Makin up for lost time- sorry!!

Well, thought I better take a minute to update a little since I haven't updated since Oct.! Boy I'm bad! No pictures right now though! Wyatt is busy with basketball being in full swing now. He had his first game at Worthington on Monday and I was soooo proud of them! They won and boy have they really improved! A lot of the boys on his team have a lot of talent so it is fun to watch them and gets better every year! He is what he calls the "shooting" guard on the team. He scored 12 pts and had quite a few assists! He tells me to video so I won't yell too much ( can't help it I just get excited)! We got home and he had to watch the video to critique himself! Oh my! His next game is Saturday at Holland! Madisyn is excited because she has a cheer clinic Saturday that she does every year. The girls go to the school for a few hrs. and the cheerleaders teach them cheers and they have pizza, etc... That night at the Varsity/JV game the girls get to "perform" their cheer! They think they are so big! It is really neat. Later they will do a Lionette dance clinic the same way.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! I've been trying to read everyones blog to keep up and sounds like everyone did! I had to work at the Quick Care in Washington so I dropped my two off at their grandparents/dads house in Washington for a few hrs. so they could eat their fill on turkey/noodles and the goodies. They were sooo sweet and even brought mommy a plate full over to work! We weren't very busy at work so the day went slow. I had to work the weekend at Quick Care too so they kids stayed at their dads on Friday. Wyatt went quail hunting with his dad, grandpa, uncle, and cousin and shot a couple! He was sooo proud! He practiced on Thanksgiving day shooting clay pigeons. Saturday they went to my sisters house to help her pick out her Christmas tree and decorate it which is always a treat for them. Next year will be even better because my little nephew Collin will be around!!!! Sunday they had Thanksgiving at my moms with my family! From what I hear everyone had a good time sitting around eating and socializing like normal! I hate that I missed it! They did save me a plate again though!

Oh, by the way- I did do the crazy Black Friday shopping thing for a few hrs at Bloomington! I conned Doug in to going with me to the mall, Kohls, and Sams. I took him to Texas Roadhouse though so he didn't complain much! HaHa
He had never been in a Sams, Target, the mall, etc. Oh My!!! Well better go for now! Update later!

Las Vegas Adventure!!!

Well I recently arrived home from a 5 day trip to Vegas which was pretty interesting for a country girl like me!! We left Thursday morning and got back home late Monday night- I absolutely couldn't believe the amount of people gambling away their money!! I don't even want to know how much money is wasted out there! ( I will admit I gambled $4 on the 1cent slots just to say I did it!) We went out for a wedding that was on Saturday which was definately interesting! The wedding chapel was next to an adult porn store, the woman at the counter didn't speak English well, the minister was a big black "Jamaican-man", and there weren't even 15 pictures good enough to order!!! I'm glad it wasn't my wedding but the kids didn't care just as long as they got married! It was comical but still sweet! We did get a 1 hr. limo ride which was spent in traffic on the strip! (Saturday night) I'm glad I went and would probably go back but not for 5 days! There were some really neat things out there that I will always remember--the fountains at the Bellagio were gorgeous, going up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris, the 911 tribute at the New York-New York, the Grand Canyon from the plane window headed home......

The newlyweds: Ryan and Tiffany (Taylor) Swartzentruber


Well.....we were on the strip somewhere......

A few pics from the Bellagio fountains which do not do it justice!!! At night time it is lit up and plays to music!! It is awesome!!

Spring Mill- Wyatt and Madisyn's Fall Break

Well we had absolutely beautiful weather at Spring Mill for camping! The kids loved the village and kept us all hopping on the bikes, hiking, and exploring caves!

Wyatt and Madisyn thought this tree was really unique so they had to have a picture!! (They like to get their picture taken about as much as I like taking them!)

Our camping group- Angie (Melinda's friend), Melinda, Grandma, Natalie, Jen, Papaw, Adam, and of course Wyatt and Madisyn!

The kids were able to make their own marbles at the pottery place in the village! They had a blast doing this and getting their hands dirty!


The kids got to go on Thursday and stayed until Monday since they were out of school! I went Friday night and had to come home Sunday afternoon. We really roughed it because instead of sleeping in the camper we decided to pitch a tent. It got a little chilly at night but we cuddled a lot! The campfire felt wonderful!!!

We had such a pretty weekend and spent almost all of it outdoors! I love Fall and those kind of weekends! The kids practiced up their tree climbing skills.....Madisyn partly to get away from the dogs I think!


My happy Bubby always ready to pose with a smile!! I caught him peeing out of the tree and snuck a picture also but figured I better not post it! HaHa That boy is definately not shy (he gets that from my dad!)

Part of the reason Madisyn was in the tree......
Raegan and Molly are two of our labs that are about 5 months old!

The rest of the reason Madisyn was in the tree..... Our other lab- Winston- and his partners..... They love to be loose and running around as much as the kids on these days! They are hilarious to watch!!

We spent Sunday afternoon at my mom's house in Odon. She fixed an awesome dinner and then we carved pumpkins! That was fun! Madisyn scared me to death with the knife....I swore she wouldn't get that pumpkin carved without having to get stitches in her fingers! HaHa




Here are a few pictures from our adventure to Lark's Farms Friday evening! We had a blast! We had BBQ, beans, and chips for supper and later Doug and Madisyn had funnel cakes and I had an apple cider slushy! Mmmmm

Madisyn is waiting to go on the hayride which will take us to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins!

Just a photo of part of the farm in case you haven't been. It is really neat!

Madisyn loved the pumpkin patch and getting to pick out her very own pumpkin! Her and I ran all over that patch.... She ended up getting one for her brother too! Ah, she is soooo sweet! Her pumpkins weighed 17 lbs and 10 lbs. She didn't go for those little ones of course!

Wyatt spent the night with Seth Wagler and ended up at Lark's also, so we entered the maze together! Notice I said "entered" because we didn't stay together long. Those boys had a different style of checking out the maze! I'm sure you can imagine if you've been around boys very much! They had a blast!

Thursday night Wyatt had his 5th grade music program and had a small speaking part!

He did an excellent job! He actually loves to sing but would probably kill me for telling that!

Busy,Busy,Busy---

Well I don't have any pictures right now to post but they will come later. Just thought I should put something on here so you know that I'm still trying to do this "blog thing"! It seems like time is flying here lately! Wyatt has started 5th grade basketball this week which is a big deal of course! Practice is right after school until 5 and all the boys walk to JFK which scares me to death but I guess I can't keep them little forever! Wyatt says practice is hard and they do a lot of stretching and running ( he really has no idea what hard is yet )! He is pretty tender-hearted so I have lectured him a little on the coaches getting a little "loud" sometimes and to not take it to heart! He has practice tonight til 5pm and then he has his 5th grade music program at 6:30pm! Run, Run, Run! He actually loves to sing and will probably kill me for telling that! He has a small speaking part in the program tonight and gets to run across the stage and slide! WOW!
Madisyn has started dance class on Tuesday evenings and they are picking out their songs to start working on for the recital next Spring. She is getting sooo big! She tells me everyday that when she gets home she is going to play school (like I don't already know that since she tells me that everyday)! HaHa! She really enjoys school and pretending to be a teacher!
I just got back from Talladega this past weekend which was fun! It's my 3rd time to be there and this time I almost backed out just because I wanted to stay home.....but after I got there I was glad that I went. (Except for the fact that we slept on an airmattress that decided to deflate during the night and the canopy right over my head decided to leak condensation on my head all night!) You feel sorry for me don't you?? A good thing was that I drew Tony Stewart for the pot and ended up winning that!
I think the kids and I are going to go to Lark Farms this weekend and will hopefully get some good pictures to post!! Well better go for now!

Well, here we go.......

Well this is going to be interesting since I am not a computer person. Just a little background about us..... I have two children- Wyatt Matthew age 11 and Madisyn Grace age 8. We also have 3 labrador retrievers so therefore we live in the country with a lot of room to roam! Also hence the name Country Rascals!! We are always busy it seems and the days seem so short. I remember my mom always telling me time flys and not to wish away my life and man do I know what she means now, especially being a mom to two children. They grow up sooooo fast. We have had a lot of changes and moves in our life so far but we are getting adjusted finally it seems. We have been taking the puppies to Boggs to walk in the evenings and boy is that an adventure!! They do really well but they LOVE the lake (of course they are labs so what should I expect!!) By the time we get that done, homework, supper, showers, its time for bed! We never have enough hours in a day it seems! Well I better go for now.....Hopefully will figure out some cool stuff on this blog thing!! Maybe even how to post pictures!!

Passing on my love for Nascar........

Wyatt and Madisyn at their 1st Nascar Race. Wyatt is a Little E fan as you can tell so he and I go round and round. ( I am a Jimmie Johnson fan!) Madisyn really doesn't care but she usually cheers for whoever mom cheers for! She will learn! HaHa