Rock Band and Karaoke Night

They had a school event where everyone comes, eats food, and jams out on the Rock Band set. I was kind of hesitant about going because I wasn't sure how many big kids were gonna be there and if they would hog the Rock Band. Finally they got some order and had every kid take a turn. Chaz absolutely loves drums so he did a really great job and stayed right on. Ryan, on the other hand was more interested in chatting with the girls as you can see. He NEVER even went to the Rock Band area. Ahem... I'm gonna have a chat with him later about that. Kyle told me he was starving and begged for me to buy him a spaghetti plate with breadsticks (even though we just ate a large dinner), so I got it for him. He ate one bread stick, proclaimed he was soooo full and then walked away. Argh! I hate it when they do that. By the way, those school events are not things I really look forward to but we went because they were excited about it. I know it meant a lot to me when I was little so I wanted to go for them.

Friday Night Bible Study

Tonight was nursery duty for me during bible study. So off we went into the kids bedroom with the few little kids we had. Don't get me wrong, we picked this bible study because of the larger families that go. Mandi as 5 kids, Claudia has 5, I have 5, plus sometimes there are other kids there. So even though there are only about 3 couples that go and some single people, there are a lot of kids. LOL. The kids greatly outnumber us! There were only 7 adults there tonight but there all together we had 15 kids. LOL. So that's why we love going there. There is already such a pressure from people in general about "tying your tubes" so I like to go where I feel encourages otherwise. That children truly are a blessing from the Lord. :) Anyway, the kids and I had fun in nursery. There were lots of gigging and being silly. When we all were getting into the van, Ashley sat in my seat and I buckled her in making her think she's gonna ride next today. She was pretty serious about it too. Thinking that she was. So I grabbed a pic. Ha ha...

Meet our New High Security Dog!!!

Our new Miniature Dachshund Security Dog. He should at least keep those crickets away. Watch out, you might scare him and make him... pee.

Ivy thought it would be cute to let our scary security dog have at our Great Dane's feeding bowl. Man, he loves it. I've never seen him chow down like that.

Relaxing Night... And Dog Training Attempts

Aaaahhh... I love nights like this. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, just time with my family. Tonight I was trying to train my Great Dane how to "Lay Down". Armed with treats, I walked out (by the nice fire) and told my dog to lay down. She sat down. You see, that's the only thing I've taught her. Okay. So we are half way there. I read that in order to help them understand, you grab their front paws while they are sitting and you stretch them forward onto the ground. Well, Daisy was NOT going to have it. Guess who ended up "Laying Down"? Yeah, it was me because I fell over trying to teach and wrestle him down. I wasn't sure if I should just give myself a treat. Daisy just looked at me bewildered and walked away. After several attempts and me putting my body on the dog (she actually walked away with me still on top of her) I finally got her to lay down and give her a treat. Charles the whole time was laughing his head off while sitting in a chair instead of helping me. I'm glad there was no camcorder around.

Playful Day

Every GREAT now and then we like to just walk around the mall for no reason. (Although I did see a shirt I want for my puppy miniature dachshund. It says "Killer" on it. I'm going back to get it tomorrow. Hee hee...

I love watching the girls play together. :) It's just so sweet.

Ivy Joy. My princess! (who is right now (as I type) sneaking out of bed to go play with the little puppy. Naughty!)


You know how little girls are... they are posers! Do you know how hard it was to keep other little girls away while I was trying to take some pictures? LOL.

My little Ashley just runs to slides now since she had her first experience the other day. Now I think she is addicted. :D

"Mommy! Ashley is pulling my bow out of my hair again!"

"No, no Ashley. Leave your sister's bows alone."

No, that boy in the pic isn't mine. I have a good amount of them already. ((Chuckle))

Trunk Monkey Chaperone

Pub Suburban - Trunk Monkey - The Date @ Yahoo! Video

DDDDDanger of the Net Covered Trampoline!

Here is how Chaz had his last injury. On the trampoline. LOL. Someone told me, "well, maybe you should watch them closer". Um, yeah. I should've jumped with him on the trampoline and held his hand. He hee....

This is Chaz for you. Ever since he was little he can't just sit next to someone, he has to always lean into them and knock them over. It's a total Asperger thing. Fortunately these kids thought it was funny. :) Oh, you see the weeds? I'm trying to convince my husband that if he doesn't kill them now, we will so all be eaten by them.

Such a beautiful sky! Wow!

CPS Investigates Bruise

This has been a sad few days for me. My family has gone though, what I feel, was a huge trial. 2 weeks ago, my husband went to pick up our boys at school. He saw that there were 3 cops there. He was worried so he walked up to ask what was wrong. They were they to question my husband. Chaz, my 8 year old, had a bruise on his arm and they wanted to know why and how it got there. My husband was dumbfounded. What???? "I don't know". They asked Chaz and he didn't know. He thought maybe when he was playing swords with his brother. My husband is just so shocked and standing there. He told the cops he would never hit his son and would never put that bruise on him. The cops even said from the looks of where it was at, it couldn't have been caused by an adult. They TOOK ALL 3 of my boys out of class and questioned them along with a CPS worker. They took a picture of the bruise. The cops told Charles that they believed him because of where the bruise was. Charles was like, "This is ridiculous. Boys run around and play, hence they can get bruises. So that night, we were discussing it together after we (thought) had laid the kids down. Chaz came in ten minutes later crying because his little brother Kyle threw a little plastic chair in the dark and it bruised and scratched Chaz just above his eye. We were horrified because it was such bad timing and now, knowing those people, they were gonna blame us. Kyle was really sorry because he didn't mean to hurt Chaz so he was crying. Chaz was crying. I immediately put an ice pack above Chaz's eye. I debated what to do being he had school in the morning. I sent him in the next day since the swelling had gone down. He now just had a surface scratch. Nothing big. What do you think happened next? POLICE ARE NOW PARKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE AND WALKING TO MY FRONT DOOR. They bang really loud. I just stare out the window because I can't believe it. I open and and they ask to come inside. They said that Chaz had a scratch (a stinking surface scratch) above his eye and needed to investigate possible parental abuse. Chaz even TOLD them that it was his little brother Kyle. He even told the police at the school that his mommy and daddy NEVER hit him. They have paddled him on the butt (he even said). But never hit him. That we would never do that. The cops in my house ask a questions. Do we swat? With what? Do we ever hit? What do you think caused that bruise on his arm? We told them that we have 3 boys (and 2 girls) who love to climb, run, play, and just be boys. I would have NO idea. I consulted with my pastor (who knows my boy's well) and he gave me some advice in how to handle the situation. Even the nursery leader told me she would testify that I have some hyper boys who would always leave the nursery with at least one bruise every service!

To make long story shorter. CPS made an appointment and stopped by. The lady talked with the kids, observed them and us. Walked around looking at everything. In short, she told me she was very impressed with everything. The kids, our house, the animals... everything. She was impressed we handled it all so well and she said that it was obvious the boys loved being home and were not afraid to be here. That they have good relationship with parents. That everything is in order. She immediately CLOSED THE CASE. She told me that even though the case is closed and they didn't find anything, it will stay on our record for awhile. That if Chaz gets another bruise, the school can call, and they HAVE to come out because we have a previous record of CPS coming. Sheesh. Okay, what should I do? Should I put all my kids in football gear so they won't get hurt? I mean, 3 days before she came, Chaz sprained his knee while playing on the trampoline and is now wearing a splint and crutches. How could I have prevented that? We have a net on the trampoline. All my knives are above the fridge. My cleaners on a high shelf in closet. My medicine in a high shelf above fridge. Safety plugs in all our outlets. I mean, good grief, what more can I do? Chaz could trip tomorrow and get another bruise. If the school calls on me again, I will pull Chaz out and homeschool him. Oh, and as you can see in picture above.... my kids can be quite wild together. In that picture, they are totally just playing, but they are wrestling crazy in the van. LOL.

Beauty At The Zoo

As some of my friend's have figured out, we love the zoo. This time, armed with my newer camera, I was gonna love taking some pics. The paparazzi mom.

Kyle and Ivy on a tractor.
Ashley, my little pumpkin is on a pumpkin! LOL.

This is a favorite little hidden picnic area.

This turtle is over 100 years old!

Ivy picked me a flower. Actually, all the kids were! I finally told them that if they didn't stop, eventually the zoo wouldn't have any pretty flowers to show. :D

This is such an interesting flower. Looks like those poofy things I put in my daughter's hair.

Where's Your Mommy?

This is my friend Michele you see with the camera. She is my best friend and we tend to go everywhere together. She's the only one that knows me for "me".

We brought Scooby with us to the mall in his carrier. So cute! What a sweet little pumpkin he is.

See the boy on the left? Guess where his mommy was? We asked him and he said his mommy is at home sleeping. I wasn't sure if he was mistaken or kidding. After we waited awhile and watched all the mommies leave, we knew he was being serious. Michele reported it to security and guess what? His mommy wasn't there and he had walked all the way to the mall. Yep, that means he crossed a busy street or two to get there and play in mall. The cops think it's the same boy he walked by himself to Target. We really felt sorry for the cute little boy. Michele stayed with him till the cops came to be sure he would be safe.

A cute moment caught with Ivy Joy. I love natural pictures like this where it's not posed.

Ashley was really digging this place. It's been quite some time that I even wanted to step into a mall.

My New "Baby"

Oh guys, I got a new camera this week. I am in LOVE. It does everything. It even takes Panoramic pictures. It has a setting like this just for flowers. Taking pictures in snow, at the beach, sunsets. Just, sigh, everything. Ahhhh.... I love photography so this is huge for me. This flower, my husband got for me on our tenth anniversary which was 2 months ago. The flower stayed open like this even though it is dead. So I had to play with my "flower" setting on my camera. The detail is awesome. Be prepared for seeing odd pictures here and there. I'm just having fun playing.

Meet Scooby

It seems we rescue a lot of dogs and then find homes for them. This one is a keeper though. The last dog we rescued was a starving black and white small Chihuahua. It took me some time catching him and taking him home so I could care for him and then find him a home. Unfortunately he escaped before I could completely care for him and put some weight on him. You can tell he has had some abuse. This dog I just bought is a Miniature Dachshund. He is so precious and little! He wasn't rescued, we just were looking for a healthy small dog and I happened to pass by a sign saying they had some puppies. We are having so much fun as I have never had my own puppy. Usually every dog we have had was a rescue dog. About 90% of them. It is nice having a healthy little pup with no past issues. :) I will continue to rescue dogs though and find homes for them as I am able. I know, I'm a big sucker for animals. Ask my mom. I used to rescue little birds when I was little. :D Also, animals have always been good for kids. It's a great opportunity to teach them how to care for animals and being gentle. Oh, these are such cute pics. Ivy is pushing Scoobie in the stroller. I have to add that he loves it. He always goes to sleep when she does that. Last night Scoobie was crying and kept wanting me to hold him. I mean, he is 6 weeks old and I just took him from his mother and other puppies. So I wrapped him in a sling on me and he instantly went to sleep. That's the picture you see where he is passed out on my bed. I just took the sling off and laid him down. Ha ha!

Reunion With My Family

After being gone 10 days from my family, it was so great seeing them all again. I kept them out of school that day so we could all spend some time together. We headed to the zoo since it's our favorite place. We ran into the new rock climbing wall so the kids loooooved that! You know kids and climbing! LOL. This last study was a total blessing for our family and God has totally provided. There has always been a way. Whether it's doing side jobs here or selling some of the chickens I raised up, or other opportunities. Economic times may be tough but I serve a big God! :D