SNIP - ITS

A few snip its of the last two days.


A new haircut for Tuks, the dogs and Mama.












Attending the fair

Letting a goat smell and lick her. I taught her to present the back of her hand to a new animal so that it can smell her without nipping her fingers.


Far away viewing of a farmer milking her goat


a little closer


now a candid shot, but still a look of being unsure of the whole thing...


train ride with cousin N


swing ride with cousin N


just because I think she is beautiful. she is starting to get that 3 - 4 year old thinning out to her face..meaning she is growing up


4 Belgian draft horse hitch, we watched the horses coming and going...LOVED IT!!!


Big Clydesdale scratching it's butt!!


another beauty!!!


this is what Tuks was doing with all theses big horses coming and going!! LOL

It is nice

The week went well, now we are off until Tuesday and that is the day we meet our new students for the year. It has been, well amazing, not having to go to cross country (CC) practice after a full days work. It is nice knowing that I will be picking Tuki up in 8 hours instead of 10 or more hours later, and it is nice being in one school again. I feel like I have come home after a long absence. I mean this in terms of work and family. Does any one else just sit and stare at their child(ren) sometimes and think how incredibly beautiful, smart, gifted, and amazing they are?? or am I the only wacko out there??? Life feels peaceful this week and hopefully it continues on into next week with the students and then through Friday night when I will be subbing for the head CC coach at a meet since his son is getting married the next day.

Weekend fun with the family

Playing ball with cousin C and trying out uncle W's new chair


Lovin' on cousin L


walking to the pond with cousin N & cousin C


throwing rocks in the pond


watching the fish grab at the grasshoppers that Uncle K & W, and cousin's N & L were tossing in


quality time with cousin L



piggy back ride with Uncle W

playing hide and seek in the corn with Uncle W & cousin N (look closely W & N are just inside the row of corn in front of Tuks)


Cousin N & Tuks looking for Uncle W


Tuks looking for cousin N & Uncle W


Riding up


and down in Uncle W's arms


School starts tomorrow, so our family gathering this weekend was a wonderful end to the summer....

Quick Quiz-What color are you?

crayon color I am most like--self quiz

You are most like: You are Orange
Brilliant and stunning, you provide a pleasant surprise to any room into which you walk. This is a hard color to pull off, but you do it well.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
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Annual Photo

Cousin C & Tuks - 08


Cousin C & Tuks - 07


Cousin C & Tuks - 06

Settling In

even though our world has been turned upside down with new pets, we are all settling in real well...headstands are part of Tuks daily activities


Watson, 5 year old scorgi, who came to live with us one week ago today



he loves to do tricks and play catch--which Tuks loves, BUT he has a problem with barking and we will be addressing this very seriously ASAP!!


Beatrice and Hubble - about 10 - 12 weeks old..not litter mates- photos are from
our basement--so ignore the ugly....


Beatrice


Hubble

Question and in need of help

How do I keep Tuks in her toddler bed during naps and bedtime, and if you feel it is OK for her to run around her room a little before she falls asleep, how long is enough time allowed without it getting out of hand..I am at a loss here?? She use to be a great sleeper, but this summer her sleep pattern has gotten progressively worse. Help please!!!

FFF- Best friends with stuffing

Hands down it is Bear bear, every since she came home--he goes everywhere with her, wears diapers, eats, pottys, rides in a car seat..you name it, he does it!!!

Photo problems all fixed

the local river was drained to allow for the repairing of a dam


we checked it out a few nights ago


since gymnastics class she has been a dare devil on the playground equipment


again the dare devil


she has no fear, and she is quite good at the climbing too


she climbed up backwards on these parallel bars


newest purchase...she loves it

Busyness, Technical Difficulties and a twofold furball increase

Sorry for being MIA. There are perfectly good explanations.

As I had stated on an earlier post, I was coming up on some really busy days. After we returned home from fingerprinting and the zoo, we went on a two day camping trip with friends (it went great), and while camping, I figured it would be a good time to take my hard drive/tower in for a tune-up...which lasted up to one week before it was returned.

In those days that it was in the shop, I along with friends and family held a rummage sale. Great stuff, well organized, but little foot traffic due to the seclusion of my place. As long as I live at our current home, I vow never to hold a rummage sale here again. Just not worth the time/energy-income ration return. I managed to raise enough money to purchase a new version of my old camera. BUT, two things occurred once my hard drive came home. My charter/modem disconnected me from the hard drive since it was disconnected for 1 week. So I had to wait for several days for Charter to come fix it, and now I have discovered that my hard drive is disconnecting from the camera as I am attempting to download photos. So I will be bringing the tower back in tomorrow am for more fixing, while watching my niece and Tuks.

My niece will be here for two days. She is one year older than Tuks. I will be getting an idea of two kids in the household with 3 cats and yes, 3 dogs now.
That means I have had a two-fold increase of fur bearing animals in my house this summer...


The third dog was my step-moms, She decided that he was not wanted in her home anymore, and I couldn't bare the idea that he would be killed because she wanted him gone. He, Watson, is a litter mate to Einstein and Heathcliff. So yes, another scorgi in the house. He is brindle like Heath, but has a lot more white on him and he is the owner of corgi ears, versus the scottie ears the other two possess. I really didn't want another dog...I mean REALLY didn't want a third dog, but I felt it was the right thing to do. I was offered more dogs than I can remember when people found out Isaac had died, and I had turned every one down, but I didn't feel right in walking away from Watson. He needs to have a few obedience lessons under his belt before he will be as good as a dog as my other two...well you know it's not like I have anything else to do....


raising one daughter at home
caring for 3 cats
caring for 3 dogs
caring for 4 raptors
starting back at work next week
preparing for two more daughters to come home
caring for the home and yard
and now training Watson...

everyone thinks it is funny that I will have 3 daughters, 3 dogs and 3 cats...and 1 adult...I'll let you know how successful I am at it all. The positive is always a love for animals by the kids. Tuks has to have the animals around at all times when home..she just loves them, and I feel that is a wonderful trait for children to have.

photos to come once I get this photo download problem fixed

It feels good to be back on-line...............

Anyone else as impressed with Michael Phelps as we are?.....Tuks continued to enjoy the gymnastics and swimming. She asks every night to watch the "olmics"..very cute!!!

Gymnastics class

Tuks and I have been watching the Olympic gymnastics. She gets all excited and continually states that they (the gymnasts) are in gymnastics class. I usually say yes they are and then while the gymnast are performing their routines, Tuks is jumping, rolling, tumbling, hanging (from the back of the couch), twirling, all over the living room attempting to imitate the athletes. She certainly loves her gymnastics.

We went to the nearby large city and I had my fingerprints re-done to extend my
I-171, stayed over night at long term friend B's house with her two kids, and then the next day we went to the nearby zoo. It was a first time for Tuks. She was afraid of the monkeys, loved the cats, elephants, zebra, giraffes and farm animals.

We came home yesterday, and I have since been preparing the items for the rummage sale which will be held later in the week. Just to show you how crazy I am, we are also planning on squeezing in a 2-day camping trip before the rummage sale.....

It has been a hard week in thinking about the girls in Haiti so I am grateful for the busyness. I haven't heard a thing in the progress, and I am missing them like crazy...oh well, a waiting we will do........

OK, anybody else notice that there are no minorities competing for the US in swimming and gymnastics.....makes me wonder why this is....and worse than that is, why I had never noticed this before........................hmmmmmmmm

Simple pleasures

Today was a wonderful day. Besides the routine workout this morning, and getting ready for the upcoming rummage sale, I was able to hang around in the yard and I saw two resident does each with their fawns, the four fledgling Phoebes hanging around on the electric line while Mom & Pop were flitting all around catching insects, goldfinch flying all around nesting and rearing young, and a hummingbird hanging out on my maple tree. Then to top it off tonight for the first time this summer, we hear crickets, which for me usually symbolizes the beginning of the end of summer, and the beginning of fall. Lovely summer day that Tuks and I were able to enjoy together!!!!!!!!Life in Greenville is swelling with life....It is these simple things that bring me great pleasure in life....

So, now what I think

I feel the author of that statement did a great job in capturing the thoughts I have had floating around for some time. I just didn't have the ability to write it so clearly.

I will attempt to explain....attempt being the operative word here

You see, since I have yet to marry, Tuks has been the first human that I have made a long term commitment to that I have daily contact with. As much as I love her, some days are difficult. I am sure married people know this already, I, on the other hand, am learning. In my relationships when dating various men, or even some male or female friends that don't know how to stick in there, when things become tough, like disagreements, hard discussions, misunderstandings, my experience has been that the other person left...yeah, I know, not too good, and it hasn't always been my doing. I am kind of left standing there thinking doesn't any body know how to stay around and work through conflicts anymore. So I have no idea what a committed relationship looks like beyond my parents. But that has been too long ago to really remember it all that well. BTW I do have some long term friends that I have had 20 - 30 + years and I am very grateful for, and they know how to work through conflicts instead of walking away from them, I hope I never take them for granted. I still can't help but be amazed at the majority of people that I have chosen to allow in my inner circle, and then find out later that they were there only until a conflict arose. I know, I am making bad choices, no I did make bad choices, now I am making better ones. Kids do that to a person. Is this making sense?? Probably not, that is why I don't put these thoughts out there very often..LOL

So with Tuks being my first child and a baby upon homecoming, it was a first big step for me. I have had to work through the fact that she won't be leaving...meaning I can set down specific guidelines and rules within the household and even if she gets mad at me, she is still sticking around..again I know obvious, but it wasn't always to me. I have known people leaving... a lot.... So I have had to work through these irrational thoughts jumping around in my brain.

Also, when in conversation with various others about attachment, bonding etc., I have found that parents of bio-children have never had to give it a thought. The bonding just occurred in time with care-giving. The trust had never been broken so the attachment came quickly. So in explaining the attachment process, I have used the analogy that it is like falling in love with your child and the child falling in love with their parent. It happens over time.

In addition, when pursing the adoption of older children, namely Mim and Ve, I was very conscience of the fact that I wanted my older children to be somewhat similar in personality to either me or Tuks, or it will be a rough road for them. I am an odd duck in many ways. Now don't get me wrong, I am very comfortable being who I am, but I know when in contrast to others, I think and act differently than the mainstream. There are others like me, but there is not many others out there that enjoy the same things or feel the same way that I do. So I was concerned that children that had much of their personality formed would fit into our odd family. Believe me, Tuks fits in perfectly, it really makes me wonder about nature vs nurture because Tuks and I are many times two peas in a pod...scary but true..

My trip to Haiti put many of these fears to rest because in the little time I spent with them, I kind of felt that we all meshed...but what happens when they come home..it will be a marriage of four people whom on a daily basis will have to choose to stay committed to the family as a unit..that is after the initial transition attachment has occurred....scary, tough stuff, but so worth it!!

They say you grow as a parent, and boy am I growing........

What do you think??

I copied the below statement from here., A Life Outside the Box.

"Adoption is often like a marriage of strangers. It's a marriage for life, and when one partner finds out the other isn't the mate they had dreamed of, there's no option of divorce. Instead, both partners are left with only tremendous feelings of guilt and fear of what the road ahead holds."

I will explain later how this statement hit me..why I felt the need to copy and paste it into my blog...For now, what do you think??

Today

we celebrated the fact that I am now officially 45 years old. I have been calling myself 45 for several months now, but today was the official day. This year is the first year that I am actually starting to feel old. Mainly because I believe I am entering into peri-menopausal. I guess since everyone is getting real and honest on their blogs, then I will too, but mine will be real about the fact that I feeling aged. I am not sleeping well, I can't lose weight no matter how hard I try, and I am edgy quite a bit...all signs of the change of life. I have seen many doctors to check out various parts of my body and they all say that I am in great health, with just a little higher BMI (1 point) than I should. I want to drop that 1 point, but the more I work out and don't seem to be losing any weight, the more it causes me to be disappointed. The lack of sleep isn't good for me either. I also saw a nutritionist, and she told me to drink 10 glasses of water each day...TEN GLASSES causes me to be in the bathroom OFTEN!! Yesterday I think I actually got the 10 in, and guess what, every time I managed to fall asleep, I had to get up to pee.....so once again little sleep....

How did we celebrate, my family got together and went to a local fair and took the girls on some crazy fun-filled rides....

Forgetfulness is also a peri-men sign, and somehow I left the driver's side of my van door open with my purse in it, the entire time we were at the fair. I'm not sure how I missed closing it...but I had a huge blessing...NOTHING was touched....I am so grateful for that.

It was a lovely birthday, most especially hearing Tuks tell me "Happy Birthday" many times today, but with out a doubt I am in the change of life and I am not liking enjoying it so far....