HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

From our family to yours...we hope that everyone has a Happy & Safe Thanksgiving!

Jo....

Yesterday was such a sad day...Jo hasn't been feeling well lately & I took her to the vet & had to put her down. A few weeks ago she killed a possum - yes a possum, yuck! She was so proud of her prize! Well she immediatley got sick. She started loosing weight, drasticaly loosing weight. I took her to the vet & he said that she had hook worms. So I gave her the medicine & we kept her in the house. We caged her in the house during the night & day if we were gone. Well we thought that she would get better & she didn't. After a week I called the vet back & he said that she was probably still getting rid of the worms. Well another week went by & she was weaker & it she didn't have much control over her back legs. She kept falling over. So I called & took her to the vet yesterday. He took an X-ray & he had Jo & I wait in the waiting room while the film developed. Then he called Jo & I back into the room & he shut the door behind me - my heart sank, my stomach turned upside down. He showed me the X-ray (like I had a clue what he was showing me). But he explained that her liver was enlarged & that her poor heart was 3 times the size it should be. He said that it was possible that she got something from the possum, but there was nothing that could be done about it at this time. He said that we could put her on pain meds to help with the discomfort, but the end result was the same.

The whole time & I holding poor Jo & the tears were streaming down my face & dripping off my nose & sweet Jo held her head up once & even lapped up a falling tear.

I didn't want to put her down, I just wanted to bring her home & hold her until her last and final day on earth, but I had to think about my kids. I didn't want them to see her die or suffer.

He went to get the shot. I held her & she looked at me with her sad eyes like she was saying goodbye. I bawled & sobbed like a 2 year old. Blubbering I asked him if I could take her home with me? I wanted her back at her home. He then left the room and came back with a garbage bag. I know why he did that but I sobbed & blubbered even harder when he put her in the bag. I then wrapped her up in her baby blanket & he escorted us out the back door - I guess I looked like too big of an idiot to go out the front door.

I sat her in my lap all wrapped up in her blanket & drove home crying & sobbing the whole way. I got home & Ron and I sat on the back porch with her wrapped up in her blanket & sobbed, bawled & cried like babies.

We had gotten Jo just 3 short years ago for Chrismas & even though she was very hyper we loved her. That Christmas Zach got a race car track & a train set & guess what she destroyed both. She ate the cars & part of the track up & she chewed through the cords to the train set - it's amazing she didn't get die then.

If she got ahold of a stuffed animal she chewed the eyeballs out & the nose off & started to pluck the stuffing out. One time I thought I'd give her a tennis ball - well she chewed the fuzz off of the ball & had fuzz everywhere.

Her favorite game was chasing Zach. She would only do it if I told her to sick him & she would go running after him & would jump up & nip at his butt. She would only do it to Zach too.

Kiersten took her to Dog Obedience through our local 4-H & she taught her to sit, heel & lay. One of the judging catagories was to get her to lay & stay for 2 minutes. None of us thought that Jo would do it. We worked & worked with her. We walked her & walked her that day thinking that would tire her out & that she might just make it for a minute - well that smart little dog stayed for the entire 2 minutes.

Jo will be greatly missed & we loved her dearly! It is amazing how attached a person can get to an animal.

Soo Busy..

Life has been so busy lately. Kiersten wrapped up Cross-Country & she did great! Did she win any races -no, but she did improve her time greatly & she I truly believe she enjoyed the sport.

We had a couple of weeks of down time & then Zach started with Basketball tryouts & he made the team & he has practice 5 nights a week. His first game will be this Tuesday.

Kiersten decided that she wanted to be the 7th grade girls basketball manager. I can't blame her - the majority of her friends play basketball & her bff is also a manager. She too has to go to practice 5 sometime 6 days a week & of course the games. She seems to enjoy it.

Needless to say the practices are at different schools. Kiersten's at the Middle School & Zach at Morgan. No big deal huh - well only when they both have practice after school & both finish at 5:30. Thank goodness for a small community - so far Kiersten has been able to get a ride home or Zach's dad will get him from practice.

It is a crazy scheudle right now, but it is working out. I'm just glad that the kids are getting to do what they want to do & they are having fun while they are doing it & they are making more friends at the same time.

Zach's Deer...

Well as most of you have read on Kiersten's blog Zach "got" his first deer. He was very excited. You ask did he field dress the deer...umm no - his cousin Will did that for him. I can only imagine that Zach stood watchin with the ooo yuck look on his face.

If you haven't seen a picture of the poor deer, here it is...


Was I overly excited that Zach killed an animal - no, but he does like to hunt, just like his dad. And yes I know that the deer population needs to be kept under control & if not the farmers like us will loose more & more crops to the deer.

I asked "Zach don't you feel bad about killing that poor guy?" "Nope". What kind of kid am I raising? Will he kill animals for the sport of it? Will he actually aquire a taste for the meat? Well....Kiersten & I went on about our day, Zach wanted to stay at his Dad's with his deer to show it off. A few hours later I get a call from Zach. Mom can I go hunting with dad this afternoon. I can be such a pushover at times & I said OK. However, I did what any good mother would do "Zach you know you already got a buck today & you know if you shoot a doe that their could be a baby out there waiting for its mommy to return & it will have to live all by itself for the winter & it won't have her to teach it how to stay warm." He said "yeah mom". Well I thought that my BIG guilt trip fell on def ears until I went to pick him up & I asked him if he saw any mommy deer (nope I didn't stop the guilt trip). Zach said "I left my gun at the house mom"...ahh I saved a mommy deer :), but Zach did go on to tell me that at this time of the year they are mateing & that there wouldn't be any baby deer out there without a mommy. Hmm, what could I possibly say to that? "Well what about if there was a mommy & daddy that were really really in love & had a baby deer when they weren't suppose too?" "What if the mommy deer was already pregnant with the baby deer". I know I'm a mean mom & I shouldn't guilt my children, but I just couldn't help myself - I have a soft heart, well parts of it is soft. Anyway, my whole point of putting my kid through this is to help ensure that he doesn't just hunt for the sport of it. If he chooses to hunt & doesn't want the meat to make sure the meat can be processed & given to someone that would want or need the meat.

And yes Zach is going to have the head mounted & thank goodness it will hang at his dad's house. I don't think I could handle that poor deer looking at me with his glass eyes.

Running Pictures...

Well I dug around Kiersten's room & found the USB cable for the camera :). So here are the pictures I promised.

Kiersten's first Cross Country Meet at Silver Creek's Community Park


I was afraid that Kiersten would get trampled, but she is a tough cookie & hangs in there.


Here she is close to the finish & running getting ready to pass the girl walking. Which wouldn't have been an issue if Kiersten didn't have to walk, but she is getting better :)


Here is the 2nd meet..Crawford County. The course was alot hillier than Silver Creek & there was one hill that was a monster. She ran up all the hills!! She did say that she walked a little, but even with the course being harder she improved her time by 40 seconds


Finally here are a few pictures from Lanesville Heritage where she ran 2 miles & her goal was to run the entire race (no walking) and she did it!! She also improved her time by another 30 or so seconds.







Here she is coming across the finish line..


If you can't tell I'm really proud of Kiersten. For anyone that has ran before it is a hard sport to love, more so in the beginning, but Kiersten has stuck with it & she continues to set goals & to meet those goals. Good Job Sis!

Lanesville Heritage Run...

Kiersten ran in the kids 2 mile run this morning. She improved her time yet again. I believe it was 17.10 (or somewhere close to that, waitng for results to be posted). Her goal was to run the whole way & she did. There were a couple nice hills which was good to build up her strength.
She did receive a sports bottle as an award for placing 2nd for the girls within her age group. She was surprised. Overall she placed 13th. I believe there were around 35-40 kids in the race (again, waiting on results to be posted).

I know I said that I would have pictures posted today, but I can't locate the cord to the camera. Hmmm where could Kiersten have put it? Oh well the mystery will be solved Monday when she comes back home :).

Ron & I are going Lanesville to watch some of the tractor pull tonight. Then tomorrow I'll go watch Zach's game. Then the week is busy as usual.

Running, Running, Running....

Kiersten has joined the cross-country team this year. I really didn't think that I was going to get her to go back after the first practice. She got in the car after the first practice & was in tears because she didn't want to do it again. This was a Thursday and it was close to 90 degrees. I told her that she really needed to give it another day & run over the weekend then she could decide that following Monday. I dreaded picking her up from Friday's practice I just knew that she was going to be extremely ticked off, but she wasn't. I was surprised when she got in the car & was all smiles. She had fun & she chatted all the way home.

She has stuck with it & has improved quite a bit & it has only been about 2 weeks. She ran 2 miles on Sunday & she finished just under 20 minutes. We both know that this isn't a great time, but she also has the goal of decreasing her time each time she runs & she has!

On Tuesday she had a meet at Silver Creek & her time was 18.17. Then on Wednesday she had another meet at Crawford County & her time was 17.49. I think she did a remarkable job on her time, especially since Sunday (20 min.) Also, the course was alot harder at Crawford. They had a very long steep hill towards the end of the course & she hung with it & ran up the hill!! She looks so tiny compared to the other girls that are running (especially the 8th graders).

Kiersten has decided to run the 2 mile run at Lanesville Heritage Festival tomorrow morning. I'll be there to cheer her on :).

Zach's baseball has slowed down quite a bit. He has had a couple of practices & he is having a practice game on Sunday against a team from South Central. As always we are looking forward to going to it.

I'll be sure to post tomorrow about Kiersten's run & I'll add pictures then. Let's keep our fingers crossed that her time improves even more tomorrow. She has another meet on Tuesday.

WOW

Things have been busy lately. As you know school has started back & it has been really busy in the office. My life lately has been work, some baseball practice, cross country practice & meets & then more work.


Zach's baseball season is winding down. He should be starting basketball before too long. Zach has had yet another birthday & he is now 11. Hard to believe that the kids are growing up so fast. I never thought that 11 years would go by so fast, but it has. Just think in a few short years the kids will be getting more independent, driving, wanting to date...ugh I'm not ready for any of it & I'm not sure that I will ever be ready for it. I guess that I'll just have to pull up my boot straps & get through it :).

Marinade..

One of my friends gave me this recipie & it is great with pork. What I normally do is wait for the pork tenderloin to be on sell & I buy a big one! Yes the monster size & I take a portion & cut it up into about 1 1/2" size cubes (big enough so they don't fall to the bottom of the grill). I cut enough up to get two 1 gal. size bags full. I then cut the rest about a inch thick & butterfly those pieces - this gives me about 12 butterflied pork loins. I freeze the pork loin that I'm not going to use at that time. The reason why is that it can be hard to find pork loins not all stores carry them all the time & when they are on sell you can get $40 worth of meat for $20. Now that is a bang for your buck!!

On to the recipie..
1/2 C. Soy Sauce
6 Tbl. Brown Sugar
4 Tbl. Vinegar
3 1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt
1 Tbl. Ground Ginger
1 onion - chopped finely if you have one of those handy little choppers use it, if you don't I would highly recommend that you invest in one & I don't mean one of those choppers that you beat the crap out of I mean the little baby electric ones that looks like a baby food processor.

The tenderloin that I have cubed up & leave it in the gallon size bag (yes the tenderloin is thawed) & I pour the marinade in the bag & then throw it in the fridge. I normally do this in the morning for supper & let it soak. Also whenever you think about it you might want to grab it from the fridge & mix it up a bit just so you make sure all the yummy stuff gets all over every single piece of tenderloin.

Once you're ready to eat all you have to do is throw it on the grill & just flip the pieces over a couple of times until they are done.

You will love it - it is wonderful!

BBQ Meatloaf - yes good meatloaf...

I'm the type of person that enjoys a good meatloaf & I'm the first to admit that they aren't the most appetizing meal to look at, but you have to try this one. As I said before my son is a meat & potatoes kind of guy & he also loves wedding food. When I say wedding food I mean the weddings that have the yummy meatballs & little smoky bbq hot dogs (my sister-in-law makes these for him for his birthday each year) & of course a chocolate fountain. Any way Zach said they tasted like those meatballs.

1 lb. of gound beef
1 C. breadcrumbs
1 Onionchopped
1 egglightly beated
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 - 8oz cans tomato sauce
1/2 C. water
3 Tablespoons Vinegar
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of prepared mustard
2 Tablesoons Worchestershire sauce

Mix toghether the beef, breadcrumbs, onion, egg, salt, peper and 1/2 C. tomato sauce. Form this into a loaf & place it in a loaf pan. Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, water, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard & worcestershire sauce. Pour this sauce overe the meatloaf. I go ahead & poke the meatloaf in several places with a fork prior to pouring the sauce over to make sure it soaks in to the meatloaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan...

This is my kids new favorite..

1/4 C butter or margarine (everything is better with real butter)
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese (yes the real parmesan not the green bottle type)
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves (don't have on hand so I haven't used any)
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/3 C. milk (we are skim milk people & it works just fine, but I bet buttermilk would be even better)
1/2 C all-pupose flour
2 tsp. dried basil leaves (I have been using McCcormick's Mediterranean basil leaves - they are all crushed up & they must have some cayenne in them - adds a little zing)
1/2 tsp. salt
6 split chicken breasts (the store I get my chicken breasts from have huge ones so I only get 2 whole breasts). I do get bonless, skinless breasts too.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In 13X9 baking pan, melt butter in oven 5 - 7 minutes. Meanwhile stir together all remaining ingredients except chicken breasts & milk. Dip chicken breasts in milk then coat with flour mixture. Dip chicken in butter; place skin side up (again I use skinless breast & it works). Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until chicken is for tender & golden brown. After about 30 minutes I flip my chicken over just to make sure both sides are done evenly.

This meal goes great with any type of vegie or even a simple salad. I have't tried it yet, but I bet that it would be great on top of a salad.

I hope you enjoy & if you do use the Mediterranean Basil Leaves just make sure you have extra drinks. It isn't spicy to the point that it will burn your mouth & you are spitting fire, but it will require a little more beverage intake.

Food!!

Okay so I may not be the blogger of all blogs when it comes to Recipies, but I have decided to put some of our favorites on my blog. I don't know that I will post pictures of the process or the finished product so you'll just have to use your imagination.

For those of you that don't know my kids very well I'll tell you they are very picky especially my daughter. If she had her way she would eat chicken nuggets or chicken tenders with ranch dressing & chocolate Pop-Tarts for every meal of the day. Zach is a little easier to please - he loves his sweets, but over all is a meat & potatoes type of guy.

I hope you enjoy the recipies that I will post.

YAY Braeden is here!!

Braeden is in town for a while before they move to FL. He came over on Saturday & the kids played all day. Zach & Braeden spent most of their time riding bikes & trying to catch kittens. I bet the kittens will be terrorized for a while.
Grandpa was still in the field so I took the kids to see the fireworks at Kellums. They really have an awesome fireworks show & the crowd isn't too bad either (of course that could be because we knew a majority of the people). Anyway the kids loved the fireworks!! They were all wore out though, they were asleep within a couple of minutes of getting in the car.

The kids slept in on Sunday - which was fine I was able to get some cleaning done before they woke up. We had breakfast & hung out for a while, well the boys were back to riding bikes, chasing kittens & playing catch. Grandpa was back in the field so I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch & then to O'Bannon Woods to swim. We were there for about an hour & they told everyone to get out of the pool. I thought that it was odd because they had only been open for about an hour & a half. Come to find out someone had pooed in the pool - yuck! I told the kids to get their things together so we could leave. They asked why we had to leave. I asked them if they were going to swim in the pool that just had poo scooped out of it & in unison they answered NO!! So I called a friend & we went to their house to swim for another couple of hours.

Monday was pretty uneventful. The kids slept in again & I made them french toast for breakfast. Braeden said it tasted like strawberries, he is so funny. Then I thought that I would be brave & make BBQ meatloaf, not knowing if they would like it. I like meatloaf, but I'm the first to admit that it isn't the most appetizing meal to look at. The kids loved it! As if I need to repeat it again, but the boys resumed to riding their bikes & chasing the kittens haha! The poor kittens will have nightmares. Oh well, maybe they'll stay up at the barn now instead of by the back door.

Fireworks at Kellums



Kiersten & Braeden at Kellums ready for the fireworks to begin..


The boys on an awesome red tractor. They perfer green, but give me enough time & I'll change their minds :)


They are so cute!


Sis, thank you so much for the pictures. You are the best little photographer!

Good Luck!!

Khirstin will be taking her boards today. We all hope she does well. We can't even imagine what stress she has to be going through, but she has done a remarkable job.

It amazes me how she has been able to move & go to Med School in Kansas City & take care of Braeden & have time to of planned a wedding & still find time to do well in Med School & now to the point of taking her boards!

Again, Good Luck Khirstin we wish you the best & hope that all goes well with the boards.

A tad bit of excitement...

Well for the past two nights I have been at South Central (well really South Harrison Park). For those of you who doesn't know where that is - it is at the opposite end of the county. I live about as far north you can get in the county & South Central is about as far south you can go & there isn't an easy way to get there. Anyway you go you have to be on a curvy road.

Anyway I have been there for Zach's ballgames. They have both started at 8:00. I got home around 11:00 last night & around 12:00 tonight & I'm still getting up early & going into work. For those of you that don't know me it takes me a little while to wind down & I require sleep. I've never been one of those people that can function on 3 hours of sleep. I do good to function on 8 hours of sleep.

Zach's team lost their game last night 13-2, yes it was nasty. However I saw another game going on tonight & the score was 37 - 2 in the 3rd inning, so it could always be worse.
It looked as if the team was going to loose again tonight. They were behind by 5 or more points in the 2nd, 3rd & 4th innings - then there was a RALLY!! Our boys kicked butt! We were 6 points behind & going into the bottom of the 6th (we only play 6 innings) we were down by 1 point & the first batter struck out. The second got on first. Zach had a full count & ended up getting walked. We got a hit & another out & then the last batter got up there with 2 outs a player at first & Zach was at 2nd & the last batter his an in the park home run!!

It was exciting - Kiersten was jumping up and down & hugging me (you would of thought that it was the little league World Series). Our boys needed this boost.

We now play tomorrow at 6:00 & have to be there by 5:00, so we'll leave around 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. I'll have to get my nap in before we make the trek.

Good Luck tomorrow to the 10 year old North Harrison All Star Team!!

Good Night to all!

Nothing Exciting...

Well it is official I have a boring life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but compared to other blogs I am a boring person.

I have a couple days of work left & then I'll be off for the summer yeah! Zach has been in basketball camp this week from 9 - 3 & then baseball practice each night from 7 - 9. He has a tournament that starts tonight at South Central. I have nothing against South Central, but it is a long nasty drive down there.

We had a good fathers day. The kids were with their dad so Ron & I went to visit with my dad for a while. We then went to town & had some fish which was good at the time, but Zach had a double header that afternoon around 5:00 so the fish didn't set to well in the heat. We were happy to get home to the air conditioning.

I am busy collecting material for baby quilts. Someone I work with is having a baby in October, a friend is having a baby in December & my wonderful sister-in-law is having a baby in January! Only 1 of them has found out what their having & the other two are being difficult - they say that they want to be surprised. This drives me & Kiersten nuts. We are nosey & would love to know if they were having a boy or a girl. So we have to find material that is gender neutral, which isn't easy. Oh well - I know they will appreciate the effort.

Busy

We have been so busy since school has been out. I have been working & both kids were in tennis camp, Zach in basketball camp & baseball. I have been meeting myself coming & going. Zach has one more basketball camp this month & he will be starting All Stars before too long.

We did have a visitor last week - Braeden came over for a few days & we had a great time with him. The 3 kids together are wild (good but wild).

Quite a few people from NH & Morgan went to Churchill downs yesterday. They had a thing for schools & you could get a ticket & we were on millionaires row & we they served some awesome food. I lost my $10 (I'm such a big spender).

Today the kids were with their step-mom so I went to lunch with my friend & her kids for her birthday. We went to Qudoba's & it was yummy! I have ate like a hog for the past 2 days!

Zach has a baseball game tonight & if he wins he'll have another this weekend.

I will post some pictures before too long.

Great Job!!

Well my job doesn't pay much nor do I have health benefits, but I do have other benefits. My job is great! As you know I got to go on the 6th grade camping trip a couple weeks ago & yesterday I got to go to Holiday World with about 70 middle school kids (1 of which was Kiersten). Again I didn't see alot of Kiersten, but we all had a great time!

Today I have to go back to reality & back to the office I go. It is a little crazy right now since we are inching our way to the last day of school (7 days left for the kids).

Have a great day everyone!

Easy Evening..

Kiersten had her last Tennis Match tonight. They played Scribner. The team won as a whole, but Kiersten lost her doubles match. She played good & she has improved so much since the first practice, but she was upset with herself for loosing her last match.

Zach doesn't have a baseball game until Monday, but he will have practice (if it doesn't rain too much). The rest of the week should be pretty easy.

So far work has been crazy this week, I guess I just got spoiled on the camping trip last week. I do get to go to Holiday World on Monday with 90+ kids - I hope that the rain is over by then.

Back to homework - time to read with Zach & go over spelling words. We are wrapping it up though - no more math or social studies for this school year :).

How does 1 person be 3 places at one time???

I tried to figure it out, but I wasn't sucesful. Kiersten had a Tennis match at Salem tonight, Zach had a baseball game at Morgan & Zach's calf had to go to the fairgrounds at Corydon to be "tagged". I wanted to see the match & Zach's game & I wanted to help Ron haul the calf (after all the calf is Zach's & really shouldn't be Ron's responsiblity). Thank God I have a wonderful husband.

I went to Salem & then bolted to Morgan to catch some of Zach's game. I missed Zach's game :( Ron went by himself to take the calf to get tagged. Kiersten won her match 7 - 5 (Way To Go SIS!), Zach won his game 3 - 1. This was Zach's teams first win for the season & it has been a rough season. Zach pitches 3 of the 6 innings of each game & he didn't his a soul this time :). I have seen all the pitchers hit batters each & every game, but I always feel bad for Zach & the batter when he does it. I have been told that it is part of baseball.

Now it's just baths & read a story with Zach before bed.

Tomorrow isn't as busy, we only have a tennis match to go to & it is at home. It will be Kiersten's last Tennis Match for the year :(.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!!

Today was a wonderful day. We went to church & Kiersten sang in the childrens choir. Then we came home and opened her birthday presents, which she loved. Then we were going to eat at the Overlook, but it was way too crowded so we ended up at The Dock. It took a while to order & get our food, but we didn't mind a bit, we sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine.

We went to my parents house for a bit & then we came home for a while and rested before the kids had to go back to their dads house.

I got roses for mothers day & I told the kids that they weren't allowed to argue since it was mothers day. They thought that was funny & it actually worked. I Love my kids!!

Pictures Kiersten took at the Camping Trip

Happy Hollow..

If you have been reading Kiersten's blog then you know that we went on the 6th grade camping trip to Happy Hollow this past week. I really wasn't expecting to have that much fun, but it was awesome. The kids were terrific & we all had a great time (yes, including the adults).

I didn't get much sleep the first night - we had 2 chaperones in out cabin that decided to stay with the kids, so the rest of us decided to go out and mingle with the other chaperones that were out and about. We stayed up until 2:00 & I woke up at 5:00 and decided to catch a hot shower while the existed for the day.

The second night I was in bed by 11:30 & fell fast to sleep.

Here is a link to come of the pictures that were taken by one of our staff - which by the way she got less sleep than anyone, I think about 3 hours a night. She stayed busy taking pictures & updating the sight. She did an awesome job. Well here's the link... http://www.nhcs.k12.in.us/camping/2009/index.htm

I finally did it..

Well I have been reading everyone elses blogs for about a year now & I just couldn't stand it anymore...I just had to join in on the fun. Please don't expect a lot from me because I'm not the creative funny type, but I may be able to humor some.