a little too much winter

Mickey and Annie reluctantly participated in provided some perspective on how the local landscape appearance has changed since my last post.

Mickey is on our driveway in the front yard by the walkway.

Annie is actually in the street here. It does make a kind of nice backdrop.

We live on the inside of a circle, where the snowplow leaves all the snow in a nice mountain for us.

a winter walkabout

A day that's chilly but sunny means I may as well get the dogs out for a walk. 

Mickey was put out at being left home, but I assured him it was too cold for his approval (plus I can't manage three walking and him in the baby sling, he's not up for long walks yet)

my little corner of Nebraska

So not going to let go of Maverick's leash, there were birds flying around!

our little lake we walk down to and around

warmer at home

Susan Garrett does not have this problem

Brynley really does like to do everything with me!

I try to get some exercise on my cellerciser, Brynley thinks its time for a gentle massage. He loves it and won't get off even when I'm bouncing!

my fine young man

My son, my first born, he is growing up in to a fine young man. He's in 8th grade now, he'll be 14 in a couple of months, it's hard to believe. He is really growing up this year. We've had struggles over the years. He has dyslexia and ADD. He receives special education services at school. He is a smart kid. This year, he is starting to be the successful, confident, young man I've always hoped he would be. Next month, he will participate at his school level in the National Geography Bee. He is one of only 29 students, out of the hundreds at his middle school, that made the qualifying cut off score. A special ed  student competing in a competition that was mostly intended for the gifted kids. Rock on! Dyslexia has hidden his gifts for long enough. 

He's plays flute in his 8th grade band, right in the middle of the flute section. 

He loves fencing.

I love that smile.

He is a swimmer. Breaststroke is his favorite. When he was younger he sort of looked like a flopping fish. His times were, in a word, slow. Now he slices through the water with a smooth, seemingly effortless stroke. His times are dropping fast. 

Butterfly

Freestyle

Gliding through the water, swimmers are being passed, times are coming down, confidence is going up. 

Small rewards of being a parent. 

Wedding, Christmas, rambling

I am a very lucky woman. I don't have a sister, I was blessed with one brother. But thanks to my brother and my husband, I have the best sister-in-laws a woman could ask for. Actually, I just think of them as my sisters, even though I didn't get them until I was an adult. One of them is the amazing woman my brother married. He would agree it was the best thing he's ever done. She writes a popular blog (you can see it here) and designs gorgeous jewelry. She also it a great amateur photographer. She's way more creative than I am, but I'm really good at borrowing ideas. We have been in California for a family wedding, and we got the chance to get together with them for a early Christmas. So I borrowed her idea for this picture. Lisa's is way better than mine, but I do what I can. I love these stockings. My mom made the first ones when my brother and I were kids and has added the ones for our spouses and kids as they came along. 

The purpose of our visit was for the wedding of my youngest brother-in-law. His new wife happens to share my first name. It's freaking me out a little bit, seeing my name on Facebook belonging to someone else, but I love her so much, so it's ok. It means I now have the five best sisters (in law) in the world.

My beautiful daughter got to be the flower girl. It was the perfect wedding, meaningful and short! We got a little time to hang out with all my husband's family and all my family. It was a jam packed weekend, but I got to see all the people I love most in the world. Can't ask for more than that. (and it was in warm California, a weekend away from the cold and ice!)

Here's a moment with my daughter, my nephew, and my godmother. Being surrounded by so much love is reminding me to be grateful for all the good things in my life.  Little Mickey papillon dislocated his hip and it cost over $1000 to fix him, so with weddings, and vet bills and such, this Christmas is going to be smaller than we've been used to. I still have a lot to be thankful for and happy about.  I may put a bow on my Mickey and kiss him and snuggle him. It's a good year after all. 

Speaking of papillons, here is my mom's pretty little Rose. 

enjoying the sun

Sunday afternoon we headed to the Omaha Zoo to enjoy what will probably be the last of the sunny, 70 degree weather. It was beautiful, and so relaxing!

I always go crazy taking pictures of the ring-tailed lemurs. I must have taken at least 50. This guy particularly amused me.

My highlight was seeing the 5 month old Siberian (Amur) Tiger. This is Isabelle and her mom. How precious, a new baby girl in a critically endangered species. 

Autumn

Autumn, I just think it's a prettier word than fall. Summer has ended in the heartland. This morning was distinctly chilly. Still, I decided to play with my camera and post to my much neglected blog. We have been lucky with a warm, dry fall. It's only just getting chilly so can't really complain. 

Some of the trees have already lost their leaves. Raking season is in full swing!

Others are still showing off their beautiful colors.

If you haven't realized it, there is a relationship between which dogs are most likely to stay still for a picture and which one's pictures get taken the most often! 

Yes, Brynley is probably my favorite subject.

Annie is also cooperative. This picture made me laugh. It's such a typical Annie expression that I just had to use it!

Brynley has had a wonderful fall making his debut in agility. These are his AKC Novice ribbons. I really like his choices in favorite colors! (Green ribbons are for runs qualifying towards a title, blue is for 1st place, the multi color was for his first title)  I ran him a total of five days in AKC agility this fall. He ran outdoors on grass, in an indoor horse arena, and indoors on an artificial turf soccer field. (we both love that turf!) I was so proud of how he performed in all these different conditions. He had rock solid start line stays, no off courses, great weave pole entries, and blazing speed. He earned his first two AKC titles . He is now Jusdandy Twilight Bright NA, NAJ. Now we'll take the winter off to relax and maybe play with some obedience training and build back to what needs to be worked on for Open in the spring. The biggest issue for now is that his contacts haven't  held up as he's gone from second gear to overdrive. I'm not quite sure how we're going to address this. We can do some 2o2o work over the winter, but the real issue is putting it together with serious speed that we can't get when we're training indoors on mats or just on a contact trainer. That's my puzzle for now. Meantime, I'm looking forward to just curling up with a book and my dogs to snuggle and relax as the weather gets cold.