Puppy Love

The puppies are home, and boy have they stolen all our hearts - already!

I do have one correction from my previous puppy post (say that 10x fast!)... Cub's little pup has had a name change.

You guessed it - the new name is none other than Buzz. So, the duo taking over our living area is now Buzz and Jesse... I could have told yall that was gonna happen. Mommy instinct.

Anyhow - we made it through the day without too much of "Mommy, when are we gonna go to Aunt Peggy's?!"

When Geoff got home there was total pandemonium, and Aunt Reynie was here to attest to that... So, we loaded up and went to get the newest family members. The kids were so excited, and the grins on their faces were priceless... it was worth more than a million dollars to see their faces.



When we got home and got them settled in, the fun began... Buzz and Jesse have quite a lot of personality, and I will be much more at ease when they are crate trained (HELP! Anyone out there got any tips on crate training?!), but they are already a part of our family.

Yes, it was quick, but man are they cute!

Jesse

Geoff and Buzz

A Little Sunshine

Just for the record, today began a little off.

We are a week into being home from vacation, and summer break is in full swing. The kids slept well, but they were a little testy with each other when they got up.

My goal for the summer is for the level of yelling to tone down a few decibels. Oh, and for the hitting to cease as well...

Just keeping it real.

Anyhow, after we got through that crisis I began a load of laundry. And the sweetest thing happened!

My little Snow White brought me some of the prettiest artwork I have seen in a few days. You know, since my little Cinderella brought me some on Monday.

I love the drawings - the first one is of EJ and myself. She spelled my name without asking how (!) and put her name and age below her picture.


Below is the second drawing of her Daddy and Cub. She also wrote Cub's name with out help, and got the first letter of Geoff's name correct, which is impressive to me as he spells it differently than most.


But the sweet part came after she gave me the pictures.

She hugged me real tight and said "I'm sorry Mommy". Then she said "I love you", and "I promise to try to use my words softer".

I could have cried -

Such sweet words from Snow White!

Sunflower and Corn Fields

The sunflowers and corn are growing, and though I do not want to wish life away, I always look forward to seeing the sunflowers open in the fields. They are so beautiful!

So, this is where we call home... if you follow Reynie's blog (my sis in law) they live close by. My parents do too, and my Aunt and Uncle.

I'm certainly not leaving out the corn... we grow and eat a ton of it here, and it is good! My brother BB is the main farmer, along with my Uncle, and when needed other menfolk in our family, but I want to give credit where credit is due... Thanks Billy and Uncle Milton!

In July, around EJ's birthday, the sunflowers will be in full bloom. They are gorgeous, and I love getting the kids pictures in the middle of them. Then, around Cub's birthday, near the end of the month, the corn will be ready to pull, shuck, cream, blanch, bag and freeze. It isn't my most favorite chore here, but it is soooooo worth the effort. We all pitch in, and doing it together is always fun.

I also put up corn on the cob, which the kids enjoy... but there is nothing like creamed corn from the field.

On a cold day in the middle of December, it reminds me of summer...

Pure heaven.

New Additions to the Family...

Ah, no, I am not pregnant.

Just needed to get that out of the way first...

The kids are getting puppies tomorrow night, and they can barely stand the wait...
Nana got each one a scottish terrier for their birthday present (both birthdays are in July), and the pups are of age now for them to come to our home.

These pictures were taken a few days before we went away on vacation... Nana is getting the puppies from her sister, Peggy, who has been breeding dogs for over 30 years. We went to Aunt Peggy's house for a visit, and try to decide which ones the kids wanted to have for their own.


As it turns out, Elizabeth and Cub both decided on a black one. All the better for Mommy not to know which is which, but I am sure I will once they come to live with us...

You may be wondering what their names will be? Well, surprise, surprise folks! In yet another tip of the hat to Disney's Toy Story II, they will be called Woody and Jesse. EJ wanted to call hers Jasmine (for the Princess in Alladin of course) but the dogs are both boys, and so a compromise was struck with naming hers Jesse. I know, in Toy Story Jesse is actually a girl, but it can be a boys name, so it worked.

Amen.

A thousand pictures will soon follow of all the puppy joy that is bound for our house tomorrow night...

Summertime Fun

Since our return from the beach we have been busy. I don't know why I seem to think things will slow down in the summer, but I need to make a note to self about that silly notion.

Good thing is though, I am not in the road as much. Especially with gas at about $4 a gallon! During the last school year I was heading in to town at least 3 times a week, and sometimes more... I am thankful that I have reprieve from that schedule.

We have had a lot of friends over to play, and the kids have really been enjoying the kiddie pool in our backyard... the temperatures are in the 90's already, so I believe they will be in it a lot. They may have to move over and let Mommy in!

Momma got them a "slip and slide" too...

Maybe by the end of this summer we will have ourselves a water park in the backyard!

Snapshots of True Love

My parents will be married 43 years this August... isn't that beautiful?
It's not always perfect - they do argue.
But they truly love each other, and they love the Lord...
I love them both very much.

To Infinity and Beyond!

Yes, this is another post about Buzz Lightyear...
(and as I wrote this, it became about something more... so keep reading if you will...)
But this is pretty cool - did yall know that Buzz went up in space with the Shuttle on Saturday?!
You can check out his progress here at www.nasa.gov

My kids are thrilled... they saw the Shuttle go up last summer from Cocoa Beach with my parents, and are so excited to know that Buzz went with them this time. Cub especially - he has a ton of questions, and I think Disney and NASA are pretty smart to do this.

Okay, I know... usually rocket scientists are pretty smart, and those Disney folks are no dummies either, so this is another brilliant idea from some very smart people.

Maybe the kids will be intrigued enough to want to become astronauts like their Papa Jerry, Geoff's father. He learned how to fly airplanes from a family friend when he was young. This man, Edgar, was a crop duster in our area, and later became his brother -in- law.

Mr. Jerry then flew in Vietnam with the Navy, and went on to be a Delta Air Lines pilot. In the 80's NASA opened up a program for civilian pilots with military experience to possibly become astronauts. Geoff's Daddy was high up on that list when the Challenger exploded in 1986, with a civilian on board, and then NASA discontinued the program.

Unfortunately, just a year later in September, Mr. Jerry was practicing an aerobatic move in a plane over a town near here and crashed. He passed away immediately when he hit the ground. I always knew if Geoff and I got married in the future, and had a son, he would have Mr. Jerry's name... and so he does.

I am not sure how my simple post about Buzz Lightyear ended up with me telling about this very special person, and the tragedy of how he died, but I am going to keep it just so. I think Mr. Jerry might like being in the same post about his namesake's childhood hero, as he orbits the earth in a space shuttle.