Silly Girl

Our computer area is in the basement, as are Jadyn's toys. We were both down here, and I was doing something unrelated to the blog. I ran up the stairs to get my cell phone, telling Jadyn I'd be right back.

She said, "Okay, Mom. I'll keep an eye on your blog!" This child makes me laugh.

The way that she plays reminds me of none of our other children. She's totally different. I love how she sort of intermixes different types of toys, using them all together. I snapped a couple of

pictures this morning. She had some of her horses in the Kelly doll house. One tiny horse was in

the swing. :)

Then, there's the way she always puts Polly Pocket clothing and shoes on the animals. Yesterday, her tiniest horse was wearing a Polly Pocket skirt. Today, it was wearing shoes and rollerblades. One time, a goat was wearing shoes. Recently, (you may have heard this on

Facebook) an army man was wearing a Barbie shirt and he looked so "fashiony". Oh the fun! When she dresses her horse or some other lucky animal, it's always so unexpected and makes me laugh out loud.

Check out the horse in the swing.

Salon La Momma and Other Things

We spent today at home, just getting some necessary things done. We did laundry, dishes and other chores.

Jadyn went to Salon La Momma. I gave her a haircut, and nail trimming. She has a simple

haircut and I often cut it myself. I'm no pro, but it usually comes out okay.

She asked to have her toenails painted, and so we did that too. She also painted my fingernails.

hair, before (with Pandie)

hair after

Salon La Momma

painting mom's nails

Tonight we went to our pediatrician's flu shot clinic. Jadyn screamed and cried this time. Last year, she didn't even whimper. You just never know how they'll react. Maybe this time she remembered what it's all about. She was excited about her shiny band-aid, and the promised candy at home. :)

Update on the couch situation - Nothing at all would get the urine smell out. So unbelievable. What is the point of an animal's urine smelling so foul? I'm glad I'm not a cat.

Anyway, the last effort is to call the manufacturer and see if there's any chance that they have matching cushions sitting around. After 4 years, probably not.

Help! Something keeps following me around! It's my backside. :) I can't seem to get away from it. I am trying though. I started a diet in August, I believe. I want to shed some of the weight that keeps jumping onto my body. I won't say how much I still want to lose. If I get there, I'll let you know. ;)

It's been going okay so far. Some days are good, some days not as good. You know how it goes.

Isn't it amazing? It's so much fun to eat all that good stuff, but not so fun when you need to lose weight. I don't like to deny myself all of the treats I want.

The good part is that I've lost about 11 pounds. Yay! I just thought I'd share, and it's one more way to keep myself accountable. Now you all know, and I'll have to keep trying.

That Really Stinks

Just had to share our current little problem. It's a small thing, when you think about the big picture of life.

As I mentioned earlier this week, we went away last weekend to MO. Our son was away on a trip with church youth, but returned before we did. He discovered that our cat, Lexi had been shut away from her litterbox for about 48 hours.

Bryan didn't see any pee or poo accidents when he returned, so he didn't mention to us, the fact that the cat had no litter box for 48 hours.

So, we returned from our trip, and returned to the normal business of life. We did notice however, that every time we sat in our family room on the couch, we detected a bad smell. We could not figure it out. It even crossed our minds that maybe the cat had somehow had an accident somewhere.

When Bryan returned from work a couple of evenings ago, we asked if there was any possibility the cat could have had an accident in the house while we were away. He told us how she'd been shut away from her box. He'd seen no reason to tell us, since he'd seen no accidents.

So we then sniffed all around and finally discovered that the cat had urinated on our couch. It's a sectional, and the portion she peed on was furthest away from where we sit the most. Oh Dear! It is such a funky, bad smell.

We checked the Internet, we sponged with vinegar, we bought the recommended cleaner at the pet store and we've treated it 3 times now. No luck, the smell is still there. Alan has talked to a couple of professional cleaners. They don't give us much hope. The next step is an overnight vinegar soak. If the smell doesn't come out, that portion of our sectional will be history.

If you know what cat urine smells like, you know what we are dealing with. Yuck!

So, in the grand scheme of things, this is not the end of the world. There are many folks out there with much bigger problems than cat pee on a couch.

I'll keep you posted.

No miracle for us. :)

I do have a question... WHY THE COUCH?? She could have chosen any corner, carpet, tile, linoleum, a plant pot... WHY THE COUCH??

Our Field Trip

Alan and I celebrate 27 years of marriage today! He is spending the day here at home with us and tonight we will have a date. Thank you in advance, to our daughter Lauryn, who will take care of Jadyn for us. We are really looking forward to an evening alone.

Jadyn and I went on a little field trip with her preschool class this week. We went to a nature center which is not far from her school. We saw a puppet show, went on a little hike, and then viewed all the displays inside the center. I was impressed by all of the displays of snakes and other small animals, plus they had lots of hands-on things for the kids to see. It was everything from animal skins to deer antlers and hooves. It was a very cool place.

The little hike was quite rainy. We knew we'd be hiking, no matter what the weather so we came prepared. As a parent, you almost dread knowing it will be a cold, rainy experience. Even though it was WET, it was fun. It was beautiful out there. We even saw an owl in tree. Pretty cool!

I didn't bring along a regular camera, since I knew it would be so wet. I did snap a few pictures with my phone. I ended up wishing I'd brought the camera along, of course. :)

We looked for puzzle pieces on the hike, by following clues. Here is the completed puzzle.

Checking her wingspan. She's somewhere in between a Red-tailed Hawk and a crow.

a beehive

A non-rainy moment.

Our Trip To Missouri

Last weekend, we took a trip to Missouri to visit Kaitlyn and Chris. We had not seen them since July, shortly after their wedding. It was great to see them, and spend time together.

We enjoyed just hanging out, playing games, bowling, a little shopping, time at the park, eating, attending church, and... did I mention eating? We had a lot of fun and it was great to spend time catching up. I'm so thankful we were able to go to see them.

Jadyn just could not get enough of them. She had missed Kate and Chris so much. She wanted to be in their laps constantly. I told them she was making up for the last 3 months. :)

Here are some photos from our trip.

Jadyn and Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn, Jadyn, and Chris

Having fun at the park!

Sisters

She fit herself into the nightstand in our hotel.

Wordless Wednesday - Little Pumpkin

A Busy Weekend and a Snowy Monday

We had a very busy weekend, much more busy than usual. By the time I went to bed last night, I was exhausted. Today's a new day though. Thank goodness for a full night's sleep. It's also a good thing I am feeling better. Yay, this is not a post about my illness. :)

Here's a partial list of some things we did this weekend... ladies craft night, dinner with friends, church, a birthday party, a festival, a class.

This is only the list of things Jadyn and I did. Alan and Bryan were busy too. Bryan worked and

also went to homecoming activities.

Alan flew to Kansas City yesterday for business.

There's a mini vacation coming up later this week. I think we'll be ready.

Today's weather has brought snow. Crazy! Honestly, it is pretty. No one is ready to have snow in mid-October though.

Here are some pictures of things we did over the weekend, and snow pics too.

Bryan made a cake, for a homecoming related thing.

Bryan and his girlfriend, Emily. Ready for the homecoming dance.

Jadyn, at a friend's birthday.

Jadyn had her hair painted all pink and sparkly, and had her face painted, at the FCC's Mid-Autumn Festival.

Snowy, snowy Monday pictures.

Favorite Foto Friday

Here are photos of Jadyn and Lexi. I'm sure Lexi was happy to have the attention. :) Lexi is 10 and has been with our family since we lived in Texas.

Just Me and My Kitty

No, not again!

It's been a very nice, sunny day today. This is a welcome change. The past few days have been very rainy. We received at least 4 inches of rain. I do so LOVE the rain, but when it takes several days for it to finish, that gets a little old.

So today is beautiful and I had planned to be outside preparing the yard for winter. Gardens need clearing, etc. Unfortunately I don't feel like going out or working. I've caught a cold. Jadyn has one too. Even though we do our best to prevent illness, it still happens.

I took Jadyn to preschool on Monday and also had a mini conference with her teacher. I picked up some things at the store and then I was ready to just pick Jadyn up early. I could feel my cold coming on strong and my joints starting to ache. I just wanted to go home.

My little preschooler had made me a crown and also had a gold star for me to wear. How sweet is that? They learned about dinosaurs and she colored a couple of dinosaur pictures, but she also thought to make me a crown. I just thought it was the cutest thing.

She wanted me to put my crown on at the classroom door and so I did. I admit I felt a little silly

walking down the halls of the school. The other moms and staff just kind of gave me that little knowing look and smile, as if they were thinking, "Nice crown...."

Here's a photo of me with my crown on. Now, I do not love this picture of myself at all. It must have been a bad hair day, and what's with the baby bangs? I do not have baby bangs! Oh well, I'm posting this photo of me so you can see my sweet crown. If you look closely, you can see my gold star.

Queen for a day

Here's a photo of Jadyn when she fell asleep on the floor while I was resting on the couch. This just never happens. Jadyn's had a bad cough with her cold. She has a hair-trigger gag reflex. She slept here for about 10 minutes, woke up, coughed a couple of times and tossed her cookies big time, right there on the floor. Lucky me. She looks so sweet here, who could've imagined the ugliness to come?

It's all going to be just fine, because the doctor is in. She wanted to give me a check up today, and I needed it. I hope whatever she injected me with will put me on the road to recovery. ☻

I know that many of you have been sick or have sick family. I hope that all of you will soon be on the mend!