Our Furry Friends

Well, I thought I'd better post this now, because I don't know how much longer we'll have these guys. Now, I don't believe in luck at all, but for lack of a better term, we haven't had much luck with pets. We've gone through 4 dogs and 3 cats already, and our oldest kid is only 4! Just to clarify, when I say "gone through," I don't mean that any of them have died... just in case any of you are animal rights activists. ;) So two summers ago we tried our first dog, Polly. I picked her out from the animal shelter and felt so proud that I had saved an dog from an untimely death. Polly was a lab/beagle mix and STRONG. She knocked Addie over (who was very little at the time) and the girls were just terrified of her. She was originally a stray, and clearly not used to being confined to the indoors. She tried to dig through the carpet, chewed up tons of toys, and just wanted to be outside. So, we gave her to a family that lived on a farm so that she could have plenty of room to roam. Then came Chica, our little chihuahua. I was never very fond of chihuahuas to begin with, but some friends of ours gave her to us, and for the most part, she was a really good dog. The only problem we had with her is that she had a nervous bladder, and any time anyone reached down to pet her, she leaked. That didn't go over well with me since our house was on the market and I didn't have the time to steam clean our carpet on a daily basis. So we found a nice lady to take her in, and that was the end of pets for a while, because shortly after that I found out I was pregnant with Olivia. Then back in May, on the last day of school, Miller's principal got on the intercom and made an announcement that there was a family trying to find a home for a schnauzer. Miller called me and asked if I was interested and we found out more about him, then later visited the family. Tucker was a beautiful pure white schnauzer. Gorgeous. The family who was trying to rehome him said that he needed to be in a home that didn't have little boys because he wasn't getting along with their son. Okay, no little boys at our house, so we took him. I have to say Tucker was my favorite of all the dogs so far. He was extremely smart and obedient, hypoallergenic and didn't shed, and followed me around the house at my heels like a little shadow. The only problem was that he didn't like kids. We realized his owners were wrong- he didn't just not like little boys. He didn't like little girls, either. He snapped at Addie several times, and after he snapped at Olivia, I decided he needed to go. He is much happier (I'm sure) in a home with an elderly lady that absolutely fell in love with him and is spoiling him rotten. So now we have Moose. Moose isn't the brightest dog... or the prettiest, but he's very well-behaved. He never barks, doesn't run away when we open the front door, he doesn't jump on the furniture or the kids, doesn't lick, and doesn't shed. He is a Lhasa Apso, so he requires a lot of grooming, but other than that he's pretty low maintenance. I got really mad at him last week because he peed in the house, and I announced that I was giving him away, but I'm pretty sure Moose is here to stay. Everyone is pretty attached to him, even Miller, who was completely against the idea of getting another dog. Since he doesn't have accidents in the house regularly, I'm letting that one go..... but I've got my eye on you, Moose!

Now for the cats. Eliana has been asking for a kitten since she was 3 years old. Well, we finally told her that she could have one for her 5th birthday, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. When we realized we would be getting rid of Tucker (and didn't think we'd be getting any more dogs) I started looking for kittens of Craigslist. Even though it wasn't Eliana's birthday yet, I found a lady giving away some gorgeous blue-eyed kittens, and decided to get it right away. I brought the kitten home, and Eliana decided to name her Felicity. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that schnauzers have an extremely strong prey drive, and Tucker tried and tried to get that cat. For fear that my kids would witness their little kitty getting mauled, I promptly found Felicity a new home. Then we got Moose and knew he was such a laid back dog that we could have a cat, so we got another kitten. The girls named this all-white kitty, Lily. Lily was MEAN. she climbed up our pant legs, scratched, bit, and when we tried to approach her she arched her back, hissed, and even made a weird popping noise that I've never heard a cat make before in my life. Even Moose was afraid of her. Seriously. So we got rid of her, and now we have sweet little Aurora (named after Sleeping Beauty, of course). Unfortunately, we didn't keep either of the other two cats long enough for me to realize that at least 2 of my children are allergic to cats. Wonderful. For now, Aurora is an outdoor kitty, because Eliana is very attached to her and doesn't want us to give her away. I just feel sorry for her and think she should belong to a family that can actually let her indoors, or at least pet her. So here our some pictures of our beloved pets, Aurora and Moose.

Eliana Ballerina

This summer Eliana took a ballet class at our local rec center. She really liked it, so if we can find an affordable dance studio nearby, I'd love to enroll her. I'd also really like to sign her up for piano lessons since we finally have a piano again! (Thanks, Renee!). I hope I'm not going to become one of those parents who tries to live out their childhood vicariously through their kids by signing them up for tons of extracurricular activities in hopes that they'll one day be a star... Just kidding- Eliana actually really wants to take ballet lessons. (And I'll eventually convince her to take piano too... just saying!). Anyway, the ballet class was only one week long, but they even had a performance at the end of the week. It was super cute! The dance was entitled "Fun on the Farm" and Eliana even had a line to memorize. She was the "planter." Here is a picture of her during her lessons:

And here she is in her big debut as the planter!



Eliana, you're already a star in my book! It wouldn't hurt to give Star Search a call, though... ;)

Olivia's Big Birthday Bash

I can't believe it, but my little baby is ONE! This little girl is the sweetest baby you'll ever meet. She's so laid-back always content. Maybe it's experience, but it seems like she was the easiest baby I've had. She's always happy, loves trying to keep up with her sisters, and it a little chatter box. She already knows how to say 18 words! Olivia is also a typical youngest child- she is such a CLOWN! She loves to goof off and make all of us laugh with silly faces, noises, and dances. We've had a rough year health-wise with multiple ear infections, the flu, multiple cases of strep throat, and constant digestive issues. It seems that Olivia's gut can't tolerate dairy, soy, wheat, or eggs. Hopefully, as she matures, she'll grow out of her food allergies. For that reason, we're still nursing, but other than that, she's as easy as can be. Despite all the tummy trouble and sickness, she's such a cheerful, smiling baby.

We had a really awesome birthday party for her and were blessed by good friends coming to help us celebrate her big day. I found some cute owl-themed party supplies online, and decided to go with a "Look Whoo's Turning One!" theme. A very special THANKS to Adrea for contributing to the party with your crafty decorations and goody bags, even though you're hundreds of miles away!!!
Here's a few pictures of the birthday girl in her special party dress:



These are the adorable decorations that Adrea hand-made with love.


Check out these super cute goody bags!


I was really excited about making Olivia's cake. This was my first attempt at making a two-tiered cake. I even made the little fondant owl and number 1 on the top (also my first attempt at molding fondant). The bottom layer was vanilla with strawberries in the middle, and the top layer was chocolate with strawberries in the middle. Oh, and the whole think was made from SCRATCH! ;)




Little Miss Olivia had fun opening her presents... mostly because she wanted to eat the tissue paper! :)





We LOVE you so much, Olivia! You are such a precious blessing from the Lord.

Tea for Two

Yes, I know this blog is disgustingly late. Addie turned 3 on June 1st!!! She has matured so much over the past few months, and we're so thankful that her language development is not at all delayed due to her chronic ear infections as a baby like we were originally worried would happen. On the contrary, she has a HUGE vocabulary. Like her sisters, she loves to talk. She is actually the most talkative, and will tell stories with tons of detail that go on and on.... and on! :) Also, this girl can DANCE. Gets it from her dad. ;) She's such an affectionate kid, and especially loves to give her baby sister hugs and kisses.

Addie had wanted to have a tea party themed birthday, which I thought was really cute and clever. Coincidentally, we got invited to a tea party for the girls' little friend, Chasity the week right before Addie's! So, so we got to have two tea parties back-to-back two weekends in a row! The girls were super excited.
Here are some pictures I took at Chasity's party first. She turned the big 6!











We had so much fun! Now, on to Addie's party. We had a really fun time. We kept the guest list small so that Addie wouldn't get overwhelmed. We had just a few of her very special friends come over. The kids painted teacup shaped planters, and then put some potting soil and flowers in them:


I worked really hard on Addie's teapot birthday cake and teacup cupcakes:



Addie was so thrilled to open up so many DORA presents! It's no secret that Dora's her favorite. :)

After all the birthday fun, my sister-in-law was generous enough to take the girls and all their cousins to a water park. The kids had a blast!
This is how I found her at the end of the day. I think this confirms that her birthday was a success,.. What do you think? Thank you, Lord for our Addie Beth.

My Mother's Day

This is a picture of the beautiful roses given to me by my wonderful husband and precious girls today. Eliana picked them out, because pink roses are her absolute favorite. I spent my Mother's Day...well, being a mom! The girls and I are still sick with strep throat, so we didn't go anywhere. We didn't even go to church since we're still contagious. The girls are still running fevers, and we're pretty worried about Addie who's had a fever for 8 days straight now. In all my years of mothering (yes, all 4 years!) I haven't dealt with as much sickness as we've had in our family in the last month. (I know, I'm still a rookie and this is probably nothing compared to what it will be like when the kids are in school.) We've had 3 ear infections, 3 cases of the flu, 4 cases of strep throat, bronchitis... When it rains it pours! But through all this, I'm thankful.
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I'm thankful to have 3 beautiful, otherwise healthy girls that the Lord has entrusted me with. I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who spoils me 365 days of the year, not just on special occasions. Even though I didn't get out of the house for massage or pedicure this Mother's Day, I'm so thankful to be a mommy. By the way, all these illnesses didn't stop my family from showing me their appreciation today. Miller made us a yummy dinner of steak, salad, baked potatoes, and Texas toast. (Thanks to my sister-in-law, Karen for providing us with the steaks!). Then the girls and Miller, well Eliana and Miller (Addie had a case of stage fright) gave me the performance of a lifetime! Take a couple minutes to watch these goofballs. (Oh, Eliana decided to wear her Christmas dress and a baby hooded towel over her shoulders as her performance outfit. Addie is in her underwear because she was running a fever and we were trying to keep her stripped down to minimal clothing). I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!


One last thing. Here's a song I adapted to express my sentiments this Mother's Day. Enjoy...

The 12 Days of Mother's Day (yes I realize this is redundant
To be sung to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas
(I started on the 12th day in the interest of time)

On 12th day of Mother's Day, my children gave to me...
12 pink roses,
11 doctor's appointments,
another ear infection,
a daddy with bronchitis,
8 days of fever,
a double ear infection,
a case of pink eye,
5 prescriptions for antibiotics...
4 cases of strep throat,
3 girls with the flu,
2 with diarrhea,
and an ear infection for my baby.

Date on a Dime

A few weeks ago my parents were visiting, which always means a chance for Miller and I to go on a date. Well, this time we happened to be...uh... low on funds. My dad was so generous to offer us some cash, but we really didn't want to accept it. So instead of doing the usual dinner and/or a movie, Miller had the great idea to go to Barnes and Noble to look at books ("look" being the operative word here). So we headed out and decided that we would pick out some books, and just read and talk together over coffee. Of course the object of dating is to spend time together and take a break from the kids, so what did we do? We headed straight for the "Parenting" section. Don't worry, we didn't stay there. We lingered for a little while, but once I realized they didn't have the book I was looking for (Bringing Up Girls by Focus on the Family's Dr. Dobson), we made our way over to the "Marriage and Relationships" section. We each picked out a book headed over to the cafe area to read. I have to say, it was actually one of the most enjoyable dates we've been on, and I can't wait to do it again.

Little Angel

I've really wanted to take these pictures of Olivia for a while now. I bought these cute little props, but they really should have been used when she was a newborn. She just doesn't sleep as soundly as she used to, and can't really be handled and repositioned while she's sleeping. I managed to get a couple shots before she started stirring, but they didn't exactly come out as I had hoped. I'll probably give it one more try, but these are the best of the ones I took today. Isn't she a sweet little cherub?