Summer to Remember

This summer was filled with lots of accidents, family fun, and just hanging out. At the end of May we got our miniature horse back from being trained. The kids had a blast and really enjoyed riding him, Joey was a natural. Until a police car flew by with the sirens on spooking the horse, taking Joey for a wild ride. He fell off into a post, scraped up his head and broke his wrist making him spend the night in the children's hospital.

He was so excited to get his cast he never wanted to take it off.

Soon after this we left for our family reunion in Ohio. The kids got to meet up Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Aaron and got to meet their "great" cousins. Believe me these kids are great in more than one way. :)

Joey and Aubrey had a blast with Gabby and Brad!

We always have a lot of fun visiting with our relatives out in Ohio, eating good good food and playing games. Although we only see each other once every couple of years it's amazing how well things just mesh. Our last night there we were having a dance party in the camper and things got out of hand. lol Or Wyatt is just clumsy.

After the reunion Bryant headed home while the kids and I headed back out to PA with Mom and Dad. We ended up spending almost a month out there. I always enjoy heading back home and just relaxing. I must admit though, I am pretty selfish with my time and it is really hard for me to do anything but spend time with my family. Many days were spent by the pool, picking veggies from the garden, singing and dancing in the rain and just letting lose. Every minute is just "SPECIAL", kinda reminds me of the days I spent and the park feeding the animals with my Grandpa. There is no need to entertain or talk just enjoy each others company.

 

Dancing in the rain then enjoying the rainbow.

Racing and boxing

4th of July fireworks

Aubrey didn't make it through the show, and the boys thought it was a to play.

Thanks the Loski's we were able to go to the Gettysburg Reenactment.

This year Grandpa taught Joey how to swim. The kid is like a fish!

Happy BirthMonth!!!

This Birthday started out with gifts in the mail that he had permission to open as soon as they arrived. Then we had  get together with Grandma Hess and Uncle Randy on his Birthday and then a week later he had a bowling party with some of his class friends. Here's the pics.

Birthday #1

Grandma missed Valentines Day so she sent in in this package

Awesome just what I always wanted!

(he had never seen one before)

Birthday #2

Helmet to keep him safe

From Grandma and Grandpa Hess

Motocross shirt from Uncle Randy

Shirt and helmet matches his 4wheeler and racing gear.

He wanted a strawberry cake with rainbow chip frosting.

Birthday #3

The whole gang minus the parents

Transformers!!!!

And there you have it. That is one lucky kid.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings...

So these past couple months have been crazy busy! On February 20 (my birthday) at 3:30 in the morning Abby went into labor. I was so excited and ready as ever. We had gone to the vet earlier in the week for an X-ray and were expecting 7 maybe 8 pups. To our surprise we had 10! That is a huge litter and it was her first. 7 boys and 3 girls. These pictures are of the boys and girls and a week old, the next one is of my last 4 boys at 5 weeks. It can be difficult to sell an entire litter especially when you have so many boys, but we had them all sold when they were 6 weeks old.

So why did I breed Abby in the first place? As those of you who know me know haw much I love animals and that I wanted to be a vet well not as much as I wanted to be a Mom. So going to school for 7 years wasn't worth it to me but breeding is something I can do at home with the kids and get my animal fix. I spent a lot of time researching the Labrador breed, genetics, and how to be a responsible breeder. These pups were well love and socialized and that is one of the many reasons that they sold so fast. So the money that we made off of the puppies is going to fencing in our back yard to keep the kids and the dogs safe and buying a new puppy to add to the breeding program.

Here she is... Haven't settled on a name yet but we are leaning towards Fancy. She is from Royalty... no seriously she is from the Queen of England's kennel. We will be getting her sometime after the 19 of May.

And now for the bees. I am a firm believer that we are eventually going to have to rely on our trades and talents to survive and well honey is very valuable. Or so I tell myself. ;) Thanks to a brother in our ward I have been able to start my own hive. He has coached me through this and has been very patient.

Here is Zen and I setting up the hive and putting the bees in their new home.

My bees are retarded and aren't building the comb in the right place the are making it on the lid :/ so I get to enjoy some fresh honey every once in a while. Darn it!

The bees make comb on the frames and then fill the comb with honey.

We got 3 lbs of bees, the can is filled with sugar water to feed them until the flowers bloom.

Family time

   As we all know life can be hard and filled with chores, running errands, committments and well LIFE. It is so easy to get discouranged and feel like what you are doing is just an ongoing pointless cycle. I know because I feel that way A LOT and feel like somethings gotta give. As soon as I accomplish something it's only a matter of time until the kids go back and put thing how they like it. Well that is life and it wis going to be a while for me at least until the kids are old enough to really understand. So for now we make the most of what we have and be thankful for those moments that we can just BREATHE. For me that was yesterday in the Walmart line, and just so you know it felt soooo good.
   So just breathe and think of what makes you happy. My kids and I aren't really winter people, I think the snow is pretty but out here it's too cold to play in it and my kids feel the same way. So when it finally got warm enough to play outside (Mid-March) they were more than ready. I was outside taking care and enjoying the animals and I heard them giggling. When I heard that it gave me a bit of hope and excitement for the weather and laughter to come.

So whike the weather was warm and there was still snow out we went sledding as a family with some of our good friends.

It was so much fun and the first time in 4 years that we had gone sledding. Kinda sad but next year we hope to get a lot more sledding in.

The next day we went to the circus with the Winterfeldts (the same family we went sledding with. The kids loved the elephants and thought it was helarious when the put a dog in a elephant costume and would try to wind him up like a toy.

Poor Aubrey was starting to get sick and didn't get the chance to enjoy it like we hoped.

            

So it is my goal to find the good in everything and try to remember that a clean house is nice and it would be wonderful to be Mom of the Year but if there is no laughter in your house and if you can't be grateful for the little things then the big things really don't matter.I am so excited for warm weather and for spending time with my family and just having fun!