I'm a little confused... Yesterday, the boys were home because of the icy roads- school was canceled. It's been bitter cold-definitely winter weather.
However, I looked in my flower bed and my tulip bulbs are coming up ALREADY! It seems that it's too early, and I don't know what to think! I hope they'll make it and this really is the time for them to start poking their heads up out of the ground. It just seems way too early to be seeing green. Not that I'm not excited... I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE planting bulbs. 
They take a little time to get in the ground (mostly if you decide to plant a zillion at once) but, a in return you get a double dose of excitement! It's almost like a surprise when they come up in the spring since it's easy to forget that they're even there. I can't wait to see them... and of course, I'm definitely ready for HOT summer weather again- LOVE IT!
Here's a quick clip of our little "pack leaders" in training walking our little Lady. She LOVES going for a walk and I'm still amazed at how well she's doing already. It's known that Boxers are pretty high energy, but she's been the most mellow pup- too good to be true. She'll play as much as you want her to, then she'll curl up at your feet and take a nap. A dream pup!
It's quite ironic in our home that Caden is our most destructive little guy, but also LOVES to work. I decided to clean this morning- everything seems to take twice as long with his help. I can't take the Windex out of the cupboard, or vacuum out of the closet without him dropping everything he's doing to help. Works well to keep him busy vacuuming the living room, but he's quite dangerous with ALL cleaners. He just loves the smell and thus believes the more he sprays the better it will be. Makes for more of a mess than when I started...
Last week, we decided to hang out with our neighbors and help muck their horse stalls. Caden was in cleaning HEAVEN. Give him a shovel and he's a good to go!
I'm going to start this post by first admitting to making mistakes in the past. Many mistakes- but specifically in the area of puppies as pets. When we got married, we had a black lab- Sassy. She was definitely our "baby". Once Coleman came along, she had a break down and did not adjust to him at all. (Could have been the solid 5 months of crying...) Anyhow, in an attempt to fill her spot in our family we purchased two different pure-bred lab puppies from breeders two years apart. I'm a firm believer that pets are for life- but, failed miserably with both and found new homes for each of them. The timing wasn't right and I couldn't handle either puppy. That being said... we have adopted a new pup from our Humane Society this week. She's not going anywhere- we absolutely LOVE her. I've never been so bonded so quickly to a pup- EVER.
I've never given Boxers the time of day, but now that we have a Boxer pup I can't imagine not having her. She's just 10 months old, but calm as can be. Already, she's walking (not PULLING me) on the leash and even gets on the treadmill. Sleeps better than both of our little guys, too!
I'm sure I'll be posting more about her...
We absolutely had to take advantage of the nice days we've had the last couple of weeks. We spent two whole days working on our treeline. Cutting barb wire, moving limbs, chainsawing dead trees, removing the TONS and TONS and TONS of poison ivy and burning it all in our brush pile. While it still looks like a TON of work, once we stepped back we were pretty happy with our progress! My goal is to be able to walk through barefoot- of course, we're on the 5-year + plan for our yard, so Jim let me know it will be a while before I can do that! Here's a little before and after of our work- you can see through the trees now! (This is only the first section)
Yesterday, (after a neighbor called me and said to LOOK out the window) we had a huge BEAUTIFUL bald eagle sitting on top of the tallest tree- maybe now, we'll attract more now that it's cleaned up a little! Crazy as it sounds, there's something to be said about hard work, getting dirty and being in the fresh air all day. Of course, we LOVE the payoff! 
I'm so proud of my boys! This week, we have three basketball games, plus Coleman's practice on Saturday and a Freshman tourney for Justin as well. I'm amazed at how well both Justin and Tyler are doing and have to remind myself that they're both so new to the sport. It's no secret that I have always LOVED basketball on any level. Problem was that neither Justin or Ty were interested at all in playing. As of last night, basketball has taken over for both of them as their favorite sport. I can't believe it. Ty's team is doing really great- winning, winning, winning! More than that- he's learning and improving every day!
Justin's team is struggling a bit still working for their first win. As a parent, I haven't ever (really close once) complained to any coach about their philosophy or how they run their team. Until now. How long should a parent sit back and watch before coming to their kid's defense? Not just about playing time, but about the way the whole team is being run? I tried in my "kindest" email voice to get my point across to his coach- we'll see if things improve. Regardless of how the season continues, it can be a learning experience for Justin. I'm just glad he's already got a love for the game I'm hopeful that this can carry on through college and they can both stick with it. We'll see...
With the LOVE of my LIFE... Happy Anniversary!
We were so excited to celebrate another anniversary last week. Jim surprised me with tickets to a Wichita State Basketball game- I just love college basketball (or any basketball, really). We decided to leave the big boys in charge as we ventured off for the evening (only 4 hours, really). Again, it became quite obvious to us as we returned home that we really don't get out enough. It's was just so traumatic for the little guys that we weren't home- especially that Daddy wasn't home to put them to bed.
Justin successfully got them both to sleep, but by the time we arrived home around 10 they were already both awake. Caden was a bit distraught, Coleman was just enjoying watching tv with Tyler. Pathetic, in my opinion. So, it took us until about midnight to get them both back to sleep- since they both had a nice 2-hour nap from 7-9. We've GOT to work on this! It was a wonderful anniversary... in spite of two little guys who are dysfunctional sleepers- if there is such a thing!
After the LONG day of work to clean our tree line, we had to make s'mores since we had the perfect coals! The fire was hot and it almost felt like camping in Alaska. Everyone enjoyed- YUM!!
Look at that mess!
It was a beautiful weekend here, so we decided on Friday to have a family day. Of course, the boys weren't too excited but it ended up being a great time. We have a tree line about half way back on our property that was a huge mess- so we started the clean up process! With our burn permit (it's a good thing to make sure it's legal...) in hand we had a great fire burning a good majority of our brush pile. We were all pretty exhausted, but made good progress. Both big boys got to drive the tractor as well- made it a little more fun. Oh... our boys just love our projects!
I have more photos to post...
However, I looked in my flower bed and my tulip bulbs are coming up ALREADY! It seems that it's too early, and I don't know what to think! I hope they'll make it and this really is the time for them to start poking their heads up out of the ground. It just seems way too early to be seeing green. Not that I'm not excited... I've said it before and I'll say it again... I LOVE planting bulbs. 
They take a little time to get in the ground (mostly if you decide to plant a zillion at once) but, a in return you get a double dose of excitement! It's almost like a surprise when they come up in the spring since it's easy to forget that they're even there. I can't wait to see them... and of course, I'm definitely ready for HOT summer weather again- LOVE IT!
