Bye-Bye Lolie

Today was a very sad day at our house. By circumstances out of our control, we had to let our lovely Lola go. We sent her off with a nice family that has a 5-year-old son, who is ecstatic that he gets to finally have his own pet. I couldn't stop crying over the fact that he wants to call her "Meowy."

Out of all of the people in the house, losing Lolie was hardest on me. Surprisingly, Chad grew quite fond of little Lolie. Actually, Lola took a liking to him right away. She must have known that he hated cats, and she charmed him with her snuggling and constant purring. She is, by far, the most loving kitty ever.

I am sure that Maddux will refuse to eat for the next week or two because her and Lola became the best of friends. Maddux was very motherly towards her, and she was okay with that. Everywhere you turned, they were cuddling together or playing with each other.

Goodbye, Lolie. We love you and will miss you.

Her favorite spot.Right before this, Lola was lying on the couch and Maddux laid right on top of her.
Lolie managed to squeeze out the side.

On a lighter note, we tied up some loose ends around the house this weekend. We patched the siding and finished the trim on the side and back door. Chad also got to use his smoker for the first time and did a chicken. It took about 7 hours to smoke it, but it was mighty tasty! Definitely worth the wait! Yeah, meat!

Ella had her doctor's appointment on Friday, and she is growing, growing, growing. I don't have the exact info in front of me, but she is 75 percentile for her height and 42 percentile for her weight. We have her first dentist appointment in two weeks, and that should be very interesting. Hopefully I will be able to leave there with my eardrums still functioning.

Sophie is almost crawling! She gets up on her hands and knees, tries to scooch, and then does a belly flop. Super Sophie! She is rolling everywhere. She will usually roll until something stops her and she can't roll anymore.

Brock just can't wait to grow up. He can't wait to start kindergarten and play baseball on a team. He is so proud to be 4 and will tell everyone how old he is. He says that he wants to marry Mama and wear a ring just like Daddy does. It's pretty cute.

Ella and her conglomerate gummy.

Who Invited Squiggy??

Squiggy

Vacation is now over, and the work week has begun. It's so hard to get back in your routine after a week off. We had such a fun time, and every day was used to its fullest. After doing the deck stuff, Chad took a half day with each of the kids to do something special that they wanted to do. Brock wanted to go golfing, and Ella wanted to go fishing, so that's what they did. They all had a great time spending some one-on-one time with Daddy.

Shaking up her fishing snack mix.

Ella's Fishing Song
By: Daddy
Ella Bell's good at watching the bob
Ella Bell's good at squishing the wormies
Ella Bell's good at pickin' the swanies
Ella Bell's good at pickin' out the hooks

After Ella got tired of fishing, they hit golf balls into the water.My sister is in town, so we took a morning and went shopping and had lunch.

We are the Crazy Purple Terry Jumpsuit Ladies! Give us some CANDY!

That afternoon, Chad and I took the kids putt-putt golfing and out for supper. It was their first time mini-golfing, and they thought it was pretty neat. Ella and Brock managed to get a few hole-in-ones, and Daddy got almost every one of them.
We wrapped up our vacation with a fishing trip to the cabin. We met Amanda, Bret, Carter, and Ethan there, and we all had a great time. Brock was so excited to spend some time with Ethan; they were inseparable. They camped out in the living room of the cabin and didn't go to sleep until almost midnight on Saturday. We came back home Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day recouping from the trip.

Carter loved the worms!

The boys after their camp-out.Carter in the big fort!Now this is vacation! Or as Ella would say,
"This is what I'm talking about!"Chad and Carter driving the boat.Sophie's first fishing adventure. Nap time! Mama and the girls.

Yes, we're still alive but barely.

Chad started vacation today, and we've already got so much accomplished. Yesterday, he had a couple of friends over to help with the deck, and they were able to get the deck framed up in about five hours. I never heard any yelling or cursing, so I think it went pretty well. =) Thank you to Kenny and Dave for all of your help! It is much appreciated!

Breanne and Sophie

Today brought us back to five years ago when Chad and I decided to put up a privacy fence at our "G" Street house in 100 degree weather with a hand-held post hole digger.  Only this time, it was us putting decking on in 100 degree weather while trying to juggle three children (queue the circus music, please). There were a couple of times where we thought we were going to pass out, but we kept on truckin'. We started this morning around 8:30 and were finished at about 6:30. We still have to do the railing and stairs, patch the siding, and we are planning on putting in a sliding patio door.

Last weekend we got the kitchen painted. It took three days to paint, and we are so glad it's done! So now, I only have the toy room to paint, but not sure I am going to get to that any time soon.

Carrots

Ella sleeping with her baby.Sophie shrieking at her kitty.Snickerdoodle time!Ella was making snickerdoodle hotdogs."No, Mama! Say cheeeeeese!""Cheeeeeese!"