The End (I hope) of the Beginning

This is what I posted one year ago;

Tonight, today is the end of the old and tomorrow is the beginning of the new. 2010 was a grand year in many respects and a devastating year in others YET, I am looking forward to what 2011 has in store for us as a family and as individuals.....so without further ado...

This is how I started my Holiday letter in December for 2011:

I hope this letter finds you happy, healthy and full of wisdom!! For me, 2011, will go down as a year of extremes. It has been a busy year, a hectic year, a chaotic year, a crazy year, a stressful year, and one that many times left me wondering if the sun will truly come out tomorrow. :)
Needless to say I look forward to 2012!!!

And that pretty much sums up my thoughts...so again without further ado...

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE!!! and here's hoping for a better year in 2012 (at least for me)

Christmas eve gift opening

Tomorrow morning they will open presents from Santa, and then we finish our prep for the guests arriving at 1:00pm...Tomorrow Ve also turns 8, so I gave her her gifts tonight and the family will celebrate her birthday on New Years day as we have done in the past.

We opened presents from each other tonight. The girls went shopping with Kiki to buy me some gifts this year and I must say they did a FANTASTIC job. I was impressed with how intuitive they were. I think they liked all their presents as well, but the winter hats were the biggest hit with them all...as you can tell..they wore the hats all night.

The girls also went to Christmas Eve service with Grandma since I decided to stay home and keep cooking!!

Ve in the hat and her new zhuzhu pets

Mim sporting her new yoga pants with her hat


Tuki jamming on her paper guitar with her hat

Today is the first

day of 11 days that we will have off for Chritmas break. Since I have been busy with other parts of life, I have been scrambling at making the Christmas goodies every day since Monday of this week. I will also host the family Christams gathering so I need to start preparing that meal as well as clean the house. Busy Busy, but happy!!

Tuki was an angel

in our church's Christmas play. Ve didn't want to be in it, but now after watching Tuki having fun with rehearsals and the actual performance she says she may change her mind for next year. Kiki, Uncle J, Aunt M and Cousin N came to watch her 20 min singing debut!!


Before the play, in front of the tree

close-up

action angel





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Mim's 2011-2012 Hoops team

Now four front teef!

Three years home

Birthday gift from Grandma - day with Gram at the ceramic shop

making a cup

together time

She has been home 3 years today. In some ways she has made so much progress, and yet in others I feel like we are stuck in the mud.....Her wonderful even moods add a nice balance to her wildly moody sisters...LOL, and she is starting to really show her true personality....School still takes work, but she is beginning to try harder when she doesn't understand a new concept. Her memory is still bad, but I sometimes wonder if it isn't a gift from God...that way she doesn't have to hold on to the things that she saw and things she had to endure prior to coming home.

Our tree is up, our outside lighted deer are up (gift from Grandma), almost all the presents are purchased and it looks we might not have a white Christmas...and guess what..I am TOTALLY excited about NOT having snow, that is how much I have learned not to enjoy our winter wonderland..as I have stated before I need to go south in my retirement. My first semester of admin classes are finished as well, only 2 more years to go!!

All I want for Christmas

is my two front teeth!!

Birthday Party for Two!!

The only downer was the fact that we were promised 2 hours of skate time and we only were given 1 hour since there were 2 Hockey games scheduled tonight. I talked with a person in charge and they said they owe something for the loss of time on the ice. We ended up staying for the first hockey game. I have NEVER been to a live hockey game before and I must say it was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever been to. Who would have figured!! The kids all had fun in spite of the obvious shortage of skate time. Kids are so resilient.


The Party Gang just before they started to skate

Kiki and Tuki
Skating

Mim, Tuki and cousin N

Birthday Girls

6 year olds (Kindergarten & 1st graders)

7 & 8 year olds (1st and 2nd graders)

Opening presents

Yeah!!! Barbie!!

Kiki and Mim helping out

More Birthday Celebrations for the 6 year old

Today going to the Ceramic Shop with Grandma

Painting an angel decoration

Last night at Pam and Bob's, she exclaimed "Skinny jeans" when she saw them

Saturday night at Pam and Bob's for a birthday supper, cake and presents

anticipation!!

Tuki's 6th Birthday

Tho Tuki's official birthday is the 29th, in family tradition we celebrated her and cousin N birthdays today. N turned seven and Tuki six. Another celebration is on its way for Tuki and Ve on December 3rd. We are having an ice skating party for both, each can invite 5 friends. They will skate, eat and party!!


the birthday girls - they are growing up fast

happy girls

opening presents

N opening and reading the cards from Mim, Ve and Tuki

zhu zhu pets are the big request this year

N with her present from us

Tuki with her many pen set..she loves to write, draw and play school

Cousin M, Cousin C and his wife A,and Uncle J

M's new boyfriend in the corner chair

Mim with Aunt J (Uncle W soon to be wife)

Hope all had a Blessed Thanksgiving with their family and friends!!

Photos

of the last few weeks



Tuki was superstar for a week and they take home a stuffed monkey, write about it in a journal and take pictures of places it went. So Tuki, Monkey and Ve in their playhouse


Monkey skating with Tuki


Monkey hanging with Tuki, Ve and cousin N.


Trick or Treating at N's grandma's health care home

again but all with better faces

Mim working at the Ecycle drive

Ve's IEP

Ve's IEP meeting was not about any specific learning disabilities, but rather a meeting letting me and all her teachers know just how well she is doing as an ESL student. Actually, her ESL teacher stated that Ve's is doing exceptionally well for a ESL student and her progress is above typical for a English learner. We all did agree that her learning style and processing is "quirky" but her scores in the testing was well above the scores that would place her in the learning disability category. I am a little surprised since she does process new ideas very oddly, yet I am also very delighted that she is doing so very well. The teachers also told me to keep doing what I have been doing to keep her and her sisters up to speed academically. I have attached the reports if any one is interested


The first two show her score within the second grade range in the given categories.



This last one shows her scores and the thick black line is the cut off score for LD. As you can see she is well above it.

Backyard Chickens

They are quite the vogue right now with the bad economy. Food, entertainment, bug control, the new homestead movement along with perennial gardens converting to vegetable gardens and wash drying on the line blowing in the wind. There is a certain peace that comes to ones own soul when sighting any one or all of the above scenes.

It is our home without a doubt, but not because it is the "IN" activities to do. I grew up with all three activities and then some on our 500 acre dairy farm.

"My" thing when I was a kid were the chickens. We always had chickens since I could remember. Standard size for butchering (I will spare you the butcher, chop off the head stories) and bantam (small) chickens. When we moved from the eastern part of our state to the central part, the bantam chickens came with us.

I remember my dad constantly yelling at my older brothers to feed and water those chickens on a daily basis. I'm not sure why he kept trying so hard to make them love them. But I do remember that at the age of 9, I approached my dad and said that I would take care of the chickens as my responsibility, he would NEVER have to remind me, EVER, but he could also NEVER kill any of them from that day forward. He agreed and for the next 10 years the chickens were mine. The coop was mine. My place, My stress reliever, My feathered friends. It was never about the eggs. The chickens were my refuge and there were many times I sought their haven for many teenage and life issues. When I moved to college, my dad found a good home for the entire flock in a nearby town with a farmer who also loved chickens.

Now fast forward to a few years ago. As I was losing my non-releasable raptors to old age, I started contemplating what I could do with their enclosures. I researched and found out we could have chickens in our city. And as they say the rest is history.

As you may have noticed, I love my flock of feathered beauties. It still is not about the eggs. It is about the chickens. They are again my Pressure Valve, anytime I feel stress, I spend time just watching and messing with them. Everyone needs a "relaxing thing" to get rid of stress....mine are the chickens. I still love to work out, but the early morning rising to get it in my busy day doesn't relieve my stress. I still love to grow gourds, garden and kayak (which I never do anymore) but none release my stress like my flock of chickens.

Besides the stress reliever, there has been MANY side benefits.

The always available cash from egg sales for the kids field trips etc., I am not a cash carrier, so having an egg bucket with cash in it is a big PLUS.

Meeting new neighbors has brought more diversity to our family. We have several regular customers, one African American, Alvin and his girlfriend who originates from a large city, one Indian woman Nagmane, who is a Micro-Biologist. When they walk over to purchase eggs we converse and develop friendships. It also brings my hippie, free spirited neighbor, Ian, over for eggs and conversation as well as our army recruiter neighbor, Josh, over. I also have a cognitive disabled neighbor Dave who loves to come by and just watch the chickens hang out enjoying themselves in the sun.

Another benefit is the natural, non chemical fertilizer for the garden. Can't beat that!!

And of course the best part....a Pressure Valve just for me!! I really don't care if my kids learn to love them, the important fact is that I love them.....
same rules, no one has to remind me to care for them, and no one will kill them for food (except for maybe the hawks, but that is another story for another time)

Now, I am gong to visit my feathered friends outside to release a little pressure and tension and and then I am off to my doctor's appointment................

Finally hit those apples!!

Finally hit those apples and I am starting to hit the wall of fatigue!!

Canned 6 pints of apple jam
5 loaves of apple bread
and froze about 5-1 gallon zip lock bags of carrots...not as many as last year

later in the week I will try and make some applesauce...we'll see how it goes

It is raining now, and quite cold, so I am not really sure if we are for sure going Trick or Treating tonight...it is predicted to rain all night LLLLLLLOOOOONNNNNGGGGG.

It's 6:30am

It's 6:30 am, Lewis, the roo is crowing, Virgina the owl is hooting

I have been up since 3:30am...just couldn't sleep

So I got up, had my coffee (may have some more), fed and let the dogs out, continued the wash, corrected homework for 3 classes, currently listening to Jersey Girl on TV while I am blogging.

We had Friday off, so we pulled the carrots and I tilled the garden with my brand new tiller. I decided to purchase one rather than continue with renting...Now I can till in the fall and spring on my own time schedule and not dependent on my BIL's schedule. Did you know that tilling is hard? I had quite the work out and my triceps are still sore. I never knew this but I am still glad that I can till twice. I am researching a winter garden cover crop. It is between hairy vetch (real name), alfalfa and clover or just clover. I want to plant a reasonably priced seed that releases nitrogen into the soil when I till it under next spring.

Yesterday, I attended another administration class while the girls stayed over at my friend Pam and her husbands farm. They stay there about once each month and really enjoy themselves because Pam & Bob spoil them rotten...kind of like grandparents, and that's OK!

I picked them up, we had supper and watched Soul Surfer last night...good movie except the DVD was scratched in several places...ticks me off!!

This week I am taking off Wednesday to go to my Doctor's appointment in the morning and in the afternoon I am attending Ve's IEP meeting. So yes, Ve did qualify to receive help since she has certain learning disabilities...I will explain more after the meeting. This week I am also attending a conference on Friday during the day since the club that I am advising received the EarthGuard Award and then me, Tuki and Ve will be attending the awards banquet at night while Mim is having fun with her BB team at a Pasta Party. Mim's first HOOPS BB tourney is this next Saturday...I am loving her team and coaches this year..what a difference a year makes.

Next Saturday also happens to be Mim's two year home anniversary. Two years? It seems like she has always been here?!

And now the time is 7:00am and the girls are still sleeping, very unlike them, makes me think they are all worn out from a great time at the farm... :)

Tonight is trick or treating in our neck of the woods.

It is way past time to change my header, maybe today, maybe not...DONE!!

Beautiful Dozen!!

green, sky blue, robin blue, brown, pink, rainbow of colors (the picture doesn't do the colors justice)

The Easter Eggers are starting to lay so we are getting some beautiful eggs to sell!!