Winter

It is beginning to feel a little like winter time. I am ready for some cold weather. I have broke out the union suits and have been wearing them the last few days. Don't worry I always make sure the back flap is closed, well most of the time. When I bend over and feel a draft up the rear it reminds me to close up the flap.:) The kids were discussing how they were going to build their snowman today on the way to school. I told them I didn't think we would be getting enough snow today to build a snowman. They were just happy to see some flurries. I received my first Christmas gift from one of my customers this evening. It is the hoof pick pictured below. These are typically used to clean out the horses feet, but I don't think I'll be using this one for that purpose. I just love this time of year. I am not burning up while shoeing, there are no flies and people give me gifts. How much better can you get.

Parent Teacher Conference

Tonight was our Parent Teacher Conferences. I was a little tentative to hear what Jaguar's teacher was going to say. I was pleasantly surprised with what I heard. Jaguar is doing great!! He is really good academically and socially. We asked now does he get in trouble for talking a lot and she said yes. She said he is a very loud talker but he has been toning it down since the beginning of the school year. She showed us a paper of his hand writing and it was very neat. The other night at dinner he was sounding out words and we would ask him how to spell another word and he would spell it for us.:0 It just sneaked up on me that he was starting to read. I was so anxious for Lexi to read at that age.

Then we went to Lexi's conference. I never seem to worry about what they will say about sweet little Lexi. She is doing great. She is doing well academically and socially also. She wanted to show me her locker. She has a picture on Winnie, baby Hudson, and Courtney in her locker. Jaguar could fit into the locker so me and Lexi kept shutting him in there.

Just wait until they have to deal with Winnie.

Halloween

Here are the kids in their outfits. Jag was Batman, Lexi was a pirate, and Winnie was a pumpkin. Winnie didn't know what to expect at first but she soon realized that there was candy behind every door she went up to.

Jackpot!!!
The kids really got a lot of candy. You can see that I already have my hand into the pile eating some of their candy.

New Experience

We always get a kick out of going to Ryans on a Friday or Saturday evening to watch the people. It is like a farmer throwing slop to the pigs. Heaven forbid they bring out new fried chicken because I am right up there with them fighting and snorting my way to the front. :0 )

Today I got to see another great thing. It was a big bin of Halloween candy marked down 50% at Walmart. People were diving into this bin up to their waist just to get the candy they wanted at the bottom. The more people that surrounded the bin made the other people that was watching think they were missing out. I, of course, wanted to dive in and get my nerd candy and Chandra yelled at me in mid dive and said we didn't need anymore candy.:( I definitely fit right in with the Walmart and Ryan clientele.

Pumpkin Carving

All the kids had a good time carving pumpkins. Winnie didn't like to touch the inside at first but then she really got into it. OHHH AHHH she was yelling as she pulled out the seeds. There were seeds from one end of the kitchen to the other, a few even found their way into the bedroom. :)

Lexi

We took Lexi to the dentist today. They removed some of her gum tissue from in front and from behind her front two teeth. They had told us today was just a consultation but when we got there the dentist decided to go ahead and do the procedure. Lexi got a little nervous Chandra said but it went well. She does have one stitch in the front incision. She just can't eat anything real hard or crunchy because it will hurt the area they cut out. They said she had so much gum that if they took off the braces the gum tissue would just spread her teeth back out. Now her mouth is hurting a little bit. She decided she couldn't talk a bunch. I was wondering if we could have all the kids done so that there might be a few days of quiet around here. It might just be worth the $500/kid. :)

Surgery

I had my surgery yesterday. I am now officially gall bladder less. It went pretty well we dropped the kids off at school and went to the hospital. The doctor was running about an hour late, which drove me nuts because I am always early for everything. I remember taking about three breaths of what they told me was oxygen and the next thing I knew I was waking up. The nurse was talking to another nurse about her relationship with a guy that wasn't going very well and me being completely out of it I told her it was probably because they were both being buttholes. She promptly told me she did not think that was the case. :) That is the first thing I remember saying, who knows what I said before that. About that time they decided to move me back to the recovery room, I guess they had enough of my insights into their lives. They let me out and it was just in time to pick the kids up from school. I felt sore last night but all in all pretty well. This morning I felt like I could go out and shoe some horses. So after laying around I decided to go with the family to get Lexi's gums looked at by the dentist and go get something to eat. After we ate we decided to go to Menards and look around. We walked around for about an hour and half and I was starting to hurt. When we got to the van I looked at my bandages and one was leaking pretty good. Well we decided to go home and let me take it easy. Now I am hurting a little worse. I think I just over did it a touch. Like it or NOT I am going to have to lay around and take it easy for a little while. I did receive a pair of Grumpy slippers in the mail from the Stacy, Shane, Paige, Chase, Julia and baby Hudson. The Howensteins sent over soup and brownies. Thank both of you very much!!!!