New pet....

The other day Paul was walking in the back yard and he came across this little turtle. Nathan and Paul decided that they should keep it and put it in Nathan's habitat. The next morning I was checking on it and I noticed that where Nathan had put half an inch of water this poor turtle was trying to swim under the water, it was too big!! Well after a little research about a red-eared slider turtle I discovered they are aquatic and need a lot more water than what it was given. I was on a hunt and I found a plastic storage container that was missing a lid put 3 inches of water in it and rocks for it to climb onto, as they need a dry place to go to, an put in the turtle. It immediately swam to the bottom and hid under the rocks. The kids gave it some sand and we noticed that it was acting as if it was trying to bury itself in the dirt. We have been feeding it tomatoes and lettuce, but may see it f they eat other things. I am not sure how long this turtle which is still nameless, will be our pet, but time will tell. For now it is fun watching the kids as they "play" with it and ant to feed it every day. The turtle will stay in the water most of the time unless it knows that there is no one around then it will get out and sun itself on the rocks.

Horses and Fish

What a day today was. We went to some friend's house (Mark and Melanie, that we know through Church) to fish for catfish and ride a horse. When we got there the kids were a bit timid of the GIANT Quarterhorse, Cimarron (The brown horse in the pictures. The grey horse is their tempramental Thoroughbred that only lets Mel ride him.). Well, I was holding Emily and I was able to get her to sit on the horse then as Mel walked the horse Emily sat and rode as I walked beside her. Then I dropped off and let Emily ride alone!! She loved it! Second it was Kayla on the horse, she rode and even let the horse jog while she bounced up and down. Nathan rode one time and claims he almost fell off, but I saw him doing great. He did not enjoy it as much as Kayla and Emily, but I am glad he tried it. Kayla and Emily rode him twice and Nathan just once. Maddie did not want anything to do with Cimarron. I would try to get her to just sit on him, but she would latch onto me tighter than a vice grip. She would not cry, but she did say , "No, No, No" in a sweet little voice with her brow furrowed. It was kind of cute. Then they fed the horses carrots, and played on the trampoline. We also went inside and saw her pet frog, and two box turtles. Nathan is hopeful that he will get one of the turtles, Pedro. They are still small, maybe a year old. The frog was weird it is in an aquarium and jut swims, she fed it a meal worm and it used it's front legs like hands to push the worm into its mouth. It was kind of strange. Finally it was time for fishing, this what Nathan was awaiting for. They have a little pond for the horses and in it there are catfish and perch. We did catch about 5 catfish ranging from 6 to 18 inches. We also caught about 8 perch. There are not many pictures of the fish as we were busy baiting lines and unhooking fish. It was HOT so the fishing came to an end and the kids played on the trampoline for a while before we left to go home. It was a long day outside and a good one. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed riding on Cimarron.

SHE Lost Her First Tooth!!

Kayla lost her first tooth today!! Her two front bottom teeth have been wiggly for a week and she has not wanted anyone to touch her teeth! Last night it was bleeding a little and was READY to be pulled, but she was not having any of it. There was no way anyone was putting their fingers in her mouth to pull that tooth out (trust me Nathan and I tried!!). This morning while brushing her teeth she felt what she thought was a clump of toothpaste in her mouth and she spit it in the sink. Well, it was her tooth!!! Luckily she had put the drain stopper in and it prevented her tooth from going down the drain. She was so excited and came running downstairs to announce to everyone that she lost her tooth. It was too cute to hear the excitement in her voice telling how it all happened. Now to wait and see if she gets a bit more adventurous with the pulling of her teeth or if she just lets them all fall out naturally.

First Day of School

Today was the first day back to school for Nathan and Kayla and the first day of school for Emily!! I walked in with Kayla and Nathan, and Nathan walked on to his class, never looking back just slowly walking to his classroom; complete opposite from last year!! He did tell me at dinner the night before that he was excited about school, but that he was only excited about the first day and would not like it the rest of the year. I guess he did not want me to get my hopes up!! After Nathan walked on to his class I (by I, I mean me, Emily and Maddie!!) walked Kayla into her class where she gripped onto my leg and would not turn loose. We walked to her hook where she hung up her backpack, and put her water and lunch on the shelf. Then the tears began, she cried and cried, we walked over to her table sat down in her chair, she kept crying and I explained how mommy could not stay and I would be back to pick her up later in the day. She cried and cried. I asked her to be a brave girl and I explained that I needed her to be brave. She was still crying, but wanted me to take pictures of her, I told her I would so we picked out a crayon (pink of course) and she pretended to color. She said in a sobby sad voice "I don't know what to color..." I said, Color a baby." To which she sobbed back to me, "I don't know how to color a baby." So I took a few pictures of her, but they are kind of sad. Maybe next Tuesday when I go in with Emily I will get a picture of her happy!! I asked her to be brave and I needed to take Emily to her classroom, she said OK and a hug and kiss later we left. She sat in her seat with friends around and tears in her eyes. Off to Emily's classroom, where she walked right in we found her cubby, hung up her bag, put her lunch away, and walked over to the table to color. She was amazing...it was an experience I never knew a child of mine could do. Emily was nervous but there were no tears and she acted like it was all OK. I wanted to stay all morning and just savor the moment, but I knew if I did the moment would pass and she would eventually cry. So after a few pictures, Maddie and I left. We walked back to main building where Nathan and Kayla were and checked in on Kayla (by "checked in" we stood in the hall and looked in the room not to be seen). She was not crying anymore and was following the morning routine of prayers, pledge of allegiance and birthdays. We walked down the hall and looked in on Nathan, he was sitting in his desk and was paying attention. He looked a little nervous, but was very brave. At the end of the day they all had a good time, and survived. When I picked up Emily she was crying. Apparently they had music class last in the day and Ms. Jones was too much for little Emily!!!

Missing

Can you tell what is missing from this picture???

It is Nathan's front tooth. Yes I know I write about his teeth falling out a lot, but he is at that stage. He came to me this morning and asked me to feel how wiggly his tooth was it was pretty loose. He came to me a few minutes later with a string in his hand and asked if I could tie it to his tooth so he could pull it out, I told him "No, you will hurt yourself!!" He left and went up stairs. Approximately 30 minutes later he came back to me and showed me a hole in his mouth and his tooth in his hand!! This would have been all fine and cute, but I was planning on trying to get a good picture of all of the kids for Paul for his office, another day!!

Sprinklers

With the neighbors back in town and the pool not at our beck and call, we played in the sprinklers to cool off. The kids had a lot of fun and Nathan even played this time. I think he was out there because Paul said he would spray him with the hose after they played in the sprinkler for a while. They danced and were so silly. It has been a good summer and I am glad to say that we all survived.

Playing in the Rain!!!

Yes, that is right rain!! We got rain, it was great and cooled things off into the 80's. The kids had a ball playing in the rain and Kayla used this as a good time to use her rain coat and her umbrella!

She wasn't crazy!!

The dove that has been sitting on her nest for 3 months finally hatched her eggs. We have two baby dove that have take up residence on the front porch. They are cute and naturally do not like humans. The kids enjoy looking out the window and watching them as they sleep in the dirtor on the chairs. It is pretty interesting to watch when their mom comes to feed them and they violently try to get the food out of her mouth. I have enjoyed them, but am ready for them to take flight and leave, they have turned my front porch into a bird poop sanctuary, not very pleasant.

If you look out the window you can see the dove sitting on the arm of the chair...

Caterpillars

The past few days I have noticed LOTS of these little caterpillars. Today while we were playing in the yard I had the kids "catching "them" and we would see who caught the most! The caterpillars were easy to catch as they were climbing the fence and on the porch. They caught a lot 100+ and I am letting them die. Yes, I know love your animals all God's creatures, but I am trying to grow a garden and have trees that are in need of help, so I have opted to save the plants and sacrifice the 100's of caterpillars. The kids especially the girls had a good time catching them.

Out of Town

Our neighbors are out of town and we are "pool sitting" for them. I know it is a tough job,but someone has to do it!! There was one day that I cleaned out the traps and it was a lot stinky as the caterpillars had been in search of water fallen in the pool and drowned. Lots of dead caterpillars in the pool vacuum!! We have been over there almost every day for a few hours playing and just cooling off. Plus this helps them to be tired at bed time!! The kids have played nicely together making up games and just playing while I sit and play with Maddie or I just sit and watch as Nathan, Kayla, and Emily play together and Maddie plays with her cups and fills them up with water dumps them out, fills them up again, dumps them out... It has been nice to have family time, for Nathan to not be worried about running off to play with Jake and just having fun with his sisters. However he ends up playing their games more than they play his. That does not make him too happy, but he is a good sport about it all.