Bitten By The Horse Bug!

Well it's finally happened. Miss B has been bitten by the horse bug! This should not come as a surprise, both mom and dad grew up riding ponies and horses. In fact, Brady and I used to show against each other in the local horse shows and we belonged to the same 4-H club (Vashon Rock Riders). Miss B has now gotten old enough to join 4-H and now belongs to our old club! It's pretty cool to be a second generation Rock Rider. I have to say, it's great for me to get back into the horse community here on the island!


It wasn't easy for Miss B, this horse bug. It made her have to deal with her fear of heights! But she has (for the most part). Thanks to Miss Olivia, Aunt Cindi and her "little" horse Fanny and all their love and hard work.

It's neat to see this next stage in our life start! Miss B and Miss K are already begging for at least one pony! Miss K has already stated that she wants to start a real life horse collection here ("you know real ones that are alive"). She would like the first one to be a mini palomino horse, please (since they don't come in pink)! Miss B just wants one, she would love any color, just not to big please. Brady sees many memories to come of horse shows and county fair (lot's of places the motor home will be useful)!






Thanks Aunt Cindi and Fanny!



Thanks Miss Olivia!



New VISA ad:

riding helmet: $25.00
riding boots: $35.00
pony: $$$$$$
Look on her face when she's riding: Priceless!!!!!!

October!

October is one on the most beautiful times of year in the Pacific Northwest. Especially early fall as the leaves change. Our family decided it was time for another trip to the family cabin 17 miles west of Leavenworth, WA. The drive to the cabin was amazing! This picture does not even due justice to the color and hues God painted in the scenery.

The family cabin was built by Brady's dad (Papa Aldrich) and his father Grandpa Aldrich in the sixties. It's quite the family legacy. There are many hysterical family stories about the cabin. Lot's of these stories involve the local wildlife! Some of the stories are so crazy we have decided they should NOT be shared with non-family members or those people might not go to the cabin with us! (And that would be tragic!!) Our newest story is about this fine specimen of bird that is posted below.

The big question of the day and whole trip was; how did this bird get there??? Was this a funny family prank just waiting to be found out? Was this a tragedy of nature? If so, how did it get in?? What ever the case (I'm voting the nature thing) it sure was an interesting surprise! The kids were fascinated by it. It's still a topic of conversation here at our home. Thankfully the kids have finally stopped talking about the other wildlife that we were dealing with at the cabin. Let's play a game to see if you can figure out what kind of wildlife I'm talking about. Their small, grayish brown, might be considered cute if they were not in the cabin and have big ears and tails. Got a guess? If you guessed mice, you would be correct! Note that I said mice, not mouse! When we left, the death toll was four dead and six traps ready for their next victims!

One of our most favorite things to do at the cabin is to make smores!!! Here's Miss B and Miss K making some of our favorite treats! This cabin has the perfect fireplace for toasting marshmallows! Enough room for everyone to get a good spot. Looking at these pictures makes me want to go back to the cabin now! We need to go again soon!

Wise Choices

Wise choices have been escaping me lately. You are probably asking yourself, "what the heck did those kids eat"! No, food did not make those what were pearly whites that lovely shade of fuchsia. No, I can thank the dentist for this one. When miss B. came to me with this little package saying; "the dentist told me to chew this then brush my teeth." I should have taken these little packages and thrown them out!!! But no, I made the wise choice to follow what the dentist said. You can see the lovely results! By the way their tongues stayed that nice shade of pink for two days. I don't know if their toothbrush bristles will ever be the same again! Miss B. and miss K. thought it was a lot of fun at first, but then it took 15 minutes of non-stop brushing with countless amounts of swishing and spitting to get their teeth back to the correct color! Whew! Thank you Lord for that knowledge, I won't repeat that one!

AWANA's

A. W. A. N. A. I want to live my life God's way!
A. W. A. N. A. I want to live my life God's way!

This is the new AWANA's song and I hear it all day long!

This year we have a second grade Sparkie, a Cubbie, and two little puggles! How can that be?!?

Laughing at the Face of Danger!

What is it about boys that makes doing something "dangerous" so much fun. It seems like every time I turn around today Mr T. is doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing. First climbing on the phone table to reach daddy's remotes on top of the piano (2nd & 3rd photos). Next he decides to climb in his walker toy (this might not be a bad thing) except he can't get both legs in! To follow up all this great fun, he climbs from the couch into a drawer so he can look at the family's DVD collection. Why look at the DVD collection? Because DVDs make great Frisbees! And this book holds a lot of DVDs. What's next you ask? Time will only tell.

What is good about all this craziness is that it helps pass the time away. I am patiently (not really) waiting for Ducky Girl to start hatching her egg! After a week of off and on contractions she got to be pretty close. I don't know who's more ready, Ducky Girl, me , or Ms.B (she keeps asking is it time to go stay at the Sims yet?). Ducky Girl has got a sense of humor about the whole thing, she has now started a contest to guess when the baby will be born. Check out her blog for a chance at winning! She even has cool prizes! You can use the link on the right side listed under blogs that I love. Good luck!

Normal is just a setting on your dryer!

Isn't this title fitting! What about life is normal? Why do we want to be "normal"? I am truly guilty of wanting to be normal, which just made me feel more abnormal. Lately I have been feeling that God wants me to deal with my issue about wanting to be normal. Why can't I just accept me for what God has made me to be!

First, God had Brady and I take the Financial Peace class at church. Dave Ramsey says, "why be normal?"

Next I'm at a doctors appointment at Perinatal medicine (high risk pregnancy specialist) last week and the doctor's telling me what I'm telling him is not normal. I said, well this is normal for me to start having Braxton and Hicks about now. He says, no it's not Braxton and Hicks. Then God went on to prove the doctor right! (Man I hate that, I want to be right, but I guess that's why He's God and the doctor gets paid the big bucks!!) So now my normal for me pregnancy is not normal for me. The good news is I'm not on full bed rest and the medicine they are having me take seems to be working to stop the contractions.

Then as I am packing up some of my parents books, God brings a new one for me, in the form of a book called "Normal is just a setting on your dryer" by Patsy Clairmont. If you haven't read this book (which I doubt many people my age have) you should! Her humor and honesty will make you laugh out loud (just be carefully if you are reading this book near sleeping kids, you might wake them up) and want to cry at the same time. Okay God, I think this book was definitely one I needed to read. It was a great wake up call to quite worrying about being "normal" and just be the woman, wife, mother, sister, friend,and child you made me to be! If you're you, you're normal! Thank God!! I guess that means I no longer need to promenade out of the laundry room of life trying to appear normal.

The Price of Children

This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the break down of the cost of raising a child but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice!

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year
* $741.38 a month
or

* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." actually it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First,middle and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
*A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
*A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with no matter what the boss
said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140 you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint
* carve pumpkins
* play hide-and-seek
* catch lightning bugs
and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh
* watching Saturday morning cartoons
* going to Disney movies
* wishing on stars.
and
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140 there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof
* taking the training wheels off a bike
* removing a splinter
* filling a wading pool
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs
and
*coaching a sport's team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream or pizza regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step
* first word
* first bra
* first date
and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree and if you're lucky a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits. So one day they will like your love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!