half-toys-day-after-Christmas-Hangover.

Did I forget anything?

Oh yeah! The cleanup! Don't forget the cleanup :)


All in all it was wonderful. I love my family. I only got "this was the worst Christmas ever," once. That was, until I reminded him (Trapper) that his future downloads for his SPYTRKR was all dependent upon his attitude. I was amazed at the revelation that took place inside his head :) Before bed it was all smiles and even a sweet sorry and a retractment from his previous statement. We even got to end the wonderful night with "This was the best Christmas ever" from the kids and even Trapper himself!

Least to say, he got a few more application downloads the next day :)

I really hope your Christmas was wonderful too.

Santa, Singing, and the Snow

Our township, Southington, has awesome seasonal activities. For Christmas we all go to the town pavilion, listen to the carolers and we get to have a visit from Santa. He comes in on the firetruck! After Santa's awesome entrance he performs the lighting of the tree. Where he is silly and tries to light the tree with magic and needs all the kids to come up and spread some magic dust to help light the tree! Its adorable:)






My super neat son, Lance Albern, joined choir this year. He even tried out for a special ensemble that sings for special events, such as this. They were the carolers this year. It was sweet to watch him up there singing well and being serious about it!




After the lighting of the tree ceremony all the kids get to go and visit Santa in the fire station. He even gives out goody bags :) It's total fun for boys because as they are standing in line they get to check out the killer firetrucks and equipment. It's a wonderful small town feel and everyone is laid back and enjoying their time.




It has been snowing since last weekend. I love it! I took the picture of our picnic table and we have had more snow since then! It's a winter wonderland here! The trees are covered in a soft powder of snow that is just hanging off their limbs. Early Christmas present, but hard to wrap :)

Crisp Morning

It snowed last night. It rained until 4 am then "poof!" the rain transformed into snow, like magic. It was crunchy this morning on our way to seminary, crunchy and beautiful.




I am in aw many times when I look out my window, or when I am walking down the drive, that this is my yard. Those are my trees, our pond, 11 acres of beauty. I am in love with our property, down to the bees nest (not my fav) to the moss covered stump (one of my favorites).

Shylee drives to seminary. She did pretty well this morning. The roads were kinda slick and had some snow on them, so for a novice in the snow, she did well, I am proud of her. I loved the sounds she would make when she would come up to something that looked harrowing, like a corner that looked icy. Her "ooh" and "ack" sounds were fun to listen to. I was giggling....inside (I'm not stupid I giggled inside).
I had to take a picture of the windshield of the truck, even though I didn't have to scrape it,because we took the car...I did have to brush off the snow on the car. That's okay. It was pretty!

Mystical Land Full of Puppies

We are keeping two puppies. Of course it started as one, then became two. We are keeping a black one and the brown one. The black one is our favorite. He reminds us of his dad so appropriately named "Black Dog." That is what the kids would like to call this one. Hmmm. Then there is the brown one. She has been under deliberation. She is the rough and tumble type and a bit dense, but cute.


They are so cute when we bring them in and let them warm up in the room with the wood stove. They just pile up, snuggle in and sleeep! It's adorable.




I love the foggy days here. It's nuts when people (us included) here burn wood in the stoves it just sticks in the air. It almost just stays right in path and you can follow the stagnant trail leading right to the chimney it belongs to. The air gets 100 percent humidity often here. With burning the wood stove it dries it out inside, and makes it nicer and not so humid. Outside is a fog wonderland.

In the morning, there is a mystical feeling, like you stepped into another dimension. I am waiting for a white stallion to run through my field (yard) so that I can jump on run through this magical land while the gentle breeze flows through my black tresses ( who said it couldn't be color treated to become "black tresses":).

Bacon Saves the Day!

As I am cooking at the stove I hear the familiar sound of Rider squeeling the stool over to me.
"Whatcha makin'?"...Bacon?!...I LOVE BACON!...Thanks MOM!"

This morning after getting kids off I laid in bed entirely too long. I parented from my covers. I finally got up after many "C'mon Mom, let's go downstairs."

But now that I made bacon, I am saved! Children are wonderful! I won't mention their fast turn-over rate from the "I love yous" to the "I hate yous" but wow, he just made me feel like mother of the year :)

Fisher is 7!

Fisher turned 7! He wanted a "Halloween" themed party. I put some sprinkles on the cake that were bones sprinkled (barely) with red coloring, to look like blood, and I get "Mom, I said Halloween party, not SCARY party!"





So, I have no worries that Fisher's level of gore is pretty low:)



He had a blast! This kid is a party animal! He loves to play, party and socialize. The puppies were the girl's favorite part of the party! They carried them around the entire time. We even had one girl bartering the ENTIRE time over the price of the puppies.







I am so grateful for my beautiful boy, Fisher! He is our happy-go-lucky-let's-just-all-have-fun kid!
It was a great day:)