March Happenings...

We had lots of friends over, lots of playing with Bandit, dressed in green on St. Patrick's Day (one even did neon green hair...hint hint...Blake) 

Easter gathering at Aunt Juanita's

We headed for the lake on Easter morning, Billy couldn't help but take us by his favorite hunting camping spot in the Danville conservation area...it is soooo in the woods, but at least it has an out house at the top of the mountain..lol!

                            

We got to see Allison and Andrew and most all of Billy's Mom's side of the family. It was so good to get to catch up with them! Since it was a nasty rainy kind of day, we mostly had to stay inside and kids barely got to do an egg hunt. But...the egg hunt that they did have was amazing and ginormous! It was the most eggs I have seen at a home ever! Kids were collecting more than they could even carry..lol! Taylor had a blast. Blake is feeling too old to do any of that stuff, I can see him growing up and in that "in between" age where you feel too babyish to do the kid stuff but still too young to pipe in with to much of the adult conversation. He is sweet and will converse but doesn't enjoy just talking for hours like us adults do. Anyways, we stayed long enough to catch up with everyone and then headed back home to our Sophie pup. Taylor said it was the best Easter ever. :)

Easter Traditions

The day before Easter, we finally had a chance to color some eggs. Taylor also wanted plant some jelly beans to see if it would grow into a Reese's peanut butter candies carrot...lol! Turns out, she thought it was too "far fetched" to consider it actually growing into the candy filled carrot overnight, so she just asked the Easter Bunny to replace the jelly beans with the Reese's candy. She is too silly! But it worked! This year we planned to go to Aunt Juanita's and Uncle Lloyd's for a family Easter gathering, so we got up really early to do our Easter Bunny routine first. Kids were surprised with goodies and candies and then went out to hunt some Easter eggs for more goodies.

One Door Shuts...

So, today Billy's position at his job has been eliminated after 10 years of being employed there. This is no big surprise to us, we have been expecting this, and have tried to save money. Normally, since I am the worrier of the family, I should be stressing, but I'm not. I have been known to lose sleep over whether we will need to take money out of savings to cover bills etc...we will be living on our savings and I'm sleeping fine...this is a God thing. Billy has hated this job for years now and would not take the leap to leave on his own, without that door being shut! Well, the door has been shut and we are excited to see what new doors of opportunity open. Every time a seed of doubt or worry enter my mind, I repeat, "Thank you Father, for this struggle. We are thankful for waking up to face the day, we are thankful for our health, we are thankful that we have each other. Thank you Father for your provisions and for all you have done for us. Amen" Immediately after, I feel better. I do this often! And everything will be alright! We have faith that things will work out to be the best they can be for our family. God is good, even through struggles.

Letting Bandit Go

So it's been a little over three months since we brought this little bundle of fur and whiskers home to surprise Taylor with. We love his little attitude, he is the cutest fur ball we could imagine. He comes running for his food, he loves to get wild, and enjoys sleeping at the top of his new cat tree. We have learned so much about kitties, and love him to pieces...that is why we have to let him go.

We have tried repeatedly, for over 3 months, to get he and Sophie acclimated to one another. This dog has lived over 7 years, being an only pet. Sophie has been raised to think that chasing away the little long-tailed squirrels is her main job, apparently Bandit reminds her of a squirrel. She stares at him with intent to do "something", we really don't know if it's intent to vigorously check Bandit out, or intent to chase away & possibly destroy Bandit. And he is too darn cute to take the chance to find out. Taylor has been such a mature cat Mama through this...she understands that both Bandit and Sophie deserve better than having to take turns being locked up, especially with a chance that Bandit could get hurt, so we have decided to let him go live with cousin Amanda.  She moved out on her own, to go to college and has been really lonely. She is a cat person and has been hoping for a cat to keep her company. We will miss him, but this little fur ball is going to have the best new Mom, we know she will love him and take good care of him, Aunt Regina and Uncle Wayne came to pack him and all his goodies up. They were packed with not an inch to spare, headed to Kentucky. Bye Bandit Key Key.