Parade Fun

The girls were able to ride on the Softball float for the parade this year. They were pretty excited as this was their first time riding in the parade.


The Angels team and the "C" League team rode this year since they both won titles.

This was right in front of our house. They had waited for such a long time to get into the parade that most of their candy was gone before they made it to our house. They saved some back just for us and began launching it at all of their family and friends.

Harry Potter is Coming!

Apparently there is some pretty big marketing going on in my backyard for the new Harry Potter movie. We have 5 owls that have taken up residence in our trees and garage area, and they have been entertaining to watch. They fly from tree to tree, and watch us with interest. They don't seem to be afraid, just curious as to what we are doing.


It has been fun watching them, and I must say I am a bit intrigued. Not something you see normally on a daily basis.


Maybe this means I am going to get an invitation to attend Hogwarts??

Football Time is Here

Calder had his first football practice last night. Since Dad is coaching his team, we all loaded up and went along to watch for a bit. It was a beautiful evening to sit outside, and the boys all seemed to learn a lot.

It is hard to believe it is time already. They are having a few practices this next couple of weeks to get the conditioning portion completed, then they will get to use their pads. Calder is pretty excited about getting them!

Learning what all of the positions are and what they do:
Should be a fun year for them all!

State Champs!!!

Makenna's softball team, The Abilene Angels, played in the 8 and under State Softball Tournament this weekend. They went undefeated for the weekend, and are the State Champs!! Needless to say, it was a pretty exciting weekend!!! Way to go girls--what an awesome way to end a great season!

The Trophy Plaque:

Running round the bases.

We just won!!!!! Do you think we were excited??

Getting her medal from Coach Brian

Holding the very heavy plaque.

Doing the team cheer: We're Dynamite!

Proud sisters.

Championship photo. Official score 13-9

Our car decorations.

Sisters and Sharing

Hey, can I have a bite of that?

Mmmmm.....this is good!

OK! That's enough now!
Still friends!

Meet My New Friends

I have two new friends that I met today:


They are very good buddies with this:

Sigh.........

It was a case of house renovation gone awry. Stub and I were moving furniture from the TV room and entry way so we could start on the floors. In the midst of moving the entertainment center, I had bent down to close a door. Stub didn't realize I had stopped and kept pushing.....right on over my foot. OUCH!!

So, we had a fun trip to the ER (after we went and rented the sander--the store closed at 5:00!!). It appears that I have bruised the bone, but no break--yippee!!! I have to stay off of it, and let it heal, so we will see how that goes. I kind of do the hobble/shuffle step. Maybe it will be the newest dance move for 2009!

Happy Birthday Mylee!!

Has it really been two years?? It sure has gone quickly for us! It seems like it was just yesterday that you were our little 5 pound 9 ounce tiny package nestled snugly in our arms. Although, as I look at these pictures, it also is so hard to remember you being so small!

You are growing up so big, and have such a personality. You want to be just like your big sisters, and jump right on in to whatever they are doing.


Your laugh is contagious--it just makes everyone start laughing with you when you get to giggling! You are very loving, and are very happy to pucker up and give BIG smooches to us all--they are the BEST!

So glad you joined our family two years ago today! We love you lots!!!!

The Great Frog Hunt 2009

The kids SO wanted to catch some frogs and turtles for the 4th of July Frog & Turtle Race in the park. We loaded up the evening before, and headed out to my parent's pasture. They have two ponds, so we were hopeful that we would be able to catch something.

Stub and the kids headed out on the other side of the small pond to try their luck. I stayed on the near side with Mylee and Jentree.


It was a bit muddy from the rain the night before, and Mylee ended up meeting the mud. (Note the dirty backside). She had mud all over her sandals and feet, but nothing a little pond water couldn't clean off!
There were frogs in the small pond, but none that were wanting to be caught (imagine that!), so we hiked up to the car to move on to the bigger pond.

Shhhh........the great frog hunters are at work. Don't scare off the frogs!Gotcha!!! The hunters caught a frog! Excitement was overwhelming amongst the hunters. Of course, all the rest of the potential candidates for the jumping contest immediately swam to the middle of the pond.

During the quest, Jentree and Mylee did a little exploring of their own. Too cute! Think they will be this loving when they are teenagers? Jentree enjoyed looking at Grandpa's cows and calves up on the hill. She especially liked an old Charolais cow (they are big and white). She kept calling her, "My Pretty Cow."

Sadly, our catch got away. There was an unsealed hole in the box they had placed the frog into, and he fled for safety into the pond. The hunters were pretty bummed. They kept hunting until a storm moved in, and momma said it was time to go when this arrived:
I know.....I am such a party pooper!! We made it home in time to end up going to the basement while the tornado sirens went off. Fun times!

We will try again next year. Hopefully we will have more cooperative subjects that won't mind getting caught. I mean, if you saw 6 children running at you, wouldn't you want to be caught too??

Half Way There

So a few posts back, I said we were working on our floors. I thought it would be fun to show some "Before and After" shots.

This is the back hallway before we started sanding them all down. This area was in pretty bad shape, so we didn't think we could screw up too badly with our novice floor refinishing skills.

This is the back hallway now, all done (well the floors anyway!):
This is the dining room before we began sanding it all down. Notice all the irregular colors on the floor. It had dark blotchy areas of stain in places, and was really worn in other areas.

This is the dining room now:
I am not sure why it looks so yellowish in the pictures other than the lighting reflecting off the walls maybe? It really is much darker than that. This is the real color of the floors:I am loving the results, and cannot wait until I have the rest of the downstairs all done. Anyone bored out there? Anyone? Anyone??? (Crickets chirping)