Elle and Cash's Last Day of School

I have been dreading this day coming for a long long long time. I've been disappointed since learning that even though Elle and Cash are only 2 1/2 years apart…the deadline for the school years make it so that the two of them won't ever be in middle school or high school together. (Elle is the youngest for her grade, Cash the oldest.) That means that once Elle leaves elementary school they will never be in school together again unless they go to the same college. This seriously breaks my heart! I loved having my big brother in school with me as a senior and me a sophomore.  I've been watching Elle and Cash go to school together, walk together, carpool together, do school activities together, and play at recess together for 5 years now. It'll be hard to watch Elle go off to Middle School alone and Cash stay back. They have gotten particularly close this past year as Cash has started hanging out with Elle and some of her friends at recess. He's even gotten the nick-name "turdy" since he's a 3rd grade and he seems to love it. They really are the best of friends. You don't really see or talk about one without the other. I LOVE them both so much and pray they will always stay close.

Westley's First Trip to the ER Vet

Well we certainly weren't planning on a trip to the vet this early with our new puppy. It was a busy day and at the end of it we are all pretty exhausted and laying around. We happen to notice how tired little Westley was too. In fact he was so pooped that we all kind of laughed at his and would lift his little paw and drop it and it was dead weight. Then the boys started laying with him and bugging him and he acted like he didn't care and I thought "man he is beyond exhausted if he doesn't care of them doing that to him!" It wasn't until Elle took him outside to go to the bathroom before bed that I realized something was wrong. He didn't even have strength to stand. He just kept laying down. Then when he stood up to walk he looked like he was drunk. Swayed from side to side, looked totally dizzy, couldn't keep his head up straight. It scared me to death! At first Toby kept saying he was fine and not to worry, but when he saw him like that he knew something was wrong too. It was already 10 o clock at night so we knew we'd have to find an after hours ER VET. I sent Toby and Elle on their way and I stayed back with the kids. Elle was a mess. I don't blame her because if I knew how I was feeling I could only imagine how she was. She loves that little dog with everything she's got. She was sobbing and my heart hurt for her and I was so worried. I went straight in my room and said a prayer. We couldn't figure out what was wrong but three things that happened that day that we wondered about was 1. Toby took him on a walk around the lake and he drank from the lake water and 2. While Tob and the kids were at the park playing Westley came running up to them with a dead rat in his mouth. So basically we wondered if he was poisoned. Three hours later and some blood work and giving him an iv and what was wrong was inconclusive but since the tests were normal they felt okay sending him home and letting us watch him for a day. It took a full day or two but we started to improvement immediately with the iv. After the whole ordeal we started to wonder if he was just dehydrated? I don't know what it was but I am SO grateful that everything turned out okay. He was acting so off and even the vet wasn't sure why he was so out there. She wondered if he had consumed some alcohol somehow! We are already pretty attached to this little guy and so here's to hoping for no more VET visits for along time!!!

Drive-In MOVIE

I always say it wouldn't be summer without going to a drive-in movie! It was always such a fun activity we did growing up as a family and I always looked forward to it so I love doing the same with my kids. We invited the Ashby's to come and the Kassings and we had such a great time together. We went to the last Cars movie with Lightning McQueen so the kids really loved it. We never make it to the second movie though. Even Elle fell asleep this time. These pictures crack me up. Right in the middle of the road.

My Day's With Tate and Kemp

Elle's 6th Grade Talent Show!!

I'll tell you what this girl sure has a lot of courage. And I am one proud Mom. She was amazing up there! She stood right up in front of all of 6th grade and a lot of the school, teachers, parents, and families and sang 2 different songs. One with her Ukulele! Her class did a little remake of America's Got Talent…and Elle made it all the way to the end but didn't quite win. She sounded really good though and she had a lot of family there to support her and we just think she's awesome. This girl is going to do big things.

Father's Day 2017

You know I sometimes feel bad for Toby. He doesn't always get the recognition he deserves from me because I'm usually chasing after 2 little boys, helping 2 older kids, trying to keep the house clean, and do a million other things…and at the end of the day I'm exhausted and want to vent to him and want him to recognize all I'm doing that I don't always recognize all he does. Even on Fathers Day. This particular Fathers day he spent his morning picking my Mom, sister, and I up at the airport coming home from our trip to Scottsdale. We let him stop by Todd's grave so he could spend some time with him, and then from there we pretty much went straight to church. And then after church we pretty much went straight over to my Dads so there was a lot of "Toby time" if you will. BUT I will say the kids made the day and had the cutest little set up ready for him when we came back from the airport. They had the cutest sign hung up ready for him! And a whole breakfast buffet and waffles with fruit and tons of different toppings. They are so awesome. Made him feel very loved I'm sure. - And then like I said we got to go over and celebrate my Dad. He's just the best. I'm so grateful my kids get to have him as a Grandpa. He just loves to spoil us all and he would do anything to help any of us at any time. Our kids love going for rides in his golf cart…waldo…and love having him read then any story he has. I couldn't have asked for a better father. He is been there for me through every thing in my entire life and I don't want to imagine life without him. I've got 2 pretty incredible men in my life I get to celebrate for Father day. Lucky girl I am.