Category: I’m Always Right…I think? By Kayleen Holder

Man it sure can go from hot to cold in a hurry around here. Had to put up the old shorts and pull out the old jacket.
I enjoyed writing this week’s feature story about the Davis family who is raising genuine, pure Texas Longhorns. One of the pictures they sent me looks just like an old Longhorn cow that was one of my daddy’s first cows, or at least the most memorable. I hated that Longhorn because she would turn and chase after us when I rode by on my horse if we were anywhere in the vicinity of her calf. She was quite protective of her babies and it was pretty terrifying to see those horns coming toward you. I doubt she ever got too terribly close. It was “appeared closer than she was” in all my young terror, I’m sure.
But now, ten years later, I miss that old beautiful Longhorn cow. They are so iconic.
This weekend started off kind of interesting. I had my niece Audrey over at my house and we go to talking about her big “party” aka fundraiser that’s coming up April 15th to support research to find a cure for Audrey and other kids battling A-T.
Anyway, some craaazy people (you know you who are) created the Princess and Protector challenge, where you are supposed to dress up like a princess or superhero and make a funny (aka embarrassing) video so other people will share it and help promote Audrey’s event. I had no intention of becoming a singing princess, but let’s just say, I guess Audrey can talk me into anything. She is such a darling child. I have long hair so they often call me Rapunzel. I mentioned the idea of ordering some really, really long 4 foot real Rapunzel wig hair and Audrey got really excited really fast. Before I knew it, I was asking what Rapunzel sings anyway, and she immediately burst out into a song called “I have a dream.”
I have to admit, it is the perfect song for this challenge and it’s quite catchy. So we pulled it up on Google, and I started humming along and before we knew it we were singing a little parody about Audrey’s event, which she even helped me write, so then I had to sing it….. “I have a dream, I have a dream, to find a cure for A-T. And with every passing hour, I’m so glad I left my tower. Come to Devine Acres Farm for Audrey April 15.”
Long story short, the Rapunzel wig was atrocious, so I won’t be wearing that, but you can soon indeed look forward to the release of the musical renditions of a not-so-good singer called Rapunzel, who really, really, really loves a little girl named Audrey (who is also featured in the video and now calls herself Rapunzel’s helper).
Don’t laugh too hard…you might be challenged next…. Aunt Debbie!

Tucker’s playground took off like a jet airplane in those howling winds Thursday night or whatever night that was. But his daddy was real proud when Tucker saw it and took up a can-do attitude. The little man rolled up his sleeves and said “Well, I’m gonna go out there build a new playground, one that no wind can ever blow over.” Armed with duct tape and lots of determination, he taped a few boards together and moved a few boards here and there. We picked up the slide and set it up on a nearby tree stump, and he was happy.
Daddy and Tuck have a lot of plans about how they will re-construct the two-story playground into something better like a clubhouse later this week, and let me tell you, Tucker’s none too patient about it. Seems like every five minutes he heads outside to duct tape something else together.
We finally rounded up our free range, egg hiding chickens and put them in a makeshift chicken coop a couple nights, but still no eggs are to be found. I sure don’t know where they are laying them, but they must have quite a stash by now. One of the hens really loves us now though. She’s been following me around like a Raptor ever since we started feeding them bonified chicken scratch.
Weather has sure been nice; the kind of weather that begs you to come outside. Kids got to play on the waterslide at the ranch this weekend and I didn’t swim but I got hit by plenty of water balloons.

My 4-year-old son is jumping on his indoor trampoline while watching TV, wearing a white sailor’s cap and a dinosaur back pack, and two un-matching shoes. Yes, these are the good days, and I hope I can always remember what his cute little face looks like right now at this second, even though he won’t let me take a picture. He couldn’t look cuter.
And yes, that’s right, I have an indoor trampoline. I am glad I do, because it certainly gives him an outlet for the massive amount of energy he has. I only wish I had energy to jump on the trampoline with him. I’d be in good shape if I did!
We had a wedding shower for the beautiful bride of one of my little cousins, Richie, whom I will always remember as a 3 year old, blonde headed sweet toddler. I babysat him all the time, and every time I see the 6 ft tall guy he is, it freaks me out. I think that’s a sign that I’m getting old. Before the shower, I interviewed the bride and wrote their love story. Then at the shower, each guest illustrated one of the scenes from their love story. The happy couple, Richie and Sabrina, met and fell in love at the Quihi Dance Hall. It was a lot of fun reading their love story, and I think my aunts and cousins all had a surprisingly good time sitting down and using crayons again as they drew the pictures! It is pretty fun after all.
Turns out that coloring pictures is a good alternative to feel young again, and it’s a lot easier than dressing up in sailor hats and dinosaur backpacks and jumping endlessly on a trampoline!

Tucker woke up with a colorful thought this morning.
“Mom, if you can get me and my cousins to the moon, we are gonna kick the alien’s butts!”
I don’t know if he was having one heck of a dream or what, but this is one guy who doesn’t “come in peace” I guess. Life is always exciting with Tucker and he sure enjoys his “cousins.” Everywhere we go, he tells all the other kids he’s playing with about his cousins.
He hit some big milestones this week. Best of all, he spontaneously decided to clean his room by his own free will, while I was cleaning the kitchen. I was so impressed! Number two, he volunteered to give me a foot massage yesterday. I don’t even know how to say how much I love that!
He’s obviously not a big fan of aliens, but he sure does love his mommy.
I love that kid–to the moon and back!

We got some new chickens so it’s been kind of egg-citing around our house to say the least. These hens have a mind of their own, that’s for sure.
We have our fake ceramic eggs and plans, making little nesting boxes for them to lay eggs, but they have other ideas. They are flying up to roost in our trees at night, and then getting all sorts of creative when it comes to finding a spot to lay their eggs.
So far we’ve found 6 eggs, out of what I estimate to be 18 eggs hidden in our field, based on each hen laying 1 egg a day. So I guess that makes the score about 6 to 12, hens winning.
I’m a little exhausted of this non-stop Easter egg hunt, but Tucker is loving every minute of it. He even insisted that we make a “treasure map” of our property, showing where all the eggs we found were hidden.
It’s a pretty confusing map so far!

My son insisted on a rather odd snack last week. “I want some pickles and syrup,” he said with big eyes, shaking his head up and down like he was preparing for the most awesome thing.
“Are you sure?” I asked, thinking he wouldn’t take more than one bite.
Boy was I wrong. Yesterday he asked for the same thing, only he added blueberries to his request. Blueberries, pickles and syrup. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
“Mmmmm!” he exclaimed, “That’s good!”
Well if you are feeling adventurous, you have a new recipe to add to your menu. I am confident not many of you have tried it!

I ended up babysitting eight kiddos last week, including my two. It was a cousin-tastic kind of day. To be fair, two are teenagers, so they helped considerably. I thought my mind would be boggled and perhaps it was a little bit by the end of the day, but truthfully, I enjoyed it. I certainly heard phrases like “I’m hungry…I need to go the bathroom…I want a drink…I’m hungry again” more times than I care for in one day. But I think I kind of like the “cheaper by the dozen” lifestyle.
It was a busy day, but it was packed with smiles and fun. Eight little smiling faces made sure of that, and the teenagers were more helpful than ever before, because after all, they kind of have to be with that many kids around!
The four little boys explored and went on many missions to the tree house, and the girls played dolls and held the real-life baby. Occasionally, they came out to spy on each other or prank one another. We even had a picnic lunch. They built a new fort on a hill, and at the end of the day, we made a campfire. That was the best idea I had all year. That campfire provided hours of fun as they boys scoured the yard for sticks to throw in.
I’m not too big on New Year’s resolutions but I just so happened to accomplish something I’ve been longing to do on New Year’s Eve. We finally found a good deal on a storage shed and got it delivered, something I’ve been putting off for quite awhile. What a relief it is to get it done.
As a bonus, my “shed” was really a custom-built playhouse that was no doubt built by some loving grandpa years ago. It looks like a little log cabin with a porch, so my son loves it. There’s plenty of room for storage and a little fun-space too. The porch is Tucker’s new “base” of operations. So I guess we officially have four “forts/tree houses” now.
We stayed home that night, dog tired from carrying boxes to the new shed, but we got the most excellent firework show we could ever ask for by walking outside and looking all around us at midnight. The sky was filled with huge, beautiful firework shows, and we had an almost 360 view of 4 or 5 neighboring properties. Daddy popped a few little ones for us too, which Tucker thoroughly enjoyed.
Happy New Year! Mine’s been pretty productive so far. Gotta go now…my son’s a calling, and I think it’s time to go build the first fort of the New Year!

Christmas morning was a blast as always. I wish every morning could be like Christmas morning. My sweet teenager decided that she would give us an interesting wake-up call since her little brother has been letting us sleep in sometimes (too late for her taste of Christmas morning). So she set a speaker right outside our bedroom and began blaring “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.” It started out at a nice low volume but quickly started climbing.
“It was only on 100,” she said when I came out.
Santa left the kid’s presents sitting on the couch this year, and it took the kids quite a while before they spotted them. They were both super pleased. Tucker got his Treasure X sunken gold ship which he wrote a letter to Santa asking for, and when he saw it he yelled out “This is exactly what I wanted!”
Tucker, the super-sonic fast gift opener, was constantly hungry for the next gift. He had a lot of fun unwrapping this year.
The days leading up to Christmas were a tad bit stressful, as seeing those big gifts wrapped under the tree began driving Tucker a little bonkers. I waited to wrap the biggest, most exciting gifts until a couple days before Christmas, and it’s a darn good thing. Tucker is a lot of things, but patient isn’t one of them.
We certainly had a great Christmas and my mom got to have all of her kids under one roof at the same time finally, so that was fun for her. We didn’t get to re-enact one of our great sibling rivalry fights, but my children keep up the tradition quite well.
Tucker got “real” Power Ranger Dino Fury keys for Christmas, so we will certainly have a lot of “morphin time” fun in the days to come.