At Last...

My husband has been on a 9 day hunting trip, and tonight, he's home AT LAST! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he's been able to go but let me tell you a little about the time he's been gone. I had originally planned all these little fun activities for the kids & I. I knew that trying to get all 3 kids and to their activities, plus add a few of my own was going to be rough....but I planned it out and thought I had every covered. I was also in charge of the ranch while he was gone, but recently hired a young man to help us so I thought we would be fine.

Does anything in life go as planned?

On Monday the guy we hired called in sick - for the week!!!!

By Tuesday, Sick child Number 1

By Thursday, Sick Child #2

By Friday, Sick Child #3


Although this sick child is a littler harder to deal with because she lives underneath our kitchen table. I'm not kidding. She has her bed down there, toys, books, a phone, her babies....and in her words "It's my HOUSE". If you look closely below you can see her pink phone in the sick of her kitchen. Every time I have to check on her I have to crawl done under the table....nice huh? (one more side note, she always has to have a flashlight on underneath the table....cause that's hers light!)

When she's feeling better she plays on top of the table. She's mostly into playing restaurant right now. All those pink slips of paper is how she takes orders and all the food is served as balloons. I'm not kidding, Tate had this packet of 1,000 water balloons that he got for his birthday and all your food is served as balloons. (I am so tired of picking up little balloons all over my house I could scream....I did try vacuuming them, don't recommend it!)

Tye is the worst out of the bunch. I thought it might be swine flu (I'm a little paranoid, since one of our schools in town has 40% of the kids sick with the flu) But luckily it is pneumonia. We spent two days at the hospital because he had so much fluid in his lungs. We didn't have to spend the night, just go in during the day for treatments & xrays. The funny thing is we've become addicted to the hospital cafeteria. I know it sounds disgusting....but it's fantastic! When Tye had surgery in August, we would eat there a lot, and as soon as Tye found out where we were going each day he would beg to eat there. Also it's so cheap and has the best smoothies. I would call my sister everyday and tell her what we would get for lunch and how much it would cost. Example one day: 2 Smoothies, 2 Ham Sandwiches, a croissant club sandwich ( for me of course) lg. cup of soap a salad bar, a sugar cookie, two drink, two donuts...and chocolate mouse (for me again). All for $13.65. I'm telling you, it's a steal, and the food is great. Just in case anyone wants to eat at the cafe inside Aurora Hospital!

I would call Wes each night and tell him everything that was happening between the kids and the ranch, and he felt bad. Not bad enough to hop on a plane and come home, but bad enough to get the service of Martha Stewart Flowers. com! It was a nice surprise!

So every night while he was being wined and dined eating steak and lobster at this private hunting lodge in Kansas, or his 5 day Elk hunt in Jackson Hole....I was at home, eating hospital food and thinking how much I'm glad that I'm not a single mom, thinking one sick child in hard...3 is a disaster,thinking that the fact that he puts his wet towels on my bed drives my crazy, but he's worth it, thinking that if someone actually saw the condition of my home I would die, thinking that it's time I cashed in the massage certificate I've been hanging on to, thinking I'm so glad he'll be back at the ranch, thinking I better wash all the sheets today (minus, sissy's bed - wink wink!!) thinking it's a good thing I haven't left the house in a week because my roots are so bad that a trip to the salon is 5 1/2 weeks over due, thinking that I'm not going to get away with grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner any more, thinking I'm happy that my husband had a great trip, and actually got tons of birds in Kansas and a elk in Wyoming, but mostly thinking ....that tonight, AT LAST, he's home!!!!!

Fall Means.......

I'm just not ready for fall....it use to be my favorite season....until I moved to Wisconsin and realized what comes afterwards. (I am so not ready for another Wisconsin Winter.)

Nevertheless I still manage to love it and Fall in our household means the following....

a LOT of this

We are a football family. Always have been...always will be. The funnest part is actually watching Tye play "tackle" for the first time. Every year we've put him in Flag, but decided this year to let him have a chance at the "Big League - Pop Warner." Sissy calls it "Pop Corner" but you know what I mean. He's done super well. He was a little disappointed that he wasn't quarterback, but when he learned there was 12 running plays and only 1 play where they actually throw the ball he was happy the coach put him at Running Back. He rushed for over 100 yards and got his first touchdown on the first game and it was Fun....I can't tell you how many hours our family spends in the Fall watching football, too much to even mention, but I wouldn't change it.

The other stuff that fall brings is

the fact that the hundred of acres of corn fields that surround our house is about to be cut down. I love the rows and rows of corn and pretty soon they'll all disappear. The picture above is my view from our front porch.

Fall also means it's time to turn the oven on again. I don't know why I prefer to cook in the fall/winter, but I always enjoy it more. One of my FAVORITE things in life is Carmel Apples - and trust me, I seriously could eat these for breakfast, lunch & dinner. When Fall rolls around it's time to bust out the homemade Carmel apples, with fresh apples. Love it!!

Fall also means an end to the thing my kids love most....being outside. I just dread the fact when they can't go outside and play. I've let the kids have friends over more than ever, just so that they can enjoy the last few weeks of doing the things they love best. Tate's best friend Jared is allergic to horses, so they play on this.....We've only had one small accident where Tate actually ran into the the little pond in front of the house.

and Tye's best Friend Andrew loves to ride, so they spend most of their time doing this...

While Wes has been busy helping Coach Tye's football I've been busy taking take to Baseball. It's his first time playing machine pitch and we weren't sure how he was going to like it. Tate could care less about sports, he only plays to get the metals/trophies that are involved. Luckily he's on a great team and their undefeated so consequently he thinks he's hot stuff! He LOVES to hit, and he gets to play first base, so he's in heaven!

For Taylor...she's just a good sport to sit at endless Football & Baseball games and practices. (That's when ring pops come in handy)

If you ask my husband what Fall really means it comes down to one thing and one thing only. It's the time of the year I just, well any of you with husband's that love hunting as much as mine completely understand.
Wes has a turkey tag right now, so sometimes before school or in the afternoon's he'll pack up the boys and head to the trees. My boys LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and they are so excited with the stories they come back with. They have jumped them a few times but still no Turkey. The funny thing is they come back with acorns, pine combs, used shotgun shells and they have started a little collection in my kitchen window of their new treasures.
I don't know if Wes is ever going to keep them quiet enough to actually get something...but he's not giving up yet! They just changed the law in Wisconsin that 10 year olds can hunt....I'm not sure who's more excited, Wes or Tye!

As for me....I can't tell you how much I love the trees changing colors, the fact that my garden is full of pumpkin's to decorate with, the new soup recipes I embark on, the laziness of Sundays in front of the NFL Network, the fact that my kids are asleep every night by 8:00, the new Fall season shows that I'm addicted to and DVR religiously, new jogging suits, comfy socks, cream of wheat, apple cider and a clean house for more than 10 minutes a day.

I also love my mornings...especially like the one below, foggy, dense and just watching the Sun try and break through. I have to admit living in the country makes me very mindful of the fact that I'm surrounded by beautiful landscapes...and the view from my kitchen window is amazing! (As long as you can look past the acorn pile...)

Camp Grounds

I like camping, I always have. I'm not a go go getter, but I can manage the basics. When I was trying to figure out what we were going to to for Labor Day I asked Wes if there was something he wanted to do....and as you assume, Camping it was. I googled a bunch of different National Forest Parks, but wanted something a little more exciting...but not too far away. I came across this camping place that had a cabin that sleeps six on a lake. The price was fabulous so I jumped on board. I spent all day long getting ready packing ice chests, sleeping bags...everything you need at about 6:00 Friday night we pull out.

An hour later we end up at the Pine Grove Campground.....Wes looked at me and said. You never once said we were camping at a campground. I said, "well were staying in the cabin, and it's on the lake...all of these people are obviously in campers" He said "I hate campgrounds...camping in a campground is not camping," I said, well Sorry, I wanted access to a bathroom and shower and plus you knew we were staying in a cabin." He said, " I thought we were staying in a cabin by ourselves, you didn't tell me we were camping with Billy and the rest of the Wisconsin Rednecks! .....He was soooooo livid he didn't talk to me for an hour! We found our little cabin, I took the kids around, showed them the lake, petting zoo, playground, park area and arcade rooms and they were thrilled. Wes slowly warmed up to the situation...but it took a while!

A Picture of our cabin....when we first walked in and looked around the kids started screaming...We are in the olden days, just one little cabin, they slept in the loft and loved it!

And the lake that was behind it...It's not fancy, but for heaven's sakes I it was ok for 4 days!

We ended up spending lots of time fishing....

They had little row boats to rent and the kids loved it....and Wes eventually loved it too as soon as the small bass fish starting biting!

The kids kept catching these little 3 inch blue gills...and thought it was the coolest thing ever! I was worried that they were going to want to keep them, but luckily they just kept throwing them back in and catching them over and over...

On Saturday two of our friends and their families joined us....and all I could do was laugh when I saw them. This campground had a culture all of it's own, but they were good sports! We spent the day on the beach letting the kids swim and play in the sand....and yes, that is Wes in his cowboy boots on the beach!

We did some of this......

and a lot of this...

and I can honestly say that when we got home, every singe thing we owned smelt like campfires!

At night, the campground had a Dance (that I will leave at that, as I'm sure you can imagine) But the next night they had a movie in the park and that was fun, and Wes Finally broke down and gave the kids some money for the arcade room.

I've decided these corny little adventures that I take my family on are so much fun. I laugh out loud at some of the things that I get myself involved in, but that's what makes life so interesting, and I'll never change!

Below is a full slide show of all the fun!