Go Mustangs!

Okay, so we're suckers. We bought season tickets for the local high school football team. Two seats ran us nearly $200, but we get super-close free parking, awesome seats, and free food and drinks.

We weren't sure how Tyler was going to like watching football for 3 hours. Let me tell you, this boy LOVES it! He stands there screaming "touchdown!" and "Go, Mustangs!". When the bands come out at half-time, he dances, and sometimes pretends he's the conductor. When the 3rd quarter starts, he and Marc take a walk to the snack shack and buy me M&M's. It's great! We were at a game tonight, and I must say, these kids can play some ball. We stomped the other team, 49 to 28. This is the second of three home games we've won. The BIG game is next Friday; we play Prattville, which is the town two miles away, across the Interstate. Major rivalry; and right now Prattville is undefeated.

For those of you who don't know, I am NOT a football fan. I have no idea why I love going to these games so much. Maybe it's a "flashback" to my high school days; who knows??

Otherwise, things are fabulous. Tyler is doing excellent in school, and is reading like a champ. He's to the point now that if you spell a word, he'll tell you what it was. For instance, I looked at him and said "what is m-i-l-k?" and he said "milk". There was virtually no hesitation on his part. It's truly amazing to watch him grow up.

He was approved to receive therapy services through the school system. The next step is for the school's PT and OT to evaluate him, and make their recommendations for his care. We'll meet with them in about a month, and develop his plan of care. We're not as concerned about the PT as we are about the OT. The physical skills (gross motor) will pretty much take care of themselves as he gets older and needs to keep up with the other kids. He does need to be followed for his leg brace, though. The one he has now is so cool! It's really lightweight, and has helped him develop a proper heel-toe gait. You should see him run! He's faster, straighter (doesn't toe-in, which means he's not "throwing" his hip forward, he's actually using the right muscles in the right order), and he doesn't really look down anymore. There was such a long period of time where he ran looking down; we were sure he was going to run into a tree or something. But, between his last eye surgery and his legs being stronger, he's learned to use his lower peripheral vision to gauge where he's going.

Marc is same-oh, same-oh. Working hard putting together his big presentation thingy at the end of the month. He's also running the Booster Club stuff. He did not want that job. He was what we call "volun-told". He has to do it for a year (I think), so his time doing it should be over soon. Can you believe we've been here for almost a year already??? October 29th!

I went on another trail ride last weekend...this one was incredible. It was at Tuskegee National Forest (which, by the way, is the smallest National Forest in the country). This place was gorgeous! The trail was fairly flat, it went through some dense brush, some woods, and some open spaces. In total, it was 16 miles. We went the first 12 and then stopped at a lake to eat our lunches and rest the horses. Ranger was a good boy and drank from the lake before we left. The old adage about "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" is so true! However, Ranger has learned that if you're offered water, by God, you take it!! The last 4 miles of the ride was the best part...there were two LONG stretches of trail...and we galloped most of it. It was awesome!

The best part of the ride for me, though, was that Ranger jumped everything we came upon! I am so proud of the old man! The highest thing he jumped was 2'6", and he cleared it like a pro. I can't tell you the feeling of jumping over a downed tree with all that power under you. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. There was actually a moment of suspension in the air; it was what I imagine flying would be like. Needless to say, I'm now taking jumping lessons at the barn. I'm addicted. However, my horse and I are both vertically challenged, I'm kind of a wimp, and he's kind of old, so I don't think we'll be doing BIG jumps or doing a lot of jumping at all. I'm just taking the lessons to make sure I don't hinder his motion as we're jumping, and that my position is correct so when we land, I don't get off balance. That happened to me once, and it was pretty scary. Thank God Ranger likes me; he helped me rebalance myself before we continued.

This weekend we're headed to the Alabama Fair. We missed it last year; it was the week after we came to look for the house. I absolutely LOVE going to the fair, so I'm all excited. We're going with our neighbors, George, Deborah and Lydia, and their grandson Austin (who's Tyler's best friend). We got the kids wristbands so they can ride whatever they want. I plan to watch them ride and eat lots of fat nasty fair food.

Otherwise, not much else going on. Marc got all the horrid border off the walls in the kitchen and breakfast area; now we have to prime the walls, paint the walls and paint the trim. I think we're going to wait another week or so to do that, though. We need to get Tyler's big boy room done. I have to paint, put up the chair-rail border, clean the carpet and put his new twin bed in there. I think we can get most of it done this weekend. I already have all of his new bedding...we just need a headboard. I'll take photos of the room once it's done...I hope it comes out as cute in person as it does in my head!

Tyler wants to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. Ugh. Buzz is kind of "out" this year, so I'll have to order the costume for him. We got a bumblebee costume for the dog...it's hysterical! The barn is having a costume contest; Ranger is going to be a giant bumblebee and I'll be the beekeeper. I got him a bright yellow sheet...I'll use strips of black duct-tape to make the stripes. His halter is black, and I'll put two pipecleaners on it with yellow pom-poms on the top for his antennae. I'm going to wrap his tail in black wrap so it'll look like a stinger. It should be cute...I'll take pics of Buzz and the two bees for you all to see (and get a good laugh out of).

I just have to say that lately, I've been really happy. We all know I've had my share of ups and downs, with this stupid depression/anxiety thing. Thank God for drugs! But, I think lately my brain has been functioning on a more normal level, because I've just felt so happy these last few weeks. Things are good. Tyler is an awesome kid who just loves going to school, Piper is the best dog on the planet, Ranger is the best horse alive, Marc is the hard-working super-hubby, I have two great jobs, a handful of exceptionally wonderful friends, and the best parents/in-laws anyone could ask for. Things have been going really well for me, and I just wanted everyone to know how "all good things come with time". Mine took five friggin years, but it came!!! Many thanks to everyone for being so supportive, even when you thought I had wandered into the deep end. And the biggest thanks of all goes to Marc, who truly needs to be ordained a saint when he dies. I do NOT know how the man put up with me, but bless his pea-pickin heart for doing it. I've put him through the wringer in the past, and he stuck by me. I love you, babe!

I hope everyone is doing well. I know everyone is busy these days, so that's one reason I started the blog. You can keep up with us at two in the morning in your jammies if you want to! Lord knows I type it at midnight in my jammies!!

Have a great weekend, everyone!!