The beach!

What's new with the Parents, Kids, Schnoodles and - oh my - HORSES

So, here's a wam-bam, superduper quick catch-up, if I can possibly keep it to a couple sentences per person without it sounding like one of those holiday letters (yay my youngest got all stars for whatever, and my oldest can yadayada):

Steve - Still happy to be riding the last leg of his newspaper life out as editor of his hometown paper and not shoveling you-know-what for a big corporate you-know-what. But, the days of writing books full-time at home are a-callin.' Can't wait for us to be in a position for that to happen.

Moi - Working a weekend shift. Weird. Love my Tues-Wed "mommy-Savannah days." Missing my weekends with all 4 of us. Miss my big chunks o' hubby time (I also have 50-min commute). We cram it in at night, though. And Steve can cook I have learned. I'm e-communications manager at a big equestrian organization (since last fall). I get to tweet at work and have Facebook open all day. I also edit and write a lot and send out a ton of e-blasts. And the office is surrounded by horses. HAPPY GIRL.

Adam - Almost 10. Comes home the other days and says "Mom I got my black belt!" Well where the heck have I been?! (except for riding his bike he's not super physical). "My black belt in recorder. Ohhhhh. Yep, he's still got the music in him. When he's not nose-deep in a book he's on his piano, strumming his guitar, or practicing for the next "belt." I keep waiting for the next instrument request and wondering where we are going to be able to fit a studio.

Savannah - Turned 4 in March. Sweet as sugar. 99 percent of the time she is the happiest bundle I have ever seen. I still marvel at her joy. The other 1 percent of the time = MELT. DOWN. And the list of the things she wants to and can do "ALL BY MYSELF!"  is ever growing.

Shelby/Scout - Crazy girls. I swear when we adopted the kids, and their training went out the window, they went nuts and stayed that way. But, both schnoodles are healthy (physically if not mentally).

Buck/Savannah (the horse) - Something knew every day. Savannah broke my ribs not long ago. For awhile I was scared to go near her. Ear pinning no matter what I did. Well picture this: the farrier the other day grinding away at her feet. Me holding her face and us resting, forehead to forehead. And me trying not to sob. In a strange way, I have moments with her now, that remind me of times I had with Adam. Hostile times, times of anger (that for both came from confusion from their past) and now, consistency and love bringing peace and calm.


Buck, who spent the past few years with Savannah before they were both abandoned, kind of watches us both, as if to say, "Finally."

So what else ..... I signed Steve and I up for a half-marathon this fall. Steve couldn't say no because the finish line is a baseball home plate. Well, and because I signed him up. It's called the Home Run 1/2 and he got an email saying he was signed up for it. He's secretly excited, though, I know it. Anything having to do with baseball, even running 13.1 miles.

I also realize that my hair is longer, the kids are way bigger, Will is a new addition, as are the horses, so the photos on this blog need major updating. I'll get to that. For now, meet our new equine friends.



Steph and Savannah with the horses, Buck and Savannah



I'm putting myself in the mom doghouse - over snapping

It was so exciting at first. But then she started snapping all the time.

So. I. Lied.

It just came out.

I told our 4-year-old Savannah that if she snapped too much her snapper would wear off.

Now she's telling other people it's "dangerous" to snap too much and they should stop.

If there's a mom doghouse, I'm in it.

But it is more quiet.

Parents, Kids & Schnoodles - oh my! Horses, too!?

We're baaaacccck! And oh, how I've missed you. No, really, I have. I had put you to rest, dear blog. Got a new job. Among other things. Rescued a couple horses. Doyle Mania went well beyond mania there for awhile, whatever that is called.

I got another blog, Equestrian Living. Don't be jealous, blog. You've always had more fans, even when you're being neglected! I'm not sure why. For some reason, people have been interested in these crazy parents, their two kiddos and two schnoodles. And this mom has missed writing about it all. I am, after all, a writer at profession and heart.

So let's see what happens when we throw two horses into the mix, and get back to it. Soon, in a future post, you'll meet Buck and Savannah, our latest additions, rescued from Missouri. They're definitely interesting additions to the Doyle family!

Hope all of your out in bloggy land are doing well. My first order of business, before my blog and I catch up, is for me to catch up with all of you. I am home sick, so plenty of time for some reading. Hope you are all still out there!

By the way, regarding previous post. This is "Moose." He is HUGE. And he kicked the fire out of me the first day I worked with him (I still have the hoot print on the tush of my once-clean pink coveralls Steve got me for Christmas). But we are getting along splendidly now, and the training is going well. He is the first horse I see when I pull up each morning, and the last I see when I leave. I am, sorry to say to my hubby, in love.

The Doyles are busy busy but happy happy

OK, hopefully, you are following us on Facebook, otherwise, you may think we have disappeared! But all is beyond wonderful these days with the Doyles. Just no time these days for blogging... I do update friends quite a bit via Facebook, so if you haven't added me there, especially our adoption friends, I hope you will.

I recently started a several-month intensive equine training/rehabbing/foaling/science/riding program that has me leaving in the wee hours of the morning and then scrambling to go back to Super Mom mode for a couple hours, before cramming in a couple hours of homework and the diving into my hubby's arms and collapsing. It's a rough schedule but honestly, I haven't been happier since my newsroom days and I can't wait to see where it all takes me.

Steve is doing great and he - and his staff and newspaper - are expected to win many MANY awards at the state's newspaper contest next Friday night. I am excited I get to go with him to the banquet, doing a quick-change from horsewoman to someone who, well, doesn't smell like Moose, the former racehorse I am re-training (to be a "normal, nice" horse). I will try to behave and not stand up and scream "Yee haw!" when Steve wins a biggie, but I know he will, and am a) proud of him and b) so happy he is doing more things he loves these days in journalism.

The kids are awesome, too, and I will let the photos below (from the holidays mostly) speak for themselves! The highlight of the end of 2009 was my grandfather being able to visit us from Arizona. Special times!

Woolly worms, pumpkins, and lotsa pur-tay leaves

Well, my oh my fall came, and fall is going ... (the photo below, of Adam hugging the tree, I took two weeks ago, and now those leaves are g-o-n-e, poof!)

We've been having a WONDERFUL fall. Busy busy and wonderful. Savannah has ridden her first "real" (aka non-pony) horse and held her first woolly worm. Adam climbed a hay-bail pyramid, raided Actors Theatre of Louisville's annual get-rid-of-costumes sale (see his new hat below), and auditioned for the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever." He is Garfield in what will be a modern (hilarious) version of the play. Garfield is the male version of Gladys and he gets to do the infamous "Sha-zam" lines.

And we hit Gallerein Farms again this year for our wagon-ride to the pumpkin patch (when we swore after moving to Ky last year and having that experience, that we would never again grocery-shop a pumpkin, we weren't kidding!)

Steve is doing great, too - he and Adam right now are actually out shooting fall photos for his newspapers special Fall section. His columns rock - he was meant to be here and meant to do what he is doing.

Happy birthday to my dad this month, happy 6 years to my sweetie, and Happy Halloween to all!