Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Patience...

Talk about patience! Our 11 year old Siberian Husky, Tymbre, is a very patient dog. I am thankful for her patience. There are times when she has had enough, when our kids get a little too wild or loud for her. But she is still good about it. She just gets up and walks away and goes and lays in Jeremy and my bedroom. She has never snapped, bit, or growled at any of the kids, she just walks away. 

Here is an example of her patience...
And more...Rilian was just standing there, driving his car on her and she did not care one bit! She just laid there and let him. What a good dog!
When Rilian was done driving his car on the white furry mountain, she laid there for several more minutes with his car still on her.
Siberian Huskies are great dogs to have with kids. We had a red Siberian Husky named Cyu a few years ago. He now lives in doggy heaven. You can read about him here. He also had great patience with our kids. He would let them do just about anything to him. Finn used him as a pillow...
Finn also put puzzle pieces on him...
What kind of dog do you have and what kind of patience does your dog have with your kids?

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Rilian and His Roly Polies

Rilian LOVES roly polies. He can always find one no matter where we are. He is not afraid to pick them up. He loves to play with them. He often finds them on Granny's patio near her pool. One day, he was VERY concerned because a roly poly was crawling towards the water that had been splashed out near the pool. Rilian was almost in tears. It took a lot to convince him that the roly poly would be fine if it got in the little bit of shallow water on the patio.

Just the other day, I had to run to Granny's real quick for something. We weren't there for very long at all. Maybe 15 minutes. As I was buckling Rilian into his car seat, I noticed he had something in each hand. He was holding something between his index finger and thumb. I asked him what he had. He replied, "Balls." I asked him, "What kind of balls?" I was concerned he had picked berries from one of Granny's plants and I didn't want him to put them in his mouth on the way home. He smiled real big and said, "Roly polies." I just laughed. 

One Sunday, Rilian took some friends with him to church...they were roly polies. 
 I couldn't get Rilian to look at me, so that was the best picture I could get of him getting out of the car Sunday morning at church with his roly polies. I don't think his teacher quite knew what to think. She said he had to put them in his backpack during class so he didn't lose them and maybe they would have time for him to show the other kids in his class.


This past Saturday, we went to the zoo. Rilian found a roly poly and played with it while we waited in line for the train. When it was our turn to ride the train, the roly poly rode the train with us. Rilian wanted to leave it on the train, but we told him it might get smashed. So, we found a new home for the roly poly in a nearby flower bed.
Rilian is real good about leaving the roly polies when we tell him to. We usually are able to find nice new homes for them and he is ok with that. He is actually proud to relocate them to a new home.


The next picture doesn't really fit with the roly poly stories, but since it was a picture of Rilian that was taken close to the same time as the roly polies going to church, I included it. Rilian got this blue bucket for his birthday to put all his stuffed animals in it in his room. Well, one night when I went to check on him before going to bed myself, this is how I found him!
This is just one of those moments that a parent has to capture on film and wonder what in the world went through my child's mind! 

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Piper's 8th Birthday

May 18, 2011, has come and gone. On that day, my baby girl turned 8 years old! Wow! It is almost hard to believe that I have been a Mommy for 8 years now!

Jeremy and I gave Piper her present from us on her actual birthday. Her party was the next day. She was excited to open it.

Piper had asked for a pair of TOMS shoes. 
 Putting them on for the first time...
She had seen one of Seven's friends wearing a pair and said she wanted a pair. Jeremy told her what was so special about TOMS and then Piper really wanted a pair.
This is the box they come it...So, if you don't know anything about TOMS, the box is pretty self explanatory. I thought it was really neat that Piper thought they were even cooler when she found out what TOMS does... 
Piper decided she wanted a pool party for her birthday party.  
We also had a slip and slide set up. 
And if that wasn't enough, Piper and her friends could play on the teeter totter. 
Piper chose to have Hello Kitty cupcakes. Jeremy did an awesome job, if I might say. Piper had invited girls AND boys to her party. So, Piper wanted girl AND boy Hello Kitty cupcakes. The girls have the red bows, like Hello Kitty does. The boys have blue bows. 
A close up of Jeremy's artistic talent. 
 Piper (and Reagan) with her cupcakes, as we sing to her.
After cupcakes and opening presents, the kids went back outside to enjoy the pool some more. Rilian and Reagan were playing with the water table. Looks like innocent fun, huh? Well, Rilian was draining the table and Reagan didn't know. She kept adding and adding water, but it never seemed to make a difference. Rilian had pulled the plug and it was draining into a container down below. 
Happy Birthday to my sweet 8 year old, Piper! What a ride you have taken us on. I know it is far from being over. Each day brings new things. You are a blessing to our family. I am thankful that God placed YOU in our family!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Book Review: I Am Second

I Am Second by Doug Bender and Dave Sterrett is a book about successful people's amazing personal stories of putting God first and themselves second. I Am Second includes testimonies from Colt McCoy, Brian "Head" Welch, Josh Hamilton, Michelle Aguilar, Shannon Culpepper, Karen Green, and many others.

Each person in I Am Second had at least one struggle that they were able to overcome with the help of God. This book is a collection of each person's personal story. They each tell their own story. It is a very encouraging book to read. Some of the struggles the people in this book told about were abortion, addictions, depression, cancer, loneliness, pornography, jealousy, war, and others. Everyone has struggles. Whether your struggle is big or small, you can over come it and become second.

I would recommend I Am Second, whether you feel you are struggling right now or not. I had a hard time putting it down when I picked it up to read. It is an aspiring book to read.

DISCLAIMER: I received I Am Second for free from Booksneeze to review. I was not required to give any positive feedback. All the opinions expressed are my own.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Batting Cages

Finn had his first visit to the batting cages. Here he is standing at the plate for the first pitch.
Check out my little batter in action...not to bad for his first time!
I didn't have a cool batting cage helmet, so I had to stand outside the cages.
 Finn really enjoyed his time in the batting cages. I love this picture, because Finn is a Daddy's boy. Priceless!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Leaping Lizards

I took Rilian to another class at our zoo. This time he learned about lizards. Here the preschoolers have lizard tongues and are trying to touch the ants with them. They are pretending to be lizards. 

 After they were done "eating" ants, the preschoolers got to make a chameleon face. The face consisted of two eyes, a mouth, and a horn. Rilian insisted that the horn was a nose. And he chose not to color his chameleon. Perhaps, he wanted it to blend in with its environment...the white plate.
Miss Joy (the teacher) walked around to each of the children and let them touch the lizard, if they wanted to. I tried to take a picture of Rilian touching the lizard, but he was sitting on my lap and didn't want me to get up, so this is as good as it gets. 
When we were finished with our class, we went and looked at the lizards in the zoo. Rilian stopped to see the flamingos on the way. He looked at them for quite some time.
We saw the lizards and then went to look at the rest of the animals in the zoo. If you have ever walked any amount of distance with Rilian, whether short or long, you have most likely seen his hop/walk. That kid is so cute. He bounces right along more than he walks. I realized I had never recorded it, so I took this opportunity to do so. I want to have it on video so he can see it when he gets older. Take a look at his cuteness...
Of course, Rilian had to have his picture taken on the ladybug...
 Once we were done looking at all the animals, Rilian stopped to watch the flamingos again. We stood there for a very long time watching them.
Stay tuned for more classes to come. They don't do the preschool classes in the summer, but will resume in the fall. I hope to be able to take Rilian to more.