Feline Friday

We have kind of a repeat going on here this week with feline pictures. Angel and Eclipse posing with their girls. We noticed while each one of the girls were posing for me this last week that their cats would come out and get into the pictures, so I asked Sweetpea and Binky Sue to pick them up and hold them for pictures. Sweetpea with Angel in the first picture was a very relaxed. Binky Sue with Eclipse...well let's just say that I had to be fast to get that one. Angel just relaxed and snuggled into Sweetpea for the whole thing and I got quite a few pictures of her with her girl. I think Eclipse just really wanted to sit off to the side and watch her girl Binky Sue instead of actually being a part of it. Both of my girls were happy with the pictures though and asked for prints to put up in rooms.

It is Feline Friday time again! I'm really starting to think that all of the felines have taken a blogging break. However, if you are around and want to play along, just post your own and leave a link in comments. Also, I can only do 2 more Friday's and then I have family visiting, birthdays, and a trip to the Grand Canyon. So if you would like to be the host of Feline Friday for the last two Fridays in the month of March, just leave a comment and let me know. I can pick back up in April.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend, and come on felines...come out of hiding!

NO NOT THE BIG LIGHT MOM!!

In what seems to be my never ending quest for taking better portraits, I think I may have finally pushed my girls over the edge. For the last week and a half I have set things up and made them sit and pose 3 times. What started off as fun has now become a torture for them I think. Tuesday was the worst though, because as they came in the house from school they were met by the HUGE umbrella light that I borrowed from a friend. Each one did the measure of it by holding their arms out to their sides and stretching.(This one is no joke huge!) Little bug just started mumbling to herself...I think it might have been something about Mother having lost her mind.
Sweetpea came in and just collapsed to the floor yelling out "Noooooo!!!" Then started a lecture to me about having had enough of having her picture taken. She also pointed out that since she lives here there is no way I should need that many pictures of her to know what she looks like. Yeah right, says the child that rarely comes out of her bedroom!!
Binky Sue just did a heavy sigh, and pointed out that she is trying to find other people for me to do portraits of. She also pointed out that I may have to take her to get her vision rechecked here soon if I don't stop blinding her with these huge lights.

I have talked to a friend that would like some pictures of her own kids, and some time this weekend they are going to come over. I am not going to point this out to my girls though, going to let them wonder if there is another practice session waiting for them this weekend.

I hope that everyone is having a good week! Tomorrow is Feline Friday time again, so see you then.

Sibling Sunday

Oh this weekend is going by way to fast. It is a beautiful weekend, and a has been laughter filled with my three goofy girls. They started Friday night with doing some painting of some little ceramic animals that we picked up a couple of weeks ago. Oh and we are sure that Little bug is very confused about just what the Army colors are, she said she was going to paint it the Army colors and covered it with blue and white? Her sisters told her she wasn't a very good "Army Brat" if she didn't know just what colors were the Army colors. To which Little bug replied "Well, maybe they would look better my way!"

Sweetpea who just seems to be having an issue with anything ceramic this weekend, did a great job of painting hers and then promptly gave them away to her sisters. Her issues is coming from the fact that Friday afternoon she brought home an art project from November of last year that gave her one heck of a time. For a couple weeks straight we kept hearing about this project that kept collapsing on her. It is supposed to be a "Vase with a Face", Sweetpea's ended up being more like a planter with a face. She walked in the door Friday afternoon and instead of a "hello", I heard her ask "Mom, when is Dad going target shooting again? I have something that I want him to use for practice!!" Now I think it is pretty cute, so I took it and am thinking about using it to put a plant in.( I will get a picture to post this week.) Sweetpea on the other hand would really just like to smash the thing that she says still just irritates her to no end.

Binky Sue has been having a great weekend. She went with me to a PartyLite show over at a neighbors house on Saturday. She was tickled to death because her and Mom won 6 of the 8 door prizes! We think we could have one them all, but Binky Sue thinks the consultant removed the rest of our tickets from the basket. Now I don't care to much for the candle scents, and tend to get headaches from the smells of them burning, so me not buying anything wasn't a real issue. Binky Sue however founds some things that she really liked and wanted for her room, so we ordered those for her. In a couple of weeks the smell of cherry will increase in that young ladies room, and that is something that I didn't think was very possible at this point.

Today is supposed to be yet another beautiful day here in Arizona, so the plan for the day is to get the windows opened up wide and let lots of fresh air fill the house. Hubby is going to smoke some ribs out on the grill for our dinner, and I'm going to finish up some laundry and other little things today. When the girls finally get up for the day I'm hoping to hear more laughter and silliness. I hope that everyone is enjoying this last weekend of February, and that there is a good week waiting for all of us.

Destruction of Things Round 2

Well, I have a front row seat for the destruction of things round two! A couple of years ago when I posted the first round I just found the way they were doing the tear down interesting. This time I snapped the pictures because this is the housing that we lived in for the first year and nine months of our time here in Arizona. That first place saw a lot happen for this family in a very short time period. I had a lot of nights pacing floors in one of those units that is being torn down now. There is a unit over there that is about to be torn down that holds memories of laughter, tears, all kinds of things. Somewhere over there is a wall that holds markings of growth of all three of the girls for the time that we lived there. After traveling with the military so long and living in countless places over the last 18 years, I'm not really sure why seeing this being torn down is making me feel a little sad. The memories that were made moved with me, but I guess I just don't want to see physical place they happened in be destroyed.

Feline Friday!!

Once again Eclipse has claimed the top of Dad's recliner as her own. It is the perfect perch to sit and watch all of the birds playing in the back yard. It took a bit of fighting with her sister Angel to reclaim it, and had a few minutes of me wondering if either of them was going to survive, but she won!

It is time for all the felines to come out of hiding and play along with Feline Friday! All you have to do is post your own and leave a link in comments. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Binky Sue

There isn't much new for Binky Sue this week. If you haven't guessed by now we did some photo's this week just for fun with one of the backgrounds that the girls and I made.

Little Bug Wednesday

Well since I did a Sweetpea post yesterday, I need to do a Little bug post today. Little bug was posing with Nennie for me so I could do some tests with some lights that I picked up. I'm not sure what it is lately with Little bug, but when she poses for pictures she has the great idea that whoever she is with they should do a choke hold picture. Maybe because they are at each other's throats so much?? I'm not real sure just why, but they do tend to make for some pretty funny looking pictures.
Little bug is having a really easy kind of week at school. A four day weekend, followed by two days of early out because of parent/teacher conferences, tomorrow is normal early out day for the week, and then poor her she will have a full day of school to get through on Friday. I only got one progress report for her and that was her math class which she isn't doing badly in, just not getting all of her work turned in.

Anyway, I hope that this week is going well for everyone, and that all are staying warm.

Watching over her girl

Sweetpea Tuesday finds my Sweetpea sleeping on the couch with her cat Angel watching over her. I'm pretty sure it isn't a flu thing that brought Sweetpea home from school early today. I'm wondering if it does have something to do with her running in PE class today though. She has exercise induced asthma and has an inhaler for just in case. Today was different though, running seemed to bring major dizziness, headache, nausea feeling, and aches. The fact that she is sleeping on the couch being watched by Angel though is going to keep me on my toes for a possibility of a flu. My poor Sweetpea was so happy though about her run today and the fact that she finished first and had her best time of the year for the run. If this doesn't pass by tomorrow then we will be making an appointment to be seen this week. Till then I'm sure that Angel kitty is going to spend the day laying curled up close to her girl.

Long Weekend

I'm a day late for the Sibling Sunday post, but yet another long weekend here for the Arizona gang. Little bug had no school on Friday because of teacher in service day. Nennine and Sweetpea stayed home also because of being sick (cough, cough!!) Okay so they stayed home because Mom asked them if they would like to just miss the day!! I had a million different things to get done, and with the winter weather that was rolling in, I was a bit worried about the bus company doing something strange like the last time we had snow and suddenly not run afternoon buses. Just easier for me to call them out sick for the day, and since they both have missed just a very few days anyway, I don't feel bad about my choice of letting them stay home. As we ran errands during the snow storm they were both happy that they stayed home. Both of the older two had comments about just how crazy everyone in this town drives when there is bad weather. I mean come on people we were in the 70's for the week before the storm rolled into town...you really don't believe that snow, no matter how much, is really going to pile up on the roads do you??

Anyway errands got ran, and then a little shopping therapy with some really good prices at a couple of stores, and all of the girls under this roof were very happy. The whole weekend has been one of just chilling out and relaxing for the girls. Just a couple more weeks and they will be on spring break and we will be smack dab in the middle of the massive birthday's of March. (Gosh I cant believe that I'm already to within a couple of weeks of March.)

We really don't have anything much else to tell. We had snow storm which was impressive to watch, but really didn't have much to show after the storm rolled out. Right back up into the high 60's today and going towards the 70's again for the next couple of days. I hope that everyone has a good week and stays warm.

Feline Friday

What is a kitty to do on a day when there is rain, sleet, snow, sunshine and then repeat? Well, if you are a kitty in this house you curl up in the warmest blanket and just watch the world pass from your bed. Angel and Eclipse have spent a good share of the day here doing just that. They have been curled up in the mink blanket on my bed and not real interested in much of anything else. All I know is that they most be pretty cold because they hardly ever curl up anywhere together anymore.
It is Feline Friday time again!! Julie has a First feline picture with new camera of Abby.
If you want to play along just post your own and leave a link in comments. Also if you are interested in hosting a Feline Friday leave me a note in comments.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Just a real quick entry for tonight. I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Sugar, spice, and everything nice??

I love my girls...I really do!! But the saying sugar, spice and everything nice is a LIE!! Don't get me wrong they have some very sweet moments, and can be very caring. Last night though was over the top even for them. Usually the worst they do is yell at each other. We have had the couple of times of name calling...always a good way to get Mom mad when you call your sister a retard and stupid. A food fight at the dinning room table though? I'm a bad Mom really...a couple of years ago I stopped eating at the table with them because that would be when they would have the conversation about what they dissected in science class, or any of the gross things that they saw other kids do at school. They get going with the belching and put many boys to shame. I just couldn't take it anymore so I moved to eating my meals in the living room. Fighting I can deal with and can put an end to, the other stuff they get going there is no ending it. A food fight in the dinning room though?? Mashed potatoes and gravy being worn by each of them, and Little bug has some up her nose!! They actually stood there acting like they couldn't understand why I would think that was a bad thing! I got the explanation as to just how it got started, and to tell the truth I really didn't care because all I could do is shake my head and wonder why in the world?? Sugar and spice and everything nice...YEAH RIGHT!! The person that wrote that little diddy never met my girls! But never fear, I'm sure they will come up with yet something else to make me shake my head in wonder, and I will just keep reminding myself that I love these girls and try not to kick their little tushies into orbit!!

I hope that everyone is having a calm week and if you are in the area of my dinning room, be ever watchful for the flying mashed potatoes.

Conversation with Trinity

Trinity: Umm...Mom...you do realize that the basket of clean towels is still sitting here on the couch?

Me: Yes Trinity I realize that they are still sitting there, why?

Trinity: Well, I just wanted to make sure that you knew that, because if you didn't I was thinking about doing my thing with the clean stuff in the basket.

Me: Trinity you really don't have to do that every time there is a basket of something clean sitting on the couch.

Trinity: Well I know that, but I just cant stop myself from rubbing my face all over the clean clothes when they are just sitting here!!

Me: Trinity please don't bury your face in the basket of clean stuff. You always end up drooling on them.

Trinity: Okay, I'm trying to control my urge but Mom they are SITTING HERE!!


Trinity can not actually talk, but I swear I'm sure the above is what goes through her head when there is a basket of anything clean sitting on the couch. She sits by it and looks at me and then at the basket repeatedly. It gets to the point where she just cant help but stick her face in the stuff and rub it around. So before we hit that point and I have towels that need to be washed again, I think I will just get this basket folded and put away. Trinity, my little helper around the house to keep me on track.

Sibling Sunday

I looking forward to the new week after this past week. Little bug was home early from school Monday, and Wednesday. Nennie was home sick with fever Wednesday. Little bug was home sick because of stomach bug on Friday. Nennine was horribly sick come Friday after school. Oh and just when I thought that maybe come Saturday that things would just calm down and everyone could start feeling better, Sweetpea figured that she didn't want to be left out of the sick party going on. My only hope is that this week that they can all get through school without missing a day or having to come home early. Oh and I'm hoping that they don't feel the need to pick up anymore germs and bring them home with them. There has been a full ban on any hugs or kisses since Thursday. I love all these girls, but I really don't need them sharing these germs with me. It has been funny to watch everyone in the family blow kisses from across the room only to have the person on the other side duck so as to avoid it.

My huge "YAY" moment of this weekend came Friday when Sweetpea got home. It is progress report time and for the first time in I don't even know how long anymore, I had the wonderful surprise of not one "D" or "F" on it. Even better there was only one "C" on it! Sweetpea said that she did it because she didn't want to hear the standard lecture. Now, my lecture is basically about the fact that Miss Sweetpea does not feel the need to do her homework most of the time. Actually she has real issues with understanding just why she has to prove to anyone that she knows anything. Homework has been a huge issue with her since third grade, and to be honest I think I have tried everything under the sun to try and get her to understand. Well, last progress report time I just kind of gave up a little. When I tried to talk to her, she stood there before I even said a word and said "Well, I'm ready for the lecture so can we just get going with this already?" I had a Mom nerve that snapped right at that moment and then told her "You know what? I really have nothing more to say about this. If you don't have to care, then I think that I no longer want to care about this topic." and went about with something else. A few days later she came to me and told me that I had to care!! Well, I made my choice and stood with it even when the end of semester report cards came out and there was F's and D's on it. I caught her teachers off guard with my approach, but like I said this started in third grade I have been doing this a lot longer then they realize. I guess it paid off though because now she is very proud of her progress report. I think Sweetpea was very pleased about the cheering that came out of her Mom. I told her when this started that it is that I don't care, I just finally came to the conclusion that I cant make her care if she doesn't want to. Gosh if I just would have come up with that one a couple of years ago!! So yet another great big "WAY TO GO MY SWEETPEA!!!!"

Anyway, I hope that everyone has had a great weekend! I also hope that this coming week keeps all the flus that are running around out of everyone's house. Have a wonderful upcoming week!!

Just a perfect Saturday

Okay so the picture is actually from last weekend, but today's weather was truly picture perfect here. After the wild start to the week with the snow storm and the follow up with the cold and winds, to start the climb back up at the end of the week was great. Today we got up into the mid 70's and since everyone in my house is fighting off either a head cold or the stomach flu, window were wide open and some cleaning began. My real hope at this point in time is that the weather can level out just for like a week or two and give everyone in the house a chance to get better.

I hope that everyone is having a good weekend, and enjoy one more day of it tomorrow.

Feline Friday

It's time for Feline Friday again! I'm not sure where everyone is but Angel, Eclipse and I aren't giving up! Well, Angel might give up on me today since I forgot to switch the furnace back on last night and have forced her to find warmth under the lamp this morning. Worked out well though for me since she wasn't in the mood to go running off to hide from me with the camera. Of course she also isn't in the mood for running off to hide from the dogs here this morning either.
Eclipse also made it very clear that she isn't happy about the no furnace running last night. When I went to take her picture there was lots of very loud meowing that went on. I'm pretty sure that I was told off by little miss fluffy pants, and I don't think there were many nice words in there.

Okay, it is Feline Friday! So if you want to play along grab your cameras, shoot the picture, post on your blog, and leave a link in comments. If you would like to host a Feline Friday, leave me a note in comments. Let's see all of those great looking Felines!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Friday, and a terrific weekend!

New to the house

I added two new beta's to the mini zoo that I'm trying to run here. Rocky is the first picture. Spike is the second picture. I'm not really sure why the names other than when Todd said them I liked them. Actually for where I have Rocky sitting I'm thinking the fish that I saw that was the opposite of him would be great and name that one Bullwinkle.
I'm looking forward to the coming weekend, and happy that all girls are feeling better. I hope that this week has been good to everyone.


Update: I no sooner hit save of this post and Little bug started vomiting. Oh joy...what a great weekend this could be!!

First sick day for Binky Sue

No I didn't subject the sick one to me with the camera this morning. I figured this one from last week when she was less than interested in standing still for the pictures was more than good enough. Poor Binky Sue is home for her very first sick day of the 2007-2008 school year. It is usually Sweetpea that has the perfect attendance run with school, but this year has been Binky Sue's year for it. Nothing has hit her hard enough to make her want to stay home from school till this morning at 3:45 a.m. That is when she wandered into my room to tell me that she wasn't feeling real well and running a fever of 101.4. The best this Mom could do at that time was tell her to take some motrin and climb back in bed...oh and that she would not be going to school today! A little tidbit about my Binky Sue, she used to make sure to drink a big glass of ice water right before Mom would take her temperature so should could fake not being sick. When I finally caught on to what she was doing I was amazed. I mean how many kids fake not being sick? Binky Sue and Sweetpea may not like going to school somedays but when they come to me and say they aren't feeling well I at least know that it is the real deal.

The call to the school was full of interesting information this morning. It is the first time calling that I ever got a busy signal for the first three times trying. Attendance is the busy office this morning since lots of parents are calling kids in sick due to stomach flu going around, and from the sounds of it at least a good half of the teachers are going to be subs today. Even the attendance office is short handed this morning. So I'm going to hope that the stomach flu doesn't make it's way into this house. Binky Sue will get to spend the day in bed sleeping with just the occasional visit from me to take her temperature and see if she needs anything. I hope that this passes quickly and doesn't end up with everyone in the house catching it.

I hope everyone is having a good week and staying warm.

Mom can only love one of us

Mom can only love one of us, so the other must go!! I swear that is what goes through the dogs minds any time I sit down on the couch. If Trinity gets to close Mia is all over her, and same happens for if Mia is to close to me for Trinity. I become the toy they fight over, and in the process I'm the one that gets hurt. Little bug was having a good laugh at her Mommy and managed to get my camera and take a couple of pictures of Mommy the play toy. Of course when you have about 90 pounds of dog laying, jumping fighting on you, you really cant stop someone from taking a picture. Of course the picture that you won't see here is when Trinity just shoved Little bug off of the couch spot so she could get close and curl up with her head on my lap. Poor Little bug...she always get pushed around by the animals in this house.

Storm has moved in

Well the winter storm has finally rolled in. The winds overnight and early this morning made it sound like the roof was going to be torn off. Looking around during the early morning trip out with the dogs I saw that a bike had gotten blown of a hook on the side of the house, but not to much other than that. Oh...tons of trash blowing around because of people that took their cans out last night. We started the day off with some sunshine, then clouds, then sun...you get the point I'm sure. About 11:30 the rain started, by 11:45 it changed to sleet, and by 12:15 we started with the snow. Todd had to pick Little bug up from school because she is not feeling so good today, and said that old base side closer up to the mountains is already to a slushy road state. Our temperature has dropped from 48 at 11:00 to 37 now at 1:00.

When I took the dogs out just a little bit ago it was funny to watch Mia trying to catch the snow and not liking this white cold stuff falling from the sky. It is her very first time seeing this white stuff and I'm thinking she was less than impressed, and maybe just a bit annoyed with it. Trinity on the other hand has seen it before and knew as soon as she got out that she really didn't want to spend all that much time outside in the cold, windy weather.



I'm going to be interested in seeing just how long this lasts here today, and with the forecast of an overnight temperature of 25 degrees it should make things pretty interesting here in Arizona come tomorrow morning. Let's hope that everyone remembers that they need to slow down while driving and keep it safe. I hope that everyone is staying warm today, and having a good start to the week.

Winter Storm Warning

We have our third winter storm warning for this season.

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 PM MST MONDAY... THE WINTER STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM 11 PM THIS EVENING TO 5 PM MST MONDAY. A FEW SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING AND THEN INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY OVERNIGHT INTO MONDAY. SNOW LEVELS WILL START NEAR 7000 FEET THIS EVENING BEFORE FALLING TO 5000 FEET MONDAY. STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ABOVE 5000 FEET...WITH ISOLATED HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE AT THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS. ALSO EXPECT GUSTY WINDS ESPECIALLY THROUGH HIGHER TERRAIN THIS EVENING INTO EARLY MONDAY. A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET...OR ICE ARE EXPECTED. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL TELEVISION OR RADIO STATIONS...OR YOUR CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE PROVIDER FOR LATER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS DANGEROUS WINTER WEATHER EVENT.

Now if this one goes the same way that the last two have we should see lots of wind (which is already going at 20-23 mph right now), maybe some rain. Oh and if we are really lucky we will have a day with a little of everything come tomorrow. Since we are just right below the 5000 feet mark we tend to see a little of everything come winter storms. The girls are hoping for a snow day here tomorrow, which based on last years biggest storm all it would take to close the town down would be about a good half inch or so. I don't think they will get their wish tonight, but I would like to see some of the white stuff on the ground here this year. A lot of snow would be just fine with me, as long as it is up on top of the mountains or melts very quickly tomorrow.

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend, and that the coming week is good too. Stay warm and safe where ever you are.

The Siblings on Saturday

Well, this not happy looking group has had a very busy week. New glasses, appointments, hair cuts and some color changes to hair. Nennie's hair is now a light auburn color that made me keep saying "Wow!! Your red!!" Sweetpea went with a color called navajo bronze and has more red and blond highlights in her hair now. Little bug went with a light auburn also and basically just lightened her hair one shade from where it was to start with.

There really isn't all that much new for the girls this week to report. The High School has calmed down a lot from last week. They have kept a higher police presence at the school and from the sounds of it will keep it again next week. It's hard to believe that we are already steam rolling up on time for 3rd quarter progress reports to be coming home. This school year is flying by so very quickly. Today Nennie started the great search for the perfect Jr. prom dress. I'm just glad that we have several more months till the dance because after today I'm sure it is going to take us a while to find just the right one for her.

Okay I think that is about all that I have for this week. I hope that everyone is having a great weekend.

Feline Friday

Eclipse is looking for her fellow Feline Friday friends. Okay so she was busy sitting watching the birds flying around the back yard, but she could have been looking for her friends too.

It is time for Feline Friday again, and if you want to play along just post and then leave a link in comments. I hope that everyone has a great weekend.