wish I could protect them

This, my friends, is one of my absolute favorite people!

He makes me so happy and I am so proud of him!

Is it weird that I lose sleep worrying about him?  Nah I know that's normal.  

Seriously though, I worry about him being in school.  Kids are so dang mean!  I'm afraid of people making fun of him, boys being mean to him.  I just wish that I could protect him from all of that pain.  My husband laughs at me and says it's just part of growing up and we all go through it, but I wish that wasn't true!

My kiddo has a medical bowel issue, awful to be a 6 yr old and have these issues already.  He has been taking a laxative every day for the last 3 years.  I am thankful that he has never had any accidents or anything of that nature, honestly I thank the Lord that he hasn't experienced that embarrassment.  But I fear that the day might come where it might happen, and that day will be at school, and he will forever be remembered as "that boy".  

It's the simple things like that, "the kid who threw up in class", "the kid who cried", oh why are kids so mean to each other!

We moved into our house last October and with the bad winter we had and the busy summer it was nearly impossible to make our rounds and meet some of the kids.  Last weekend I saw 3 boys riding their scooters up the street from us.  I rushed in and grabbed my kiddo and said "grab your scooter and lets go say hi to those boys!".  Logan being such a trooper grabbed his scooter and raced up to them, asking if they wanted to play.  They just looked at him and said "no" and raced off laughing.  Break my heart!  Luckily it didn't seem to phase him but all the "what if's" took over in my mind, like what if now he won't ever approach other kids and ask to play just because these 3 little boys were asses to him?

What do you guys do to help build self esteem in your kids? and keep them safe from other kids mean behavior?

And am I just crazy?  ;)

*bragging moment - my kid rocks btw, he's excellent at soccer, a genius, has amazing good looks, a brilliant personality, loves everyone, it's quite possible that he's the most awesome 6 yr old E.V.E.R.

the madness has begun!

Wednesday: Logan started First grade.... me = one sad mommy!  Time is going so fast!

Thursday: I started back up at school, which meant taking Riley to a babysitter.  What a sad day for both me and Riley!  He cried, I cried... being a mom is so hard!

First day of school for me was great!  We had our first quiz, I got my 2 points (they're only worth 2) it doesn't really matter that it was open notes does it?  Nah I didn't think so either!  Also we got our clinical assignments, I'll be at KU Medical Center (ya'll know KU right? Rock Chalk Jayhawk? yeah that's right!)  and I'm working on a transplant unit, awesome!  Should be a fantastic experience!  Not to mention that 7 out of 8 of us in our group are great friends, how did we get that lucky?  Out of 63 people in our class that we'd all get the same group?  Oh well, I'll keep my mouth shut and just take the luck!

I haven't had a chance to get back out to ride Lady since Tuesday and our blow out.  I did end up with some fantastic bruising on the inside of my knees, I can only guess it's from keeping myself in the saddle!  I have very mixed feelings towards this horse right now!

Soccer has started again for Logan, practice two times a week!  Plus he goes to his dad one evening a week, we are so busy!

Oh, and one more thing that adds to our madness.....

yep, we just couldn't help ourselves! She's too cute!  WILD but cute!

We haven't named her yet but I promise it won't take as long as it took to name the horse!

We're going between Zorro and Secret.  She's got some little stripes on the sides of her face that look sorta like the outline of a mask across her eyes (like Zorro).  Zorro is a little manly so we're thinking of Secret, like she's got a mask on so maybe she's got a secret?  That and she's always hiding from us!  Logan however thinks we should just call her "Little Cat", he's so creative! lol

Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend!

one confused gal!

boy this girl is confused!  lol

Over the weekend I decided to change the name of my blog and the whole direction I was going with it.  

I went as far as changing the header and even did my first post...

and shortly deleted the post and put the changes back! lol

I sorta remind myself of the commercial on the radio with the lady trying to order from McDonalds,

you know the one... cheeseburger? nuggets? $1 soda? cheeseburger?  Yup, that's me!

Another thing to be confused about???? 

To cut my hair, or not to.  That is the question.

It has taken so long for it to grow and I love it, but at the same time I hate it!

It gets in my way when I sleep, it feels so heavy, I get headaches if I wear it up...

The easy answer is definitely cut it, but I can't be too hasty about these things, gotta think about it!

So back to the beginning of this post.... I was going to change my blog to "Back to the Races"

I spent my childhood and young adulthood barrel racing.  High school Rodeo, had a scholarship to college rode (which I screwed that up - totally different post!), NBHA, local circuits.  Definitely some of the best days of my life and where most of my memories come from!  

Back in May I got a horse as my mothers day gift, nice huh?

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to train her for barrels.

So that is my new mission!  Not only will I be a stay-at-home mom, a student in my last semester of nursing school, and a wife... I'm going to add barrel horse trainer to my resume!  (my horse loving followers please don't laugh at me! lol)

My complaint about this horse... she's a bucker.  Not all the time.  Only when you're not expecting it - of course.  I first discovered this when I started loping her, after a 45 minute ride she let loose and I landed in the dirt. No bucking since then.  I was a big baby and didn't lope her again for another month.  The second try she did fine.  Next time I tried she bucked again, at least this time I stayed in the saddle!

Tonight after I climbed on we started walking the trail to the outdoor arena, I didn't get 5 steps and she bucked... so to the round pen we went and lunging was the only work out that we got today.

My concern?  Will she always be a bucker?  And btw when I saw buck I don't mean hopping a little... I mean tucking that head down and all 4 feet coming off the ground, she could be a good rodeo mare with her skills.  I hate to invest all this time and the horse won't get over the bucking!

I've been browsing youtube and viewed some videos on barrel horse training that I really liked.  One was Peggy Hall, click here to watch her video and another good one was Jackie Dube, click here to watch hers.

And here's my horse friend... Lady... which is SO unfitting for her! lol

So, horse friends, any advice for me?

And to my non horse friends I'm sorry for veering off subject, I promise that I'll continue to blog about my crazy kids & husband!!!  

race for a cure

Today some friends and family participated in the Susan G Koman Race for a Cure 5K. Our team walked in honor of Teri L Siems. Teri is the mother of one of our close friends, sadly she passed away less than a month ago from complications due to breast cancer. It was a devastating and unexpected loss. It was amazing to see so many people come together to help support such a good cause. There were over 30,000 participants! Here's a couple of shots of our group.... What do you think of the shirts? I had them made and am SOOO proud of them!