Emily saves the day!

So last Monday Kyle had dropped me off over where we hunt for a few hours. He came back at dark to pick me up with Brayden and Emily. As I was walking across the field towards the truck I saw Kyle and Brayden get out of the front seats and then I saw Kyle try to open the back hatch and then go to the front door with no success! Apparently when Brayden got out of the front passenger side door he hit the lock button! (the truck was not running) So where were the keys? Locked in the truck! So where was Emily? Locked in the truck in her car seat! When I got to the truck and found out for sure that this what happened I started to panic! It gets better though! We have an extra set of keys! Where were the extra set of keys? Locked in the truck!! It just so happened that very day when we were leaving the house I grabbed a set of keys and Kyle grabbed the other set! So he used one and the other set was left lying in the cup holder. Ok, so we knew we could not call someone to go to our house to get our extra set of keys!

Kyle decides at this point to try to get Emily to unlock her door! Now one of the first things that Emily does when she gets in the truck lately is to take off her shoes and socks! Don't ask, I don't know why, she just does it. Well this past summer she discovered that she could use her cute little toes to roll her window up and down! He thought just maybe that we could get her to unlock her door using her toes! So he took my flashlight that I had used to walk out of the woods with and pointed it at the door lock button and we kept asking, kept begging her to unlock the door! She was very calm and thought we wanted her to open her window so she kept trying to do that. About 5 minutes into this I started to think that maybe we should just break one of the windows! I wanted my baby girl out! She was of course fine, not freaking out or anything. She was pretty amused by the whole thing. Then Kyle said we should probably call a tow truck since we have free lock out service. But he kept trying to get her to open the door. Then one last try and "click" she flipped the lock and I quickly opened her door! SUCCESS!

We made a big deal about it and of course she was very excited and happy. She is such a smart little 2 year old! I was very relieved that we did not have to wait for a tow truck or break a window. So moral of the story keys need to come out of the truck whenever you get out! What a crazy night. Anyone else have a funny story like that?

Happy 11th Birthday James!

Today is my oldest James' 11th birthday! I can't believe that he is 11! Wow, how did that happen so fast! It seems like just yesterday I was rocking him to sleep and making up silly little songs to sing to him in the middle of the night or taking him to a Farm Machinery store to sit on the tractors! He is growing into such a fine young man. We love you James. Have a great birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your day this year. Make sure you take a moment to think about what you are thankful for.

A few things I am Thankful for this year!

God, He loves me unconditionally

My family! I have an awesome loving Husband and 4 great kids!

Health. I am thankful for my health. I had a pretty rough 8 months earlier this year with my gallbladder problems, but now I am feeling much better!

My family's health.

A warm, dry roof over my head! It might not be the biggest or prettiest but it is filled with lots of love!

My extended family. We are so lucky to be surrounded by so much family that loves us.

Our great friends!

For being a stay at home mom!

Our Freedom.

There is so much more that I am thankful for! What are you thankful for this year?

Our Weekend

Had a nice weekend. James and Hannah did not have school on Friday so I got to spend some extra time with them. :) The weather was beautiful and we spent a lot of time outside playing in the leaves, woods and the kids rode their go karts! Friday night we stayed home and watched a movie with the kids. Saturday Kyle had to work and we were pretty lazy in the morning, just hanging out in our pj's. Made some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Finally watched the Hannah Montana Movie and was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed the movie and would recommend that you watch it. I took some pics of the kids playing in our big leaf pile and I got a couple good ones that I think will work good for our Christmas card this year.








Sunday was opening day for firearms for deer here in Michigan. Kyle and I got up at 5 am and headed to the woods. Was a beautiful day out and I enjoyed being in my tree stand even though I did not get a deer today. I will be heading back out tomorrow. Kyle did not get one either. We still have a lot of standing corn around where we hunt and I think the deer like to hide in it! :) It is now 10pm and everyone is sleeping (Kyle is snoring on the couch!). I am heading to bed in a few. I am exhausted, apparently sitting for 7 hours in a tree stand makes you tired! lol Actually I think it is the getting up at 5am that makes me tired. I am not much of a morning person!

I entered a photo contest!

So about a month ago my mom called me and told me about a local amateur photo contest being sponsored by our County Conservation District! She knows how much I enjoy taking pictures and she really likes looking at my pictures! Although since she is my mom I doubt she would tell me that she did not like my photos! :) Anyways she has been encouraging me to enter and I finally got around and printed out 4 photos and dropped them off today!

The contest is an Annual thing and this year they have 4 categories that you can enter a photo in. I chose 4 that I really liked that fit in each category. The categories are Trees and Plants, Wildlife, Landscapes and People enjoying Nature! They will be picking 3 winners from each category. You will only be able to win in one category as well.


So here are the 4 photos I choose!I printed them out as an 8x10 and they looked better on photo paper than on my computer!

Which one is your favorite?

This I entered in People enjoying Nature! This is a picture of my youngest Emily running down the trail in the woods behind our house! During fall we are surrounded by a sea of yellow trees and leaves!


I entered this one in Trees and Plants. I took this in our woods behind our house. I love the contrast of the yellow and red!


I entered this one in the Wildlife category. I took this photo of a robin's nest this past Spring in a bush in our front yard. I played with the settings on my camera and love how the picture turned out.


I entered this in the Landscape category. This was taken in our side yard. We are surrounded by tons of trees!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Emily!

So Emily turns 2 today! I know I have been saying that time flies by but it really does! She has grown and changed so much these past 2 years. She is now running, jumping, climbing, talking in full sentences and helping her mama with chores around the house! She has so many people that love her. I can't wait to see what this next year has to bring. Happy Birthday Emily Ann! We love you more than words can describe!

Here are a few pics over the past 2 years that make me smile!

Flashback Friday-In honor of Emily's 2nd birthday!

Our youngest Emily Ann will be 2 on Sunday! Time has flown by so fast and she is such a joy and great addition to our family! For this flashback Friday I am going to share a little bit about the events leading up to Emily's arrival 2 years ago!

Emily was born 2 weeks early due to me having been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I was having weekly stress test 2 times a week and ultrasounds a couple times a month to monitor her growth. Babies with mothers that have GD tend to be bigger and if they go full term and the baby is big chances for a C-section increase greatly! I was pretty adamant with my doctor from the start that I wanted to do everything I could to avoid a C-section. I had my other 2 children without a C-Section and that was the plan for Emily as well. He was a great doctor and helped me fulfil that wish. I ended up going in for an ultrasound on the Sunday before Emily was born and they were estimating her weight at 8 1/2 pounds! When I went to my regularly scheduled appointment that following Tuesday my Doc said it was time and he wanted to induce that week! She was a bigger but everything else was looking good, she was healthy. I was excited but not overly happy about having to be induced, but wanted to do what was right for the baby and for my health. Induction was scheduled for 2 days later on Thursday the 8th! I was to spend the night before in the hospital and proceed from there the next morning. Emily was born on Thursday afternoon at 4:14pm. She was screaming and so beautiful! Kyle and I fell in love instantly! I was very happy that I avoided a c-section and the birth was fairly easy. I ended up not even having to have pitocin, Doctor just broke my water and she was born about 3 hours later! Loving the fact that I have had easy and very quick deliveries! Emily ended up weighing in at 8 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 inches long!

Cougar sighting in Michigan!

So this is crazy! I am always joking about their being cougars out in the woods here in Mid Michigan!There is not suppose to be cougars in Michigan. There has always been stories going around the area suggesting that there is a cougar living in Mid Michigan. My husband will ask me what I am so scared about when I say I am scared of the dark and don't want to go into the woods by myself! I always say well the cougar might get me! So I am sitting in my tree stand yesterday, kind of bored because I had been sitting for 2 hours and not seen a deer and I take a peek at my Twitter activity via my cell phone! (gotta love having a cell phone to play with when your hunting!) and see that the DNR has posted a link about a confirmed Cougar Sighting in Michigan!! They have the above photo that caught the cougar with a trail camera. YIKES! Well luckily it was way up in the Upper Peninsula, but I won't lie and tell you that I did not think that maybe, just maybe, there are cougars living in the woods I am hunting in! :) I also read that they have two sets of confirmed tracks in the UP as well! Then the article goes on to tell me how to defend myself if I encounter a cougar. Says not to run! lol, yeah right! Anyways just thought I would share with everyone.

Wordless Wednesdays - Getting some reading time in!

Emily has been showing some interest in sitting on the big girl toilet lately and she decided she needed a book this time! :) Excuse the plunger, etc... lol

Top 10 List: Things no child has ever died from!

So today I thought I would post a top 10 list that I happened to read in my Parenting Early Years magazine the other night.

10 things no child has ever died from!! :)

1. Screaming his lungs out (the lungs don't literally come out!)
2. Not getting the latest handheld, GPS-encoded musical thingamabob that all the other kids have! (Even if all the other kids really, truly do have it.)
3. Eating cheese sticks exclusively from age 2 to 3!
4. Taking 30 seconds to think about what he's thankful for before lunging for the sweet potatoes.
5. The heartbreak of a hopelessly twisted slinky!
6. Having to put her arm around her brother for five seconds for your family Christmas-card photo.
7. Being left with-GASP!-Dad while you go off for a much deserved girl's weekend!
8. Seeing the Hannah Montana movie the day after it opens.
9. Having to wait till he's older before he gets to use the pocket knife his clueless uncle got him for his birthday.
10. Too many hugs and kisses. :)

I just thought this list was cute. Enjoy and have a great Tuesday.

What I have discovered hunting!

This is a self portrait of me in my tree stand with my phone! lol, you get bored some days. :)

Okay, I know I talk about hunting a lot but I really do enjoy deer hunting and if your a woman you probably don't get it! lol :) But hunting is really not just about shooting an animal. There is so much more to it, so much to learn about Gods Creatures and to learn about yourself (think overcoming fears). Here is what I have discovered out in the woods this fall while bow hunting.

Leaves make more noise falling to the ground than a deer does walking thru the woods! Crazy but true! Deer are very quiet when the walk thru the woods. They just appear sometimes. It startles you when they do!

Squirrels are very feisty creatures and are very entertaining to watch when you are sitting in your tree stand. I had one climbing up my tree a couple weeks ago and about half way up I was moving around trying to scare it and it just sat there and chattered at me. He was not happy I was in his way.

Turkeys really do fly! I never ever believed that Turkeys flew until I was hunting and saw one run and fly into the top of a tree! They roost in the tops of trees in the evening to keep away from predators. It is pretty entertaining to watch.

When you hear a noise and it sounds like the sky is falling it is just those crazy flying turkeys getting into the tree! It is loud, leaves are flying and they appear very uncoordinated.

Birds will land in your tree and sometimes almost hit you in the head while flying around. I am still waiting for one to land on my head! :)

Sitting in your tree stand while it is windy out can be a little scary! lol I was so glad that my hubby let me know that my tree might move a little if it is windy. The first time this happened to me I freaked a little. It is a really weird feeling having the tree moving one direction while your sitting in a ladder stand hooked to the tree. It does not really bother me now, but like I said if I had not known about this I probably would have gotten down that night and missed seeing that doe I shot on the 2nd day of bow season this year! :)

Now not many of you probably know this but I am scared of the dark! lol I really am and I am not ashamed to admit it. I always have been and probably always will be. Anyways, hunting normally involves going into the woods in the dark or coming out at dusk! This spooks me out so much. Once I am in my tree stand I am fine if it is dark but I guess I don't really like the unknown. I know that nothing is going to get me and I do have a weapon but I hate, hate, hate being startled by deer, raccoons, squirrels, etc. in the dark! So I am really working on overcoming this fear and I am doing better with coming out of the woods by myself in the dark. Still need my hubby to walk me to my stand in the morning! Gotta love a hubby who will get up and go with his wife even if he is not hunting. He is the best! I pray about it daily. :) Now I am for sure not going to disclose where I hunt at for fear that one of you might try to sneak in and jump out at me in the dark! lol

I know I can overcome my fear of darkness (well maybe) someday. I was able to get in a tree stand for the first time this year! I always told my husband that I would never hunt out of a tree. I have a serious fear of heights as well. ( I am a wimp) Well since he went and bought me a bow for Christmas he thought I should try to get in a ladder stand since it is better than the ground blind. So this past summer he put up the stand in our yard so I could practice getting in it! It must have been so funny to watch me climb up it the first few times. Scared out of my mind to climb just the 10 feet, I would not let him put the last 5 feet of ladder on it! It got easier every time and eventually I was able to stop holding on to the side rails long enough to actually shoot my bow. Well the first time I got in it in the woods this fall I laughed to myself because the 10 feet did not seem tall enough in the woods. I felt like the deer would walk in and look me in the eyes. So I had Kyle put the last 5 feet of ladder on and have been hunting from 15 feet ever since. Does not even bother me to climb it now! I am so proud of myself. Baby steps Wendy, baby steps! :)

One of the best things I like about hunting (besides actually shooting the deer) is the quiet time I have to myself! 2 to 3 hours of just sitting in your stand in the woods gives you a lot of time to reflect on life and to talk to God! He is an awesome God and I am in awe of everything he has created!

So even if your not a hunter you should all consider spending some time out in the woods! It is a beautiful place, so different from the hustle and bustle of every day life. I keep telling my self to grab my camera because there is so much to photograph. Maybe next time. Thanks for letting me ramble on about my hobby. :)

Day 1 Of my Back to Blogging Movement in November!

Ok it is almost the end of the day but I remembered! :) CLICK HERE to read my previous post about getting back to blogging this November! You should join in as well.

So Sunday's topic is: "Sunday Survey" (random questions)

This will be random questions that will help you get to know me a little better! Go ahead and copy and paste it to your blog and join in.

1. What state do you live in? Michigan
2. City or Country? Country all the way!
3. Favorite Color? Red
4. Favorite Season? Fall
5. Favorite Candy Bar? Snickers
6. What kind of car do you drive? Yukon XL
7. Any Pets? 2 Cats
8. Hobbies? Blogging,Scrap booking,Hunting,Snowmobiling,Photography, Coupons and saving money! :)
9. Somewhere you would love to visit? Alaska or Australia
10. What color is your bathroom? Tea Leaf Green
11. How many bedrooms does your house have? 5
12. Favorite Restaurant? Texas Roadhouse
13. Morning or Night Person? Night for sure!
14. Favorite kind of movies? Comedy
15. Favorite Store? Target :)
16. Favorite Beverage? Diet Coke
17. Favorite Musical Group? Rascal Flatts, Mercy Me, Nickelback! I love all kinds of music!
18. Snow or no Snow? SNOW! :)
19. Cheese or no Cheese on your burger? Cheese, I love Swiss on my burger!
20. What month is your birthday in? January