The Black Bear

Last week we kept Amy and Brian's dog Sammy while they went to San Antonio for a couple of days. Brian, if you'll remember, kept Sally for us while we went home and introduced her to the finer things in life, namely beer, pizza, and also it seems fried chicken. Sammy is a rottweiler and is a beast of a dog, weighing in at 110lbs. However, much like Husker, another giant we dog-sat last year, he is a complete sweetheart. Owen loved Sammy to death, and Sammy would oblige Owen by walking up to him and then falling over like a tree so Owen could rub his tummy. I tried to spoil Sammy by giving him pig ears but there's no way he could have enjoyed them as he ate them whole. I also took him for a walk, and let me tell you he drug me down the street to the mailbox in record time.

We will always be willing to keep Sammy! -even though he is a tad bit gassy

Fast asleep

Apparently "You're going to sit there until you eat it!" didn't bother Owen much. He just went to sleep right on the bench.

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today is Nana's big day so we called her and everyone sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday! to her. Apparently I am doing all I can to make it unspecial...no video, no present, no card...but I have reasons...not really good reasons, but reasons none-the-less. I am hoping to get some type of video together to add here so she can see it.

We got Nana a birthday present but of course I stressed over what to buy and then when I bought it I found out that it wouldn't be delivered until next week. And immediately after I "settled" on a present that I really wasn't excited about and bought it (online with personalization) I remembered what wonderful present I had decided back in February I was going to get her. A present that was head and shoulders above what I bought. Now I have written it down so I can get it for her for Christmas.

We did not send a card this year either, as last year's card, you know, the one that said "You may not be over the hill yet but I bet you have a damn good view!" was not particularly well received.

Anyways, Happy Birthday Nana!!! We love you! Hope you have a great day!

Please let me know

So which picture strip at the top of the page do you like? I must say the top one took me a looong time and the bottom one took about 5 minutes. I can tweak the bottom one also to change the background color and frame color and whatnot. I would just like to know which one people prefer.

Congrats

Congratulations to our neighbors, DrivesTooFastForOurStreet and ParksTheJetSkiInFrontOfMyYardInsteadOfHers (which makes my kids think it's okay to climb on it), for finally managing to get all their trash down to the street on the day actually designated for trash pick-up. These people moved in in December, and since then they just seem to drag their stuff down to the curb whenever they feel like it, let it sit there a day or so, and then drag it back up to their house. In the meantime, the wind, which only seems to blow in one direction on our street, blows bits and pieces of crap into our yard, because the neighbors have one trash can and they just pile the rest up on the ground. So each day Scott comes home from work and walks around the yard and kicks their trash back onto their driveway, because we're nice like that.

The trash runs every Monday and Thursday. We obsess about the running of the trash. So much so that on holidays we get on the website and see how the trash running is affected. These neighbors obviously have no clue about the website, or the phone number you can call, so they had accumulated a lot of trash. A Lot Of Trash. Much much more than we have ever had, even counting the last two Christmases combined. Yesterday I jokingly said I was going to put an anonymous note on their front door reminding them that today, Monday, was trash day, but I didn't. And they managed to figure it out all on their own! I would like to guess that maybe because EVERYONE ELSE ON THE STREET had their garbage down they might have been tipped off, but this has not been the case for the previous 7 months so it must have just been luck.

Now let me tell you about their grass...

Happy 6 months Skylar!!

Happy 6 month birthday Skylar! You've come a loooong way baby! We love you!!
And yes, you are truly "baby-licious"!

Getting BIG

She's probably thinking 'oh these were the days...'

When we left for vacation Sally weighed 17 lbs. When we got back three weeks later she weighed 27.5. It must have been all the beer and pizza Brian fed her while we were gone. Today she weighs in at 30 lbs. Yesterday we got her a bigger pillow and folded up the crate. She drug the pillow around our bedroom for a little while and then managed to get it back into her corner where she fell asleep on it, so she must like it. I'll try to get a picture of her on her new pillow soon.

Happy to live here

"Haley! We're putting Skylar in the high chair. Bring her some toys."

"Okay!"

"Haley! You brought every single toy she has! How is she supposed to choose?"

"This is America, Ashlyn, she doesn't have to choose!"

Note about Ashlyn's blog

Ashlyn's blog is up and running and we are in the process of tastefully pimping it out. The plan now is to update it every Friday or Saturday with the pictures she's taken that week. We may add videos at random times though. I taught her how to look at everyone else's blog and she's commenting on them as anonymous and signing her name along with her comment. Yesterday she commented on her boyfriend's Chase's blog...

Oh, I had to do it too...

Note: Katie's was funny...

1. REAL NAME:
Jennifer

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus "-izzle"):
Jenizzle-I love that! From now on that's how I'm signing my emails

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal):
Blue Boxer

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name and current street):
Lynn Tres Rios-Nice, but I'm not hispanic so I might not be able to pull it off

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name):
Sta Je Bri-this one makes no sense

6. YOUR SUPER HERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink):
Pink Mai Tai-I've moved on to rum now as I have built up an incredible tolerance to tequila

7. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's middle name and father's middle name - switch if you are male):
Sue Emil-no comment...I'm going to get in massive trouble for putting my dad's middle name on here

8. YOUR GOTH NAME: ("Black" and the name of one of your pets):
Black Sally-I may have to rethink the whole "Jenizzle" thing

9. YOUR PORN NAME (name of your first pet + first street you lived on):
Fred Avery-sounds bad, very bad...probably why I don't watch porn (does it even matter that "Fred" was a female or does that make it even worse?)

amber? humor me!

More of the pillowcase dresses

Okay, here are a few I made today. I got the khaki pillowcase at WalMart and the striped one at Ross. The striped one is a Nautica one and it's less stiff so it hangs a lot better than the one Ashlyn is wearing, but I think after it's washed it will be a lot better. I love the ribbon with the brown and pink on Ashlyn's. And yes, we sometimes brush our hair around here but we had just come in from swimming...

Pillowcase Dresses

While we were home my sister-in-law Tera told me about a new thing people were doing now making dresses out of pillowcases. She wanted one for my niece, Sidney, so I looked it up on the internet to see how hard they were to make. It turns out they are very easy to do and this one took me about 20 minutes. I got the pillowcase off ebay for 2.99 and the ribbon was 1.99. These dresses are actually selling for over $30 on the internet!

I made the dress to fit a 4 year old and had Haley try it on for a picture so Tera could see it and Haley loved it so much she wanted to keep it. I think they would make a cute shirt for her! I was thinking about taking a solid color and putting a striped ribbon around it a couple of inches up from the bottom and using the same ribbon for the ties at the top. I also want to try to embroider one somehow. I may go to Ross if Scott tonight gets home at a decent hour. They always have all different kinds of pillowcases for pretty cheap there.

A brand new bed

Since we've been home Skylar's been sleeping in the crib. Well, she really had no choice because when we got back we didn't put the co-sleeper back together. Anyway, she has taken to the crib like a fish to water and we are oh-so-very happy about it. We just stick her in there with her blanket and pacifier and she talks herself to sleep.

I bought a baby monitor (on ebay!) so at night if she woke up we would hear her because the kids' rooms are on the other side of the house from ours. The baby monitor works exceptionally well. It even picks up the sounds from the bathroom across the hall, which is great because it allows us to lay in bed at night and listen to all the kids pee in stereo.

Ashlyn's New Blog!!

Ashlyn got a camera from Meena last week and she now has her very own blog showcasing her pictures! Please remember that I do not alter these pictures in any way...
See her blog here!

Dancing Queen

I apologize for not having pictures lately but stupid left the usb cable for the camera in Georgia so I am waiting on the box my dad mailed to get here. In case you're wondering there is no "priority mail" to San Angelo. It pretty much gets here when they feel like bringing it.

Skylar loves music. If you hold her up on your lap or counter or whatnot and say "Dance Skylar!" or "Show my your happy feet!" she will pick up her foot and shake it and laugh until she gets the hiccups. Today we were in Scott's office and of course there were several people stopping by to see the baby and Ashlyn was sitting in the floor with her trying to make her dance. After several failed attempts Ashlyn picked her up and stood her on Scott's desk and she immediately began dancing. That was cute enough and everyone was satisfied but Ashlyn couldn't just let it be...

"Well of course she's dancing now! She really only dances on tables!"

The Chore Charts

Since we've been back from vacation I've implemented the dreaded "chore chart" around here. I'm a little miffed that we go to other people's houses and the kids make a huge mess and then clean it up immediately but here at our house crap piles up to the point where you can't shut the doors to their rooms. The girls each have seven things they have to do daily and Owen has six. Once they reach 200 stars they can choose between going to a movie and going to Mr. Gatti's. I have already preached about how they have to choose the same reward, because otherwise Ashlyn is smart enough to talk Haley into picking one while she picks the other so then they get two rewards. Plus, if they choose the same thing then I only have to leave the house will all of them one time. Owen's choice does not matter because even though his goal is 175 stars he is never, never going to get there.

Ashlyn's chart includes
1. brush my hair
2. brush my teeth
3. make my bed
4. put up my dirty clothes
5. clean my room
6. clean living room
7. clean bathroom

Haley's chart is exactly the same until you get to number 6:
6. clean den
7. scoop litter box

Owen's chart is exactly the same until number 6 also:
6. get Sally food and water

The girls are at 100% right now for their stars. The problem is with Owen. Owen is at 50%. The first day he only got two stars and the dog did not get any food or water until I got it for her (the cat has an automatic feeder so he's good). Owen also feels like he needs to get a star every time he brushes his teeth instead of just one for the day. And this is a good move on his part since he brushes his teeth on average of 12 times a day, leading me to worry a little bit about all the flouride he may be ingesting. It is because of all his teeth brushing that Ashlyn has #7 clean the bathroom which basically means clean out all the toothpaste Owen gets in the sink. The reason Owen is up to 50% is because Ashlyn has taken it upon herself to make sure everyone gets the maximum number of stars they can get. I also have to add that it was a stroke of pure genius to add the litter box one onto Haley's list. If you read all the lists carefully you will see that after all the delegating of work there is nothing left for me to do around here except keep up with the baby and occasionally pick my butt.

And people feel sorry for me for having all these kids...

Pictures involving the Mississippi River

On the road trip to Georgia Pops stopped at the welcome center in Mississippi so the kids could get a good look at the Mississippi River. We stopped at all the other welcome centers too, as little kids often need to use the bathroom, but none were as cool as this one. I still managed to amuse myself at state lines though by hollering out I'M IN ______ (insert state name) AND YOU'RE NOT! --See, I was sitting in the front seat and they were way in the back so if I yelled fast it was really true and it upset them to no end that I got to each state first.-- Hey, it was a 17 hour road trip and you do what you need to do...

Pictures involving Bettina and Scott

Bettina is my grandmother's sister and Scott, who has MS, is her son. They love the kids and send us cards all the time. When they came to visit everyone got to ride on the wheelchair lift built on their van. This permanently labeled them as "cool" to Owen.

Pictures involving a Braves' game

The kids loved going to the Braves' games while we were home. Pops and Nana have season tickets so we went to every game they had while we were home, which was about 50. We collected 7 balls which they kids got some of the players and Romey to autograph. During the game they throw t-shirts with hot dogs wrapped up in them. Yes, it's nasty, and yes, Owen totally ate the hot dogs after we caught two shirts. Actually, Pops fixed it so we would catch one of them and then somebody else caught one and gave it to us. They also do a Scream for Ice Cream thing and Ashlyn got the ice cream one night-again it was totally fixed by Pops. All total for all the games the kids consumed 7 bags of peanuts, 3 tubs of popcorn, 3 hot dogs, 6 bowls of dippin'dots, 3 ice cream sandwiches, 21 cokes, 2 slices of pizza, 1 hamburger and 1 bag of boiled peanuts. They also took 17 trips to the bathroom.

Pictures involving Grandmama & Granddaddy

We also took the kids over to see Grandmama and Granddaddy while we were home. Grandmama had a book for them that Owen loves to pieces. I have the entire thing to him already. And it's really thick.

Pictures involving Grandma

Grandma was in Ohio when we first got home and then she got sick so we didn't see her for the first week or so of the visit. When she finally got enough antibiotics in her to be able to come around the kids she was so excited. The kids were excited too...the love their Grandma!

Pictures involving Jake & Maggie

Jake and Maggie are my parents' dogs. Jake is the white one and Maggie is the black one. Maggie loves anybody and everybody, except maybe Barry's son Johnathan. Jake only likes one person--Nana. If Jake is looking remotely happy in any of the following pictures he is totally faking it.

Pictures involving Ashlyn

Ashlyn enjoyed the trip home and has started reading the Nancy Drew series of books since Nana has every one every printed. Right now she is on the first one, the one about the clock. By the time she finishes all of them she will be old enough for the Sweet Valley High series of mine that Nana has in a box in her attic.

Pictures involving Haley

Haley is a lover. She does not understand the concept of other people's personal space and spends the majority of her time invading it. She enjoyed the trip but missed Frosty terribly, sometimes even breaking down into tears worrying about him. Thankfully Becca came over every day (she said it was every day but we really don't know for sure) and petted Frosty for us. The cat looked a lot skinnier when we got back and now it won't leave us alone for two seconds. I guess we've successfully managed to scare him into liking to be around us.

Pictures involving Owen

Owen had a good trip. He loved going to the baseball games and he loved Romey (but only from a great distance)

Pictures involving Skylar

Skylar proved to be a true champ on the trip home. She has made a complete turn-around as far as her attitude goes and now she never ever cries. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but it's true. One day she just stopped crying. She now charms the socks off everyone she meets with her happy demeanor and her ear to ear smile. She also grew two teeth while we were away. The first one we made a huge deal about and then a couple of days later she opened her mouth and there was another one in there! They are the middle two teeth on the bottom. She will not let me take a picture of them so you'll have to take my word for it.

Pictures involving the kids

Pictures involving sisters

Pictures involving family in Tennessee

Monday we went to Tennessee for the week. We spent lots of time with Sidney and Macie and also got to meet Leeanne for the first time. Sidney likes me, but Macie does not. She also does not like Skylar and tried to poke her eyes out a couple of times. They both, however, love the girls.

Pictures involving Janice and Barry

Janice is my mother's sister. She is married to Barry and they live up the street from my parents. Barry tells my children outrageous stories and in the process teaches them to tell outrageous lies to me.

Pictures involving Brian and Jenny

Brian the Lawyer and Jenny, a.k.a. Kickboxer Extraordinaire

Pictures involving Mary Kate

Mary Kate does not like me. She doesn't even pretend to like me. Nonetheless, I like her, and I have lots of pictures of her here to prove it.

Pictures involving Aggie the Wonderdog

Aggie is Brian and Jenny's Yorkie. She is extremely fast and rabbit-like and does pretty cool tricks, making her a bona-fide wonderdog. I want to get a dog like Aggie as soon as Scott deploys someday.

Pictures involving the swingset

These were taking in Nana and Pops' backyard. Some of these stunts should not be tried at home, as they are dangerous.

No, her middle name's not Sherlock

"JIM!!! How long have we lived in this house?"

"Hmmm, about 4 or 5 years."

"Did you know the shelves in the refrigerator slide out so you can reach the stuff in the back?"

Home Sweet Home

We're back from our long vacation and have lots of pictures to post. We also have a lot to do around here getting everyone back in the swing of things. I plan on resizing most of the pictures tonight so I'll start adding them then.

Oh Happy Day!