Christmas morning 2011

Our crazy little Christmas elf on Christmas morning... HAHAHA!Santa brought her just what she asked for and some stuff she didn't even know she wanted... like new cars and some Lightnin McQueen slippers!

Beans enjoyed her Christmas bone.

Leah has already worn out her dry erase markers in the few short weeks since Christmas.

I just liked this smug look on her face...And this silly face she is making singing "Mary, did you know?" after her bath on Christmas. That is some serious nostril flaring! This year at Christmas I found myself singing that song often. Can you imagine kissing the face of the baby Jesus? Can you imagine being given the responsibility of parenting the only son of God? The notion of that song hit me a little more squarely this year than ever before. One thing I definitely took away from this Christmas season was a deeper understanding of the humanness of Jesus. He was fully divine, equal to God the Father. Yet he was, for a time, as fully human as me. While I don't know how that was accomplished, I feel like I better understand just one of the reasons why.

He was no stranger to living around sin and corruption. He endured temptations just as each of us do. And he made choice after perfect choice that aligned with the will of God the Father. Denying his flesh. Fulfilling his purpose. Building his kingdom. And all the time he was doing it so that he could identify with us! So that we might believe him when he says to us "I know what you are going through...you can do this!" Its so sweet. Its so compassionate. Its so simple.

Give an inch

They take a mile! Kevin thought it would be ok to get Beans' very own blanket and let her up on the couch again... I think it started when she injured her foot during the first week of duck season this year. However, she doesn't think she needs her special dog blanket anymore. If you leave her unsupervised for any length of time... This is where you can now find her!



- Posted from my iPhone

Com Post

My husband did the unthinkable! Something I thought he'd never do in a million years! He bought me my very own COMPOST MIXER for Christmas! I was so excited! And I think its awesome that he knew I would love it. :) Not all girls would be as excited about this.

I've been talking for a while about planting a vegetable garden in our backyard. We just got a new fence that will hopefully keep the ZILLIONS of rabbits in our neighborhood out of our yard. So now the digging and planting can begin! And hopefully the homemade fertilizer will be ready pretty soon!

Here she is! We put her together about 4 weeks ago.

Then I had to learn how to make compost! The brown/green ratio should be at least 2:1 and not more than 3:1.

Brown: All we had was leaves and twigs in the yard
Green: Kitchen scraps (guts of a spaghetti squash, carrot peel, old celery, egg shells etc...)

I want my first batch to be completely unadulterated, organic compost. So only organic scraps.

I went out to add some more scraps one day when we had all the snow and ice, and the mixer (plus all the compost inside) was frozen solid. I couldn't turn it or open it. Freezing temps are not good for the decomposition process. So my 4-6 week project will probably take double the time since we are just now getting a little sunshine and warmer temps. Just for cuteness sake... Leah calls it "Mommy's Compost" and she desperately tries to turn the handle on it, but it's too heavy. She will be helping me spread it on our "crops" this spring and summer though! I can't wait to get good and dirty!!!

I checked on it this week, and the contents are now nice and black like they should be, but everything is still recognizable. I'll take some more pictures of it soon. I know you can't wait!!!

I was slightly disheartened by the fact that the instructions that came with the mixer warned against putting dog, cat or human feces into your compost. Some things just don't need to be said, right?!? Though I guess it could be a little confusing since you CAN add the waste of vegetarian animals like chickens and cows. But I don't have much of that lying around.

I hope you enjoyed my compost post! Happy March!

(If you haven't voted for my sister's sheep yet, make sure you read the previous post and go vote! The voting ends today, March 1!)

I know I know... its January 16th

But I do hate it when the Christmas season is over, so I was looking at some pictures just now and saw some of the funny outtakes from our attempt at this year's Christmas card photo. I love these girls!

Beah-n-Leah

Cute - 12/2009

Double Cute - 12/2010
Look at that grey beard!
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Leah usually helps me feed Beans and give her her medicine too. Beans has a weak urinary sphincter and takes medicine for it twice a day to keep from dribbling on our carpet. More than you wanted to know? Well she also takes an Omega-3 daily for her allergies and ear health. Beans takes more medicine than anyone else in our family. (I didn't mention the regular heart worm, flea, tick, mosquito preventatives.) I guffawed at the idea of pet insurance when Beans was a baby. I actually poked fun at people who would do such a thing. Now I don't even want to think about how much money we would have saved over the last 5 years if we'd just done it. A small fortune in doggie medication alone!

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Lately, Leah has taken to holding the dog's tail while she eats. Not sure why she does it, but I am amused.

oh-possom... why did you come back?

Friday night Leah and I got home from visiting with friends just about her bedtime. (Kevin was out of town doing a little hunting.) When we got out of the car we heard Beans barking in the backyard, which is very unusual. Whining would not be strange, but barking, almost NEVER happens... except for when there is a rabbit or a cat (or worse) in the backyard. I knew what it was instinctively. I grabbed the flashlight and walked carefully (Leah up in my arms) around the side of the yard to shine the light on Beans.


Before I even turned the flashlight on... I saw it... the round shape atop the fence was back-lit, but I knew for sure what it was... Yes... there was a nasty (o)possum having a staring contest with Beans from it's perch high up on the fence. It was just in front of the gated dog-run area, Bean Arena. Beans stopped barking and just stared. None of us moved for what seemed like ages. My adrenaline was pumping like crazy...

(If you haven't been a reader of our blog since the beginning, you may not know of my hatred for these creatures. So be my guest and read all about it here.)

My pulse quickened when I turned on the flashlight and it shone on the 2 foot long rat tail hanging down the fence. But the rodent didn't move even then. So I did what made sense to me... I yelled at it. And then I banged on the fence (from at least 15 yards away.) All I wanted to do was get Beans out of Bean Arena and go inside away from the overgrown rat. But there it was... right between us... threatening to pounce if I dared walk by.

Leah and I retreated into the house where I began to run around like a lunatic. I am 100% sure that in 30 years when her therapist asks about her earliest memories, she will say "I remember it was dark and my mom look wild-eyed as she paced around the house turning off lights and opening blinds yelling through the windows to 'GET OFF MY FENCE!'"

Just as a quick side note.... I'm actually pretty calm and collected under pressure... unless the pressure is from giant rodents or a particular detestable insect. During those times, I probably need to be medicated. No, not probably...

Anyway, the only view I can get of this thing is out Leah's bedroom window so there we are, almost 9 pm now as we stare together out the window at the possum that taunts our Baby Beans. Kevin finally calls me back after I'd left a couple of messages for him. I explain the situation and he helpfully suggests that I "just walk by" the rodent-of-unusual-size and get Beans. I say something like, "Thank you for that suggestion. I hadn't thought of it. However, I probably will not. Where is the pellet gun?" (I'm just summarizing, you see, the adrenaline has clouded out the actual words spoken here.)

Beans begins to bark again. Leah says "Beans bark! Oooooh! Off.Fence.Possom!" I say, "That's right Leah, you tell that possum to get the HECK OFF OUR FENCE!" She giggles and goes back to staring at the possum and then follows me around the house as I make my next moves. Kevin is driving in the middle of no-where so his phone is breaking up and now he's calling me and texting me with 2-3 word helps at a time. Finally he says... "Don't get a gun, call one of the neighbors."

I call the neighbor that shares the fence in question and explain my situation asking them if they can try to help me shew the possum away from their side. They inform me that Beans had been barking a LONG time before we got home and that when they realized the problem they began pelting the critter with ice cubes to try and scare it off. So, for more than an hour now this thing has just been getting madder and madder at humans... EVEN BETTER!

I was on the phone with another friend about this time and she suggests I throw an apple at it. My neighbor thought this was a good idea too... along with trying to lure the critter away with an open can of tuna in the front yard. I discouraged feeding the evil pest and continued, at my friend's suggestion, to find something to throw at it. Looking back now I'm glad I didn't throw the apple because I would have most definitely overthrown due to the rush I was experiencing and the stray apple in the neighbor's yard would have attracted even more vermin to our yards. I did throw some dog toys at the fence below it... spiking it on the tail once and getting the heebie-geebies all over when I made it turn around... Uggg... now its headed at me and not Beans! Back inside...

Leah and I take up our post in her bedroom window again with the phones and flashlights. Buckets of ice seem to be coming over our fence now... the neighbors are trying to stone the thing to death I guess. Now back on the phone with Kevin he suggests we try to "scare it away" from the front yard. I guess he thought if we went to the front yard and made alot of racket it would run towards the back and get lost. He says to me "It's just scared to death... it's trapped between y'all and Beans and can't get away." Now... whether this is true or not... this is not what I need to hear right now.

I go back in the backyard and see if I can come up with a strategic frontal attack... And now I'm having some moments of weakness. I am now SYMPATHIZING with the creature that might just be scared to death sitting on top of our fence post trying to get away. I really did begin to feel sorry for it... which didn't help the situation that was quickly heating up. I hear a strange noise... sounds like a bicycle pump... no... the neighbor says through the fence, "I borrowed a pellet gun." He's getting ready to shoot this animal that I all of the sudden have feelings of compassion for... THANKS KEVIN!

It was a clean head shot, though when it fell INTO MY SIDE OF THE YARD it took a few steps in attempt to escape before curling up and dying... right in the path that I need to walk through to get Beans... I mean smack dab in the middle of a 3 foot wide path that leads to Bean Arena. "It's dead... just walk by it" you say?? IT IS A POSSUM!!! THEY ARE MASTERS OF THE ART OF "PLAYING POSSUM!" How do I know its really dead? I'm going crazy here. Back we go to the post in Leah's room where I can keep an eye on the "dead" creature... which I now feel so very sorry for... and I'm wondering if she was a momma possum and are her baby possums going to be ok without her!?!? Oh Kevin is in BIG trouble for this.

The overgrown rodent is sort of curled up on its side... very still... very dead. I wait a few minutes more and then I tell Leah to come wait for mommy at the screen door to the back yard. I'm gonna go get Beans. As I sneak by it, moving ever-so-slowly, I notice the giant rat tail coiled up like a cinnamon roll. I almost cry, I almost throw up... all at the same time. I get to Beans and open her gate, now having to control an 80 lb, over-stimulated puppy and keep her from getting too close to this thing as we go back by it again.

We made it. As we came in the door, Leah was saying "GO WAY POSSUM!" I notified all parties who'd been involved of the final outcome. The next morning the animal control "lady" came by and picked it up in a black trash bag. I told Kevin I was really surprised by the trash bag... I expected something more official.

Most of my compassion for the critter has now worn off. Leah continues to wake up every morning talking about the possum on her fence. I am exceedingly careful outside in the dark now, in case there are hungry possom babies looking for their mama, I don't want to be caught off gaurd.

Here is a picture of some possum hair on our fence. It was an impressive 2.5 hours spent in one position.

And here is a picture of the bloody crime scene after the body had been taken away. R.I.P.

World's Happiest Dog

The Year of the Hunt

With twinkling eyes, Kevin informed me the other day that "This is the year of the hunt!" And the year is already in full swing. Dozens of dove lost their lives this labor day weekend in Hood and Concho counties... as Kevin was 1 bird short of getting his limit for 4 days of hunting.

But today seems like it may already be a highlight of the season. Kevin and Beans left the house at 4:45 this morning for opening day of the early teal season, which lasts for about 2 weeks in the middle of September. Each hunter can shoot 4 Blue or Green Winged Teal ducks each day of the early season. And they did. (Blue was the color of the day.) Beans was the only dog this morning and she happily fetched up all the birds for the hunters, once even getting 3 from the water at a time! Kevin has never been more proud of her. She LOVES to hunt!! (I wonder if his other little girl will love it as much? He just asked me if I thought Leah would be ready to go with him next year.) The date says 9/10 but it was really this morning.

These guys have been known to do a little Sunday-morning-pre-church-duck-hunting (only occasionally "losing track of time" and staying too long so that they miss church and have the opportunity to dine on a particular lumberjack breakfast not far from the pond) They have even had the occasional pre-work-weekday-hunting experience.

I'll not be able to re-tell the tale of the morning's hunt with as much exuberance as I just heard it told, but the pictures are worth a glance. If you see Kevin any time soon, you can be sure you'll hear the story firsthand. Thanks for the pictures Keith!

still life

Finally got a new camera for my birthday! Which was a couple of weeks ago, but I'm out of the groove after being without a camera for so long... I forget I have it so I forget to take it with me, or forget to use it, and then forget to upload the pics! Anyway, I just had to post a quick pic of the girls! Leah is 15 months old!!! And Beans is never far away, as there are always crumbs to be cleaned up, under the high chair, in the kitchen, or on the baby. Looks like she's just finishing something savory!

I can't tell you how unusual a picture like this is lately. All I seem to get these days is the back of her head. She is not at all interested in standing still for ANYTHING or in smiling for the camera. But I did get a sweet, still face for 0.25 seconds so I thought I'd share.

And they call it... ducky love

We went to our neighborhood park to do some playing, swinging, lunching and feeding the ducks. (Spring is here people... Leah witnessed her first discovery channel moment with a pair of mallards... by the way, is it the least bit fair that the female duck has to be under water the whole time??)

Leah had her first Chicken McNuggets!!! Can it be?

Beans, Beans she's good for your heart...

Happy Birthday Beans! She's 4 years old today and got to do quite a bit of frolicking in the snow. She thought it was the best birthday ever. You know originally we wanted to have Leah on 2/12... so both our babies would have the same birthday, and since we got to schedule Leah's arrival... it was tempting. But when it came down to it, Kevin didn't want Beans to get short-changed by having to share her birthday.

We went to say goodbye to Daddy this morning. We were so glad he randomly parked in the front of the house last night. We were the only people outside in our own little winter wonderland this morning.

A few attempts at having her sit for a photo op. And then what she really wanted... more frolicking. She usually isn't allowed to cross the street, but today you couldn't even tell where the street was! This was yesterday afternoon in the backyard.And this morning...No need to be jealous of all my friends in the northeast anymore!

Last thing. This clip is from a week or two ago. For a while Leah has been showing her affection to Beans by leaning over and pressing her forehead to her and saying "mmmmmm" and giving a few good pats. But the busier she gets... the less time she has to show affection.

Let 2010 Begin

I know its February and no one cares about New Years anymore, but I just have to get it done. I've been feeling so inadequate in the blogging arena.

We spent New Year's with some good friends. We only had to travel about an hour away, but we packed up what seemed like our entire house and spent the night in one of their extra bedrooms. All 4 of us. Yes, you heard right, we took Beans too. Our friends have two of Bean's sisters... and they invited Beans to come too. How lovely!

What we all forgot was, while those other dogs just hang out in the back yard doing dog-things, Beans spends all her time pouting on the opposite side of the yard from her sisters, wondering why she has been relegated to the backyard with these ANIMALS... or whining at the back door waiting for someone to let her into the house with the other humans.

We had such a great time though! Side note -- Leah started clapping on New Year's Day! I was so excited. I'd been trying to get her to clap for months! And out of nowhere it came. Now she claps when you ask her to, when she's excited, when she sees someone else clap OR when she's TICKED OFF! She puts her mad face on throws a little clapping fit! Oh my! I have to try REALLY hard to keep from laughing. (She also cut her two front teeth that weekend.... :( Ouch... Those are biggies...)

Anyway, that night we put Leah to bed in her portable crib in our room and we played some games. But another thing we had not considered was sleeping all together in the same room. Beans hasn't slept in our room since we brought that crying baby home from the hospital almost a year ago. (Leah woke her up every 3-4 hours and she was SO over it after a few nights. She found a new spot in a chair by the front door.) Then Leah moved out of our room back in April or May. So we've had relatively peaceful sleeping arrangements ever since....

...Until that night when Beans' tail thump thump THUMPing on the crib woke Leah up.... Then once they fell back asleep Beans' whooping and sleep-growling woke me up. And Kevin got up about 4 am to go hunting which woke us ALL up again. :) It's the stuff memories are made of!


So since then Leah has been VERY busy...
doing puzzles...
learning about barnyard animals and their sounds...

"That heifer has to be around here somewhere!"

She's been talking up a storm... she says Mama, Daddy, Duck, Doggie, Stopper, Apple, Bottle, Moo, Bye-Bye, Hello and more! But let me translate a few things for you in case you run into her sometime and don't quite understand her language...

apple = bapple bapple bapple

stopper (pacifier) = toppa or boppa

doggie = docky

bottle =bobble

moo = ummMMm

thank you = nnn-que

'

She's never actually said "hello" but she puts the phone to the back of her head (no, not her ear...) and says "woh?" and today I'm pretty sure she said "heh-woh?" And after her bath every night, I say "bye bye bathwater" as we watch and listen to the water go down the drain. And she says "bah bah ba-wa-wa." She talks ALOT but mostly we haven't the foggiest idea what she's saying. But we know she's serious about whatever it is.

Her Great-Grannie brought this tiger over that used to be Kevin's when he was little. She stays very busy moving the tiger's hat back and forth across the room, filling it with blocks, putting it on her head, putting it on my head, putting it in a chair and starting all over again.

It's gonna be a busy year!

a little curley Christmas

Just gonna tickle the ivories a bit... maybe a Christmas carol...

Is this real candy??

Who is this? WoooooooOOOOOooooooooo!

I like him!

I love his stache! What a cutie pie!

We tried to do an inexpensive photo shoot with baby and dog... Not successful. I swear this was the ONLY day in her life she wouldn't crack a smile!! She usually giggles all the day long. But her looks are priceless....

It was a bust. The place we went says they photograph pets.... which is partly why I picked them. But I guess they mean they will take a picture of your dog if you bring it in... they don't help you much or do anything special; no tricks or special handling of animals or even any interesting props that an excitable 80 lb Labrador might find amusing.

The photographer I initially wanted to use does have all those special skills and shoots BEAUTIFUL portraits of children and their pets.... and she charges $400 for her sitting fee alone! I guess you do get what you pay for, but I'd rather have a funny story to tell and 400 bucks in my pocket.