Playing Ball

The weather was finally nice on Saturday and the kids asked Tony to play ball with them. I really think it made his day for them to ask him. He had just been complaining about how we don't have a boy because none of us want to watch football with him! They didn't get to play very long because Ashlyn broke every single one of the plastic balls. She is not afraid of that ball and the harder you throw at her the better she is! Tony says she will make it to college playing softball. That sure would be nice!

Ashlyn Shopping

On Saturday me and Nicole took Brooke to watch a sheep show. Not the number 1 thing I wanted to do on a Saturday but for Brooke we did it. We decided to leave Ashlyn home with Tony. Anyone that knows Ashlyn knows that she CAN NOT sit still for 1 second. We knew it would be constant "I"m hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm hot, I have to pee" and so on! So Tony told her he would take her to the store to get something with her money that is left on her gift card. Brooke made fun of her because she had only $3 but later on Brooke wanted what she had got for $3! It was a littlest pet shop. Anyway when we got home Ashlyn ran in the room yelling, " I went to the store and got something and I used my credit card". We were laughing so hard! We tried to tell her it was a gift card but she was having none of that. In her mind it was a credit card and that was that. I love the things that come out of little minds! I wish I could keep her this age forever.

Day at the Dentist

The kids went for their 6 month checkup and cleaning and for once in 5 years neither one had cavities! This is like the best day of my life. My struggles with my kids teeth make me wish i had become a dentist. They were blessed with the worst teeth any child could have! Since brooke was 5 years old we have had to do many xrays, teeth extractions, fillings, pulpotomys, and caps on almost every moler they both have, they were all baby teeth! Ashlyn started having cavities at 3. I have around $6000 wrapped up in dental work alone!The kids at school tell Ashlyn she has nickels on her teeth because they are all silver. Brooke gets braces on after November and Ashlyn has to have surgery the end of December for an extra front tooth that God so lovenly added to her mouth of teeth. The fact that the kids had no cavities gave me another 6 months of sanity. So please nobody ask me WHY we are not having anymore kids, the anwser is because we can't afford their teeth!!!

Lillyanna

To those of you that don't know, this cute little lamb is Lillyanna. John and Kim , Tony's brother and sister in law, bought her for Brooke to show at the fair. I haven't really posted about her yet because really this little lamb scares me more than any animal we own! We got her the first of July and are keeping her at John and kims because they have a sheep barn and we have no more room for any animal. She was not tame or halter broke when we got her so catching her was a challenge. The very first day that I had to catch her she ran at me and flipped me in the air! She was only 4 months old but she was a strong little animal. After that I told Nicole that she would have to catch her because there was no way I was going back in that pen with her. Brooke finally after a month got her to the point she could catch her and put a halter on with out roping her down to get a hold to her. There was no way I was doing it so I made my 10 year old do it! Anyway some days are good and uneventful and some are full of Brooke complaining because Lily is dragging her down or chasing the lamb down because she has escaped from Brookes lead! Just one more thing to keep me CRAZY!!!!! I just try to laugh and enjoy crazy because I am scared that the day my kids leave home and I don't have crazy anymore I am going to miss it and want it back. Monday was the first day that we have shaved Lilly. She has to be shaved for fair so we thought we should start practicing now. Nicole and Brooke did the shaving and I held her from jumping off the stand. It went really well, better than I thought it would. Nobody got hurt so I call that a good day.

Day of Planting

We didn't have much to do on Saturday so we spent the day planting. We went to home depot to get some flowers and came across some fruit trees. Tony wanted to get 1 of every kind but we only had room for 1 so we got a peach tree. We are so excited! We got an orange tree at the beginning of summer but it hasn't grown at all so hopefully this tree will live. We got to use our own organic soil for planting which is very nice. I just discovered that I was making compost at the back of the property and didn't even know it! The horse manure and leaves have been composting in the back and I have the blackest soil ever. The amount of earthworms in every shovel scoop is amazing! (That must be why the chickens fly the fence to go to the back.) Anyway it was a nice uneventful day that we enjoyed and always nice to have when life can be so crazy sometimes.

Bubbles the Fish

At the end of the school year in June Brookes teacher wanted the class fish to go home with one of the kids. The kids have class money that they can use so they had an auction. Well Brooke won Bubbles and brought him home. Last week Brooke came to me and said she thinks Bubbles is dying, so I go into the room and sure enough Bubbles is lying on his side at the top gasping for air. I told her I was sorry and that their was nothing we could do for him. I thought by the end of the day he would be gone but no! This went on for days. I told her to just let daddy put him out of pain but she didn't want that. She was on the phone with my mom and my mom told her we should just pray that he dies soon and he won't be in pain anymore. Well my daughter prays that he will be ok. I was worried because I knew this little fish was a goner. Well the next morning Brooke comes running out and says to me that Bubbles is swimming and just Fine! Sure enough I go in there and Bubbles acts like nothing was ever wrong! He is swimming around and eating just fine.I am glad I didn't flush poor Bubbles like I wanted to do!

No A/C

Do all of you remember what it was like to not have a/c at one point in your life? I really hope you do because until I was 16 years old we never had a/c. I really can't live without it now. If I ever have to cut anything out of my budget, the cable, phone and internet will have to go before the a/c does. Anyway our a/c broke and I don't know how I ever lived without it! We came home about 9 Saturday night and it was 85 degrees in the house. Tony worked for an hour trying to fix but we needed parts so we needed a repair man. We were going to have to wait till Sunday to do that. As a kid I can remember having all our windows open, laying on the bed with nothing but a sheet on it, fan going as fast as it can go, no pajamas and wet towels laying on me to keep cool while I sleep! I was not going to to this Saturday night! As much as I wanted to teach my kids about how lucky they are to have a/c I was not going to even have my windows open. So we did the next best thing, we pulled out the window a/c we have for hurricanes when we loose power! We stuck that baby right in the kitchen window and camped in the living room. It worked ok, it kept it about 80 in there. We could have put it in the bedroom but trying to put 2 kids, 2 dogs, a hamster and a guinea pig in the room would have sent me over the edge! We got it fixed the next day (thanks to John, Billy and Timmy)and we are back to having cold air in the house. So everyone be very thankful for the a/c, especially when you live in Florida!