My Baby Girl Turns 11 Today! ;(

11 years ago at this time I was laying in hospital bed preparing to deliver my baby girl 6 weeks premature. I was diagnosed with "severe Toxemia", when I was admitted into the hospital my blood pressure was reading around 207/110 something....I was borderline from having a stroke. I was treated with SO many medications that they couldn't keep anything under control after that, my blood pressure then bottomed out and they induced labor. It was a long labor but a very short delivery for my tiny 4 lb baby girl...She was born on December 23, at 10:53 pm...She was rushed into the neonatal unit, I only got to see her tiny face for a brief second before they took her...I was confined to the bed laying on my back for 12 hours due to a big loss of blood and it was still to thin I would risk hemorrhaging if I moved! Talk about being scared and wanting my little angel. There was a really nice NICU Nurse that took a Polaroid picture of her and brought it to me and my Hubby bought a disposable camera and went and had the pictures developed right away..I remained in the hospital until Christmas Eve and I was "allowed" to go home. No I was forced to go home as I wasn't allowed to stay with my angel at the hospital. So DD remained in the hospital for 9 days and we were finally able to bring her home and what a wonderful life she has given us...So Happy 11th Birthday to my Beautiful Angel!

My sweet Angel when I could finally hold her...

Daddy's girl...

Her very first Easter

I just loved kissing those cute little cheeks!!

Finally a toddler...It went by to fast...

DD and her best Bubby!

Growing up and loving her friends!

Such sweet friends!

My Angel, 11 today...

OH DUH!! I Guess I Should Explain What Happened!!

OK forgive me here, I am a natural blonde!! Not to offend any other natural or fake blondes :) I posted DD's rodeo pictures and failed to mention what was going on in this picture.....

Oh and you can see the post about this with the actual video where he does this twice at "MIA.....And Back!!!"



So when they came out for this run he was going at a good speed then stopped and reared twice and while I was recording the photographer was next to me and I thought "OH I hope he gets this" and right then I heard his shutter LOL!! So after she gets him around having already broke her pattern she chose to still run it as to not let him win a battle. So after they come around barrel 2 Pete hard looks down at his side and then does the same thing coming around barrel 3....I couldn't figure out what his deal was!?!? So the Hubby comes up a couple of minutes later and says "Uh well that was my fault....I tightened his tie-down because I am tired of him running with his head so high"! What...Excuse me....You did what?!?! Right before your daughter went into the arena!!! We have a rule about this, there are no adjustments to be done right before she goes in!!! DD says "I tried to tell him to leave it alone but he wouldn't listen"!!! OMGosh!!!! Well I was flabbergasted that he would do something so bone-headish!! And mainly because Pete doesn't JUST ride with his head high his neck curves so therefore no matter how tight you tighten it, he still has that curve and essentially all's he did was restrict him from freely moving his head around the barrels like he needed to be able to do!!!

So hopefully he has learned his lesson but probably not!! Oh and for those of you who might wonder yes he does rear up on her on occasion. There is usually a reason but sometimes he will simply be excited or he could even be confused and do it...All in all he is a great horse, that is his only vice really, and he has taught DD some things about riding that I am glad she has learned on him because he isn't being mean....And she has more confidence as a rider having been through that!

It Must Suck to be That Tiny!!

My son J is 15 yrs old and currently weighs around the 119 mark and he's 5'7 1/2 something around there....J has done everything that he can to try and gain weight but it just doesn't happen!! He is in weight lifting at school, doing power lifting and currently plays Basketball! So the other night when we were at a game J was playing great!! But I noticed people kept saying stuff about his shorts?! I didn't notice I guess because I am used to it?! So they start asking us why he is having problems keeping his bb shorts up, they said he keeps adjusting them so they won't fall down LOL! So I start paying attention to that and finally notice him tell his coach that the string in his shorts won't tighten or stay tied whatever... So he finished the first half and managed to keep his shorts up LOL!! When they came back in after half time I think I about wet my pants in laughter as he walks up like this.....

Yes folks that is tape.....holding.....his.....shorts.....up!!! LOL!!!!



It was classic I tell you, my heart felt great after that!! He really played a great game that night. He scored 13 points had 2 steals and 2 blocks.....oh and 4 fouls LOL!! Ref's weren't that great! Trust me I told them so!! ;p

So here the ref watches as J fights off these kids...No fouls yet?!



But here...Come on!! The one kid on the far side is holding and number 11 has his arm around his face LOL!! Right after this J went up to shoot and you could hear the slaps and no fouls were called!! This is why Basketball is SO hard for me to watch! I get mad when they don't call games fairly!!



Now this here is J's first foul of the night and really he was moving backwards and they collided so I believe it was called as a "push" LOL!!



This is leading up to his first steal of the night!!



And away he goes LOL!!



Fast breaking for a lay up!



Going up....



Up some more.....



And it's GOOD!! Yea!!


Scrapping for that basket again!



This shot they finally called the foul! Basket's good and 2 free throws which he made both :)



Again the shorts *giggles* hehehehe LOL!!



Going up for another 2 points!!!



Again it's good HA!!



2nd 3 pointer for the night!! Love my boy!!

Great Rodeo Pictures!

As you all know I am addicted to taking pictures! Does that mean I need to seek help?!?!....NAH! Well when DD rodeo's I would LOVE to be able to do video and take pictures but since there is only one of me I choose video (as you all know)!! SO luckily there is a really great photographer that comes and shoots the kids' runs and he got an awesome picture of DD's wild ride from Sunday! SO I ordered a bunch of them and some lower resolution ones that I can post!


This picture is really awesome in full resolution! What a ride that was LOL!



Loved this picture as it shows her very first ever pole down in the background! We actually were starting to think her horse would not take one down! But she got him to verses breaking her pattern!


Love the flying hair LOL!



She really loves flanking the goats! These ones are always a bit heavy for her though!



Getting that string out in a hurry!



Make it good and tight!



And we're good!!

MIA....And Back!!

Wow I am sure I have said this before but I think I have been way to busy!! I haven't even had time to read what everyone has been up to!! I promise I will though, I always do!

This has just been a busy, busy week!! We had 2 nights of Basketball, dance night, a music program, then of course we rodeo'd all weekend! On top of that we went mobile with our store and set up shop at the rodeo!! That went pretty great, it was alot better than I thought, I was afraid we wouldn't be able to see the runs but it worked out great and we didn't miss a thing!!

Saturday's events for DD went good! She started with the poles and to avoid breaking pattern she had to mow down a pole so she got a 5 second add for that but it's ok.. Barrels she came in great, fast but then she slowed it down a notch and wasn't going full speed....So she tells us she thought she broke the time barrier going around one of the barrels...Silly girl! So she still got somewhere in the 17 seconds...Goats went good stayed tied! Breakaway she has tried now for the 4th time and finally decided to add the extra rope she can have in her grade because they can't rebuild, she did well with getting that when she needed it but no calf :(

Sunday we almost missed her poles run, we decided to arrive a little later because I couldn't set up shop until they were done with dummy roping so we got there a little after 10 am and when I ran in to see where she was in line I figured out she was the next person up!! Well the horse trailer had just been driven way far down at the end of the row so she and daddy take off running. Luckily daddy saddled Pete at home!! The lady at the gate was a bit irritated and said if she wasn't there by the 3rd name call she disqualified but luckily DD was running full blast on Pete up to the arena so she could she her and said "Oh Ok" so DD comes flying into the arena they almost had an issue with that 2nd on the end pole but she managed to get him over just in time and she ran the pattern good, she could have used a little more speed weaving back and less neck and more leg but she got her best time at HYRA on poles with a 28 seconds, which is still a bit slow for her 5th-8th grade age group but her horse is just NOT a pole horse LOL!! So come barrel time she comes out is looking good then all of the sudden Pete stops and rears up then down, spin, rear again before she finally got his attention, since she knew the pattern was broke at this point she just held him back but every barrel turn he would hard look at his side I couldn't figure out what he was doing!! Well then Hubby comes in and says "well that was my fault, I decided to tighten his tie-down tighter because he keeps his head high with it on as it is and apparently I should have waited"....WELL DUH!!! Here's your sign!! Even DD tried to tell him to not do that right before the run LOL! Pete has some type of warm blood or something in him so his neck is naturally curved and rides high...Hubby just needs to learn you can't fight nature LOL!! So the goat tie was great!! Breakaway she didn't have such a good time in, she threw her first rope and it hit his hip and tied around his foot so when she went to grab rope 2 it was tangled somehow and she couldn't get it off :( She was a bit frustrated but that's OK! So all in all it was a good weekend but very tiring!! Oh and cold!!

The 2 video's are from Sunday poles first then barrels and that was exciting LOL!!

What's a Mom to do?!

I have an issue that has now consumed 2 days of my life and I am sick of it!! I want it gone!! Let me back track here...Last Friday J was driving to school and he felt like his truck was acting funny and noticed that it was getting hot, which is pretty hard to do when it's freezing cold outside! And it wouldn't shift, so he called the Hubby and he was told to pull over and let the truck cool down then drive 20 miles per hour the rest of the way. So that is what he did, the ending result of him driving it in that condition is it fried the transmission so now we have this huge bill on our hands and J is without a truck!! The Hubby couldn't go help him that morning as he was already an hour away working...So he got to school and as he was going down the hall the bell rang and he was "late" for class so he got a tardy.. So Monday he comes home and says I have detention for my tardy on Friday, I asked him did he explain that his truck broke down etc and he said yes I told him that but he said I already used my other 2 "freebies" for being tardy so this would stand. So he was to serve this detention Wednesday afternoon. So I told him I would call the school and try and figure this out, I don't feel like it was his fault that the truck broke.. So I was going to call the school Tuesday afternoon before they left for a game in another town but the game was canceled and the next thing after that is that J was serving his detention that night. So I called to speak with the Vice Principal and he said basically that he was to serve this and that's how it is. I asked him how this was a valid tardy when his truck broke down? He replied to me that they have this policy in effect because of parents that will call and say their child had car issues if they are simply running late so to stop that car issues are no longer a valid excuse. Then he proceeded to tell me that "the school district provides transportation and since we don't choose to use it then that's our problem". My response to that was "you don't provide anything for after school practices and I would have to go get him everyday. Well I did that last year and I don't have the time to sit around in the parking lot every night because they never get out of practice on time"!! So then he puts the Principal on the phone who is a complete waste of my time! This woman has decreased our student population by half in the year and a half that she's been there!! She does not take our children's education as a top priority she spends more time trying to look good...So what does she do with these kids that she doesn't like she either straight out kicks them out of school and they go to the local "Learning Center" or she harasses the child and family until the choose to leave! So my conversation with her was very short as she is always right and everyone else is always wrong!!! And "he will be serving this detention today she told me" and I said "oh no he won't I will be there to get him out of detention" So that is what I did!! I pulled him out of there!! And man it felt great! I took him over to his BB coaches and asked what their policy was if he would have to sit out still and they said no he did not they were glad to have him back into practice and one of the coaches went as far to say he thought it was stupid anyways LOL!!! Oh did I mention that 99% of the teachers do not like this woman!!! I called our Superintendent and spoke with him about the issues with her and I explained to him that I will yank my child out of that district and send him to another school that is close and he definitely does not want that to happen!!

This would be his now broken down truck :(




SO now I should mention why this is such a big deal...J has worked really hard this semester keeping his grades up, getting to school on time, not being absent, no disciplinary action (not to hard for him LOL), SO the "prize" for all of that is he does not have to take his finals! And my other issue is that the other 2 tardy "freebies" he got during school hours and both were do to teacher issues basically. So now that he has this strike on him he has to take those finals....He was so upset because he was looking forward to that bit of break on his stress level in school!! So I spent all afternoon today speaking to the Superintendent and VP and informed them both that I will not deal with the Principal again and I know my son will have a target on his back from her...Oh and did I mention that last year she told me "I must not be quite the mother I claim since I did not know my son was missing an assignment in a class", I informed her that "if she ever made that type of statement to me again she would be SO very sorry she did because my children are my TOP priority" and she says "yeah if you say so" then she hung up on me!!!!!!!!

So what is a mother to do when she feels like her child is losing out over something stupid!! I was asked today by the Superintendent "why do you not just teach your son that sometimes life isn't fair and this is how it is"? My response to that was "because I teach my children to stand up for what they believe and what is right"...He didn't have a response for that. UGHH it sucks being in a situation that you cannot control! My feeling is I am the parent and I make the decisions for him so when they do something like this it takes part of MY job away!!!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who would even want to be mean to this kid?!?!

Wordless Wednesday-Christmas Style

Our Tree waiting for it's decorations!!




I'm telling you this girl dances ALL of the time!! Caught her bustin a move while hanging the ornaments on the tree LOL!! Silly DD!



J helping his lil sis because she can't reach "high" LOL!



Aww my lit tree Masterpiece :)



And the finished product!! WHOO-HOO!

Experimental Photography

My mom and her friends belong to a "singles" group at their church and they had their annual Christmas party this past Saturday...Guess who their photographer for the evening?!?! ME!! My mom called a month or so and asked if I would do it for them basically just donating my time, they did buy me a new memory card for the event so that was great! I was a bit nervous when I asked her what the lighting would be and she said a fire and Christmas lights! I was in a bit of a bind with that because my lens doesn't have a low enough aperture for that..So I ended up purchasing a new lens and I love it!

So I arrived Saturday night to find out that the room also had "can" lighting (you know the kind, recessed into the ceiling) which was not good for me LOL!!! WOW talk about challenging yourself right out of the box! I have not done any "photography" other than family and friends so yeah I was freaking out!! On top of never having done this before there was well over 60 people!! It was pretty tricky but I think I got quite a bit I can use for them....

What a great group of friends they are!!


Don't they all look so sweet!?!?



NOT!!! They are a hard bunch to control LOL!!



I love them all!! They are so great to me~



This is one of my mom's friends whom I just adore!