Flashback Friday - Texas

I haven't posted on my blog in two years!  I was looking around and discovered blogs aren't even what the used to be!  What they were isn't even "in" anymore!  My posts won't change a whole lot though.  I don't care about being "in" and the purpose of this blog stays the same - a diary of our family life.

We moved to Flower Mound, Texas late summer 2005.  The first day of school followed quickly.

Levi looks pretty confident and pleased that Micah's off to school for the whole day and he's not!

Uncle Blair had helped us find a great house in a great neighborhood.  It was close to green space with a path that led behind the middle school, through a park, and to the elementary school. Devon rode bikes to school with the boys sometimes on his day off.  Our great house however, had yucky carpet and wallpaper.  By the end of August, we started rectifying that situation.  The boys scraped the wallpaper off their bathroom walls almost entirely on their own.

They actually learned home projects starting in ABQ.  They've used their acquired skill on mission trips and to earn money.  In this picture you can see in to the boys' room.  They shared one bedroom and used one as a playroom for awhile.  Later, this room became Levi's and the one to the left of the bathroom was Micah's.

Our previous house was a new build.  This was the house we started a tradition.  Any time we redid floors or walls we used sharpie to write - here, our names.  Future projects included our favorite Scriptures.

First grade and Forest Vista was the beginning of Cub Scouts for Micah (Levi officially joined two years later).  We were blessed with a wonderful den and pack full of friends for Micah and parents we enjoyed.  One of the first den meetings was at our house where the boys practiced their cowboy skills with knott tying and "cattle" roping.

Although we're not pleased with the direction Scouts has taken - those 11 years we were a part were meaningful to our boys and our family.  Dev continues today his friendship with hiking buddies he met in Oklahoma Scouts.  We are blessed and thankful.

Albuquerque Flashback

So, I was looking through some ABQ photos and I found some gems!  These were in a Sept. - Nov. file.  By then, of 2003, we had settled in quite nicely.  Micah started a Mother's Day Out at a local preschool.  He went only on Fridays for a few hours and loved it!  I loved it because it gave him time to play with other kids.  A few of those kids were in his kindergarten class the next year.

September and October were busy in Albuquerque.  We went with Grandmomma and Grandpoppa to the fair.  This must have been our first time there because we have a lot of fair pictures from a different trip.  This one rained.  We spent a lot of time dodging showers, taking cover, and doing activities when there was a break in rain.  It was fun to be together though!

We had actually been to Balloon Fiesta before and since we lived here now, we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn for everything.  Aunt Winna took this picture!  I'm not sure how the timing worked out for her with school, but she's in another picture from this batch.

The following picture is from an early zoo trip.  The boys did discover the jumping area right away. I love that we went to the zoo so much in ABQ.  We had an annual membership and we used it well.  Levi and I would sometimes go there on early release (school) day and he even had a birthday there!

Picture proof that we did do pumpkins and costumes with our boys!  Again, this was our first year in ABQ.  The other year, I found matching spider sweaters at a second hand store and Aunt Winna made spider masks out of black paper plates and pipe cleaners!

That Little Tikes car got a lot of use!  The black truck (from Gigi - it had belonged to cousin October) and gas station were added in Kentucky.  The infamous duck boots are in these pictures too!

These kinds of pictures were pretty typical of M and L's early years.  Fairs, special events/places, visits from Aunt Winna, pumpkins.

A final shot - M's beginning of photography. (At this point, I don't think I had even considered the boys would be taking pictures on their phones one day!)

Albuquerque Flashback

In April, 2003, Hubby and M flew from Kentucky to Albuquerque to find a home for us.  They chose well in a new neighborhood on the west side - Ventana Hills.  Our goal was to be some place new in order to meet new people and invite them to church.  You can see in the second picture that we didn't even have across the street neighbors yet.  The backyard pictures are to show what we did first thing - Hubby put in sprinklers!  We were doing this on our first weekend there - and we even invited people we met for the first time at Rio Vista Church to come help.  Of course, anyone willing to come into the mess inside and out were obviously going to be great friends!  And the Hendrixsons were - from day one to Jen being one of the last ones in our house to clean when we moved - a large part of Albuquerque memories are of them.

All that sod had to go in too!  We hauled it in the blue van (because we didn't have a truck) and that's where the "sod knife" came from.  Hubby used one of the knives from our kitchen set to cut the grass.  The knife is in our kitchen drawer right now and has been used on sod at every house we've lived since!

Right outside the back door Hubby and the boys built a deck (that's where he first let them use power tools!).  We left the part on the side dirt/sand for the boys to play in.  The swing you see int he picture went on the deck along with the grill and eventually a better patio table was there too.  We had many snacks and played many games there.  From the swing looking north you could see the Sango De Christo Mts.

We spent a lot of time outside at this home in both the front and back, walking in the neighborhood (Hubby taking Jazzy out in the undeveloped area to chase rabbits), and at the nearby parks.  Another great reason in choosing this spot was that it was down the street from the new elementary school.  I was even part of the neighborhood meeting that chose the school mascot  - the Roadrunners!

How is it possible that so much fun and playing went into two short years?  We had a small plastic square table at the end of the kitchen counter.  It was perfect because when you were at it you were in the kitchen, dining room and living room - we had a "Great Room"- the fireplace was at the center.  Although M, didn't actually have formal preschool, I made sure he went to school with a good foundation.  Well, except knowing what a needle and thread was and thinking ice cream was a nutritious snack (those were two things he missed on a kindergarten testing situation)!

In this picture you can get a better glimpse of the table the boys used constantly and can almost see the beginning of the fireplace (to the right of what was our bedroom door).  It was in front of this fireplace where we would act out Bible stories.  One of M's favorites to do was Samuel.  He would lay down and I would call his name.  After doing this a few times he would say "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

Weren't the boys lovely bandits?  (Nice transition from Samuel, hu?  Their pretending ran the gamut!) They have cowboy hats from Grandy.  Oh, M & L were the best of friends!  They spent countless hours pretending and playing together.  I hope they remember that and forge a friendship one day as adults. (The pictures of the boys are actually from May 2004 - almost a year after coming to ABQ and a few months before M started Kindergarten. L was 3.)

More ABQ flashbacks to come.  We were finally digital!

December in Pictures

The boys got in on this batch of holly wreath cookies.

Hubby and I tried a batch earlier in the month, but I did have any red hot candies.

Dinner, yes.  But, do you see the salt n pepper shakers?  Hubby got them as a white elephant gift.  They aren't so to me - I love them!

Just a dusting.  December 17.  Later in the night when it was so bitterly cold, we got a visit from a dog from the neighborhood north of us.  I dried him off and petted him by the fire while we waited on his owner.

School is out for two weeks!!

My sister treated us to drinks and treats for my Aunt's birthday.

Life with Lucy and Cyrus.  He was pretty serious about his new bone.

A new spot for the tree.  We considered a taller tree for the living room to go with the high ceilings.  I just can't bear the thought of using a different tree.  We've had this since the year before M was born.

Waiting to leave IHOP.  I was sad that it wasn't decorated for Christmas this year.

Aunt and the boys in front of a random house.  At 10:30 on Christmas Eve the temperature was still in the 50s!

Selfie in front of the same house.

It was tricky to find a service on Christmas Eve that worked with M's work schedule.

We got EVERYONE in this Christmas Eve picture.

Hubby has almost perfected his cinnamon roll recipe.  My Dad used to make them Christmas morning.  He perfected his in the Air Force.  Hubby has been working on his at Church Camp!

She was snoring about 15 minutes into opening presents!!

Quick visit from Hubby's Mom.  This was just to see the plane - maybe a flight another time!
2017 is the year for me to fly again!?!

Life With Lucy and Cyrus

We've got the sickies around here.  You can probably tell by the picture that L. doesn't feel very well.

M. has something going on that he'll need some test later in the week.  And then there's Cyrus...

I took him to the vet for his yearly check-up and found out he has heart worms!!  Bout broke my heart!!  She says there's a period that the dog can be infected that it doesn't show up on the test.  Considering his age, how long we've had him and that he's been on preventative meds since we got him, she thinks he was infected when we got him a year ago, but it was during that time that it didn't show.  Ugh!!  Poor baby has to take a bitter medicine twice a day.  Lucy doesn't mind - she gets the same cheese or ham treat minus the meds that Cyrus does. Our prayer is that this works because the other way would require that he be crated for two months!

He knows he's not supposed to be in my chair!!  Of course he knows he's not supposed to be on my bed too, but that doesn't stop him!!  Earlier in the week, I posted this link on FB that talks how dogs communicate with you.  I love it - we've experienced each one with both dogs!!  Mmm, the article doesn't address stubbornness though.  We need that one for Lucy!

Life with Lucy and Cyrus

 Blogging is something I always think about doing and never quite get to.  I have thoughts to write and don't do it.  I want to leave more of a record of family life than what is on facebook and pictures in my cell phone. So, three months later I work on my blog.  I change the template and totally mess up the background.  Ones I've used in the past aren't free anymore - I found something else that kind of matches the template I accidentally changed it to.  Not quite what I wanted, but it's purple and purple is always good.

A lot of things aren't quite what I wanted.  For instance...the day after these photos were taken, Hubby's brother lost his battle with cancer.  Not what we wanted, but we're happy he isn't in pain anymore.  Eternity with Christ is a great thing!  And our family (collectively) is sometimes okay and a lot of times struggling.

We went to Jazzy's Ridge to take these photos on the one year anniversary of losing Jazzy.  Of course Cyrus is looking adoringly to us - that's his personality. Then there's Lucy.  There's never a dull

moment with her!  The weather is quite cold now and in the mornings when it's time for me to leave for school she is hiding in M's bed as if to say don't put me out in the cold!  Even today, I took her to run at Dad's, but she couldn't be left because she won't stay in the yard and she won't listen/obey.  She only likes things her way!

Our poor Cyrus has heart worms.  The vet thinks since he is young and otherwise healthy that he can fight them off with the "slow-kill" method which is medicine.  Fast kill would require a lot of money and crating him for two months!  I hope the first way works, such an active dog who is part of our everyday life would be miserable crated that long!

Not matter what I say about them, I do look forward to our evenings with the dogs.  Lucy will be trying to get us to chase her around the living room and when that's done, she'll chew on her bone.  Cyrus will cuddle up with one of us in the recliner.  That's life with Lucy and Cyrus!

Life With Lucy and Cyrus

We're so happy it's getting closer to Spring!!  Being cooped up inside is no fun for energetic doggies. It's a good thing they are so cute!  One day during bad weather Cyrus ended up in the boys' bathroom instead of ours because I didn't want to leave Lucy in M's room eating magazines... It was M's job to make sure everything was okay for him.  When I came home for lunch it was apparent that M. had missed a few things - there was a box of kleenexes in shreds all over the floor.  Cyrus did this in total darkness because M. forgot to leave the light on! Like I said, it's a good thing they're so cute!

The easiest way to get all the mud off them is carry them to the shower.  Well, that works great if Hubby is at home.  M. and I had to carry Cyrus in for a shower the other day - think lots of mud all over both bathrooms.  Poor Lucy - Hubby is the only one who can carry her so she got hosed off with her leash wrapped around the mailbox.  She was a good sport even though she was shivering!  I turned the fireplace on for them and they don't seem to have held grudges!

They both started obedience school.  They can "leave it" (even if leave it is a treat), sit, and lay down (although not always willingly).  I knew Cyrus would learn quickly, but I must say - Lucy is surprising me.  She is finally even learning to take treats gently.

We're still enjoying life with Lucy and Cyrus!

Lucy and Cyrus enjoy snuggling and napping with Daddy on a snowy afternoon.

Life With Lucy And Cyrus

I'm beginning to realize that Life with Lucy and Cyrus is our ordinary life!!

A little over two weeks ago, I sprained my ankle - not just a little sprain, but stay off of it for two days (RICE) then wear a boot and then a brace kind of sprain.  That translates to two weeks of me not walking the turkeys and I missed it.  A lot! (I went yesterday for over 45 minutes and my ankle seems to be okay.)

Hubby and the boys were good to walk them - okay, sometimes the boys walked them a little quicker than they should have and sometimes there were complaints, but they did take up my slack. Aunt even walked them once. They got to run at Dad's once or twice. 

We went there this afternoon and oh, how they love to run there!  I love to see Cyrus bounding out of the tall weeds!  He always has his ears perked tall and somewhat reminds me of a rabbit.  Tonight, Hubby and the boys kept commenting on how Cyrus stunk.  Who knows what he rolled in in the field? The dog wash was already closed, so we tried what we used to do with Flash - put\him in the shower.  He didn't mind too much and it made the necessary difference in order for him to crawl in bed with L. Of course as soon as he was finished, Lucy had to get in on the action (I had already washed her face yesterday since Cyrus peed on her while we were out walking in the park!!!!).  Now we have two clean, better smelling doggies!

In the past two weeks the dogs have also torn up both the dog beds and the cushion to my porch swing (I had even tied it down to try to prevent that!).  My neighbor said she saw them do it and they had a great time!  I'm sure with two preschoolers and her own dog there's not much she could do to discourage the turnkey's fun.  Of course Lucy and Cyrus have destroyed both of Drake's toy ducks and Drake has torn up his dog bed too.

Our other neighbor paid us a visit today because Lucy visited him in his yard (Did I mention our neighbor is an avid gardener?)  Thankfully he is a nice neighbor and he and Hubby found Lucy's hole and that's taken care of.  This dog is tough on fences!!  Thankfully, Cyrus is much too smart to follow her in any jailbreaks.  Obedience school is in the very near future!

Finally L. gets in on a picture with the turkeys.

They kept me company when I couldn't move around because of my ankle.

Life with Lucy and Cyrus

Hubby and M were away for the week, so L and I were in charge of the dogs the. whole. time.  Mostly me - but L really was helpful!  In the evenings, Cyrus enjoyed chewing on Monkey Man.

At some point he has also enjoyed chewing on the footboard of M's bed!  I got him a nylabone to help with the chewing thing.  He won't touch it.  When Lucy was inside she was in M's her bed.  (And yes, I'm certain that it was Cyrus not Lucy that chewed on the wood.) I did wake up a couple of mornings with her in bed with me.  I guess she only likes sleeping alone so much. That dog!

I/we did manage to take walks every day.   Their favorite part is watching the ducks/geese.  I'm pretty sure Cyrus wishes he could fly!  The beginning of the week had wind chills below freezing, while the end of the week was in the 60s! I'm thankful for better walking weather - the next 10 days is forecasted for the 50s!

Today we were all (Hubby took 1/2 day) off for MLK day so we took the dogs (affectionately referred to as turkeys) to dad's to run.  It took absolutely no convincing to get them to explore, run, wrestle, and look for moles.  We'd love to do that more often - or maybe build a house there to give them the space????

I wish we could get the dogs to pose together for a picture.  Maybe when they're older? And slower/calmer? That's life with Lucy and Cyrus!