Taylor must have 100 little animals, or stuffed animals. They really are her passion, she carries them around, everywhere, she feeds them, nurses them back to health, and literally plays with them constantly...which is why I have a hard time figuring out WHY she needs to play with one of my very few breakable items in the house...this breakable happens to be a duck. She has been told to leave him alone before, with a complete explanation of "why" she cannot play with him...he is breakable.
While making dinner, there was a LOUD bang, Blake and I both headed toward Taylor and from where the sound had come, they were both in the same place, go figure! There stood Taylor above a pile of broken duck pieces. I could "feel" the words come out of my mouth before they even got there, " Taylor, THIS is why I told you NOT to play with this duck!!!" BUT...I somehow stopped them before they escaped...I "bit my tongue" so to speak. I could see that the words I wanted to say were not needed...she stood there, devastated and already sorry. She was probably more upset with herself than I was.
Without saying a word, I grabbed some super glue. I invited both kids to help fix the duck. We all sat in the middle of the front room floor, next to a pile of broken duck pieces and started gluing him back together. His beak is now crooked, one leg is shorter, but he still stands. We saved the duck together, then named him Picasso.
This is the second year of volunteering through our Church for the Saturday Jubilee and Operation Food Search. We were really excited to help collect food for the local food banks around the area, Blake is at a great age to really understand why we are doing this!
The first thing we do is make posters for the kids to hold up while standing in front of the grocery store. They always enjoy getting to make their own.
Blake's sign says, FEED THE HUNGRY
Tay's lets them know that the money/food
they give, STAYS LOCAL !
It hasn't rained in FOREVER, but today, the sky decided to let loose!! It stormed and that made us thankful that we were inside the entry way instead of out in front of the store...it also got us soaking wet, because we couldn't let the elderly ladies carry their own groceries to their cars without umbrellas...I LOVED getting to help them! :) The kids did awesome this year, Blake handed out the little flyers with Shirley, that listed the needed items for donation, and Taylor got to hold the money jar.
Our pastor Kevin and his wife Shirley are a blessing to us!
The kids love them too!
One lady brought out a bag of groceries to donate AND bought each
kid a sticker book for being good "helpers"!! That was so
awesome of her, I will do that the next time
I see kids out helping!
My Sister got us some awesome tickets to the Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow BORN FREE concert! I could barely even believe it...we have been trying to see them for years now. I was 9 months pregnant with Taylor the last time she tried to get us tickets, and I chickened out, thought I may go into labor when Kid Rock came out on stage! lol!
We started out our evening, like every concert night, at Dave n' Busters for dinner. We have the same waiter each time...kinda weird now that I think about it. But anyways, then we head to Verizon. We were prepared with VIP parking, we wanted to have a shorter walk since it was around 100 degrees. We were steps from the front gate, there was no line to wait in and we didn't even get frisked! We found our center stage seats and sat back for the show.
Opening band was Leroy Powell and the Messengers...they are kinda blues/jazzy...we like them.
Then came Sheryl Crow...she is amazing and a true inspiration! I can remember her happy tunes all through my teen years! Especially, All I wanna do is have some FUN!!!
THEN CAME KID ROCK!!!! I have loved Kid Rock since BEFORE he was Kid Rock!! His name was still Bob and he would open for rappers in Detroit, I had no idea who the "white guy" was that was breaking and scratchin, but they started calling him KID ROCK!!!
This particular tour was the perfect combo with Kid and Sheryl...my favorite song of all time is "Picture" with the two of them....the Born Free tour...(I took over a hundred pics, but here are a few of my faves!)
They rock together!!!
He can play EVERY instrument on stage...and he did!
not sure why i love this pic,
but Sheryl's head back laughing is great!
While working in my office today, Taylor was playing right under my chair and must have "needed" a zillion things...a new diaper put on her baby doll, the teapot lid dislodged, the colors of the rainbow repeated over and over as she dug each crayon out of the box, then another potty break...she still needs my assistance with this at times, so I stopped my work, again, to take her to the bathroom. Heading back to my desk, I stepped on a thumb tack, hard, right in my heel. It was all the way in, I had to pull it out and to make matters worse...the reason it was no longer in my wall was because it was bent like a fish hook at the end making the exit rougher.....OUCH!!! I have to say, that that wasn't the first thing I thought though...my very first thought was THANK GOD Taylor didn't step on it!! She had been right where it was for quite some time and again, Thank God, I stepped on it instead of her...not trying to sound heroic by any means, it's just a tiny reminder of how much we love our children...I'd take the tack ANY DAY!!!!
Billy and I bought tickets at church to go to this conference together. I gotta say, at first, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go...it happened to be on the same day that my sister was taking me to the Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow concert. She bought us tickets months ago and we had the whole day planned out, but I could see that Billy really wanted us to go, AND I absolutely love the other couples at my church that were going. We went, and it was AMAZING !!!!
We got there and found our seats, they opened with some awesome worship music, then the lights dimmed and it got quiet...then from the back of the auditorium, a spot light formed on a man, carrying a full-sized telephone pole on his shoulder (you could hear his strained breathing) he wrestled it all the way up onto the stage and dropped one end into a "holder" type of thing...then he took an axe and started chucking pieces of wood out...shards were flying everywhere as he spoke aloud. He was back in time, a Roman cross-builder. He was carving out the pole to build a crucifix. He yelled aloud about the man named, Jesus, who would be hanged the next day. He talked about how ridiculous the people were who spoke of such a man. A man that was the son of a God that cannot be seen, how absurd that they believed that he would hang on this crucifix and rise 3 days later...he ended with admitting that he would probably hang around on that Sunday to see if he does indeed "rise from the tomb".
Following the completion of his cross...music played and scenes from The Passion of the Christ filled four huge screens...I bawled at the thought and the sight of such torture. I did not plan on crying today, I planned on learning about marriages and God, but NOT bawling like a baby... the reason for the conference to start out with such a dramatic scene was to let us know "just how much" our Heavenly Father loves us. This conference is all about LOVE and there is no greater love than this. He loves us so much that he gave his only son, to save us!
The man who showed us this unforgettable scene is Joe White. He travels all around putting on this scene...in the center of college campuses, churches, and at conferences like this one. While on the subject, they then played a movie about an earthly Father's love for his child... a father of a paraplegic child pushes him through race after race, even pulls him in a raft and carries him on his bike during triathlons just because the son typed on his computer that he wanted to win and give the money to a kid down his street who needed it. What keeps the father running races is that the son also typed out that when he crosses the finish line he doesn't feel handicapped! ....more tears...actually it got so bad that since I didn't bring tissues, I ended up pulling out Taylor's spare pair of undies from my purse to blot my eyes...eventually I just held them over my eyes, I was crying so hard I couldn't see anyways! Yes, the room was dark and hopefully no one noticed!
Taylor has been really excited to start swim lessons. She has spent her whole life going to all of her big brothers, classes and activities...now it's her turn! Since Blake took lessons at Alligator creek last year, I knew just what to expect. Her teacher is Mrs. Taylor, I think we can remember her name! lol! Taylor just went right over to her class and did exactly what the teacher asked. I knew she would do well with other kids around.
She has been sooo excited to start swim classes!
Easing down into the water
being a superhero...swimming with Mrs. Taylor
Blake staying busy, writing comics in
his journal.
Hi Mommy...I did it!
She is NOT comfortable floating on her back...the teacher called it
the gumdrop game...she's supposed to stick her tummy out,
tilt her head back and open her mouth to catch
gumdrops falling! She doesn't want a gumdrop!
BUT, she made it through!!!
Her first lesson was exciting and a great experience for Taylor, thank goodness, because we have to come back each morning for the next two weeks! The only issue I can see, is the instructor asked them to blow bubbles into the water to get their faces in the water and Taylor told her, "no thank you" notice, I did say that the teacher "asked" her if she wanted to! She just needs to tell her to do it! Anyways, we are excited to see what Taylor learns.
Thursday, Billy and I took the kids to Purina Farms. It was a wonderful day to get to spend together.
We're here!
Working the control panels at the dog food factory
to make dog food!
There's a bunch of tunnels in the barn to crawl through!
My little peanut!!
Petting the dairy cow...we all got licked with it's rough tongue too!!
Both my scrawny kids together only weigh 70 lbs!
Got to pet the piglets
Taylor's dream come true...to hold a chicken! She's never
been able to catch one, but this chicken let her pet it and hold it!
Taylor milked the cow...Blake refused!
Relaxing on the dog couch in the cat house!
The dog show was amazing! We've been to the farm before, but never stayed to watch the show...we were really missing out. These dogs, and one pot belly pig, did some awesome tricks...catching frisbees, obstacle course, and diving competitions! Some of these dogs are just shelter dogs that are setting world records...how cool is that? The trainer came out with frisbees to give away, Blake caught one of them and then, when he was down to the last one...he came all the way around the dive pool, through an entire crowd of people and handed it to Taylor! That's twice this week that people have picked her out of a crowd! I'm a braggin' Momma!
The kids with their Frisbees
rope swings in the barn
Together they can pull almost as much as a sled dog!LOL!
Billy and I got to enjoy a ride through the county on the way home, it may just have been our favorite part of the day! It reminded us of back home country roads. We saw amazing farms, and this one was close to home and FOR SALE! We've always had a dream of owning an old historical farmhouse. Blake loves fishing and hunting and Taylor's love for animals makes us wonder if we should be raising her on a farm?!?!? We've both lived on farms before, maybe again someday!
HHHMMMMMMMMMM..... (is this OUR sign???)
Did I mention that we all love Ghost Hunters too! lol!!
