I need to come here more often!

For the last year I have literally been sucked into work - my client went through a merger and the volume of work on our end tripled. Literally. I was part time (3 days a week) for the last 11 years - since Morgan was born. I had to go full time to keep up the pace of work - and I feel like quite a bit of my family life has just been put on hold. Part of me is very flattered that they asked - I had the continuity and existing relationships with the client (and have done a good job to date), so it made sense. While my paychecks have been very generous (certainly not a given in this economy), my time with my family has not. My dream of doing a half marathon this year? Kaput. My running time is limited to the weekends and 5:30 am 5k's on the treadmill. Blech. House chores? Well, just don't come in and look for dust, because it's there. :o) What I did not sacrifice was Morgan's barn time and Dylan's games. This was his first year in tackle, and while he was a bit hesitant at first, he figured it out and can tackle with the best of them. Here's a picture from one of our away games - Mike helping Dylan gear up before warm up. Now, if I could only find someone to do laundry while I spend more time blogging....

Whoa - where did summer go?

Well, it doesn't help that we didn't have that much of a summer. September flew by in a flash of school, football and horse shows. Before I knew it it was time to pack up for our 3rd annual Columbus Day weekend in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's an amazing time to go - the leaves are at peak foliage color that time of year. The first year we had an Indian summer and basked in 70 degree days. The last 2 years? Some rain and a ton colder, but hey - we're die-hard campers! LOL - it's a lot easier to camp in these than our tenting days:
Mike and Diesel on our hike.
Dylan and Morgan on one our our hikes
Same day (43 degrees in the mountains, we come back down to the valley and the sun pops out and my kids are like a magnet for the water).
We had a great time with the Grandparents!!!
One very chilly Dawn her her D-dog.
Don't you wish this was your driveway? I do!
No moose this year, just pretty trees.

Maine - the way life should be

Imagine having this as your backyard? No wonder why my parents live here!!!

I think my favorite time in Maine is the end of August / early September. The black flies have flown (where do you suppose they go, anyway?). The flowers are in full bloom (phlox is a favorite and in just about every garden), the apple trees are ripe for the picking. I threw caution to the wind (as well as Dylan's football schedule) and packed up the kids and headed North. My parents came down to watch said kiddies for a few days when I was stuck between camp ending and my vacation time. We followed them back home, stopping at my brothers on the way. We crammed so many things in while we were there: watching a hurricane at the lighthouse,


biking the new rail trail,









fishing in Eastport (twice!),




























poking around Gleason's cove, canoeing the bay,


and even taking time to watch an otter in the bay which was dually watched by a pair of baby eagles across the way. Amazing stuff. We picked blueberries and blackberries on the barn path (below). Aaahhh - Maine. The way life should be. Now if they could only get better jobs and schools up there!

Dylan - a Mom's view

The Wish List

My post on facebook got me thinking tonight. I posted "I wonder where the clean up after the kids fairy is". I'm washing dishes at 9:00 at night thinking, you know, if I really had a few wishes, it sure wouldn't be that. So - Dawn. What WOULD be your first wish? The obvious one - money. Hell, it may not buy happiness, but it would sure buy a nice rack . Sure as shit, no one is going to stare at my stomach and think I should double up on pilates classes if I had giant hooters. And it would also mean I wouldn't have to work. Don't get me wrong, my college education has landed me a NICE job. But the hours are long and the work is stressful. And it takes away from things like... my kids. Oh man, it sucks so big time walking in at 8:30 at night and seeing them tucked into bed and just giving them kisses and chatting for a few minutes about their day. Mom should be home to cook dinner and play! Uh oh, that sounds like the whole working mom guilt story. Moving along... I would most certainly buy Mikey that F450 King Ranch rusty-orange crew cab duallie. What's the difference between a F350 and a F450? Probably something like trying to compare a WalMart purse from a Coach - there IS a difference, probably towing capacity and wow! factor. Kind of like those giant hooters.

Hmmmm... my second wish? To slow down time. I love the song "Don't Blink". You spent so many years waiting for this and waiting for that (drivers license anyone?) and now that you have kids and they are really fun - life is just moving along and warp speed and I'd like to slow down and enjoy this time. Pretty soon they aren't going to WANT to be around Mom you know. ;o) Shhhh... don't tell them, maybe they will still like me in a few more years. I am fun you know!

My third wish - while I'm still in my 40's and Mike has his Harley and F450, I'd like to show off my giant mammaries while driving around in a Jeep. Just not going to let this one go.

Oh - what a bad Mom. How can I not wish for things for my kids? Morgan would have a Western show horse AND an English horse that would jump any fence put in front of it. And her own barn, of course. Dylan? He'd be pretty happy with a new camo quad. And he's still young enough that I could let him loose in the Target toy section with $200 and he'd think he died and went to heaven. Gotta love 'im.

My last wish? That someone would please go to CVS and pick up my prescription for me? Please???

Tree Frog

I suspect that I am not always the easiest person in the world to live with. We had a very early season heat wave (3+ days of 90 degrees!) that was just... weird. The leaves weren't even out on the trees yet. It was so freaky warm that we were able to keep the windows open at night. And that's when our tree frog saga started. Now, I'm quickly approaching early menopause and that means, among other fun things, that I don't sleep well at night. I awaken in the middle of the night to this freaking BIRD chirping away. Then I thought, self - you know better than that. Birds don't chirp in the middle of the night. Well, I did hear birds put up a horrible fuss when an owl wasn't around, but this wasn't fussing, it was chirping and it was LOUD. Grmp. I got up to take another benadryl and managed to sleep. Fast forward to warm night #2, and the chirping starts at night. I said to Mike I bet it's a freaking frog and we are NOT sleeping with the windows open. Because if mama doesn't sleep, mama isn't happy. And if mama isn't happy.... Well, Mike happens to like having the windows open at night, so this was not a battle I was going to win. So, I see him head out in his boxer shorts, t-shirt and a flashlight. Sure as shit, about 10 minutes later he comes flying back in the house - telling me to come outside. There, on our bushes by the stone fireplace is the tiniest frog you have ever seen. I said to Mike THAT is what was chirping so loudly? He said (in typical Mike fashion), well, do you hear it anymore? So he takes the offending frogger and marches it up to the camper on the top of our property. We get into bed and less than 2 minutes later you can hear the fucker loud as day. I kid you not. Mike rolls over to tell me to deal with it and I'm getting up to shut the window. The need for an open window won and Mike gets back out of bed, goes back outside with his boxers and flashlight and once again re-locates midget frog with the super loud chirp to the OTHER side of the house. Right by the neighbors window ;o) We had a pretty good laugh next night when we heard him in the family room. Well, it's a good thing we moved him because I now hear him and a potential mate chirping back and forth while I'm typing. Thankfully I can't hear a blooming sound from the bedroom.

Now, I feel like I should be a bit educational as to this frog. I think it's a gray tree frog, native to NJ. The loud little fucker (ahem, frogger) is only 1 1/4" = 2 1/2" big. It's voice is a hearty, resounding trill usually heard in spring and fall. I guess they trill, not chirp. Nocturnal, they descend from trees and shrubs at night to trill and breed. Well, I'm not saying up with the flashlight to watch bitty frog mating, but I can attest to it's trill.

Reserve Grand Champion!!!

Wow - a year ago I really didn't pay much attention to the fact that the classes within the horse shows had CATEGORY winners. Morgan would place 5th, or 6th, or even (wow!) 3rd. This year? A whole 'nuther story. That girl has worked hard and is on an amazing horse, and is just kicking show butt. This was a big show up at our country fairgrounds. HUNDREDS of horses. HUGE classes. Morgan's showmanship class had 26 kids, I think her rail and pattern classes had 24. She placed 2nd in showmanship (a HUGE surprise!), 2nd in equitation, 3rd in pleasure and 2nd in pattern. And... overall reserve grand champion. This time around she was a bit... frustrated... that she didn't get a first place. I told her each show will be different, and she and Sissy weren't quite as in synch as the last show. It's okay, she'll go back to the ring and practice some more. We have a bit of a break now, her next show isn't until mid-June. Here's a picture of her in showmanship.
and... for fun - one of Morgan's BBFFs (best barn friends forever).... Morgan ready to go out for showmanship, Mikaela with a bit more time until she rode her horse Dugan in english.

Babies!!!

Maybe it's because we raised birds from eggs when I was so young. Maybe it's because it's spring. Maybe it's because babies, of any shape and form are... babies. Whatever the reason, it always brings so much joy to find a birds nest on our property filled with babies. We decided to cut down the rose bush in our pool this year because it was just too big and thorny and (duh) too close to the pool. That bush always had at LEAST 2 nests - one was our resident dove. I was pretty bummed on that warm February day when we cut it down, knowing the mama dove would have to build a new nest in a new location. We took it down mid-winter so she didn't have a chance to make her nest and lay her eggs. I was also pulling down Christmas decorations on that warm day, and had one more final wreath left - the one over our shed. I walked over and Mike said WAIT!!! I'm telling you, that boy missed his calling in life - shoulda been a detective. He sees EVERYTHING. There - poking out of the very top of the wreath was a newly formed nest. Tucked way under the eve of the shed. I have to get a milk crate out to hang the wreath, how Mike saw that nest is just beyond me. But he did, and our wreath stayed up. Fast forward to May, and yes we still have a Christmas wreath up. But our wreath also has a new addition - 3 baby birds. They must have hatched a few weeks ago because they've lost their down and already have pin feathers. If you look closely (double click to expand the picture) you can see 3 little heads. Mama was fussing in the neighbor's crab apple tree when we took this picture, but all you PETA folks can be assured that no harm came to these babies while they peeped for the camera.

Tuesday Ten

Wow - 2 weeks in a row! Actually, I'm happy to be back on my blog, it's my creative outlet to the stress of work. I can write fun things, not technically, grammatically (and intelligently) drafted messages for work. Phew! Anyway, this week's Tuesday Ten - in honor of Mother's Day... the Ten Best Things About Being a Mom.

1. My kids. Okay, can I start out with a duh? Honestly, there was a point in time about 4 years ago when I thought I couldn't take it anymore. Dylan was at his most difficult. Morgan was getting eaten alive by other girls in school... I think I just lived day to day and didn't ENJOY them. Phew, am I glad that time is past!

2. Reading. I'm so glad we are past The Hungry Caterpillar and on to more entertaining books like The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Even more fun? Sharing books with Morgan. Hey Mom - did you read Black Stallion yet? Let me know when you get to the part when he....

3. Camping. I grew up camping with my family. I have such great memories of exploring ponds for tadpoles in the middle of a 3 mile hike, canoeing in Lake George, looking for starfish in tide pools in Montauk. The best part of being a Mom is exploring new things with the kids. If you didn't have kids, would you be out on the beach flying a kite? Giggling at silly birds on the shore line?

4. Gardening. I think my biggest surprise of all is that Dylan is my most interested gardener. He LOVES to plant things, would water anything that I ask him to. Morgan will, but she's more of a pick the produce kid than grow it. It's fun to see their different personalities come out in the garden.

5. Sharing notes. It started when Morgan was being eaten alive by mean girls in school. I grabbed a mini notebook and wrote her a little note each day that she took to school. Fast forward 4 years and a few notebooks later. We now trade notes. If I work really late there is a note on my pillow. If our morning is really rushed and we forget the notepad, I text her. But it's a tradition I wouldn't trade for the world.

Hmm.... it's 9pm and I didn't get home until 8, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs reheated at 8:15, and now I'm crashing with writers block. I have so many "Mom" moments... I think most of the time it's the smaller things in life that really hit home. I have a "happy journal" on my dresser where I jot small things that happened during the day that were great. A lot of times I just tape a note from Morgan, or write a funny quote from Dylan in there. But it's the kids that are in there the most. Not material things that I bought.... usually things we did as a family. I probably should have squeezed Mike in there, because we've grown together as parents. At least I got five things on my list before I head to bed. Good night Stars... Good night Moon... Good night green light in my room... ;o)

GRAND CHAMPION!!!

Sometimes you just have to shout!!! For those of you who have followed our saga.... Morgan's horse Misty died quite suddenly at 3 last year. A week or so after that her trainer left Spring Valley to start her own barn. We made the very difficult decision to go with neither Amy nor Spring Valley - we chose to start over at a small farm called Elvada. The trainer Cindy was just so patient and wonderful with the kids. Cindy didn't have a fancy indoor arena to ride in. Morgan put on her "real" cowgirl and rode outside all winter long. What she did learn from Cindy was skills. Not just getting in the saddle and controlling the horse, but riding it the RIGHT way. Well... fast forward to warmer weather and the first local show of the season - on Mother's day. The usual up at 4:45am, out of the house by 6am. It was a bit weird not having to lunge, but Sissy is 18 and has been around the block and knows her stuff. Morgan and Sissy had the ride of their life today - it was AMAZING to see both in sync. And the judge saw it too. 2nd place in equitation. 1st place in pleasure. 2nd place in pattern. And.... overall grand champion. Phew. I'm still on cloud 9. So is Morgan. Here are a few pix.

Tuesday Ten

They're baaaccckk! It's been a LONG while since I've done a Tuesday Ten and I begged my fellow blogging girlfriends to get it going again. Our first ten? Ten Things We Have Been Up To Lately..

1. Gardening! Spring has sprung - the grass is green - and oh sh*t. I wanted to move the garden last year because it got too shady and tomatoes by the pool aren't all that cool. First things first - dig up a LOT of grass. Carefully. Because we needed to transplant it into the bare spots left after our septic dig. Waste not want not, I guess, but that sucked! So, I now have peas, lettuce and spinach sprouting. Grass re-growing. And... I have TRAYS of seedlings down on my potting bench under grow light. Yeah!
2. The Barn. It's kind of a given that I'm always at the barn, but this time of year more than usual. We've spent some extra time grooming Sissy trying to get her winter coat out. She was just diagnosed with an overactive thyroid and her coat isn't slicking out. But we're getting there! And extra lessons prepping for the first show.
3. Working. Anyone on facebook has had to listen to me bitch and moan about work. I've officially gone from a 60% schedule to an 80% schedule, which means I don't have Weds off anymore. However, I am very happy I have a job, and reason #2 always costs $$.
4. Running. Aaaahhhh... springtime jogs with my girlfriends. The running group varies from week to week, but I love it. Drops the extra winter weight like a snap. And it's so nice to be outside after running on the treadmills all winter long. I had a 2 week reprieve because of a strained achilles, but I'm back in action and eyeing an 8 mile race in June.
5. Picking up after my slobbolas. Yup, it's a word. Don't believe me? Come by my house. Unannounced. Anytime.
6. Baseball! That's my boo-man!7. Cyber shopping at Athleta.com. I'm not sure what I covet more - the clothes or their bodies. I can't afford the clothes and damn I work out but I'll never look like those girls... but it's fun to look!
8. Reading Diary of aWimpy Kid series. I love that Dylan still likes to sit in bed and have me read to him. Sure, he could tackle quite a bit of the book himself, but I keep thinking this just can't last that much longer, so why not indulge?
9. Thinking about my life philosophy. A friend of mine recently formed a team for kids that didn't have try outs. Which sparked a great debate in my house about doing what's right for kids. Which led to charity events which you just buy tickets to attend something fun like the circus. What do the kids get out of that? Right. So Morgan is going to start volunteering for handicapped riding. We are looking for the right thing for Dylan - his bestest idea was asking people in school to fundraise to buy Bakkugon for kids who truly don't have ANYTHING. What a concept to him. He's got a house full of "stuff" he could sell if he wanted to, and some kids don't have a bed to sleep in at night.
10. Ripping CDs for spin class. My 5:45am instructor said he was open to new songs. So I took some really varied stuff off my running playlists. Pretty high engergy stuff. It's gotten 4 plays, great feedback and he said his high school sports kids love it too. Wow! Thinking about putting together a second CD.

Life is good.

Heredity

BROOKLYN REGULARS AGAIN BEAT ROOKIES; Robbie Uses Six Pitchers in NineInning Game--RoseberryStars at Bat.

Special to The New York Times.

March 3, 1922, Friday

Section: Sports, Page 17, 413 words

My Grandfather was drafted to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers as a catcher. Pretty amazing for a small town boy (Boonton, NJ was VERY small in the early 1900's). They wanted him to have surgery for a trick knee before signing him though, and surgery back then on a knee wasn't such a good thing. He opted not to have the surgery and didn't get signed. The Roseberry above? His older brother John. My Grandfather came from a large Irish protestant family who was very talented in many ways. The brothers played ball REALLY well. The whole family was extremely talented when it came to music, they used to play quite a bit as a family. It's fun to see the genes trickle down. My cousin Sam got the freckles and music talent. My Uncle Art was full of malarkey, evidently quite a bit like his father. My Mom was very athletic for a girl.

Funny thing with genes is that sometimes talents skip a generation or two. I was starting to think that baseball wasn't going to by Dylan's thing. It just didn't move fast enough for him. They would put him in short stop because he has a great throw and he'd get bored waiting. And start to kick the dirt. And if the kid at bat really couldn't hit he'd even bend down to play with the dirt. Well, this year is machine pitch ball and Dylan asked if he could try catcher. Our coach is a pretty open kind of guy and said sure. Now, I think most of this had to do with all the cool catcher stuff. Giant mask, big glove, loads of pads. However, Dylan crouched down and did not flinch once as the balls came rocketing in at him. Thwack. Ball in his glove. Drop it, re-focus, thwack. Another ball. Dylan was in his grove and on the money. Mike said at the end of practice Dylan said "hey coach, let em rip". Coach fired 12 fast shots one after another and he caught 11 of them. catch-drop-refocus-catch-drop-refocus. It's the perfect position for Dylan - it's fast moving (even if the kids aren't hitting) and he doesn't fear the ball.

I told my Mom the story on one of my drives home from work and I could just see her smile through the phone. She said she thought her Dad would be smiling down on Dylan from heaven. I think so too.

Where oh where are the crocuses?

Cat posted a beautiful picture of a crocus on her blog. Her way of saying it's coming - hang in there. It was 60 and sunny and a perfect day to be outside. I put the housework on hold and poked around our yard looking for crocus. And... I'm still looking! They are no where to be found! Evidently the squirrels and moles hit the mother load of crocus bulbs in the fall... I did see daffodil stems peeking up - but no crocus! I guess I will have to plant some more this fall, because crocus and snow drops are most certainly one of my favorite harbingers of spring. Thanks for thinking of me Cat!

Cowgirls Don't Cry

Cowgirls don't cry
Ride, baby, ride
Lessons of life are going to show you in time
Soon enough your gonna know why
It's gonna hurt every now and then
If you fall get back on again
Cowgirls don't cry
Brooks & Dunn

When I got married about 14 years ago I hated country. I never dreamed I would like it (I still don't really care for the older twangey country songs), let along sing the lyrics in my head. I also never dreamed I'd have my own little cowgirl. Morgan's confidence soared 4 years ago when she started riding. This tiny little thing sat on top of a giant horse and her very first time on she rode by herself. And hasn't stopped. Her ability has grown tremendously, and she really bonds with these horses. Three year old Misty was just amazing with Morgan, that horse really loved Morgan and of course she loved her. Now Morgan is with Sissy who is 17 years old. She is not an old hag at all, she's a beautiful Western show horse. And, to prove she's not a hag, she darned near threw Morgan yesterday during their ride. Morgan wasn't in a lesson, just up at the barn to ride. She was doing some patterns with cones in the ring and I suspect Sissy was a bit cranky because it was dinner time. Something spooked Sissy and that was that. She bucked, reared, bucked again. I wasn't there, but evidently she gave PBR bulls a run for their money. Mike, who really hasn't spent much time at all with Sissy went RUNNING over to his little cowgirl who hung on, but almost ended upside down in the saddle. Mike said at one point she was at least 2 feet in the air over the saddle, and unfortunately came down hard on the pommel. Morgan got off and was quite a bit shaken, but still owns the nickname "velcro" because she has yet to actually be bucked off. She walked Sissy around for a few minutes to calm both of their nerves and got right back on. Not for a long time because she was sore, but back on nevertheless. So this morning I woke Morgan up signing "cowgirls don't cry"... and she rolled over, groaned and smiled. She's sore, bruised, but can't wait to get back to the barn. That is one tough little girl and a love for horses that I hope never goes away.

PHOTO CHALLENGE

I love my friend Cat. It's funny to say that you love someone you have never met in real life... I've "known" Cat for 8 years now - we "met" on-line when we were pregnant with our November 2000 kiddoes. Our group of moms has, for the most part, stayed together. I have not been on-line as much as I like recently because of my crazy work schedule called busy season. Tonight, tired of the news, I headed over to Cat's blog to find I've been tagged in a photo challenge. I laughed out loud because I haven't read Cat's blog in a while and there I was... almost like she knew I'd be there. Like good friends do I laughed - and accepted her challenge.

Open your pictures folder. Go to the 6th folder down, pick the 6th picture. Post it and write a quick blurb.


Mike and Morgan on our ATV on Cranberry Lake. We got together with friends (her parents live on this lake) and took our ATVs out. It was horribly cold (highs in the 20s) but we had a fire in a portable fire pit and a crockpot full of venison chili. What WAS unusual was that the ice was at a minimum 6" thick, it was 12" thick in most places. We've had such weird winters with extreme temperature flucations in the last few years that most lakes didn't even completely freeze, let alone freeze solid enough to take ATVs out. Yup, life is good - even in the winter.

Cat also went down to the bottom of her folders and went 6 up from the bottom. I had just cleaned off our photos onto CD, so I only had 7 folders to date. I just plucked one of my faves from the last folder - Morgan giving Sissy a kiss after their lesson. Man, oh man, it just tugs at my heart to see my little girl really bond with her horse. Morgan just loves animals, and Sissy is 18 and fairly mellow and still full of love. Especially for little girls with soft mints in their pockets. :o) Thanks Cat, I needed this today.

Wordless Wednesday - snow day

Fun on the ice

I grew up on a lake, and remember spending every free minute of the winter ice skating, playing hockey, just having fun. The last few winters in NJ have sucked - we've had cold spells, but not cold enough long enough for the ice to get thick enough to go out. I even stopped buying the kids ice skates. Well, this year we've got our wish. Loads of snow and cold cold cold weather! We hooked up with camping friends who also have ATV's and headed over to her parents house for some fun on the ice. Albeit with some very grown up toys. It was a whopping 18 degrees when we loaded up and left around 11:30. When we wrapped things up around 4:30 it had warmed up to 23 degrees. Rob and Colleen brought a fire pit and we had a great place to hang by and warm up. The kids had a blast driving the ATV's around the lake. Mike and I went out and rescued a seagull that was attached to a fishing pole - an ignorant ice fisherman left his pole and the seagull ended up with the hook stuck in it's mouth. Mike and I teamed up to capture it, then brought it over to a fisherman and borrowed his pliers. I cannot believe that no one was going out to help it. Argh. We were successfull in removing the hook and the bird flew off. And we went back to hot chocolate, coffee and venison chile. Here are some pix...


Dawn and Mike
Colleen and Rob
Mike watching Rob tow the kids on a sledDylan-man doin his thing...

Rob and Mike getting ready to head out
Morgan and Catherine
Mike and Morgan. Yes, I did ride (I hit 45mph on Mike's quad solo)... but as usual, no pix...

A quick January update

It's no secret that I dislike January and February because of my busy season at work. Thankfully, they fly by before I really have time to think about how much I don't like it. :o) Having said that, life at home does not stop because of my busy season! We still have basketball and the barn and... snow days! Here are a few pix from our recent ice storm, which was followed by 2 small snow storms....

I don't take the greens (and winterberry) off my railing until late winter. Here they are coated from the ice storm.
We discovered that Diesel has a new talent - sledding with the kids. He actually just sits until they reach the bottom of the yard and Diesel bails off before the road!
Here they come!!! America's most talented doggy??

A few more vacation pix

The Herbsteses at the state park. We found a spot without snow!!!

Grandma and Grandpa at the state park.
The state park - cross country skiing hot spot!

Dylan at Gleason's Cove.

Morgan hunting for seaglass.

Gramsicle.

Whatchu looking at?