James......as one of the Village People

I am not sure why

but the other day James

decided to change into

a different shirt.

He comes down in a sleeves shirt

then plunks on a hard hat.

YMCA here I come.

The New Machine.......

The kids pooled all of their Christmas money this year for a group purchase. They wanted the new Polaris 800. A newer, stronger battery powered four wheeler. A massive 24 volt battery kicks this puppy all the way up to 7 MPH!! It holds a staggering 150 pounds and has a flip up second seat. The kids love it and as soon as the battery was charged, they were off. They haven't stopped yet!

Sunday Riding on the Terror of San Diego County

We had a wonderful afternoon this Sunday! After church, we had lunch and Caitlyn, Conner and I decided to have some fun riding. We got Shiloh out and he basked in the attention. He was fully groomed, Caitlyn learned to pick and treat his hooves and then saddle. James loves to dress the part, but he isn't much of a cowboy as far as riding is concerned. So it was just Caitlyn and Conner. I decided it was time to break out the Buddy seat and let the two of them go solo. It made me laugh to see a horse that had struck fear in the hearts of vets and farriers all through San Diego, walking quietly under the guidence of an eight year old with a four year old in the buddy seat. He walked them calmly around the pasture and playground area. Conner got hungry and got off and Caitlyn continued to ride for a while longer. Shiloh then enjoyed the carrots that Conner brought out. Caitlyn took the passenger seat as I rode around with her. She completely enjoyed cantering, she is so my daughter!

Later I worked Bella while Caitlyn cooled Shiloh out. Bella did well and has calmed so much she really isn't the same horse. As for the "Terror", he quietly obeyed Caitlyn as she walked him and then put him up. He even lowered his head so she could remove his halter. What a scoundrel!

Creative Play for Active Children

Wow, sometimes you can give the kids everything you think they need for an established activity. Then that wonderful thing, Childhood Imagination, takes over.

While painting the new playroom, I decided that the kids could take their tempra paints and paper into the garage and do some painting of their own. I expected to see reams of colored smiles and ponies. When I came out to the garage.......I was very suprised to find that they had used the paint to cover the driveway in very oraganized handprints. It was wildly creative, very well laid out and covered the enitre driveway. After I appreciated their ingenuity, I squirted it with dish soap and gave them scrubbies. They had just as much fun cleaning it up as they did making it. Luckily it was about 70 degrees out, so chill wasn't a factor!

I did give them permission to paint the old stock tanks! Gotta love kids!

Christmas Letter................

Let me just say, I am not lazy. I am, however, overwhelmed at times. This is one of those times. It was only a few days ago that I discovered that I hadn't written my Christmas letter and furthermore, had not even sent out my Christmas cards. I have them, they will be late.

As I write this, there is a multi-person FBI take down going on with canine units and air support. All of this in my family room. The only casualties seem to be James (Conner pulled his ear) and the resemblance to clean that this room once had. My days are filled and joyful, but also very very loud!

We have had another blessed year. Steve keeps busy with the stations and is very active with the community. I have warned him that he is perilously close to being a politician. I have also reminded him that I am not politician's wife material and refuse to pretend!

Our country station upgraded to 100,000 watts and that project took most of Steve's year. I am happy to say that the station sounds great, is working well and no one got hurt. Not even a tower crew working in high winds.

I have been busy with my sewing. We have finally added fabric sales to our clothing. You can find us at http://www.letherbelittel.etsy.com/ . We have some gorgeous quilting fabric right now. We attended the Curry County Trade days and decided that the ends doesn't justify the means. SO we pledge that in 2009 we will attend the Ag Expo, Heritage Days and the Peanut Valley Festival. This keeps us in Portales and limits the time away from our families.

The children have grown beyond all reason.

Caitlyn will be eight the day after Christmas. She is slowly blossoming into a young lady. As much as I delight in her new growth, I am also saddened. This is my baby! She discovered soccer this year and while she likes to run as a forward, she really prefers to be a defender. Never have I seen her put so much effort into her sports. She is also a top student in her class with an exceptional grasp of vocabulary and math. She says she doesn't like math, but with a 93% average, she must be understanding it. She is one of the taller girls in second grade. Caitlyn remains committed to meteorology and is still very interested in weather and storm watching. Unfortunately for her, this year was a mild storm season. It was fortunate for the rest of us because one year lightning struck one of our towers and we had to replace a cable. I don't even want to discuss how much that cost!

William received a formal diagnosis of High Functioning Autism. It simply means he is our same boy, but now qualifies for help where before he didn't. A behavior specialist is available to him on some school days and help with transitioning him. They have also provided things like chewies and fidgets. In his first day in the computer lab he chewed through the cords of the ear phones! He is adapting well to kindergarten and is very keen on the workbook pages given to him. So compelled is he, that is teacher has given him an older workbook and he barters good behavior for extra work. Gotta love that! He is very tall for his age and loves to play soccer. He is one of the top goal earners on his team and will often score up to ten goals in a game. He recently began to understand defence and during one game we all called for him to "stop the ball, Will'. True to form he threw his body on the ball and stopped it cold. He is still very literal, but his vocabulary and verbal skills are very very good. We have stopped him from from compulsively picking his scabs, but now he has decided to pull teeth. At the slightest wiggle, out it comes. I believe he has lost around seven teeth.

James, or Jimbo as he sometimes prefers to be called, is still my laughing boy. He happily went to kindergarten but ran into issues when he realized that he couldn't charm his way through, he was expected to WORK! Now he is doing much better and rising to the challenge of wanting to be in with the top readers. He follows along perfectly and is doing very very well. He is often the only boy at the table with all of the girls. Somethings never change! When Caitlyn was having some problems with a bully at school, I asked Jimbo to keep an eye on her. That afternoon, Caitlyn complained that all during recess, Jimbo followed her around and kept sitting next to her at lunch, no matter how many times she moved. That's my boy. So golden hearted. He still begs to be tickled. Jimbo enjoyed soccer this year and scored several goals. And with his tender heart, several times he has given up on a goal to let Conner or Ambrelyn take the shot.

Conner. Where do I begin. Everyone is so charmed by him and dotes on him. But I know the real Conner. The one that gets stubborn and refuses to eat his dinner and feeds it to the dogs. He is very sweet and it is hard on him to keep up with the "brothers". Some days he is reduced to tears and other days he comes out swinging. He is a new four years old and is very proud of his years. He very much enjoys his pre-school program and helping his mama at home. We begged and were allowed to put him on the same soccer team as the twins. What a blessing. He is a big kid, so size wasn't a factor. He is also stubborn, so that worked in his favor. He has scored several goals and most of them were for our team. He sometimes gets carried away and goes the wrong way. And sometimes he gets frustrated and sits down and refuses to move. At heart he is very sweet and engaging. He just has to be tough to survive!

We went to visit Steve's family in Las Vegas and had a wonderful time swimming and playing in the Nevada sun. We saw an old west shoot out and a mock hanging. The kids were delighted at all of the new things to explore and once again proved themselves to be awesome travelers. We explored the meteor crater in Arizona and discovered that it can still snow in Gallup, New Mexico in June.

We then spent a week a Ute Lake with the Gramzows. We took Mickey with us and enjoyed the fun of swimming and inter tubing. The kids wore either swimsuits or pajamas. By the time we got back, everyone could swim because they spent a week in life vests. We are very glad that we took Mickey with us because it was his last trip with us.

Sadly we had to put him down at the end of September. His arthritis was out of control and he either has a stroke or developed dementia. He was confused and afraid and in pain. It was very very difficult and Steve and I both cried. We were lucky that our vet came and put him down in the comfort of his own home, on his own blanket. There will never be one like him.

On a happy note, we are dog people and only made it one week without a dog in the house. We adopted two dogs from the vet, who runs a shelter. Holly can only be described as a mix breed. There is almost no hope of figuring out what all is in her. Cricket is a black lab. So the kids are learning to pick up their toys because puppies will eat anything. They have brought happiness back into our home when we were so sad.

The kids have never been around young dogs, so the noise level has only gone up. There is all kinds of play between them and it will only get better.

Our birds all continue to thrive. Will's cochin rooster won reserve champion large breed and he was so very proud to get that trophy. I took champion and reserve champion waterfowl with Howard and Molly, my rouen ducks.

The horses are doing well, too. Shiloh is twenty now and if the weather isn't pleasant, he simply stays in the barn, content. Caitlyn has taken to riding him and I always smile because this was the horse that struck fear in the hearts of trainers and farriers. He is happy to walk quietly along as she talks constantly to him. Since she likes going slowly, they are a good match. Bella continues in her training and remains undeniably sweet. Being younger, she is frequently seen frolicking through the pasture in spite of rain, wind or dusts storms. Moe, the pony of too much fur, keeps up with her. I think he overheats in the barn in the winter. I have seen him stand out in storms, covered in ice. And yet when I go check him, his skin is roasting under his coat. He patiently endures various brushings and time carting the kids around.

We would like to take this moment and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We hope that everyone is blessed in the coming year with health and happiness.

James and William are SIX!!!

It doesn't seem possible. My fragile twin babies, those tiny babes that seemed to wear envelopes instead of diapers, those sturdy toddlers who amazed us, are now hearty and strong boys. There is nothing tiny or fragile about them. This year they took on Kindergarten, and they are doing well. Will took to studies very easily. There were routines and rules, he was in heaven. For rewards, he gets extra pages in a work book. Jim took a bit longer to settle. Once he learned that, no, he cannot charm his way into good grades, he took up the challenge and is doing very well. So we celebrate this year with a dinosaur cake (make the T-rex eating the other one!!) and cap guns. I love you, Brothers.

Hang on, Mom, I think Will set the trash can on fire....

Will loves to clean out the fireplace. He loves to take it from messy and full of ashes to swept nicely clean. We have a fire almost every night and anytime Will has an extra ten minutes, he cleans it out. This morning was no different, except I wouldn't let him do it because we went to church. After church, Will gets the trash can and cleans it out. He took the trashbag and put it in the outside trash. A bit later I notice the outside trashcan is smoking. I go out, lift the lid and sure enough there is a small slow fire with papers and the ashes. Apparently Will (in his autistic mode) didn't notice the heat of the coals or ashes and just scooped them up. I turned the hose on and checked with the local fire department to see if there was anything else I needed to do. I was told to turn the ashes into mud and fill up the can. And to call back if there were problems. He kinda thought it was funny, so maybe this happens fairly often. Of course, Steve was at work, so he missed it! AGAIN! Like just last week when the boys opened a second story window and hung out of it while wearing hard hats.

And just an FYI:

The Portales Fire Department has a response time of five minutes or less to my house.

The Roosevelt General ER only needs to ask me which kid it is anymore.

The Roosevelt County Sheriff's department knows not to leave their trucks anywhere near the boys and we have already had a lengthy chat about what constitutes criminal mischief.