Four Herrings In A Pond

That Magical Moment….

2011-12-28T19:01:00.001-05:00

You wait all year, and the month of December is the longest month of the whole year with Christmas Eve being the longest day in that longest month of the whole year!!! Finally, your eyes open and the realization sinks it that it’s CHRISTMAS!!!!! All that anticipation and excitement and you feel like you will BURST!!!

We had the coffee on a timer and we were ready to go…..

Peace and Snowflake had to go, and I believe Clara could have hugged that thing into two pieces she was holding it so tight :)

Of course, Sheep has to come too!!

Priceless!!!

Santa’s Three

2011-12-28T18:45:00.001-05:00

We do not make a big deal about Santa. The girls still believe (although Lucy has thought enough about it that I believe she knows, but is not willing to fully give it up yet). The focus of Christmas has gotten so distorted and it truly saddens us all, so we focus on Jesus and Santa is there, but not a focal point. The girls noticed more this year than in years past and it absolutely disgusted Lucy and she got down right mad at one point when we were watching something (I think it was the tree lighting) and it was ALL about Santa!

Anyway, Santa brings 3 things and this year they were….

sitting on the hearth -- a USA puzzle and USA game (this counted as one :) Plus, the stockings are full and I am so thankful that Santa is very practical :)

Yeah, a new Wii game!! We have very much enjoyed this game and recommend it! Kind of like Clue. It’s 4 player so we all play together to solve the who-done-its.

These were a BIG hit!!! RAINBOOTS!!! These were needed (again, so thankful Santa is practical)! They have gotten LOTS of use already with all the rain we have gotten. Our backyard floods and it is like a pool back there (I will post pics from that soon). Lucy wears the same size shoe as me (can you believe it!!!) so I can use hers as well as I love them!! :)

Ready for Santa!

2011-12-27T15:48:00.001-05:00

In this house the kids are on the other side of the living room from where we are. Our tradition is that they can not see what Santa brought (if he came at all :) until they are with us. So, this year we had to have a sleep over in our room. The girls are much too big for all of use to sleep in the big bed, so they got all snug on the floor. They camped out with all their animals, pillow pets, sleeping bags, and a computer to track Santa with.

Our plan was to make cookies as usual, but that didn’t happen. We were all pretty much over the sweets too (we did make a brownie cake for Jesus’ birthday cake though, but we didn’t cut that until Christmas day). We did however make turkey jerky, so we felt that it was probably a better health choice for the big guy anyway----so there is our protein packed Santa snack---milk and turkey jerky :)

I got up at some point and found that Lucy was in the big bed with me and Mike was on the floor with Clara. If you look close you can see Bella up to the right (below is a close up---she’s just too cute not to take a picture of too :)

We all had a decent sleep. It rained horribly, but Santa remained on schedule!

Always Coca-Cola

2011-12-27T15:36:00.001-05:00

We have wanted to check out the Biedenharn museum since we have moved here and felt that Christmas was the best time to do so since the garden club comes in to decorate the whole house. It was beautiful and smelled SO good!!

We loved the natural cross “wreath” on the gate when walking into the house.

Our tour began next door though with the coke musuem. We have been to the Coke museum in Atlanta, and while in Vicksburg, Mississippi we stopped into the Biedenharn confectioners shop that was a distributor as well (we did not take the tour there however). So, even though we aren’t big coke drinkers, we know a lot about coke :)

This museum was very educational and well done! We were quite impressed. The tour guide was very enthusiastic and great with the kids too! I am glad that we did this tour on our own and not in a group though as it would be difficult to get as much in a larger group and I don’t know that it would have held the kids attention as well.

Biedenharn was the first person to ever bottle coke. Of course, the impact of that has been huge and changed manufacturing globally. Very cool that he lived right here in Monroe, LA. He also was the first to distribute bottles to other stores, and the truck above was his method of doing so (a modified Model T).

His house is what is so beautifully decorated for Christmas. Apparently each year a different theme is chosen and this year was Buckingham Palace. One room had the theme of the royal wedding from this year and was decorated with outrageous hat replicas :)

The gardens are gorgeous! It was a rainy day, but it let up enough for us to be able to walk around some. We drive by this place all the time and now we know how fabulous it is behind the gates.

There is a very large green house in the garden area. The “tree” of poinsettias was beautiful!

Also on the grounds is a Bible Museum. A sister that lived in the house began a collection of Bibles (some full, but mostly pages from older, more famous ones). For instance, they have a page from a Gutenberg Bible. We have only seen one other this old (also Gutenberg, but a more complete Bible) at the Holy Land in Orlando, Fla! There was art work and artifacts from Jerusalem as well. A very cool little gem right here in Monroe! We are glad we went and enjoyed it very much!

Build A Bear

2011-12-27T15:08:00.001-05:00

The girls have been wanting a Build-A-Bear. Whenever we go the mall (which isn’t often, but enough to make an impact) the girls go in and pick out what they would get and imagine going through the process. It is so expensive that we just can’t do it. I mean, really they can grow up with happy child hood memories regardless, right? LOL! Well, my parents got them gift cards this year for Christmas which was a huge treat for them!

The girls got to go through the whole process of selecting the perfect critter, filling it up, placing the heart lovingly inside, selecting the perfect outfit (they were even able to get TWO perfect outfits each), and printing out a birth certificate! It took FOREVER---but the selections are nothing short of perfect :)

Apparently I stopped documenting the process at this point… Mike and I were very hands on with the picking of the outfits and holding the possibilities and such. Mike took Lucy back to the mall to do some Christmas shopping and Lucy got Clara another shirt and some bows for her critter for Christmas and Clara was THRILLED!!! So, now everywhere we go, Peace and Snow Flake go with us. Also included with a Build-A-Bear is you get to be a “joiner” on the online community. The girls have been there before, but we don’t pay to be “joiners” and it is very limited what you can do for free (of course). So, they now have Peace and Snow Flake in their virtual worlds online and that was all they would do for a few days and has been a huge hit!

Antique Alley

2011-12-27T14:56:00.001-05:00

Two of the girls friends are very good singers (American Idol good too!!). One in particular does LOTS of performances all around Louisiana and this is her busiest time of the year! Lucy got to travel with her friends family to hear Bailey sing and that was a real treat :)

At Antique Alley we got to hear the two girls sing together which was a real treat! They are in the old time dresses above. They both have such beautiful voices and it was very enjoyable to hear (and see) them perform!!

We drive by here all the time (well not all the time, but when they are working on the big bridge between Monroe and West Monroe we do). Clara has always wanted to get out and check out the metal sculptures, so she was thrilled that they were performing right behind here and she could check it all out as long as she wanted :)

Girl Scouts Christmas Party

2011-12-27T11:25:00.001-05:00

The day of the Girl Scout birthday party was a busy one! In the morning we went to see A Cajun Christmas ballet performance which was really good. From there we all headed to the church for the party! We were all whooped by the time this was all done :)

Clara elf!

Clara and Sarah. They love that their names rhyme :)

Clara’s two BFF’s

Lucy elf

Of course there was eating lots of yummy stuff (and pizza).

Cynthia had a great craft planned for them to do. She found it on Pinterest which just cracked me up :) Lucy of course was in Heaven---crafting with friends---does it get any better than that?

Their masterpieces are displayed on our mantle, however, I did not get a good shot of them with their finished works of art. Lucy’s group went first and they were good with some basic direction and away they went. I didn’t get any pictures of Clara’s group as they needed much more help and hands on supervision, but they too did a great job!!

It was a wonderful day!

Mary Did You Know

2011-12-27T11:06:00.001-05:00

Our church had a talent night to celebrate Christmas and it was a great night with many diverse acts! The girls were asked to be Mary and an angel while a man sang Mary Did You Know. The poor guy was sick the night of the performance and sounded awful, but the girls were cute as could be. We made the costumes and I really wish I had a good picture of Lucy in hers, but we don’t. Mike was the family photographer for the night since I was in the show as well performing with 3 other ladies wearing a malong and doing a Philipino dance to Little Drummer Boy. Mike got video of that and of Lucy, but no pictures :(

What a darn goof!!

At the end of the night kids that wanted to join in for the final act were asked to come up on stage and listen to a funny “grandpa” tell a story and then they all got up to sing some Christmas carols. Clara of course jumped right up front and center!!! She was completely unfazed by the fact that she didn’t know the words to all the songs they sang.

Lucy cracked us up! She sang, but for the most part looked as though she was ready to fall asleep!

Next year maybe I will have less on my plate, or be more prepared to have the girls do a little more. They really wanted to this year, but I just couldn’t fit it all in….

Professional Pics

2011-12-14T19:03:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago it was picture week for us. We had pictures taken for our church directory and then the girls had their yearbook pictures taken for the homeschool group we are a part of.

Jr. Speech

2011-12-08T11:25:00.001-05:00

The girls take a Jr. Speech class which is fantastic!! The class meets every other week and we all really look forward to it each time! Every once in a while they will watch videos and I got some pics of them during one of those videos.

Gee Clara---are you comfy?

Tis The Season….

2011-12-08T11:13:00.001-05:00

To be covered in Mod Podge!

We still have some projects to finish up that I haven’t taken pictures of, but will post those later on. These ornaments I made for all the nephews and nieces, and our pastor. I was proud of myself because the idea came completely out of my own head!!! I’m sure it’s probably been done before, but for me it was totally original

These are the metal discs that you remove from cans. I’ve been saving the cans for lots of projects, but was tossing the tops for a while until I looked at them and thought there has to be something that can be done with that.

I decoupaged Christmas paper to the front and then cut out a letter for their name to put on the front of the ornament. I do not have a machine that will cut out things, so this is free hand and you can tell----but I think it adds to the home made look and feel of them.

On the other side I added a circle that I wrote on. Again, the circles are hardly perfect, but I was fine with that. Oh, and a ribbon for hanging with some bead embellishments and wa la!

My sister asked me again this year to do a paper quilling project for Addie (actually, Santa has asked me to do this). She asked for a horse picture this year. Here is what I came up with and I was quite pleased. I hope Addie will love it for years to come! I accidently got a smaller frame then I intended so I had to scale the horses down a tad from what I was thinking originally. I’m just glad I noticed the frame size BEFORE I did all the work! I have an old curtain tie back tassel that I used for the mane and tale, colored with a Sharpie (one horse). The cloud, sun, flower, and horses are all just quilled. I did a similar picture last year for Lucy and just copied that one so it was easier in that all the thinking was done already last year (except the scaling to a smaller size).

Today we are having another homeschool family come over to get our craft on! Well, the Mom and I are just going to visit, but all the kids are going to be working on making Christmas gifts and Lucy may be teaching them how to paper quill if they are interested! It may be too time consuming to do much of that in one afternoon though---so we just may have to have them over again :)

Sweet Sheep

2011-12-08T10:54:00.001-05:00

At the mall here a local church puts on a walk through Bethlehem. We were really impressed that the mall allows this, and were impressed by the whole experience there! They really did a wonderful job and it was easy to forget that you were IN the mall!!!

Of course, when Clara saw there were real live sheep there she got VERY excited!

Clara Turns 7!

2011-12-08T10:39:00.001-05:00

I am still in shock that our youngest is 7!!

Ever since last year when Lucy got a Nintendo DS they have been lobbying for Clara to get one as well since you can do things together from your own system. We decided to go ahead and do it for her birthday this year and because it is an older system I was able to get one very affordably through Ebay. It was coming from Japan and I was not sure if it was going to arrive on time or not. We were so excited when that package came to us a couple of days BEFORE her birthday----yeah!! I had previously told Clara that because of our financial struggles we would not be able to do this for her birthday this year. She did not hesitate and said “that is ok Mommy, I’m good with just love for my birthday!” Oh my gosh, I wanted to just cry!! I told her that because I wanted her to be surprised because she knew that was the plan to get her that.

Well, she was indeed surprised! It is the 8th today, this took place on the 2nd and I hear at least 4 times a day how thankful she is for her gift!

We went to Gamestop to spend her birthday money and get some games to go with her DS. Lucy pitched in and they were able to get 3 games and they have had so much fun playing and pixochatting back and forth between their systems!

There is Clara with her cake and ALL those candles!!!

This was two days before her birthday. We allowed her to open her gifts from Nonni and Pop when they arrived. I mean, who has a birthday for just one day?

This is a human torso!! Clara’s new best friend!! We have been learning about the human body and this goes right along with our lessons and Clara absolutely loves it! At first she said it was not going to hang out in her room, but since then has had her in there every day! The organs come out and Clara uses the empty spaces for her Pet Shop animals to learn. It is hilarious to listen to her play---in her Pet Shop playing voice (which is high pitched and screechy) she has her Pet Shops talk about the digestive system.

She also got a very stylish scarf and hat, some earrings and bracelets! She has me ball the scarf up at night to be a sheep she sleeps with, then in the morning she puts it right back on. It looks adorable on her!

Happy Birthday Sweet Clara!!!

Thanksgiving Feast 2011

2011-12-08T10:18:00.002-05:00

I just had to come edit this post because I orignally put Thanksgiving Feast 2012!!!! What a dork :)

I love the picture of Lucy!

It was just the 4 of us this year for Thanksgiving---but we cooked as though it was 12! All this food lasted us 4 days and is all we ate for those 4 days-----no complaining, as it was delicious!!!!

We had turkey (which later became turkey soup), mac and cheese (Pioneer Woman style---yummy!), green bean casserole, brussel sprouts (thank you Alton Brown for teaching me how to cook these so they are yummy to all of us now!), mashed potatoes, turnips, and gravy!!

We got the bird for free as a gift from Mike’s work. It was very tasty indeed! We do realize just how blessed we are and we thank God for that! We helped out at Grace Place the day before Thanksgiving and the day after and we were touched by the people that come there (it’s a soup kitchen) and were humbled indeed by how truly blessed we are! We may be having financial struggles right now, but it could be SO much worse!!!

Crotchy

2011-12-08T10:08:00.001-05:00

Oh, our sweet Bella!! She is such a good dog---her one thing though that she will do if given the opportunity is to eat the crotch out of underwear left on the floor. Why? We have no idea, but she will do it every single time!! It’s good accountability for the girls to put their stuff IN the hamper---not beside it and certainly not in the middle of the floor! If not, then the next time you pick them up you will be met with crotchless panties---and if you are really lucky they will still be soaking wet with doggy slobber!

In the above picture she is wearing her latest work (a pair left on the floor by Lucy) as a bandana. We had been decorating for Christmas and we put up two trees, but only have one official tree topper, so every year we look for something to top the other tree to kind of sum up the past year---the girls wanted to put this up as the tree topper, but Mike and I just couldn’t bring ourselves to do so! (We ended up with Mike’s cammo Army hat with a toy gator attached to the front of it to represent Swamp People and our move to LA). So instead of decorating the tree with it, they decorated Bella with it. After a while I did throw them away…but we know more bandanas are to come….

Rudolph and Buddy Save Christmas

2011-12-07T17:57:00.001-05:00

Last week the girls and I went to see Rudolph and Buddy Save Christmas at the Civic Center that was put on by Twin City Ballet Company. It was wonderful and honestly it was so nice to see a ballet that WASN’T Nutcracker! I like the Nutcracker fine, although the story I do find a bit creepy. In the lobby they had a bunch of Christmas trees and wreaths decorated splendidly that were for auction. Here we are with one such tree.

Next week we will go to another ballet put on by a different ballet company which will be interesting to see how they compare to each other. That too will be a nice change from the Nutcracker as it is A Cajun Christmas----hmmm, I wonder if any Swamp People will be making an appearance in that one. Ok, the visual of Troy and his son in tights and doing ballet----that has to make one laugh!! :)

The Idea Place

2011-11-04T18:10:00.001-04:00

Last week we did the Idea Place which is part of LA Tech. We are really finding the universities around here are a wealth of things to do for very cheap!!

The girls above are in the planetarium. I LOVE planetariums and haven’t been to one in quite a while, so I was thrilled this was part of the day!

In the hands on portion of the museum the girls had a great time exploring! Clara particularly loved the bubble table.

It was so cool because earlier in the day (on the way to the museum) it was foggy out and Clara was asking me about how fog is formed. I did my best to explain it, but in the hands on portion there was a demonstration and it was awesome to be able to bring that back to our conversation of earlier and reinforce that lesson!

There was Spooktacular Experiments that were also part of the educational program.

Lucy got to help out with the “ghost scream” experiment. Good thing we just practiced her up for this with her birthday party being the weekend before this---she got to blow up lots of balloons and got quite good at tying them off!

Another experiment (I would call it more of a demonstration than an experiment), but it was this goo worm. The chemicals take the liquid and make it more of a solid when combined and then the kids could play with the “worm”.

Eeeewwwww! Of course, they had to obliterate their worms!

Curry Farms

2011-11-04T16:46:00.001-04:00

Last week we went on a field trip to Curry Farms.

Here we are going through the corn maze. We have done many corn mazes in many states and this was a very good one. I was surprised to learn that they do not use the company that comes in with GPS and special equipment to map out elaborately designed mazes---but rather they do it by hand. Quite impressive!

The pumpkin patch!! We came on the perfect day. The woman with the homeschool group who was in charge of scheduling this trip did it later than usual (due to having a baby---I think that is a good excuse)---so we were scheduled on Halloween---but I say do that every year!!! It was perfect weather and they were literally giving the pumpkins away because they were going to be plowed under. We got HUGE pumpkins and some of the beautiful ones that are good for stacking. I haven’t dug into them yet to get their seeds and pulp, but that is on the agenda for this weekend! I can taste those seeds already

All the kids were so excited about being able to pick BIG pumpkins!

Clara can’t even lift the one she has chosen.

I am so glad I was watching when this happened---Clara fell walking backwards scanning for perfect pumpkins!

They had an incredible play area set up for the kids. This ride Clara is on is old tires cut and formed to look like horses. You could hear squeals of delight from this ride the whole time we were there!

Weeeeee!!!!!!

A swing for two!

The farm dog is Bear and he was SWEET!!!!

Lucy is signing “I love you” to me---I love those kids so much!!!

Clara coming through the swingy thingy---what a simple concept for a play thing and it was very popular!

It looks like it is giving birth to her!

She’s been through it and now has to go on top of it. Many people just ride on top of it (which is where I was to take these pictures and I have to say it is an enjoyable swing), but Clara had to tackle all aspects of this thingy!

It is NOT easy to balance on this because it is round, with ridges, and is swinging back and forth!

Boom!

Simple water slides for rubber ducks kept the kids entertained for a long time. Clara could have played there all day!

Scooping the corn. Lucy was working at creating a mote around her.

Of course, there was plenty of hay to climb…

and to fall down!

Lucy was being a goof on the swing. Spinning to wind it up and then releasing to go super fast…. so here she is winding up….

winding….

still winding….

almost there…..

and the release----it flung her shoes off!!!

Here’s the group of “unsocialized” homeschool kids that went on this trip (the second trip of the week). I am harping on that unsocialized thing because it seems the past couple of weeks it has come up time and time again and it absolutely floors me that people will really (out of total ignorance) use that as something negative about homeschooling!! These kids are better socialized---with kids and adults of ALL ages then most adults I know!

Anyway---Clara is up on top, and Lucy is off to the left of the pic.

We had a great time at Curry Farms!

Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo

2011-11-03T16:16:00.001-04:00

It was field trip day to the zoo! Of course it had to be cold that day…. go figure, but we had a great time in spite of the cold!

There was an educational program we got to attend in which we all got to pet a gator and learn more about them.

Also, my favorite animal, an opossum. Amazingly soft too and just too darn cute!! What I love the most about them though is how God has equipped them to play dead---slowing their heart rate and emitting a foul odor to make them smell dead as well. Amazing animals!

In one area the people were what was small as the bugs were BIG.

Then, outside---because kids just don’t feel cold----they enjoyed hanging out and climbing the tree and playing (you know, because they are homeschooled and totally unsocialized LOL). The Moms got good chatting time too until we just could not tolerate the cold any longer!

We have been to a lot of zoos, all over in different states, and although this is a smaller zoo, it was pretty good. Certainly better than nothing and it will be fun to go back---maybe on a warmer day!

Gotcha Now

2011-11-02T15:54:00.001-04:00

Clara was playing outside by herself and found some of Daddy’s zip ties laying around. No idea what possessed her to do this, but she proceeded to zip tie herself to the rocker!! The zip tie goes around her waist and includes the back part of the rocker. She pulled it good and tight too! Of course, that thing is NOT going to release! Look at the pathetic look on her face----LOVE IT!! Being the parents that we are---Mike did not release her right away. We had to take pictures and video first! Then it was just the fact that it was funny to leave her there even longer!!

Eventually we had to free her and she leapt for joy when she was free (I have it on video, but have not had much luck with getting video to post---I will try again sometime, but not right now). For now the picture will have to do.

Trunk Or Treat

2011-11-02T15:12:00.001-04:00

This was the first time we have been able to participate in a Trunk Or Treat and it was a lot of fun! We brought Bella along and she hung out in the front seat while we set up. She’s just happy to go and do and be with her people---she’s just so darn cute!

Our theme was a pumpkin patch. I had to use a lot of what we had at home and decorated with for Lucy’s birthday. We played Pin the Face on the Pumpkin which proved to be a very popular game.

There were lots of great trunks there and I hardly got a picture of them all. Above is our Music Pastor and his theme was Roadkill Café. They had corndogs and hotdogs as well as a whole menu of “yummy” sounding items (or not!).

We did dress Bella up for the event after things really started going. We didn’t want her to feel left out—she is part of our patch. Doesn’t she look thrilled with the outfit?

Right next to us was the pastor and his wife and they had bobbing for apples. Above is Clara and a friend of hers that came along with us.

Lucy bobbed for apples as well (in fact I had her do it twice because I wanted an apple) and here she is soaked

Another fun trunk was Swamp People. Their little boy was dressed up as a gator.

A little girl was there painting faces which was another big hit for sure.

Sarah came with us and we had an extra pumpkin shirt which worked out great to bring her into our patch

Mike loved being a pumpkin---can’t you tell! What a goof!

Clara was excited about being a cheetah for Halloween (two days after this event) so she had her face painted like a cheetah---which really just looks like she is now a very sick pumpkin.

Bella is such a good sport!!

Loved them. There was 4 of them total all dressed up as different army men characters.

There was a costume contest and here the girls are explaining what they are wearing.

Bella got tired of being all dressed up, so we relieved her of the costume and she was happy to hang out in the front seat again.

Here I am helping a couple of kids pin their faces. We blindfolded the kids (at least the ones that would allow us to) and then they picked their pieces and with the help of some two sided tape (I love that stuff), they were able to make some very interesting pumpkins

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T12:36:00.001-04:00

Clara was a Cheetah for the day of Halloween. I will post later our Trunk or Treat at church in which we were all pumpkins (all together we were a pumpkin patch, which went with the theme of our car). I don’t believe I ever did get a pic of all of us together though----go figure.

Clara had been saying she wanted to be a Cheetah (her favorite animal) since we found the ears at a dollar store for $1 a while back. I had to throw the rest together fairly last minute and I was thrilled with how it came out and the best part of all is it only cost $1!!

Using clothes Clara already had (tan pants and her tan jacket) I just pinned felt circles all over (this was fairly time consuming to cut out the felt and do the pinning, but Clara was a big help with getting out, and untangled, all the pins). Using body crayons (and eyeliner) I painted her face. Throw on the ears and a dog toy for a tail and she was good to go!! Clara was so excited with her costume!

Lucy was in charge of her costume this year as we had SO much going on this month and she is old enough. She procrastinated and at the last minute decided to go as a pumpkin again. We did add a little make up to her face using the body crayons---I mean when the crayons come out you just HAVE to use them!

There’s two of the pumpkins in our patch! I needed a shirt big enough to fit over multiple layers as it has gotten rather cold here, and I was happy to find this at Hobby Lobby for $2.50 and then painted the face on it. I outlined all the pumpkin faces with glow in the dark paint, and affixed to some headbands felt leaves/stem.

Mike went as a cowboy. He was a cute pumpkin, but his face I affixed to his shirt with pins because it was a shirt he has and wears and I didn’t want to make it a permanent pumpkin. I disassembled the pumpkin after Trunk or Treat without even thinking we would need it again. I don’t believe Mike was disappointed though---he felt much manlier as a cowboy!!

This little girl was just too cute! At a neighbors house we met her (and her family) at her grandparents, right down the road from us. She was so excited to see Bella and came running---literally jumped from the golf cart she was going to be driven around in and came running and squealing in delight!

I found this doggie costume at Dirt Cheap for $3.00 and we more than got our moneys worth out of it! It comes with a headband too but we decided against the added torture she she wore it at Trunk or Treat (I believe I did get some pics of her in the full get up). Bella is not a fan of being dressed up, but she tolerates us. For Halloween it wasn’t too bad since she got a long walk and lots of attention. The trunk or treat she disliked more as there wasn’t nearly as much walking as she hung out at the car as we manned our area. She still got lots of attention then too, but she was not nearly as in to it.

Hugging on the neighbors' kitten. We have been watching this little kitten grow up from the time she was small enough to fit in one hand. She is precious and reminds us so much of Felix! She purrs loudly and is so super sweet!!!

We went walking around the neighborhood with some friends which was fun!

Clara loved her face make up so much she wouldn’t allow me to take it off for bed and insisted on sleeping in it! Too cute! When she woke up this morning it was pretty much all wore off from the bottom of her eyes and down, but the top remained---go figure!

One Year Post Op

2011-10-27T16:11:00.001-04:00

I made it a whole year! So much has happened during this year beyond the weight loss---but thankfully through all the changes and stresses of the year I have consistently lost weight!

As of the one year anniversary (Oct. 19th) I have lost 140 lbs! I am in a size 12! My hair is starting to come back and I feel great! My skin has done pretty well with the transition. A good nip and tuck would be nice, but not at all in the budget---but that is fine, I can live with it! No rashes or any issues with the skin---I just know that without it I would be at least a size smaller----but hey a size 12 is doable!!

A year ago at the time of this posting I was throwing up a LOT! I had a complication of a stricture and nothing would go down---not even liquids sometimes. It was too close to surgery to be able to have the procedure done to fix the stricture so I had to live with it for 6 weeks or something like that (which felt like an eternity). I was weak and felt like crap!! I really wondered at times what I had done to myself and certainly felt like I would never feel “normal” again! It is so good to be sitting on this side of things and to be thrilled with the decision to have surgery and to be thrilled with the results! I am an active participant in life again and have more energy to enjoy my family and life too! This helps in every aspect! I enjoy cooking so much more now and I finally have control over food and it no longer has control over me. I don’t like to go out to eat much anymore, as when we do often times I could have made it better myself and a lot cheaper and healthier. We still have our favorite places to go, where you leave and don’t mind that you just spent the money as it is something I couldn’t/or wouldn’t make myself. When we do go out, I always have left overs which helps justify the cost because I get at least 2 meals out of it---or I split a meal with Lucy and have no left overs but spent less money.

I have found that I don’t dump. That is good and bad! It is nice to know that I can have a piece of birthday cake (or whatever), and not get sick. I am careful about the amount and will have to remain diligent with that conviction of being careful with amounts in the future. The only issue I feel “different” then others with is that I can’t drink when I eat. Really not that big of a deal, but sometimes I do miss it---but that’s a small price to pay!

The Big 11!

2011-10-26T18:14:00.001-04:00

I don’t know how it happened----just about over night I believe, but our oldest turned 11!! She is turning into this beautiful young lady---both outside, but more importantly inside too! Lucy is incredibly bright and very sharp---not much gets past her. It has been a privilege to watch her learn and really see how her brain works! Lucy has a big heart, loves God and family, and she is being blessed with some really great friends (that we hope we won’t have to move away from for a while….).

Last year, my dear friend Kim sent us the banner hanging on our mantle (it is hard to see in the bad picture quality here---I think I must have had the camera set to something it shouldn’t have been), but it says “Happy Birthday”. She also sent one that says “Lucy” and one for “Clara”. They are precious and it was fun to pull it out again as our birthday tradition!

Lucy had a wonderful birthday (that lasted a good week as usual) and still had her birthday party to look forward to (and I will eventually get to blogging that).

Favorite color: green, blue, and purple (she has “created a color too called blurple that she saw on a car and loves!)

Favorite subject: math

Favorite toy: Littlest Pet Shops, when asked which one is her favorite she got very dramatic and said “Don’t make me choose!”

What do you want to be when you grow up? Some type of designer (cake, homes, clothes---any type of design she loves).

Favorite website: Pinterest, our blog, LPS

Favorite food: sushi, burgers, bacon and breakfast casserole (which is what she had me make her for her birthday dinner).

Can you tell she has a difficult time just picking one of anything

Favorite TV show: she doesn’t watch much tv. Oh wait, she excitedly yelled out Good Eats----we do love us some Alton Brown!!

Favorite animal: cat, horse, and dog.

Favorite thing to do is hang out with her friends, and if you can incorporate some kind of craft with that (especially jewelry making) then she is even happier!

There’s the Pumpkin Bread from an earlier post with the melted candles. It was delicious and we all enjoyed it very much. I made it healthier and no one was the wiser! This worked great for a “cake” and then for breakfast the next day, and desert again the following night LOL We got our use out of it for sure! Yummy! I am blogging this as dinner cooks and I am HUNGRY LOL My mouth is watering

In The Trees

2011-10-26T17:47:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, as the weather was getting cooler, we decided we just had to take a break from school and head to Forsyth Park!

We noticed right away that the trees there are made for climbing! The girls immediately began scurrying up (with a boost here and there).

Bella was very patient waiting on the monkeys to get out of the trees. She was so thrilled to be out for a walk in the middle of the day, and therefore was perfectly content to wait!

I had gone ahead with Bella while the girls were on some swings and that rocky horse thing. When I turned around to check on them, they were walking towards me holding hands and busily chatting. It about brought tears to my eyes!

Bella found a great spot---in the shade to hang out while the girls played on the dragon fly!

Right after this we heard a voice calling out to us, which is still a bit weird to us after having total anonymity for years in other states. It was Cheryl, who had come to the park to eat her lunch!

Note To Self

2011-10-26T17:06:00.001-04:00

Lucy wanted me to make Pumpkin Bread for her birthday this year. It was so yummy!!! Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson…..

Don’t get too excited and try to put the candles in the bread (or cake) while it’s still HOT!! I only put 2 in thankfully, a large number 1 and a small number one. I walked away and came back and they looked very odd and sure enough, they were melted into the bread. Lucy thought this was hilarious!! Fortunately I made two loaves of bread, so we still had plenty to eat!

Live It Out

2011-10-26T12:56:00.001-04:00

We have started participating with a ministry called “Live It Out” and as the first mission we were able to take part in we went to a local nursing home. The girls made cards for the residents (which made great copy work for school), and they were so proud to hand them out to everyone!

The residents were brought in to the dining room for our visit. We got to go to them one on one and visit with them, give them the card, pray with them, and just bless them (and in turn of course we were blessed). I tried to prepare the girls for what to expect beforehand, but it isn’t the same as seeing it. Clara was so overwhelmed at first that she began to cry seeing all the people in wheelchairs. She pulled herself together though and presented herself beautifully! Lucy, as usual was gracious and loving with each resident. There was only one man who was unfriendly and threw their card back at them and said he didn’t need it. That is expected though, unfortunately, as I know from my years working in nursing homes as an Audiologist. The girls were a bit shocked at first, but I showed them how you just pick the card up, place it on the table and rub the mans back telling him that he doesn’t have to take it, but it was made for him with love and it’s his if he wants it and then move on. Bless his heart---he has gotten lots of prayer!

Another family there performed songs and recitation which the residents loved!! It was a wonderful experience and we are excited about serving the community in other ways (and coming back to the nursing home) through this wonderful ministry!

Oh, the picture is just out front of the nursing home. This was a VERY nice place!!! The staff seemed very attentive and gracious as well which was good to see. Boy have I seen the opposite, which just breaks your heart---but this place gives nursing homes a good name!

Going Batty

2011-10-26T12:13:00.001-04:00

It seems I am getting farther and farther behind in blogging! We have been so busy with field trips and parties and….well, life; I keep taking more and more pictures and therefore am getting farther and farther behind. We have co-op this afternoon so I only have time for a quick post between school here and then at co-op----so here’s my quicky…..

It’s Batty

I have seen lots and lots of yarn wreaths on Pinterest and finally did one of my own. It’s just a wreath form covered in yarn. I then made some rosettes out of an old t-shirt, adding some fabric stems and pipe cleaner vines. Batty is foam and the markings on him are glow in the dark paint---so he is cool at night too

New Life Picnic

2011-10-17T14:16:00.001-04:00

Our church had a picnic a couple of weeks ago and we had so much fun! It is such a relief to us to know we are at the church that God would have us be at for now. We made the mistake with past moves of asking God to reveal our FOREVER church to us. We wanted to root so badly that we couldn’t even consider the fact that maybe those moves weren’t forever (or at least longer than they were----2 years (SC) and 1 year (AL). We went to some great churches, but never found our “home” church. We were determined with this move to just pray God lead us to where He would have us for now---since we have no idea what is around the corner for us---I mean, does anyone really know? That has seemed to be much more effective. New Life was just about the first church we went to here as we had several confirmations that we were to go, but then we started over thinking it and didn’t want to jump into the first church, so we checked out some others. All good churches, but not where we were to be----so back to New Life and that feeling of “home”! We made the official family decision a few weeks ago that this is it, and the flood of relief that has come with that is tremendous! That area of our lives has felt disjointed for a long time, and with that being the most important of our lives it was unsettling!

I talked in an earlier post about Clara losing the back to one of her earrings and the drama that ensued---well, that was the bouncy platform that it happened. It is actually a jousting arena (hence the thing Lucy has below to ram into people with).

They broke the kids into 3 groups for the Olympics and Mike was the leader of one group (Clara was on his team). The team leaders had to have a joust off and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed watching Mike joust!! It was too funny. I have video of it, so not many pictures and one day I am determined to figure out how to get videos on here, but today is not that day.

Mike won two and lost one. He had a good time with this!

The kids got to play all kinds of fun games, and I wish I could say I was a great photographer, but truth is I didn’t get pics of most of the games. I was too busy talking…. Go figure!

They did the egg race (above), there was potato sack races (which I really wish I had gotten a picture of because I have a picture of me as a little kid in such a race which would have been fun to post with the pic of them---oh well), water balloon dodge ball (see some pics below), a David and Goliath game, and some others. A lot and prep was put into all the fun stuff for the kids and I love that this is a church that does things with excellence and heart!

And the silver medal goes to….. Blue Team (Mike’s team)!!! Yeah!!! Lucy’s team came in first! Everyone had a really great time. Mike gave the medal to a little girl from his team that just loved him---it was so cute!

Clara has such a servants heart---at least away from home---not really when it comes to cleaning her room, but I’ll take what we get lol…. but she does love to help out. After the Olympics were over she immediately began helping with clean up.

Ears To It

2011-10-12T16:05:00.001-04:00

About 7 weeks ago the girls got their ears pierced!! This is something they have wanted to do for a while, but fear has kept them from it. We met a little girl at the pool who had just had hers done and said it wasn’t a big deal and hardly hurt at all. That completely convinced Clara and she was determined to do it. Lucy was not about to be shown up by her younger sister, so she wanted it done too. I knew better than to say “tomorrow will be the day” as Lucy, if not both of them, would have been up all night in worry and would have made herself sick. So, we had gone to a Build and Grow at Lowes and afterwards had some time to waste before meeting Daddy for lunch---so it seemed like the perfect time!!

We went to Claire's in the mall (doesn’t everyone get their ears pierced at Claire's??!!) I was in sticker shock a bit as I had NO idea it was so darn expensive!! There was no backing out now though!

Clara went first (and apparently I didn’t get any pictures of Lucy at all---how awful!!) Clara was so excited afterwards and was bouncing around and I was still filling out the gobs of paperwork and fielding calls on my cell phone and I barely even got to see Lucy get hers done myself.

They have that bear for the kids to hang on to, and it was given a good huggin’ that day for sure. The picture above is right before. Clara did great, after the first one she started to freak out just a bit. Thankfully I had flung my cell phone at Lucy to answer right beforehand and she had to take it into the hall and she missed the mini freak. If she had seen it, she would still not have her ears pierced! Clara pulled herself together quickly and was good to go for the next one.

Here is Clara afterwards! Happy as can be! Plus looking just as pretty as ever---and a tad bit older which I wasn’t expecting…

Lucy had a look on her face after the first one, but did not freak at all and before we knew it they were both done and so excited and relieved to have that over with!!

They have taken good care of their ears since. We were able to change out earrings last week, but have not done so yet as Lucy really wanted to wait for her birthday. Tomorrow, for her birthday I will be taking her to Claire's to pick out some earrings and the big changaroo will take place. I know they are a bit anxious about it---nervous as well as excited! The fashion possibilities excite Lucy tremendously!!

The only ear drama since that day was at a church picnic this past weekend. Clara was on this bounce thing and lost the back to one earring. Full melt down!!! Mike of course made it worse when she came crying up to us and he said “Oh no! Your ear is gone!” It was hilarious---although, not at all funny to her!! I gave her the back to one of my earrings and it was all good. She was afraid that losing the back meant the earring was going to come out without another to put in and the hole would close up and it was going to be bad, bad, bad! Good thing it wasn’t a bid deal Whew!!!

The Old Man Just Keeps Getting Older

2011-10-12T10:16:00.001-04:00

I am so behind on blogging, but little by little I will get caught up

Mike’s birthday was on the 1st and he had a great one I love that he will always be older than me LOL

We started the day with opening gifts. There is the pencil holder we all made together for him.

The girls made Daddy cards and did a fabulous job!

Daddy got a gift card to Excalibur Family Fun Center in West Monroe. We were all so excited about going it was hard to keep the secret of the gift (Clara didn’t know beforehand as there is NO way she would have kept that secret!!)

Our favorite activity was the laser tag! We played that twice, and could have done it another 7 times I think, it was so much fun! Mike was pretending to be Jack Bauer from 24 (which we have gotten hooked on with Netflix!) I would see him down on one knee being so stealth. I half expected him to start diving, rolling, and somersaulting to get away and it concerned me as he could really hurt himself---you know, since he is so old now LOL He didn’t get that crazy though, thankfully!

Clara’s tactic was the parasite approach. She would run behind you, practically stuck to you, shooting the whole time. There was no shaking the child! I would not know she was on me like that and stop quickly and be plowed in to by her. It was fun to watch her do this to others too!

Not a great pic I know, but I had to add it because it represents a big deal for me. First off, someone else has the camera (which a year ago would NEVER have happened because someone might get the idea to take a pic of me and that simply was not allowed!). Secondly, I am participating (and loving it!). I was so excited to put that vest on with no fear that it wouldn’t fit. They did not have to give me the big ones either!!

Mike also got to play racing and shooting games (his favorite kinds)!

One thing about not always having to have the camera now and actually participating is that we do get a less complete account of our trips now Not pictured was our go cart adventures. That was so fun! Clara is still a little too short to ride on her own so she rode with Cheryl. Poor Mike had to sit out the first lap because his car died. I do have to say, I hate the signs on the back of the cars that say “Do not bump!” There really needs to be a combo of go-carts and bumper cars because it is so tempting----and very difficult to pass with at least a little bump

Happy Birthday Mike!!! We love you and thank God for you and the incredible blessing you are to us!!

I Love Pinterest!

2011-10-05T10:46:00.001-04:00

Recently I discovered Pinterest and have the app on my phone. I am ADDICTED!!! I go to the DIY/Crafts and Kids sections and pin away!! It has really gotten my creative juices flowing again and we have had so much fun creating!

The first time I saw a wreath like this was on my friend Kim’s door. It was precious and I made a mental note, but then saw one on Pinterest and knew I had to do it. The girls helped me attach all the MANY balloon (3 large bags), and it actually went relatively quick. For the center, I made the Happy Birthday sign and then laminated it, so now we can dry erase names and ages (or anything else we draw on it) and then when their birthday passes, erase it and be ready for the next one.

I pinned a band aid get well card a while ago and have been waiting for the need to make one (not that I wanted someone to fall ill or injured---but you know what I mean We met a woman at church who had surgery and has really had a struggle lately, so I knew it was time to make our own version and the girls did a great job! We brought it to her house yesterday, along with a meal, and she LOVED their card!! (it is a bit hard to see in the picture---but those are band aids with googly eyes---very cute!)

This was the first Pinterest project. The girls and I (and we even got Cheryl in on the fun---and sewing is NOT her thing---yet, anyway) made fabric pumpkins. This was the most perfect Labor Day!! We hung out here at home, the weather was fantastic and for the first time actually felt like Fall, and we enjoyed hanging out sewing Autumn pumpkins! We couldn’t convince Mike to join in, but he hung outside with us

This was the first time Clara ever sewed. I didn’t know what to expect---well, that isn’t fully true, what I suspected would happen is she would start a bit and then lose interest and give up leaving me to finish her pumpkin. That is not at all what happened---she loved sewing!! She made 2 pumpkins!! The first one is proudly displayed in our patch (in the picture below, hers is the top pumpkin with the red stem), but the second one she hurried through and fell apart---but I was still impressed!

Lucy of course would have sat outside for days doing this!

There is our finished pumpkin patch. I have had that wooden cornucopia for years and these pumpkins are the perfect companion! Cheryl’s pumpkin came out great too, but she has her proudly displayed in her office at work.

Lucy had a birthday party to go and I made the above bracelet to figure out how, and then she made one for her friends gift (which her friend absolutely loved!!). Most of the photos on Pinterest, if you click them it takes you to a tutorial online that shows you how to make the project. I am bad about checking those out (although I will sometimes at least look at the pictures). I just see the picture and make up my own way to achieve it. I guess I am so used to seeing pictures in magazine or something in a store and then coming up with a way to do it myself, but the tutorials are wonderful and probably do make it easier.

I thought about doing my own tutorials as we were creating, however, I find I get so enthralled in the project that I don’t think to stop and take a picture for each step. Often times too I think I am going in one direction and find I have to modify as I go.

Easiest project, the pickle jar hurricane. We love pickles and a huge jar like the one above still doesn’t last long in this house. Once empty and labels removed it was just a matter of filling it up with split peas, kidney beans, and popcorn (and can be changed per season of course with other things in the right color of the season). Place a candle in and wha la---beautiful and festive. I have also seen where jars are attached to the top of candle sticks to give them a base and are beautiful. I plan on doing that as well when I actually get to a dollar store or find some cheap candles sticks and empty more jars. I personally think the huge pickle jar would be too much mounted on a stand, but smaller jars on stand would make a nice vignette when added to this one.

A little out of order here---but here Lucy is showing us the card/wrapping of her gift (bracelet) she made for her friend. She decorated a toilet paper tube, placed the tissue paper wrapped bracelet inside and folded the sides in to close it up. Then she attached it to the envelope and was good to go! She was SO excited about giving her gift!

Ok, so this one wasn’t from Pinterest, although I am sure there are plenty of pencil holders to be found on there. The girls and I made this for Daddy’s birthday. It is 3 cans, with coordinating papers decoupaged to each one and glued together. We had collected rocks to paint and one was used and attached to this as well (hard to see in this picture---but it’s in front). Daddy loved it and I have no doubt it looks fabulous in his office

I didn’t get closer in this picture because I really wanted to document Clara’s outfit. The child has quite the fashion sense! Those two items aren’t even considering going together, but she was so happy with her outfit, and we weren’t going anywhere that day, so I didn’t say a word to the contrary.

Well, as they say on Pinterest----Happy Pinning!!

Cat In The Wild

2011-10-04T19:11:00.001-04:00

Felix used to be terrified of the outside world. Since our neighbor finished the fence we have been able to let him out in the back yard safely and he LOVES it!!! He runs, chases bugs, chases Fluffy (who is no longer aloud outside as he figured out he could jump the fence), and Bella. It is so much fun watching him out there having so much fun!! Our little deformed kitty that couldn’t walk for the first several months of life---amazing!

Another love Felix has found is climbing trees. He usually doesn’t go up too high, but this day he made it up to the split (which is a good 10 feet up there). I absolutely love this picture above!!

Really Bad At Blogging

2011-09-29T11:53:00.002-04:00

I have been awful at keeping up with the blog lately! Partly because our computer died and we ended up having to get a new hard drive. Thankfully Mike is handy and was able to do the repair himself, but it still took a while until I was computer buying the hard drive---so we went without a computer for a while. I realize, especially with homeschooling, just how reliant I am on our computer!!! I missed it so very much and am glad to be back to it---however, it is a task getting all the settings back, favorites added, etc, etc so it functions like it did before. Slowly but surely though we are getting there :) I am thankful too that since we lost a hard drive several years ago, and thus lost most of all our pictures of Clara's first year of life, I am diligent about backing up now on an external hard drive, so at least nothing major was lost!!

We have been so busy getting used to our new schedule including Girl Scouts (which the girls LOVE), speech class, co-op, as well as all the field trips and parties that take place! I have lots of pictures to post, and will get to that---eventually :) Last Friday we attended a Back to School Sock Hop and had a great time! This Friday evening we have a pumpkin carving, cookout birthday party to go to. Then on Sat. is Mike's birthday and we are gearing up for Lucy's birthday too.

Every year we try to take an Oct. trip for all our birthdays and this years was going to be a trip to Six Flags in Dallas. I don't know that we are going to be able to swing it though financially. So many other extras coming with the holidays and birthdays.... Oh well... My reward to myself for losing the weight was a trip to an amusement park too since I could stand in line for rides and NOT worry about fitting on the ride!! My one year out from surgery is Oct. 19th, but now that we have moved there are no amusment parks close by so they require over night stays. We get one free night with LaQuinta from all the stays moving here, but we figured we would need 2 nights. Then gas and food. The tickets themselves really aren't too bad if you order them in advance. We had decided that if we do the trip it will not be until Dec. when it is decorated for Christmas and not in Oct. when Fright Fest is going on. Anyway, we shall see...

We celebrated our 15 year anniversary on the 14th which was wonderful!! Any year that Mike comes home with a job on our anniversary is a good one :) (it was on our 13th that he lost his job the first time).

Today for school I am calling it Home Ec day and we are doing laundry and cleaning and getting some projects done like making cards for Daddy and the party on Friday and making gifts. I love the flexibility :)

I will update more when I have more time, and will love to be caught up with the pictures :)

Clara’s Tour

2011-08-26T09:59:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago we had to go to Savannah, GA for a quite visit. Clara was very excited about going back to the city of her birth and really wanted to see the hospital and house she was born in.

I remember being rolled out of those doors with Clara in my arms and Santa and one of his elves was there to greet us. They were on their way up to see the kids in the hospital and we were fortunate enough to see them on the way out. Santa got to hold Clara and both of them cried while looking at her :) It was very special. The only thing that could have made that more special is if Lucy was with us for our departure to see Santa and an elf!!

There is the house we were living in. The window to the right of the door was Clara’s room. The far right window was Lucy’s room and ours was in the back of the house. There is such mixed emotions looking at this house---we were only there for a year, but so much happened while living there!! The highs were having our precious Clara, being baptized (both Mike and I), and Lucy, getting to see her blossom in her new role as big sister! The lows were the fact that we underwent our largest struggles in our marriage in this house (and the next). By the grace of God we made it through, and of course looking back there is no surprise that our marriage was under such attack given our growing relationships with Jesus. I would not change that time at all however, as our marriage not only survived that trial but is stronger now because of that time!! God truly does mean what He says in Rom. 8:28---He does work it all for good!!

Skelly

2011-08-25T18:47:00.001-04:00

The time finally came to take Skelly out of his spa treatment

The smell was not pretty, as you can imagine! I was quite surprised though at how effective the water/soap mixture was at removing the flesh. In fact, it was so effective that I really should have taken lots of pictures before the spa so I had a better idea of where all these bones went!

Above is what Skelly has been reduced to. We were not super anal about making sure we did not drain out lots of small bones, but we did get lots of little bones and all the bigger ones.

Clara was manning the camera at this point---too cute!

Next we dug out each individual bone to clean off and put them in the handy dandy ice tray.

There’s Skelly

The most tedious part was cleaning each bone—small and larger with soap and a tooth brush (old ones of course).

I love the pictures Lucy got. She stood on a chair to get the areal shot.

And there is Skelly—clean! As we were cleaning him Clara commented that she was sure he had never cleaned his bones before. I said of course not, have you? She said no, but that our bones were cleaned by the blood of Jesus. So true dear girl—she can be so much smarter than me so often :) I never thought of that before—but He washed us clean, so why wouldn’t that include our bones too

Afraid

2011-08-25T16:41:00.001-04:00

When Clara was a baby she used to always throw up during a storm. She had acid reflux, so she threw up a lot when there wasn’t a storm, but without fail, when a storm was coming she ALWAYS threw up!

When Clara was old enough to talk, she let us know she was afraid of storms. That is not unusual for small children though so we certainly weren’t concerned about it. We love storms, and tried to show her our love and appreciation for them and hoped it would catch on like it has with Lucy.

Clara got much better about storms for several years and then we went through the tornadoes in Alabama right before moving. That did her in!! Now she senses a storm a good half hour before it hits and will begin complaining of her stomach hurting and will go to a bed and cover herself with pillows. Apparently the more pillows there are, the more protected she feels as you can see in the top pic She will not feel better until the storm passes. She is actually a great weather indicator for us and is always right on with her “predictions”!!

I am not sure what to do about it. Once the storm passes she is fine with no lingering effects that I can detect. When the storm is coming though, she often throws up, or at the very least has a stomach ache, will not eat, will not come out of a bedroom and will absolutely freak out if we have to go anywhere during such weather! I pray with her, try to divert her attention to fun things (what I was doing while taking the pictures yesterday) and try to make her laugh. I may have some success, but for the most part it is fleeting if at all, and then she is back to her sickly self.

It disturbs Bella that Clara gets like this and she will often be nearby to “protect” her Clara

Beaver Spa

2011-08-17T20:01:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I posted about the beaver remains we found at the river. Well, Skelly, the beaver, has brought our family much joy---we named him, make jokes about him, and now say sentences one would never expect to say :)

I have researched how to clean this fella up, and found the best way (I hope) is to fill his tub with water and add a bit of dish detergent. So today the girls and I moved Skelly to the front yard (because Bella really wanted to “play" with it), and created Beaver Spa. This evening Mike and Clara were running out and called from the car to inform us that a bird had entered Beaver Spa and couldn’t get out. It was not a great connection and I kept having him repeat what he was saying, which was “There is a bird stuck in the beaver water.” I had to laugh (see what I mean by a sentence never uttered before, lol).

We go outside to find that indeed a bird did find out that too much of a good thing is not good. The poor little guy was on the bony tail which was the only place he could perch and keep his head above water. Bless his little heart! Cheryl gloved up and saved his life---the bird flew away, wet but fine (and probably a bit stinky) and we have now closed up shop in Beaver Spa. The lid will ensure that no more animals are potentially harmed in the quest of science.

Homeschooling Fun :)

2011-08-16T11:10:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we took Bella for a walk at the river and discovered a dead beaver. I would imagine for most people, they would maybe notice it and move away grossed out, or possibly check it out a bit and then not give it a second thought. Not us homeschoolers---we were fascinated by it and this morning we took a “field trip” to go collect the remains.

When I told the girls this morning when they got up what the plan was they literally jumped for joy! Much excitement was in the air as we collected what we would need for this adventure: gloves, bags, container, and of course the camera!

It was no small beaver!! We have some skin/fur left on it and I will need to find out the best way to clean it all up.

Lucy got to carry our treasure. She wanted no part of picking it up, but once it was contained she was good with it.

Also on our walk we found a few dead fish. The girls were not going to rest until we collected a fish as well! So, here is our fish, and he is BIG!!

This big fish made the box considerably heavier!

I love the look on Lucy’s face----she is so grossed out by it all and yet loves it so much at the same time. She started laughing walking back to the car and said this is homeschool gym class---walking with weights (the weight being the carcasses). LOL----so, today we have had science and gym class!!

Once home, we took our finds to the back yard. It did not take long for Mouse to investigate---and Felix was inside watching.

Now Mouse is saying “What the heck??!!”

We Be Buggin’

2011-08-06T15:40:00.001-04:00

Clara is our science kid. To her, the best way to spend time is doing dissections! While we were moving here I had frozen a dud bird egg and once we moved there was a cicada that wasn’t going to make it due to a bum wing, so we froze it as well. Clara would ask me daily when we were going to dissect these two and I just wasn’t ready.

I took the critters out of the freezer a couple days ago and the anticipation and excitement has been mounting! I thought we would be able to do this yesterday, but we got sidetracked and there just wasn’t the time. Well, Clara threw a FIT!!! Full out crying tantrum over not getting to do this. We got some of it on video and there is a section I want to post on here to share of her explaining what her fit was about (we shall see if I can’ figure out how to edit that down and then post----took me long enough to figure out how to just get these pics on here---and I’m not convinced I have done it right until I see it actually posts

Well, today was the exciting day!! Clara was THRILLED! We were happy to see that Cheryl is as in to dissections as the rest of us (well, Lucy wasn’t required to be a part of this and she didn’t want any part of it).

I took it apart first with the knife and we tried to identify it’s parts, then I handed it over to Clara to explore. She was in heaven! What amazes me is that doing an art project, she has about a 10 min limit of time, whereas, Lucy can do art for HOURS. On the other hand, Clara can sit for hours gutting something and Lucy has about a 10 min limit.

Swamp People

2011-08-05T19:08:00.001-04:00

You might be a redneck if……

You stand in line for 5 hours to meet Jacob and Troy Landry from Swamp People

The girls were so excited!! Troy is our favorite of course

Hoping This Works

2011-08-05T12:52:00.001-04:00

I can not get text to print from blogger anymore. I keep getting the “JavaScript void” error and have looked up how to alleviate this issue, but nothing seems to work. Another blogger friend of mine told me about Live Writer, so I am trying to get set up and figure this out----so here it goes…. I will add a pic too just to see how

No Longer Obese

2011-07-22T11:44:00.000-04:00

Different House---Same Habits

2011-06-30T12:23:00.000-04:00

We started back to school this week and as soon as we sat down at the school table we were joined by the cats! We may have moved--different state, different house---but the cats quickly resumed the habit of doing school with us!

Every once in a while they become too much of a distraction and I have to remove them. Fluffy in particular feels the need to be ON TOP of whatever you are working on. Felix, being our most playful cat, will attack your pencil. We love having them with us though (for the most part :)

Often times we have Bella as well (see her under the table).
Bella just loves to be with her people :)

Beat The Heat

2011-06-30T12:16:00.000-04:00

Clara has discovered the hose and is obsessed :) I often hear "Can I go outside in the hose now?" We figure it is double duty as she is watering the grass too :)

Cabana Style

2011-06-24T16:03:00.000-04:00

Our house in LA has a great back patio, which is great as we have been totally spoiled by the one we had in Alabama (and this one is even bigger :)

My project today while the girls were in VBS was to bring this vision of a softer, cabana feel to the patio. Please ignore that I still have things that need to be put away, but if I was to wait until I was 100% done it may not happen LOL.

Yes, they are a bit short and I would like them a bit longer, but the drop cloths came in 6' by 9' and I cut them in 3' sections so they only hang down 6'. I knew I could not bring them all the way down as Mouse (our outdoor cat) lives out there and he would pee on them if they were near the ground---that is NOT the feel we are going for out there----ode de cat pee :)

This view will change once the neighbor finished his fence. I can't wait---it will be so nice to just be looking at fence and not their cars! Not to mention how excited Bella will be when she can run free!!!

I love how this came out---it looks so nice from the inside too.

Pandamania

2011-06-24T15:40:00.000-04:00

This week has been VBS at one of the churches we have visited. The girls have had a GREAT time!! I was looking forward to my "free" time and all I would get accomplished, but as usual I was hoping to get more done than I actually did :)

On the final day they got to pour noodles/soy sauce/slime stuff/peas on Sensei Sam for meeting their goals for raising money for missions. The girls (as were all the kids) were VERY excited about this and I had to be sure to be there in time to witness the mayhem :)

On another note, I did get a new camera!! I am so excited! That was one thing I did while the children were at VBS was go and price them and then research them. Clara is THRILLED to not have to share her camera with me anymore and I am thrilled to have my own camera once again!! I haven't played with it much, but I am very pleased with it thus far!

2011-06-24T15:32:00.000-04:00

Endures

2011-06-22T08:43:00.003-04:00

I have to jot this down so we always remember it---

This morning the girls and I were snuggling in bed and reading Psalm 136. After each sentence it says "His faithful love endures forever." The girls were doing that part and after we got to the end Clara asked me when His love goes outside. I didn't get it at first and then realized she thought "endures" was "INDOORS". That made my day!! I am thankful that God's love is both indoors and outside!! :)

Settling In

2011-06-21T14:13:00.002-04:00

Well, we are all moved and are truly Louisianians now :)

I have to say that this was the easiest move we have had thus far. Partly because I am more practiced (I even still had checklists from our last moves that I was able to incorporate for this one). I was more laid back which made a big difference too. I am learning that flexibility is key--in all situations. You can make a plan, but unforeseen events come in all forms to disrupt your plan and it is important to just go with it. You just can not come up with enough "plan B's" to incorporate all the unforeseens---and I could never have guessed some of them.

Our movers this time were Mayflower and they were fabulous! I have absolutely no complaints about them at all, and they even came a day later than expected, but were able to get us back on schedule. Our only hang up was the playground/swing set we had moved. Because the movers were delayed a day, the third party company was there without being able to ask the driver how much space would be left, so they disassembled about 80%!! When we got here, the third party came out to reassemble and would not/could not do it. The company that Graphic uses for relocation kept on it, and were able to find two guys from Movers Specialty to come from New Orleans (yes, they came from almost 5 hours away!!) to put this back together again. I can only imagine what that cost and am very thankful that we will never know quite frankly :)

We are about 90% put away/organized but I have run out of steam and motivation at this point. All the boxes are unpacked, everything to be hung is done (except Clara's canopy and a couple of curtains I have to make). The house functions very well and we are very pleased with the area and the house! Our neighbor has been working on the fence which is his, but will make a huge difference for us as it is the only side not fenced in this yard and once he finishes it up we can let Bella run free in the back which will be great!!

The animals have adjusted very well. Bella had a rough time there for a little while, and it confirmed to us that she was dumped when her family moved away because when boxes were being packed up she got STRESSED!!! It wasn't until we got moved and unpacked that she got back to her normal self. Bless her little heart---she will not be left again!! The biggest adjustment I think must be for Mouse as he is outside here (in AL he was in the basement). He stopped using the liter box years ago, and so he can not be inside. We have a very large covered patio here though and we have a bed/house set up for him back there that he likes. Also, he has found a "safe" spot under the storage shed in the backyard. We have been spending a lot of time outside (especially now that the swing set is set up) and so he is getting lots of lovings!

Mike's job is going very well, thankfully! He has less responsibility here which is nice actually. He leaves work at work, doesn't' have to worry about laying people off---he goes in does the best job he can do and leaves!! He even gets to come home for lunch! It is so nice being 5 miles from work here!! Our gas budget has gone down considerably too which has been wonderful!

The girls have adjusted very well. They have had this time off of school, but that will change next week. I will not jump in to a full school schedule, but ease back into it. I am looking forward to getting into a routine again! This week the girls have VBS which they are enjoying. They have met several other homeschoolers from field trips we have gone on, and also the family we are renting from, they have family here (one street away) that also homeschools. We had to meet them right away to get the keys and it has been nice getting to know them. We got to go swimming with them one day and have gone to their church. The girls have also met several other kids that live on our road---it is great to go walking Bella as we always seem to meet someone new :)

Personally I am relieved to be on this side of this move. My nest is made and Mama is happy :) We really like this area and are excited to get to explore around here. We were happy to not be moving in August because of the heat---and wouldn't you know, it has been over 100 just about every day we have been here (which we understand is unusually hot for this early in summer). I have to say, that yes it is hot, but I find it much more bearable since I can wear less clothing and am carrying almost 120 less pounds around! What a difference that makes!!! I also believe the weight loss had a lot to do with the ease of the move since I have tons more energy. It is nice to meet new people too and feel "normal".

I still need to get a camera---but besides that I am hoping to being back to updating the blog regularly :)

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-21T14:03:00.000-04:00

We have been so busy settling into our new digs here in LA---but we decided that for Father's Day we would do no work :) We are about 90 % done, and to be honest, I have run out of steam and motivation at this point anyway...

The girls and I did make Daddy a shirt as we usually do. This years was a butterfly using hands and fingerprints. The girls did a great job and Daddy was thrilled! Mike also got a new watch since his bit the dust and he is lost without it :)

Mike had been wanting to go to Shreveport, LA, and so that is exactly what we did. We had heard great things about the "boardwalk" there. Other than it being over 100 degrees out, it was a nice time checking out all the shopping and attractions.

To beat the heat we decided to see a movie---Mr. Poppers Penguins, which was cute!

I am so thankful for Mike and his role as father as I know there is none better than he!! Our girls are so blessed to have him as their father! We love you Daddy!

Tornado Rampage April 27, 2011

2011-05-24T20:58:00.002-04:00

We will never forget when Mike started his job in Louisiana!! His first day was on April 28th, and so he left on the 27th to go check in to the hotel room and get a good night sleep. We knew storms were coming, but honestly had no idea of the severity of what was about to happen! We had gone into Fultondale to run some errands and said good bye to Daddy from there. On our way home the wind was fierce and was pulling the car all over the place and it was difficult to keep it in our lane! Debris was flying through the air all around us. We watch Storm Chasers and had some idea of what all this meant and I was more anxious than ever to get into the safety of our basement!!

We made it home without incident and only came home to the electricity being out. We gathered up the animals, some games, flashlights, and radio and we all headed into the basement. It was surreal listening to it on the radio. Hearing the size and ferocity of this F5 storm as it tore through our state. The sirens seemed to be nonstop for a long time. When it seemed the worst had passed (and thank God did not hit us directly), we headed back upstairs. I was unable to call Mike to tell him what was going on since we had no cell coverage or phone service at all.

Poor Mike listened to this his whole trip to LA, knowing we were driving right there too. When he checked in to the hotel he saw horrendous images on the news of Birmingham and surrounding areas being pummelled by this monster of a storm. He was unable to reach us and was understandably freaked! To hear the sound of relief when I finally was able to reach him was priceless :)

We ventured out the following day and were astonished by what we saw. Whole neighborhoods GONE!!! Clothes and personal property flying all over the place---across the roads, hanging from trees (both ones still left standing and all the ones thrown all over the ground), power lines and metal towers broken or bent in half like they were made out of paper. We drove around with our jaws dropped, tears in our eyes, prayers on our lips, and a sickness in our hearts!

The following several posts are from pics I took in Tuscaloosa, AL (the worst hit area in AL). I know they are disturbing, but that is the sad truth of a tornado!

We will never forget our last month in AL. I am glad we were here to help out in what way we could. I already had a bunch of stuff to donate, and felt even better about giving it to those that lost everything!!! I can not even imagine! It was interesting when we went to Cullman (another area very badly hit) and in Wal Mart where you usually see summer things, movies, and popular items for sale right when you walk in---that was all replaced with pots and pans, coffee makers, bedding, etc. People were loading up on it too and it was sad to think of the loss! Of course, that is all STUFF and can be replaced thank God---but the life that was lost too is heart breaking!!

After the earthquakes in Japan not long ago, we started praying for the people in the next disaster as it seemed pointless to be praying for those that had already perished in a disaster (we did continue to pray for those who survived), so we targeted the next one as God surely knows where and when that will take place. We prayed for salvation to come to those who would die and for them to be prepared and ready when that day came. We had no way of knowing that we were praying for people right here in our own community!!

Tuscaloosa, AL

2011-05-24T20:55:00.000-04:00

I questioned my decision to go into Tuscaloosa on our way home from LA, but I am glad that I did.

Clean Up

2011-05-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

One thing we noticed in Tuscaloosa, as well as Cullman is the number of crews out cleaning up. In Cullman, on all the downtown buildings there were crews of people working to tarp and repair roofs. In fact, the downtown area looked like all the buildings had blue roofs from the amount of tarp!

Meals being delivered. In Cullman so many churches have tents sent up providing food and medical help to people. FEMA signs all over the place. It does warm the heart to see how people come together after such an ordeal to help!

We were asked if we needed a meal (which thank God we do not).

2011-05-24T20:45:00.000-04:00

The Pooh Bear really upset the girls---I think it made it real to them that children were affected...

All the concrete you see to the left is the FOUNDATION of this house. I know there were houses that were found blocks away from their foundations, but this really stuck me!

2011-05-24T20:42:00.001-04:00

Mountain View

2011-05-24T20:39:00.000-04:00

In Vicksburg we went to one of the battlefields to get a good view from above of the river. Clara was really taking it all in! The child has such a heart!! Her immediate response to things is to pray (which should be all of our initial response---but for her it truly is) and she was so prayerful for all the people, business, homes, and animals here!

This upset us! No idea if they are wild dogs or what, but it just reminded us all of the more of all the pets and wild animals that are affected in disasters such as this flood and tornadoes as well!

We were fortunate to find locals at each of our locations and we were told that the water closest in this pic is right next to a road and is not supposed to be there at all. This is an inlet area, but the water is much higher than it should be! I do want to go back to Vicksburg as there is so much history there and museums and battlefields, etc. and I hope to get a "normal" day picture from here one day---soon hopefully for their sakes!

Walkin' the dog :)

Vicksburg, MS

2011-05-24T20:31:00.000-04:00

On our way home from LA this last time I thought we would stop off in Vicksburg since we drive right by there and see the flood. Wow!!

Watching people frantically trying to create levees and save their businesses and homes!

Talking to a local couple we found out that this casino usually sits so low in the water that all you can see from this vantage point is the two smoke stacks on top!

We are standing on the road, and should be able to continue walking (or driving) down this road---but as you can see, that is not possible.

Doggie In The Car

2011-05-24T20:19:00.000-04:00

We have had several trips back and forth to LA now and Bella has been a trooper! She loves to go in the car, but for 6 hours each way----we just weren't sure how she would do.

No problem!

Curled up in front of Lucy's seat. She loves to be around the girls. Even if the way back is totally empty, she does not want to be there---she is either between their two seats or in front of one of them. What is really sweet is when she lays her head across their lap!! I always know when this happens because you hear a loud "aaawwww" in unison!

After driving home I have the girls clean out the car and since the garage door was shut the animals were allowed to be out there too. To our surprise, Bella jumped back up in the car!! We were in the car even longer this drive home because of all the stops we made on our "disaster field trip" but Bella was ready for more if that is where her people were going to be :)

LA Institute for the Blind

2011-05-24T18:20:00.001-04:00

These pictures are horrible, I apologize. I think I had the camera set on micro...

This field trip we went on was fantastic!! We learned so much and I for one am absolutely amazed and inspired by the people that we met on this tour!

In the above picture we were learning about Braille. The device the man is using is a Braille typer (like a typewriter). We also saw how they would hand write Braille and the girls had their names done. What really floored me about that, is not only do they have to learn the 6 dot system of Braille, but to hand write it you have to do it BACKWARDS so when you flip it over it is correct! To pass the class (and this institute is for adults 18 and older, mostly people who lost their vision later in life) the student must learn to read and write Braille, as well as finish several books to truly demonstrate their mastery of it.

This is the kitchen and I again realized how much I take for granted in just cooking a meal! We were taught (and got to witness two students working on a project) how they learn to navigate in a kitchen, what help iphones/ipads can be with apps to read bar codes to speak what an item is and the quantity of the item. How they have to prepare for meals and grocery shop. Money exchange. Devices to help in all aspects, etc, etc!

To pass in cooking you have to be able to plan, shop for, and cook for 8 people for a week!! Also included in the home ec portion is things like sewing (you have to be able to hem pants, sew on buttons, as well as household chores, and upkeep things such as snaking a drain, plunging a toilet, etc.)

In the above picture is the wood shop. Each student must complete a project of their choosing in wood shop. They learn safety, how to navigate to different tools (using N,S,E,W and sounds of such things as the coke machine), measuring, and building. The projects were incredible!!! Grandfather clocks! Gorgeous trunks! A stunning chess board! A jewelry box! These were no small projects (no little bird houses here). We were truly awed!!

We also saw the computer lab which was also fascinating. Learned about equipment to convert words to braille (yeah, that one piece of equipment costs over $6000!!). Also, how they listen to and navigate and work on a computer even without that equipment. They do Facebook, Twitter, and any other website you or I would go to!

We also learned about cane travel. I knew the basics in that they use a cane so as not to bump into things, but I had no idea that they actually use the cane to tap on the ground for the echo to tell where parked cars or buildings are. The difference between metal tip and vinyl tip canes. The students have to live 8 blocks from the institute and navigate their way there each day. They learn to use public transportation as well as learn how to walk and know where they are. To pass the class the final exam is a student is taken by car, in a very non direct route (he said they will even do donuts in parking lots to fully disorient the student) and then drop the student off and give them NO clues as to where they are or how to get back. They are not allowed to ask for help and they have to find their way back!

I have no doubt what-so-ever that when the students graduate from this institute they will be far more independent than I am as a sighted person! They will surely leave this school fully competent and with great confidence and what tremendous gifts those are!

Oh, field trips include going white water rafting, rock climbing, and just about anything you can think of! Truly remarkable!

After the Institute we all went to a dessert place. We had Bella with us of course since we can't leave her in the hotel room. Once again, she loved the attention. I took more pictures on my phone I may add later too. On the menu was a doggie custard treat that came with a dog bone stuck in it. I had to get one of course and Bella LOVED it!! That was a big hit with everyone watching her enjoy her treat :)

Ruston, LA

2011-05-24T17:54:00.000-04:00

We went on a field trip to Ruston, LA and we purposely got there a bit early so we could walk Bella around the town. We all enjoy this town and look forward to spending more time there!

Welcome To Micky D's

2011-05-24T13:52:00.001-04:00

As we were organizing for this move we went through a box of memorabilia and I found my first McDonalds uniform from back in high school when I worked there. The kids thought this was the coolest thing! Since then, it has become a favorite for playing dress up. Clara sure can rock it out, huh? Got to love the shoes with it---if Dorothy from Wizard of Oz worked at McDonalds I suppose she would look something like that :) I know when working there I had days that I wished I could just click my heals together and go home :)

Oh, our poor Bella. In an earlier post I commented how it has been awesome to watch the trust build with Bella over the past several months since she became part of our family. Well, we took a backward step this day unfortunately!

Bella has been scratching herself raw on the sides of her face. The girls and I took her into the vet, which of course is NOT a favorite spot. It took several of us to hold her down on the table to shave the areas. She never tried to bite, nip or do anything other than get away. I was very impressed in fact! I felt awful laying on her as it is so different with dogs than it is with cats. They have so much more intelligence and awareness in their eyes and when they look at you it just breaks your heart!

Anyway, she is fine, but now we have to give her medicine several times a day orally, which is no problem. She will eat ANYTHING that is slathered in peanut butter :) We all enjoy the tongue exercises afterwards as she works to get the peanut butter off the roof of her mouth and anywhere else she may have it :) I also have to spray medicine on her spots and in her ears 3 times a day!! This is the problem---she hates to be restrained for this. It isn't a bid deal once we have her, but you can't convince her of that!

Usually, when Bella is outside and we go outside she happily comes running to us with tail wagging and happy look on her face! Now, she thinks I must be coming out to grab her and do something to her so she RUNS from me with tail down and looking pathetic!!

Look at that look!!! I'm sorry baby!!!

Right after this we went to LA for the week and the medicine (a steroid) made her eat and drink like crazy!! Not normally a big deal, but in a hotel when we have to walk her to do her business---man, we were up every few hours to walk her through the night :) She was still untrusting of us in the hotel room, but had far less places to run to and hide so we did get lots of love and petting/bonding time with her again.

Lucy sporting the hat, and the tie dye shirt she made in LA. Love it!

Roosevelt State Park, MS

2011-05-24T12:24:00.000-04:00

Well, this pic is actually from Forsyth Park in LA.

We broke the drive up on the way back to Ala with a stop off at Roosevelt State Park in Miss. It was a great place to get out and walk around and we all enjoyed it very much. A great place to come back to and camp!

Not easy to get Bella to pose for pictures. She wants to sniff and check everything out. Maybe that would be a good trick to teach her---"pose" :)

Terrific Tuesday Tie Dye Party

2011-05-21T19:53:00.000-04:00

We joined a group online called Bayou Homeschoolers in the Monroe/West Monroe area. I have enjoyed getting to know some of the members online, and was blessed to get to meet several in person while we were in LA one week.

This event was a tie dying party! We had so much fun and met some really awesome people!

Only about half the people were done at this point :) All total there were over 30 kids at this event and the girls were so thrilled to meet some new friends, and it made us all the more excited about getting moved!

2011-05-21T19:49:00.000-04:00

I love Clara's technique here of doing two colors at once :)

2011-05-21T19:47:00.000-04:00

We are not supposed to leave Bella unattended in the hotel so she got to go everywhere with us. We were able to tie her to a tree in the front yard of the house we were at (later on they let us take her in the backyard to run free and she LOVED it!!).

Bella was quite popular, the kids kept going out in groups to hang out with her. When she was running around the yard one little girl asked if she could ride her LOL :)

Two families there were moving away (gee, we know how that feels), and they had a big going away cake for them which was very nice. The girls were more than happy to help them clean that up :)

2011-05-21T19:42:00.000-04:00

I should have really gotten a pic of when Lucy wedged herself into this car. I was so concerned she was going to break something though---either on the car or on herself :)

If there is a climbable tree, that is where you will find Clara :)

The girls have already been wanting guinea pigs, and they had two adorable (and super friendly) little critters that got lots of love while we were there :)

Finding Food

2011-05-21T19:37:00.000-04:00

The day after the tornadoes when we were out and about we found a place to eat on the other side of Birmingham. There was hardly anything at all open and this place was packed!

Needed Gas

2011-05-21T19:33:00.000-04:00

After the horribly tornadoes hit this are, the girls and I ventured out the following day. We did not get to see the images on tv since we lost power early in to the storms, and ended up being without power for a week. One of the things that I never would have thought about regarding power, is the ability to get gas. This gas station is not far from our house and was one of the only stations that had power in North/Central Al. People were coming from all around to wait for gas! I talked to one of the cops directing traffic for a while which is how I know any of this. We fortunately did not need gas, I was just trying to get past, but was fascinating watching this!

There was a major hold up when the station ran out of gas!! They had to get that truck in pronto to fill them back up. The cops were all there waiting for gas as well, plus emergency vehicles.

This is not a great pic by any means, but you have some idea of the line of traffic on that old back road waiting. That road turns and the traffic continues for miles beyond what can be seen here. I will post more on the tornadoes in another post. We do take so very much for granted!

Easter 2011

2011-05-21T19:22:00.001-04:00

I am so far behind on posting---it felt like a trip down memory lane as I was looking over what is on the cameras :) I still don't have a camera that works, so I use the girls and they use theirs so we have TONS of pics :)

This year we decorated hot eggs with crayons which was really cool. It was fast enough that it held Clara's attention, and certainly was artistic enough for Lucy :)

Beautiful job!! And tasty egg salad too :)

Honey Do List

2011-05-15T17:22:00.002-04:00

Since Mike is gone during the weeks now, he comes home to a honey do list. I try to minimize it, but some things he is just much better at----for instance, my computer is not working!! Very frustrating. All my pictures are on that computer and I have wanted to post them, but I can't even check email on that thing! Also, we are still having some plumbing issues here and the tub is completely clogged. Mike snaked it, but it still won't drain. We will NOT miss the plumbing issues here, that is for sure :)

We do not like being away from Daddy, and have decided this week we will go to LA. I have to be here in the morning for the moving company to come and see what all they will have to move, but will leave after that.

Clara was sick (in fact I thought I may have to take her to Urgent Care of the ER on Friday---but her intense stomach pain subsided and has not returned). Bella has issues---she has scratched herself raw on her cheeks and back of the head. I had to get her into the vet Friday morning. Once we got there, Clara proceeded to vomit all over the waiting room floor (white tile, and her vomit was PINK due to the Pepto I gave her before leaving). Poor thing!! I managed to get it all cleaned up without puking myself :) Anyway, Bella is fine---the dr. believes it is her ears, which she has always had problems with. He cleaned them good, they shaved the raw spots (one was infected), and I have my medicine schedule for her. He said she is going after her ears which is why the raw spots are around the ears. I have to spray medicine in her ears once a day, and with the same spray squirt her boo boo's 3 times a day. She is also on steroids/antibiotics.

One thing we know without a doubt about Bella is she will never bite!! I could not get over how well behaved she was at the vet with all this scary stuff they were doing to her. It did take several of us to hold her down, but she didn't growl, nip, or do anything other than try to pull away. Personally, I would have bit :)

Yesterday, all Clara wanted was her Daddy to snuggle on the couch. Since it was raining, it was a great day for movies and snuggling :) Thankfully today Clara seems all back to normal. Mike has left for LA, but it wasn't too sad since we know we will meet up with him tomorrow :) We are packed, car is loaded, and we are ready to go! We have a field trip on Tuesday in LA with the local homeschool group there which we are excited about. We will be visiting a school for the blind and will learn about braille, cane travel, and a day in the life of the blind. Should be very eye opening (no pun intended :)

Destination Known

2011-04-25T09:20:00.002-04:00

After months of knowing change was coming, we finally know what state we will be living in and what house!! That is huge for me being the nester that I am :) I thought when I got to this point I would sleep like a rock---but that has not come yet as I am busy in my brain planning it all out---but I am so thankful to have things to plan!!

I know God uses the trials in life to strengthen us as individuals, as a family, and our relationship with Him and this trial has been no different! Once again, God has shown Himself huge to us and there are times I am just so in awe that I can't even speak (and that is saying a lot LOL).

The big lesson for me this move was Gen. 13:10 "Lot took a look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)" I have read this dozens of times before, but when reading it in Jan. it illuminated to me and I felt God really emphasizing to me that I had to be careful with looking at what I see. You read later on in Gen. of course that Lot may have thought he was choosing the best land, but he actually ended up in Sodom----so what looked good turned out to be the worst of the worst!!

When Mike would get an interview somewhere I would immediately hit the Internet and looked up the area, housing, what to do in the area, homeschooling in that state and city, etc. Some degree of research is needed, but I would get excited about some areas and be discouraged by others based on what I saw online. It got to the point where I would even go to the computer and I would just sense "Don't look and see!" It was so hard for me, but I did have to rethink my stinkin' thinkin' :) It truly isn't about what my research turns up, but if God would have us go to an area, He has His reasons and it is for our best. (Gen. 8:28--one of my favorites--"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." and Jer. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you." says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.")

Yes, we have moved a lot the past few years and I do have a desire to stay put for a while---maybe even grow some roots. I know that everywhere here on earth is temporary though---and God has really brought this to my mind so many times over the past year Phil. 3:20 "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior." Those are our roots! There we will live forever----so yes, we may move a lot, but even if we lived in the same place for years and years the fact is that it is still only temporary! I wouldn't trade that deal for anything either! So, if it is God's plan that we move, I trust He has His reasons and will make good of it (He always has before, and I know He has no intention to stop now :)

Over the past several months we have really had to hold on to God as Jehovah-Jireh! I have struggled in this area personally for years. I know God will provide for our needs, and if we do what He says and asks of us, we can expect to see Him do so. This particular name for God means "God will provide" as well as "The Lord will see" and "the Lord will be seen." If we would just do what we know to do and be patient (ouch, I really dislike that word), God will show Himself BIG!!! I believe all too often we don't wait long enough, we jump in and make a purchase, make a decision or determination, or try to answer our prayers ourselves. By waiting (or being in a position to have to wait and exercise that patience we are given), we get the thrill of seeing God move on our behalf. God is SOO much more creative than we are, and to see Him move is amazing!! I can't count how many times God has answered us in ways we could never have seen or even dreamed up ourselves!

The first thing that one wants to do when a job loss occurs is to pull back all "non-essential" spending. Unfortunately, I had clumped "giving" in that category in the past. I stopped giving to the ministries we give to monthly, and justified doing so by it being a necessity and temporary. We were however, convicted of this. When I looked at the money we spend monthly, the bills we pay----that money that goes to ministry is the MOST important and does the MOST---I can't pull back there. We corrected the error, and this time around knew not to consider such a thing :) We knew God would make it ok, and He did!! Interestingly, when Mike took the job here in Ala. after his first job loss, he had to take a pay cut. This go around with the job loss Mike will receive a pay raise. We do not chalk this up to coincidence of course, as we know there is no such thing. This is a direct PROOF to us that God means what He says---in ALL areas! Mal. 3:10 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do." says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!" When God issues a challenge (and consequently this is the only time He does so) He means it!!

The job that Mike has taken is as a Six Sigma Black Belt for Graphic Packaging in West Monroe, LA. We previously felt sure we were going to be moving to Ohio for him to work for Rolls Royce. I had "looked and saw" and was quite excited about that move. We have been to Columbus before, and there is a ton to do there! Plenty of homeschooling groups (including Classical Conversations that are already established) and it would also put us closer to Mike's family which we felt would be great for us and the kids! It was settled in my brain, but as time went on and there was no offer from Rolls it became apparent that maybe that wasn't going to happen. I was sad about it---heck, we all were! Now, as we learn more about Rolls (not as a whole company, but that particular plant) we see there are a ton of problems! I mean big time problems too! God truly protected us and saved us from potentially being in this position again in a year or so!

When I looked into LA I was not happy with what I saw. I had to hold on to the lesson God was trying to instill in my brain though! When you look up that area in LA there isn't much excitement! I couldn't find anything for homeschooling in the area. No CC (there are some in LA but the closest is Bossier City which is 1.5 hours away). Yes, I can choose to direct but how much easier would it be to just join an already established community :) The "things-to-do" list was underwhelming! There just didn't appear to be anything there to be excited about besides a pay check. I prayed a lot about my bad attitude and I realized that for a while I have prayed for us to have a more "relational" existence. We miss the fellowship of friends greatly! The past couple of moves we have found it difficult to find our niche. We have loved both areas and places, but we were always far away from those we had the potential to become close to. I didn't understand at the time, but do now of course. It sure did make moving easier (and I'm not saying it was easy to say goodbye, but it could have been much harder!). We felt like maybe that is what this move was going to be---and you certainly can't look that up online.

Once my thinking was corrected (and not beforehand either), then I found a group of homeschoolers online in that area. The group formed a Yahoo group that JUST started!! I swear they did it for us :) I joined the group and posted that we were moving to the area and a little about us. Immediately a woman got in touch with me with a name of another homeschooler who is big into rental properties (her and her whole family). I had mentioned looking for rentals online (another thing you can not find online at all!!). Well Pam got in touch with me and she was a gift straight from Heaven!!! I would have never dreamed to pray for such a person to come into our lives! She not only put the word out in that area that we were looking for a house to rent and to contact her with leads, but when we took a house hunting trip to LA last week she arranged to spend the ENTIRE day with us showing us the area, looking at houses, and pro and conning each location! Her daughter came along with us which was great for the girls and they are very much looking forward to going back there and playing with their friend :)

The process was overwhelming and that first day was discouraging. We looked at a lot of properties---some owned by Pam or her family and some we happened by or were told about on a lead. They were small with small yards and the areas were questionable. Pam was very honest about each one and was great at helping up pro and con each. That night there was a homeschooling Moms Night Out. I was invited to it, but was too exhausted and we wanted to continue our search. During the night out, Pam got more leads she was eager to share with us the next morning. One of which was in THE area that she was the best of the best area to be in. Not many houses for rent in there, and when there are they are not cheap. We had already resigned ourselves to the fact we would have to raise our price, but I also knew better than to raise it too much. We just kept confessing that God would work it out---somehow, some way!

The owners of this particular house live in TX. They moved a year ago (also a homeschooling family) and were unable to sell (gee, we know that feeling!). They decided to go ahead and rent the house out and that has worked out well for them for the past year. Now the family there has suffered a job loss and has to move. The man's sister-in-law, who lives a couple blocks from the house (and also homeschools) was at the event and told Pam about the house. It had not yet been advertised even as the owners literally just found out it was going to need rented again. The owners were questioning rather it would be best to put it back on the market or rent it once again. I have no doubt we were an answer to prayer for them, just as they were for us (don't you just love win-wins!!).

The house is great! It is smaller than what we are used to, but we need to pare down as we have been lugging things from state to state just in case we may one day need them, and it is time to part ways with them and donate to someone who can use them NOW! It will be freeing to do so in fact. The owners really had to consider us knowing that we have pets---in particular Bella. There are two year old hard wood floors throughout the majority of the house and it is true that dogs and hard woods don't necessarily play well together. We understood their concerns and had to wait for them to make a decision. Well, they said yes!! Yippee!! What really overwhelmed us was the number of WANTS that God checked off our list!! I had needs on one side and wants on the other. The first day of looking we were wondering if we could even get all our needs and the thought of the wants were just too far fetched! God not only provided all of our needs (i.e. fenced in back yard, central AC, storage, 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, safe location....) but He also covered many wants (i.e. large covered porch, private back yard which is a good size for the kids and Bella, trees/shade and a place for a tree swing the girls have been wanting, a pool nearby, great location close to everything, neighborhood kids, places for the girls to ride bikes/scooters/skateboards, etc.) This place has it ALL!!!

The neighborhood is 11 miles from Mike's work. The farthest thing from it is probably 15 min (such a stark contrast to right now where everything is at least 30 min one way!). There are tons of homeschooling families in the area---even in the neighborhood as we found out from Pam! There is a great kids park about half a mile walk from the house. The Athletic Center (which has a great pool, splash park, tennis courts, gym, etc) is one mile away (yes, it is a monthly charge, but I highly suspect that will be our home away from home). There are many non denominational churches close by (we have tried several denominations--and we just don't fit---we just want a Bible believing/teaching church that doesn't put God is a small box!!) These churches are within minutes from the house too. We have since found out there is a TON of homeschooling groups and activities in the area---all within minutes! Skating rink, bowling alley, movie theatre, shopping, restaurants, work, and play within minutes!! We are so excited about that----and there is no way I could have found that in my "research" :)

A lot of lessons have been learned, and no doubt many more yet to be learned (and reinforced). As I watch Bella get used to our family and how her trust grows with us, I see that being the same thing with us and our Father. As our trust grows and is strengthened it is easier to just let Him be Him and be in control! I have a long way to go, as I will always be a work in progress of course---but I thank God for the trials as they truly are a gift! Rom. 5:3 "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they will help us develop endurance."

The Lost Sea

2011-04-14T14:12:00.002-04:00

We have really been good about not spending non essential money, but we decided to splurge a bit on our way back from Asheville, NC and go to the Lost Sea Adventure. We did get a homeschoolers discount which was a great help, and it wasn't too expensive and was well worth it! We thought it was different enough, as we have been in many, many caverns---but never have we taken a boat ride on an underground lake.

The transition tunnel leading into and out of the cavern is bright yellow as they said this is the easiest color to help your eyes adjust to the light when coming out of the dark cave. It felt like being in a "yellow submarine" :)

2011-04-14T14:08:00.002-04:00

The fish in the Lost Sea. Every so many years they are restocked. Within months they lose 75% of their coloring and most of their eyesight from being in such a dark environment. Gee, I thought such an "evolution" took MILLIONS of years----huh??!!! Just another example of how bogus evolutionism is :)

Work That Body

2011-04-14T14:02:00.002-04:00

The girls enjoyed the work out room in the hotel. They had their own way of using the Elliptical Machine :) They really got it going too!!

I took the above pic from behind them--the rest of the pics were taken in the mirror from the front (that is why they are reversed).

Asheville

2011-04-09T21:19:00.002-04:00

Mike had his last interview in Asheville, NC this past week. They were putting him up for 2 nights since it was a whole day of interviewing scheduled so we thought it was worth us tagging along for another "vacation"!! We have been to Asheville several times before when we lived in SC (it was an hour away), so we were familiar with it. That part of the country is just gorgeous!!

Mike's interview went very well, but God was very clear (as we asked Him to be) and the clear choice for us is Louisiana. I will write more about that at another time---I have had problems with the computer and uploading pictures, and now that I have it and have caught up on several posts (have several more left to do), I am beat!! So, I am done for the night and will expand on it tomorrow :)

FREEDOM!!

2011-04-09T21:12:00.002-04:00

In Essentials (4th-6th grade in CC), all year they have worked on writings from the Medieval period. For their final project they had to pick someone (or something) from that time period and write a paper on it and dress up as their topic and do a presentation in an "I am" format. At the end of their presentation everyone would guess who they were. This was open to the whole community and there were lots of people who stayed to watch the performances and the kids did great!

We were so proud of Lucy! She did a great job and really got into her person. She is William Wallace. That is a make shift kilt :) Lucy really enjoyed this assignment and even loved the presenting part. She was reluctant to yell out FREEDOM at the end, but she did it :)

Egg Protectors

2011-04-09T21:09:00.002-04:00

Another fun science project we did was creating egg protectors. Each team was given 12 napkins, 20 rubber bands, and 50 craft sticks. On the last day of CC after the bridge competitions (see the following posts), they got to test out their egg protectors.

Of all the teams, only 2 did not break! Lucy and Clara's teams both broke :( Oh well, how much fun this was though, and lots of lessons learned!

Master Bridge Builders

2011-04-09T21:05:00.002-04:00

The Masters Class was given a choice of what materials they wanted to use for their bridges (I explain the bridge building in more detail in a later post).

Morgan and Lucy's bridge got destroyed somehow, and they had to do a quick fix before the competition began. It isn't very pretty to look at, but it did far better than anyone anticipated and came in second!

2011-04-09T21:04:00.000-04:00

Apprentice Bridge Builders

2011-04-09T20:58:00.002-04:00

The next two posts are of Clara and Lainey's bridge they made at CC. Each class was broken up into teams to design and build a bridge. This took two weeks to execute and then on the last day of CC was the moment of truth---how strong are the bridges?

I love the progression of these pics :) The bridge had to be long enough to span the table space. Then a cup was placed on it with 60 pennies inside. If the bridge survived, then 100 pennies, then 200 pennies and finally 260 pennies. If the bridge withheld all that weight then a book was used and pennies on top of the book. Clara and Lainey did the best in our class and were able to hold up 100 pennies, but did collapse with 200 pennies :)

Good job girls!!

2011-04-09T20:56:00.000-04:00

Apprentice Class

2011-04-09T20:53:00.002-04:00

This is my class from CC! I love each of these kids and have enjoyed being their tutor immensely! We will miss them terribly when we move! This was the last day of CC which was "pajama day"---hence the outfits :) I did not wear pjs as mine are so big on me now that it just wouldn't work :)

Sloss Furnace

2011-04-09T20:47:00.002-04:00

The next two posts are of Sloss Furnace in Birmingham. Being that it is an outside museum you are allowed to take dogs which was awesome to encompass all our loves into one---museums and walking Bella :)

The grates that you can see through scare Bella and she will not walk on them. When we came to those areas Mike had to carry her across :) She really has no idea that she is a big dog :)

It was fascinating to learn about the history of Birmingham and the impact this furnace had on the founding of this area! We enjoyed this very much and wish we had gone there sooner as we found out they have many events that take place here that would have been fun to attend. At least we got there now though :)

2011-04-09T20:45:00.000-04:00

The entrance gate was awesome!

Isn't She Lovely

2011-04-09T19:55:00.000-04:00

What a goof!!

Keep Moving Forward

2011-03-31T18:23:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I have been having some issues with Picasa which are driving me crazy!! I first noticed it when I was trying to upload these result pictures and they would load and then be lost. Then I was trying to get a contract back to our realtor regarding our house in SC and it was saying it was going through, but it was not! That is when I finally had to say it's Picasa and NOT me!! :) Ok, this is done in a few posts now.... These are the current, now, shots. Although I am down another few pounds since taking these pics this weekend with all the hassle of trying to get them on here LOL

Here I am down 90 lbs. I talk more about the transformation and pros/cons in a following post and I am not going to go into it all again :)

2011-03-31T18:20:00.001-04:00

Here I am down about 60 lbs I believe. I hadn't worn that shirt in such a long time and it was like seeing an old friend again after a long time :)

There I am the day of surgery. Believe it or not, this is NOT my heaviest----I was about 20 lbs heavier right after Clara was born. I'm on my way to the hospital at about 4:30 in the morning so I am not dressed nice or trying in any way :)

Results

2011-03-28T19:34:00.003-04:00

Here I am super early in the morning on the day of my surgery (Oct. 19th).

This is me yesterday (3-28-11), 5 1/2 months later and down 90 lbs.

I am having trouble finding shirts that fit, so I am wearing a lot of Mike's t-shirts :) They would have never fit before, so I was excited to find they fit now. Yesterday was the first time I tried those pants on too that they fit. I bought them a little while ago on sale knowing I would be in them eventually, and now I am!! Yeah!! Now I look forward to these being too big on me too :)

I'm not done yet obviously, I still have a bit over 60 lbs to go. That seems far less daunting to me though as the thought of losing 150 lbs was just down right depressing. I do feel so much better! I can do things like cross my legs again (which I am finding my back is not thrilled about that one though), it is easier to walk, I have greater stamina, and overall I know that I am just healthier! It has been fun every week or so to have the girls put their arms around me to see how far they can go. When this all began they couldn't reach all the way around me. Lucy can now grab her wrist of the opposite hand and Clara can clasp her hands. Things like that just thrill me!!

I go back to the surgeon in a couple of weeks (which I need to change because my appt is currently after the 15th and we probably will not have insurance then....), but at my 3 month check up I was averaging 12 lbs a month and all my blood work came back well within normal. I was concerned about my calcium levels as I am having difficulty taking the calcium supplements, but that too was perfect, thank God! I have no problem taking my multi vitamin---in fact I really like it! Changes I thought would be really hard (like sugar) have not been difficult at all. I am learning how to eat and cook, and have really been enjoying cooking which is a blessing! It has been fun to watch the changes with my family as well, as Mike has lost 20 lbs and Lucy has lost about 8 lbs. Clara hasn't lost, and couldn't or she would disappear :) I know we are all healthier as we are eating so much better now!

As for negatives---the only things I can say is that I am not losing my hair. They say that is to be expected at month 3 and is temporary. I know it isn't just from gastric bypass, but other major surgeries as well. Mine didn't start coming out until about month 4 and so far it is dispersed throughout and I can't notice it. If it stays like this I will be relieved. Of course, I did have the bad first month with the strictures and all the throwing up and I seriously wondered what I had done to myself----but even through all of that, getting on the scale kept me motivated. This is the first time that I have tried really hard to lose weight, and am actually seeing real results!!! What a blessing!! They told me before surgery that there is a metabolic change that takes place from gastric bypass which is the whole reason I chose to go that route and not LapBand. I have no doubt that something definitely changes and I thank God for the opportunity He has given me for this!!

I thank God for Dr. Long, for St. Vincent's East, for BCBS and AAii, and for leading us to Alabama! If this was the only reason we were to be here in Alabama, that was worth it!! We got so much more out of Alabama though, and will truly miss it!!

Blogger is Frustrating Me

2011-03-28T13:13:00.003-04:00

I have tried several times yesterday and again today to post pictures of the day of surgery and yesterday. I have been wanting to do this post for a while, and finally have done so and the pictures will not download for whatever reason. I don't know if it is a problem with the Blogger server or what. My brain is scattered so I suppose it is possible it is user error :) In other news, Mike will be traveling Wed for a Thursday morning interview in Jackson, MS. Wed afternoon he will have a phone interview that was supposed to happen last week but the interviewer was sick----so that will take place on Wed. We have still heard nothing back from LA. So, balls in the air include Ashville, NC, Houston, TX, Jackson, MS, and Monroe, LA. In the staff meeting at work today the salaried employees were told that the judge did agree to allow them to keep their doors open until May 4th to see if helicopters truly do come in. On April 11th however, notices will be given to those salaried employees that will be out of work on April 15th. We expect to be among that group----but that isn't anything we didn't already know. Tick, tock, tick, tock!! Can you hear that? It sure is LOUD!!! We just pray for God to open doors that need to be opened, for THE door that is to be where we are to go we pray for favor and discernment, and for other doors to be shut!! As long as we are smack dab in the middle of His will for us then we know it will be fabulous----it's this in between part right here that is the worst part of it.

Love Those Pillow Pets

2011-03-26T11:31:00.000-04:00

The big fun for the kids was playing with their pillow pets.

Kids everywhere! This is the best pic we got of the kids together :)

Classics

2011-03-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Our niece Addie had so much fun taking pictures with our camera. We got a lot of pictures of all the kids pillow pets (no kids, just the pillow pets LOL). Here are some of us that really made us laugh :)

I believe in the pic above Mike actually has Finn held up above his head.

What a smile :)

Lovely, huh?!

Too cute! Glad Finn is in this one :)

Horton Mill Covered Bridge

2011-03-26T11:14:00.000-04:00

For Science in CC we were doing bridge building and so we thought it would be fun to go to a bridge and check out the structure. We later found out this bridge is the tallest in all of North America. The area was beautiful and was a fun hike!

The girls love discovering caves and crevices to hide in :)

It took me a bit longer to get to the bottom and Lucy was helping me :) You had to scale down the side of this mountain to get down there. We found a much easier way up (which we could have taken down, but didn't know any better). It was fun though! On this "path" Lucy and I found a bone which was quite exciting. We took it to the vet the next day to try to identify it, and all they could do was confirm that it is a vertebrae, but were unable to say exactly what animal it came from. Her guess was a small deer.

Smiles

2011-03-26T11:05:00.000-04:00

Clara was very proud of her "beautiful flower" she had to have in her hair! I love that gappy smile :)

On our walks/hikes it is hard to get good pictures of Bella because she is all over the place! If we take a really long walk though we can get her at rest every once in a while :) We have noticed that as Bella gets to know and trust us more she is more daring. For instance, there is a bridge at Mountain Brook to cross, but it is like jumping from block to block. Bella would NOT even consider doing this and Mike would walk her along the road and finally meet up with us farther down. We always try to see if she will give it a go, and the last time we were there she did it!!!

Also, when walking on rocks along the river she is more trusting of where we lead her. I love to watch the progression of trust! She is the best dog ever!!

Now that's a happy, smiling dog :)