Miracles Do Happen!

Tuesday, while Jenny and I were planning VBS, she said in a joking manner, “I hear a cat; do y’all have a cat?” I laughed and said, “no, you must be hearing things!”

 

A little while later while we were outside with the kids, we continued to hear a little cat sound. Refusing to believe that we would have to deal with a cat, I ignored it for as long as possible. Finally, when all four little girls started climbing up on the fence to see the cat that they were hearing, the adults went to looking for it too.  We found it living in the carport of the church, amidst the tractors and lawn equipment.

 

Well of course my kids immediately started in with the ‘can we keep it, can we keep it’ business. I tried my darnedest to get Jenny to take it home with her.  The kids started throwing scraps of food over the fence (unbeknownst to us) to feed it. They named it Annie and from then on it was ‘their’ kitten. It started sneaking into our backyard (under the fence) whenever the kids were outside playing. Wouldn’t let anyone near it; just wanted to be in the yard when the kids were swimming and playing.

 

Will and I did take pity on it because we didn’t want our kids to walk out into the yard and find Annie dead at the fence. We fed it milk and cheerios (isn’t that the breakfast of champions?).

 

Everyday it got a little more brave, was a little harder to scare off, and hung out in our yard just a little bit more. I had visions of it using our sandbox as a litter box, Luke wanting to know what the little black things were in his sandbox, and me having to deal with worms (for the kitten and the kids) and fleas on a weekly basis. So, I told Will that this Sunday we would ask everyone we came in contact with at church until someone said they’d take it. I ended up in the nursery and of course Will didn’t do what I asked him to.  So tonight, while I was in church I asked a sweet lady that I knew had lots of animals (on a farm) and would surely take just one more.  Sure enough, she said yes.

 

So tonight, after telling the kids that Annie would have a wonderful home, lots of food, lots of fun, other animals to play with, humans that were not allergic to it, and a safe place to live; the kids were thrilled that someone was going to care for their little Annie.  Then began the task of catching the little thing that wouldn’t let anyone near it.

 

We bribed it with more milk, and Will (even though he is allergic) because I am not an animal person inched his way closer and closer and built up trust until the kitten let him touch it.  We immediately boxed it up (with air holes for all of you doubters out there) and taped it shut to be given to the church lady after choir practice was over.

 

The kids wanted to say goodbye and watch the lady take the kitty, so we all sat out on the front porch waiting for choir practice to end. Across the parking lot we noticed that the lid of the box is coming up and that darn kitten was escaping! Apparently, Will and I underestimated the ability of a little kitten to worm its way out of a cardboard box.  It immediately crawled up into the engine of the truck that it was next to.

 

My husband, the hero, crawled on the ground and coaxed that kitten out of the engine. This time he decided to just hold onto it until choir practice was over. So for about thirty minutes, Will was the cat whisperer and I was able to take a few photos to remember this day.

 

Yes, we know that Luke is wearing purple sparkly flip flops. Isabelle and Anna sacrificed their feet so that Luke could walk on the pavement.

 

 

Go ahead, let the heckling begin…I know, I know, we are horrible parents for not letting our kids have a pet. But in defense, the kids ran from it and hid behind me every time it got anywhere near them. Luke’s words were, “hey big fella!” “Awww, he’s cute, but I don’t want him in my backyard.” So, we felt bad for about ten seconds until we got inside and I had to start digging around for Benadryl and eye drops for Will.

 

Thank you Mrs. Helene for taking our little Annie!

My Weekend Art Project

Over the last couple of months Will and I have been working to cleanup the pool area and make it look a little neater. Also, we were trying to keep down the amount of grass and dirt that the kids tracked in when climbing in and out of the pool.

 

We started by deciding to make a circle around the pool out of cement borders from Lowe’s. While debating about what to put in the circle (rocks, dirt, mulch, etc.) a friend of ours found a place that sells a truck load of beach grade sand for 25 dollars. I said, “yes please!” 

 

 

Before we finished purchasing (we were collecting them over time) the cement borders, the wife of the same friend found a church member that was selling pool steps for 25 dollars (these steps go on craigslist for 150 used, 300 new). Again I said, “yes please!” And now I feel so much safer getting out of the pool.

 

 

After getting the steps, we decided we needed a walkway to keep down the grass and dirt that the kids were tracking. After looking and debating, we finally decided on a little cobblestone type road. I think it turned out pretty cute! And I am so proud of my husband for using tools and cutting stone and making them fit just the way they needed to.

 

 

Then we discovered that whoever had to stand there and scoop out all of the bugs had to stand in sand. So, we decided on stepping stones to go around the pool so that we could stand on those instead.

 

At first, I thought about making my own, Pinterest-style; with the cracked up glass and beads, and concrete mixed in my baking pans.  After realizing that I just didn’t want that much work, but I did want something cute that the kids could help me with; I decided to just paint the premade cement squares.

 

So, each kid got to help with two and then I did one family stone. Here are the pictures of the stones and then one of the pool from afar to see how they stand out.

 

Anna and her mermaid.

Anna and her sheep.

Isabelle and her crab.

Isabelle and her giraffe.

Luke and his monkey.

Luke and his owl.

Our family tree.

 

Now, if only the sealer holds up and the weather doesn’t ruin them within the first summer I will be a happy girl!

2012 Canoe Trip

Well…. I guess that isn’t the correct title for this year’s get together!

 

Despite Aunt Jan being in the hospital, Grandma having Shingles, the worst one day rainfall in 70 years for Pensacola, and a last minute change of plans, we had a blast!

 

We held out on cancelling until the very last minute. Sometimes when it is pouring rain in Pensacola, Pace, and Fort Walton Beach, it is dry as a bone up here in the north end of the county. So we had hoped that the rain would stay away until the afternoon.  After waking up on June 9, 2012 in Jay, Florida and realizing that that was just not a possibility at all; the decision was made to cancel the canoe trip.

 

I believe someone tossed around the phrase ‘let’s just reschedule for another day.’  But since it takes us (the Rushing bunch) a good six months to get one Saturday where we are all available, that was just simply not going to happen.  After realizing that it was that day or never for 2012, we decided to go to Lamberts in Foley, Alabama since only three of the people that were going had ever been there.

 

Our lesson of the day… When you go to a beach town and it is raining, EVERYONE packs into the nearest restaurant and shopping malls! After waiting for a good 45 minutes or more, we were seated; all 18 of us.

 

 

Will is taking the picture. Without him climbing into the booth with the people behind him, he only got half of my face, Angela’s roll, and no Luke. And of course none of the kids were paying attention since they were talking 90 miles an hour.

 

I had hoped that Luke would fall asleep on the car ride and be ready to go when we got there. However, that did not happen. So of course, as soon as we were seated he fell asleep. He took about a 30 minute nap like this…

 

 

The waiters and waitresses came around and played their jokes on everyone by pretending to spill a pitcher of tea, mustard, and a pot of beans on people. I think Parker (from what I am told because I didn’t get to see him) had the best reaction of the day. That honor probably would have gone to Mrs. Brooks had she not seen what they did to Parker and been expecting it.  As far as I know the only person from our group to get pegged in the face with a ‘throwed’ roll was Graci (again… I missed it).

 

When our food came out this is what I ended up with…

 

 

I took the majority of it home with me. For those of you wondering, that is a bread bowl that the salad is in.

 

After dinner, we all braved the flood and went to the outlet mall. We found some really good deals and the guys all stayed outside on the sidewalk with the kids and waited (and waited and waited) patiently (and sometimes not so patiently)!

 

This was the closest we got to a canoe for the day. Although, from what I hear, a canoe is what many people needed that day to get out of the homes and places of business.

 

 

We missed Aunt Debbie, Uncle Bill, Donna, Logan, Kaden, Kelly, Billy, Aunt Judy, Uncle Ron, and anyone else I am forgetting that was unfortunately unable to go with the change of plans.

 

Thanks to the three Rushing families, Mrs. Brooks, Tina, Jamie, and Jennifer for the fun day! Oh, and thanks to the lady that we stopped on the sidewalk to take our picture. She probably thought we were crazy for posing with a mechanical boat.

 

Oh, and a BIG thanks to Grandma, Mrs. Joyce, Aunt Joyce, Joyce or whatever else you refer to her as for the meal AND for sharing her and Mr. Butch’s anniversary with all of us!

Isabelle’s First Piano Recital

Last night May 18, 2012, Isabelle played in her first piano recital. She was nervous but really excited. She objected to the dress and the curtsy, but did very well.  After hearing the other girls, she is very excited about taking more lessons (we were a little tired after a year of lessons).  She plays Love Somebody, Skip to My Lou, and I’m a Little Teapot.

 

 

I asked Anna if she wanted to take lessons next year and she said no because she didn’t want to do the recital. I immediately went back to my dance classes, karate classes, beauty pageants, and pretty much everything else that I did that required me to be the center of attention. I think the only reason I made it through band was because it was a group thing and I was never the only one playing.  I know just how she feels.

 

Here is a picture of Isabelle and her teacher, Mrs. Bondurant.

 

Anna’s 1st Grade Field Trip to the Zoo!

Yesterday, we went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo with Anna’s first grade class. The day was beautiful and perfect for an outdoor field trip. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice, and big, the zoo was after hearing people talk about it. I was not expecting much.

 

Here is Anna at the Gorilla cutout on the boardwalk.

 

Anna and Jazmyn liked the trash cans. Here they are in front of the zebra trash can. Crazy kids.

 

Here is Anna and Jazmyn posing with what looked like a white peacock to me.

 

Here is Anna with the peacock.

 

Anna took this picture. I thought it wasn’t too bad.

 

Jazmyn’s mom, Janey, took this picture of the girls. I don’t know if food was on this window or what, but that bear sat there for the longest time licking and clawing at the window. Luke just giggled hysterically when I put him in front of it. If you can’t tell, that is Anna and Jazmyn in the window.

 

I think these birds were sleeping. They were pretty!

 

Anna as a raccoon!

 

Anna, the tiger!

 

Anna with the giraffes. She took this picture for her sister. She refused to feed them.

 

Here are some of the kids in Anna’s class trying to feed the giraffe. You’ll notice that Anna is in the back not holding up her hand.  Because the kids were so short, the giraffe had to stick its tongue out about six inches to get the food from their hands. It was so gross! I really don’t blame Anna.

 

Anna and her sheep. She loved looking at the lambs.

She was willing to feed the llama from the cup.

 

These Siamang Monkeys were really showing out for everyone in the afternoon. We could hear them from all over the zoo.  The kids were laughing and hollering at them. It was quite a sight. Luke, however, was shaking and ended up pulling his sun shade down so that he didn’t have to look at them. They were about six feet away and were extremely loud. We watched them for a long time. At the end of the video, you can hear Luke try to imitate the sound of the monkeys.

 

 

 

It was a wonderful day! Hopefully she’ll have some great memories!

 

Oh, and I just have to say that I will NEVER AGAIN go into a bird house to feed birds!

Easter 2012

This year for Easter we decided to go to Nana’s house instead of making everyone drive to our house for the day. It worked out nicely since Sarah is on couch-rest while she tries to keep Charliegh from making an early appearance. We had a great time with all of the family able to make it (except the Bailey’s that live in Seattle).

 

The food was delicious, the company was good (and by that I mean we all got along), and the kids had a great time.  Nana had around 400 eggs for five kids; so there was plenty to go around and for the Daddies and Mommies to steal from.

 

Here is a picture of the kids chasing around the bubbles that were in some of the eggs.

 

Connor digs through the eggs looking for something good. And his daddy is no doubt looking for some candy.

 

Here is Anna showing off a pink egg. I am not sure why.

 

Riley is pretty good at hunting eggs.

 

Isabelle is helping Connor get some eggs out of the tree. She is always the big sister.

 

Luke picked up some eggs, but he was too busy looking out for ants. He knows they hurt and made sure he told everyone about the ants that he found.

 

Isabelle liked hunting eggs at Nana’s house because there was actually places to hide/find them instead of them just being thrown out into the yard like we have to do at our house and the church.

 

Before lunch we had a chance to take some photos. Here is Nana and Paw.

 

I think I already posted this to Facebook, but here it is again. Our family in our matching oranges this year. Luke’s tie was the same color as the girls dresses even though you can’t see it.

 

Here is Anna with her Easter basket (what was left by the time church rolled around). We had tried earlier to take a picture but she would not cooperate. Cried the whole time so we took these right before we went to church.

Here is Isabelle with her basket.

 

Here is Luke with his basket. By this point I had removed the candy so that the church clothes weren’t ruined. He just wanted to play with Daddy’s flashlight.

 

Instead of buying store dye this year, I made it with my cake icing dyes. They turned out better than I expected.

 

Last weekend we had the church’s Egg Hunt and here are a few pics from that day.  Luke found a few eggs.

 

Isabelle,  Jada, and Skylar go through their eggs.

 

Isabelle and Anna  show off their finds.

 

Mrs. Vivian, who normally runs from the cameras, was willing to take pictures with my kids this weekend. I had to share these. They love their Sissy!

Love this picture!

 

And here is my favorite picture of the Season. My beautiful babies. 

I hope everyone had as good of a time as we had this weekend celebrating Jesus’ Resurrection.  Please don’t forget that He Lives!