BORING IKE

Man, that was so boring. There wasn't even a gush of wind or enough rain that I could hear it from inside, it was like a coastal mist. That's all we got! I was all prepared for the worse, flashlights and all, i didn't even get thunder or lightening! I demand a refund! I'm quite disappointed. The worse part of it all is that it proves me wrong and Brad right, and that's just unacceptable.

*Conversation of the Week*

Me: "Tori, I'm so excited for your birthday, its going to be better than Christmas!"
Tori: "Mom, it Can't be Better than Christmas, there is no way."
Me: "Oh, but it will be, you just wait."
Tori (in distress): "Mom, it can't be, Christmas is Jesus's birthday, and this is just mine, and Jesus's birthday is way more important!"

Victoria is SIX!!!

So Brad decided that it would be fun for his daughter to get a Guitar. He brought it up to her way before he talked to me about it. All the sudden she was earning "points" towards a guitar! Knowing how Abbie takes care of things, and the last event with Tori's Samantha doll (check out my blogs in Feb/March) I knew that a guitar would not do well in our home besides Brad's that stays in his case. But Brad felt that Tori was ready for it and I tried to fight it, i really did, but somehow he found an ELECTRIC (I know, its even worse!) on sale for way way way cheap, and she earned 50 points and she got one for her Birthday. Amongst the point earning, Abbie decided points were cool and we have seen the biggest change in Abbie, the cutest thing she says now all the time is, "Okay Muder"(instead of mother). I think it's adorable. Whenever i ask her to do or not do something she says, "Okay Muder." I need to get it on Video. Anyway, so Abbie earned herself a Ukulele. Tori started to get grumpy when we explained that she had to go to school now, she wanted to stay home and play with her toys. So here are the pictures from Tori's birthday. My Mother in Law, Donnamay was able to come and visit for Tori's birthday week, and it was the cutest thing... when it was time for her to go home, Tori was so sad, and she said to her, "You being here for my birthday was better than all my birthday presents combined." It was so much fun to have her here with us, I definitely miss her.

Hurricane yIKEs!!!!

So I've received some concerned phone calls in the last few days from those who love me and are worried about me dying. No need to fear, I live in Dallas, not Houston. I did however, want to gripe a little, because that's what blogs are for nowadays, right? You wanna know what my husband is doing during this storm? He left me. Yep, he left me to go CAMPING! Can you believe that. I'm still in shock. He is camping out into the middle of nowhere where I'm sure there will be tornadoes because this weekend was a scout campout, and it was scheduled, and we'd hate for something to come up... like say, a hurricane, to get in the way of a boyscout campout. Seriously. What the heck is he thinking? I don't know. Maybe I'm just annoying and he's finding an excuse to leave? You would think that 7 boys ages 11-14 would be much more annoying than a wife. But No. I'm here, alone, with my two girls, braving the storm that will be coming my way. Yeah. I know. Poor me. As far as the Hurricane goes, I think when it hits us it'll be a pretty fun wind/rain storm. I don't think we'll be walking to the park, we might lose power, who knows, but I think we'll just enjoy the storm from indoors, hopefully we'll have TV because what in the world would I do without that during a storm? And there will probably be tornadoes, but I've heard that most tornadoes don't come into the city. My mom said she'd pay me some amount if it came within what 10 miles of us? Was that right mom? Its a hard call to decide if I'd prefer the money or the tornado right now. Its a toss-up. Anyway, no need to call me to say our last goodbyes, I think we'll make it through this one. At least the girls and I will. :)

Topsey Exotic Wildlife Ranch Wild SAFARI!!!

On Monday for Memorial Day we went to the Topsey Exotic Wildlife Ranch and went on their Wild Safari! It was so cool! My favorite was the zebras, and the Camel, the Camel tried to kiss me on numerous occassions, I was a little freaked out. We had such a good time feeding the "exotic" animals :) One of the rams kept putting its hoofs or whatever you call them on our car door trying to get us to feed it more. I was like "NO! You'll scratch our car!" So I started throwing the food away from the car in order to avoid further car damage :) They were quite friendly to say the least... Except for the small ostriches, whatever those things are called, I about lost a finger it tried to bite mine off, man that hurt so bad! Anyway, enjoy all the pics.

Sleeping in Special Places

My favorite thing as a child was to sleep in "special places". The definition of that is anywhere but your bed. When we were little we liked to get creative of where we would sleep, one time I slept in a little square space that the couch made against the corner of the wall and I could hardly fit in there in the fetal position. I woke up in the middle of the night with all my arms and legs "asleep" and boy was I in pain!!! Anyway, I've introduced my daughters to the excitement of "sleeping in special places" and they love it. Their version is on a blanket on the floor. Fine with me :) I took these shots on one of those nights when you watch them sleep and you just say a prayer of gratitude for the amazing family that you have and blessing of having children. I'm so grateful they are so close and best friends. What an amazing blessing to have two beautiful daughters!

Butterflies!!!!

For Abbie's birthday we got her the Butterfly Treehouse thing where you can raise caterpillars until they become butterflies. Well let me just tell you, it was pretty cool! These pictures are the girls releasing the butterflies into the "wild" so that they could live a full life. There were a few tears at the sad farewell, but it was pretty cool to see them in cocoons and hatch and all. I highly suggest it. You can purchase them at Target and send in for the caterpillars through the mail, its cheaper than ordering online or through the phone.