~Gone To The Dogs~

I'm tired -really tired! And it's because of my three dogs. Listen, I love dogs (see previous post) but I love them to a fault. Our dogs have taken over our bed - I am getting no sleep. I am a walking zombie during the day! My dogs love me as much as I love them so they feel the need to cuddle up against me while they sleep. Now, I am a BIG gal but somehow they cuddle me right over to the edge of the bed and my big ass hangs, precariously, off the side. I spend most of the night trying to balance myself so that I don't fall off the bed!

Okay, so I know this problem is my own fault but 90% of the time I don't even realize they've done it until I wake up hanging off the bed. They are sneaky little devils! Anyway, the lack of sleep is really starting to get to me so no more! I'm taking back the bed! The dogs aren't going to be happy.

~Cruelty to Animals~

I LOVE dogs - I ADORE them! If I lived on a farm I would have fifty dogs! I will never understand how anyone can harm an innocent animal.

Yesterday Brenna, Aubree, Nic and Luc were in our backyard playing and then I heard a yelping of some sort and just as I got up to investigate what was happening Brenna starts screaming from the yard and ran into the house hysterical. She could barely breathe so it was hard to understand what she was trying to tell me but I could make out the words - "man", "dog", "beating", so I ran to the yard and the kids were pointing to a house two doors down. This man was beating his very small terrier dog with some kind of pole - I lost it!

As I said, I love dogs but, of course, I love my girls and my nephews more and not only was this man beating his helpless dog but, even worse, he was beating the dogs right in front of my kids. I SCREAMED to him, "You stop beating that dog-my kids can see you!" - He yells back, "Why don't you mind your own business?!" - I say, "Listen, (#*@%), you made it my business when you did this in front of my kids! I'm calling the cops!" - He yells back, "Go ahead, call the cops!". So, I did.

They cops arrive, they take my statement, they go to the guy's door, he denies doing it! The cops tells me that he knows the guy is lying but all they can do is give him a warning but if we witness this again - he will then get a $300 fine. WTF!?

So, basically, nothing at all was done to this guy! In the mean time, the poor dog is still living with this maniac AND my kids are traumatized! Brenna has been crying over this off and on since it happened because she can't get the vision out of her head. She can't understand why the police would leave the dog with such a horrible man. And she's right - the dog should be taken away from this man. He's a sicko - what is wrong with people!?!

I would like to get the chance to beat the man with a pole and see how he likes it!

~September Fun~

Helping Grandpa w/ the corn

Enjoying roasted marshmallows!

Making music!

Cookies-Yum!

Homeschool Picnic

Homeschool Nature Day

Nature Day at the pond!

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It's been a jam packed September! We had a Labor Day cook out - the kids had fun helping my dad shucking corn and, of course, they loved roasting marshmallows.

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Our homeschool group had a picnic at a park and we had a huge turn out which was nice - our group is really growing. We had a police officer come to the park to give a safety talk so that was great.

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On another day our homeschool group went to a police station for a tour. They were even able to see the room where the 911 calls come in - it was pretty cool!

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A couple weeks ago the girls attended Homeschool Nature Day and they loved it! It was a three and half hour class and they can't wait to do it again.

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Last Monday we met up with our homeschool group and the kids did an art lesson, they did a few science projects, had story time using puppets to act out the story and they had play time w/ their friends.

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I, also, posted a picture of the girls baking cookies - we made them from scratch for once instead of just buying the dough!! Brenna loves to bake! sShe is always making up her own recipes which she always makes me taste and I always do - no matter what it looks like!

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The kids have their own band - The Four Body Waves - so I posted a picture of them putting a show on for me.

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There is never a dull moment around here!!

~Wildwood Wildlife~

Fox

Turkeys

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This fox let me get pretty close to it on Sunday - it didn't seem to really pay attention to me at all! He was just doing his thing. And Dave took this picture of a bunch of turkeys in our neighbors yard.

~Friends~

T, Julie and Bob

Willow, Bren, Chloe & Aub

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Our friends, Julie and Bob, have been great about letting us stay at their house while we build our cabin. Dave stays there every weekend and the girls and I are there about every other weekend or so! Their house is only about 20 min. from Wildwood so it's great that we can stay there so we don't have to spend so much on gas driving back and forth to Plainfield.
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Julie is an awesome cook and she always cooks up something good for us to eat - I gain 5 pounds every time I'm there! And the cocktails are always good, too!
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We really appreciate all they do for us. Thanks guys!!
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Julie and Bob's girls are the same age as our girls so they always have lots of fun together. This weekend they played out in the dark with flashlights - I think, they said that they were being night investigators!

~Cabin~

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Dave stained the cabin over the weekend with the help of our friend, Bob, and Bob's uncle, T. It looks awesome!! We love the color we picked! Dave rented a lift and he said that it made all the difference - it only took them one day to stain the logs.

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Dave was very excited to take the girls up in the lift!

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The shingles will be on by this weekend and then the weekend after that Dave will put in the rest of the windows and the doors.

9/11

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since that horrible day when so many innocent people lost theirs lives. I was watching the Today Show when the first plane hit and as they were covering all that was going on the second plane came into view and hit the other building. I remember calling my dad at work and telling him I had just watched the plane fly right into the building but my brain had not yet taken in what was happening. It took awhile for me to realize that people were dying right before my eyes. Brennie woke up from her morning nap around 10:30am and as I was changing her diaper the phone rang so I let the machine pick up - when I was done w/ Brennie I checked the messages. It was my Grandma DeLaGarza - she said, "Mija, did you see the planes? I don't know what is happening - the world must be coming to an end, I think. I don't know. I love you." I'll never forget that message or how scared she sounded.

There was so much on tv today about 9/11 and Brenna saw some of it and asked me what happened. I told her what the terrorist had done and she asked why people would do something like that. How do I explain something so awful to a 7 year old? How do I explain the unexplainable? So, I was honest and I told her - "I don't know" - because I don't know why they did it. I don't understand that kind of hate or evil. And that's okay - it's okay because I'm not always going to have ALL the answers for my girls. Sometimes parents just have to say - I don't know!

Someone sent me a tribute video of 9/11 - in it were many images of that day at the WTC...the planes hitting the buildings, the fires, people jumping to their deaths and the collapse of both buildings. It was hard to watch but at the end I came away feeling very grateful and thankful for the life that I have.