Peyten turns 10 today

Peyten, my main man, is 10 today.  What can I say about him, well, for starters, he is my favorite child.  Just this morning after he took a shower he crawled in bed with me and we snuggled and I kissed his cute freckles.  That boy has got the charm, he melts my heart.  Peyten started out as a little guy, weighing 6 lb. 13 oz., my smallest baby.  He didn't want to come out, my hardest labor by far, but my easiest baby.  Peyten is the one that is always saying something funny, but to him it is totally serious.  That kid can play like nobody's business, never met a kid that wasn't his friend.  He also has a very tender heart and often tells me of situations that he feels sad or concerned about.  I love my Petyen, what in the world would I do without him!!!!!  Happy bday cutie!!!!!

That time of year again...

When the weather starts to turn warm around here certain things need to be taken care of.  I usually get a white colored car, bring out the swim suits, go to wal-mart and stock up on swim goggles and pool toys, clean out the kids closets, get the grill all cleaned up and last but not least, shave the cat!!!!  You may ask yourselves why would you shave a cat...well, my cat, Lily is a long haired calico cat that sheds like the dickens in the warm weather.  I first started shaving her when my neighbor in Dallas shaved her cat. The pet store does this you know, for a fee of 60+ dollars.  I went along with the scam for a few years and then one year I was shopping at Wal-mart in the pet dept. and saw they had clippers for pets.  I got the greatest idea to buy it and do the shaving my self.  It can't be that hard I thought, the clippers only cost me 20 bucks, already saved almost 40 right off the bat.  I soon found out that Lily doesn't like the sound that the clippers make, and she was a little hesitant when I   started to use them on her because they make an even stranger sound then.   It took me a while to get it down the first time, but as you can see from the pictures I am pretty good at doing it.  Even though I get comments from everyone about how Lily looks, I have decided not to go into cat shaving professionally.  I will offer some helpful hints that I have learned over the past 6 years of shaving my cat!!!!

1.  Shave the cat in a closed area so that she can't get away from you.  I use the half bathroom, small and easy clean up and she can't run far.

2.  Wear as little as possible when you shave the cat cause cat hair sticks to everything.  I usually strip down to my unmentionables.

3.  Wear leather gloves, the cat will start to bite about half way through and will cause blood wounds.  If you get a wound, show your kids later, they will think it is cool and tell their friends about you.  I never pass over a moment to look cool in my children's eyes.

4.  Say reassuring words to the cat to calm it, if that doesn't work grab the hair behind the neck and just work really fast to get the job done before she freaks.

5.  When the cat starts bellowing, reassure your kids that the cat loves getting shaved and she is just saying Thank you.

6. Do not, I repeat, do not shave the cats belly.  This is a highly sensitive area and the cat will rip your head off if you do.  Besides, the cat looks awesome with the top shaved and the bottom left long, it's the style I hear.

7.  Take a shower right after to get the hair off you and calm your nerves.  

8.  Let the cat go free for a while, if it doesn't ever come home it didn't like the shave, if it comes home it loved it and wants another shave next year.

9.  Now, this last bit of advice is very important.  When the animal cops show up at your door to follow up on a report of animal abuse, blame it on your youngest kid and curse your neighbor later.

Good luck with that!!!

These pictures of Lily are not for the faint of heart.  Know that she was not harmed (at least too much, more pride than anything else) in any way.  

I love you Lily, thanks for putting up with me trying to save a buck.  I think you look great!!!!!

school's almost out

Each child reminded me how many days are left of school, 17 people!!!!  We are all excited, I hate the schedule of school, I like things a bit more relaxed.  Our summers are always very eventful, not much down time, but always fun.  I was thinking about next year, I will have 1 child in high school, 1 in middle school, 1 in grade school, and 1 in preschool.  I only have 4 more years to tell Lauren what to do and her having to listen!!!!  I could just lock up all the kids and keep them home forever, but I am also looking forward to it being just me and Brent alone again.  Of course I won't be young and quick, just old and super quick!!!!

Lauren is going to J.O.'s

Ok... we all know that Lauren is my favorite child, but she had to go and make herself my even more favorite.  She plays for a highly competitive volleyball club.  The top team in her age group at her club won their last big tournament, over 200 teams, and qualified to go to the Junior Olympics in Florida July 5-9.  Lauren plays on the one team below this team.  Anyway, they called me this past week and asked if Lauren would come in and practice with the top team. After the practice the trainer asked me if Lauren could go with them to the tournament and play with them.  This top team has been playing together for about 3 years, so to take a new girl on is a big deal.  Lauren of course is thrilled and glad for the two months of extra hard training to help her get ready for high school ball.  We are so proud of her and love how hard she works!!!  Way to go Lauren!!!!

Ashlen 3rd Birthday

Ashlen turned 3 years old on April 29th.  She has grown up into such an adorable cute and sweet girl.  Everyone loves her and she loves absolutely everyone!!!!  She had a fun bday party with her two friends, Reese and Payton.  That night we had a family party by the pool.  Her favorite gift was the pink purse she got from Grandma Christiansen.

Friday face

Today's friday face is my dog, Smalls.  These first two pictures of her are when she wore a mullet for halloween.  Cute huh?

Smalls is a strange name, yes it is.  There is a short story behind that name.  Brent didn't want her so I tried to get him to bond with her so I had him name her.  He picked the name from the character on "Sandlot."  It is a boys name and kind of silly, but I wanted Brent to feel good about her.  The name stuck.  Her nickname is "Smallsies.
Smalls is a mut.  I am not exactly sure what she has in her but she does have some weiner dog in her because of her long body, but she doesn't have the short legs, her legs are longer.  She has an adorable face as you can see and those eyes, don't get me started, I love them.  We are not sure exactly when she was born but we figured in was sometime in March so we gave her March 17th as her big day.  She just turned 4 this past March.  Smalls was given to us by a friend of my neighbor, Norma.  The friend got her and then changed her mind, thinking she wanted a more respectable dog, you know, a pedigree!!!  We saw her and the kids and I immediately fell in love.  She was so small and cute.  When she was little she would sleep across my neck at night.  I guess she thought I was her mommy, well, I am!!!

Smalls has grown up now, but still has boundless energy.  We got her a doggy door so she can go in and out as she pleases.  She loves to bark at everything, especially other dogs and the neighbors kids.  She is very sweet with kids, even though my crazy neighbor with the 80's hair thinks she is vicious.  She is a nut!!!  Smalls has two best friends, Allie and Chloe, they live next door and they can squeeze through our fence so they are always over for play dates.  Smalls also loves to torture our cat Lily.
As you can see, Smalls is loved by Ashlen, as well as all the kids.  Smalls loves the backyard and lies in the grass in the sun.  In the summer she likes to lie on the first step of the pool to cool off.  One time Ashlen was swimming in the pool and smalls thought she was in trouble and so she barked and barked to get my attention.  She is a genius dog.  Smalls sleeps with me everynight and is never far away from me during the day.  I know that people love their dogs, but I don't know who loves their dog more than me, maybe my sister Angela loves her dog Molly more.  I appreciate the unconditional love that she gives me and she loves to snuggle.  I love you Smalls, thanks for being my friend!!!!!