My Youngest...

My youngest. My sweet, baby Ava. When she was born I thought it wasn't fair that she looked so much like her Dad. I did all that work for all those months and she didn't even look like me...at all. But even though she looks so much like her Dad, she has definitely got her own little look.

Her almond eyes light up when she smiles. She has the prettiest heart shaped mouth. She has one little dimple in her right cheek.  Dimples make a child look so innocent, but with a little bit of "up to something" behind it. I'm a sucker for dimples.

But my favorite dimple is the one on her shoulder.

Something about this dimple makes my heart melt.

It makes me never want her to grow up.

It makes me want her to stay my sweet, baby Ava.

Forever.

My Oldest

My Katie is so special to me. Don't get me wrong, I love all my children equally, but differently. My Mother always says that Katie has a silly heart. I agree. She spent her third and fourth years on earth as a unicorn. Really, she thought she was a unicorn. She would introduce herself as Katie Grace Benson Unicorn. The first year was funny, but the second year had me a little worried.

(This is Katie's mean face. You can tell that she doesn't really have a mean bone in her body.)

She came to me the other day with this idea. I could see her brain working while she was telling me her idea. She was convinced that she had the human mind and body figured out. She's even going to draw a comic strip about it. Here it goes:

Katie-"Momma, I have it all figured out."

Me - "What's that?"

Katie - "how your brain works."

Me - "Really? Tell me."

Katie - "There is a little mouse that lives in your brain. He sends messages to your brain box about what you want to say and do. The when he gets hungry he runs down your spinal cord to your stomach and eats the food you just ate. That's why we get hungry...to feed the mouse."

Me - "Really? Why a mouse?"

Katie - "Because that's the only animal I could think of that was small enough to fit in your brain."

Me - "Well, it looks like you have it all figured out then."

Katie - "Yep!  Can I go play with the girls?"

I don't know now if she still thinks her theory is true, because that was last week and this is now. A lot of things change when you live in La La Land. I know I don't want her to change. I want her to keep her carefree, fun, and silly heart. Forever.

I know how she feels...

As if wading in the creek and getting barbed wire in your foot wasn't enough to make the day eventful, we decided to head back to the house and visit with the animals. Hollis was especially excited about the sheep. I have no idea why, but they were the best part of the day for him. When Coach finally brought them out he just looked at them. He said "OK, talk". He was a little disappointed when they didn't follow his commands. When the sheep were put up in their pens again, we got to meet Luby the goat. She is a tiny little creature with and enormous belly. I wanted to take her home with me. The kids wanted to make her belly bigger.

She ate as long as there was food in her sight.

Knowing that my girl and her friends are a little on the stubborn side, Aunt Rae told them to lead - and I use that term loosely - Luby around by her rope.

I now know the only thing more stubborn than this bunch of kids is Luby the goat. She only walked when she wanted to, no matter how hard they pulled.  We watched this for about a half and hour and then someone said "hey, why don't you try to ride that goat". That was all it took.

Then Hollis took his turn.

Then Rachael noticed something on Luby. She noticed that Luby had teats like those of an animal with child.

My heart sank and I felt horrible. Here we have been letting our kids play tug-of-war and ride this sweet girl and didn't even know she was with child.

So Luby, I wan to formally apologize for letting my kids ride you. I can truly sympathize with you, having to carry their big behinds while carrying a baby in your belly.

I carried this one's big behind

while pregnant with this one. And I carried his big behind

while I was pregnant with her big behind.

So, Luby, I am so, so, so very sorry. Please don't tell PETA.

What a long & fun day

We woke up Saturday morning and had to be at the soccer fields at 8:30 for a make-up soccer game followed by another game. We lost the first and won the second. We had BIG plans after the game. Sarah and I were taking the girls, Katie, Hollis and the twins, to Aunt Rae's farm in Fayetville, Tn. Rachel and Aren, the twins, had never been to the farm and were so excited. What child doesn't love the thought of wading in a creek all afternoon. I know I did when I was their age.

Aren, Rachel, and Katie, in that order, took off to the creek. There have been some big rains lately, so we weren't sure what the creek was going to look like. They were in for a nice surprise.

It was perfect!! The water was still chilly since Mother Nature has some issues lately. It was in the mid 80s earlier in the week, but on 70 on Saturday. We came prepared, though. Rain boots saved the day! And speaking of rain boots....

Aren got a nice surprise in hers while wading in the water,. It never pinched her, I think it might have been a little too small for that., but it was a fun surprise to find.

Hannibal came along for the walk. He brought his bone...I'm not sure what animal that came from. He stuck his head in all the holes along the banks of the creek looking for snakes to catch. Such a good, handsome watchdog.

They looked for arrowheads (didn't find any), geodes, and fossils. They found some really neat things and every rock with a point on the end was a "almost" arrowhead. They were having the time of their life until...

this dear, sweet, accident prone child of mine stepped on a piece of barbed wire without wearing her rain boots. My, being the mother-of-the-year that I am, first thought wasn't about the wire hanging out of her foot. I was thinking about the pain that would ensue the 2 days later when we make it to the Dr's office for a tetanus shot. The last time she had shots it took 3 of us to hold down all of her 45lbs. Luckily, she has had a tetanus shot so my mind came back to her pain. I carried her all the way back to the house. She didn't let it get her down, though.

I'll post more about the day tomorrow...