Remembering to blog

God is so good, he's so good to me...that song pops into my head today as I think back to what has happened this past year. I can't believe it's been more than a year since I've posted anything on my blog! Adventures have been had, one child has gotten older and two more will be getting older in the coming months. My life has been filled with many blessings and activities (mostly my children's activities).

Stephen has played football, basketball and baseball this past year. He is now going to be a 4th grader and will be going to the Middle School (my last one to finish Elementary School). He has done excellent in school and is very creative in his writing and drawings. He's very thoughtful and in tune to people's emotions.





Catie played volleyball last year. At the end of the school year, she was asked to be a writer for the school newspaper (The Blob). She accepted and now has to learn how to interview people. She took a creative writing class from the library this summer and hopefully that will help her be more confident in what she writes. Catie is a "sewing princess". She has made 2 skirts and has 2 more to make. We tried to get her to do Style Review in 4-H, but she feels she doesn't have the confidence (I think once she hears the music pumping through her veins she won't care). I'm hoping she'll do it next year. She has a talent for sewing and I'm so proud of her for doing it (cuz I didn't do very well - she must take after her Grandma Donna who is also a beautiful seamstress).

Becky enjoyed playing for pep band for football and basketball seasons. She has become very social in her group of friends and loves to write Anime stories. She took the same creative writing class at the library this summer and enjoyed talking to the teacher (one of my husband's best buddies from school - there were stories their dad told that were confirmed by Mr. Remington, and the girls LOVED it!). She is still in 4-H and raising lambs. She has a run of bad luck last year, but we're hoping that's all behind her as she pushes on to Umatilla County Fair. She has requested that she and I spend time at Fair together and hope that her siblings will stay with my mom (my dad will be fishing in Alaska with his son-in-laws).

John was working for Milton-Freewater PD and found out there was an opening for Athena PD. It seemed everywhere we both turned, he was asked if he was going to apply for the job and received a lot of support for going for it. He turned in his application and got the job! He is the Sergeant and loves protecting our home town. He and the other officer work wonderfully together! I will admit it's still strange when he stops by for lunch, dinner, or to check-in because he hasn't been able to do that for 15 years. I'll get use to it someday.

Last year, I received a job with the Athena-Weston School District working with students. I love my job and love working with the kids. I'm relearning how to do Algebra and Geometry (hopefully this time it will stick with me). I have gone on 2 scrapbooking retreats and hope to do another this year. I really miss scrapbooking every week, but hope things will slow down a bit so I can touch the paper, embellishments, and stick pictures on paper and finish a couple of books (yes, I said finish). This summer has been very relaxing. I'm so thankful for a job that allows me to have summers off with my kids. It's such a blessing.

Just bloggin' about Life

I was just surfing and noticed my blog is a little behind.

School was closed because of the 6 ft snow drifts on all sides of Athena Jan. 5th. I wanted to take pictures of the drifts buy the kids wanted to stay inside and enjoy 1 more day of vacation, so John took me out and got a couple of pictures of ME. I was standing on part of the drift to get close.

Miss Becky is now back in 4-H. She has 2 lambs. The boy's name is Max and the girl's name is She-Baa. (Becky gets her humor from both sides of the family so forgive all of us) She has been looking forward to getting new lambs since she sold her last one in Sept. She is also in ballet dancing to a Spanish song. She will be heading to Washington DC and New York when the Pipe Band and Band travel there this summer to perform (I get to go too!)

Miss Catie has been convinced she needs to do a lamb this year also and is excited about it. She was always in the lamb pens at each livestock show Becky was entered in last year and had permission from her friends to be in with the baby bummer lamb. The amazing thing was Catie (who is very shy!) would talk to complete strangers when they would come up and ask about this lamb. She stepped right up and talked to them about it and had no problems. Catie is also in ballet in Becky's class dancing to the same Spanish song.

Mister Stephen is in Cub Scouts this year and plans to play in Minors (baseball). Stephen and John built a Pinewood Derby Car for the Cub Scouts competition. It was a police car (of course) and it actually got 2nd place in his age group. He got to take home a trophy and and is very proud of it! Baseball sign-ups are Feb 4th. Life should be getting really busy here in a couple of weeks.

John and I are getting things in order inside our house during the cold weather so when it really warms up we can spend time outside working on the yard. My roses really need some TLC and John wants to have a garden (hopefully just a small one this year).

Becky, Watson and the Livestock Show

Becky had a lamb for the local Livestock Show so she's been getting up at 6am to feed and water it, plus go to the Land Lab (where he was kept) after her homework was done to walk him and work with him so he would show off for her and make her shine. I'd been running her back and forth twice a day since March 22nd (it's about 1 1/2 miles away) until the weather turned nice, then I let her walk with her sister and a couple of friends. She named him Watson because she did a whole podcast on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote the Sherlock Holmes series of books and his sidekick was Watson, so it's elementary, plus this was her first livestock show and trying her hand at 4-H.

Becky slipped and fell forward on her knee at the Land Lab after taking care of Watson at the end of April. She was out of commission for a week while her knee healed, which meant I was at her "beck and call" while she sat on the couch getting her assignments done for school and I had to go out to feed and walk Watson. We didn't know if she would even be able to show Watson due to the injury, but had a back-up plan if she couldn't. I took her to the doctor 2 days before the Livestock Show and the doctor said she was okay. If there was swelling, call him and he'll get her in for an MRI - thankfully there was no swelling.

Finally, Thursday (May 8th) Becky's FIRST Livestock Show ( 15 minutes away) arrives and we haul Watson to get weighed, wash and dry him, put him in his pen, feed him and leave him there. Friday, she and DH go to the Livestock Show to feed, water, and wash Watson and it's where she will be showing her lamb for the first time for confirmation (where she shows the lamb to see how well he looks to the judge compared to the other lambs - he was the smallest in his class ). She walks around with Watson and he does awesome, but he wasn't what the judge was looking for. That's okay, this was her first show we didn't expect much because we didn't know what to expect. We go home about 1pm and come back at 7pm to feed and water him. No problem, he's fine so we come back home.

Saturday, we go to the Livestock Show at 6am to feed, water, wash, and primp Watson before she has Showmanship (where she shows how well she can handle him). Showmanship was at 9am and her class wasn't showing at 10am. Excitement was all around because my mom and sister (with my 17 month nephew) were there. Becky just shined and Watson helped her. You could tell she worked with him alot. He was so relaxed, she could walk him around anywhere and he would walk with her without a halter, just her hand under his chin and on the top of his head. She did exactly what the judge asked of her and she received 1st place/1st spot and got called back for the run-off in the Intermediate class. During the run-off, the judge had each person walk around with their lamb in the ring, and I guess did something not many judges do. He had each person go to another lamb and see how well the lamb did with a different person. There were only 5 kids, so they switched. The judge made Becky be last and had her take the wildest lamb. She did and calmed this person's lamb down with one stroke down the back and a little whisper (which she really shouldn't have done but it calmed it down). I think the judge specifically wanted to see how Becky would do with this wild lamb and was surprised. She shined and received Reserve Champion for her Intermediate Class. It was such a surprise to all of us and it was the best Mother's Day present I could ever ask for. I was drawn to tears, as was my mom and sister. We were all so proud of her.

Sunday, we got there at 11am, and she spent about 2 hours in her lamb's pen with Watson before she had to sell him and say goodbye. She seemed ready for the sale and did well. What a whirlwind of emotions! That lamb was so good for her, but we all knew we couldn't keep him.

We plan to get 1 or 2 more for the Umatilla County Fair in August, what am I getting myself into? lol