WagMommy: bye-bye bako

This Thanksgiving was one for the books. It was a special one this year because it's probably the last time we will all spend it together. Mom's house is on the market and she is headed for Arkansas in the next few months. My sister's hubby accepted a job in Orlando, Florida and starts next month so I guess that means she's going with him pretty soon.

I spent the last few days just loving being with my family. The kids are always in heaven at the Newmyer Ranch. We took the dogs up there for the first time. I think they loved it the most. Our "backyard" is super tiny. Wendy's house is on two acres so they had TONS of room to roam.

I have learned over the years that every year brings so much change. Every year. You can't expect anything to stay the same actually, so you may as well appreciate the things you love about now and embrace the things you don't love so much. Easier said than done, I know.

As humans it is our nature to dwell in the past or the future. We are not so gifted in living in the now. The older I get, the more intentional I am about appreciating today. When the big girls were infants and toddlers I couldn't wait for them to get to the next phase, the phase of less dependence on me. But now I know that each phase comes with challenges and fun all rolled into one. And if I'm always looking ahead I'm totally going to miss the fun.

I am fully aware that these days are the days I'll look back on 20 years from now and think, man, those were the best. I know there's lots of fun ahead too though.

So it was an awesome trip all in all. I think it's hilarious that my sister lives on a property with chickens, goats, horses and a dog. To say that Wendy is not really an animal person is an understatement. When the kids ask her anything about the livestock she always replies, "I don't know, ask Mark."

Wednesday was eventful. Addie gave herself a concussion. She was riding on the red little toy Angus is sitting on below. It goes really fast on the tile floor. She fell forward and hit her chin super hard. She fell asleep on the couch right after that so I woke her up and then she puked. We debated on taking her to the hospital but she quickly improved. Dan was on the phone for a while with his BFF who has been an ER nurse for like 20 years. We call him pretty often for things like that. And Dan's a medic so that helps too.

Then, after Winter rode the horse, she was helping with the saddle and stuff and the horse stepped on her foot. My brother pushed the horse off somehow. Her foot was sore for a while but nothing looked broken. She was running around the next day.

I haven't seen our 14 year old dog Twitch run in about two years. He ran the whole time he was up there. Mostly chasing the chickens. Now he can barely walk, poor guy. We have some pain meds for his joints we'll be giving him for a few days. I'm sure he doesn't regret it one bit.

Angus ran around a lot too.

And so did Otter. She mostly played fetch with anyone who would throw the ball. She is scared of most things, including chickens.

It was fun hanging out with my little bro Michael. He's the only one who's not moving away to another state. Thanks Mike.

Winter begs me for a horse weekly. She says we can keep it in the backyard and she can ride it around the streets of Azusa. She plans on moving up to take over this property when she's old enough she says. She got up on the giant animal and hugged it and said, I love you!

Large unpredictable things intimidate me like the ocean and horses. I'm more of a bungee jumping, roller coaster riding gal. You know, man made thrills. The last horse I rode was too fat and lazy to buck me off so he was perfect. I didn't really feel the need to ride this guy but I did say hello.

On the way to Bakersfield, Winter looked out the window and said, "I cannot wait to hug those chickens."

Mya is pretty much the perfect child because she asks how she can help like 100 times a day. She contributed lots to the Thanksgiving meal. She actually didn't do this one. I just made her pose next to it so it didn't look so boring.

Winter was ecstatic when Daisy the little dog came to her and sat in her lap. It was a first. She usually runs away from her.

My cousin's family was there too. They brought their too adorable for words child. She made this face at me, so I made it back. I assume that's why Mya's looking at me like that. The big girls fought over the baby. Mya has decided that she will probably have a kid or two after hanging out with this one. She was on the fence before. She is way cute.

The kids are going to miss their uncle Mark so much!

Mom and I love to walk through the almond trees. We came across this neighbor animal on our way. We weren't one hundred percent sure what animal it was. We agreed it was probably a bull. We'd make lousy farmers.