The Ellie list

Ruby's good friend from California set a goal to give up french fries for a full year as a goal. She did it!!! Her parents asked her what she wanted as a reward for successfully completing her goal and she said she wanted to visit Ruby in Oregon.   Ruby was thrilled, and started working on "The Ellie list" of of all the things they needed to do when she was arrived.  To be honest, I was equally as thrilled. Ellie's Mom Nicole is one of my dearest friends, so I could not wait to see them.

Over the weekend the girls literally did EVERYTHING on the list, plus some. 

They made matching bracelets at the bead store

We had ice cream... everyday

They even made us a yummy breakfast

They had plenty of alone time and were in heaven. Ruby was a little too obsessed with alone time with Ellie, it caused a few fights and tears with her sisters. 

Ellie's little brother Fletcher was too cute. A baby in a house full of girls is definitely loved. We kept calling Fletcher, Asher... his older brothers name, so we finally just started calling him Frito and it stuck.  He was so stinking cute. (His hand is wrapped because he had a run in with a large can of pineapple juice and the tendon in his finger was cut.)

Ellie (and family) we love you guys!!!!

(We wish you still lived just down the street)

Discipline

I have started copying my friend that has her children write sentences as punishment. Overall I think it's a brilliant idea and is working well. Ruby however disagrees.  I found it very funny that after writing that she will speak kindly to her family 25 times she expresses her less then kind feelings in writing.  At least she was obedient and did not speak them directly to me.

How do you move a zoo?

Like this...

We have been busy moving into the new house. I had to laugh when Eric pulled up with a load full of just animals! In this one trip he brought up a guinea pig, 2 rats, 3 chinchillas, 1 hamster, 9 chickens and 2 dogs.
Everyone survived the move. We are just trying to get settled in and empty those last few boxes (that I am avoiding).

I can't wait to post photos of the new house, I love it!  

Mormon Prom

Cheyenne was really excited to go to our "Mormon prom".  It's not really a prom it's more like a regular dance that you get to wear modest prom dresses to. We went shopping to find a dress for Cheyenne. She seriously tried on about 15 dresses.

Luckily she had her friend Mariah there to help her pick a dress. Cheyenne was in heaven with Mariah and I both there bringing her dresses and helping her out.

This was the night of the dance, Cheyenne looked beautiful and you could tell she felt beautiful because she was so confident and happy.

Ruby's 1st lesson

Ruby has always liked horses, but after a one hour lesson Ruby has become obsessed with horses. She googles "horses for sale in Oregon" and eventually found one nearby that she was really excited about because it was only $125. I looked at the site and explained that it was $125,000.00. I tried and tried to explain that a horse is not like a $6 rat that you pick up at the pet store.  I explained how you need a truck and trailer, tack for the horse and a barn. She said "Dad can totally build a barn... in like 2 days!"... While that may be true, I told her that we will still NEVER buy a horse.

This completely devastated Ruby. So to avoid any long term damage requiring therapy, I said if she saves up her own money for a horse we will help her with the barn.

I really hope this horse obsession passes quickly.

Mother's Day

I saw this tree a few weeks ago and I became obsessed.  I did not even know what kind of tree it was, but I would point them out every time we drove past one.  I guess it became a little out of control because my girls would say "you missed that one" if I failed to point out a dogwood tree as we drove past.

Yesterday for Mother's day my cute family surprised me with my own dogwood tree so I can stop coveting others.  I am so excited to be able to plant such a cool tree on our new property.

Eric worked hard and got it all planted in the ground, but the other girls just looked for lizards and photo ops.

This morning in my bedroom I found this super cool scarf that Haley crocheted for me.  The poem she included with it made me seriously crack up.

Red: You rule!
Orange: Just like orange comes second in the rainbow, you come second in are family!
Yellow: You shine
Green: You love basil
Blue: Don't be a fool, you rule!
Purple: Your like lavender good dried (old) or fresh (young)
Haley

Ruby made me a bracelet and Cheyenne and Lucy made really cute cards. What a great Mother's day!

Gym purple

Lucy was promoted again this time to gym purple. The coaches call her muscles. They say they can't believe how strong and coordinated she is.

The coop

I can't believe how many posts I have done about our chickens!!!
We are just having too much fun with them.

Anyway, I realized I never posted a photo of the completed coop.
So here is it.

Magic

Our friends told my kids that it's possible to get a chicken to sleep on it's back. This afternoon after church Ruby officially became the chicken whisperer.  She can get them to relax and lay totally still on their backs. Some even fall asleep- it's crazy!

They look dead, but they are not. She just calms them down and rubs their bellies until they get totally relaxed then lays them in the grass and they stay there.  She was pretty impressed with her new skill.

Accomplished chicken whisperer... there's one more thing she can add to her college application.