really exciting news!! And the baby is.........

my sweet baby GIRL!! Esther Adlai....... she is healthy and precious and Beautiful. i am in love and cant wait.

new additions & other stuff

well matilda is gone so we got some new "catties" (abby doesnt say kitties - they are catties). henry & marlin, jr. to funny. marlin, jr is the creamy tan one and henry is the orange tabby. they are sweet! and the kids are crazy over them.


now other stuff. i cant get over this election. here is something my mother sent me.

HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government."
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."
"From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years"
"During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage"
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.

WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE

the election & the goings on of life here.

i am astounded at the ignorant people voting for obama. how stupid are the people in this country. we are facing a war on 2 fronts against islamic muslim terrorist and we have a guy running for president with extreme islamic views in his background and no one on the left thinks that's a bad idea. i am absolutly shocked that this socialist, american hating, supporter of baby killings even made it this far. he has no experience - nor has he done anything good for this country. if he gets in to office i expect to hear the trumpet sound.

ok, on to better things. that was a mild rant. i think i am going to have to be locked in a rubber room the night of the election or my cable needs to go out. i'm going to be a wreck.

ok now i can talk about other things.

i got a call that my Uncle Ray is not doing well. that makes me sad for my mother. he is her only surviving brother. if he dies then that leaves just her and my aunt for their family. i cant imagine that. but he does know the Lord and i pray if it is his time that he goes quickly and doesnt suffer anymore.

also, my little darling, Abby Grace, has had some choice words of late.

"What the heck...." is her new saying. she said that "my daddy" taught her that and he laughed when she said it so "it was ok to say it if daddy laughed". how do i argue with that logic?

she also told me i was stupid. well she didnt tell me - she sang it to me..and i quote. "mommy i love you. you are stupid. i am not, la, la, la, la, la". I stopped her after about the 6th la and said "did you call me stupid?" and she said "uh huh, because you are". i told her she was very naughty. and that she wasnt being polite. she insisted that i was stupid but that she loved me in spite of it. what a girl! i absolutely adore her.

i also found out today that she told a grown, adult lady at church on Sunday to "stop talking". the very nice lady who was being nice to abby, chatting with her about how she was doing, and she got shut down. the lady even tried to tell abby that she wasnt being nice and abby said again, "just stop talking". i am mortified and yet so proud at the same time. the girl knows her own mind. but she really shouldnt be so mean or disrespectful. she is a wild one and i have let that pony run - now i need to close the coral in a bit more. or maybe i should try to break her just a bit!

and my little man - well - he is the sweetest little guy in the world. he loves his mommy. the other girls on a regular basis hear "my mommy". i am really concerned about how he is going to take this new baby. i'm sure he will be fine but he will be older then abby was when he came along - he will be old enough to be jealous! but he will always be my little man. oh man i love that boy. his stunt of late has been to climb up and stand on the keys of the piano and when i walk towards him to get him down he jumps into my arms - almost before i am close enough to catch him. he is a wild one!! and like his sister, i am so proud of who he is.

also - good news. rachel finally got her 1st degree brown belt. she has learned 9 katas and she has 1 more to go for a black belt. i am very proud of her.

here is her picture.

also Elizabeth is doing so good in school. she is my little fashion queen. also Elizabeth has had rough road of late with her attitude and untruths but i would like to think she is on the upswing of understanding the negative results the bad attitude and untruths bring about for her. i have not been spanking her, but she has been on major restrictions and writing "lines" - well scriptures concerning her "issues". so far so good. i just have to be consistent with her. a small victory was yesterday. she had to put lily, our schnauzer, in her kennel yesterday. well when lily got let out yesterday morning the kennel wasnt cleaned out from the night before and she had pooed in it. well elizabeth still put lily in it without cleaning out the poo. that's a no-no. anyway, when she was asked if she saw the poo in the kennel before she put lily in it, she said YES. that was huge and believe me - she was praised to high heaven about being truthful. now she was made to go clean the poo out, but not before she was fawned over for telling the truth. that is a victory and i am so proud of her.

my new baby

i'm so excited i can barely contain myself. how blessed. look at this little teddy bear. boy or girl - i'm so tickled i can hardly sleep at night thinking about holding this little one! i love baby neck smell! and their heads. oh man to smell a baby's head - the best thing in the whole world besides puppy breath! oh and the neck of your man at the right moment!

she has a mind of her own! good for her!

who you might ask? well duh, who else - abby grace. the girl knows her mind and will not - WILL NOT - allow anyone to change it. she is amazing. she is smart. she is funny. she is wild. she is passionate. she can be unreasonable and arguementative - but even so - she knows her own mind. it can be frustrating when she wont allow you to reason with her, but i admire the fact that she will not go through life regretting allowing someone to change her mind. i really do admire her. she has a zest for life that you rarely encounter in people anymore. life is not a chore for her - it's what she does - LIVE. what is also wonderful about it...she is setting an example for her brother that he can be who he wants to be and needs to be. i love my babies! i love my big girls too.

the story behind this........well abby wont walk on the grass AND she loves her scooter. if she is outside, she wants her scooter. as a matter of fact, if she is inside and going to bed...she wants her scooter. so she wouldnt walk with rachel to go feed the chickens so rachel put her into the wagon and of course, the scooter had to go along! maybe you can see the smile of delight on Abby's face and the smirk on her very tolerant big sister, Rachel's, face!
Again, i love all of my children.

chickens, chickens and more chickens

i think i'm addicted to hatching chickens. but hey, it's just chickens. so here are a few pictures of my favorite babies.....

please remember that rachel named these little guys. she is pretty much given free range on the names. the first 2 chickens are named after the country music group montgomery gentry! oh well - she is happy and they make her happy. and she totally takes care of them all. she loves all of our animals.

this is montgomery

this is gentry

this is sheeba

this is a new treo of 4 week old Silkies. how cute huh??

this is a new treo of 4 week old White Crested Black Polish Chickens. now they are adorable!!

rachel is really the chicken lady here. she loves these guys. she is the main reason i got in trouble with clay and ordered 15 more silkie eggs to hatch. i got a good deal, but still........he was not appreciative of my "deal" or my "for rachel" reasoning. especially considering i "promised" to not hatch anymore until next summer. umm....welll.....gee..... i know.. no excuse.
and here is the little chicken lady herself! she looks like she cares for chickens!

reminiscing

well i am up reminiscing. i'm hot and tired and sick to my stomach all rolled into one. it is going to be a loooooooooong pregnancy. i really dont want to be a whinner but...... i cant be anyone different then i am.

but since i was up i thought i would blog a bit. and i decided to look through the pictures on this computer. and i found this little doozy. this was about a year ago and it was taken with my cell phone but it is still so precious to me.

this is a picture of david asher right before halloween last year. he's wearing an ariel, the little mermaid, wig. i need to find the ones of when i forced abby into it. she wanted to be ariel but she didnt want to wear the costume or the accessories. but the boy didnt mind the wig at all! he is so great. i hope so much that i get another boy. but a girl would be good too. but i think i want another boy more. but then i think i like david asher being the only boy. ok, i just want a healthy baby!

interesting news

well by now more people then i wanted to know - know that i'm pregnant with my 5th child. or 5th & 6th depending on what the next few ultrasounds say. i'm not holding my breath on the twins dream though! i hate letting people into my world. when people get let in they feel like they get to comment and make jokes or like they get to express their opinion on the state of my life.
i also feel like when i let people in i lose control of what is going on. then i have to consider everyone else with my decisions. i'm not sure i'm making sense but i guess i feel like this is my baby and i get to make the decisions concerning the baby and myself. i dont want anyone to bother me or especially touch me. why do people feel like they have the right to touch a pregnant woman's belly? i hate that. i barely touch it myself!
my children are excited. abby grace keeps saying "it will be a white baby boy" - like there is an option. well between a boy or a girl. i'm thinking the baby will be a girl but either way it will be really cool.
these are the names i've picked out:

Luther Jeremiah for a boy.
Esther Adlai or Esther Isabelle for a girl.

and that's another thing - people get to comment on the names i've picked out. it's my baby. i get to name the baby. i dont care if my girl friend doesnt like esther. i do.

i just want everything to go well. i want a healthy baby.

i dread church on Sunday. oh it's a big joke, me being pregnant with my 5th baby, you know, no TV and all. i hate that. i hate being anyone's joke.

anyway, there's my little vent. i'm happy about the baby. i'm not happy about how sick i am or the decisions i need to make concerning permanent birth control - but that decision has to be made with my diabetes. i'm not happy about the constant, day to day worry. and not to sound so centered on me - i'm way worried about everyone involved dealing with this pregnancy. meaning the kids getting through all of the doctor's appt. and me being gone a lot and for longer and longer periods of time towards the end, the daddy getting through having another kid!...but we will get through. no doubt. and the end result will be precious.

tiredness

man i have major tiredness seeping into my bones. i am barely functioning with how tired i am. i am sitting here typing but watching the 2 little ones - 1 is watching handy manny sucking her thumb, the other is running around with the dogs feeding them his sister's angelina ballerina dolls. nice huh? and i have no energy to do anything about it.
i guess i didnt sleep well. i dreamt last night that i had a bi-racial baby. and of course i couldnt figure out how to explain it. oh well. dreams are crazy aren't they. and i woke up and felt like i hadnt of slept at all.
i had to take the 2 older girls to VBS with friends from Karate. before they left we watched a video that rachel took on her little camera of what they were doing last night when we had friends over for supper. well it looks as if the 12 year old girl was riding abby's butterscotch horse and in all of the excitment of the moment elizabeth did a round house kick to the horse's head. we werent thrilled with it but we just commented on the kick - but it really wasnt a big deal because they were all laughing and playing. well elizabeth totally denied kicking the horse. it was so surreal watching her. we saw her do it on the video and she was saying that the video was wrong. isnt that wild? it reminded me of bill clinton saying "i did not have sex with that woman". so what do you call what he did with that woman? anyway elizabeth tried and tried to talk around it and she was so tearful. i finally said "i want to hear you say 'i kicked the horse', 'i did it'." and she did say it. i hate "making" her own up to something when i shouldnt have had to but i can not allow her to "believe the lie". it really wasnt a big deal about her kicking the horse and i am really really trying to pick my battles with elizabeth but man the lies are killing me. it seems that lying is a way of life for her and i hate that for her. and what was amazing is we all watched the video together. i swear i thought she had lost her mind. but once i made her admit it and told her to get over her attitude and dry up her tears because i did not have sympathy for her when she made a big deal out of it she seemed to buck up and be fine.
my sweet elizabeth. i love her so much. i wish she trusted me better.

ok, well i need to go save the boy from the dog. he has cookies and the dog is chasing him down. i love my babies and their relationship with their dog!

my heart

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone


i borrowed this from my friend's blog who just had a baby on July 27th. i am struck by how true this qoute is.

my girl & big poops

ok, so this is probably gross to most people, but you have to realize what a feat this is for miss abby grace. she is so proud of her big poops. she makes us look at them and analyze them. it is really funny. she has major issues with pottying consistently so when she wants or rather needs me to make a big deal out of her pottying skills - well i do because i really need her to be solidly potty trained. i want new furniture. anyway, the other day she was showing clay her "big poop" and he flushed it before i was given a chance to "ooh" and "aah" over it so i promised abby grace if she pooped another big one then i would take a picture. boy she liked that idea. well guess what? she pooped another big poop. the girl can poop man sized poops. no kidding. so she said (and i am not exaggerating or adding to her words) "mommy, get your caaammmmmmmmeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she said it in a singsong voice and she drew out the last word. so i went in with the camera and i wiped her and took a picture of the poop and then with her standing beside her poop.

ok, if you know abby then you have to realize how hilarious this is. she comes up with so much wild things and her memory is like a steel trap. she does not forget so she didnt forget my promise of taking a picture and she held me too it. i believe she has been just waiting to call me on my promise just to see if i would actually take a picture of her poop. i couldnt disappoint her could i? no way.

so here is abby grace with her poop. if you are squeamish, dont look to the right of the screen as the poop is there in the bowl. but look at her face. man she is pleased with herself. she is the coolest kid i know. and i love her so much. if she wants me to take pictures of her poop - so be it. one day she wont need me and that thought makes me want to do whatever she needs or wants me to do for her right now because in the big scheme of things "what's a little poop?" if she knows in her heart that her mommy loves her and thinks she is the coolest little girl ever. that goes a long way you know?!

my buddy

i cant help but look at my son and just fall in love everytime i look at him. he is so precious. he is handsome and smart and funny. he is cute and busy and just full of life and love for me. he says "mama" and it melts my heart. i love him so much and am so thankful for him. so wonderfully thankful for him. he is my little man.

this is him walking through the rows of corn. how precious is he in these green overalls and that blonde hair? he is GORGEOUS! i want another baby boy but i seriously doubt i could love another son like i love him. but i bet it wouldnt be so hard. i really love having a boy! it is so great.

ok, the last one. tell me how i could not be in love with that face. he is darling. and he is such a typical little guy. he has no clue what is going on!

my boy & his chicken

well words cant even begin to describe his scene. all i will say is this boy loves these chickens. he freaks if he doesnt get to hold them. i imagine he feels like such a big boy. but what is hilarious is he throws them down when he is done. he's all boy.

and elizabeth had a birthday on tuesday. i think she had a good time. she got a skateboard, playmobils, a webkins and some cold hard cash! she was waiting on cake for her birthday and she hadnt opened her presents yet. it was a long day. we went to the water park.

abby at the waterpark. she had a blast!

And last but not least but Rachel & Buddy with the chicken. that chicken walked around with them in that bucket that Asher was carrying around. they went to check the mail together. if you could see this picture closer you might be as struck as i am at how much rachel and asher favor right down the bridge of their noses. they really adore each other. rachel always wanted a little brother. i think she likes her little brother better then her little sisters! but that's ok. they all get plenty of love from one another. i also remind rachel of all those tears she cried over wanting a brother &/or a sister. she has a triple portion now!

How do I Deal?

man, elizabeth's mornings are so tumultuous. it can go either way with her at the drop of a hat. it's incredible. she picked out this really cute outfit to wear - a church outfit - that i let her wear to school. she was wearing her "high heeled" sandals (high heeled for a 9 year old!). anyway, i bought the girls some headbands - that they didnt deserve because they dont take care of them and let the puppy chew them up. but anyway i got them some new ones and there were 3 that i specifically said were only for sundays - ONLY FOR SUNDAYS!!! and rachel and elizabeth both heard me say it. so this morning with her cute outfit on she brought out one of the headbands ONLY FOR SUNDAY! and asked me in front of her father if she could wear it today. so instead of saying no (and mind you i already knew how i was going to do her hair and had asked her, before she got the headband out to get me a brush and a black rubberband - i was twisting her hair and pulling it back making it look cute and elegant to go with her outfit. but who am i? just her mom) i asked her "what did i say about those headbands?" and she said "what, no?" and i said "elizabeth, what did i say about those 3 particular headbands?" and she said "only on sunday." and i said "yes so why are you asking to wear it." so she stomped off and put it away. then her father had the audacity to tell me that i had the power to make or break her mood. wait a minute - how did i become the bad guy? what galls me to no end is she knew about those particular headbands - 3 out of 20 were just for sunday. how am i the bad guy? why didnt he back me up? he told me i could "play" with her and get her out of her attitude. he tried and she ended up kicking me while i was doing her hair - and i said nothing by the way - but she still didnt get out of her mood. it just pisses me off. it makes me not want to do anything nice. it's not appreciated. it makes me want to put all of the headbands in the garbage because crap, they will end up there anyway. elizabeth has a knack for pushing me to the limit over really stupid stuff and having major attitude when she knows what the answer will be. and then i feel guilty. i really think it's stupid to have a battle over a headband. i have been reminded that i'm the adult - which i am. i get that. but it's the principle of it all. i specifically told them in the beginning those headbands were just for church. man! so it started my day off just right.

then i get an email from someone at church who wasnt at church on sunday. they made an announcement on sunday about the service time being changed from 11 - 10:45 because there seemed to be too much lag time between sunday school and morning service. well as the sunday school director's wife i had to send out an email to all of the sunday school teachers as a reminder. (it really isnt my responsibility. that was said with much sarcasm! i'm not the director - why do i have to send out the emails?) and i get an email saying "we didnt know about the change - thanks for letting us know." i'm sure it wasnt meant as anything but i'm so on the defensive about church and who's leaving and who's not that i just didnt set right with me. no one knew about the change until sunday and if they had of been there they would have known then. whatever.

i'm just in a bad mood.

plus i spent all day in the garden on saturday to the point of extreme sunburn on my back and a few of my tomato plants are back on the ground from the little bit of rain we got yesterday. so now i have to get back out there and fix some of them.

it pisses me off. i'm so angry. so ANGRY!!! why am i such an angry person?

and now i just recieved an email that the kitchen set for christmas that i ordered has become unavailable and they are cancelling my order. well i better see a credit on my visa card. so i had to order it from another store. COME ON!!! i wanted to order this particular item last year for $99 + about $35 for shipping but i got told no. now i'm having a hard time finding it. it has some particular features that i think abby will enjoy that other kitchen sets dont have. it has a play cordless phone and a towel rack. it's wooden too. anyway, i'm paying about $175. but that's all she is getting for christmas. with the pots and pans and pretend food. but whatever. they are only getting big items this year instead of a bunch of little ones. buddy is getting a train table with the trundles and a nice train set on it. plus when he is finished with the train down the road he can use the table for his playmobil sets that i have for him (the whole police set, the whole vikings set and soon i want to order the romans - the arena is so cool but i'm waiting until i have an extra $350 - $400 laying around!). the big girls are getting a Wii together with the right remotes and 7 games. i mean come on - that is ridiculously expensive (about $650) BUT they wanted this video game system and it's not like the regular video game systems. it gets them up. they have to actually move to play these games.

ok, whatever. i so need to just get a grip and calm down.

i need to go smell buddy's neck. that always makes me feel better! he is such a sweet boy but he wont let me near him if he is playing. he's such a boy! but i like that.

Ho Hum

i hate having days where i feel like doing nothing and i have days like this all of the time. and i hear this voice in my head telling me i'm lazy. but i'm not lazy and that's not a defense because i'm really not lazy. unmotivated - yes. depressed - yes. but not lazy. i get things done. i'm tired and sleep & i am incredibly sunburned from working in the garden all day on saturday. and it's getting ready to rain. and my best friend in the whole world isnt reachable today for more then a 2 minute conversation. and then i ask myself why does that matter? it does because i cant even get my day started without a good conversation with my friend. am i the only one who feels that way or needs that?
anyway, the kids are busy. the boy keeps getting up on my bed - up & down. he even fell off and busted his mouth. but he never stops moving. and the wild girl has her gameboy on with the volume up and is wallowing around in my bed.
i've official overspent on eli's birthday that is coming next Tuesday. but she deserves it. now i will just have to deal with her father over what i spent. he doesnt overspend on anything!

and rachel is having issues that make me sad and worry about her. it's tough being a teenager. i wouldnt go back for anything in this world. i hated being a teenager. i keep telling my friend how i've blocked it all out - all out - i cant even remember people's names. i have people emailing about my "high school reunion - 20 years!" and i have no clue who they are - no clue!
man it's grey outside and it is pouring. but that means i dont have to go outside and deal with chickens. my big chickens killed one of my little 13 week barred rock chickens. i was not happy. they can be so incredibly mean - big chickens! so how did scared people get the name of chicken? chickens are mean and not scared of much.

fridays suck

i am tired. the week is over and i think i have more to do in the 2 days of the weekend then all week. i'm exhausted just thinking of what i need to do.

i am also missing my oldest child. she decided to go to a spend the night party with her friends. 13 is a great age to be carefree. Rachel is a fun girl and she has some really sweet girl friends. i just wish her friends would rub off on her in the ways of being disciplined in her school work.

i took the kids over to becky and chad's today to swim. the boy kept trying to get in on his own. considering he is only 17 months old and would have quickly drowned i didnt allow it. he kept me on my toes.

eli finished school yesterday. she is so happy to be out. i'm glad she is getting a break. the bad thing is she is so "active" that she will be bored and her boredom breeds major attitude. i'm already looking forward to sending her to her class that she gets to take for july. (does that make me a bad mom?)

and my darling Abby Grace got very upset today when i had the audacity to call eli a princess too - my princess. i believe Abby thinks she is my only princess. i'm surprised she doesnt realize it but she is the queen - we are all just her maids in waiting.

isnt it sad about tim russert dying today? his poor family.

Bath Time!!

well there is nothing like a long hot day at a festival to make you want to come home and take a nice long bubble bath. the kids loved it minus the bubbles. i wont be making that mistake again. they kept rubbing them in their face and that's no fun. but they did like them at first. and no the water isnt so hot that their faces are that red. i'm just a bad, bad mother. they are sunburned from the "festival" today.

this is the only face shot i could get of the boy. he didnt want to stop what he was doing to look at me long enough for a picture. and he screamed when i got him out. but i made it up to him. we had strawberries with caramel on them!!




i'm just going to list all of the adjectives that come to my mind about this girl in this picture. beautiful, fun, wild, voluptuous, innocent, happy, wet, .... the list is long. she was playing with her barbies and having a ball. what a great way to end the day.

I Hate Festivals!!!!!

i absolutely hate going to festivals, harborfest, theme parks, zoos, ...basically anywhere in the hot sun (even though i'm partial to summer), where i have to push a double stroller and stand around waiting while everyone else has fun. did i also mention that i have really bad arthritis and it kills me to walk around these places. i have already taken pain killers and my back is absolutely gone. i feel like an old woman. i need one of those walker canes with wheels on it at this point.
anyway we went to the Pungo Strawberry Festival. The highlight for me was saying hello to Thelma Drake and kind of making the guy - Glen Nye, who is running against her in the Nov '08 congressional election, squirm just a bit. he doesnt want a smaller government, just a more efficient one. pray tell, HOW?? umm...... uhhhhh........ welll........ but anyway, back the the festival.
the kids had a ball. they got to see animals and ride A ride (it was $20 for 20 tickets and most rides were 3, 4 or 5 tickets - so split that up between 4 people). The parade was nice - minus a lot of the Khediva crap (the Masons - immensely dislike that crap). They had horses, which all the girls loved. And i believe David Asher clued me in to his pleasure at the drums. he LOVED the drums in all of the marching bands - i mean LOVED!! which that makes me happy that he is thrilled with something! He also liked it when the police/sheriff/fire departments turned on their lights and let their sirens go!
We stopped after the parade for some fries and some lemonade. Needless to say the little ones got the lemonade. But I was smart. i made them drink out of the same cup - so out of the 2 - $4 lemonades they only contaminated 1 with their backwash!! GOOD TIMES!!! Elizabeth looking so happy to be there.

Abby guzzling lemonade.
Rachel being Rachel.
Asher getting his turn at the lemonade.
Obviously Abby milking a plastic cow. DUH!!!!!!
Well DUH again, Eli milking a plastic cow!
From happy to sad in no time flat!
dont you just love the smirk on abby's face behind david asher? like he is annoying her. well let me tell you that boy was being so awesome. we were sitting in the 4H tent while they announced the Grand Showman in the Pungo 4H Club. We had the privilege of watching 3 young people prance around a ring with 3 sheep, 3 steer, & 3 fighting pigs (well 2 kept fighting with each other). And the smell from those animals were ungodly.

This is Abby pretending she is driving a HUGE, GIGANTIC Armored Military Vehicle. She was so pleased with herself. I bet she will go military! Marines only though. But i dont think i like that for my girls.
she was very pleasant when it was time to get down. that almost never happens because she usually isnt done when i want her to be done.

And of course i couldnt not add this picture. when abby saw the rides she started screaming that she wanted to ride the roller coaster. well she meant the ferris wheel. and of course the princess got her wish. now eli doesnt look thrilled but my baby girl was in her element. plus she got her way!


now i am home and getting ready to give baths because we have church tomorrow. what i find completely fascinating is that around all those animals today none of us stepped in poo or got poo on us. we only had to smell it in the animal tents.
well we got home and played outside and david asher fell in dog poop. what a great world.

Friday Night Blues

i hate friday nights. i have nothing to do. i'm sitting here typing in a blog and i have nothing to talk about. i cant decide if i want to share this blog with the world. i mean who really cares right? it's kind of pretentious too - the more i think about it. my sisters would probably think i was being uppity. but truly i think it is an easy way to let people who care know what is going on with the kids. i think i will just post here and when people ask where the emails are i will have them check it out and really not worry about what they think.
tonight was good. i took a bath with my 2 babies. man i love naked babies. especially my own. their butts are soooooooooo beautiful. when i got naked abby grace, the 3 year old, smacked my naked butt and it hurt. she made it sting and of course she added "mommy you got a big butt!". it's not like it's a j-lo butt. but it is out there i guess. it's bigger then hers. and then she starts shaking hers and telling me i cant get it. and of course david asher wants to get in on the action so he starts shaking his. so we have some butt shaking going on.
the boy had cookie crusted to his face. it was nice cleaning him up. it's like he went from this dirty canvas to my sweet little prince again. but he is cute either way - cookie laden or sparkling clean.
and what is amazing to me still is how much different he is then the girls. i mean i know he is a boy but......it's so ingrained in him to be a boy. abby picks up her 2 barbies that stay naked in the bathtub and started playing. asher grabs the shaving tool (it has no blade - it's like a minature scqueegie that you use with nair that removes the unwanted hair) and starts pounding the water like a mad man. he would look up ever so often and blink the water out of his eyes and just smile that smile that let me know he was having a ball. and it also meant "hey mom arent i the cutest thing you have ever seen?" and of course he was right.
and what is so totally awesome is they both love the being naked part after the bath. oh i love that. and what i love also is that rachel & eli both like seeing their babies naked too! they start chasing the 2 little ones to get a pinch or two on those little butts. oh i love that.
so now they are all in bed. rachel, being the young teenager that she is, tries to find any excuse to stay up longer. eli complains EVERY night of some ailment and she always tries to leave her door open - which is forbidden in this house - in case of fire.
and the 2 little ones went to bed - seemingly readily. the boy in his crib and the wild girl in her bed. all abby demanded was of course her "songs". the boy laid down and crash landed. abby put her thumb in her mouth and then crash landed herself.
so now i am sitting here wasting time.
i love my babies.
oh man i was so emotional today. oprah was a rerun but they showed these 2 families who had tragic accidents happen to them. one little girl was decapitated in a car accident (friggin' drunk driver) and her mother was the only one able to walk out of the car accident and when she did all she had was her daughter's head in her hands. the impact was so hard that the seat belt severed the 7 year olds' head. so not only was i crying at that point but they went on to tell how a grandmother backed over her 2 year old grandson in an suv. she couldnt see him. man it was bad. you would have to bury me with my babies. any of them. i cant imagine how a mother or father or grandparent survives the death of one of their babies. i'm not that strong.
on that note.....later.

Getting Mad, Breaking Light Bulbs & Little Books

man today is really sucky - well it started out that way. i lay in bed this morning wishing that the alarm clock would just shut up. but alas, it didnt. i kept telling myself that i needed to get up but i didnt. i also kept waiting to see if my husband would actually get up and attend to the crying boy (he had been at it for about 30 minutes so i know that the whole house heard him). not only that but elizabeth had to get up and get ready for school. why is it my job to get her ready? fix her breakfast? fix her lunch? make sure her teeth are brushed? why? do i ever get a day off? well yesterday she went to school with her mickey mouse tshirt on backwards and i didnt realize it until she got home. if you know elizabeth you have to know she was mortified when she got home almost to tears.
anyway back to this morning. i was already a bit peeved over the "anniversary" conversation clay & i had had the night before (about gifts and it's just ridiculous that anniversaries and birthdays and special days result in major dysfunction between he and i). but i got up with a slam of the door as i walked out of the bedroom (yeah take that!). i got elizabeth up and went and got david asher out of his crib. got his milk warmed up. sat him down. got eli's (short for elizabeth from here on out!) lunch made and helped her with her morning meds & her breakfast. then i just started my day of animal responsibilities.
i let lily (the 4 mth old mini-schnauzer) out of her kennel to potty before greeting the family. i fed chickens and got their cages set up this morning. (long story but I have some (3) in the garage living in rabbit cages, some (14)outside living in a huge, ghetto rigged, wire dog kennel, and some (9) out in the backyard coop.)
then i go in, fix some coffee, watch eli get on the bus, go back in and start washing clothes. well shuffling clothes from the dryer to a laundry basket, from the washing machine to the dryer, for a overflowing hamper to the washing machine. well miss abby grace has a wonderful habit of really messing up her clothes so i went in the cabinet above the washing machine to get the bleach stick out to put on 2 of her shirts and when i opened the cabinet the - like 10 year old - cardboard box of crap we never use - no exaggeration - foam door insulation (cant think of the proper name for it), 2 old vacuum cleaner belts (i dont think we even have those vacuums anymore), some white supposedly filter material to go in the air vents/filter that has been in the box for years and never opened, light bulbs, an old bike tire pump, miscellaneous adapters to some obsolete pole that is suppose to easily take light bulbs out of the sockets in the high ceiling fans, and an old night light. basically crap we never use)..... it all fell on my head. and also a white camping bucket (that you wash the dishes in) that had a wire heart egg collection basket in it fell too. man i went bananas. i threw the box and all of the lightbulbs shattered. but it felt so GOOD!!! i have a scratch on my forehead.
did i mention that the whole time i am doing the clothes that david asher is in between my legs, holding on to me, eating dryer sheets, touching buttons on the washer.... you know, just in the mix?
well i had to put him behind the gate in the living room so he wouldnt get cut on the glass and he screamed. then clay just quietly started cleaning up the mess which then proceeded to peeve me off a bit more. he was so quiet doing in. man i just wanted to fight.
but i didnt get my way.
sometimes i wonder how clay puts up with me because i can be a real bitty.
anyway i'm sitting here in my pajamas of choice - a wife beater & xxl men's boxer shorts - not wanting to do anything else today but sleep.
while i have been sitting here i think i have been disturbed no less then 5 times.
abby has these little books that she carries around and if anyone gets them then she goes bananas. they are both my books - one is a new american standard version of the bible & the other is a spanish/english dictionary. Needless to say, David Asher as the only boy and baby wants those books too.