25 Things...

Another one of my fellow bloggers did this and I thought it looked like fun...let's see if I can actually come up with 25 random facts about myself!!!

1.  When I first met Doug, my husband, he freaked me out....long story!  

2.  One of my favorite smells is a horse barn.

3.  I'm addicted to cloth diapers even though my youngest has been potty trained for a year and a half
     now.

4.  I'm afraid of the dark.

5.  I hate to be alone.

6.  The curtains in my house havn't been washed in the 5 years we have been here...although if I ever
     did, I think I would just have rags when they came out.

7.  I want to adopt a special needs baby.

8.  I'm terrified of ladybugs.

9.  My mom wanted to name me Sarah Lee, but my Dad saved me the humiliation! 

10.  I have a twin brother and no we are not identical!

11.  I was very accident prone when I was little and went to the ER 6 times before I was in 2nd grade.

12.  Doug and I have only argued once in our 5, almost 6 years of marriage.

13.  I love Disney movies and love it when the kids pick one that we havn't seen in a while!

14.  Doug and I have only been on 3 or 4 dates by ourselves since Marissa was born 5 years ago.

15.  I LOVE the color orange, especially "burnt orange".

16.  My second favorite smell is the pads of a dog's paw. 

17.  I got on downhill skis for the first time when I was 6 months pregnant with Marissa. 

18.  My favorite animal is an elephant.

19.  I love to take pictures.

20.  I have to sleep with at least a sheet on me no matter how hot it is out. 

21.  I hate to make decisions.

22.  I have been a born again Christian since I was 10.

23.  I have hand raised 3 batches of kittens from the barn. 

24.  I will do anything for a suffering animal...see #23.

25.  I don't have any pictures from my wedding and only about 50 people attended due to a snow storm.

Ok, now its your turn!  It's kinda fun!!!

Hair Cuts!

We went today as a family and got our hair cut.   Marissa decided she wanted to get her's cut short. 

 Madalyn "likes her long hair" so she just got a trim and layers.

 And apparently it tired her out!

So I decided...

...I LOVE having a full house.  5 kids running around and playing to their little hearts content, 1 baby talking to herself or whoever will listen, and 4 adults talking and sharing some laughs.  It's priceless...but you know what is even more priceless?  What my house looked like after a days worth of them all playing!  LOL  I really wish I would have thought to grab my camera...it was awesome!  But I seriously loved every minute!  I love having Amanda here to keep me company, someone to talk, vent, and have some girl time with!  For the past two weeks we have been blessed with a visit from Doug's good friend Mike and his two boys.  He used to live across the street before he had kids.  I know Doug has really missed hanging out with him and the girls love it when he comes because he brings playmates!!!  Amanda and I have really gotten close over the past month.  I have really been lacking in the mommy/wife/girl talk department!  LOL  We have soo much in common and its great!  I love her kids and am going to really miss them when they leave!  Wherever the Lord leads and directs in our life, I know that if we end up having some more time, we definitely need some more hang out time!!!        

Nap time...

They both look comfy don't you think???

6th Annual Cream Cheese Festival

I brought my camera and had all intentions of taking a bunch of pictures.  However, put me in a small town with thousands of people and I become one nervous mommy!  Amanda and her two little ones joined us for the festivities, as did my mother in law and sister in law.  We had a lot of fun!  I wish I would have gotten pictures of the kids in the kid park playing in all the blow up houses.  They had a blast.  We met up with a few friends from church.  The girls got to play with on the blow up houses with their friends.  They also got pony rides!

This is definitely turning out to be a yearly tradition!

P.S.  I also had all intentions of getting a picture of the world's largest cheesecake and snagging a piece, however the line for the free cheesecake was like a half mile long so we opted for stopping at Walmart and picking up some to make at the house.  They had a new flavor there though...something about pumpkin spice???  They said it was going to be released to stores shortly so keep your eyes peeled!

Priceless Proof

My girls love each other...

...and it is soooo cute!

Homeschooling so far...

I love it and I think Marissa would agree!  I think I would be very frustrated if I didn't have a Mom who is working in the Kindergarten class in the public school system.  It's the comments from others that drive me insane!  LOL  Anyhow, she is learning a lot more here at home than she would be if she was in a classroom, so I feel good about that!  

Week 1, we learned the letter A and numbers 0 and 1.  We worked on hand coordination and following instructions.  She is learning Psalms 100 with the curriculum I'm using, and yes, the whole chapter!  So far she is doing awesome!

Week 2 so far we have learned the letter M and the number 2.  We have our good days and bad days, but overall, very good.  She is proud of what she is learning and I'm so happy to be able to be the one to teach her.  

One thing we are struggling with is retention.  She has already improved from the first day, but its still something I'm keeping my eye on.  She does good now answering questions after a story, but a hour later answering a question Daddy may ask her...you can forget it.  I'm not sure if its one of those things that she just doesn't care because its not school anymore, or if she doesn't remember for some reason.  The beginning of every morning we start out with small reviews and she generally does well with those.  So who knows.  I love the curriculum though and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a complete program for homeschooling.  

Here are some pictures from yesterday.  They are making MULES!  

(And Madalyn was in a wacky mood and begged for pictures to be taken of her...LOL)

 Marissa made this too.  Its hard to tell, but its a large and small M. 

Fun time with friends! (Warning, long post with LOTS of pictures)

Okay, so you have been warned...although you should all know me better by now.  I'm horrible at just picking a couple!  LOL  This past Saturday was part of Doug's week off of milking.  He really wanted to do something with the girls and decided that we would make a trip to Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo again.  We invited a friend from church to come with us.  Amanda and the kids showed up and we hung out while we waited for stuff at the farm to get figured out so we could go. 

 Madalyn is in love with the baby.  Her name is Jennifer and she is 3 months old.  She is a doll and I have to say I'm in the same boat as Madalyn!

 I absolutely LOVE this little guy!  His name is Jesse "Junior".  He is a character and a half and he knows he is cute!

 Marissa joined in the making faces fun.  Poor kid is still swollen from her bites 5 days prior!

 Finally Madalyn couldn't contain herself anymore...

"Ms. Amanda, can I hold your baby???"  LOL

 He had a thing with that face!

 Sooo cute!

FINALLY, we headed out!  We had plans of meeting our friend Mike and his two boys and Laurie.  The day was so beautiful and the kids had a blast for sure!  They had a lot of fun with the other kids to run around with!

 The deer were in rut still, but must be worse than prior, because they were all locked up.  The kids didn't mind it one bit though and I think they were still one of their favorites!

 Isn't he gorgeous?

 I made a mental note to never leave Junior and Madalyn unattended.  

They both share the "NO FEAR" thing and I'm sure would be a dangerous pair!

 I opted out of the snake show this time and sat with Amanda while she nursed the baby.  I did however hear that the kids got to see "Jasmine" this time. 

 They all look the same to me!

More deer...Sika's I think they are called...

 Looks like Junior just got missed!

 LOL...that look again!

 YEAH!  He is such a cutie!

 I love him!

 Every animal we went to, Marissa tried to "talk" like them and teach everyone else...it was so cute!

 The buck had a thing for Doug...

 Laurie

 Marissa was bound and determined to make friends with the baby and love on it.

It's Llama time!

 Mike found out that they LOVE leaves!  So the kids had a blast de-leafing a nearby tree to feed the "starving" llama.  Connor and Marissa supervising Madalyn.

 I kept saying that I don't know if I can put cute and Llama in the same sentence.  There was nothing cute about that face...I don't think he appreciated it very much!

 He wasn't helping me change my opinion of him!

 Mike and Tannor

 Connor and Junior

 Wish this was a closer pic of him, I think I'm getting a look!

 Dude what is up with your ears!  You would be so much cuter if you put them up!  

He didn't listen or didn't care. 

 "Goodbye Llama!"

 "Bye Puppy!"

 Okay, one more!

Wallabies!

 So cool to see them this close this time around!

 I'm not sure if we were suppose to feed him, but he wasn't a fan of the cracker anyhow.

 But he loved to be scratched

 Off he goes!

 Back to play with his roomie

 

 Well what do you know!  He can fix his ears!!!

By the time we got home and ate, everyone was pretty tired including the grown-ups!  So we offered for Amanda and the two little guys to stay over since they would be back for church the following morning anyhow.  They live 45 mins. away so it only made sense.  It was nice having company.  The girls even helped in the morning watch the baby while Amanda and I were getting ready. 

 They arranged her like this, and then asked for a picture.  She had the hiccups horrible but was still a happy girl!

 Silly girls!

I can't get over that head of hair!

Hope you enjoyed!  Sorry for the length!