Newest Member of the Family

We have been talking for some time about getting a puppy for the kids. After lots of checking around on lots of different websites, checking papers, and family discussions we finally found what we wanted close to Dayton Ohio. Ryan was pretty set on getting a German Shorthaired pointer for several reasons. 1. They look cool. 2. They can be trained to track deer. 3. They are good with kids. 4. They won't get really large. We left the kids with Sylvia and set off to get the new puppy on July 4th. The puppies were 5 weeks old and smaller than I thought they would be.....but oh so cute! We picked our favorite from the females they had left. Seemed like this one wanted to go with us as all the others headed for the cage and this one hung by us. We were a little nervous for the drive as we had about 3.5 hours home and were warned that she may throw up or poop due to stress. We made it home without mishap and she travelled beautifully. The kids were so excited to play with her. It took her a little bit to warm up but after a half hour or so she was following them around. Hopefully we have many happy puppy days ahead! She has yet to be officially named. Sadie, Ruby, Little Ann, and Lucy are all in the running right now. Now the question....who should get to make the executive decision?

Haircut, Curls, and Ear Pierced Please!

Audrey feeding baby Owen. She didn't last long though claming he was too heavy!

These are the three requests of Audrey. Two of her wishes were granted but the third I haven't quite decided if that's such a good idea. She wanted her hair cut for her birthday and we didn't get around to it so finally the other day we went over to Alexa's house (one of her favorite babysitters who happens to do hair as well). She cut about 5 inches off and it looked really cute. I thought about having her do bangs yet but for right now we'll just change one thing at a time. Then that evening we borrowed some curlers and made some curly hair. She loved it but couldn't manage to get comfortable enough to sleep on them all night. I didn't take an after picture with the curls since I was ready for bed when she told me to take them out. We did leave a few in overnight but then she was mad the next morning that the ones we took out the night before didn't stay curly. So she wanted all the curls out. I guess we'll just have to leave then in for a couple hours and not try for overnight.

Picture Time!

I have been made aware and have been thinking anyway that I don't have a very recent picture of my three little darlings. On a recent trip through the grocery store a studio was doing a promotion and were setting up shop at Giant Eagle. Thinking this would be nice and close and it was cheap, I signed up. Oh for 20/20 hindsight! Our appointment was at 11:00 on a Friday morning. I had the kids up and ready, dressed cute, in kind of matching clothes. We were a few minutes late but never fear....they were completely disorganized and not ready for us anyway. There was only one person there to take the pictures, sign people in, and collect money on the way out. When I mentioned to him that he needed a helper, he claimed he could do it all on his own. Well, he could do it but not well or on time! On top of that he was one of the strangest people I have met in a long time. He was telling the kids to hit him then he would fall over as if to be dead on the floor. The kids would laugh but it was all a little too strange for me. I thought maybe we could get out of there with one decent picture and never return again but Chelsea had other plans. She had no intention of sitting on the platform and in every picture that he did try to take she was screaming and both arms were pointed straight for me. I couldn't blame her really though it wasn't the most comfortable place for me either. So after all of that we left with no pictures, and the option of going to a different Giant Eagle at another time to try again. I haven't called yet and I don't know if I'm dumb enough to try again. Maybe I could push my luck and hope to get a different photogragher??? We came home and since the kids were all picture ready I tried to snap a few with my camera. The older two cooperated but Chelsea was still traumatized I think. She refused. Here they are all dressed up cute pretending the love each other!

Boat Ride at Walborn Reservoir

Casey has been begging Ryan to take him fishing on the boat now that it is up and running. So one morning bright and early Ryan and Henry set out to go fishing. I met them several hours later with an excited little boy and two jealous sisters. Casey had fun but I think he was expecting a little more excitement. It's a lot of sitting for a five year old I guess. Ryan hooked several and let Casey reel them in and he said he had fun but I think he prefers fishing on land as he can fish, then go run around, fish a little more, throw rocks, fish again, and you get the idea!

Lake Mohawk

One day last month we headed to Lake Mohawk by Steve and Holly's lakehouse to enjoy a day of splashing in the water relaxing in the sun. The kids love to play play in the sand, jump off the docks and go for rides on the tube. Audrey is probably the most adventurous as far as the water goes. She doesn't seem to care about the seaweed tickling her feet or the muck squishing between her toes. Casey is a little more reserved but still has fun splashing in the water. Chelsea doesn't have much fear but unfortunately she always wants mommy to get in the water with her. I'm not quite so fond of the seaweed and muck But once in a while I guess it's good to pretend you are a kid and not be so concerned with gross things like that! We have been to the Lakehouse 3 times this summer, the last time for fireworks over July 4th. That was a hot weekend with lots of kids as Charla was there too with her crew. Of course I forgot my camera so no cute 4th of July pictures. The ones posted are from the previous time to the Lakehouse sometime in the middle of June.

Got the Theif!

Early in the summer we planted what we thought would be a nice garden. We didn't put quite as many different things in this year as in previous years but we planted peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, and zuchinni. Shortly after our peas came up I noticed that the one end of peas had all of the tops stripped off. The next week the middle of the row was beginning to look a little sad. Numerous times we had seen bunnies in the garden and Casey would run out like a wild maniac and scare them away. Obviously they are sneaky little creatures that we don't see all the time so Ryan went out and bought a live trap to catch the family of bunnies that seems to be living in our neighbors shed. After checking first thing every morning for a couple of days Casey was very disappointed to find the cage empty. But lo and behold less than a week later we had caught our first theif! He was taken to a nearby woods to make a new home. We also had another trap set up to catch some annoying little chipmunks. But about a week after catching the rabbit I went outside to see a big, fat racoon caught in the trap. Ryan was afraid of getting too close to the coon and wasn't quite sure how he was going to dispose of this critter without getting bitten. Never fear though...he was a crafty fellow and by the time Ryan got to him he had chewed his way right through the wire cage! Sad to say we have not caught the rest of the bunny family and my peas are now tilled under as they were mostly destroyed. At least they don't seem to like the rest of the stuff we have planted in the garden. Next year maybe we will have to invest in some fence to go around the garden to keep our unwanted guests out!