on a lighter note....two new additions

we finally got something to put our tv in. i hate shopping for furniture and worst yet is actually having to spend money on it. our tv has been sitting on our coffee table for over ayear now and i decided that i wanted to get something up a little higher so i started shopping craigslist (because i can do this at home and find great deals). i finally found something that i liked that wasn't too big for the spot i had. anna had the best time organizing all the movies alphabetically into the dvd holders (she has a little ocd). it has been nice to have the tv up out of the reach of all the toddlers that toddle through our living room and the kids have to sit back a little farther from it because if they lay down too close they can't see it. hopefully, this will save their eyes. you would think with a 52" tv that they would be able to sit back a little bit, nope!!

blake got sick of having our shoes strung all over by the back door and so he had ben learned build us this handy dandy shoe rack. the kids made a quick habit of putting their shoes in it while their mother's were still thrown in the laundry room. just a funny little story: the other day i looked high and low for my shoes in the usual places first i.e. the bathroom, on the treadmill, in the laundry room, by my side of the bed, wherever is the most convenient. determining that they were lost for good and that the dogs must have taken off with them, i walked by this handy dandy little shoe rack on my way to look outside and guess what was in it, my shoes. someone had put them away for me in the most inconvenient of places.

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.

first grade friends

i was picking up the kids the other day from school when i ran into lily medina who i went to school with picking up her kids. i had forgotten that she moved back here and she said that her little boy was in the first grade also, same as avery, but in the other class (there are 2 first grade classes). she said to tell avery to play with him because he has no friends and is really shy. so when we came home i asked avery if he knew a new boy named tyler and he said that he had seen him on the playground and such. i told him to play with him because he doesn't have any friends here because he is new. avery must have really been thinking about this because an hour or so later he said, "i'm going to make kolby and fox play with him too and then he'll have 3 friends." that is just how my boy is, he is always thinking of everyone else around him. in relating this story to blake, he told me that when he was in the first grade he remembers telling his mom to make sure that she cut his sandwich in half because he would give the other half away to kids who forgot their lunch or whatnot. i thought this was really sweet and am proud of my 2 first graders.

update: he came home and reported that they all played with tyler at lunch. it makes me smile thinking that he has probably made a friend for life all because he isn't afraid to step out of his comfort zone and embrace others that he thinks might be struggling. he is my little leader and i just hope that he leads his friends in the right places.

first week of school 2009

everything went off this week without a hitch. i have to say i love to see the progression of my kids year after year and am so proud of them. it doesn't make me sad to watch them grow up and become more responsible, it makes me very happy. i am enjoying every stage of their childhood. as avery was getting on the bus the first day of school, i noticed that he was wearing his old shoes from last year (they are in pretty poor shape), i said avery where are your new shoes and he just looked at me and smiled and said, "sorry." he likes to put the old ones on better because they are "broke" in and easier to get on. my dad was hopeful that he might receive free lunch that day and we had a good laugh about that even though i had packed their home lunches that morning because my kids refuse to eat school lunch. when i got home from my bike ride the first day of school around 7:30, anna had done the dishes, made avery scrambled eggs and toast, got him up and made sure he practiced his violin, and practiced all of her own instruments (3 in all). lets just say she was up before the rooster because she was so excited about school. i have to tell her sometimes that i'm the mom and she does not want to be in charge of avery, it is a lot of work. cassey says that i am spoiled and hopes the next one is rotten. i explained to her that that wouldn't be fair because now that i am spoiled it would be even worse, plus who cares "i have anna." she is such a delight. avery is embracing his life as a 1st grader. the whole concept of homework has not sunk in yet and its usually time for bed when i ask to see his folder and he says, "oh, i fogot." i am going to put stop to that really fast because i am a firm believer that it is not the parent's responsibility to make sure that he does his homework everynight. i think it needs to be the first thing done as soon as he walks in the door and then he has the rest of the evening to do whatever he wants. i have already explained to him that i don't get bad grades when he doesn't turn in his homework, that he does. i have no problem helping him with it or listening to him read for 15 minutes, but he needs to take the initiative to bring it to me. okay, enough with my ranting. i hope everyone else's first week of school went well. have a great weekend.