Someday Dreams

Love my girls

2012-01-15T20:18:00.000-06:00

The other night the girls wrote sweet messages to me and presented them cheerleading style.

This was, "We love you mom"

"You are the best Mom

We (heart) you"

I am truly blessed

It found us!

2012-01-12T10:56:00.000-06:00

Darn it!

We had done so well at hiding all this time...but today, winter finally found the Midwest :(

Yesterday I went for a walk on lunch...sunshine and warm weather--had to tie my coat around my waist.

People running in shorts and t-shirts

everyone soaking this warm record setting winter

And today It's 17 degrees and we can expect somewhere between 4-9 inches of snow.

Blah

Ah well....it was a good run while it lasted!

It's official!!! (I think...)

2012-01-06T15:43:00.000-06:00

After nearly a year (10 long months) It appears I am actually divorced!

Of course...no one told me...

I called to find out what the newest hold up was (my lawyer

assured me he would call when the paperwork was filed) and it turns

out I had already been divorced.

Sigh

Leave it to my lawyer to make everything frustrating.

This had to be the easiest divorce case they ever had and they still drug it out

7 months longer than it needed to be!

Anyways...

Just thought I'd let you know

Happy New Year!!!!!

2012-01-02T18:11:00.000-06:00

I haven't gone out on New Year's Eve in 8 or so years I believe....

I hate the crowds, the cold, the crazy people

So as a compromise b/w going to bed and whooping it up- I went out with my family back home in small town land.

We hung out, had snacks and drinks--the boys played cards and then we walked to the local bar.

Justin says "hi"

My brother and his wife came out along with Jana, her four brother's and a girlfriend.

Here are some of us.

There are two bars in the "L".

This is our stop at the first...where we were compelled to do a new shot.

Kinky

How can you resist a name like that?

It was pretty good--little sweet/little tart

Here is bar number two.

This is me, my Aunt Pam, Jana and her daughter in law, Gail.

My Godmother, Ronda and Justin--her son to the left of her.

Can't beat running into all your friends and family while you're out for the night.

Abbie, Me and my cousin Jason. Hadn't been out with him in forever--was wonderful to have him back on the scene!

I think my new motto for the year is-

"When life hands you lemons...

"...do shots"

Clever aren't I?

I had so much fun!

I am so looking forward to this year and all the wonderful things it holds!

Happy New Year to you--I wish you more joy than your heart can hold!

Christmas catch up

2011-12-29T21:09:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve's Eve was our friend David's 30th Birthday.

My brother is bottom left...

We went to school with Dave and his three brothers.

They were lots of fun and are great guys!

I was happy I got to see them again!

Jana and I were in charge of $26ish dollars of songs in the jukebox.

That's a big responsibility and a lot of songs (67 to be exact)

We did an excellent job if I do say so myself...and had a LOT of fun.

Jana is fun everywhere...one of the many reasons I love her!

Our Red Solo Cups (if you've heard the song...)

Grandparents and Grandkids on Christmas morning.

Oh the joy!!

Grandkids

My baby Bella

Dessa do

The girls back at our place (Santa didn't forget them here!)

My Tater Tot pic out of order.

(Not real fur btw... ;)

Christmas this year was WONDERFUL!!!

I was able to relax a whole weekend back home.

No rushing around-driving all over, just hanging out and enjoying the great company.

I am very blessed.

And so are my girls...who have way too much stuff for our tiny place!!!

A good problem to have!

I do long for the days of plain old toys...that did not require computer downloads and set ups

The kind that you just took out of the box and played with...maybe added a couple of stickers if you had to

Sigh.

I also must tell the story of my sweet sweet Tayla.

After we got home the girls raced to see if Santa had come while we were gone.

They were SO excited...Dessa immediately started handing out the stockings stuffed full of goodies.

And my sweet Tayla.

She goes searching for mine and then stops

Sad and worried and hurt.

"Momma, Santa didn't leave you anything in your stocking"

Picture sweet sad eyes looking up at you.

I was so touched. And it took a lot of convincing for her to believe it was okay.

She promised to share her stuff.

In the excitement of everything my sweet little muffin in the middle was more concerned about

what I didn't have than what she did.

I love her so.

I love all my girls

and my family

and friends

I am so very blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!!

Now

On to the New Year!

Santa -n- Stuff

2011-12-19T19:42:00.001-06:00

The beginning of this month Santa came to my home town to hear all the wishes of the beautiful little children :)

Adessa wants horses and riders, a remote control jeep, a laptop and a touch phone.

Hmmm...good luck with some of those dear...Santa can only do so much-he has a budget too :)

Aren't Mr and Mrs Claus beautiful??!!

Tayla would only go up with her favorite man and cousin, AJ

Tayla has consistently wanted the exact same three things.

A camera

A real live puppy

and a Mini-van (a real one)

sigh

Santa really does have some limitations...

The girl talks about mini-vans ALL the time

always pointing out their redeeming qualities...the three there are anyhow :)

Bella wanted NOTHING to do with Santa...she only wanted the bag of treats

She refused to make eye contact and looked on the verge of tears the whole time

But she was a happy lark of a thing once she got her candy!

After Santa me and some of my best big girls made a road trip to see our girl Amy.

Her new place is beautiful!

We went to a local winery.

Then back to her place for martini's before we headed out on the town

We had some (ie-many) drinks.

Things got a little blurry for me

But we had a grand time!!

Amy made the best breakfast the next morning with to-die-for cinnamon rolls I'm forcing my Mom to make for Christmas.
Mmmm

I love my girls!!
the little ones
and the big ones
I'm lucky to have so very many wonderful ones in my life!!

Away in a Manger

2011-12-08T06:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday when I was picking up Bella at daycare her teacher had to tell me about party of her day.
Evidently, Bella was playing with little dolls from the manger scene.
Her teacher said she was playing with Joseph and saying, "I'm a pirate".
Which made them all laugh.
Then she flew in an angel which she called a butterfly.
They were all getting a kick out of her rendition of the manger cast.

Looks like we need to go over the story of Christmas a little more thoroughly :)

Good news!!!!!!!!

2011-12-02T19:56:00.001-06:00

After 9 long months I think this divorce is actually going to happen!!!!!

Had our pre-trial meeting today (where you try to agree on everything before the actual trial and have a judge available to assist if needed).

We were there 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!

All I could think was $$$

I swear lawyers talk as slow as they can on purpose!

Anyhow

Casey and I were able to agree on everything!!

I really wanted it all to be fair--no fights--and have him be able to keep the farm.

I really do want to be able to get along with him.

Judge said everything is set in stone

No changing anything

Don't have to go to our trial date

Now my lawyer just has to write it all up--and send it down for the judge to sign.

I asked if I would be officially divorced by Christmas and he said yes, hopefully next week!!

I'm not getting my hopes up--he said I could be divorced in three months...but we'll see.

I am really excited to be able to move forward.

I feel like this has been an anchor on my soul--weighing me down and stressing me out.
It will also be WONDEFUL to have a little financial breathing room.
In trying to get along with Casey I've been getting shorted on child support and struggling a bit-now that things are official I hope things are more predictable. Really nice at this time of year especially!

Tomorrow I'm headed down to see Santa with the girls in my home town.

Then I'm off with my best girls to see Amy.

It should be a GRAND time.

I can't wait!!

Perhaps I'll even get some pics posted :)

Have a great weekend.

Happy December!!

Grandma goes to school

2011-11-29T19:02:00.000-06:00

This picture just got sent home with Dessa today.

It's from the day Grandma went to visit her at school.

I liked it

That's it

ta ta :)

Thankful

2011-11-27T18:40:00.000-06:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and took a little time to reflect on all you are thankful for.

I was on call so Casey had the girls.

Thanksgiving turned out to be a beautiful day with temps around 60 and sunshine in the afternoon.

I took a walk at one of my favorite local parks and enjoyed every moment of the beautiful day before winter takes over.

It was heavenly to get some good exercise and fresh air, leaves crunching beneath my feet.

I am thankful that even though I was slated to spend the day alone, I had some great people offer to share their holiday.

I am so thankful for my beautiful girls, my awesome family and amazing friends who are always there for me-no matter what I do.

The last while has been filled with some drama and stress and heartache

But also some very wonderful things as well.

I'm reminded how of lucky I am to have a chance to make my life spectacular every single day.

And I will try my best to make the most of it.

Here is my sunset from Thanksgiving day.

It was taken from the hill at the park by a beautiful little church.

It's one of those moments that will be etched in my mind for always.

ps--I'm thankful for all of you too!

Thank you for sharing in my life!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

Okay...well this is a little better on frequency...though I'm afraid length will be short...least

with the words part :)

Girls were SO excited for Halloween this year!!!

And the weather was pretty decent...

We went back to my hometown as always where my mom has a great supper waiting and my sister in law brings her kids down so we can have one big cousin sugar fest.

Here's the crew!

AJ-the spy, lol--he was so cute!

and Tayla--his biggest fan

she LOVES that boy

The babies--Bella the cow and Averie-adorable Dumbo

Jadyn-Drama Queen Mummy and poser extraordinaire

and Dessa

Wagon riders

A bad pic of the extended cousins

lol--in small towns the local bar is a gathering place for children also

Abbie and Averie

Sorting through candy

Catch up pics from my cell

This is from last Saturday night

Chris, Jana and I

Jana, Me and Karri

Tayla in the daycare parade

Bella was waving like she was Miss America

Bella trying to carry a 50lb bag of candy

Dessa-my witch

I forgot my face paint so Mom mixed up some lotion, cornstarch, flour and food coloring--worked great!

and wiped right off!!

Bella my (mad) cow :)

Tayla and the too small puppy costume she sobbed for :)

Better bar pic

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween.

I sure did--other than the loads of sugar sickness we are all experiencing

I love my family and the kids were SO good!!

It gets easier every year :)

Long overdue catch up attempt

2011-10-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Okay...so it's been awhile...again...and I don't even know where to start to catch you up!

My pictures are stored all goofy on my computer now b/c most are from my cell and not my camera...and they get out of order.

Also, this blog has given me a fair share of headaches over uploading pics lately.

I get almost done and then the whole thing locks up and I lose everything and swear the whole concept off....then after I cool down I try again....then repeat and repeat

but...

I think this one will actually make it!!

So...it's getting colder...more time in the house--which means I might actually have more time to keep everyone in touch.

Thanks for waiting for me :)

This is gonna be generic...but maybe I'll get some more interesting stuff on here at some point.

Overall we're all doing well.

Dessa is doing great in the 1st grade--just had her parent-teacher conference today.

All good news.

Well except that the book fair is highway robbery!

Anyhow

The girls are growing like weeds and fighting like cats and dogs and loving each other for brief periods in between :)

I sure love them--they are such individuals--sometimes I wonder if they're even mine ;)

Bella back in September in her daycare Birthday crown.

Dessa on her Birthday (yes--I missed that post, sigh, and shame on me!)

I was really excited when our baby tree's leaves started turning!

Isn't it cute?

A rainbow from my Aunt Judy.

Dessa playing soccer.

We ended up getting 2nd this year...

Not as exciting as last years championship--but still pretty darned good!!

Dessa played so much better this year--so much more aggressive!

Dessa in the boots she loves from Grandma.

With her Birthday purse that she also loves.

Bella being goofy.

Grandma and Grandpa got Dessa a bigger bike so Tayla finally got her own (ie-Dessa's old) bike!

On a much sadder note...we lost my Uncle Jay to evil cancer.

He was an AMAZING man.

So full of life

He filled up each day to the brim.

He made friends and an impression wherever he went.

No one who met him ever forgot him.

He will be missed by so very many.

Here is a pic from the cemetery the day of his funeral.

It was such a beautiful day to say goodbye.

Rest in peace Jay--we love you.

Back to better news.

Dessa got a ladybug house for her Bday....

It provided hours of entertainment!

I however, who am not squeamish about bugs...did not like raising bugs in my house.

Dessa had a fun run at school.

K-2nd grade ran a quarter of a mile.

She did SO good!

Well, other than looking back the whole time and tripping over her feet ;)

She died at the end and two, 2nd grade boys passed her...but I think 3rd is pretty darned good!

I know she woulda beat me!

Girls looking playing with worms at one of Dessa's soccer games.

Didn't mean to include this pic...but it's here and I'm lazy...so it stays.

My cousin and one of my best friends, Jana, turned 30 and I had my first ever tailgating experience.

Go Hawks!

Dirty 30 :)

My face painting work on my cousin Jason (he wiped the heart off-can you believe it??)

His girlfriend is adorable!! I love her!

Me, Joey (my cousin) and Jana at the hotel.

Me, Jason and Karri out at the bars.

That was a marathon 14 hour day.

I am impressed with my stamina.

Jana's husband ended the night by deep fat frying about 30 different things in the hotel bathroom in the wee hours of the morning. I give him all the credit for feeling great the next morning!

Oil and ranch go a long ways in hangover prevention, fyi

Baby Bella at the dog track with my parents.

And finally--a bad pic of me, my sister in law Abbie and my Godsister, Trish and my cousin's wedding.

It's the only pic I have.

Some troubles happened.

I think that's enough said

;)

Okay

You are kind of caught up

I hope to be back a touch more regularly.

love you all!

Thank you Heather!

2011-10-27T15:43:00.000-05:00

My old, way too far away friend, Heather, frequently sends fun packages in the mail for us.

I've posted about her before.

She's very crafty and even more sweet!

Last night we opened some really fun stuff.

Scrap booking sheets to decorate.

Girls thought they were so cute! Me too! But I think Heather forgets I'm not nearly as gifted in the craft department as her ;) We'll see what I can do!

Book marks and cool toys

I thought this was a really cute message on one of her cards.

My camera was being weird??

I think it has been feeling neglected....

so sorry about the strange pictures...

Eureka! there was candy in there too!!

Such cute boxes and attention to detail!

And Halloween confetti everywhere!!!

Even perfume--which Tayla felt needed to be hers.

Thank you Heather!!!!!!!!

For the candy bar too ;)

Yum!

Happy 3rd Birthday Baby Bella!

2011-09-18T07:47:00.000-05:00

My baby

My baby sleeping on my lap last night.

It was my last night with a 2yr old

It was bittersweet.

It's so sad how fast the time goes...but everything just gets more wonderful at the same time.

I still have about 1 1/2hrs left with a 2yr old...gonna enjoy it for all it's worth!

Girls are making her Birthday cards, then off to church and after that down to Grandma's house for a fun day with our family.

Here is last years post...from when I had slightly more time... :)

Bella's 2nd Bday

Camping

2011-09-05T20:42:00.000-05:00

A couple weekends ago the girls and I went camping with some of my greatest friends.

We got there late on night one and kicked right into making s'mores.

I feel like I'm a roughing it type of girl.

Wait...I should say, I used to feel like I was a roughing it type of girl.

Apparently, I am no longer that girl.

Here were some of the girls sleeping in the tent.

The blanket looks like it has issues...but those are paint pawprints from my first and beloved dogs...you just can't see it in the picture.

When I crawled in the tent I immediately noticed my air mattress had a leak

I had learned from my short stint at the family reunion that an air mattress is a must...

I forgot to acknowledge that an air mattress without a leak is a must.

Next time....

I woke up in the middle of the night on the hard ground.

With a terrible headache.

Had I mentioned we were camping next to a cornfield.

All by ourselves (the rest of our friends were in a camper)

I am scared of fields of corn

I know...I should move :)

I am scared of a lot of things after dark.

The last scary movie I ever intentionally watched was Children of the Corn.

Scary

I have issues with redheads and fields of corn...if you've seen the movie, you know why.

If you haven't seen it I don't recommend it...

Anyhow.

There I was

Very uncomfortable

Oh and I had to go potty.

So....I got up

Fearless mother I was pretending to be

Telling myself over and over

"There is nothing to be afraid of. You are a grown woman. Nothing is out here"

I peed behind the tent.

Nothing came out of the corn for me.

Stumbled over to the car for some alleve.

Nothing got me

Leaped into the tent almost taking the whole thing down.

Woke up a child.

Nothing got me.

Hooked up the outrageously loud air mattress so I could at least fall back asleep.

My hope was that b/w the drugs and my sleep deprivation I could sleep til morning even if the mattress lost all it's air again.

Woke another kid

Settled on mostly filled with air.

Crawled back between the girls.

Apparently I weigh significantly more than them.

I pushed all the air to the side of the mattress which caused the girls sides to poof up and them to roll onto me.

Sigh.

Could this get better?

Yep

It started to sprinkle.

Good times.

I did fall back asleep.

Woke early

Started raining

Grabbed the girls and ran them into the camper

Here's your wake up call you spoiled camper campers

Karri's husband ran that day to get me their air holding air mattress

Night two was far better.

Or I was too tired to know any better

Amy is so sweet--she is gonna make a great momma someday

She brought nail polish and spoiled my girls with some pampering.

Bella napping

Corey, Jana and their kids arrived the next day to set up shop next to me and the field of scary corn.

Jana thought the same thing...just in case you feel like I might be a little unbalanced.

Ta-da!

The place we stayed was lovely.

Miniature golf, pool, peddle (not paddle) boats, and more things I can't think of right now.

Kids ready to swim.

Kids post swimming with fudge pops.

They put themselves in there...really...

That's Karri's daughter post fudge pop, lol

Chewy, Amy's dog, with her scored hot dog.

Children of the corn.

See, I told you it was scary.

After we put the kids to bed we played a game of 'would you rather' around the campfire.

It was quite the entertainment....

My breakfast on our final morning.

Actually 3 or maybe 4 of those.

and a whole lot more

Before we left the adult girls went on one last peddle boat and the boys watched all the kids.

Thanks Corey and Chris!

Bella through an epic fit and then crashed hard.

Poor baby--she doesn't like roughing it either :)

Fessing up

2011-08-31T14:04:00.000-05:00

Okay...so maybe some of you have noticed things have changed a bit in my corner of blog land.
I have been stalling for a bit....sorting some things out... waiting some things out....but it looks like the waiting might take some time and since I want to (try) to post more regularly again I figure I should fess up.
I'm getting divorced.
And (gasp) living in the city.
I'm sorry to those of you who followed me for my animal tales...there will still be some, I imagine...and hopefully a whole lot more in the future...but for now this country girl is city bound.
I changed my blog title slightly from Someday Acres to Someday Dreams as I'm back in hot pursuit of my someday again.

The run down....
I did not have a perfect marriage...but some things happened last spring that left me no choice but to move on with my life.
I did not ever want to be divorced but sometimes life takes you places you don't plan on going.
Leaving the farm was very difficult for me.
It was my dream and full of so many dear souls and things that I loved.
Finding a place in town for me and the girls that was safe and in a good school district proved to be quite difficult.
I was unable to find a place that would take pets that was feasible for us...so for the first time in my entire adult life (except for the year I first moved out) I am without a dog.
It's strange.
No animals at all.
They were such a big part of who I was and losing that was a struggle.
But-
Life is good, great actually!
Brilliant and bright and full of possibilities.
The girls are doing really well. I'm glad they are so young, life is like one big adventure for them.
Casey is trying to keep the farm so they get to go back to the home they knew on his time with them.
We are trying to be amicable about everything and so far, overall are doing well I think.
Divorce is messy and time consuming and not fun at all, but time moves so quickly that soon this will just be a stepping stone on the road of life.

I wish I would have been upfront with my blog in the beginning....so much I missed--so much to catch you all up on.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the end of summer. I can't believe August has slipped through our fingers already.
Okay
Out of time for now.

Cell phone pics catch up--my new semi-permanent blog title

2011-08-26T12:02:00.000-05:00

So perhaps you've all caught on by now....I'm a little short for time...and on a run of just giving you big boluses of camera pic posts...

As the weather gets less delightful I hope to step up my posting quality and frequency...though they'll prolly all be camera phone pics b/c it's just so dang easy...and I might be a little inclined to go with what's easy these days :)

Anyhow...on with the catch up.

This has been one of the best summers I've had in a long time.

I'm doing a lot with my friends and my girls

Getting out and having fun.

This summer I've gotten back to tubing.

Go back home--get some tractor tubes, maybe a few drinks and hit the river with some friends.

My mom drops us off a few miles upstream on the little river I grew up on and we spend the next few hours floating down.

It's fabulously relaxing and wonderful.

One of my very favorite things to do.

I hope I can get a couple more runs in.

Here are Amy, Karri and I crammed into the front of my Mom's ranger with her.

Ready to hit the water.

That night we also went to a concert at the fair.

It was on my summer "to do" list and I am very thankful for my great girlfriends who made it happen.

We got lots of bracelets...I love event bracelets.

Is that strange?

And...I actually drank beer!!!!

It had been quite a long time....but it

something you had to do at a county fair.

So I champed up.

We saw Buckcherry.

I knew three of their songs...they played all three.

I was very pleased.

It was a good show.

Here is Amy schmoozing the crowd.

You don't want to know what she was harassing that guy about...

Karri says she has no filter.

I think it's just set low.

Amy will tell anyone what she thinks.

She told the guy before this one that he was a bad dancer and he should stop (it was true).

You would think she might offend people.

But they all seem to like it.

And as shocked as we were.

The bad dancer seemed rather pleased.

And, he stopped dancing (think Elaine from Seinfeld)

The night was great fun and over way too soon.

But it was the perfect summer day to me from start to finish.

I will remember it always.

Onto more random pics
My girls.

Down at the river at our family reunion.

In case you are freaking out about seeing children along the river edge.
You can walk across the river.

And about 20 of us were standing along the shore to rescue them from the knee deep water if needed.

A picture of people taking pictures.

Should have included audio :)

The start of family volleyball--an old tradition we brought back.

It is doubtful anyone will get an offer to play professionally.

But we sure have fun!

I tried to sleep in a tent that night with three little girls. It was not going well (think crying kicking girls, biting mosquitoes, sticky conditions and hard ground)....and then at about 2:30 am a windstorm kicked up and it started to storm. Thanks to the help of my cousin-in-law (yeah--that's really a term) and my cousin I had the tent down and the girls loaded into the Pilot in minutes. Then back to my mom's house for a few merciful hours of sleep before morning came.

Tayla with her morning cup of Joe...it was a rough night for all of us

The carefully packed tent

Dessa is very sensitive to mosquito bites.

Poor dear :(

Bella testing out the boat for our next tubing adventure

Tubing run number 2

Know of any?

There were some battery issues with the Pilot.

Thankfully I was rescued by a very nice man who was willing to loan me his charger.

I know they are kinda young...but I let the girls get tattoos.

They begged me

And they were in good taste

My Tator Tot.

A very sweet card I got from a very dear friend the exact day I needed it.

I love that saying.

And I liked this pic.

Stay tuned for more catch ups...

Hope you're all having a fantastic summer!

First Day of First Grade!

2011-08-23T21:22:00.000-05:00

Today Dessa started first grade at a new school (as well as a new daycare for before and after care).

It was a big, happy, wonderful day!

Here is her pic from yesterday at orientation

Us out shopping for her first day of school outfit....

The hat she loved.

The outfits she debated on.

The outfit was cute--though the pic unflattering.

But I'm against circuses b/c I feel bad for the animals.

So this one was out.

After shopping was her and Bella's yearly physical.

Here are Bella's stats and how where the other girls were at the same age.

Waiting for the Dr.

And waiting...

Thank heavens for lip gloss and smart phones :)

Dessa after being a big girl about her shots.

I have the girls on a selective/delayed schedule...

Happy girls.

Happier girls.

Our Dr gives suckers and stickers :)

Here is the cute bag Dessa's new teacher had for her.

Ready to go this morning.

From our office window at work. That's Bella on the left in the purple and Tayla behind her driving the double trike.

Dessa reading her first day of first grade card.

She was so happy about it.

Everyone needed to try on her hat...Bella found that paci in the car and brought it up...she never actually used a paci but enjoyed playing with them.

I love you and am so proud of you my beautiful little first grader!

Try not to grow up too fast...please :)

Cell phone pics caught up

2011-07-29T22:26:00.000-05:00

okay.

as of right now you're caught up on my cell phone pics

i missed some in the last post--but can't recall which i had and hadn't posted

so we must move on for the sake of my sanity

things have been busy around here

tired of me saying that?

summer is flying by oh so quickly

i am sad to see it go

i've been really enjoying it this year

couple of my good girlfriends and i are getting together this weekend

hopefully going tubing back home--depending on water levels

and then out to a concert at the fair

something that was on my summer checklist

i really appreciate karri and amy coming up for this one...not the top of their list :)

good friends

we got 14 inches of rain the other night/day. a record for the month and a day.

caused some major problems

a couple places burned down from lightening

it was pretty amazing...just one constant downpour thunderstorm all night long

the farm was flooded

fencing lost

girls toys

and the bridge taken out

but everyone survived so we are thankful

on to the pics....

dessa riding her bike with the girls chasing her...not a real lovely pic of tayla--but i love bella in this one

girls being goofy

feeding geese

chasing geese

sorry--repeat

she's still alive

abbie, me and jana heading out for my cousin joey's birthday

lol--don't ask--i didn't mean to click this one in

this is for ab-she loved her margarita ;)

birthday boy

jana's husband pulled into a drag show

our family is entertaining

my mom driving down our back road in front of me

i just like this pic

thanks for your help mom!!

girls in the tub

lol

this cracks me up--it was at work

but was referring to the joints on your body...not the "other" kind

an orthopedic deal

tayla

girls in awe, in line for our first trip to the pool!

the way out-they had such fun!

bella almost drowned...but mommy saved her :)

bella boo in one of the coats lana gave us

that one is actually for her big sister

thank you lana!!!

girls at another pool--lucky girls

posers

bella at the dentist office being silly

girls after another game of car wash

my shopper

and snoozer (she fell and scraped her face on the sidewalk)

spinning dresses in the parking ramp where i work (i had got called in before church)

poof head (tayla loves barrettes these days)

dessa with her hy-vee tattoo

that's where she wanted it?

my garage sale orchid fell :(

but the marigolds tayla gave me for mothers day are finally blooming

phone pics

2011-07-21T21:36:00.001-05:00

i may have posted some of these already

if so i apologize

tayla from a few months ago

bella

loved these sparkles from mall of america

tayla

dessa

cashew

girls drying nails at dessa's last tball game--did i post these??

i'm too lazy to look back :)

flyball

bounce house at church

love this pic from our vacation--it's from my cell--aren't phones fabulous?

girls with their puppies

muffin, daisy and marley

baby can't handle the shopping

she'll grow into it i bet

boys at the family picnic

girls

jana and i on the 4th

dessa after tayla pulled her 2nd tooth in 2 days!

gansta bella

she's tough..you don't wanna mess with her

believe me

at the car wash...

dessa wanted to wear that dress--begged actually...

pretty good job girls!

gangsta 2

i had more pics

blogger got all wonky and stressed me out

so this is what you get for now...

love ya all!

Girl Scout Camp

2011-07-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Picked Dessa up today from Girl Scout Camp.

She seemed to have a grand time...I'm mostly guessing as she didn't want to talk much...I got a bit about the good walking tacos, not so good cheese sandwich, no s'mores, got a fruit snack, went creek stomping and swimming...a short song about Yogi the Bear, then a bit about how her tummy hurt and she was asleep.

She looked a mess.

All of her (and other girls' things that we seemed to have acquired--like swimsuit bottoms) were sopping wet.

I'm doing laundry now.

I dropped her off Sunday and picked her up this afternoon.

House was still crazy...I think next year I'll drop the other two girls with her :)

None of them seemed particularly moved by the reunion today.

'Cept me, I'm glad to have my Dessa-doodle back.

Here is her camp picture.

If you're not sure which she might be...pick the sorriest looking girl and that's her.

lol :)

Vacation Picture Bonanza

2011-07-05T21:24:00.001-05:00

I tried to slim down on the pics...really I did...but I didn't do very well at it :)

Back from an AMAZING vacation.

Weather was fabulous--company was top notch and all I did was sit around, eat and drink.

I've never done so little for so long.

It was rather nice :)

Kids were great and if there was any sort of issue brewing I just said, "I'm on vacation" and they dropped it.

Magic

Okay--these are actually a few pics from my Birthday earlier in June...they happened to be on the camera still so you got them as a "bonus" :)

I had a great Birthday--the people I love made me feel special.

Mom brought cake for the girls to decorate...they did a "great" job :)

I swear I downloaded some of those pics..but I guess not...and I'm not adding any more to this post now.

Happy Birthday to me.

We of course had to re-light the cake for each of the girls...sing to them and let them blow out the candles too...it's helpful we're all such great singers :)

Dessa had her first loose tooth and the girls were very intent on getting it out.

Grandma and Grandpa coaching them on.

That tooth just came out yesterday btw....

Bella laying in front of the fireplace with her baby.

It was chilly that day :)

Okay--here is the start of the vacation photos...

Kids within about 5 minutes of arrival--swimsuits on and water bound.

My dad and brother on the porch with a cold beer to kick off the party.

Tayla and my nephew A.J. in the whirlpool.

It's slightly weird this looks like a honeymoon shot...but it's cute all the same.

Sand...eww

Kids in the playhouse.

My brother's kids are Jadyn, A.J. and Averie and they are pretty close to my kids ages...the kids always pair off and their personalities seem to be perfectly matched for each other. It's so fun to watch them.

Bella's look.

They were really cute sharing that rice krispie treat.

Our water friend.

Bella is like 9 month older than Averie and enjoyed helping her with things--like getting dressed.

Those marshmallow puff life jackets make me laugh.

Averie giving her momma love.

Tayla loves her Uncle Jake and loved going fishing with him.

Flower picker.

Nose picker.

The lake was spring fed...so a little cold at after the sun went down.

I love this pic of the girls.

Time for s'mores

Tucker

The girls and their morning cup of coffee (laced with brown sugar, caramel, and creamer).

Why could I never find my flip flops?

My sweet little Tator Tot

Dessa on her 3rd plate of breakfast cheese balls (thanks Grandma).

Josie on her last swim.

And bath.

My parents had to put her down the day after they got home.

She is quite missed.

She was an amazing dog.

Loyal til the end, protector of all, lover of children and small furry animals.

13yrs is a good long run for a big dog with hip dysplasia.

But it's never easy letting go.

We love you Josie--see you again someday.

Each stay includes a complimentary wine tasting at the winery up the hill.

We are not very good wine drinkers--but we give it our best shot!

Cheers!

Can you tell this pic was totally my Dad's and brother's idea?

Bella buttoning Averie's dress.

Abbie has Averie trained to say cheese whenever she sees a camera.

Girl cracks me up!

Dessa giving foot rubs.

When the sun goes down, sometimes you need a blanket..well, if you are either me or Ab anyhow.

Fishing.

A grumpy vignette.

Jadyn our model.

Bella trying to strike a pose.

Jake's firework show--which was very nice!

My sleepy little baby.

Girls making cookies.

Bella was in charge of the powdered sugar.

Just making sure it tastes okay.

Hear no evil.

what?

yeah--hear no evil

good enough

Grandma's cookie making coaching.

Taste testers

A big thumbs down.

They were much better after some time in the fridge...and I may have accidentally finished the whole batch off...oops--sorry kids :)

I tan well.

Or so I thought...I guess the first run out in the sun shouldn't be all day with no sunblock at all...

I've never been burnt so badly...but I survived.

Sandy butt...the baby--not Ab.

Aww, AJ loves his sister.

Smile now girls...I'll eat all your cookies soon :)

We were out of firewood the last night...so mom and I ran to town for more...but there was none.

So we improvised....

Yes we did.

And then some logs from the side of the road.

The last night the kids put on a concert for us.

Bella may not be our model--but she's gonna rock the stage someday.

I could write so much about our time at the cabin.

It was filled with laughter and fun and the people I love dearly in this world.

A big thank you to my parents for giving us such an amazing gift!!!

Love you!

Picture intenstive super post quick catch up

2011-06-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

Since I always start my post by saying things are just crazy busy around here...I'll continue on with that.

Sorry for the lack of posting--things have been crazy busy around here!

And sorry if I'm way behind on commenting if you have a blog...I'm blocked at work which has severely impacted my life :)

Anyhow

Tomorrow is our second annual vacation with my family at a private cabin.

I'm trying to catch everything up before I go....good luck.

Today it's tons of laundry, cleaning, packing, organizing, etc

And it is BEAUTIFUL outside.

But I'll have a few days coming up to do nearly nothing :)

I hope you all are well out there in bloggy land.

Here are a few pics from my cell phone...it's been my new method of photo taking this day.

It's very lazy, I know...but it's handy!

Dessa making a face at me from 3rd base.

That's about the extent of T-ball fun.

Bella snoozing.

Bella up to bat when we were practicing at home.

Tayla with a power swing.

Dessa.

No matter how many times I told her to keep that elbow up she always dropped it before the swing.

Bella playing.

We were generously given a bike and helmet by a kind soul.

Dessa LOVES that helmet :)

Lots of chocolate covered strawberries these days.

mmmm

Bella holding my hand at t-ball.

Playing in the rain.

grrr

and out comes the sun

it looks like they were gonna kiss but actually they were arguing.

what a surprise

a scary picture by dessa.

at least to me it is

Bella's first experience on a port-a-potty (at t-ball of course)

she has issues with potties that don't conform to the standard potty experience...so I was glad this went okay

drying painted nails at ....yep--you guessed it--t-ball :)

awwww, so sad--last game is OVER!

Friday night I was back in my hometown to see a band...but really my friends and family.

We hung out at the river beforehand as a few of my very best girlfriends had come from out of town to camp.

We stole the girls' bling strands and did our hair with them :)

You never outgrow a little sparkle.

Getting ready to head uptown.

Not sure about my hand???

Shaunet and I before my phone battery died :(

Flyball with our good doggy friends yesterday.

Girls were overjoyed to get to run some dogs :)

This is Steph, Camden(dog) and Tayla

Dessa's turn

Lana, Tayla and the girls' boyfriend, Bo :)

Lana, my very oldest dog friend was SO nice to ask us to her house to hang out.

The girls loved it.

She fed them pizza, ice cream (two different kinds!) and let them drive around in the yard.

Heaven!

Dessa even got to drive herself--she was SO PROUD!

Posing

My friend Amber said it looked we had to blur out Dessa's finger, lol...but I promise she was just waving

Girls had a lot of fun...Tayla had less than perfect guest manners...but since we don't get out much I guess I can't blame it all on her :)

She asked Lana at dinner if I die if they can live with her.

I bet Lana didn't think an afternoon playdate would get her custody of my children.

Today was a fun day at our church.

Poor Bella had a bad tummy ache :(

And after thinking she might throw up all over in church..she finally fell asleep!

The other girls partied on.

Face painting.

Jump house.

Cotton Candy!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure this was Tayla's first cotton candy run...or at least the first either of us can recall.

She didn't quite get the delicate method of eating it most people choose.

She shoved it in as fast as she could :)

Bella slept more.

In fact--all three girls are sleeping...which is why I am getting this post done.

I picked you guys over my own nap.

See how much I love you?

Making a break for it

2011-06-03T16:09:00.000-05:00

I'm just going through old posts that never got posted....

So here's one from late winter/early spring.

Bella went on the front porch--in her jammies, decked herself out in hat, mittens and boots and literally made a run for it.

When I opened the door she was nearly to the spring house running as fast as her little legs would carry her.

I have no idea what her ultimate plan was.

She came back willingly enough when I called her.

Here she is on the return.

Yep--that tree is still there today...gonna celebrate it's cut down anniversary there I bet.

Dogs were glad to have her back.

Looking guilty.

Note the hat and mittens are on backwards.

But...pretty good all the same.

Things have been crazy busy round here.

Another t-ball game tonight.

I'm not sure what I got myself into with this t-ball.

Hot, bugs, boring (oops--did I say boring?)

Yes--deathly boring.

All the kids hit the ball---no matter how long it may take some--we'll wait.

Then they run one base at a time.

Outfielders always throw to first--when they finally get the ball picked up.

First baseman always misses it.

Chases it down.

If this somehow happens before the batter gets to first base.

It doesn't matter--there are no outs.

There are no points.

There is no point in fact.

I know, I know...make it fun--give them all a chance.

But to tell you the truth--they look pretty dang bored most of the time themselves.

My other two girls spend the game playing in a pile of limestone.

Getting as dirty as humanly possible--with the baby constantly being policed for throwing rocks.

Time out.

"Momma," through her tears, "I no do it anymore. I be good girl."

And back to throwing rocks she goes.

But

I put on my proud Momma face and clap and smile with a thumbs up when Dessa looks my way.

Take my turn being a base coach (reminding each kid to run to the next base).

And let out a little whoop at the random moment some kid actually catches a throw.

I let out a big whoop in my head when it's over :)

There goes mom of the year again.

Dang.

Old random pic of Meg and her pup.

Hope you all are well!

Beautiful night for a walk down the road.

2011-05-23T20:12:00.001-05:00

Things have been crazy around here lately--lots of changes coming up---very busy with the girls.

But if the weather is tolerable and we're home we walk a couple miles every night.

Here are some pics from my phone on the walk tonight.

My beautiful girls

Disregard Bella's questionable attire....she spilled on her pretty dress at school and they threw her in that lovely outfit :)

Looking over the creek we play "pooh-sticks" in.

100 points and my respect if you can tell me what pooh-sticks is.

Bella back in the stroller when her little legs wore out.

Do you see what I see?

The top of a cute little head hiding from me?

They loved that grass!

But cried with the "itchies" when they got home and into the tub.

Dessa striking a pose

I hope you all had as beautiful night as we did!

Dessa's Mother's Day gift

2011-05-18T12:38:00.000-05:00

Had forgotten to post this before...

This is another thing Dessa made for me at school.

A very cool potholder!

She was so proud of it!!

Here we are walking dogs.

And us riding horses.

Mother's Day continued/catch up

2011-05-14T06:50:00.000-05:00

Here are the pics from my Mom's house last week on Mother's Day.

Hard to get a good picture of four-five girls...you will see that in the series to come...

Me and the girls...

Mom and the girls

Mental note--do not wear that shirt unless I'm tan....

Bella had opted out of photographs by this point...

...or so she thought :)

All of us

Note the blue Scooby travel suitcase thing next to Dessa.

Mom got it at a garage sale and Dessa fell in love with it.

I mean--IN LOVE!

She hauls it to school every day and all around the house...it'd probably make a top 10 list for best things of the year.

This was part of a series I found on the camera when I downloaded these pictures.

There were pics of her running around like that all over the house.

Not sure if I should worry about a future criminal career or not....

Things are good around here otherwise.

VERY busy

We had something every night this past week that kept me from home.

The last official Girl Scouts meeting of the year was one. Whew! Did I ever mention I had someone gotten myself volunteered to co-lead?

Not sure where my sanity is sometimes.

Still may have one fun meeting and then Dessa is signed up for camp this summer.

She's SO excited! Mostly to swim and sleep in the tents.

Had a school carnival also.

That was a lot of fun.

Very hot!! Last week is was SO cold...this week it was SO hot.

And today we are back to rainy/cold.

T-ball also started....I see we need to do a little practicing... :)

Lots of changes coming out way and I'm just trying to get everything lined up for that.

Yesterday I switched out my fancy 3G kindle for a regular wi-fi one...I really would have no reason for the 3G. Finally opened it up and played with it.

VERY cool! I downloaded like 18 free books from Amazon already. War and Peace, The Scarlet Letter, and Pride and Prejudice included---ones I have always meant to read but never gotten around to.

Those with the huge pile of paperbacks I still have waiting for me will keep me busy. We will be TV-less soon...so I guess that will give me something to do on rainy days....after I clean the house, play with the kids, pay bills, catch up odds and ends, my email and my blog that is anyhow.

I hope everyone is doing well out there!

I'm sorry I have been missing so much of the time....things should settled down for us in the next couple of months...so much on the horizon...stay tuned....

Happy Mother's Day!!

2011-05-08T11:35:00.000-05:00

Hello to all of my wonderful bloggy friends!!

I hope you are having a wonderful Mother's Day.

Mine has been fabulous thus far and I plan on keeping it that way

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise in bed.

Dessa got up all excited and snuck downstairs to ready her surprise plans for me...very cute.

I listened to the cows calling to each other in the fields, the birds singing, the roosters crowing and the guineas squeaking.

Music.

Felt the fresh breeze on my face and had Tayla's hand wrapped up in my hair.

A fabulous start.

I snuck out of bed and went downstairs where an excited little girl and lots of gifts awaited me.

The gifts were quite the surprise--my rule is just some homemade pictures and flowers picked from around the farm...maybe some morel mushrooms if I'm lucky.

Dessa and Casey were busy making the blueberry lemon pancakes I had wanted so I went for a run.

Ah, sweet misery!

It was a beautiful morning and I had great music on my MP3 player.

Ollie and Ty kept me great company and safe from any danger that may come upon me.

I ran all but the uphill portions and fought off having to vomit more than once...so I count it as a pretty good workout.

I both hate it and enjoy it as it gives me a runners high that lasts the rest of the day...so totally worth it!

I came back to my yummy breakfast waiting for me.

Mmmmmm

Then the girls insisted I open my gifts.

Dessa was so excited I thought she might explode!

Here we are

Keep in mind I had been running prior.

And the girls were straight outta bed--no hair brushing or anything.

Bella finally climbed up.

The house is a disaster as I haven't been here much lately.

Three outta four smiles...that's pretty good.
Though I'm saying "Bella smile" under my breath :)

The pictures Bella made for me.

It needed one more sticker.

A....

KINDLE!!!!!!!!!

it's such an over the top gift I don't know if I can really keep it.

But it's been fun to hold!

And a vacuum!!

Which I desperately need!

And the gifts Dessa and Tayla made at school.

They were both SO proud.

On the front of Dessa's we are walking dogs.

On the back we're riding horses.

A rock garden--so cute!

Bella being goofy. She has developed quite the sense of humor!

She makes us laugh- hard-all the time.

Magnet clips for the fridge.

Found this on the camera from yesterday when I was gone.

Annablle and the girls

She is such an amazing girl....well, they all are!

Now I'm off to get cleaned up and head down to see my own Momma!
Life is good.

Aryton is finally Home!

2011-05-03T06:17:00.000-05:00

Aryton in Colorado.

He arrived last night safe and sound into the arms of his new family! Knowing he has such a beautiful life ahead of him makes my heart swell....was it totally worth cleaning up all the puppy poop this winter :)

Aryton is on his way to Colorado!

2011-05-01T07:30:00.002-05:00

Aryton was lucky enough to snag himself a home in Colorado!

The last couple days have been a buzz to get everything lined up for his transport.

There is a service that runs dogs all over the country...I tell ya--I love being reminded there are more crazy dog people out there than just me!

Here is a goodbye picture (though not a very clear one) of Aryton with the girls.

He is a really amazing little man...okay, maybe not a little man--he's pretty dang big for 3 months old!

But amazing either way.

Very mellow and loving with a sense of 'knowing' about him.

I know his new family will love him and think all this work was more than worth it.

They have invested a considerable about of time and money into bringing him into their lives.

Just goes to show you can't stop love.

We miss you Aryton--travel safe!

Adalyn our newest rainbow

2011-04-30T19:18:00.000-05:00

Meet Adalyn

Isn't she beautiful?

She is my niece...not really but she is...she's my cousin's baby....whatever that makes her...2nd cousin??

Here's the best baby's daddy with his little girl.

I love that face! lol

And here she is with her Grandpa.

Her Grandma is my Aunt Judy who we lost to cancer a year and a half ago.

Rainbows have a very special meaning for her children and our family because of a promise she made to them.

And now it looks like she has sent us the most beautiful rainbow of all.

Easter isn't over yet!

2011-04-26T20:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight the girls had another Easter package to open from my dear friend Heather...who might live far away but is always close at heart.

You might remember some of the other cool packages she's sent us--she's very crafty.

We also got really cool cards in the mail before Easter that she made herself.

Before I get to the package...

Here are some of the flowers the Easter bunny left for us.

And the Easter Lily.

Oh how I love Easter Lilies

The way they smell is intoxicating...I swear I sniff it 30 times a day :)

Here are the girls with the pretty box.

We held up a long time trying to get a better smile out of Tayla...but it just wasn't happening...and we do have a bedtime to keep 'round here.

Bella has finally gotten over the worst of her sickness....yesterday she was at the Doctors and nearly admitted to the hospital...it was actually my call and I opted for one more day at home....thankfully it went in our favor. A shout out to Gatorade--thank you for your sugary/watery rehydration skills.

Back to the box

Oh my goodness gracious!!!

That's a lot of crafty work right there!!

Adorable little hand made bunny baskets.

Aw, each girl's name on the back of theirs.

I love the checked ribbon.

Bella's first smile in days.

I told Dessa to pick her favorite thing...she kept grabbing stuff so I finally just said let's take the picture.

Cute little chickie book with a surprise candy bar inside!

And, what was in the eggs???

MONEY!!

Who knew money was so VERY exciting at such young ages? :)

Heather knew, that's who!

Candy bracelets were in the pretty sparkly box!

ADORABLE homemade suckers.

I LOVE the froggy especially! :)

Those ribbons have little chicks on them-though I had them turned wrong for the picture.

I tell you there is some major attention to detail with that girl!

THANK YOU HEATHER!!

We loved our gifts--thank you for making us feel so special :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T16:05:00.000-05:00

We spent yesterday at my parent's house to celebrate Easter.

Girls had fun decorating eggs!

Poor Bella later woke from her nap to throw up...and has spent the last day continuing to do just that :(

All the Grandkids at the start of their egg hunt.

Post egg hunt

Bella even threw up in the middle of it...but my little trooper kept on keeping on!

Nothing stops my girls from collecting candy.

Here everyone is checking out their eggs.

Tayla and AJ

This morning at our house.

Poor Bella...she doesn't have a shirt because it got 'dirty' and she didn't want another.

The highest level of interest she was able to show in Easter---holding an egg.

Dessa and Tayla went up to Casey's dad's house...and I've been hanging out here with my sad little baby girl.

Which actually has been nice...well, beside the throwing up part.

Hope you all had a better Easter than poor Bella!

Fairy Dogmother visits our house again

2011-04-22T18:58:00.000-05:00

We got a big package in the mail....taped up like only our fairy Dogmother from Colorado can do!

I was shocked to realize it was for us...not the dogs!

It seems Sassy Bru (our beautiful foster puppy from last year) and her sister Blondie saved up their allowance to buy us some thank you gifts for taking such good care of their foster friends.

Awww!

The girls were beyond excited to open their gifts tonight!

Bella's new way to smile

She was SO excited about her very own flashlight!

What a great idea!

She also got a book (we've read several times already) and stickers!!!

Stickers I'm sure will likely be stuck to the floor...or her new favorite place--the french doors.

Why does she do that?

Tayla thought her book with colored pens (and stickers) was so cool!!

Made her feel like a big girl.

As you can see....Dessa likes it too

Casey and I got gifts as well!!

Shirts from Colorado Mountain College from where Pam works.

I feel like I need to come up with a cool pretend story to tell about my schooling there.

Dessa took the pic....not very flattering of me...but I can handle that :)

And of course...Dessa had to go last...like always

And she was thrilled with her gifts!

Speechless even!

She filled it up right away.

She also got really cool stickers.

We all loved our Colorado Mountain stuff and are beyond touched that our furry friends think of us so kindly.

THANK YOU SASSY BRU AND BLONDIE (and of course Pam and Jer too!!)

My kitchen crew

2011-04-21T20:58:00.001-05:00

Casey's Birthday was the 10th of this month and he had to work...but the girls wanted to make him a special Birthday dinner for when he got home.

They were SO exited about it!

He prefers fruit pizza over cake...so that's what I make him every year and for special occasions...but this year Dessa made it.

Good job--don't you think?

There are faces and all sort of things hidden in the pattern of that fruit...you could stare at it like those 3D puzzles for hours...go ahead..give it a go :)

Tayla worked on the vegetarian lasagna....one of Casey's favorite meals... we tried something a little less traditional....that he didn't like all that much...but it's the thought that counts :)

Bella just went back and forth stealing pieces of food that looked good to her (okay--mostly frosting from the fruit pizza)

Tayla had fun getting messy.

Riding Black Beauty

2011-04-20T20:57:00.000-05:00

Just a few catch up pics (from a couple weeks ago) while I steal one second to post them from the time fairy...

Just a heads up--it's been WAY to cold and rainy and miserable to do anything outside here for some time.

I was gone to Minneapolis with good friends for meetings for work for some time and I'm working so hard to get caught up.

Spent last night down at my Mom's for her Bday--Happy Birthday Mom!

Made her a real fancy dinner...she has such high standards :)

I thought it was cute the pup fell asleep on the wipe your paws rug :)

Tayla riding Black Beauty.

Dessa is acting as her lead out.

Doesn't Black Beauty have such a sweet sweet face?

Dessa striking a pose (she dressed herself for riding that day)

Doesn't the baby look thrilled? lol

More snoozin' in my garden pup pics.

Way's Heaven-iversary

2011-04-18T07:41:00.002-05:00

I sent my best friend to Heaven 5yrs ago today.
I still miss him like it was yesterday.
Especially this year as I face some big life changes without my "fall back man" to get me through.
I love you Waylon!

It shows up full screen when I'm creating the post??

Sorry

Click here to see montage full screen....

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our long wait has finally ended!

2011-04-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

My big girl Dessa.

Her most recent obsession is blowing her nose (beats me--she doesn't even have a cold). We find tissues everywhere.

Her long running obsession (almost 2yrs) has been to lose a tooth (her friend Ava lost one at Y camp in front of us two years ago and she has been envious ever since).

I am very pleased to announce that Adessa now has 2 front loose teeth (bottom middle).

It's really amazing that her big dream is finally coming to fruition.

I'm sure the rest of the world is basking in our joy right now---it overflows so abundantly.

The baby seems to obsess about the day of the week (specifically Tuesday).

She often turns to me very seriously and says, "Mommy. It Tuesday?"

It's very cute...and it seems very important to her to know what day it actually is, if not Tuesday.

Tayla seems obsessed with vollying between adorable and my opositional defient child.

She makes me laugh always.

Tayla and Bella have begun to team up to create extra trouble around the farm.

Here is a picture of one of their recent escapades.

The night before they quietly threw ALL of the shoes upstairs out the window and onto the lawn.

It was dark and since I am ~~scared~~ too busy to go out after dark...the girls put their coats on the next morning and picked them all up.

I had to be impressed with their throwing arm--they cleared the roof with every single shoe!

All the beagle pups found homes but we seem to be at a standstill with Meg's crew.

They are so cute!

And sweet fantastic puppies! Some of, if not the best we've ever fostered.

That's my garden btw...

Would you like one?

Or maybe Momma?

She is a doll!!

A pic of Tage stalking/herding the duck.

Poor duck.

Sorry for the infrequent visits to blog land.

LOTS of stuff going on here...more to come on that.

I hope as things level out and the weather gets beautiful I'll have more pictures and posts to share!

Hope you are all doing well--Happy Spring!

Dessa's Spring picture....

2011-04-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

Okay...what's the deal?

Pictures 2x a year now?

What ever happened to once?

So...picture day fell on Dr Suess week...and each day for Dr Suess week they did something goofy--wore hats, dressed as a character, etc

On picture day it was crazy feet day...so Dessa wore the striped tights and poodle slippers.

I assumed they would be taking a head shot like usual....

I assumed wrong :)

She had extra tennis shoes with her b/c she had been wearing snow boots to school all winter and I suppose they thought they would look better than the poodle slippers....

But I'm not so sure :)

lol

Why didn't they just take a head shot.

Oh...and the smile--we even practice a non-fakey smile...

ah well

What else are school pictures for besides laughing at them.

When they kiss...we're gonna kiss

2011-04-03T07:39:00.000-05:00

Tayla is obsessed about watching Marley and Me.
Obsessed...but she stops it about halfway through and then starts it over to avoid the sad ending(she knows how to set up the whole dvd/tv by herself--no one showed her...and lord I can barely remember how to get it all set right).
Though..the other day she didn't feel good and she watched it all the way to the end and sobbed again.
Poor sweet dear.

She just put it in now again--the song, Shiny Happy People is in the beginning and all the girls sing it together--they know the words, lol.
Then she says to Bella, "When they kiss we're gonna kiss, okay?"
And when the husband and wife kiss...Tayla knows their names..I should ask her--John is the guy...she leans over to Bella and kisses her.
:)

Rescued a Human

2011-03-29T06:00:00.003-05:00

I received this from a dear sweet woman I did some herding with last year.
I thought it was lovely.

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, but not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.

A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened, and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe.

I would promise to always be by her side.

I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes.

I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors.

So many more to be saved. At least, I was able to save one.

I rescued a human today.

Happy Birthday in Heaven

2011-03-28T06:45:00.000-05:00

Today Lexie woulda turned 14yrs old here on earth....but she's celebrating in Heaven this year.

I figure she's far from 14yrs and feeling young and wonderful again!

It's not a great picture...but I love it anyhow.

Lex LOVED to lay in the sunshine!!

Here is the candle the Vet's office gave us after we had to say good-bye to Lex.

I thought it was a very sweet gesture and having been saving it for today.

Happy Birthday Lex--we miss you!

What if....

2011-03-23T19:05:00.001-05:00

Dessa had to come up with a "what if" statement at school and answer it.

She made a cute card--it said--

"What if the sun shined rainbow colors?"
next page
"My skin would be rainbow."
with pictures

I thought that was a cute idea.
I wish the sun did shine rainbows...at least some days....will have to talk to
my Aunt Judy in Heaven about that one.

Roller Derby Night Out

2011-03-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

Last night some of my best girls came up for a fun night out!

We ate at Vinny Vanucchi's.

We totally figured out their bread recipe--marinate in olive oil, slather with butter, deep fry then sprinkle with cheese.

Seriously--that was some crazy bread!

Then we went to the roller derby.

Chris was doing his best to make it enjoyable.

I'm not sure what our deal was...but we didn't really "get" the roller derby.

Strange game/sport? Difficult to follow the rules.

The action

Hotel before we went out.

Karri wussing out on the second lemondrop.

Recreation of the bed shot from the last ho-tel party.

We were making fun of my small chest in another picture we took so it was

decided I should feature my better asset in this one.

Lovely.

lol--nice kissy faces on the right girls

Old standby--I need longer hair.

Hotel dancing.

Karri riding the train.

And then the rest of us.

Show those muscles.

I LOVE this picture!

Dorks

After this picture someone--though I won't name names (Casey) dropped my camera and broke it :(

So this is all I've got of the night...

Probably enough actually.

Happy spring everyone!!

Springing ahead

2011-03-13T08:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Daylight Savings everyone!

It's lovely today...but not tomorrow when I have to get up an hour earlier...in the dark :(

At least the weather is supposed to become more springlike.

I celebrated by buying a new bamboo dish rack.

oooh....ahhh....

I was sick of the gross plastic ones...and I LOVE my new one :)

I also accidently got this kitchen towel.

Isn't it so cute?

Which leads right into this....

Beagle pups went up for adoption this week.

Two found homes so far!

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone.

Marley and Me

2011-03-10T19:54:00.002-06:00

The girls love to watch movies...and on weekends during quiet time they get to pick out a movie.
Dessa had been begging for Marley and Me forever.
I had started it once some time ago...saw where it was headed (tearville) and quit watching it.
I held them off on Marley and Me as long as possible...and finally gave in.
I joined them about halfway through where I had left off and finished the movie out.
Let me say, I am not a crier. I do not cry in front of other people if I can in any way help it anyhow.
My kids probably only ever remember seeing me cry when Lexie died.
But, I cried at the end of Marley and Me.
Just tears down my face--not a full out sob...but the girls were transfixed.
I watched the movie--they watched me cry.
Fun times.
One of the reasons I don't like to cry. Someone,s always watching you.
Tayla had a ton of questions about me crying, as you can imagine.
I don't think they even saw the end of the movie.
Since then Tayla has wanted to watch it again and I've said no.
Tonight while I was getting the house tidied up and everything ready for tomorrow the girls turned on the TV and Marley and Me was on.
I let them watch it.
When the movie was over I was in the bathroom with Bella getting her teeth brushed.
Tayla came in sobbing.
When I asked her what was wrong she said, "Marley and Me made me cry".
Awwwwwwwwww!! How sweet is that!
Dessa came in to, well, watch her cry I guess.
Tayla just sobbed about how sad it was--the things she said were ADORABLE.
I wish I could remember them all.
I held her on my lap--tear stained face against my chest and told her it was okay.
Then Dessa started crying.
When I asked her what was wrong she said, "Well now she's making me cry."
Awwwwwwwww! How sweet is that?

Probably not a nice picture to take....
But this was after it had all mostly fizzled out

I love my girls.
I can only imagine the amount of tears we'll share over the next couple decades.
The ups and downs and all arounds---a touch more emotionally rocky with three girls to share it all with I'm sure...but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Hey...who knows..maybe I'll learn to be a better crier myself.

My dorks

2011-03-09T20:39:00.000-06:00

Goofy little girls playing dress up..or..maybe it's dress down in this case.

Dessa

2011-03-08T06:03:00.000-06:00

Just a few Dessa pics.

Here is her self portrait.

And here she is at her big dance performance this past Saturday.

Dessa's the little one-the front right.

She had camp that afternoon and then that night several area dance/cheer teams camp for an annual "Bleacher Blowout"

It was fun.

I didn't take many pics--I put the whole thing on video-no tiny snippets here and there

and....

I can't get the dang video uploaded :(

It was with my new camera--which the video is super tricky--I can only watch it after I download it somewhere....and so she didn't even get to see herself

So I only have two sad pics

They are from the back because even though we were over 30 min early the "facing" side was completely and totally filled--people were sitting on the stairs!

It was really fun...I think I may have to sign Dessa up for dance. She has so much free time anyhow ;)
I do know who not to sign her up with...one of the dance teams could be identified by their knack of making little girls look like prostitutes! I guess I became a little more conservative in my old age...or, you know what...I bet I never thought little girls should wear bikini tops, hot shorts and thigh high black tights.

Dessa had lots of fun.
She did great--I was very proud of her.

Not a chicken

2011-02-26T16:14:00.002-06:00

Today when I went out to the coop to gather eggs something seemed amiss.....

That's not a chicken!

What is an opossum doing sleeping in one of the nesting boxes??

And what do I do about it?

I threw some metal food dishes at him but he didn't much seem to care.

I don't know if he's sick--or just that sleepy.

No chickens were dead and there were still some eggs to gather.

Beats me?

Suggestions?

Update.

I had a Bloody Mary...okay, fine, two.
Then I went out with a shovel and excavated the rascally varmit.

He put up a bit of a fight...charged me once (though I'm not sure he actually meant to charge me) and dove for a space in the wall...but I caught him and threw him out the door.

Got the chickens all sorts of worked up.

But homeostasis is reset.

Phew!

Teamwork

2011-02-20T16:57:00.000-06:00

It's a cold-wet-muddy-rainy-miserable day here.

We've spent it playing with puppies, reading books, sticking stickers all the places they don't belong and now baking cookies.

With cookies come dishes and fortunately I have girls that LOVE to wash dishes (don't worry I re-wash them all :)

Bella decided she wanted to wash dishes...but had gotten in trouble for sliding her chair over to steal cookies.

So...she found a new step stool.

Nothing like a little teamwork.

Yesterday we found a FABULOUS home for Bandit, our border collie foster.

Finally!!! Now only 21 more to go... :)

When Casey dropped the paperwork off with Shirly--who works with the shelter she sent home gifts for the girls (and Casey and I as well).

Puppies are growing like weeds and they are at such FUN ages.

So adorably cuddly (and stinky..but hey, puppies poop).

We finally assigned them names and gave them manicures.

Click here if you'd like to see what they've been up to.

I think we're going to have to move them out soon.

They're getting too big for their nursery...17 active puppies is a lot of puppies!

Fedora is a plucky little beagle momma--always nose down and tail wagging.

Meg is a sweet sweet dear--I love that momma--except during the night.

She's very good at letting you know when she needs something.

And she was needing out all week long at 4am.

This weekend it moved up to 1am.

And...she likes to be out for about 30 minutes at a time.

Ugh.

Other than that...we're enjoying the babes while they are here.

Hoping to do the DNA test today on Fedora's pups.....stay tuned to find out who daddy is :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T20:42:00.000-06:00

Today was another beautiful and sunshiny warm day in the Midwest.

Woohoo!

Dessa's dentist appointment was tearful.

Tayla's doctor appointment was easy street.

She's perfect...of course--except for her photogenic skills which we already knew and will be confirmed again in this post....

Bella is feeling better.

And Memphis liked Dessa's crimpies.

I had a grand day and all is well in the world.

When we got home we had Valentine presents waiting for us.

First from my dear friend Heather---who sends us fabulous things in the mail.

She totally spoils us!

Tayla's first "lovely" smile.

Seriously...how do I get her to stop? :)

This was her Birthday gift from Heather.

Okay...how'd all these pictures get out of order??

A whole bucket of homemade candy and treats!!!

Little girl heaven!

There is is...Tayla's very own super cute box.

And another hideously dorky smile.

Really...I'm hanging these up at her graduation....

I got my own super cool gift...

A really beautiful cool photo book Heather made with pictures of the girls from this summer.

Bella

Tayla

Dessa

The pictures pop out in 3-D....she made it!!!

How COOL is that???

Thank you Heather--I will love it forever!!

Bella with her favorite fishy sucker.

Still looks a little sicky.

And now the girls' second surprise--Valentine's from my parents!!!

Like Christmas around here.

Dessa (and me) thought the notes were so sweet.

Very cool and well picked sticker books from Heather.

And nice notes from Grandma.

Cool heart straws from Heather that Dessa couldn't wait to use!

We are so thankful that we have such wonderful people to love and spoil us.

Thank you everyone

and especially Heather and Grandma!

Beautiful day to build a Snowman!

2011-02-13T20:52:00.001-06:00

Today was BEAUTIFUL!!

Sun shine and temps in the lower 40's!!

That's like 80 degrees for the Midwest in February.

I drove with my sunroof open, windows down and radio up!

While I was gone Casey and the girls finally built a snowman with the COOL snowman kit my Godmother gave us for Christmas.

They had a lot of fun....though since I wasn't there...picture selection is not huge....

Hope you are all have fabulous Valentine plans.

Dessa has a dentist appointment to have a broken filling and another tooth fixed.

Tayla has her 4yr check up.

Bella has been sick :(

Other than that it's straight fun and romance :)

Tonight after her bath I asked Dessa if she wanted me to put braids in her hair so she would have crimpies tomorrow.

At first she said no, then decided she did.

Her reasoning?

Well, her and Sophia have been fighting over Memphis (boy in her class) and she thought the crimpies would give her the edge.

It begins so early.

She said he's just been hanging around Sophia so she wanted to steal him back.

I told her she needed to just find another boy.

She said she guesses she could "do" Jensen.

Oh.

I didn't know our girl to girl talks about boys would start so early.

But I've got a lot of advice for her just waiting....like she'll actually take it...but I'm giving it either way :)

Oh they grow up so fast!

Stay tuned to see if the crimpies made Memphis melt.
Though it doesn't matter because we are so over him anyhow.

Dessa's cheer debut and my terrible camera work

2011-02-10T06:56:00.000-06:00

Dessa recently went to cheer camp and last night was her big halftime performance.

She was so excited.

And a little nervous.

Here are the girls running out.

I had to run around to the other side after this pic.

As good of a spot as I could get.

Dessa is front row--second from our side.

I'm torn with either taking pictures/video and actually sitting back and just enjoying the moment.

So I do a bad combo of each and enjoy some and take quick bad pics/video.

I'll get it right eventually.

Dessa and Tayla after.

I asked her for a cheer move.

Here are random...short, snippety videos.
Don't bother even watching unless you are part of the immediate family, lol.
The last one seems terrible but it shows Hunter jumping on Dessa's back...which was much talked about leading up to this day so I felt I had to include it.

Go Comets!

Oral hygiene in kindergarten

2011-02-09T12:06:00.000-06:00

Dessa came home last night with a chart for brushing her teeth the next 3 weeks.
If she showed she brushed them morning and night she got a prize.
I thought this was a great thing for the school to encourage.
'Til she told me what the prize was.
A pack of gum.
What?
I guess it beats candy.
:)

Happy Birthday Tater Tot!

2011-02-06T10:44:00.000-06:00

Today is my little Tater Tot's 4th Birthday!!

Where does time go??

She is my crazy little girl who I know with absolute certainty if going to give me a run for my money over the years.

But she's so lovable she can get away with anything...even haircuts :)

I had to pull up and scan on some old pictures...so there aren't many of those.

Here she is on her very first Birthday.

She was a very fussy baby.

Very.

But of course, totally worth it.

Here she is at 1yr.

1st Birthday.

2nd Birthday

Pictures from the summer she was two.

Third Birthday--where everything was purple.

Pics from this past summer.

I love this one.

I love the look on her face in this one.

We are getting ready to head down to Grandma's for her party.

This year's theme is mint.

Everything mint.

And a green cake.

The girl has her opinions.

She is FULL of personality and life.

She is crazy

and wonderful

and everything I could hope for.

I love you Tayla

Tabitha, the Spoiled Princess

2011-02-06T08:09:00.001-06:00

If you read my Arizona post you might remember my mention of this fabulous tea place Amber took us to.

Teavana (aka Nirvana)

The tea there was heavenly.

It took me to another world.

And it was addictive.

And a bit pricey.

Okay, a lot pricey.

But it was SO good.

I couldn't help myself.

And hey, it was a cheap trip.

Good price on our flights.

No hotel.

Only ate out once a day....

I had some unspent money that needed a place to go.

I had no choice really.

We only took carry ons for the flight and I had no room to fly back my tea...so Teavana shipped my tea to me, for free I'll have you know :)

At first I thought I just needed the sample of tea that I tasted...but the salesboy of the year quickly showed me the error in my ways.

They had these cool tea bulb things. You put them in water and they bloom!

It was beautiful.

Amazing

and tasted good.

Stay tuned for a picture of that.

Who doesn't love a good tea picture?

Here is the kit for the blooming tea

The tea came wrapped so pretty.

And packed with bubble wrap.

So it's like I got a gift for the girls too.

Are you thinking maybe this was money well spent after all now?

The cool box my mug came in, tea and German rock sugar.

This mug/cup makes me smile every time I look at it.

Last night on my way home in the dark my dash lights made the top shimmer.

It was so beautiful it's all I could do to keep my eyes on the road.

I so wish I could attach smell.

Cause these smell amazing.

Youthberry and orange blossom.

mmmmm

I am taken to another place with every sip I take.

A much warmer, sunnier place.

I swear this tea is laced with some sort of drug.

I LOVE my tea.

I don't regret my splurge one bit!

Thanks for taking us there Amber!!

Good times for everyone.