A 40lb Cowboy on a 10lb Horse

We have this adorable little puppy....though I don't know that he can still be called a puppy. He is officially a year old now which means he is 7yrs old in doggie years, right? Anyway...we also have the occassional and often long term visits by my dads lab. Our puppy is 10 lbs the lab is 80+ lbs.

Why these details you ask? Well - our 4yr old seems to be experiencing a little confusion following the last week long visit by the lab. Confusion....over what? Well - when the lab comes to visit - the lab is a pillow, a blanket, a riding toy and who knows what else. She is loved nearly to death by our kids. To say the least, the puppy is none of the above. Maybe, at best, a foot warmer or ear muff. And after the lab left, M3 decided he wanted to ride a dog and attempted this stunt with the 10lb puppy. In realizing that he was a smaller horse to mount, M3 missed his riding target, fell forward and landed on a little black paw. Well - as many of you know, when a dog is injured, they tend to bite. And well.....our little black fur ball bit. He bit M3 right in the face.

After the immediate freaking out by those present and I on the receiving end of the call trying to explain what happened, the details came out, M3 was seen by a doctor, and all is well now. Honestly, you can barely tell he was hurt 4 days ago. But - for the first 24 hours, he looked a little like Rocky.

First we have the 10 lb horse....


Then we have the bitten 40lb cowboy...




Without asking, you can rest assured that we have reviewed dogback riding rules, I mean proper puppy care and touch and hopefully this won't happen again. And - the little paw seemed to heal quickly as well.

Last Days of School

So with the arrival of Summer comes the close of another school year. We now officially have one headed for PreK, one headed to 2nd grade and one headed to High School! AHHHHHH. I tried to capture a few of the last day moments in the whirl that encompassed our final days at school and daycare.

M3 took a plant with a special message to his daycare provider.





And M2 took the same thing to his teacher.





A quick note to mention that these cute plant stakes were quickly and easily made with the Big Shot that I have from Stampin' Up and a little assistance from my Cricut. So quick and so easy!!!

And of course I snapped a couple pictures of M1 as she received the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence.





And so we close another school year and embark upon a long long summer of nothing to do and boredom. HA! We're already off and rolling with Tot Camp, the reading program at the library, continued baseball games and a few dips in our incredibly chilly pool!!!

Reclaiming Our Saturdays....

Or at least we will be reclaiming a few Saturdays here and there over the next few months. We closed out our soccer season this past Saturday with some great games and a really long day! The kids were troopers and up early and just kept going game after game after game. You know the day is getting long when the parents start hoping for a loss so we can go home!!

Maxx made an excellent save and this is the photo I caught of that moment. I think he was as shocked as all of us were on the sidelines and probably had a "moment" face to face with the ball before returning to his feet to kick it back into play.


The U10's had a great season and should be proud of the growth they have achieved since we started back in the fall! Some might say they had a pretty great coach too!


The older kids had a painfully easy game followed by a painfully hard game. Here are a couple shots of Chaela fighting for the ball. Way to tough it out!!




We actually kicked off our weekend by spending Fri night at the baseball diamonds. These are just a couple of my favorite shots.





Baseball will manage to grab a couple hours from a few more Saturdays, but I have to breath a sigh of relief knowing that we are down to just one sport for the remainder of the seson.

On a side note...let me introduce you to the newest member of the High School Twirling Line. (And a Presidential Education Award recipient)

Hot Lava - The Sun - And a Smile

Hot Lava


The Sun


A Smile


All in a row on my back deck

Puppy Cuteness

Shadow
Shadrack
Shadders
Piddles
Peepers

Tha amazing dog that goes by many a name...


All tucked in and ready for bed


Smoking a piece of grass that stuck in his beard


Shhhh - don't tell him boys don't where bows


Yellow is a good color on him - don't you think?

Sleeping Beauty

I am still trying to figure out all the buttons and settings on the camera we've had for years. There is no excuse for me not knowing what each button does and how each setting affects the final picture, other than not having made the time to sit down and read the manual cover to cover. It's on the to do list. Yep. Right. Whatever.

Anyway - there are moments, like this morning, when I do really wish I knew more about the camera so I could have captured our little sleeping beauty in a more picturesque manner. Graduation must have tuckered the little guy out, becuase these pictures were taken between the 3rd and 4th wake up attempt. The pose was just too precious not to try to capture. The lighting was dim though, so they aren't the best. But, you get the picture - right?

Our little graduate

So last night signified a huge step in our household. Our youngest child has now officially graduated from preschool. Although he will not quite be ready for kindergarten next year, his preschool days are behind him and he'll move up to PreK.

All three kids have gone to the same Christian preschool, with the same marvelous teacher! We just love this school to pieces and the teacher even more!!!

Here are a few moments of our last preschool graduation.

Mother's Day Weekend

Our weekend included grand-parents and great-grand parents arriving for the full schedule of events.

We started off Sat with baseball in which Maxx made a great play with two picture perfect slides. (And do you think I had my camera - nooooooo) WHAT GOOD MOTHER DOESN'T HAVE HER CAMERA?!?!?!??! I feel awful that I didn't catch the play - but we were really quite proud!!!

We then scurried across town for soccer. I'm beginning to think all soccer pictures look the same - but here are some highlights.









Chaela didn't play soccer this weekend as she was busy getting ready for her baton recital. Although pictures from a baton recital are hard to capture, with batons constantly in motion in a dark room with stage lights, here is what I was able to snap!











And of course the recital would not be complete without pictures of the hair! Green color, glitter and all. Oh - and the boys just HAD to jump in during the hair shots, so there are a couple of the whole group - dog included!









We topped off our busy Sat with church today - 4 generations in attendance for our family! How cool is that? Then a nice day of getting projects done and some resting for mom. Oh - and a nice cook out over my new fire pit topped off with the perfect roasted marshmallow!!!

A spare pair...

So yesterday afternoon, after I picked our youngest up from daycare and had returned home, he made the announcement that he needed to use the bathroom. Upon returning, he just couldn't get all the waistbands straight and sought help in the alignment process. Well - much to my suprise, our very independent 4 yr old, who dressed himself, had not changed his undies that morning, but rather layered the new pair on top of the old pair and topped that off with his pants!

No wonder he couldn't quite get them straight! Can you imagine....all day with a spare pair!



That's our Bubba!

Take me out to the ball game

With a blanket and coat and maybe even gloves!!!

Maxx had his first game Fri night in his "minors" ball life. We moved up from T-ball this year and boy was this game an eye opener for mom!!! One or two of our kids got hit with pitches from a kid a couple years older and VERY GOOD! I am so thankful for batting helmets....now they just need to mandate full body armor and I'll feel much better!

Maxx did try really hard, but we played a tough team in touch weather. It was down right chilly. Here are a few shots from his first game of the season. And yes....they lost.