Lucy's 10th birthday!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Lucy that is 10 years old today.
DOUBLE DIGETS!!!!

She wanted to take friends to go see the new Monster's Inc movie so we did.

Such a cute group of girls. They we just laughing and giggeling.

And eating monsters!

Keaton's accident

We been raising children for 15 years now and never have any of them broken a bone until now. Our little 20 month Keaton broke his tibia on the trampoline. As sad as this has been, I keep thinking that this was a huge blessing.

Everyone adores Keeter, but Lucy is especially obsessed with him. She plays with him all the time and he adores her. Keaton will try to follow in whatever she is doing or try to repeat what she is saying. Lucy is also obsessed with gymnastics and the trampoline. She loves doing flips and round offs and bouncing all day long. Keaton wants to be on the trampoline with her but most of the time he just gets to watch her from the patio door. We have explained to Lucy over and over that bouncing Keaton too high could cause serious injuries.

When the accident happened Lucy was standing up holding his hand bouncing softly. She let go of his hand and threw herself backwards and bounced on her back. This was essentially causing Keaton to be double bounced and threw him up really high and he came down with his legs crossed and the weight of his body landing on the bottom leg. 

For such an active little guy that loves to run and be outside, having his movement restricted so drastically has been really frustrating for him. He is not really old enough to understand what happened or articulate his frustrations. Luckily he only has to wear a cast for 4 weeks because babies heal so quickly.

Why do I view this as a HUGE blessing for Keaton and Lucy? Because luckily he ONLY broke his leg, and he will only be restricted for 4 weeks. He could have just as easily landed a little further forward, broke his neck and been in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As painful as this has been for Lucy, she learned a HUGE lesson about her actions and consiquences . The torture of seeing her brother struggle for a few weeks is nothing compared to what it could have been. 

So thankful for these blessings!

Happy Father's day!

We could not ask for a better dad, seriously he is amazing!

Not only is he patient and kind, forgiving and willing to sacrifice anything for us, but he is hilarious and has such great style :)

Big Eric and little Eric

We LOVE you!

Haley's new whippet Paisley

As we were driving home from our last dog show Haley was in the car looking up whippets on her phone. She informed me that she wanted her own whippet. She was tired of going to the shows watching everyone else show and have whippets and she just has to stand there holding leashes for people. She said that she wanted her own whippet. 

(deep breath)

I tried to blow it off and explain that she doesn't have the time for a dog. I tried several other reasons it would not work out and she continued to shut me down. I quickly realized that she was probably going to get one and that brought several problems to mind. First, I wanted to make sure that she got a Starline whippet because of their quality and temperament. Second, Eric has said that we have a 3 dog maximum at our house so one of our dogs would have to go to a new home. Third, dog showing was Ruby's deal first so we had to set up boundries and draft a contract that both girls would be comfortable with. Fourth, she had to pay for her own dog... and they are not cheep.

In the meantime I texted Jaime (Penelope's breeder) and asked if she knew of any Starline puppies available. She quickly texted back that they were looking for a home for Lalique (Lala). She had previously been sold to another breeder with Chinese Chins and the placement was not working out because Lala viewed the Chins as play toys.

After a couple of months, tons of phone calls, text messages and Haley digging irrigation ditches to earn enough money, we signed the contract to purchase Lala. The only problem was I had to fly to the Seattle area to pick her up from a show. So I did.

She seemed really sad to leave her Starline family with a total stranger, get in a car for an hour then take two different flights. I don't know if she was just terrified, but she was so well behaved and sweet I could not believe it.

She slept under my feet on both airplane rides. Never fussed at all.

When we got home and she was soooo happy to see another whippet. It was like they were twins separated at birth that had just been reunited.

Haley was in heaven, but it took a day for Lala (renamed Paisley) to fall in love with Haley. 

Babysitting

Keaton was pushed into Haley's room with this taped to his back.

It must have been a doozie to offer $10!

Say WHAT?

"We need more Nutella" Ruby

"We don't need more Nutella, it's just bootie filler." Me

"I don't think so because your bum is big and you never eat Nutella... my bum is little and I eat it all the time." Lucy

Say WHAT?

"I'm just not a nature girl...

 I prefer trees as books or toilet paper."

Haley 

Just like his Dad

The egg hunt!

We could not have asked for better weather, it was absolutely beautiful!

Our yard was a big ant hill covered with tons of children ferociously searching for sugar, it was awesome.

Afterwards we got to hang out, enjoy the beautiful weather...

...and EAT!

Getting ready for easter

We died Easter eggs... apparently my girls thought using cups was too boring.

 We filled several hundred easter eggs

We made deviled eggs, peep kabobs, cupcakes and tons of other treats.

Lucy even had a training session with Keaton teaching him to pick up the eggs and put them in his bucket. The girls were worried that because this was his first egg hunt he would not know what to do. 

Little did they know that would be his only hunt because at the east party he was sound asleep during the big hunt.

The ball boy

Keaton stood here for like four minutes just contemplating how to get the ball that high.

Someday it will happen.

Night of the Notables

Ruby was very excited to be Hatshepsut for the Night of the Notables (just like her big sister was in 6th grade). She worked really hard on her poster even painting the background to look like sand.

She did a great job on reciting her bio-riddle. Mr. Fox said she was the only person that memorized the entire thing. She was so confident and beautiful.

Ruby with her best friends Rachel, Halle and Charlie

Ruby with part of her awesome family. Keaton and Dad were there too, just walling around the room.

Kitchen Before & After

Here are some photos our kitchen shortly after it was built.  These photos were taken when it was  featured in a country living magazine.

Here are a few before pics and lots of afters

Nursery

Today was Keaton's 1st day of nursery. 

I was so excited to not have to walk the halls with a screaming (happy screaming, but screaming) baby. At the same time I was trying not to cry.

 I can't believe how fast time is flying!

This poor guy is even surrounded by girls in nursery. There will be more boys entering over the next few months, but for now he is outnumbered.

Hang'n with the chicks

The forecast said it was going to snow but we had one of the most beautiful spring days ever!

Keaton always loves the chicks at a distance...

but today he touched them on his own!

Kitchen construction

Here are some pictures of the process that I was sure would only take 4 weeks (the optimist) and Eric was spot on with his estimate of 8 weeks(the Realist).

One of the great things about having workers in our house was that Keaton was mesmerized with their tools, noises ect. After eating he would just stay in his highchair for a long time to watch the action. The Hardest part of having workers on our house was it was nearly impossible to keep Keeter away from their tools and all the stuff left on the ground that is the perfect size to choke a baby.