We're Babysitting!

This is Riley. His momma was hit by a train, and his adoptive momma (Daddy's cousin) asked if we would babysit while she works.

She thought the girls would enjoy it...she was right!

They've been fighting over holding him, feeding him, and cuddling him. He's a little sweetie, that's sure. : )

She offered $5 each per day, and Emma keeps saying, "This is paradise! I can't believe we're getting PAID to do this!" lol

Blitz!

We walk for a mile or two every night, and one or the other of us will call "Blitz!" and we run for 15 steps.

Tonight we were walking and Emma called "Blitz!" and we all started running, me on one side, Emma and Oscar on the other and Anna in the middle. Anna ran and yelled, "I'm in the middle of a stampede!" lol

My Girls at a Basketball Game and Birthday Party

Anna had a basketball game last night. She's #4

& a Wildcat!

Tonight was my niece's birthday party.

Emma had a run-in with the cake.

Anna got a hug from the birthday girl.

And felt too hot and crowded.

But she recovered quickly. : )

Really Cool Video!

Chess, Anyone?

I made a new chess set last night, and now my girls are interested in playing chess. ; ) I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I saw pictures of a set online. Mine is different, though...my knights are Sesame Street characters. lol

I LOVE this idea!

COLD Week & Weekend!

It was SO cold at the end of last week! When it got up in the 30's Sunday it felt like a heatwave! lol

Saturday night Anna decided she wanted to spend the night with my Mom. Emma didn't want to stay, so we left Anna there alone. I really shouldn't have...she doesn't really like to stay even when Emma does...by herself I should have known..... Anyway, the rest of us went out for ice cream (Emma's treat), and after we got home we went out to walk the dog, and it was starting to rain/snow just a bit. I didn't think anything of it, expecting just a sprinkle of snow...it was too cold to rain, after all.

About half an hour after we got back from walking the dog, Daddy decided to run up to his mom's. He went out on the porch and promptly fell. Everything was covered with a sheet of ice. (His mom lives next door, so he walked to her house....or slid....)

Anyway, about ten minutes after he left, Anna called....it's about 11:30 at night....and said she was watching The Andy Griffith Show, and everyone else was in bed, and she wished she could come home. I told her that on any other night I would jump in the van and come get her, but everything was covered in ice, and I didn't think we could make it. She said goodnight and she'd be okay, and hung up.

About 2:30 the phone rang again. She was crying that time, and she couldn't sleep.....so I took the phone to Daddy, and he said, "I'll be there in a few minutes" lol Soft-hearted old thing. ; ) It's only about 3 miles to my Mom's house, but it took him half an hour to get back with her. I was just starting to get worried when they got back.

She was SO happy to be home...and went straight to bed and to sleep. : ) I don't think we'll try that...ANY of that...again. : )

A Week (Mostly) At Home

We've spent most of this week at home-cleaning, decluttering, and some of us being sick. : ( Both girls spent the night with Mom Saturday, then went to church with her. They came home late Sunday evening and we watched some movies (Wall-e and Kit Kittredge). Monday, Daddy got my dryer put in (Yay!) and I spent the evening cleaning the girls' room. Anna was SO helpful, moving books and boxes and putting away all the legos I came across. : ) Then she went to the kitchen and sat down, and after a few minutes said, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." Then she did. : ( She threw up three times Monday night, then felt bad all day Tuesday. She didn't eat in the morning, and even felt sick if she drank water, then about 2 asked for some dry toast, then started eating more toward evening. She felt well enough to walk with us last night.

Kinda funny...when we were almost home a woman pulled over and talked to Daddy, and told him she had a microwave for us if we needed one.....ours stopped working Friday night! So I took Oscar on home, then the girls came home and Daddy went on to her house to get the microwave...and took the house keys with him. We were locked outside in the cold at 10:00 last night! We went to the girls' storage building and tried doll clothes on Oscar until Daddy came back. lol (Oscar wore a sweater vest inside...he's SO cute in it. lol)

Today we took a load of discards to the thrift store, and got a few goodies...one being a Dig'n Dinos Monopoly Junior game. It was SO cute...and fun.

You collect dinosaurs instead of properties, but the rest of the game is played pretty much the same as regular Monopoly games. Daddy won.

I am NOT looking forward to this cold which is coming! When we walked tonight there was a HUGE cloud coming from the north...reminded me of that movie in which everything freezes....thinking of that movie made it seem colder. lol

Different

My Brain-Blip for Today

I do something embarrassing almost every day...brain blips.

Today we were out shopping (Daddy wanted a new computer monitor...there goes my chance to see "Yes Man" in the theatre) and I kept setting off the alarms in the stores (those beepey things to keep people from walking out with stuff). I've been doing it for a while now...when we went out to buy Christmas presents I was doing it, because they stopped us to check our receipt and bag(at least they were supposed to, I handed the lady the receipt I had in my purse, thinking it was for the bag I had, but actually it was for the other bag Daddy had, which only had some candy in it, so she's looking through a bag with a flash drive and looking at a receipt with a box of candy on it, and says, "It's okay.")

Anyway, I keep setting these things off, and apparently have been for almost a month. So today, after setting it off both going in and out of Wal-Mart, I decided to check my purse. I rifled through it, and didn't see anything that it might be, started to close it back up and thought of my checkbook cover. I just got a new one last month, from Wal-mart, and I just stuck my checkbook inside, didn't take off the price tag, remove the pictures of Happy People at the Beach, or take out the identification card-thingey.

The magnetic strip was stuck on the back of the identification card. Emma thought it was hilarious and wanted to keep it for her scrapbook to write a story about me. For future reference, I guess, if she needs to be reminded that sometimes I'm a little absent-minded. lol

Vision Boards

We decided to make vision boards for 2009 New Year's night.

Mine has my current motto...Enjoy the Journey...on one side (along with some lovely, ethereal butterflies) to remind me to enjoy being in the *now* instead of always thinking of what I need to do later. On the backside I have a few thoughts about things I'd like for the upcoming year. A well-producing garden (and by virtue of it, eating healthier foods), pictures representing the four seasons...reminders to enjoy each season, instead of dreading certain aspects of each, the cold of winter comes to mind...,

the chickens and guineas I'd like to have, music, home-cooked foods, lupines (I've always wanted to grow some lupines...so far it hasn't worked...maybe this year...), and the two swans making a heart, representing love, and one far-reaching wish for a white, two-story farmhouse, complete with farm. Oh, and the dachshund. He's my baby. ; )

I looked online for pictures of vision boards, and really liked this one. Sometime when I have more board (this piece was what was left over when the girls made theirs, lol) I may make one like hers. I like the way she has the different areas marked off.

Shopping and Working

We went shopping yesterday, and Emma got a new outfit. It's really cute on her...and it's been SO long since she's had "new" clothes. (We usually thrift-store shop.) It's hard to find nice teenage girl clothes at thrift stores! At least at the stores around here. And in her size. If she was a size 5 she'd have lots of clothes. She's not. So we took her shopping, and we've promised to take her at least once a month for something new. I guess you could call it a new year's resolution. lol "Go shopping." I think I can keep that one. : ) I spent more than I'd hoped. I was thinking of a new shirt or two, on clearance, and spending under $20. She picked out a lovely outfit she can wear to church, and it was $37, but money well spent. She looks SO cute in it! ; )

Daddy has been working for my mom a bit. She had a couple bedroom updates she wanted done (re-do closet, raise bed to make room for storage underneath), and she asked him to do it, so he's making himself a bit of extra spending money. I'm hoping he'll take me to see "Yes Man" with some of it. (Hint, hint) lol