WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

This is a picture of Mark and Dawn's horse, Dixie (in the pen) and our two. Dixie is Minnie's Mom and George's grandma. You would never guess by the way they all acted. Here Dixie is attempting to bite at Minnie. This only happened because Minnie stuck her head over the pen to taunt her. I was embarrassed by Minnie's behavior! She was such a b****!!! She taunted Dixie, chased Charlie and bucked at anyone who looked at her funny! In addition to our own two horses, we also picked up Denice's horse, Casey. They all were beautiful running around the pasture once we put them all in together. It was like a herd of wild horses.

This is Ally and Cate.

This is Max on Casey~before the "incident". Some of us went on a trail ride up behind Mark and Dawn's property. There are woods and a small stream to cross. On our way back, Eric and Max were in front on Glory. Al and I were right behind them on Charlie. Mark was on Casey and Dawn on Buck. As Glory crosses the stream, she starts struggling to get her footing. I watch as she falls over with Eric and Max getting thrown into the stream. Charlie makes it up the embankment and I turn around to figure out what the hell I was going to do. Mark was already off Casey, who went running for the barn. I hear both Eric and Max, so I knew they were ok. I hear Max yelling that he was stuck. My gut is leaping into my throat, but I had to go after Casey. Now, I couldn't start freaking out, cuz I had Ally on the back of the horse, and I didn't want to scare her. She and I get Casey through the gate and we run to the barn. This part was exciting for Al, cuz the whole ride, she wanted to RUN!! Once I got Casey where he needed to be, I head back for the stream. Dawn was already on her way back, saying everyone was ok. They were wet and cold, but ok. Well, as it all went down, Max's leg was stuck under Glory! If I had been there long enough to assess the situation, I would have been a freaking basketcase!!!! Instead of rolling over to right herself, Glory stayed right where she was, on her back, waiting for the guys to get Max out of there. Once they freed him, they told her to go ahead and get up...and she did. If she had tried to get up, she would have rolled onto Max, crushing him or drowning him. As I thought of this scenario over the next couple of days, I tortured myself with what "could have" happened. It was so scary. It was also a freak accident. The embankment had gave-way under her feet. She tried, but it just collapsed. We washed Glory off at the barn and she was ok, too-especially after all the treats we gave her!!! Oh yeah, Glory is also related to my horses. I'll be happy if mine turn out the be even half the horse she is!!!!!

Max's excitement after his first homerun of the year!!

This is Max's first year of kid-pitch (peewee). It's quite a bit different than years past. However, one of the good things is that the kids move around positions a little more than they have before. Last year, when our first baseman was on vacation, we were sunk, due to the fact that none of the other boys had played that position much. This year, while one of the boys is pitching, someone is playing their position. It works for versatility. That being said, I'm a little more of a nervous wreck.......why?........because my kid is out there pitching...right in the line of fire!! EEK!
When Max isn't pitching, he plays shortstop.
It's a lot of fun to watch him, cuz he has such natural ability. He looks like he's been pitching for years........
When I suggested purchasing a chest plate for when he's pitching, I was met with the eye-rolling response..........."Aww, MOM......" :)

Baseball/T-ball has begun!! This is Ally's first year playing ball. In Marengo's league, they separate boys and girls into baseball and softball t-ball. This is my little "ragamuffin" in one of her first practices.
RUN!!!
Doesn't she look like a force to be reckoned with? I'm sure that's what the other teams will think! Please no comments on the fact that she is in her brothers' hand-me downs, head to toe!!!!!!!!

Here's a recipe for Energy Balls.................(insert juvenile joke here)
I made these for the boys during football last year. Jay kept coming out for a drink break and trying to gobble these up. If Jay eats them, they must be good. He's my pickiest eater!


1 small banana
1/2 c. chunky peanut butter (I used creamy, only cuz that's all I had)
1/2 c. toasted wheat germ
finely chopped peanuts, mini chocolate chips, coconut~ anything you want to use as a coating.

In a bowl, mash the banana and peanut butter. Stir in wheat germ. Roll approx. 1 tablespoon of mixture in to a ball, then roll in desired coating, then chill. Really. Chill. You just made a healthy snack for your kids(s). Go read a book or watch tv.

* You can also add flax seed, which is super good for you. Granola would be a great coating...just some more ideas.....

WOW! Just when you think you've made it through the winter with no major illness........ I got slammed last week with I can only describe as, well, the flu. I slept from 6pm Sunday evening to about 3pm Monday afternoon. A week later, I'm still coughing and congested. Ick. Anyhoo, I am trying to catch up with the emails, cleaning and blogging.






This was Ally's field trip to the Franklin Park Conservatory. They have a butterfly exhibit I had been wanting to go to for awhile.

Beautiful sculpture!!

This butterfly landed on Al's finger and found her pretty sweet, cuz it didn't budge for quite awhile.
This was the koi pond. The pictures don't do it justice. It was beautiful!

Just a very few of the "wild" things that have come to visit in the last few months.......LOTS of frogs, tadpoles and fish. There are quite a few fish in the pond that are bigger than I expected them to be!
The fowl have taken to the pond more this year than any other. The geese were quite territorial and let it be known any time you walked out there. They have since decided they couldn't quite compete with the chaos of the Schreiber zoo. They still come for visits occasionally, but haven't set up shop.

The killdeer came back again this year and laid eggs. Eric staked the nest, so we didn't accidentally mow over it. However, at last check, the eggs were gone. We figure a raccoon or some other creature got to them. Poor mama killdeer.

*Not pictured: Deer (pack of 6 or 7 in our backyard one night), skunks, groundhog (one actually has one end of his burrow in the barn!), lots of rabbits (drive the dogs wild), and a muskrat carcass at the bottom of the pond.......Eric took him out~that's all I have to say about that.