Let me just say that life is always busy and the kids are doing great. The girls were in little pepsters last Friday at the EHS home football game. They had a lot of fun being cheerleaders for a night. Tyson and Trey sat and watched the football game like big boys and I was very impressed. We left at half time and went to eat at the Pizza Hut with 5 kids in tow and had a really nice time, they all acted civilized and made mommy proud.
Saturday we spent the day watching Holden for Steph and Jerry, they had to go watch the Gladiators, the football team Takota plays on. Unfortunately the Gladiators lost, but only by 13 points this time. I guess that is an improvement. I painted the bathroom that Jeff has been remodeling and on Sunday he started the trim work and hung the new light fixture and medicine cabinet. We also went to Steph's for Trey's birthday, the kids always have fun playing together, it reminds me of when the Soukup family would get together at the farm and the kids would play and fight and break crayons.
Lydia's funny for the week would have to be that I had to call her teacher and we were discussing her behavior and I wanted to know how much trouble she has been in. The teacher told me her and another little girl were talking amongst themselves during her math lesson and when she asked them "Excuse me ladies, am I interrupting your conversation?" They both replied "YES!" and started up again until she gave them their clothespins, we both laughed, surprisingly that was the naughtiest thing she had done-Thank Goodness. They get a clothespin each time they get in trouble and if they get too many they get sent to the principal and so on. Acacia is working hard on getting all of her points for the Accelerated Reader program. She is doing great in school and is excited about next week being spirit week, she likes pajama day. Jeff is really enjoying his new job, it is definitely an adjustment for me since I was used to him getting home at 3:30 and that was when I started working and now he doesn't get home until 4:30 or 5:00 so I have to do more juggling and rearranging. It will all work out in the end I am sure.

Petting Zoo At Preschool

Today Tyson's preschool class had a petting zoo. The zoo consisted of the animals that the children brought from home. Trust me, I have a zoo, so I obliged by taking five kittens, I thought maybe there would be a sucker who would just HAVE to have a kitten. Of course one of the other kiddos brought her kitten and she had THREE more to find homes for. That dad and I were both trying to pawn off kittens. Watching the kids with the kittens I decided they would have better luck fighting off coyotes than living with the kids. Tyson has got to learn that cats do not fly and if you throw them at a glass window they will not stick just because they have claws. They have of course attached themselves to Tyson on several occasions and that makes him mad, but I do believe if I thought I was going to be tossed to kingdom come I wouldn't let go either. There were a couple of dogs there also, but Tyson got bored pretty quick, I think it would take a pet elephant to get him excited. (Don't get any ideas Leo).
Acacia is doing great in school, her grades are excellent and she has a lot of friends. We are having a sleep over on Friday. That is always a lot of fun. Lydia got dumped by a boy today. I think she will survive, even if Jeff won't. She thinks a fourth grader is hot and her friend wants to kiss a boy on the lips. How do they know this stuff? Acacia is still single for the moment, thank the heavens, I suppose next week Lydia will be planning her wedding. I am sure it will be a grand affair. She has a passion for fashion, I think her Bratz dolls have been corrupting her.
Our end of the night routine has been singing to SingStar on the playstation, the girls really enjoy competing against mom. They love the songs and for a five year old who can't read Lydia does really well. It is a lot of fun for our family.
Jeff has some news, his last day working for the prison is tomorrow the 12th. He starts working for Great Plains on Monday. He was ready for a change and it is better pay. He is very excited and I am thrilled to see him so happy. He will still be working at the prison supervising inmates who work for Great Plains, but under a different supervisor and company. The state has been good, but this will be bettter.
Life has been good and we are truly blessed so I hope the same for everyone else.

Sunday at Grandma Weezy's and Papa Leo's

Mom and Dad had us over for lunch today, Khali was in town visiting so we got together to spend some quality time with her. She is 15 and will be 16 in February. I can't believe she has grown up so much. She has a boyfriend and Aunt Debbie told her to warn him if he did anything stupid I would hunt him down. She just laughed. My kids are always excited to see her since she is only around once every couple of months. She is still very sweet. I got some pics of her with everyone, I teased her because ever since she was a baby if a camera was near her she was posing with her big beautiful smile.

After lunch it was time to say goodbye and head home to finish all our chores. Jeff is remodeling the bathroom. It needed work, and thankfully he is pretty handy. The kids and I are going to do laundry, pick up toys and all that fun stuff, just to do it again tomorrow.

I can't believe it, but I have all three kiddos in school now. Acacia is in third grade, Lydia is in kindergarten and Tyson just started pre-school this week. Acacia and Tyson are loving school, Lydia is having a little trouble adjusting. It's hard to be good all day. There have been quite a few tears shed from Lydia, but I have to say, I have enjoyed the break. Three months of the kids fighting was about to drive me crazy. Tyson is going to be the class clown I think, the first thing he did when he sat down was give the girl across from him a big thumbs up and his cheesiest smile, it was precious. Of course it is exhausting for all of them getting back into a new routine, summer was sleep late and play late. Acacia and her friends are at the age now where they are starting to call each other to find out what they are wearing to school and making sure they have got everything planned for recess and silly things like that. Thankfully, Acacia is not crazy about boys yet. In third grade I think that is a little much, but Lydia breaks up with a different boy each day, so who knows. Jeff is not looking forward to any of the stuff that comes with girls growing up, women confuse him and the hormones haven't even kicked in yet.
We have also been busy with animals. My children love animals and unfortunately for Jeff, so do I. We started out with two dogs and two cats. We had to find a new home for our big dog because he kept getting loose, and he ended up living in San Antonio, TX. So the kids have been wanting a new dog. Well instead, our cat went and got pregnant, we didn't even know she was until she had one kitten. That was it, just one. Well, of course we couldn't get rid of her only baby. So we had a new addition to the family, Socrates, cute kitty. Come to find out her one kitten is blind, has a broken tail, almost died of a bacterial infection, and has a crazy cowlick on his back. He fits right in! Well, before we could get hussy momma to the vet to get spayed the kids let her outside, after being told, DO NOT LET HER OUT! And now we have four more kittens. They think we should keep them all, but thankfully my clients have been nice enough to offer homes to the little sweethearts. The kittens, not the kids.
Business has been great, I put tanning beds in the shop back in May and between tanning and nails and helping people with their kids and dogs I stay plenty busy. I watch twin 10 month old boys 2-4 times a week, since they were 3 months old they have been coming here and of course I help my sis with her kids whenever she needs me. Daycare is so limited in Ellsworth and my friend has two sets of twins, so she was needing affordable help. Lydia loves helping with the twins, she is going to be a great mommy some day. She gives lots of love to the babies. We also dog sit for several families. The kids like helping with that also. I hope the kiddos are learning that helping others makes us feel good.

Summer Fun

The kiddos got a trampoline for Christmas and spent the summer using it as their own personal waterpark. It has been a hit with the cousins and their friends. I enjoy it because it helps burn off all that extra energy they seem to have drained from me.