The newest crazy thing we've done....

This is the kitten we let Sassy talk us into bringing home from T&B Days, and it is only 3 weeks old so it still has to be bottle fed every 4 hours! Its mother abandoned it, and another thing we found out is that kittens can't poop on their own until they are about 4-5 weeks so it has to be "helped", hence this lovely pic where it involves at least 3 people and Sassy is smiling because the kitten finally pooped after 10 min!

Trout and Berry Days

It was so hot at T and B days this year, almost 100 and it we tried to find shade wherever we could! Especially me, at 9 months pregnant and thinking I was going to melt :) Sunshine and Courtney got to ride the ponies while we were there, too.

Courtney at the Trout Scramble

Sunshine didn't want to do the Trout Scramble because she wouldn't get to have a parent help her, but Courtney was excited! She did great and caught her own fish!

Apple at her first Trout Scramble

Apple wasn't sure about getting in the water with the fish, but thanks to dad's help she did it and caught a nice trout!

Trout and Berry Days!

We had so much fun at Trout and Berry Days! I don't know if it is something to brag about, but we dominated the pie eating contest this year! And it was our first year to enter this contest :) Sunshine won in her age group (there was only one other boy who entered!) and got an awesome art set. Courtney competed and didn't win but loved the yummy pie, and Mike won in his division and won a whole case of berry freezer jam! Also, Aunt Nikki won her division and got a case of freezer jam too! Earlier we went to the parade and Mike brought our rooster, much to my chagrin, but was able to get rid of it right away, yea!!! We were supposed to only have hens but one of them was a rooster and so we were happy to get rid of it.

Jo's 13 year old pics

We were lucky enough to have Aunt Nikki take these awesome pics of Jo for her birthday this year, and these are just a few of our favorites that we put in her book.

Jo turns 13!

Jo turned 13 last Saturday, and is an official teenager. We made her a yummy birthday breakfast, and she got some new clothes and a beautiful photo book Sassy made her of her 13th birthday pics Aunt Nikki took of her. Then we all went to Trout and Berry Days, and had a blast! Sassy and Jo both helped out at the rides last minute when the other volunteers didn't show up. Later that night Mike took Jo and Sassy to the late show of HArry Potter 7 which they loved. And on Sunday we had all the family over for Belle's favorite Cookies and Cream cupcakes and ice cream and an impromptu volleyball game. Happy 13th Birthday Jo!!!

1st day of School!

The summer flew by this year and before we knew it was back to school time! It went smoothe this year, the kids love their teachers and were excited to get to see their friends again. It is Sunshine's first year at school and she loves her kindergarten teacher, and being at the same school as Courtney. Sassy gets to drive herself to school this year which she is loving.

17 years and counting...

On Saturday Mike and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary! We had a great day, Mike made breakfast for all the girls and I and then we cleaned the house for a few hours. Mike won a package called "Ultimate Date night" at a charity golf tournament that included dinner at Olive Garden, Movie tickets, Coldstone tickets, and a nights stay at a hotel, so we used that for our date night! The funny thing is that Mike donated the package to the tournament after his bank branch won it at another fundraising event he sponsored, and he didn't think it would be right to keep it for himself so he donated it to the golf tournament and then won it at the drawing! Good Kharma! This is us at Olive Garden before we saw Harry Potter 7 at the movies. Fun night, and we are so happy to have spent it(and the last 17 years) together!

A Pie for Mikey

No, not for my Mikey, but for a Mikey in a family strangely similar to ours. I was reading Bakerella's blog the other day and she had a post about another food blogger named Jennie whose husband had died unexpectedly of a heart attack. They are young, and have daughters like us in addition to sharing our names, so their story was very poignant. So Jennie did a post on her blog asking whoever read it to make a pie (ours happened to be the one that Jennie posted the recipe for, her husband Mike's favorite Creamy Peanut Butter Pie) to share with their loved ones and to tell them how much they love them, give them a big hug and don't take them for granted because we never know when they won't be with us anymore. I made the pie last Friday, and gathered all the girls and Mike and shared the sad story of Jennie and Mikey and we ate pie and hugged each other and promised to try harder not to take each other for granted. It was a sweet night, and we plan to make it a tradition every year on Friday, August 19th to help us remember to appreciate our family while we still have them.

The County Fair!

This year when the time came to enter and take all 5 of the girls entries to the fair I just wanted to say forget it and not do it this year! But Jo had so much fun last year with her stuff in the fair, I went ahead and made mysef do it :) And I am glad I did, the kids stuff did really well and they enjoyed it so much! Jo had her charcoal chinese lantern pic go to the State Fair and her zebra melted bead piece, and Sassy had her dancer painting also get picked to go to the State Fair. I didn't get a pic of Sassy's stuff, she was too busy enjoying her last weeks of summer. Jo made $44 for her 17 projects, Sassy made $10 for her 4, Courtney made $24 for her 11, and Sunshine and Apple made $10 each for their 4 projects. You can tell how proud the 2 littlest ones were by their huge smiles!

A baby shower!

Last week my family threw me a cute western themed baby shower and it was so much fun! The decorations were so cute, they really blew me away! Each guest got to take home a little bag of no bake cookies that said ,"These are just some cowpies we had sittin around in our drawers, thanks for comin to our shindig!" We had yummy 7 layer dip, taquitos, chocolate covered strawberries, mini cheesecakes,and fruit and veggies and drank strawberry lemonade. We played a cute game of fact or fibb which Sassy created just about babies and had fun visiting. I received so many cute outfits and blankets and a swing from my family and lots of diapers and wipes! Baby #6 here we come!

Mom's 60th Birthday

Way bacck in April Mom celebrated her 60th birthday, and these are some pics from the Garden Tea Party we threw for her and her friends at my house. Nikki and I coordinated it and Melissa helped us too. We hung tulle from the ceiling in my dining room to give it a more gardeny feel since it was still too cold to have it outside. We used my grandma's old mismatched china that we inherited when she died, and tied more flowers and tulle to each chair to keep things soft and feminine. Each guest got to take home a little potted pansy and we all watched a slide show of her life at the end. It was so much fun and great to celebrate all that mom has meant to us over the years :)