Love my Fruit Trees and Garden!!!!!!

you can't have land, and chickens with out fruit trees and a garden.

lets see we have a peach tree, apricot tree, apple tree, orange tree, pink grapefruit, and tangelos; and now we have a garden that's growing like crazy.

It's nice to be able to grow stuff and help cut of the expense of the store.

I've even learned how to make Jam. My mother-n-law taught me on the 4th. Mann it was hot in the kitchen, but fun and it is so yummy.   i made apricot jam and apricot and pineapple.  yummy.

so far only my cucumber and zucchini have been ready to pick and they are really good, big and fat.  We have a ton and they are so yummy.





These are my tomato plants. (Theres only 3 bushes but they look like alot more)

Here is our corn crop thats just about ready, 2 more weeks.

then we have some raspberries and black berries but those plants aren't doing so well.  hopefully they will start to take and grow, cause they are my favorite.

We also have bell peppers, Serrano peppers,  onions, cucumber, zucchini, hook neck squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and honeydew.



Cucumber

the really good thing is our soil seams to have super miracle grow in it.  our plants are growing huge and you can't even see that theres two feet in between each row.

Hook neck Squash



all the melons mixed together



Zucchini



baby watermelons





Chick adventures 3 - the coop

So we have18 chickens, and they are kool looking.  the kool thing is they are all different and don't look like the plain ones you always see.  We have a great variety and they should start laying in the next month.  yay!!!!!

Since the chicks have to grown into full chickens, we needed to have a chicken run for them to be able to have more space.

 

the Rubbermaid shed, had shelves and walks built in to make their coop and then the rest of the chicken coop with pvc, chicken wire and of course zip ties.

yep, poor mans coop.  but it works really well.

We've already had the test of rain and it held, we've had the squirrels trying to get in and i just recently learned squirrels dig tunnels in the ground.  who knew?  high winds and rain and my coop is still standing.  the best part is we can move it any where we want when we want.

Kaleb Catch Up

okay, well unlike Sara his summer has very eventful.

He was kicked in the head by one of the horses and rushed to the ER.   Lets just say as a mom when your spouse calls and tell you don't panic or worry; You Worry!   That's how my wonderful husband started the conversation with me since i was in El Cajon at Sara's practice.

 

Now normally most parents wouldn't freak out as much as i do when one of their kids gets hurt, but with Kaleb anytime it involves his head i freak.  Come on he's already had 2 severe concussions with skull fractures and several minor concussions; how could i not worry.



Mom will the blood come out



By the time i got to the hospital they had already taken him back for a CAT Scan, x-rays and had put fresh bandage over his head to try and stop the bleeding.   It was really hard for me to sit there and look at him cause anytime i did he'd start tearing up and i felt horrible cause they wouldn't give him anything for the pain until the test results were back.

it was a long not fun night.

after we finally got it some what numb with a topical, we took the gauze off and it looked lovely!  I will spare you all from what it looked like, believe me it's not something you really want to see.

By this time Matt could no longer be in the hospital, so he left me and Kaleb to get some food for himself.

Then the DR used the needle to numb the rest so they could clean it and see where we stood.   It only took three people to hold him down to get it numb but once it was the Doc was good to clean and ended up having to stitch it.  Again I'll save you from the actual image. This was great to see you could see the skin split the whole half horse shoe pattern and the meet that was messed up inside and you could see his skull.

Pain killers are good

 In the end he ended up with 6 interior stitches and 12 exterior stitches.  His CAT scan came back NEGATIVE and he had multiple fractures radiating off the wound all around his head and face. 

you can see how goofy he was after the drugs kicked in and the stitching was done.

Poor Baby feels horrible

By the time we were released he was put on watch by his Dr and the Neurologist he's seen before.  No sleep for a 8 days really sucked for me.   Poor Kaleb wasn't aloud to sleep for more then 10 then 15 then 30 minutes at a time and had to be awake for 20 then 15 minutes before going back to sleep.  You can see his face is all swollen and the pain is back.  Nothing more then ibuprofen for the kid.  So not as good as the hospital.

After a week Kaleb was aloud to sleep thru the night with out being woken up and i was able to get some sleep too.  Not to mention his stitches came out and the hoof print still was very visible.

Stitches are out

He's still not 100% aloud to do alot of things and the really sad part is there are now more sports and recreational things he should stay away from.  But being a boy what are you going to do?

At least now he is more or less back to normal.  Although he has learned the hard way that he still has to be careful and watch how active he is; cause he's still getting light headed, killer headaches and his nose starts to bleed real easy.

So thankful it wasn't worse then it was and thankful that he's okay now.  luv this kid but man he's gonna be the death of me.

Sara Catch Up

So not a whole lot has been going on with Sara.  She is well on her way in 9th grade.  Yes, i did say 9th grade.  she's officially a HS student at Charter and has already begun her work load for the year.   it's cool, since technically she could graduate the summer into her Jr year.  she does most her work at home and meets her teacher once a week.  Right now she's working on Honors English, will start Geometry in a couple weeks at the school and Biology at Palomar College. 

wow were does the time go?

She's still cheering for CheerForce and made Sr 4 this year which means harder tumbling and stunting.  She's working her but off for her tumbling but it just doesn't come easy to her.  Flying on the other hand is a no brain'er for her.

Museum of Tolerance

Wow.........Incredible.............heartfelt....... are only a few of the words i could use.

Sara's 8th grade class took a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance in LA yesterday and it was amazing and i would love to go again and spend more time there. I wanted to look at everything, read and experience it but we didn't have the time.

I have to admit that the class didn't get what they should of out of the field trip. In my opinion they are still to young to fully grasp it all. I believe they understand the world is full of prejudice but they don't understand that they also in a small way are as well.

I can't tell you how exactly it made me feel listening and walking thru the Holocaust errea. Especially when we walked thru areas that looked ust as it did back then, like the bathing station / gas chamber. You have to go...
I highly suggest that all you older peps go check it out when you have a chance. just plan on spending a couple hours in there. The tour we took was only one part of the museum and it was 2.5 hours long. I know i will go again.

Chicky adventures 2

Well, unfortunately only 6 of the baby chicks are still alive today.

As soon as the chicks turned 3 weeks old we had a little incident that resulted in a Chicky massacre.

Kaleb accidentally left the gate open to the back and my wimeraner Ave (Bird Dog) got out and into the coop that was supposed to be coyote proof.

Needless to say 11 baby chicks were killed.

Kaleb luckily didn't see inside the coop to see the damage and for that i am grateful.  He did / does feel horrible that it was his fault. But I just kept telling him it's okay and at least now we know dad has work to do to make it predator proof.

So with all of this we went out looking or new chicks.  Luckily, a couple Matt plays ball with on Monday nights had some 6 week old they wanted to get rid of.  So we picked those 8 up and a 8 more three day old the that weekend..

We are a full chicken coop again and everything is working out well for them.  Kaleb has a new favorite  and all is good.

Chicky Adventures 1

So we made the decision to raise chicks in order to have farm fresh eggs..  We currently can go through one 5 dozen pack from the store in a week.  Yes, i know that's crazy; at least in a couple months i won't have to buy them any more.  I'm gonna love walking outside to get my own eggs.

Our adventure began April 9th a little over three weeks ago when i took the kids and my mom to pick out our pullets baby chicks (female).  We don't want any roosters.  After two stops we came home with the feed, and 17, three day old chicks.

Aren't they supper cute.

Sara's teams end the season with a bang

Okay, so Sara's last comp for the 2010-2011 season was this past weekend and they were fantastic.

Her primary team Sr Silver took 1st place in there division and took Grand Champion which is the highest score out of all level 3 teams (69 teams to be exact).  This was a great way for the team to end the season.

Check out the video from there performace.

Her secondary team Sr Green took 3rd place.  They did great and to tell you how close there division was there was less then .5 between 1st and third.  They had one stunt fall day 2 which took them from 1st to 3rd.  It's okay though cause that team has taken first at many other comps.

I don't have video of team 2 but will post as soon as i do.

Must be losing my mind!

Yesterday i broke down and set my baby girl up with a Facebook page.  I know right! 
What was i thinking.

lets see -> my baby is no longer a baby she's going to be 14 in just two weeks, she's very smart and very responsible and trustworthy thus far.  I know we've raised her to be a very independent, reliable with good judgement young lady and know she won't abuse our trust.

Good thing i can log on and shut it down if she proves me wrong.  But i doubt she will.  I must seriously be losing my mind for setting it up for her. 

CheerForce Takes it all in Long Beach

CheerForce is a Competitive Cheer Team with 5 gyms located throughout California.  They have always had great teams and have been a force to be reckoned with.

This is Sara's first year with the gym and she is a little fish in a big pond.  But what a pond it is!

Our San Diego Gym (where Sara's 2 teams practice) competed in Long Beach this weekend and the Cheer Pros California State Championships and they did incredible.

Eight teams competed and all eight teams took 1st place in their divisions, received state title jackets; with our Coed 5 team also taking the Grand Champion title and a check for $4000.  How Awesome is that.

Here's how hard it was to win
Tiny Level 1 competed against 3 other teams
Mini Level 1 competed against 10 other teams
Junior Level 2 competed against 3 other teams
Junior Level 3 competed against 5 other teams
Junior Level 4 competed against 1 other team
Senior Level 2 competed against 6 other teams (Sara's 2nd team)
Senior Level 3 competed against 5 other teams (Sara's primary team)
Sr Coed Level 5 competed against 2 other teams

Can't wait till next till this weekend when all 5 CheerForce gyms will be competing in Palms Springs at the Spirit Sports Duel in the Desert.

Gymnastics Prelim #2

Kaleb had his second prelim mid month and did fantastic.  All the level 4 boys have improved so much and it's great to see them compete.

The only down fall to the meet was that our boys were being given a deduction for their uniforms. How LAME!  Apparently our uniforms are to kool for level 4 and they are supposed to be wearing shorts and t-shirts to compete in.  Shorts and a t-shirt yuck!!  Our uniforms are very men's gymnastics and look awesome.

So with deductions Kaleb walked away with
Green - Vault
Purple  - High Bar
Purple  - Floor
Purple - Rings
Yellow - T-bars
Yellow - Pummel & mushroom

He improved on all his events and scored a higher color or the same color ribbon from the 1st prelim.  Since he had scored a Green on Rings last meet his coach and him added some bonus's to this rings routine.  He needs a little more work but he'll get a green again.

Job well done.

Sara's 1st Masquerade & Semi Formal

Ahhhhh How cute!

Since she's not allowed to date, she is allowed to go to her school dances where they are heavily chaperoned.  Usually more parents then  kids; just the way we like it.

Well back in November Sara says the school is having either a semi-formal or a masquerade ball in January.  Of course she's allowed to go since mom will be chaperoning.  We found her dress at Macy's after trying a bunch of dress on and her telling me she didn't want to try this one on.  She didn't like the dress on the hanger but after she put it on she agreed it looked good on her.  Yeah the hard part was over at least that's what i thought.

Earlier this month, like a week before the dance she informs me that it is now a masquerade ball.  Ugh!  where are we going to get a mask and have it delivered in a couple of days with out spending alot of money.  Well after looking all over the Internet we decided i'd give mask making a try.

We ventured out to several different craft stores and found the supplies we thought we'd need then went back home to try and figure it out.  Well getting the main color on the mask was difficult.  Matt and I played around with several options and after i left to take her to practice Matt got the right color combination and the mask was a perfect color match to her dress.  YEAH!!!!!

Her Dance was funny.  Don't you remember those Middle School Dances?  Not everyone understood Semi-Formal and there weren't alot of kids there.  They didn't dance and the decorations were sparse at least the DJ was good.

Okay so she's not allowed to date but one of the boys who happens to have great grades and be student body president did buy her ticket so i took a picture of just the two of them for memories sake. and of course i had to take one of the whole gang.  I though there dance was lame but Sara and her friends had fun and that's all that matters.

After spending all this time on her mask, and making it match her dress; she didn't even wear it.  But it still looks pretty.  you can't really see the glitter around the black but in person it looks awesome if i do say so my self.

Even though she never wore it at the dance i did manage to have her put it on at home so i could take at least one picture with her wearing it. you can see how well it matches......

i can't believe next year we'll be buying formals for High School dances.  where does the time go?

Sara Vegas Comp 12.2010

So this time I'm not slacking i didn't take video at comp and was waiting on another parent to make me a DVD.

So, Sara had her first competition with her new Gym this season CheerForce in Vegas; FUN!!!!!  The American Cheer & Dance Championships is a pretty large competition and gyms from all over the US come to compete.

All the CF teams did fantastic and were great to watch.  You really don't realize how competitive cheer can be until you are apart of it.  We had so much fun in Vegas!!!!

So here's the video, yes she's one of the girls in the air and she's even tumbling..

Her Primary Team Sr Silver took 1st Place and received a really cute National Champion jacket.

Her Second Team Sr Green took 2nd Place by .111 but was also awarded a judges choice award for best jump sequence.

All in all they did fantastic and we are looking forward to the rest of their competition season. 

By the way we are in SD this weekend (1/22) Long Beach the 30th and Palm Springs the following weekend (2/5-2/6) if you wanna go watch.





Kaleb Gymnastics Prelim 1

okay so yet again i am playing catch up.  As you already know Kaleb has been doing gymnastics for 1 yr and 1 month now.  His Coach Cody (who you won't see in the video) has been awesome.  We were very lucky to have him while he was at our Y and wish him the best in college and his new job.  You gotta love those coaches who are younger and really work with your kids.  He's the only reason Kaleb started and we are sad he left but happy too.

Any way Kaleb had his first Meet in December and he did really well.  Unfortunately i didn't get to attend because Sara had comp on the same day but Matt did go and video so sorry it's not the best video.

Just to give you a little info on the scoring best to worse goes:
Green
Purple
Yellow
White
Blue
Light Blue

         

Again Kaleb did awesome for his first Gymnastics Meet and has another one coming up next weekend Jan 23 here in SD.  I'll post results of the January Meet the next day.

Bows bows bows

okay so I've been making a lot of bows and even making some money off them.  Who would of thought. 

so I keep saying I'm going to get some pics up and so here they are finally



These are the 1st ones i ever made - they aren't to pretty but they worked.  

Here are the ones i made for Xmas for my nieces and let me tell you, little people bows aren't as fun to make

 



And here are some of the ones I've made for Sara or other people.

 

 

Well there are a ton more that I've made but it would take up to much room to post them all at least this way you all get the idea of what I've been doing.