Pollyanna

One night I heard the dogs go absolutely nuts barking, so I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter (kinda like Santa does, hee hee). I took a flashlight with me and went in the corner of the back yard, where the dogs sounded like they were feeling a little homicidal. I shined the flashlight and saw an Opossum, teeth showing and hissing at me. Apparently she wasn't too happy to see me or to have the light in her face. Not knowing much about the little creature, I thought she might injure my baby dogs, or give Kiwi rabies, since at this point we had not gotten her shots.

I screamed and then called for the dogs to come get a treat (that is the only way they mind me) and ran inside. This happened a few more times during the week and each time I frantically called the dogs inside.

I noticed in the next week or so that the dog food was diminishing rather quickly. I chalked it up to the fact that Kiwi, our newly adopted dog, eats a lot. One night around 11 pm I was upstairs in my room and heard a "ching ching" sound in the backyard and saw that the Opossum was eating the dog's food! The mystery of the missing food was solved! For the next several days, I paid attention to how much food/water was left outside each night. The Opossum started to get brave and would come eat right by the sliding glass door, while we were still awake. I developed a fondness for her and named her Pollyanna. :) For the next few weeks, I made sure she had food if the dogs had eaten all of theirs. I didn't think she was harming anything, and I am an animal lover and hated to think of her going hungry! She seemed like a nice little Opossum. People tend to think they are from the rat family and that they are mean. Actually, they are Marsupials (like Kangaroos) and they are not mean, they merely hiss as a way to protect themselves. They are anti-social, but they aren't mean and it is far more likely that one of my dogs would've killed her rather than vice-versa (although I see now neither is likely!)

About a month after the arrival of my little marsupial, I took Kiwi to the vet to get her shots. They did the worm test since she was a stray, and sure enough, she had worms. Since we had her for awhile at this point, it appeared that she had gotten the worms since the time she had come to our house, because it was in the very early stages. After speaking to the vet, we determined that Pollyanna was likely the culprit. After a $200 vet bill, having to give all the dogs worming medication, and fearing that my children might get the worms (as they can be passed to humans), I decided to stop feeding Pollyanna. I've heard Kiwi chasing her once in the backyard since then, and am not sure if she is still in the backyard or not. I sure hope that she found a warm spot and some food somewhere else.

Here are some pictures that we took through the sliding glass door. She got so comfortable for awhile that she would let us walk right up to the door! Isn't she cute? Poor, Poor Pollyanna.

Pretty in Pink Party

The front of Ally's party invitation

I promised a few people I would give a play by play of Ally's party here, so a few short weeks later (hee hee), here I go!

Brian told Ally that her 11th bday party would be her last "big" party, so we went all out. I designed the invitations in PowerPoint and printed them on pink paper. They turned out really cute. I spent the entire week of the party preparing the trivia, scavenger hunt, party schedule, and getting everything pink. On the day of the party, I spent most of the day cleaning and "pink-ifying" the house. We had giant pink cookies, pink punch, pink M&M's, pink decorations, pink presents, pink silverware, pink cups, pink plates, pink balloons, and pink party favor bags. I even made pink cupcakes, which just so happened to be the first cupcakes I ever made. They turned out great and I was pretty proud of them! :) On the invitation, we asked the girls to wear pink, so when they arrived to our house, they fit right in with the pink theme!

We made a schedule for the party, so that there wouldn't be any fights or clicks or arguing about what to do. We did allot some free time, but for the early evening everything was planned. First of all, we had pizza and pretty in pink punch. I found the recipe for the punch online, and it was a big hit. I thought it was delicious! It contained ginger ale, strawberry kool-aid, pineapple juice, and vanilla ice cream.

The scavenger hunt was first on the schedule, but Ally was dying to open presents so we did that first. She got a ton of great presents!!

Next, we divided into teams and went on a scavenger hunt. There were 18 items on the list, and they all had to be pink! We had thirty minutes to find as many as we could. As soon as the timer started, the girls were off like a bad habit leaving me in the dust with my trendy little boots. Do you have any idea how fast an 11 year old girl can run? They'll give some of those Dallas Cowboys players a run for their money. Here I am working out daily thinking I'm Superwoman, and even as I ran as fast as I could and I still couldn't catch up. I decided I needed to start running to build up my stamina for any future scavenger hunts, but I haven't implemented that plan yet. :) We ran the entire thirty minutes and ended up getting all but one item. Brian's team was missing 6 items, so we were declared the winners. I bought prizes for everyone, so that no one would feel left out.

Next, we did the Jonas Brothers Trivia. All the girls loved that and really do know their stuff. All the girls knew who was going to win, because one girl in particular loves the Jonas Brothers even more than Ally does. She won, as expected.

After the trivia, we headed out to the garage for the beauty parlor. We sprayed temporary hair color in the girls' hair and they put on make up and tattoos. Brian even joined in the fun and let them "make him over."

The girls were all having too much fun to eat the pretty cupcakes! Brian and I went to our room to watch a movie, and the next thing we know the girls are sliding down the stairs on pillows. They were laughing so loud I bet the whole neighborhood could hear them. They had a blast doing that, and despite all my perfect planning, I bet that was the highlight of the party. :)

Around 11pm, they settled down to watch "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and ate more pizza. We fell asleep shortly thereafter. The following morning when we woke up, the girls were downstairs quietly eating donuts and watching a movie. They were all very good, there was no drama or fighting, and several of the girls said it was the best party ever. I was really happy that Ally's b-day was a big hit! Ally thanked me profusely for all the work I put into the party, which made my day! She is such an appreciative little girl, and that made it all worthwhile. I was very happy that Brady's party was going to be at Chuck E Cheese, rather than our house, two weeks later though! Phew! :)

All the girls (and Brian) after the make-over sessionAlly and her B/F/F Haley in matching PJ'sTwinkies! Pink Decororations

My first cupcakes! Pink Presents!

Ally opening her new cell phone (she's really not that animated, I made her make an 'excited' face for the picture. hee hee)!

Brady is 3!

I still need to blog about Ally's b-day party, but I haven't gotten the pics uploaded and here it is Brady's birthday! Hopefully I'll catch up this weekend and get the pictures up! :)

I can't believe my baby is 3!! It seems like just yesterday that I was getting ready to leave the hospital, absolutely giddy, telling my mom "I can't believe I get to take him home!" What an amazing and beautiful miracle from God and my life has been immeasurably blessed by him!

It is such a fun birthday because Brady really seems to "get it" this year. He woke up this morning and said, "Mommy, I'm three. I'm not two anymore." I said, "Happy Birthday, baby!" He said, "Happy Birthday!" I tried to explain that he needs to say "thank you," rather than returning the happy birthday wish and he looked confused. He said, well you said happy birthday to me so I said happy birthday to you. Ha ha. He is so polite and thoughtful, and already always considering everyone else. He is such an amazing, special boy.

Today at his Montessori school, they are having a "celebration of life," on his behalf. I stayed up late making a poster for his class that has pictures of him as a baby, 1 year old, and 2 year old. It turned out great and all of his teachers "oohed" and "awwed" over it. We also brought muffins for the class. He had a little red ribbon that said "Birthday champ" on and he got to wear his new birthday outfit. He is usually somewhat hesitant when he enters his classroom, but this morning he was so excited, he walked in like he owned the school! :) I hope he had a GREAT day!

Tomorrow, we are going to Chuck E Cheese to have his party. My mom, Brian, and I got him a little red convertible battery operated ride on car. He is going to be stylin'! The cool thing about the car is that it has a remote control as well, so the parents can override the child when they are driving. Zachie has a little truck that Brady is always wanting to drive, so I'm sure that he is going to be elated to have his own car! I can just see them driving down our street together. They are such sweet brothers. Zach left this morning before Brady woke up and he made sure to tell me to "Tell Brady he is 3 now and that I said Happy Birthday!" When he was talking to Brady last night, he said "You are going to get lots of toys at your party, Bug!" He's a very thoughtful big brother! Ally is the best big sister ever and I'm sure she'll spoil him as always, both today and tomorrow.

I am so very thankful for my beautiful, sweet, thoughtful children and so happy to get to celebrate Brady's third birthday! We are going to have a GREAT TIME tomorrow! :) His smile lights up my world and I'm sure there will be plenty of smiles tomorrow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY!!!