Yes, We Are Crazy!

My wonderful husband James came home the other night and got a phone call. When he got off the phone he came into the kitchen smiling and he said "You are going to be mad at me!" My first thought was he bought another gun or something along those lines. Then he continued to tell me this story of how he went to Napa the other day and one of the women at Napa was complaining about people cutting through her yard. James told her to get a dog and to get a German Shepard. Another kid that was working there piped in the conversation and told James he knew a couple that was moving and had to get rid of their Shepard. So the phone call was the guy with the Shepard. The guy told James he wanted to get around $200 for the dog because he paid $2000 for him. James told the guy he couldn't pay him but he was interested in the dog. So Friday night we went out to look at he dog and ended up bringing him home. For free I might add, along with a crate, and all the other dog accessories he had.

The dog will be 2 years old on Sept 18 so he is still a puppy. He is really well behaved but he is a little bit of a barker. Macy doesn't bark at all ever so no one even knew we had a dog before. He usually listens right away when you tell him to be quite. We did put him in the crate Saturday while we left the house and when we got home he was out and my plant was knocked over so dirt was all over. He didn't mess in the house though and didn't get into anything else. The cats were pretty riled up though!

I think Macy likes having a friend but he gets a little annoying sometimes so she'll go hid. He also was an inside dog so now we have to let him in or he barks. We have been keeping him out during the day but at night bringing him him and putting him in his crate. He sheds ridiculously and slobbers a lot too. I don't care for him but James keeps reminding me of how I didn't like Blu either. So I told James then maybe I'll like this dog when he is on his death bed.

His name was Benny but we wanted to change it. I think we have finally decided on Gunner. Laura wanted Munich, like our puppy we had when she was a baby. Little Man wanted Duke or Roadblock, they just saw GI Joe the movie. Kenni didn't really say much. James wanted something German so he liked Luger, and Rommel. My ideas were Louden and Gunner.

We had him in the pool yesterday. He willingly gets in but it takes him a while. He still is learning where the steps are but once he gets that down I think he will like it better.

So now life is even more crazy than before and I have more hair and poop clean up. The kids seem to really enjoy him though so I guess that is what really matters.

He's on the Front Page

Tuesday was the first day of school for the kids. They are going to a brand new school and also the 1st charter school so it made the front page of the newspaper. What is really cool is Gucker's class was chosen to be photographed for the article. The link below will take you to the article. He's the one sitting all the way in the back.

Everyone is doing really well in school so far. Kenni had a rough beginning on Friday. He started to cry so he went and visited his big brother in class and everything was better. After that Kenni said he had a great day.

http://www.mygazines.com/issue/2473

1st Day of School

Today was finally the first day of school. They were supposed to start a week ago but it was delayed due to construction issues. We had a good start. Everyone got up without a fight and got ready without complaining. We even had time to spare before we had to leave.
When we got to school Maddi and I walked the kids to their class rooms and no one cried but Maddi was a little upset because she couldn't figure out why she wasn't staying. For the rest of the day Maddi was glued to my leg and kept asking where Sissy was. When we went to pick the kids up she fell asleep. She woke up when we got home and Kenni was the first one she saw so she screamed out his name in excitement and gave him a big hug and said to him"Kenni how was your school?" It was really cute.
All 3 had a great day. Laura's was pretty uneventful. She didn't really have a whole lot to say. She thought it was very funny though that her teacher is so short she has to stand on her tip toes to write on the white board.
Little Man had many different stories to tell. He has a Friend Benjamin but they call him Ben, two people had to stand against the wall and one had to sit for being in trouble, he went over all the rules of the classroom, and much more. He was really excited about everything and he likes his teacher.
Kenni had a whole lot to say also, as he always does. He seemed to really like school and his teacher but he kept telling me how much he missed me and he doesn't have any friends. Our dentists daughter is actually in his class so I reminded him about that and so then he agreed that she was his friend. He says he has easy work to do like coloring and he made me a poem about the first day of school and traced his hand. It was very cute.
I think they all will have a pretty good year. Hopefully Maddi will get used to being alone and not be so clingy!

Laura siting at her desk

James at his desk
Kenni at his desk

James right before we left with his lunch box

Laura right before we left with her lunch box

Kenni right before we left with his lunch box (orange of course)

Laura excited to go to school

All 4 before school. We had to get Maddi involved.

My 3 school goers

James after he got ready

Ken after he got ready

1.9 miles

Tonight the kids and I were board. We went swimming for a while then after swimming we decided to go on a walk. It was just going to be a walk but turned into being a 1.9 mile journey around the neighborhood. We started out and found that there is a path along the golf coarse. We got a few feet down and discovered a sign that said no bicycle riding or skateboarding. The kids were on their bikes so that idea got axed. So we turned around and headed back on the road. We found a dead frog right away and 4 more on the rest of the walk. Since it was a street that went right a log the golf coarse there was a lot of nice houses we got to look at. One house had an old gas pump and the coolest house had a mini train track in the back yard. We couldn't see the train but the track set up was really awesome. The kids were all doing really good so we just kept on walking. When we got about a mile and a half into the walk Gucker just couldn't' do it anymore so he was dragging behind. Kenni was complaining as soon as we set out that his legs were tired and Laura didn't complain one bit! Shocking but true! Maddi was just loving the ride and having a great time. As soon as we got home we just jumped right into the pool, clothes and all! After we got all dry and dressed again we jumped in the car to see how long the walk was. It took us about an hour to walk and about 2 minutes to drive. The kids couldn't believe how short the drive was and how long the- walk was. Right as we were getting ready to turn into the driveway the odometer turned 1.9 miles. It sure seemed a lot further than that! We had a great time though and it was great exercise!

The Dead Frog

The house with the gas pump

A neat looking fireplace thing at one of the coarse holes

The house with the train set
When we got home...tired and exhausted

Bindi's new Dew

Yesterday Laura wanted to brush the cats hair. This is what happened to Bindi.

Baby Chocolate

In our refrigerator we have a drawer that we keep our chocolate in. If we left it out it would melt! Maddi is my little junk food junkie and she LOVES chocolate. Our last bag of chocolates we got was a bag of mini candy bars. She calls them baby chocolate. Every time we open that drawer in the fridge, no matter where she is, she comes running wanting baby chocolate. The smart little fart she is, she figured out that her step stool can get her a lot of things she normally can't reach. One day last week, it was one of her days that she was into everything. We have a lot of those days with her by the way. I went into her room to check on her and there she was, chocolate in hand. James always says she is spoiled and I never punish her. Just look at her big brown eyes and tell me how you can punish her. She does get her (somewhat) fair share of spankings but I do have to admit I don't punish her as much as I should. Some of the things she does is just too funny.

This picture of her was that night. She has to lay down with me everynight and this night she was so exhausted she just layed down on the living room floor and passed out!

My Crazy Sister

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XevO_dZa0Q

Recently Kara's friend has taken up the sport of skydiving. He needed someone to go with him so he invited Kara. Amazingly she agreed to go. I still cannot believe she did it. She won't get on a horse or shoot a gun but she'll jump out of a plane. This is a link to her video of her dive. It's really cool but it made me cry!!! It's not sad. I just miss my little sister! I love you Kara and I'm very proud of you!

This Country Boy Can Survive

The other day Daddy was singing over and over again a verse of Hank Williams Jr's song "Country Boy Can Survive". The verse was "I'd liked to spit some beech nut in that dude's eye, shoot him with my old 45." After a few dozen times of him singing it the kids were joining in. Of coarse anything that Daddy likes the kids like too. Guck especially. Last night he looked up the song on you tube and they were listening to it. It didn't take long for Gucker to really pick up some words. I know it isn't best song in the world for him to be singing but the way he was really getting into it and curling up his lip was just way too funny. Daddy finally convinced Guck to put on his cowboy hat and strum along with the guitar. He doesn't know nearly all the words but the ones he does know and the way he sings them are priceless!

Belanna and Laura Mae's Birthday

Saturday evening we went to a birthday party for a couple of neighbor friends. Belanna's 9th birthday was Aug 3rd and Laura Mae's 4th birthday was Aug 5th. It's so nice to have friends that are so close in age and so close in days to Laura Belle's birthday. They had a couple of pools set up, water balloons and a pinata. All the kids had such a good time playing together and going back and forth between the two pools. We had a delicious dinner and birthday cake! Thanks for inviting us and Happy Birthday Girls!

Laura Mae and Belanna getting ready to blow out the candles.

Everyone gathered around for cake.

RC Cars

Saturday morning the kids (except for Guck because he was still sleeping) went grocery shopping. When we got home Daddy's friend John was here and they were outside driving John's RC cars. The boys have RC trucks they got from Grandad and Mary Lew for Christmas so they had those out too. I've tried to drive the boys' trucks before and wasn't good at it at all. John let me drive his car and it was a whole lot fast and easier to steer. I did pretty good until I rammed head on into a rock that I totally didn't even see. Daddy and John were having fun racing the boys and jumping ramps. Here are a couple of videos of John jumping the ramp. It's amazing how much fun we all had watching this little car!

Laura got out her umbrella because she was getting hot and Maddi took it from her.

Kenni got out Daddy's ear muffs in the real spirit of race car driving.

Maddi then took the ear muffs from Kenni and wore them for the rest of the afternoon.

Visit with Fisher and Nick

This weekend Fisher and Nick came out to AZ. Friday they invited us to Wet -n- Wild Water park in Phoenix. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want it to get wet or stolen. Fisher brought hers so the link below is to her blog.

http://web.me.com/jlrediehs/Rediehs_Family/Blog/Entries/2009/8/9_Arizona_Day_1_-_Waterpark!.html

The week before their visit was so hot and miserable here. Thursday night a "cold" front came in and cooled the temps down. It turned out to be a perfect day. It was still hot but not unbearable. Nick soon figured out though that you can't walk around on AZ concrete without shoes on! The kids all had a blast! Maddi would cry for Fisher every time they went on a ride. We would wait at the end for them to come out and every person that came down Maddi would say "There she is!" and it wouldn't be her so she would start crying again.

Saturday afternoon Fisher and Nick made the long trek down to our house. We got to just hang out and visit since we didn't get to talk much on Friday. The older three had to show off and Maddi hung out on Fisher's lap pretty much the whole time. I was able to get a picture that day!

Thank you so much for everything guys! It was great to see you!

Our Baby Woo

Yesterday was Laura's 8th Birthday! Half way to driving age already!!!! This year she wanted a birthday party with friends and she wanted to go bowling. Every year we always have a just a family party so this year we went ahead and and braved having a "girl party". It actually went really well. They all had a blast bowling and then we came back to the house and had pizza, cake and ice cream. They all played for a little while then it was time to go home. Yesterday she got to open all of her presents from family and had another cake. She spent her afternoon watching her new Hannah Montana 3-D DVD from Aunt Tam on her new DVD player. She had a great birthday weekend!

Bowling with her friends

Before Having Cake

Birthday morning with her brothers and sister

Getting Ready to Blow out the Candles

Her New Jonas Brothers Shirt

Her Stylish 3-d Hannah Montana Glasses