Preschool Graduation

My baby graduated from preschool! Now he is counting down the days until he gets to go to Kindergarten. He cannot wait! I can!

It was a really special night! The teachers (high school students) adore the children. They all were crying by the end of the program. I was good until the long slide show at the very end. It was like 4 songs long. They played Billy Dean's song "Let them be little." I completely lost it. Thank goodness that the lights were off because I cried and cried and cried. If you haven't heard it and want to cry go to this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUKbxbmpcwU

This is Courtney, Brooks "bonding buddy," and she is precious. She brings him to the car, buckles him in and tells him she love him every day! She made him a really neat scrapbook highlighting parts of the school year.

Here are all of the teachers. Cody, the only boy who is like 7 1/2 feet tall, is Brooks good buddy too! They like to pick on each other.

Here are the video's from graduation. As always, I apologize for the quality and the headache you will probably get! Brooks is in the dark blue shirt, khaki's and cowboy boots. Okay, just reviewed the video's and for some reason they start and stop constantly. I don't know why that is happening, they aren't like that on my computer. Maybe a problem with blogspot! Sorry!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I have had such a great day today!! Kids and Daddy made me breakfast! I actually got to sit in my chair, relax and drink my coffee this morning!! I was told to sit in my chair and watch tv all day! That is kind of hard for me! I did watch tv quite a bit, but we also went to the pool for awhile! I cleaned out the refrigerator too!

I am so blessed and I know it!! I am thankful for a great Mom and hope she had a great day today! Wish I could have been there, but sending long distance love!!!

Happy Mother's Day to Sherry too!! She is a great Mom and Mother in law!!!

Hope all of you Mother's felt the love today!!!!!!

The above picture is from Brooks' preschool graduation Thursday night and I will try to post on that tomorrow night!!!

SUCCESSFUL TURKEY HUNT

We had an absolute blast this past weekend! We hunted turkeys and drove around with Greg and Linda filling all 33 feeders with corn and protein! It is such a blessing to have a place like this to hunt and play on! The country is so different than Arkansas. Here is a picture.......

A beautiful rainbow!

Brooks and Jax trying to sneak up and catch one of the sheep! Brooks wanted to ride one! It didn't happen.

The boys rode in the back for awhile until the corn bags were gone. I didn't get a picture of the big trailer that we were pulling behind that had 10,000 pounds of corn in it!

Brooks took several short naps during the weekend. He was exhausted from the early mornings and late nights. He even slept over 3 hours on the way home!


This is the new high definition action camera made by Wildgame Innovations. Chris just got the first prototype in and wanted to try it out. It is made to mount on your gun or bow. It doesn't have a viewer so I just had to hold it up and hope I was getting the right shot. It seemed pretty risky to me, being Brooks' first turkey, but I went with it and it turned out pretty good! The quality is really great, even through the mesh screen on our blind. I don't know how the quality will be on here but it is quite amazing on the computer.

A quick picture of the boys and I listening for gobblers!




Brooks waiting and waiting for a turkey!

Jax was so good and patient. He knew Brooks was first and then it was momma's turn. He still hung in there and was quite a trooper!

Short clip of Brooks saying, "if I see a turkey, it is going down!"


So here it is......Brooks gets a turkey. He did so great. He was patient and waited until he had the perfect shot and got him! I still can't believe it. He is only 5! And just to clarify, Chris was a little excited and said, "Let me out of this mother sucker!" Just wanted to make that clear BEFORE you watch it!!!! Oh and it is a little dark in the beginning and gets a little lighter before the shot????

Here is a picture back at the house. It was late evening when he shot! I tried to take more video after we got out of the blind but there just wasn't enough light! I wish you could hear him say, "I just couldn't be any happier mom!" Priceless!!!

Now on to my story. So Brooks got his turkey Friday night. Which made Saturday my turn! The four of us hiked and tried hard, but nothing Saturday! Sunday we got on a real old bird (Chris thinks) because he had the longest, strangest gobble! And he was no dummy! Just when we thought he was coming in to me, he would gobble like crazy going away from us! We even tried to circle way around and come in a different way and he did the same thing. I had my gun up and ready twice just waiting for him to show himself because I just knew it was about to happen. It didn't, he would not come in. So we left and hunted another place for a couple of hours and thought we would come back and see if he was still there. Sure enough, gobbled his head off, but would not come in! So, I didn't get him, but I am going to get him next year. Chris was so upset too, he tried so very hard to call that bird in for me. He kept apologizing to me. I AM really mad at him too, but not because of that, but because I haven't been turkey hunting with him the past 16 years! Frankly, I am really ticked! Think of all the fun I missed out on, he should be ashamed! "Don't knock it until you try it," because you have no idea what you are saying! It is beyond fun!

We did get two rattlesnakes though! I haven't ever held a rattlesnake before! Cool!

Sweetness

A little while ago we sent the boys to bed. Jax grabbed his blanket and pillow and out of the blue said, "Mom, after I fall asleep will you come give me a kiss?" My heart melted! I told him, "I would love to!" That is one of the sweetest things he has ever said to me!!!

Somebody got a game ball?????

Jax had a great game tonight and got the game ball! He COULD NOT be happier!!!!!!!!! He flew two balls in the air to center field tonight and got an out at first. I love that boy and it makes me happy to see him happy!!

I know it has been a while since I posted. Been busy. LOTS and LOTS of yard work(Ivy asked us why we didn't just hire a gardener....um no!!!), washing my car after taking it to the ranch and driving down long dirt roads while it was raining, sick kid, sick husband, baseball, babysitting, single parent while Chris was at the NASCAR race, car shopping, cleaning, exercising, trying to free up space on my maxxed out dvr, cleaning out closets, trying to feed my family healthy foods, laundry and who remembers what else! I have just been too tired at the end of my day to even think about posting, sorry!!!

We are going back to the ranch Thursday night! We are all so excited!!!! Brooks is going to get first chance at a turkey and then it is my turn. I sure hope to have good news to report!!! I am looking forward to the time away with the family! We are going to make the most of it because it will probably be deer season before we get to go again!

Turkey Hunting

I am a little behind posting about our great weekend turkey hunting, but for good reason. I have been searching and searching for the cord to connect my camcorder to my computer. I finally found it but cannot get it to work because my camcorder is not compatible with Windows Vista, dang it. I usually just use the video function on my regular camera because it is so easy. This time I used both and you won't get to see the big turkey that walked right in front of our blind.

Anyway, we didn't get any turkeys this time! We had a blast though!

So the deal is, Chris has a friend, Greg, that leases 10,000 acres from Jack in southwest Texas. Jack lives right down the road from the ranch house. Greg sells hunts for big $$! Chris guides for Greg a couple weekends out of the year and then we all get to hunt for free!! SWEET!!!!!! This past weekend Chris was supposed to guide one guy and then it would be Brooks' turn. Then if Brooks got one it was going to be Mama's turn! SWEET!!! Unfortunately, the turkey's were all "henned up!" It was still just a little too early. Chris ended up having to help more that he thought because Greg had four hunters not killing and he was getting really frustrated. We did get to hunt some and Chris called in a turkey right up to our blind. It actually walked a circle around us. It was so very close but we couldn't get it to stop for a second so Brooks could get a good shot. It was crazy, he got away! I have it all on video, but can't get it on here!! I am glad that he didn't just shoot, he was waiting on the perfect shot! Seriously, there is not one single person that wants to kill a turkey more than him. It is all he talks about. He was totally cracking everyone up! When we asked him what he wanted for lunch he would say, "to kill a turkey!" It was always something like that, I could go on and on!!

I have to tell ya, I had so much fun I can't even convey it. Being out in the middle of nowhere with your family, great people and nature just thrills me. We drove around in an old jacked up 4x4 Ford looking for turkeys, shed horns and deer while dressed in head to toe camo. How fun is that!!!! I must say, and I speak for my children too, looking for shed antlers is way more fun that Easter eggs!!! Here are just a couple of the ones we found.

Here is the cabin that I could so move into.Chris getting Brooks' gun all ready!

Here we are in the blind getting all set up! Brooks saying that if he sees a turkey it is going down. Or, maybe NOT!!!!!! Hopefully next time! After all it is called hunting not killing!!

So we are going back weekend after next and hope to have better turkey stories and pictures.

ENT

Today turned out to be a good day but a little bit stressful for me. Three weeks ago Brooks failed part of the hearing test at his preschool. They retested him last week and he failed it again. During the first test he was congested due to a cold so that is why they retested him. Last week he had horrible allergy symptoms. I do too. You can write your name on the sidewalk, that is how thick the pollen is. His poor little nose is peeling because of blowing it! So I called and got in with a Pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. Today was the day and I was a little concerned but not too much because I knew that he had passed his hearing test the past two years at the Pediatrician's office. So they really put him through a bunch of tests. They put him in a booth while they tested him. I set outside with the technician doing the testing. It was just excruciating listening to that guy tell him to say a certain word and he just set there. My sweet little angel couldn't hear what he was supposed to during part of the test. I cannot even explain the emotion! As a parent, I just cannot stand the fact that there might be something wrong. I just wanted to cry. I was getting so anxious. It was obvious he was not passing the test like he should. So they brought him out and the guy showed me his hearing on a print out chart. It was lower than it should be in both ears. Then he told me that there was a silver lining. He said that when he tested the nerve that goes to his brain it is perfect. So, there is something behind his eardrum that is keeping the eardrum from vibrating fully in his ears. Most likely fluid. Whew!!!! I felt a little better!

So we waited to see the Dr. and finally he comes in a looks in Brooks' ears. He said there is a lot of fluid, behind his eardrum, in both ears. He said it was murky looking. Brooks has never had an ear infection so I thought that was kind of weird. He gave us an antibiotic and an allergy spray and wants to see us again in 6 weeks. Apparently it takes quite a long time to get rid of the fluid. I am SO anti-medication, especially if they don't really need it, but he said it could develop into an infection. Anyway, the doc is 99% sure that once the fluid clears his hearing will be back to normal. Say a prayer for him anyway please!!!! Thanks!

Oh yeah, he and I spent a lot of time together today and all he wanted to talk to me about was killing a turkey and cutting his hair like Jax and daddy!!! He started this hair talk a few weeks ago and won't let it go. I don't know if I can do it, but I keep telling myself it is just hair!! Right???