FROGS

Last night the girls were catching every tree frog they found in the yard. Cassidy wanted to keep some of them. I tried talking her out of it, but she has a lot of her mother's stubbornness inside her. Once she makes up her mind about something, there is no letting go of it. So I found my old 10-gallon fish aquarium and cleaned it out. I filled it with sand and put a little bit of water in it so Cassidy and Jessie could put the frogs in it. The girls decided the tank was full when they had 8 frogs in it. When it was time to go inside and get ready for bed Cassidy asked me if we could bring the frogs inside. I thought about it, and against better judgement, I told Cassidy we could keep the tank on the kitchen floor, but if 1 frog escaped they all had to go back outside. My intention was to let the frogs go after the girls fell asleep, but Cassidy would have been devastated if I let them go without her being there to help so I left the tank on the kitchen floor and went to bed.

Around midnight the frogs started to get noisy. I mean really NOISY. They croaked, chirped, and squeaked all night long. It sounded like I was camping right next to a swamp. I was really close to chucking them all out the door when they settled down and things once again were quiet.

I love to embrace my girls childhood while it lasts. I love doing things with them that I liked to do when I was a child. Yes, catching frogs was from the past too, but I have learned that inside is no place for a herd of frogs. Next time, the frogs are going to stay outside.

BUSY

I have had a really busy couple of days. Yesterday, I had to leave work early and take Jessie to the dentist in Minot. She was hit in the mouth at daycare and it broke her tooth. The dentist was able to squeeze us in at 4:30 pm. The dentist was able to fix her tooth and Jessie did very well during the visit. Afterwards, we had supper at McDonald's and then went across the street to Target and did school clothes shopping for both her and Cassidy. On our way home, we met my mother and Cassidy in Rugby and went to the Fair Grounds to see my moms aunt and uncle who were down for the Good Sam Samboree. We didn't get home until almost ten.

Today was the open house at Leeds Public School and the new preschool they started. Cassidy met with her teacher, Mrs. Darling, and Jessie was able to meet Mrs. Haagenson and Mrs. McGarvey. They had a good time and also did some arts/crafts with their teachers. They are both excited for school. I hope they continue to like it once it starts. I know Cassidy will do great. She has been hollering to go back to school for a month so she can see her friends. It's Jessie that I worry about. She is such a mommies-girl that I don't know how she is going to handle the first few days.

I hope to get the rest of the siding on my house this fall. My father said he is going to come over and help me with it. The North side of the house is starting to get really bad. It needs to be fixed before it literally falls apart. My father is also going to help me get the deck on my house. The deck for the house has only been sitting in the back yard for seven years waiting to be put back on the house. It's going to be really nice to have my deck. I cannot wait to get it on, put up a nice little table and a couple of chairs and sit out there in the evening. Next, I am going to have to start working on the inside of the house. The floor needs to be fixed in some places, I need new linoleum in the kitchen, and the bathtub in the main bathroom still needs to be replaced. I also want to take the ridiculously small bathtub out of my bedroom bathroom and put in a shower instead. It will be nice to have a private shower. Also, I still need to get hay arranged for the horses and get it moved in. I have talked to a couple of people and they are not sure if they will have enough or not. I am still waiting for another person to get back to me about hay. There is just so much to do that I don't know how it is all possibly get done. But I will push forward until it's finished.

I am excited. I got a raise at work already. I still cannot believe I am making decent money doing something that doesn't feel like a job. I wonder if it will ever seem like "work" at some point. It's just so much fun. I just hope I don't die this winter driving to Cando every day. If it snows, I am not sure how I am going to get out of my drive. That's another thing I am going to have to work on this fall before it snows.

Things just never seem to stop over here, but I do not mind it. I love it and that is what makes my house a home. It's especially rewarding when I have four little arms wrap around my neck at the end of the night and tell me that I am the greatest mommy ever when I feel like I am failing. I love my girls!

NOT MUCH

We had a barn meeting the day on Wednesday. We went over the new employee handbook and also went over safety in the barn around the sows and boars. I and Kevin Blake were also appointed as the safety representatives in our barn, Hexagon. Each barn needs two reps. We will be going to meetings once every three months at the feed mill with the safety reps from Coolin and Dakota barns. Kevin is covering farrowing and I am covering breeding. It's nothing big, just check lists we have to do every so often, check fire extinguishers, and that kind of stuff.

Cassidy lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago. The tooth fairy gave her two dollars for her tooth. The next day she told Nana and Auntie Lynnette that she got two pennies. I think I am going to have to spend a little more time going over coins and how much they are worth with Cassidy.

They started a preschool in Leeds so Jessie will be attending preschool this year. I am excited about it and so is Jessie. She cannot wait to use her unicorn backpack.

I haven't been doing a lot of riding this summer. I would like to do more, but my job keeps me busy. I am definitely not complaining. Things are pretty good around here. The girls and I are doing well and loving life the simple way. Sometimes I feel bad about it, but for most of the time I think how much they are learning to enjoy the smaller simpler things to life and you don't need to "keep up with the Jones" to be happy.

I hope everyone is doing well.

As promised, here are the pictures from Leeds Days. The girls and I spent pretty much the entire day up at the swimming pool. They had all sorts of water games as well as blow-up games. My favorite water game was the watermelon toss. They took a small watermelon, covered it in sunscreen and then threw it in the pool. Everyone jumped into the pool and tried to catch the melon. The first person to actually carry the melon to the side of the pool won. It must have taken at least a good 20 minutes before someone was able to hold the greased melon. It's a great way to keep a bunch of kids in the pool occupied for a while. My second favorite was the foam search put on by the Leeds Volunteer Fire Department. They covered the basketball court will foam and threw in coins and poker chips. The kids got to keep the coins and traded the chips in for candy. Everyone had lots of fun.

Cassidy and her goofy smile.

Jessie being Jessie.

The clothing relay swim.

The young kids getting ready for their relay.

The watermelon scramble. It was funny to watch.

Cassidy doing the football throw.

Blake did the water balloon shaving.

The bouncy house.

Paige and Katlyn jousting.

Devin getting ready for wrestling.

Cassidy and Jessie during the foam search.