Back To School = Quiet House!!!

Well...Back to School 2011 means that ALL three of my kiddos are now in school. YUP...the little man is now in kindergarten...full days...five days a week. I must say that I held it together very well that day...not too many tears...nor too much dancing in the school parking lot. he! he! he! Really, the strangest thing is not having my 'buddy' finding me throughout the day...asking me for things...telling me what he's up to...asking me what I'm up to...or even telling me what I SHOULD be up to! ha!

Kyla started JUNIOR HIGH this year! I know! I can't believe it, either! ;)This means lockers...and gym class...and student IDs...and did I mention lockers??? (cause she has THREE separate ones to keep up with between school, gym, and band). The Jr. High is HUGE compared to the Intermediate School...with classes upstairs and downstairs. So for several days Kyla took her schedule and her map and plodded along. However, Thursday she came home telling me she went on a 'suicide run.' Honestly, I thought it was some sort of gym drill...ha!...but she then explained, "I just put away my schedule, and my map, and I went for it!" That's my girl!!!
Summer is now at the Intermediate School...it's strictly a 5th and 6th grade campus. She had been there several times for Kyla's activities and already knew several of the teachers so she didn't seem to struggle with any 'fear of the unknown.' She has the same teachers that Kyla had in 5th grade and she was VERY excited for that. As a mom, I'm excited too. Kyla had her best academic year in 6th grade and I think Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Gaytan in 5th were a BIG part of that!!! Summer came home Friday FULL of excitement...she was elected student council representative for her class. She was already talking about being student council president...ha! One step at a time, Summer!
And I've already mentioned Luke and kindergarten. My little man...away all day! He has a very sweet teacher, Mrs. Martinez, and one of his buddies from church in his class. Hopefully, that will be a 'good' thing and NOT a problem (due to playing around too much!) ;) He has mastered the art of eating in the cafeteria and riding home on the bus! He is enjoying showing us his behavior chart when he gets home each day...he likes to act like it is a BIG surprise. So far, it's been good...4 green days and 1 yellow. Although, in true Luke fashion he described it to me as a 'light green.' It was written in yellow highlighter, giving it a greenish hue...but he knew FULL WELL that it was YELLOW. That boy! I just gotta love him to pieces!!!

Summer 2012

The summertime is never the BEST time to catch up on blogging...not neccessarily because there is a lack of free time,but often because I must compete with three kids for use of our one computer. ha! Blogging itself doesn't take much time...not the composing of the blogs...but the uploading of pictures first from my camera and then onto the blog do take a little time. Today, I realized that all of my beach pics were already ON the computer, and so I thought I might sneak a few minutes and see just how many I could upload. We had a GREAT time at North Padre/Mustang Island this year. The weather...gorgeous. The seaweed...minimal. The sunburns...virtually non-existant! Like I said...GREAT time!

Happy Birthday, Kyla!

This was how my 12 year old woke up this morning. For at least a year...probably closer to two...Kyla has BEGGED us for a phone. She has even tried to convince us that she is the ONLY 6th grader at Wilder Intermediate without one. She very well may be, but Kyle and I were hesitant to purchase something that required monthly payments (the bill) and in reality...there are very few times when she is apart from us and needs to be able to get in touch with us by cell phone. However, next year begins Junior High...with band practices that span into the after school hours and a campus that is MUCH farther away than the previous two. The peace of mind that will come from knowing that she can contact us at a moment's notice will be wonderful.

So...Happy Birthday, Kyla! Enjoy that new phone of yours! And know that we are proud of the intelligent, beautiful, loving, and godly young lady you have become!

SN-ice Day...

One thing that I didn't mention in my post about the San Antonio Stock Show was the interesting WINTER weather we had. The best description that I heard of what we awoke to that morning was "snice". A thin layer of ice covered by a thin layer of snow. You can imagine that it was a travel NIGHTMARE for those of us south Texans who are not accustomed to anything white falling from the sky...except hail, of course. They closed ALL of the highways and interstates -- how does one do that exactly? -- but we had a show to get to IN San Antonio at 9 am!! The stock show didn't cancel, but did postpone for two gracious hours (note the sarcasm), however, those two hours were enough to allow the sun to shine, begin to turn that ice a little slushy, and make the interstates much more passible.

Because we had to get on the road...to allow enough time to get to the show...the kids didn't have nearly enough time to play out in the cold stuff. :( However, I did get a few pictures of them enjoying it while it lasted...because by the time we walked out of the show barn...almost all the evidence of the winter weather was GONE!

The kids couldn't wait to get their hands on the 'white stuff!'

Good layer of snow on the trampoline!

The snow was so powdery it really wouldn't pack into a good snowball.

Summer stood at the garden box...the sn-ice settled there and around the trees...you couldn't really see it in the grass.

Luke enjoyed jumping on the trampoline...it made a strange crunching sound because of the layer of ice.

The view of our street just as we were leaving for the stock show. It was good and slippery, but Kyle did an AWESOME job of navigating the slick roads. Must have been all of those years traveling on the back roads of Alabama and Tennessee in the winter weather!

Another Friday...Another post :)

Well, I'm tempted to say that my new Friday 'thing' might be a blog update...but who am I kidding!?! Two Fridays in a row HARDLY makes this a new 'thing'! :) However, I am happy to be back at the computer...waiting impatiently for photos to upload to show you more of what we have been up to.

This week has been wonderful - a slice of heaven/Alabama came to visit us and it was DIVINE! However, I'm getting ahead of myself and I must go back to stock shows and post pics from San Antonio. The girls each took a hen to San Antonio and it was our first "Major" show. Now when I say "Major"...I don't mean 'big' or 'large'...although that would be true...but "Major" as in the type of show it is. The "Major" shows are open shows and people come from all around to compete...you don't have to live in a certain area/county like the smaller shows. So you can imagine if people can come from ALL around, the competition is fierce! There were 208 hens in the show and only 35 place and make the sale. If you weren't in the top 35...you aren't even given a placement and you must march over to the trailor with your bird and load it up for the processing plant. Sadly, we weren't in the top 35...but we weren't the first ones out of the ring either...sort of middle-of-the-pack.

Middle-of-the pack is NOT what Kyle was hoping for and so now the competitive spirit in him has raised its head and he has made adjustments to the feeding program. We'll see next week at Austin (which is on a Friday...just incase I don't post...ha!) and the following week at Houston (also a Friday) if the changes have paid off in the show ring. Who knew...except the 'turkey people' out there...that sooo much went in to raising these birds!?! :)

The arctic temperatures had us bundled up tight. I know that those of you reading this blog who have lived up north...or in the arctic...are laughing histerically right now...but take someone from 70 degree weather and put them in the 10s and 20s...it's ARCTIC! :)

Summer posing with her turkey the night before the show.

This picture is sooooo Kyla! Instead of standing beside Jon...who is holding the bird for her...she is standing beside the judge...almost as if she is keeping her eyes on him! ha! It looks like she might even be giving him pointers.

Kyla and Jon...waiting for the judge to come back around.

Jon helping Summer carry the bird into the show ring.

Summer was RIGHT by us in the ring...which was fun for photos, but not so fun when we realized that the birds that were going to really 'compete' were across the ring -- I guess you REALLY can't have it all! ;)

These birds are REALLY getting heavy now. Thank goodness Jon was there to help out!

As Promised...

It was quite chilly here this morning - a mere 47 degrees...which is 'chilly' if you have been waking to temps in the 60s!! I was VERY tempted to just climb back under the covers when I got home from taking the girls to school. Luke was/is still sound asleep under HIS covers...Kyle is still sound asleep under HIS covers...I felt like it was ONLY fair! However, I remembered that I promised I would update the photos on my blog soon and I did NOT want to let the two of you that read this blog down! :)

Where do I begin?

I am so behind...I don't even have pictures from Christmas Eve or Christmas morning on here...but I think that window of opportunity has closed. I DID promise you pictures of our feathered friends...so I guess I will begin there.

If you remember, we started out with SEVENTY-FIVE feathered friends. They were cute, cute, cute. Notice the careful placement of the word..."WERE". They are no longer cute - they stand as tall as Luke...and weigh more! The number has been whittled down to 13...I think...and we have only two stock shows left next month - Austin and Houston. Hopefully, we can make the sale at one or the other...or BOTH!...it sure would be nice to recoup a little more of our cost.

The first show the girls participated in was the Guadalupe County show back in January. They were soooo excited! It was an odd feeling sitting on the other side of that ring and watching your child do something that you once did -- not with turkeys -- my projects were pigs and sheep. However, the proud momma gene kicked in and before you know I had pictures, pictures, pictures of the girls and their turkeys in the show ring. Both girls placed with their hens and made the sale. We were thankful, because those sales are the BIGGEST way that we can get back some of the "investment" that we have made into the project. These photos can tell the rest of the story for me!

Summer is entering the show ring...with the help of one of our friends...and fellow Cibolo Creek FFA member.

Summer is excited!! Kyla and Dakota enter the show ring.

Sometimes the turkeys were more 'pet' than 'project' to Kyla. I was really worried at how she would handle them being processed, etc. But surprisingly, she isn't the one who has a problem with it...it is Summer. I'm not sure that Summer has eaten any turkey meat and I'm not really sure that she will!

Dakota helps Kyla in the show ring --all smiles.

Summer is ALL smiles...as Jon does all of the 'heavy lifting!'

When picking out the birds the girls were going to bring to the show, Kyle was surprised at just how uniform all of our hens were. He wasn't surprised when Kyla and Summer got 9th and 10th place respectively. We were thankful that they both made the sale!!

Of course, sibling rivalry even spills into the show ring. As she was exiting the ring, instead of being pleased with her 10th place finish and a secure spot in the sale...she mouthed to me, with a VERY disappointed look on her face, "Kyla got NINTH!"

Luke and Kyle -- ready for the auction. We were 'told' to be there at 10am...Summer walked off the auction stage at around 8pm!! Talk about a looooooong day. I'm sooo proud of Luke and sooo thankful for Granny and PopPop's ability to entertain him!

Kyla was waiting her turn at the auction - the kids don't sell their actual projects at the county show...they let them take the projects home and return to another show with them. However, they have gift baskets to give to the bidders instead. I wasn't sure just how BIG the baskets should be. I don't know why I didn't think about the fact that "Bigger is ALWAYS better in Texas!"

Luke was trying to encourage the bidders to bid just a little bit more by waving his hand at them...it didn't work...but he sure looked awfully cute in the process! :)

Please Don't Disown Me!

For all of my friends and family that check this blog from time to time...please don't 'disown' me for waiting sooo long between posts. I am hoping to upload some pictures in the next few days to give you a glimpse into what we have been doing that has kept us busy. I'll give you hint - feathers are involved. So please, keep checking back -- don't write me off just yet. :)