Girly Girl vs. Tomboy

Our sweet child can be a complete girly girl and carry a purse, put on lip gloss and play with her dolls. Then she can be a complete tomboy and dig in the dirt, poke at bugs, worm hunt, pee outside and go fishing. Today she decided she was a tomboy. She was so pleased when her daddy was going through all his fishing stuff and gave her all the treasures he didn't use. She ended up with a new to her tackle box and plenty of lures and bobbers to fill it up. Before long she was headed to the ditch to do some fishing. Although we tried to tell her that there aren't any fish in the ditch she was still determined to try. Her fishing soon turned in to attempting to catch a bullfrog.







She came home empty handed but I'm sure she will go back to that fishing...er ...frog pond again and again.

Best Birthday Ever

Yesterday morning I woke up to a wonderful birthday breakfast and a new camera. I knew it was going to be a great day. After breakfast Ryan finished mowing the lawn and then we went to Goodwill for $1.10 day and got two brand new coolers on wheels for $3.00. We then grabbed a quick lunch at Braums and then took Madelyn to snip and clip to get her hair chopped. Her new do is especially cute! In the afternoon Ryan and I jogged and Madelyn rode her bike around the lake. Then I took a nap while Ryan and Madelyn prepared for the evening festivities. I was under the assumption that Ryan and I and another couple were going to a seafood buffet and out for drinks in Wichita. We had invited our Augusta friends to join us but they all had other things going on, or so I was told. Ryan obviously had me fooled, because around 6:30pm I was completely surprised when my BFFs and their husbands showed up, quickly followed by my sister and Terry. Before long here came a short bus aka party bus with our friends from Augusta. I was almost in tears because of the great surprise. After a few beers at home we headed to Playa for dinner and more drinks. When dinner was done we got back on the bus and headed to Club Rodeo for some mechanincal bull riding, drinking and dancing. It was a night to remember and the best birthday I can ever remember. It will definitely be impossible to top. I am so grateful for my awesome husband,friends and family that pulled this one off for me.

Blog Neglect

I've been a bit neglectful with my blogging, but just to catch you up to speed this is what we have been doing the past couple of weeks:


*Madelyn had her Awana year end program.


*We purchased a butterfly farm, well actually they were just tiny caterpillars in the beginning. But we got to watch them turn into beautiful butterflies. Only one was injured during the release so I would call that a success.





*We went mushroom hunting and came back with no mushrooms and a new walking stick.



*Madelyn and I went to the mother/daughter tea at the First Baptist Church in Council Grove with my mom and mother-in-law.
(Pictures are on the memory card that was put in my new camera that I will be getting for my birthday tomorrow).

*We've (more like I) have been completely stressed about the swine (stupid pig) flu and our 10 year anniversary trip to Cancun. I've stocked up on surgical masks and antibacterial wipes and I've chilled out a little.

Flower "Patches"

Today Madelyn and I spent some quality time at Dillons' green house and picked out some flowers for our flower pots. She looked for the prettiest flowers while I looked for the hardy, easy to care for flowers. I love to plant flowers, but once they are planted I tend to ignore them.
We had lots of help planting flowers from the four dogs (one we are dog sitting) and thankfully we got all of them planted before the storm hit.





Miss "Patches" has been staying with us for the past two weeks while my parents were vacationing in Texas and Mexico. She fits right in with our other hounds and has been a breeze to dog sit. She was very helpful when we were planting flowers and only took off with the flower containers on a few occasions.

"You ever been worm hunting?"

Yesterday afternoon our neighbor boy was fishing in the ditch near our house......


He seemd to be enjoying himself, but before you know it he had company......



I thought it was too cute not to take a photo and as I was sneaking up to get a quick shot, I heard Madelyn ask "Have you ever been worm hunting?" And then she proudly announced "my daddy and I go worm hunting sometimes and it sure is fun." Before long Madelyn had retrieved her fishing pole from home and attempted to catch herself a bullfrog.
As I was driving by on my way to pilates class I stopped to check how fishing was going. They hadn't had a bite but seemed to be enjoying themselves. Madelyn jumped up and came running over to my car and happily reported "mama, I have a new friend."

I wasn't sure if this friendship would be returned, but today that same little boy was back fishing in the ditch and Madelyn soon joined him. Before long the two of them were playing together in our back yard.

Diva for a Day

Madelyn went to a friend's "Diva" birthday party yesterday, complete with a VIP pass. Ten little 5-6 year old girls dressed as Divas or Rockstars and took a limo ride to Pump-It-Up. With Madelyn's birthday a little over a month away this birthday party is going to be difficult to top!!

To a Good Home

As a child my family had a Corgi and I can remember him being a very good pet, and pretty smart. Well, two years ago I convinced myself that I needed a Corgi so I bought a darling, Welsh Corgi puppy for $250. Ryan was less than thrilled about this purchase but knew he couldn't talk me out of it so went along with it. I really wanted a house dog and was hoping that my new puppy would fit the mold. Not so much. Jack is darling alright, all thirty plus pounds of him. But he doesn't particularly care to be in the house because he gets too hot with all that fur. He would much rather be outside herding the other dogs. He is a herder by nature so he thinks our labs need to be herded. Our oldest lab, Chance, cannot stand Jack and they tend to steere clear of one another. Our other lab, Belle, tolerates Jack but when she has had enough of the herding she ends up biting him. Jack enjoys barking and marking his territory. I'm beginning to wonder if my childhood pet wasn't really a smart corgi, or I just ended up with a dumber version this go round. He isn't the brightest dog but he sure is cute and would make a great farm/cattle dog. If you know anyone interested I would be happy to sell or even give him away. His dad was registered but his mom was not, therefore Jack is not registered, but he is full-blooded.