our dogs maliciously killed

on saturday, October 3rd 2009 right after our soccer games, my dad was out front working on the tractor tires when he came in and said the neighbor came by and said that he saw 2 dead dogs that looked like ours down by the road (1 was his, 1 was mine). i jumped in the truck with him and sure enough cam and sissy were lying dead on the side of the road 20 feet off of henrie road. he was airing up the tire on his tractor so he missed the whole thing. an emu was running around the neighborhood and they had chased it off, being herding dogs, they were just herding it. they were not in the road mind you, they were in the dirt and you you could see the tire tracks of someone that intentionally drove off of henrie road 100 feet from where they lie to hit them and then drove back onto it. they were killed immediately, you could even see where they rolled for a second when hit. this was all within a 5 minute window from the time my dad said they chased the emu off until the time that the neighbor came over to tell us that they were dead. we were all so upset, we raised cam from a puppy and have had sissy since before avery was born. you have never seen anything so sad as your little 6-year-old boy digging a hole with the backhoe, helping his grandpa put the dogs in it, and with tears streaming down his eyes in the wind, sit on the tractor and fill the hole back in. the kids cried, i cried, and my dad cried for these animals that we had grown attached to. i wanted to find the person who did this and show them what they had done. i can't believe how malicious some people can be. avery wanted them thrown in jail and it is hard to explain to a 6-year-old that in the eyes of the law the value of an animals life is not held as high as that of a humans, but to my little boy, there is no difference. he says that he saw a black van hit them, but it could have been a blazer or a tahoe or something too. he is quite sure that it had some sort of lights on the top of it. i just want somebody to take responsibility for this and to apologize to my kids. for the life of me, i can't think of one person that i know that would kill a dog so maliciously without a second thought to the consequences. any ideas?

school and life update

well, life has been pretty crazy lately with school, soccer, music lessons, and just the everyday chores that never seem to end. avery has had 2 soccer games and made 2 goals the first one and 3 the second game with the score being only 3 to 1. he has turned into quite the little hustler which has been kind of expensive because last year we told him if he made a goal we would pay him $20 and our money was as safe as in the bank, but this year, before the first game thank goodness, i could tell that he had really improved and revised that to $20 for the first goal and only $5 for all subsequent goals. it still has cost me $40 so far and the season has just started for him. they made all girls and all boys teams this year and it has really stepped up anna's playing. i am her coach again and have always been since kindergarten so i guess i really notice what a difference it has made for all the girls not to be competing with the boys for the ball. it has been hot during their 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock games and i just keep pouring water over their heads and sending them back out to run. blake says that it is my job to get them in shape, but its kind of impossible with once a week practices, but i did check out some books and dvds from the library to improve my coaching skills. i absolutely enjoy the kids and my only complaint ever with coaching is the parents and their typical complaints of "she never takes her kid out" and "why isn't she doing this." my answer to them always is "here's the whistle." no one wants to do it, but they always will critique what you are doing.

blake is putting in another 18 acres and has spent every spare minute out in the dirt, this is bad first: because he isn't babying me and second: because it also means a lot more laundry; he doesn't get this dirty at work, what is up with that?

the kids are doing great in school and the very first week avery got the student of the week award and by the third week of school anna had already reached her 100 point reading goal. she is amazing!

i am getting huge, but my midwife says that i measure right where i am supposed to (not in my butt, but in my stomach). we are still trying to decide on a name, this is difficut for me and blake because we like such different names. she is starting to be a lot more active which puts my mind at ease, that and reading "childbirth without fear" has helped too. i can't seem to read enough lately, you name it, i've read it, the good with the bad. i have been sick twice now this pregnancy where i thought i was going to die, which is really rare for me. in fact, i have never had the flu until this week when i got every symptom. i need more sun i guess and blake says "water" because i always tell him that water cures everything, i might be wrong.