Waterbugs!

Goo Goo's pool is the place to be this summer!



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Melt my heart.

One day over Spring Break I had Hannah, Morgan, and Hailey at the office with me. Jr., the shop foreman, called me and asked if the girls would like to come down and feed the catfish in the tank behind the shop. At first the girls didn't seem that interested in it, but it was a really nice day and they decided they could also pick some of the wildflowers that had started to pop up. Not long after they came back Jennifer showed up to get them and I went to clean up PaPa's office where they had been playing. I found these letters they wrote to him and left with flowers. I am sure he loved watching them feed his fish.









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Cash Is Not King....

Yesterday I found Sam in his room putting real .22 bullets into his play shotgun. Even though it was a play gun it is still dangerous for him to have real bullets, so Wil had to take them away last night. Sam was very upset about losing his bullets. Tonight we were rewarding the girls with money for their good grades and Sam asked if he could get paid. Wil gave his a dollar so he wouldn't feel left out, but Sam started crying. When he asked him what was the matter he said he didn't want money he wanted to be paid in bullets. Apparently to Sam cash is not king, bullets are.


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Basketball Pictures

The kids took their basketball pictures tonight and since we are the Fighting Bulldogs they had a real bulldog there to take pictures with. This is the one I took with my iPad so it is a little fuzzy, but I think it turned out pretty good! Go Dawgs!


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And now time for a nap!

He worked so hard today, he had to take a little nap.


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Sam's Sculpture

Sam was at the office with me today and he made this sculpture for me out of rebar, nails, an auto part, and gummy snacks. I think it is beautiful.


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First Day of School 2011

So the first day of the new school year went pretty well until Sam realized that he was not going to school with the girls this year. He insisted that he was in fact going to school and had to have a sign to hold, a backpack, and a lunch box packed with food. Even after taking Hannah to her room (which she didn't want to be walked in to) and then taking Morgan to her room, he is still asking where is his classroom. He only turned 3 this month and is ready to leave the nest and it breaks my heart. He is supposed to be my baby! I know they have Pre-K for 3 year olds, but I am not ready for that. I am considering having him go to Pre-K next year, but then when I mention it Goo Goo gets empty nest syndrome, so I guess we are both going to have a hard time either next year if he goes to Pre-K or the year after when we have no choice and he starts Kindergarten. This is the last year the girls will be at the same campus and Hannah's last year in Elementary, so it is becoming clear that they are growing up fast in spite of my efforts to keep them little forever.

Swimming Texas Style

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Mmmmmmmm Butter

Yes, we subscribe to the Paula Deen Theory that butter makes everything better.

Proverbs 16:3

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." This past year has been a very trying year for our whole family both personally and professionally. In an effort to find some peace within the horrible situation, I am adopting this verse as my "there is still a light at the end of the tunnel" speech that I give myself everyday. If you have a verse that is your ritual, I would love to hear it.

Booby! Booby!

Sam and I had to run to Target last night to get a few things. He doesn't like to ride in the cart, so I let him walk. As we are going through the women's undergarment section he has to hit each bra as he walks by and say "Booby! Booby!". Thankfully the store was pretty empty and only two teenagers heard him.

Get out of here cat!

The other day we had gone out to eat dinner and came back to Goo Goo's to have cookie cake for Morgan's Kinder Graduation and when we walked in the house we saw something move on the back porch. Goo Goo went to look and opened the door to shoo away what she thought were stray cats. When she got out she realized it was two small foxes. We had been seeing the mother fox in the back yard several times a week and I guess the babies were big enough to follow her to the porch, but not quick enough to run away when we drove up. The one little fox was pretty friendly and let mom take several pictures before running away. The kids thought it was pretty neat to see baby foxes.

AHHH SPIDER!

Yesterday we were in the kitchen eating lunch and Sam had finished, so he went to his room to look out his window to make sure Daddy's tractor was still there (this happens first thing every morning and then several times a day). Then we hear "AHHH SPIDER!" and Sam comes running down the hall screaming. Wil is looking at me asking what I did to his boy and why is he screaming like a girl about a little spider. I am explaining that he does have two sisters that could have previously done this very thing and I hadn't ever "taught" his this on purpose. During our conversation Sam is getting his toy shotgun from the living room and runs by pausing only to tell us "I shoot spider". See Wil, crisis averted, he has the boy gene after all.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Today Hannah is 8 years old. I can't believe how fast it has gone. Everyday she gets more and more independent. I often think of her as being more like us adults and less like the other kids and have to constantly remind myself that she is just a kid too. She is a great big sister and helps me a lot. I hope you have a great day!

If you like Pina Coladas

As usual we had much noise, tears, laughter, and a really great New Years Eve dance off. With ten kids under eight years old there is always someone unhappy about something. We heard several renditions of "All the Single Ladies" from Hannah, Morgan, Hailey, and Kaylie. It fast became their their favorite song after we, while suffering from temporary insanity, took them to the movie to see the Chipmunk movie. Amazingly out of the ten of them only two didn't make it until midnight. We were all together and made some great memories: Morgan's energy, Todd's entertaining abilities, my rendition of Dawn's 1980's hiney drums and some fun dance moves. Needless to say after a few days together all the adults needed those Pina Coladas.

Sam's Favorite Spot

Every time I open the dishwasher, Sam comes running. He loves to take out the bottom basket and get in. It is okay if the dishwasher is empty, but a few times he hasn't let me get the dishes out and I end up running to grab dishes from hitting the floor. Why does he like this? We have tons of toys to play with and tents to hide in. What is so thrilling about the dishwasher?

My Little Pumpkins!

Sam carried his little pumpkin around the whole time and then carried it around the back yard at home. Thank goodness he didn't pick a big pumpkin.

Walk the Plank!

Tyler's Pirate Pary was great fun. We had buried treasure, a pirate ship cake, and sack races that left us rolling with laughter. Hopefully Jennifer will post some video on her blog.

"Mom, Sam has my underwear!"

Last weekend we had to round up some of the cows to take to the sale barn. While Wil was hooking up to the cattle trailer the kids and I decided to get started on getting the cows in the pens. We herd our cows with suburbans, not horses, so all the kids were in the back and of course since we are not on the pavement, nobody is wearing a seatbelt. We get all but two of the cows in the pens by calling them and shaking a piece of paper, which to them apparently sounds like a sack of cubes. When we go back to get the other two cows it becomes apparent that they are going to go into the pen nicely, so I tell the kids to sit down and hold on. Of course Sam doesn't understand what hold on means, so in my effort to herd the cows he gets thrown into the floorboard a lot. Anyway, we have been chasing these cows around the field for awhile now and I am getting a little annoyed. I am in serious "you will go into the pen" mode and then I hear Hannah laughing hysterically and Sam falling onto the floor yet again, and Morgan crying "Mom, Sam has my underwear." I turn around to A) check on Sam, and B) to see if Morgan is naked and ask her why she has taken off her clothes. It turns out that Morgan was fully dressed and a pair of underwear had been in the leg of her pants and worked themselves out and Sam had snatched them. Of course Morgan is mortified that her brother has her underwear and Hannah and Sam think it is hilarious and our laughing only makes him squeal louder and run with the underwear. We have chased cows hundreds of times and have lots of strange things happen, but this was the first time anyone lost their underwear.

The Thrill Is Gone

Okay, so the excitement of the new school clothes, new backpack and lunch box, and storytime has ended. Morgan did fine the first day of school, the second day she cried a little twice, yesterday she cried again, and today she ran screaming out of the classroom after me when I tried to leave. So I told her I would stay and help her get her breakfast tray and then I was leaving. Fifteen minutes later I am still there and realizing that this is not going to end well. I decided to just do it fast, like a band-aid. I told her I was leaving and kissed her goodbye. I started walking out and she starting following, so I walked faster and looked over my shoulder to see the teacher wrestling a kicking, screaming Morgan. I felt bad for Morgan. I felt bad for the teacher. I hope tomorrow is better.