Morning Moose

I ran out to get the dogs out of their fenced yard. Rusty was busy barking and wouldn't come to me. I looked up and this is what he was barking at.
Look who Mama Moose has following her. Twins!
The babies were checking me out.
They decided I wasn't a threat and went back to eating.

Daisy and Hans wanted to know who was walking around their yard.

Time to go. Thanks for visiting.
Mama Moose leads the way down the road.
The obedient little ones follow. What a great way to start the day!

A Small Offering

I've been crazy busy. Or maybe just crazy, but either way I haven't been blogging. I wouldn't want anyone to lose interest so I'm giving you a small offering of the past week. There is so much more, but I'm tired.

I put a tree outside. It was supposed to be purple. It is pink. It fell over several times and now the lights are all jacked up. I have to do tree repair tomorrow.

Here's one of the trees in the house. It is 9.5 feet. We'll have another "Charlie Brown" tree for Emily to put all the homemade decorations on. One can never have too many trees.

We really need more snow. The Wee People have worn out the hill and are sliding on grass.

Ahhh, rosy cheeks.

Yes, it really is that dark. We've had wonderfully warm weather (it's almost +20 right now) so the little ones like to go out. Even in the dark. They ran back and forth laughing so hard. It really was fun even for me, the snow hater.

Since he was just a little boy Nick has put buckets on his head. Not sure why, but it's amusing. If it wasn't 1:15am I would dig out some old photos, scan them and show you. You'll have to take my word for it.

Doesn't the sun make the tops of the trees look like they are on fire?

Elijah went to Birch Hill snowboarding last weekend. It was snowing so hard, but he had a good time.

Roscoe...the wild savage beast! It really does look blue during a certain time of the day.

Isn't he handsome? He was dressed up for a dance at school. Very dashing in his bow tie (and original!).

Today I worked so hard putting my house back together. I'm still not done. By evening I was beat and we just relaxed watching movies. Doesn't every 4-year old need her toes done? :)

Hold 'em a Little Closer Tonight

I've been gone a week now. Not that blogging isn't always in the back of my mind, but it is such a busy, busy time of year. I know you know what I mean. I've taken fun photos of the kids, sparkling snow photos and even some cleaning-the-mess-and-decorating-for-Christmas photos, but all that will have to wait.

I have something to share.

Yesterday, I had the scare of a life time. You know, the instant tears, shaking hands and very weak knees. Complete panic.

My boys, Nick and Elijah, were hit nearly head on coming home from school. Thank God they weren't injured, but that feeling of fear I got when the call came is something I don't want to experience again.

They were headed South on Peger. The on-coming car was about where the red semi is on the left of the photo. They were in the far right lane just behind where the black truck is in this photo. The driver of the other car was messing with his phone and drifted off the road. He jerked his car back, lost control, shot across two lanes to hit my boys in the third lane. It happened so fast Nick never even hit the brakes.



The little red car slammed into the front of my Excursion pushing the bumper up under it.

He then spun around and hit the back of the truck before shooting back across the traffic and hitting the ditch on his own side of the road.

The airbags deployed.


Nick suffered a burn on his right arm from the air bag. Elijah had a burn about the size of a quarter on his arm.


The kid in the other car went by ambulance to the hospital, and Nick learned today at school that he broke two ribs. He was very fortunate. He could have lost his life.

You hear the stories about the dangers of cellphones and driving, but until it hits your own home so to speak you don't think too much about it. Well, I am here to tell you that texting, dialing, answering, looking, fiddle-f***ing around with a cellphone while doing 40mph down a busy, icy road is just stupid.

There are so many things...the cost, the headache, the paperwork, the waiting, but really all I can think about is Thank God No One Died. All night I worried about the young man that caused the accident, and was so relieved to hear he is going to be okay.

All the other stuff will be worked out in time, but today, I think three young men learned some valuable driving lessons that may save a life on down the road.

I don't ever, ever, ever want that phone call again. I'm not sure my heart can take it.

(They were much easier to parent when they were six. A band aid fixed everything).

hosted by Cecily

Many Blessings

What a beautiful Thanksgiving it was. It was in the +20's so the boys gave the little ones a ride in the sled before they took off themselves.

Very happy kiddos.

Candles are so fascinating for all ages.

I didn't take a bunch of food photos today. We had the basics...ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, wild rice, stuffing, fruit salad, rolls and pumpkin pie. The kids even had their own bottles of sparkling apple cider. We sat down to eat a few minutes before the boys got home from snowmachining/snowboarding.

Homer and I were so thankful to have each other and our five beautiful children all together on this holiday. Of course, there was a bit of sadness and always in our thoughts were our three children who were not with us. They are never forgotten, always missed and we look forward to a day when they'll come home again. Until then we are thankful for a heart full of memories and thankful for the family we are now.

Even though he fell asleep during the movie he still kept his babies in his arms. Such a great daddy.

Although it was around +20 at our house it was -2 in town where the boys went riding. Elijah didn't wear warm enough gloves and his hands got too cold. Took him awhile to get warmed up.

Nick had the chills, too. Typical Nick...don't cover up with the blanket right next to you, but instead lay under a pile of pillows. Silly kid.

I have no idea why Emily is standing on her head to watch the movie. She's silly, too.

It was a perfect night for a bonfire. We are tearing out the old kitchen and burning those nasty cabinets was so much fun!

The fire died down a little so out came the fire crackers. Then off they went to get the pantry door.

Our friend, Dave, was out drive-by pieing (you know, visiting one friend after another throughout the neighbor having pie). Unfortunately, his snowmachine had other ideas. My dear husband refuses to let any machine get the best of him so he worked on it while I enjoyed the fire.

This is an old kitchen we are tearing out, and by the way it heated up it was obviously not made of real wood. So glad to be getting rid of it. Looking forward to it all being gone and my grow room being built.

Can you see the fire smiling at me?

Such determination.

He did it! There was never really any doubt.

Lucas and Olivia came out to throw snowballs on the fire. Such entertainment. Elijah was still chilled from snowmachining and stayed in the house playing xBox.

The boys had Jordan over to spend the night so they stayed home while we rode the snow-go down to the neighbors with the girls. There were video games, Twister, lots of make-up, board games, television and snow play. Emily and Olivia had such a good time.

Homer and I had a fantastic day with five of our kids and we hope our other three had as much fun, too. The holiday is over and now there is so much to do! I took Emily back to her dad's this morning, the other kids all slept until noon and are moving pretty slow, Hurricane Holiday went through the house so I have major clean-up duty, and it's +30 at my house (can you believe it?) and it's going to be hard to work and not sit by another bonfire all day. After clean-up there is a wall to paint and rearranging to do so we can decorate for Christmas. Oh, and I need to work on my Christmas gifts for the kids. *sigh* So much life to live and so little time. Guess I'd better get to it!