Shepherd Zoo......

I'm not doing well in the blogging department.....I can't seem to find the time to do it......things have been pretty good around here. We finally had our garage sale this weekend. It was pretty productive.....we made $250! Pretty good huh? It was a lot of work though. We had it at our friends house down the street, so we had to haul a lot of stuff down there.......but didn't have to haul much back. Friday was a really busy day, better than Saturday which surprised me. I was so tired Friday night that I crashed at 5:30 and slept until 8:30 along with Bailey........I'm glad it's over......although the plan was to get rid of junk, I came home with a lot of junk......having garage sales with your friends may not be a great idea......they give you all of their junk.......including a ginormous treadmill........that leads me to the next story. Andrea and Mike gave us this nice huge treadmill......well, Nick and I are so excited to use it.....(we have to lose weight for Luke's wedding) and your walking along and it SHOCKS you! It really didn't feel very good, so we're working on that......we'll probably have to end up throwing it out!

Update on our kittens.......some of you may not know, but Spidey (the cat Ethan picked out) had kittens about 9 weeks ago......the kids and I were laying in bed (they were trying to get me to wake up) and Spidey came in meowing like crazy and rubbing all over me. I knew she was getting close to delivering, so I checked under her tail and sure enough, a baby was emerging......yikes! So, I took her out to the dining room to the hard wood floors and she just kept giving me this look, like "what is happening to me?" and very shortly a baby plopped out......Spidey couldn't figure out how to chew through the umbilical cord and she was turning circles, hitting the baby on the floor.....so I ran down and checked online the correct way for this to happen. It said that sometimes younger cats don't know they have to chew through the cord, so their "human" needs to cut it with scissor.....what? Gross! This is as close to a doctor as I will ever be, I grabbed some gloves and scissors and cut right through that cord......relief.....the baby was so cute and helpless.......so the kids and I waited and waited and waited while Spidey moaned and groaned and kept giving me that look......I thought that the kittens would plop out one right after the other, but they don't. I had to check that out online too.........it can take up to two hours between kittens......about an hour later, the second baby made it's arrival.........then the placenta, I won't gross you out with those details, but let me just say it was quite a learning experience for my children......and then a third baby came right out.......it looked as though everyone was fine........we went the day checking in on them and adoring them. Sadly, the next morning there was a fourth baby....dead. Spidey must've delivered it in the night......very sad......luckily, the kids were still asleep and didn't see it. Anyway, we enjoyed those babies very much and were sad to see them go......Chloe named one Miley, Ethan named his Luke and Bailey named hers Hannah. Miley went to Barb's house which is nice.....we can visit her anytime. The other two went to a family here in town......ironically, the day the last two left our home........our other cat, Wendy gave birth to 5 baby kittens.....I know, I know........SPAY YOUR CATS! I just wanted my kids to experience it once, ok, twice! It is on the agenda to get that done.......so if anyone is looking, in about 6 weeks, we'll have five kittens to give away..........

Speaking of animals......here is another gross story that happened this week......I'm full of them! I can't believe anyone reads this. Ethan and I were hanging out on the couch when Spidey comes walking by with something in her mouth......something furry......I thought it was a mouse, and then I thought maybe it was one of Wendy's new babies, but no.......it was a......are you ready? A baby bunny's head.....yes a head, just a head........she took it in the corner of my living room and was playing with it like a ball......the kids went screaming into my bedroom and shut the door......I tried to pick it up with a papertowel, but Spidey beat me to it and went running down to the basement......I had to follow her because I didn't want her to hide it anywhere. She ran right under the desk and under the desk was rabbit fur........yeah, I think she ate a bunny in my house! Talk about experiences for the kids.........

We got Ethan's 5 year pictures taken today.....only 4 months late.....they are so cute and he looks way too old! We also received his Kindergarten letter today and he will be in Miss Salisbury's class, the same teacher that Chloe had.....he's very excited! He's already picked out the outfit he's going to wear on his first day of school.

So, other than being the Swiss Family Robinson, with all of our animals......we're doing great!

Behind

Ok, I've gotten behind on the blogging.....let me fill you in on the last week or so......nothing too exciting......

Friday: worked on garage sale items, Nephew Ryan came over and the kids painted on their easels, Nick and I had an actual date night with friends. We met Juli and Ryan and Kim and Kyle at El Basha, it's a little greek restaurant.....Delicious! At the end of our meal, they bring you a hookah with flavored tabacco......we had apple......it was quite an experience and we had a really good time......(pictures to come)

Saturday: Our niece Addie came over to spend the night.....all the kids played all day while I did housework.....blah blah blah, we ended up at Barb and Pats to bbq because Tom and Julie were in town dropping off Brandon before their trip to Las Vegas.

Sunday: We served in the toddler room at church, Addie helped us and Bailey ended up in our room because she wouldn't stop crying in her room.......her teacher brought her over, telling us she couldn't believe Bailey was sad, she's always the happy one! I still don't know what was wrong with her. After church, we went school shopping, we've been very excited for this.......we found lots and lots of good deals and pretty much got everything needed.....the kids should be all set for school! By the end of our outting, Ethan was complaining that he was freezing (it was like 95 degrees outside), HE HAD A FEVER....we were dragging him all over town while he wasn't feeling well........

Monday: Ethan still had a fever and pretty much did all day off and on.........

Tuesday: Ethan woke up even sicker, throwing up and crying that his tummy hurt......oh no.....Luke gave us tickets to the Dave Matthews concert tonight!!! So, Nick and I went back and forth on who should go and who should stay with Ethan......well, My Sweet, Gracious husband told me to go and have a good time......I finally agreed and called Kim to go with me. It was a great concert, lots of fun and lots of different people around. You'll have to ask Luke about his run in with the one and only Dave Matthews!!!

Today: Ethan is back to his normal self.......hopefully no one else gets whatever he had....When we woke up, the weatherman said it was a beautiful day today, so the kids and I packed up and took their bikes to the park. There is a park by our house with this little track....Chloe and Ethan both have almost brand new bikes.....Ethan's even still had the tags on it.....there isn't anywhere at our house to really to practice with a steep hill driveway and no sidewalks......anyway, it wasn't that beautiful outside.....it was very muggy......the kids got off to a slow start, but eventually got into it......both kids were riding like pros by the time we left.....Ethan just kept saying "one more time" and kept going around.....Bailey had her little four wheeler and when she did ride it, she sat on the handle bars and rode it backwards.....whatever works! We went back and worked on garage sale stuff.....the kids made their Lemonade signs and it was a pretty quiet day.

Oh my goodness......today I was so grouchy......I was out until 1:00am with my friends Monday night and it has really hit me hard today. My friends Juli and Kim are night owls, which I thought I was too until I met them. We started out at the bookstore to find a new bible study to do together, then headed off to Kona Grill where we were kicked out because Kim had her 4 mo old baby and the kitchen was soon to close, so then they consider it a bar, so we then proceeded to Kim's parents house (because it was the closest) and sat on their deck just laughing and talking and laughing......it was a good time, but it has hit me hard today!

As I had mentioned we had Grace with us for a couple days.....she is very quiet so it was quite different from having Chloe home. I missed her very much. Ethan and Grace had a good time.....We also had Ryan over, we couldn't leave him out.....so the three 5-year olds had a grand time! Monday morning we also had Kim's boys for a little bit.....Hudson who is 2 and Gannon who is another 5 year old! Ethan was in hog heaven with his buddies there!! They actually kept each other busy and I got a lot accomplished......

So, now Chloe's home and we're back to normal. Today I bought some Twizzlers to give to Bailey for when she goes potty on the toilet.....well, all day Ethan and Chloe were bugging me for Twizzlers. So, here is my brilliant plan......Ethan has relapsed in the wiping department. For some reason, he will not wipe his own bottom anymore (I know, Too Much Information) I keep reminding him that I will not be at Kindergarten to do that for him.......and Chloe will not put on her own shoes and tie them.....(my fault....I always just do it for her.....it's much faster) so I told them every time they did those certain things, they would get a twizzler. Well, Chloe ran up to her room, grabbed her tennis shoes and was pulling them on and tying them all by herself, so she got a Twizzler.....then I happened to walk by the bathroom and heard some serious grunting.......Ethan was in there literally trying to poop so he could wipe his own bottom and have a Twizzler! His plan worked! So they were both happy........about an hour later, Bailey peed all over the floor and didn't get a Twizzler, so we'll see if she gets as serious as her siblings did! So funny......I can't stop laughing about that one!

nothing new

We had a pretty good weekend, accomplished a lot of much needed yard work. The storms have left us with TONS of branches, we finally got those piled up for the city to take and weeded the flower beds, trimmed the crazy outta control roses and Nick cleaned out the gutters. Our house kind of looks presentable........Tony and Misty stopped by yesterday. They were in town to visit Misty's mom in the hospital. The kids enjoyed swimming with their cousins and just hanging out.......I know Nick enjoyed hanging out with his brother.........we decided to trade kids for a couple days.......they took Chloe and we took Grace, I tried to get them to take Bailey, but that was a no go........I'm sure Chloe's enjoying her time in Lincoln with Eliza.

Rain Rain Go Away

Just wanted to share what we went through during the last couple of storms......not nearly what others have gone through, but just when you think your home is safe from the elements.....think again! The last storm left us without electricity for 3 full days......it was actually pretty good for us as we didn't have tv to distract us or a Wii to distract Ethan......we had to be a family the old fashion way. We roasted marshmellows over candles, played charades, chased fireflies and went to bed when it got dark. I did have to do a load of laundry at a friends house and charge our phones, but other than that, I think we did pretty good living "old school"

Big Girl Bed

Sunday night we finally decided to put Bailey in her big girl bed, it's just a mattress on the floor, but still it's a big step in a little girl's life. We have been waiting for Bailey to climb out of the crib since that's what the other two did, but she never really seemed interested in getting out. I thought I would keep her in there as long as we could to keep her contained, but it just seemed like the right time to introduce a "big girl bed." She picked out the princess bedding and looked so small in the big huge comforter. Lola joined her for a bit and took up the whole bed.....she did really well and we only had to put her back twice and finally with the help of a "stuffed" St. Bernard, she fell asleep until morning.......she is growing up way too fast! As for the crib, it's going into the garage sale.......it was a good crib, lasted through three babies....makes me sad to see it go........no more babies for me...........Luke and Sara need to hurry up and get some babies made!

Typical Day

So, today was pretty calm.....not too much going on......The kids and I went through the toy room and picked things that they can sell in our upcoming garage sale. Chloe is very excited about this and wants to make money, she's planning a lemonade stand and selling some of her art work. Ethan also thought that was a good idea and is planning to sell his artwork as well for $5 a page....I told him we may have to rethink that price......Ethan didn't do too well in the toy department, he has a hard time parting with his superheroes and Star Wars figures.....It's quite a relief to get that toy room organized......I even got the floors done......Luke is on vacation this week and volunteered to take Chloe and Ethan to see the movie, Wall-E this afternoon. That left Bailey and I alone to have fun together.......I told her we could do whatever she wanted and she said PUZZLES, so we did puzzles for awhile and then took off to Target to get a few items.....when we returned, brother and sister were back. They weren't too wild about the movie, Luke said it was more for adults......not much else to report......

Don't Want To Miss A Thing........

So, here goes nothing.......my children are growing up so fast and everyday, they surprise me with what comes out of their mouths.....they make me laugh so much! It makes me sad to think how fast they are growing up! I try to remember the little things Chloe and Ethan did when they were younger and I have a hard time remembering. Nick and I will try to jog each other's memories of whether not it was Chloe who was scared of Nick when he shaved his beard....or was it Ethan? So, I am hoping I will be able to find enough time to BLOG, so we can have these funny and memorable things written down or typed up~it makes me a bit nervous to put this all out there because I'm not the best at writing......hopefully Nick will make some entries too! My cousin John and his wife have a great blog and they don't miss a thing with their boys (that is another reason for this blog.....poor Bailey, not much in the picture, video department) and they are like the best writers ever! They use words that I have to look up in the dictionary......but I'm really going to give it a shot!