Happy Birthday Miss Amie!!

We decided to get Amie a trampoline for her birthday - of course the intention was that it would be a beautiful spring day to put it together and for her to play with it......Mother Nature had her own plan!
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Darwin brought the boxes into the snowy yard on Saturday (3-20).


After working on it for a good half hour - he came to the door - :( - look how wet he's getting!!
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But it seems he needed a little help.....I suppose I can help for a little bit!

Here's the result of our team work - four legs put together....time for me to go back inside and get warm! :)

Darwin made quite a bit of progress while we were gone!

Saturday night - Darwin went back to finish the rest of the netting - he also moved it to behind the play set. I thought the foot prints of him and Tiger were interesting....

The Wait is Over!! Sunday morning......OK - Amie - let's put your coat and boots on for your birthday surprise......

What do you see Amie???

So let's get some snow brushed off - so that you can get up there!!

After we got the edge cleared off - we decided to let her up there before we finished getting it cleaned off - because she was quite ready to give it a work out!

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It was pretty darn slippery though!

Pure Joy!

It took some work - but we got it cleaned off - it involved tipping the thing at least 4 times and brushing and scooping and freezing fingers!!

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So I joined her when it was cleaned off! She was more interested in tackling me then jumping with me!!

Time for this old lady to get out of there!

Little Miss - had a BALL!

After cleverly mastering the jump and drop to your back trick several times - she began running in circles!

It was cold.....It was wet......but in her eyes - it was perfect!! She loved every minute of her wet, cold fun!!

Welcome Spring 2010!!

In Illinois - if you don't like the weather - just wait - it will change!!
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Saturday 3-20-2010 was the first day of spring......see what we woke up to?
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Here are a few trees from our back yard - I absolutely love my birch tree!


This poor little bush is by our backdoor - and Mr. Tiger has "eaten" it pretty badly! He doesn't actually "eat" it - he just rips branches off to run through the yard with.....see the next few pictures for an example!

As I was walking through the back yard - I came across one of Tiger's branches - the bigger the better for him! I took a picture showing how it had been moved from it's original position.....but Mr. Protector of all Sticks - was not happy with me coming near his stick!!

No Mr. Tiger - I won't play with your Stick!!! LOL!!

Amie's 5 year pictures!

Doesn't seem possible - but Little Miss turns 5 on Monday!! So today (Saturday 3-20-2010) is the first day of spring & what do we wake up to?? SNOW - that ugly 4 letter word!!
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I had a beautiful lavendar Easter dress I was going to have her picture taken in --- but it is sleeveless and has a little cover made out of netting for her shoulders -- so entirely too cold of attire for this "first day of spring"!!
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I did not plan on doing pictures today - but when we met Grandma, Uncle Tom and Aunt Sue for breakfast - they thought she looked cute enough for pictures....and well this is more her style!!
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Hope you enjoy!


Wasn't it just yesterday that we got that phone call........"What do you think about me bringing home a newborn?" We told Betty she was out of her mind.......Yes that was 5 years ago - guess we are all a little out of our minds.....but wouldn't change it for anything!!

The story just keeps getting better and better

He is an idiot! And he's married to a psychopath.
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Today I learn that their story is getting better and better.
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Now - I am so all powerful that I "badgered" him and her into the story that he had sex with an 18 year old developmentally delayed foster daughter of theirs. At two different times no less - with neither of the other around.
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Wow!! I am way more powerful then I knew myself!
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Give it up - nobody believes your stupid stories! Or if they do - they are just as stupid as you!
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Oh and all the other stories are way more comical then anything else - I'd love, absolutely LOVE to know how to hack into someone's computer - but I think there are laws against that. If you are so hell bent on thinking that someone actually hacked into your computer (instead of the probable true story that psychobitch got caught cheating) - then call the police, file a report, get a computer audit - there are ways to find out if someone hacked into your computer!
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Grow up and be a man - admit that you have a problem! Get help before you do it again!!!

Spring Cleanin'

I'll have to look to see if I have a decent picture of just how many toys this little girl had accomunlated - for the life of me, I have no idea how she got so many!! :)
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But - it was very obvious that the toys were out of control and overrunning the sun room!!
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So - Dad started "helping" Amie put all of her toys in baskets, boxes and such so that Mom could completely pull everything out of the sunroom & clean from top to bottom & then re-organize the toys that would be staying...


Yes I did say that Dad was the "helper" - but it worked the other way around....Dad did most & Amie tried to tell him all about what the different toys were and which ones were her "favert"!!
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By the end of the second weekend - we had 7 garbage bags full that Darwin dropped at the Salvation Army!

And the result is a much more organized, manageable, age-appropriate group of toys!!! Now to get to the basement!!

Darwin's new toy

So Darwin traded in his Harley Truck!! I keep thinking he's had three Harley Trucks over the years....but he assures me it's only two......and I can only find pictures of two.....but SHHHH don't tell him he's right!

So - 158,000 miles later -- he decided to go with a 4X4 - much better on the snowy roads! And the tires should be a whole lot less expensive (the Harley had those low profile thingys).

It's a manly truck - and until he finally got the running boards on it - it was definitely not lady like getting into it. BTW - the running boards are not on it in these pictures.

It definitely has a lot more room in the back for Amie - and on the rare occassion on of the male DNA inhabitants at our house :)

Although - they may have a hard time getting a shot at riding in the truck, because Amie keeps telling us that the middle seat is for Kylee & the seat behind the passenger is for Aunt Janet!!

Snowmagedon....

Back to blogging....
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So a few weeks ago we got hit with quite a little snow storm.....not a blizzard per se - because it just snowed and snowed -- but wasn't wicked blowing and such! So - it probably isn't quite the snowmagedon that the North East got....but it was our little monster!!
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So - Monday morning comes - and because Darwin has his new 4X4 truck -- oh wait -- did I forget to put those pictures up here too??!! I've got so much to get caught up on!!
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Anyway - Darwin leaves without a problem at 5am - then Christopher gets up around 7ish to get the drive cleared for the day....well, his little "S10" (ok so it's not an S10 - but it's a little truck like an S10 - that's a different story) is parked on the little "bump out". He blows off the drive and then proceeds to try to move his truck so he can blow off the bump out......yeah - 8 inches or so of snow is a bit much for a little "S10" (hehehehehe)!!


I open the garage to see him sliding sideways off of the bump out...hard to tell from the above picture - but he was not moving in the correct direction!!
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So we shovel, and shovel, and shovel, and rock, and rock, and push, and shovel, and rock, and push......and we are getting nowhere fast!!
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Amie's bus comes and we get her on her way - still we are not getting very far in regards to getting him unstuck!!

Then a wonderful stranger drove up into our drive and asked if he could help!!!! Why yes he could with his big beautiful 4X4 truck and chains!!!

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He pulled Chris across the yard between the two drives & onto our neighbors drive!!!

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Chris got the rest of the drive and bump out blowed off & I headed to work!!! Our angel stranger wouldn't even take money!! He said he was a Cub Master & this was his good deed for the day!!! I wrote a letter to the editor thanking him - because I didn't even get his name!!

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I think he is the Cub Master of the Bethel Baptist Pack....but I'm not positive!
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After work - I tried to get a picture of the snow mess we left between the two drive-ways!