Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaw!

We attended a local rodeo a couple of nights ago and it was so much fun! They had a petting zoo, pony rides, giant inflatable slides, and of course....ice cream. The girls were in heaven. The Saddle Club puts on the rodeo every year, but this is the first year they were really old enough to enjoy it. We definitely won't ever miss it again. It was about 137 degrees out and it had just rained a few hours earlier. Ew.

I think the pony rides were the highlight of the evening, for sure. The girls could not stop smiling. Jesse was awesome trying to distract the guy running the ride with conversation so the girls could ride for a few extra minutes.



The actual rodeo was under a pavilion and it was very dark under there - I couldn't get my camera to get a very good shot of the shows, but there were cowboys riding bulls (for a second at least, until they got thrown to kingdom come,) cowboys roping and hog-tying calves, and all the usual goofy rodeo clowns telling jokes that weren't funny between shows. The shot below is of the 'kid rodeo.' They got ALL the kids out in the pen (like 150 of them), and then tied a flag to two little cows tails. Then it was, "On your mark, get set, GO!" and all 150 kids chased the cows all over the rodeo pen trying to get the flags off their tails. It was pretty funny. If you look carefully at this picture, you can see kids falling all over each other chasing one of the cows.
Daddy and Rooney watching the bull rides, or at least Daddy is watching the bull rides, and Rooney is engrossed in an ice cream sandwich.
The same people who brought the ponies brought a camel! We skipped the camel ride though. Maybe next year.
The girls did the giant slides over and over. I was so proud of Miss Madeline, who climbed all the way to the top of this 20 foot slide all by herself.
You know you are in the South when this is what you see by the sign at the slide entrance that says, "Please take off your shoes."

La-Z-Ben

Some things start off innocently enough. Who turns down a little belly scratchin'?
And then again, sometimes you pay the price for letting your guard down.

On an adorable side note, here are the girls with their makeshift microphones, singing along with Todd Agnew's "Grace Like Rain." Play the song below to get the full effect. :)

Sometime during the night both girls ended up in bed with me. I became aware of the occasional [frequent] knee, elbow, or foot in my back, and when I got up, I saw why. There they were, sleeping like a pile of puppies, with Rooney sideways and all snuggled up with Baby, who didn't appear to mind [be conscious.] Hence my sore back.

We went to Lake Acworth Beach yesterday for a playdate with some kids from church. Jesse takes the girls to that lake all the time, but on the boat. I had no idea that they had a wonderful little white sand beach, where the water was shallow and the kids could play within arm's reach while the moms sat in lawn chairs with our feet in the water and chatted (and there was no charge, not even for parking!) We had a great time and the girls did not want to come home. However, I forgot the camera. I grimaced as I was walking down the beach and realized my mistake, because I know I promised pictures!! In my defense, I took lots with my cell phone - then I couldn't find the USB cable for the phone to load them to the computer. BUT, there is hope, Leia Taylor had her camera and told me she would email me any pics she got with the girls. In the meantime, we will definitely do that again, so stay tuned, eventually, there will be pictures!

And finally, I know this country isn't perfect, but I am so grateful that I live here. My life is so easy - I live in luxury compared to MOST of the people in the WORLD. My house is HUGE, safe, clean, and comfortable. I have clean, cheap food and water abundantly available and my children are safe and well-fed. We have state-of-the-art medical care available 24 hours a day if we need it. I don't have to worry about watching my girls die from a common and preventable illness like pneumonia. If I want to work hard to change my life for the better, I have EVERY opportunity because I live here. I HAVE IT GOOD. I'm grateful to God, because I should be!! I have TONS to be grateful for, and the list goes on, it would take me hours to mention everything. And I'm grateful to the men and women who are overseas fighting to protect me and my family and keep America safe and free. God bless them, and God Bless America.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Empty Nest Syndrome

Well, I woke this morning to find that the babies have all left the nest. Here is the most recent picture I took a couple of days ago...I couldn't believe how fast they went from newly-hatched and completely helpless to fully-feathered and ready to go.

The proud parents have been behaving strangely the last day or two - they stayed much closer to the nest than normal and we were able to get very close to them without them taking off. I wondered a couple of times if they were going to launch into the air and start pecking me to protect their nest. Maybe they are just feeling a little perkier now that they don't have 4 infants waking them up at night for feedings? Who knows. But I got some good pictures.


Okay Dad, how's THAT for a freakin' close up? This is actually one of the babies, just starting to explore her ability to jump ship. I snapped this one yesterday, and had hoped that I might be present to witness the little bugger's first attempt at flight today. But, alas, all 4 babies followed Mom and Dad into the wild blue yonder before I got up this morning. *Sigh.*

Guess I will have to go back to blogging about my obnoxious dog and adorable daughters. We have a playdate Thursday at the Lake - I will take the camera!

Electric Slide

We have been going to a local elementary school park in the evenings so that I can walk and the girls can play. It is less than 5 minutes from the house and always deserted. Sometimes Jesse comes with us and I am hoping we can bring Biggie Smalls along one of these days so he can walk with me way over in the grass behind the parking lot.

The slides were like those Eye-of-the-Storm balls - the instant they touched them their hair would stand straight up.
My battery was dying, so this was the last picture I could get! Phooey.
And finally, it never ceases to amaze me how a 140 lb. dog can curl himself into a 12 inch ball like a centipede. He's such a sofa rat.

The babies are here!

How's this for a face that only a mother could love?!

Speaking of Mama, she is never far away, and neither is the Daddy bird, who is red. I don't know what species they are, and they always take off the moment they see me coming, so it isn't easy to get a good look. Dad? Care to take a stab at a little GA bird ID?

These little guys are turning out to be great pets. They cheep when they are hungry or thirsty (which is often,) so Baby has to run down to the garage every couple of hours to feed them and change their water. I love that, because they are so gentle and sweet that she can take care of them by herself, and she is learning a lot about the responsibility that goes with a pet. They love to swim in the pond and follow Baby thru the yard as she walks. If she gets out of sight they stand together, stretch their necks, and start cheeping for her. As soon as she comes back, they waddle right over to her. She loves them, and I think they are rather smitten with her as well.

And finally, the highlight of my day...Rooney discovered my underwear drawer and decided to create another of her famous Mermaid ensembles. She came running into my office wearing a pair of my panties this time as "seashells."

I cracked up, of course, and had to snap some pics. Then I picked her up to kiss her and tell her how cute she was, and as I did, her skirt started to fall off. She said, "MOM!! You're ruining my fin!!" She's 3. When did my baby learn to think abstractly?!

Look up, look down, all around, hey.....

Satellite!


Poor guy. Said goodbye to the twins and the tail on the same day. He looks great with a short tail, but he was so uncomfortable that first night. We both did some crying. It has been about a week now and he is starting to adjust, and seems to be in less pain. That ridiculous collar DOES NOT keep him from licking his tail, and I'm a little concerned that once we remove it he isn't going to leave it alone. But at least he isn't chewing it anymore (it's too short) and hopefully once it's healed that will be the end of the Frankentail.

We rented "Mama's Boy" tonight, which starred the kid from Napoleon Dynamite. Hilarious. Worth two hours. Charlie Wilson's War is still up there, will let you know how that one turns out.

Wild Kingdom

Okay, the last couple of weeks our lives have been very full....of critters. It has been like Noah's Ark around here, and the girls are just loving it.

First, Jesse found a baby cotton-tail bunny in the grass at the rental house. Baby fell instantly in love (the little furball *was* adorable.)

Bunny only stayed with us a couple of days, before making a run for it the first time we put him down on the grass to eat some clover. He was like a tiny furry blur. Baby was DEVASTATED. She cried and cried. :`( Our saving grace has been that there are lots of wild bunnies around here, and when we see one in the backyard we tell her that is the baby bunny's Mommy and he wanted to go home. That has made her feel much better.

Next, since Jesse has installed the Second Coming Spotlight on the frontporch, we have had bugs galore, especially moths, which the girls think are butterflies and love to catch. Check this guy out - he has been coming and going the last few days and always lands in the same spot. The girls call him the Big Green Butterfly and love to look at him through the other side of the bathroom window. Ew.Also on the porch, some birds have decided to build their nest in the wreath on the security door. This picture is about a week old, there are 5 eggs in there now. We are going to have baby birds and the girls can't wait. Every time we come or go they ask if the babies are here yet.

And finally, Jesse brought home two little baby duckies today. Basically, they are about the most adorable things I have ever seen, and this time, we are *all* in love. They follow you around when you walk and love to climb up in your lap to snuggle up and get warm. They are SO soft and OH SO CUTE!! They are quick little buggers too, you have to be careful holding them. They are just a week old, and the guy at the farm supply place said they can go in the pond when they are a month old.
We just have to name them! I think Baby has been calling them Amber and Daniel (I have no idea.) What do you guys think? Romulus and Remus? Bonnie and Clyde? Peking and A La Orange? Rubber and Lame?

Take my dog...please

It's been a while since you-know-who went to the Vet, and it was time to update his shots before we take him in week after next (dun-dun-DUN!!) to have the Blackberries removed.

He is still about 135lbs.

He dragged me all over the Vet office. There was very little I could do. I had him in a fancy Cesar Milan dog collar, and it was useless. I should have kept him in his slider/chain link collar. TOMORROW on the way to church, I am stopping at PetSmart for a PINCH collar. And while we're there, we're asking about obedience training (you know, since I have all this extra time on my hands), because this is ridiculous. We won't ever be able to have him out in public, around new people or other dogs. He's totally out of control and I practically had to WRESTLE him to the ground, where he would stay for about 9/10 of a second and then it was back at the other dog/vet tech/whoever was close by. Ugh.

What. A crummy. Day.

I basically did everything but stand on my head today to get work done before my UPS pickup, and still didn't make it. Had to drive a dozen boxes half an hour across town. Stopped for diapers on the way home - and they forgot to order them this week. They had *2 cases.* So I will have to go back tomorrow, and doubt I have even enough to make all the orders that need to go out tomorrow. Stopped for Burt's Bees at another store - and they haven't ordered them.

I just stood there with my mouth open. I must have asked them to place that order half a dozen times in the last 3 weeks. I am out of those now and will have to buy them retail to hold me over until my regular order comes in. If they manage to place it, that is.

Got home to see that someone wants an order overnighted, but wants it with a larger size diaper than I usually use. I'd love to tell her no, but don't want her to cancel her order. After taking care of a couple of things around the house (feeding the girls, unloading & reloading dishwasher, etc.) it is now about 10:30pm, but I really have no choice (not true, I'm just making more problems for myself at this point.) So I load the girls into the Jeep thinking I will just make a quick run to Ingles for 2 packs of size 2 diapers....

...and get pulled over ****AT THE INGLES STOPLIGHT!!!!**** For expired tags. They are 5 days past their expiration. Did he write me a ticket? What do you think. Did I try to explain that I work 16 hour days and that this just BARELY slipped through the cracks? Do I try to explain that I still have to work until 4 or 5am when I get home and that an $80 ticket is going to completely cancel out this late-night supply run AND probably the whole night's work??!!

No. I don't. Because he didn't ask. He just took his sweet time writing me a ticket, and said, "Sign here." And then, "Drive safe." I found that very irritating, but then, I can't imagine there is anything a policeman could possibly say after writing me a ticket that would sound even remotely sincere. And hey, at least I'm already in the Ingles parking lot, so I may as well finish my errand.

It is now 12:30 and the girls are in bed. I have at least 6 hours worth of work that needs to be done, which will be for nothing. And a very sick feeling in my stomach that things need very much to change.