Daddy''s little girl!

What a girl we have! She said to me this morning "Look at the geese mommy". So I look out the window and there are a ton of them in the empty lot behind us. We head out back to get a closer look and the first thing Frances says is..."can we shoot em'?"

I stopped counting at 50!

Imagination...

The reason for the title of this post is that you will have to use your imagination. It has come time for me to update my blog and I don't have any, no not any, current pictures to post!

So...Here is what is going on at our house. We put the boat in the water last night and, despite the low water levels, we had a wonderful time! The water temp was great (even I got in!) and there were very few other boats to ripple up the mirror smooth water. We had some fun swimming as a family before we were joined by another family for watersports. As soon as our friends got in the boat Mitch was ready to get out! When Mitch got in to get his wakeboard on, Frances jumped in to swim. There was no getting her back in the boat! So...she went wakeboarding, again! She is really enjoying that sport! Mitch has just held her both times but this time she actually got to "hold" the rope and they went outside the wake! What a big girl!

Once it was Mitch's turn...he had some really great runs. He jumped so high and did some neat tricks that he has been trying to improve on. He also landed a flip that looked great! Despite all the fun he had he is one sore guy this morning! He had one wipeout that gave him whiplash. Do you think it knocked any sense into him? We will see, as of right now our plan is to go out again tonight!

A new friend

Today Frances was playing with one of her many stuffed animals. This particular dog often goes by the name of Chief (from the Fox and the Hound). For whatever reason she has been calling him Kreeffy. I have no idea where that name came from but it is pretty creative. I love watching her be imaginative! Here she is playing with Kreeffy and some others in the doll pack and play!

Stormy Night

Well, we finally got some rain tonight! Mitch and I were in the kitchen after dinner making salsa. We have so many tomatoes that it is hard to keep up as we only make it fresh (no canning). Meanwhile...Frances was playing in the living room and decided to open the sliding door out to the back. It was lightning and thundering in the distance and Mya saw this as an opportunity to seek refuge (she is not normally allowed in the house). Frances thought it was really fun that Mya came into the house. She had a playmate! Mya seemed to think we hadn't noticed and tried to sit really still so we wouldn't see her. She even stayed on the rug in front of the door.

Frances told Mya "I will read you a story". Of course, now I can say that even my dog loves Usborne Books! :)

Then Frances took her stuffed doggie named Copper and the three of them watched the storm. They also shared a snack of pretzels. I think Frances has made a friend for life, shelter from the rain, stories, good company and snacks!

Needless to say, we got our salsa made with very few interuptions!

Finally!

Well, we tried something new last night. I told Mitch I was going to put a baby gate in Frances' room just inside the door. That way she couldn't open the door and holler down the hallway "whacha wachin"? Bedtime has been quite a challenge since she moved to a big girl bed. Funny thing is...she never even said anything about the sudden appearance of the gate! Mitch thought he heard her say something after I put her to bed but she never cried or hollered for anything! We actually got to enjoy the evening! I sure hope it works again tonight!

Go Colts!

Well, Frances is all geared up for the Colts to play the Bears tonight. We realize that the preseason is not the Colts' best playing platform but hopefully it will be a good game! We had a church picnic last night with face painting! Frances got a horseshoe with a ladybug in the middle. Sweet but tough! She has wanted to wear her jersey a lot lately too! What a girl!

Frances Visits the Dentist!

Today was Frances' first dentist appointment! It went really well. When we checked in they told us that the dentist would just look at her teeth and brush them right there in the little office we were in, kind of like a triage office. I told them how we have been reading "Going to the Dentist" and preparing for this trip for a couple of weeks. They said we could give the big chair a try then.

She hopped right up there! They had her wear sunglasses so the light wasn't so bright. There was a flat screen tv right above her playing "Finding Nemo". They brushed her teeth with flouride and some other vitamin stuff. She didn't like the second one as well, it was marshmallow flavor! Yuck! Then the dentist came in and counted her teeth. She has all 20 baby teeth and no cavities! Yeah! That was it! What a success!

Drying up

Well, summer is almost over! Our lake is drying up do to the drought this year! Here are some pictures of the cove where we keep our boat. There is about two inches of water under our lift but it is just trapped water. The cove is actually pretty dry.


Our friend Cord's boat is stuck up on his lift!

Luckily we have some other friends with an empty lift that is out in the deeper part of the lake. Thanks Brad and Sarah! We currently have our boat on their lift and are able to use the boat whenever we can fit it in. Since the lake is so low, there are not many people out anymore! That means more smooth water for Mitch! His parents were in town this week and he took Frances wakeboarding! She really liked it. Of course, Mitch wanted her to get back in the boat so he could have a "real" turn, she wanted to go again!

State Fair

We went to the fair on Sunday with our friends the Jewell's. It was a good time despite the HOT weather! Here are a few pictures!

Frances liked drinking out of this fountain!


Thanks to the trip to Mike and Lisa's to see the new pony, Frances is no longer afraid to feed animals! She really enjoyed feeding the goats.


Frances and Brayden went through the Pioneer Village and got to be farmers! They enjoyed picking apples, collecting eggs, and milking the cow. Frances thought it was funny to squirt people with the cows "milk", which was really just water. She thought it was just like the widow feeding baby Todd in her favorite movie, The Fox and the Hound!

technicality

So Frances is on day four of no movies. We are trying to get a hold of her bad bedtime habits and have told her that if she doesn't stay in her bed she doesn't get to watch movies the next day. Do tv shows count as movies? I might end up caving! It is hard to say no when she is being really good during the day and who can say no to this face??????

Dress Up

Frances came out of her room the other day looking like this...

She is really into playing dress up lately! Notice the dark circles under her eyes? That is not from lack of sleep (although that is an issue). Before coming out to show me her beautiful outfit...she went into my bathroom and "painted her eyes".

Great Discovery

So this morning I was being a dutiful wife and mowing the lawn. While doing so I came to the realization of why I have not fully mastered child rearing AND House wife duties since becoming a stay at home mom. Up until this time I have thought of myself as the nanny. Therefore, when Frances was sleeping or entertained by a movies I felt entitled to play on the computer, read, or sneak into the kitchen to eat something sinful. It dawned on me this morning that as the "Homemaker" I am supposed to use that time to get my "work" done so that I can then entertain my spouse in the evening (or entertain the child so the spouse can rest). Silly me!

I thought I would share this new thought with all my other friends that stay home. I wonder what my husband would think about this? :)

Update!

Hello Everyone! I am sorry I haven't update in awhile. I still don't have the time to do it right but I wanted to let everyone know the latest at our house.

Zachary has returned to live with his mother and sisters. It is a good thing! We saw him briefly on Saturday (he went home the previous Friday so it had been a week) and he seemed really happy. Frances appears to have adjusted just fine as well. She was more interested in his mother's cat than in him. She also has not mentioned him other than a couple of brief times. She was concerned that I forgot to pick him up from his visit. I just explained that he was not visiting and that he was going to live with her now. Pretty simple!

Other than that...Mitch has tomatos coming in tomorrow so pack has officially begun! Hopefully it is not too stressfull of a season. I am keeping really busy with Usborne so far this month and loving it! We are getting ready for mass salsa production as our tomoatos are turning red. I made a batch tonight and it was great!

That is all. I will work on updating some pictures soon!