Mystery Solved

So things have been quite busy here with having the new kittens and all. There has been the adjustment of them with the other/older cats. There has been order of keeping the little ones put away upstairs in the laundry room with their supplies, and the older ones separated for the time being in the basement with their supplies. We have gone through this transition quite well, with the daytime pretty much everyone loose everywhere, and getting along great!
The biggest challenge...by far...has been Miss Summer. She wants to love them. To death. Literally.
It's a good thing that baby kitty's need their naps alot of times a
day (and it's a good thing that Summer falls for that), because they seek refuge in their laundry room. With the door closed not to keep them in, but to keep Summer out!
They are pushed in baby carriages, and have really strong necks by this point because, although we all work with Summer on "hold them by the belly!", one is usually brought to us dangling by their neck. (I did talk to the vet about this, and I think they will be okay during this faze.)

So lately, Summer keeps on bringing me a kitten, and it will be wet.

Hmmm.

I couldn't figure out for the longest time why this was. Was she dipping into their water dish? Goodness sake, I could NOT figure it out!

So yesterday, we were playing babies up in her room, and she had Alice in the cradle, and Rosie in the stroller, and Abby had hopped up into her crib. Summer was delighted with this situation, and we even had her stuffed cat meow meow out and in the mix. A whole room full of cats! We were rocking the babies to sleep, and singing Rock-a-bye baby, and Summer was so moved by loving on her baby that she leaned over to kiss Alice on the head...but instead......LICKED HER. Like her whole back down. Like a mama cat would!
That...is what she has been doing.

That is why they have been wet.

Licking the cats.
(At least she is showing compassion in a genuine way?!?!)

The Grand Tour

I'm nosey. Okay...not really. But I am very curious about seeing the insides of peoples houses. They interest me! How they are laid out. How they decorate. How other people do things, live their daily lives.
Back when Mike and I were first married and live in a home that had wheels stored underneath, we would pack up our baby and actually drive to other neighborhoods to take walks and look at the houses. Nigh time was the best because if their windows were lit you could catch a glimpse of the house inside.

So, with spring cleaning in full effect (believe me people when I say my house does NOT always look this clean:) and the carpet cleaners having just left, I thought, "what a better time to take you on a tour!" I have seen this done before on other blogs, and I only hope it encourages more of you to do it for those of us that enjoy it SO MUCH! (so consider yourself tagged!)

When you walk in the front door this is the front hall...
let's go up the stairs 1st....

this is the overlook from the open upstairs hall...

This is a little nook that is decorated above the front door. That chest I painted and that baptismal gown my grandmother made, and my mother and my boys and Summer were Baptised in it.

This is Mike and I's bedroom...

This is our adjoining bathroom...

Next room down is the nursery...

then Tatums...

then into the boys room...

this is the kids bathroom...

back down the hall to the stairs...

back on the 1st floor, right by the front door is our office...(still need to spring clean in here!)

remember the wall of pictures...

then there is a hallway with our garage, laundry room, and cowboy bathroom, and closet...

back up to the front door, to the right is our dining room...

where I keep all my family history pictures...

and that leads into the red room....

Looking from the red room back into the dining room...

The Kitchen...

The walls were painted this cool Southwestern swirl when we moved here. Lacey commented recently that she like our kitchen, which inspired this whole dang post, especially since she just bought her first house...so hope you enjoy this Lace, because this is proving to be alot more work than I thought! Ugh!

Our Family Room...

And that's it!

I hope you like my tour! Now show me yours!

Brotherly/Sisterly Love?

You never know what kind of criminals you are going to find in your yard.

I guess it's a good thing that Matthew is prepared!
Run, Summer, Run!!!!

(now how do I get these darn things off of me!)

Grandpa Tim

This little guy here was born on Friday, April 24th, 2009. My niece Ashley had her son Alexander John. My brother called me right after he was born, excited to tell me he was a grandpa again. He joins his big sister LeiAnna who is 2.

Welcome to the family, A.J.!!!

Mike Bday Recap

So this week has been a blur, and Mike's birthday passed by with not much chance for poor him to enjoy it. He has been knocking himself out trying to get the new store on it's own two feet, and we both are feeling the effects of it.
Monday, he was able to take the evening off, and we took the kids out to eat at PF Changs. Tatum was coming down with a stomach bug of some sort I think, and was not feeling so hot. We had his favorite German Chocolate Cake (made into cupcakes this year) when we came home, and the kids got him his annual gift of a tomato plant each.

We did get to go to the gym together in the morning too which was a rare treat. We did that stair climbing machine. 71 and 72 floors climbed respectively! (I couldn't let an old man beat me:)

I sure do miss the booger being home:( And when he is we ruin it because we are both so tired and stressed we fight. But we knew this would be a challenge when we took this on, and oh what good things we hope it to bring:)

So off into this weekend we go! With wonderful weather predicted here hopefully! It was 80 degrees here today! OMG!

My name is going to be MUD

Her bangs were going in her eyes....two girls left alone, while daddy is at work.

It doesn't look that bad does it????

(please tell me it doesn't look that bad!)

Alice

I have been thinking about this long and hard. I need to be prepared. If there every comes a time in my life where I stumble upon that magic lamp with the genie, or I get a wish from the magic fairy in the forest because she saw me do good, I do not want to be like the others before me. I do not want to fall into the trap of greed. Or desperation. Or panic. I will be ready.

Of course, don't be silly, I don't think this really is going to happen, but I am no fool! I have heard waayy to many Chinese proverbs to know that if you ask for the wrong thing, karma will bite you in the ass, and you will end up with nothing!

So bags of money, I do not desire. The boobs of a playboy bunny...nope! (although from this flat chested girl that would be freakin sweet!). I just ask for one thing.

ooOOH Yeeeaahh! Bring me on some Alice!

1st of all people, like she LIVES with you. She is there 24-7. (but in a separate part of the house in her own quarters undisruptive to you guys at night:) (see I have thought this through!) She can not get away! She in on call. Your BFF in all house hold/companionship/child rearing/cooking/cleaning needs! She shops with you. She talks with you. She handles munchkins with you.
She even vacations with you....so you and Mike can go off and do things alone once and awhile:) (coincidence that my husbands name is Mike??? I think NOT!)
She is very happy just dating Sam the butcher, and is TOTALLY fulfilled helping you raise your family. Oh man I love her.

A girl can dream..can't she?? In the time it took to write this post, Summer has unsticked every. single. post-it from a stack and stuck them all over the front hall and is covered in snot and strawberries (don't ask). Tatum has asked 14 times when dinner is, and heck if I know where Matthew is! Man, I need to go find him. I am due to go pick up Jake at the skating rink in 45 minutes and Mike is working real late tonight...so homework, dinner, showers, and bedtime is allll me!

Oh Alice.....

Tatum's Overnight In Shanty Town

In a previous post, I told you about my teen age's daughter's school holding evening called Shanty Town. It was a chance for the kids to have an awesome experience to raise homelessness awareness. They were letting the kids firsthand see what it was like to "sleep on the street".

Tatum joined about 25 other high schoolers for an evening in a cardboard box. They built them themselves. They got to go through a soup line, they had a guest speaker, and watch a movie on the topic. But mainly they had to survive just one night out in the cold. Something, some people have to survive...every night.

They were encouraged to only bring a pillow. No blankets or sleeping bags. That would defeat the purpose of the experience they were told. So, Tatum went with just a sweatshirt, and really thick socks. It got down into the 40's that night.

She said they learned that the average age for homeless children was the age of 7. That is Matthew's age.

She said she would fall asleep, and think that it had been like two hours, but then look at her phone clock, and it would only be like 8 minutes. She said she did that all night long. Slept in 8 minute intervals. She was so cold, she just couldn't sleep better than that.

By the middle of the night alot of the kids had gone into the school. Out of the 25, only 5 made it the whole night out there. Tatum was one of them. (except for bathroom breaks)

I picked her up at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. She was full of ambition. She wants to volunteer at the local soup kitchen.

I'm very proud of her. I think she got it.

Happy 45th Birthday Mike!

To My Hard Rockin...Hard Workin...Hard Lovin Man! I love you baby!
B
(Mike is the 1st one on the left)

Sounds Like So Much Fun!!

I have never done a swap before! I cannot wait! This sounds like so much fun!!