FINALLY!!!

After waiting and waiting, it was finally warm enough, this last weekend, for the kids to run around in the sprinklers! And run around, they did! ALL DAY LONG! Haylie threw a big fit because we made her put on jammies for bed. :)

I'd forgotten how last summer, Haylie would NOT run through the sprinklers and was a little curious as to how it would go this year.

At first... not getting too close to the water...
Then they decided to brave it together.

Each time they ran by, they got closer and closer...

Notice how Haylie is "helping" Connor... yet he is closest to the water...

"...eh, whatever!"

This was more Connor's style. Sprinkler under the trampoline means no direct hits!

Bribed & Tortured

(just kidding)

Apparently hilarious...

Saturday, Haylie and I spent a couple hours at my cousin Katie's bridal shower. After many failed attempts of getting her (Haylie, not Katie :) to sit still and not touch anything, I gave up. She ran off outside with some of the other kids and this is where we found her.Apparently if you stand with your back to the horse, he will come nibble on your dress and it is SO FUNNY!
And of course, when the boys came to pick us up, Connor had to get in on the action. But not too close... ;)

Mother's Day Weekend

A little late, but we had a great weekend! My sister came home from school and so we tried spending as much time together as possible! Friday evening, Joe was gone for a scouts camp out, so the kids and I headed over to mom's for dinner. It was very relaxing and we got home WAY too late! Saturday, we went out to dinner at The Olive Garden with my grandma on my dad's side. Again, FUN!, and we got home WAY too late. Then Sunday morning, my mom and Larry came over and Joe, Kelli and I cooked breakfast. Yummy! These are just some pictures from the weekend. :) 5/9 Kelli and Haylie in the backyard
5/10 Our "beloved" Louis on our Sunday walk near our house
5/10 Haylie on our walk

5/11 Connor playin' on his bike. Would have been a great picture if I hadn't chopped his head off in the picture!

5/11 We headed over to the Prosser park with our tuna-fish-sandwich-dinner :) after Joe got off work. The kids played and ate... very relaxing and great family night!

Happy Mother's Day!

So, I started to look at all of the people on my friends list and thought about sending individual messages out to every Mommy, saying, "Happy Mother's Day!" but I got lazy...

However, I did read through each name so as not to make it seem less meaningful. I hope each and every one of you mommies has a great Mother's Day. I know a few friends are first time Mothers... it truly is the greatest blessing. Sometimes I have to tell myself that several times a day, but it really is, and I Love It!

God bless each and every one of you. I love you all and am so glad to have your posts to look forward to every day. Keep 'em comin'!!!

What an Emotional Roller-Coaster...

The most amazing thing happened on Wednesday.

The day just seemed to drag on milli-second by milli-second... I was constantly trying to find things to do to keep my mind occupied. Usually when I'm busy all day long, it's 6:00 and Joe's home. Not Wednesday.

Around 11-ish... I got a phone call, and I kid you not, this is what she said:

"Hi, I'm calling about your ad on craigslist," (I have several), "There's a new ad on here today. Have you read it?"

Hmmmmmmm.....

Sooo, a few different things ran through my head, but I was nice and asked her which ad she was talking about. She told me the one about the mini-schnauzer, and said there was a new ad about a male mini-schnauzer that was found in Benton City. Right then I KNEW it was him. So I got on our incredibly slow computer and found it. It mentioned seeing our Beagle and Louis together, blah blah blah. Of course, there was no phone number. So I sent her an email describing Louis and about 3.5 hours later she called me. She had to tell me her life story before she remembered that she had my dog.

Apparently, she was the person who had called he and Lady in, on the 13th. Nobody could catch them, Lady came back and Louis didn't. Well, 11 days after the first sighting, she saw him again. This time, his back bone and hips were sticking out, his hair was completely matted (as it was time for a grooming when he disappeared), he had burrs and stickers under his armpits and in his beard. There were so many burrs under his legs, that he could barely walk. She said when they tried to pick him up, he cried because he was so famished it physically hurt to touch his skin. He actually bit the lady's fiance because he was so frightened...

Anyway, they took him in and got him groomed, put an ad in the Tri-City Herald, and just waited. After no luck from the paper, she decided to post on craigslist.

We were SO excited! She even brought him over (new bed, toys, bones, and dog food included). He wasn't too sure at first, but after I said his name a couple times, I know he remembered. He is just as happy as can be and won't leave my sight (bathroom included).

This couldn't have come at a better time. Louis has filled our home with such joy... he has quite the personality and makes us laugh constantly. It's really helping us, Joe mostly, cope with the loss of Danner. We feel so blessed!

Danner

So this is NOT a happy post... consider yourselves forewarned.

I just don't understand life. Why do things happen the way they do? I know there's a reason for everything, but why does it all dump on "you" at the same time?

Last week in RS, the lesson was on prayer. A lady was talking about how her family had had a really crappy day, but earlier in the week had decided to make a goal of only "Thank yous" during prayer. So, as they sat down to pray as a family, her husband started out, "Heavenly Father...................." She said it was silent for a while. He finally said, "Thank you that this day is over."

I couldn't agree more.

So, yesterday was 3 weeks that little Louis disappeared. It's sort of sinking in now. I try not to be sad about it, but sometimes... just can't help it. I'm convinced that he is in a good home, and is happy with his new hermit owner.

Today, Joe took the day off. We did a bunch of work in the yard and had a great morning! We came in for lunch, and then the kids went down for naps... We bought some fruit and vegetable plants and thought we'd take the opportunity to get them in the ground, since the kids were sleeping. Well, my mom had given us some railroad ties for our yard, and they were laying on the dirt where our garden is, so Joe needed to move them before we could get started. He moved the majority- we planted- and then he started moving the rest. As I was walking away from the garden, I heard a yelp. Danner got too close. I won't go into details.... but we lost our pup. It was the most awful day ever. We have all just been a wreck. It wasn't pretty and Joe is so upset... I just can't understand. Why me? Why us? Is it worth it to have pets? At this point, I'm thinking no.

So I'm sitting here, wondering what can I learn from this? What good could come out of this? Less dog food? Less barking? Is it really worth it? It's so surreal... like it never happened. Just doesn't seem possible, ya know? First Louis.. then Danner? Is Heavenly Father trying to tell us something about the number of pets we "should" have? I know it probably doesn't work that way, but still...

So, at the end of my day, I'm thinking about what I will pray about tonight. I can think of nothing to be thankful for... that we got the garden planted? Seems so unimportant. That Joe got to stay home from work? Now I'm wishing he would have gone.

My children were sleeping. Inside. Now there's something to be thankful for. My children are alive. My husband is alive. I am alive. We loved Danner very much and we will always miss him.

Two Moms, Two Dads

This morning, as I was doing Haylie's hair, she all of a sudden told me that she was going to have two moms, and two dads. I thought about it for a second, thinking of how to explain to her WHY she would never have another set of biological parents.

So, I said, "You know Haylie, you will only have one mom and one dad, forever. I will only have 1 Haylie and you will only have 1 Mommy because you were in my tummy. You were never in a different tummy."

Her response: "Mom. I'm not in your tummy. I'm in the bathroom."

Me: "Oh."