Houston Rodeo

The kids are home on Spring Break and yesterday we took the kids to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo. This was the first time that any of us had been and by all accounts it was pretty neat. It is like a state fair, but with a rodeo as well. It runs for 3 weeks and they have live concerts, (pretty big names), every night as well as a rodeo. We spent our time in the children's area, which was from 11:00 until 3:00. We saw pig races, acrobatic dogs, and a baby calf only a few hours old, a petting zoo and so many other things. There was an arena that had the pigs, cows, rabbits, and a few other animals. We even spotted a breed of cow that appeared to be hairless (it looked like a LARGE pig), and Kayla loved the bunny rabbits. There was a birthing area that had animals (cows and pigs) about to give birth and ones that had recently given birth. There was an area where the kids could play like they were the farmers and had to go through this maze doing different farmer chores. In one part they were given chicken food to put in the trough for the chickens. After they "fed" the plastic chickens they picked up an egg (wooden) and moved on to the next task. They planted seeds and collected the vegetable that they planted, milked a cow and collected milk, sheared a sheep, and collected wool... I think you get the idea. Once they finished with their chores they took their harvest to the market and sold it (put it in the appropriate basket) and collected their money (toy) . They then took their money to the store where they could pick out one item to "buy". Nathan and Kayla followed the direction of 1item, however Emily made it out of there with 3 items, she is going to be trouble. It was a fun time and I am sure we will go back.

"The Farmers"

Feeding the chickens

Planting the seed time to collect the pepper.. ..or a carrot Shearing the sheep Milking the cow Kayla was not sure about petting the animals at the petting zoo then she warmed up Texas Longhorn Momma and baby piglets

Sleep

I think Emily could sleep anywhere. She has fallen asleep in the car (but what kid hasn't), on the kitchen floor, standing up, on the stairs, and in the swing (sorry no picture of that one). I am waiting for her to fall asleep in her food, enjoy the pics...

In the car

Standing up

In bed On the Stairs

On the sofa

With her sister On the kitchen floor

Home Again, Home Again...

Sally came back yesterday. I received a call from the animal shelter and they said she was better and I should come get her today so that she does not get sick again. I thought and thought tried to talk to Paul, but he was away from his office and I decided I should go get her. She is home and the kids are SOOO happy to have her back. She is better, wanted to play last night, purred a lot and sat on my lap never trying to run away. She is nervous around Emily, not that Emily is ruff with her, Emily is just 2, which means quick movements, and she is loud. Sally has not left the bathroom where the litter is, temporarily, her food and water and her "bed" (an old comforter). She still has a few sneezes so I am watching that, but will wait and see how things go...

Maddie's Mobility

Here is a little video from yesterday of Maddie scooting around...

bows and getting dressed

I made a few bows for the girls to wear in their hair. It was pretty easy and the girls enjoyed picking which ribbon they wanted their bow to be made from. Now I just have to work on getting Emily to leave the bow in her hair longer than 2 minutes.

Yesterday Kayla dressed herself, well she does everyday, but her outfit yesterday was pretty interesting. She had on her pink shoes, purple and pink striped socks, brown sweat shorts, and a purple shirt with bright flowers all over it. It was a sight...

On vacation...

Sally has gone on a vacation. I took her back to the animal shelter this morning. Why you say?? Well, she had started sneezing last Thursday and over the weekend it continued to get worse and she stopped eating. I took her to a vet in Tomball to have her looked at and they said for $300.00 they could treat her and send her home with medicine. I said, no thank you!! I called the animal shelter and they told me I could take her to a vet that works with the shelter and have her treated for free. This was a good idea to me, so after school the kids and I went to the vet and he gave her some nose drops, antibiotic, and a pill to increase her appetite. When we came home from the vet we started the regime: drops in the nose, put her in the bathroom with the HOT water running so the humidity could help to clear her up, then the appetite pill and the antibiotic. The vet suggested that we feed her canned food and warm it up in the microwave because if a cat can't smell their food, they will not eat. I did this and let me tell you the house smelled real nice. She still did not eat, just laid down on her bed and tried to cry and purr. This continued until this morning, when I had decided I could not be responsible for killing the cat because she was not getting ANY better with all the stuff I was trying. I had started to force her to drink water by using a syringe and forcing it down her throat and last night she had a sneezing fit that ended up with blood coming from her nose. I took her in to the animal shelter, where I was planning on just returning her and the vet there looked at me and said it can take up to 7 days to 2 weeks, I thought really. I am not sure she would have lived without eating for two weeks. I left sad and feeling guilty about having handed her over to what I thought would be certain death. After running a few errands and talking to Paul, I decided I would call the shelter and talk to the vet about Sally. He said that they would continue to care for her and see how she does, if they have to put her down they will call me and tell me, and if they are able to bring life back to her, they will call me and let me come back to pick her up. So she is on vacation. I told Nathan and Kayla that I was taking Sally back to the vet because I am not able to take care of her here and they can do a better job. I told them that she is VERY sick and would not be coming home again. Kayla was sad, but she was quick to ask if we could get another kitty.

FLower Girl...

Last night we had our friends, the Grundmeiers, over for dinner and they brought Kayla a birthday present. It was a flower, a shovel, a hand rake, a garden bucket with wheels, and a pair of PINK gardening gloves. So this morning Kayla was VERY excited to plant her flower. Nathan had persuaded her to plant it in the middle of the back yard, so I had to work on changing her mind. It was not as tough as I had thought it would be. I just had to explain that there was a good chance Daddy would run over it with the lawn mower, and it could get stepped on, or smashed by the soccer ball. After she thought about it for a little bit and Nathan agreeing it would be better in the front flower garden she was convinced to plant it in the front with the other flowers. She enjoyed wearing her gloves and digging the hole for the flower. Now we will try to keep it alive longer than a week. I am not very good with plants, just ask my husband...