Ramblings

Note: I started this Sunday night and I am doing my best to finish it on Tuesday night. So, Start here with Sunday night's post:

I always have 10,000 things I want to blog about, and pictures I want to post. However, finding the time to actually do BOTH always seems so difficult!

It's been a busy few weeks and it's not about to slow down. I, as usual, am going to work backwards because apparently that is how my memory works best!

Today we attended the "Family Party" for Hailey. As you know, Hailey and Courtney have known each other their whole lives and are only 13 days apart in age! It's always so hard for me to see these birthday's come around. It means they are growing up! But at the same time, I am so happy to see that they still get to celebrate with each other! I am so thankful their friendship has at least lasted the last 5 years! HA! The two of them are pretty similar in personalities, so they do well together. I am noticing that most of the little girls that Courtney really likes to be friends with are all very similar personalities to her. I guess I always thought that opposites attracted. Especially for her, because she is such a strong personality. But the really nice thing is that since she does link up with the same personalities as herself, I have the mom's to commiserate with! HAHA

Anyway, sorry, got on a tangent there. Back to today. It was held at Hailey's (Grandma and) Grandpa's house. This is the first of the girl's birthday's since Kelly's mom has passed. It was difficult being in her home and she wasn't there. She LOVES to entertain, and she loves her granddaughters, so I felt a little sad that she wasn't there to share in the day. But the party was great, and it was so great to see everyone again. Kelly's family has become extended family to us. So, when we get together for these family parties, it just feels like a small reunion every time. Going home today I just felt so blessed to be a part of this wonderful circle of people.

The girls (ours) had a great time because the Z's rented a HUGE jumpy castle that was blown up in the backyard. Kasey is addicted to "jumpy house" as she calls it. I have known this before today. Whenever we are at an event where there is one, getting her to leave it is never an easy feat. She would barely eat lunch today, she wanted to be in the jumpy house too much! She would come out occasionally to get a drink or snack. It was hot today (in the 90's) so at least she would take breaks! Both girls took naps when we got home, which Courtney is really no longer a napper, so we know she was worn out!

We had some excitement the other day. I left the house at 3:30pm with both girls to take Courtney to her feeding clinic. It takes 30 minutes from the time I load the kids in the car to the time we walk into the clinic. Just as we walked into the clinic my phone rang. It was my neighbor. She told me that Maggie was just in her driveway and then took of running. WHAT? How did that happen?! Thankfully Brian was on his way home at that very moment. And he pulled up just moments after Molly called me. So, he drove around looking for Maggie. She was no where to be found. I left the feeding clinic immediately and headed home. Which again, is 30 minutes. Once I got to our neighborhood I drove around for a bit and asked everyone I saw if they had seen a lost dog. Only 1 kid had seen her, but it was still in our neighborhood.

Upon driving around more, I ran into a lady who lives on the street behind us who I just happen to know because she is good friends with Molly. She was sitting outside watching her kids ride bikes. I asked her if she had seen a dog, she said no but she would let us know if she did.

We all finally gave up looking and headed for home. Meanwhile my wonderful mother went to the Humane Society on her way home from work to fill out a lost report and to check the strays they had brought in that day. Which is much more of an ordeal than it sounds. Just as I was making dinner for the girls, the neighbor lady called. Her son found Maggie hiding behind some large electrical boxes! They managed to get a leash on her and get her into their backyard! She got our number from the tags and called me. PHEW! By then it had been over 2 hours since she escaped. I called my mom who was still at the Humane Society and let her know. She was very thankful! Hubby went and retrieved Maggie and brought her home. We were all very glad to see her!

As near as we can figure she slipped out the open garage doors as I was loading the kids in the car and I just didn't even see her! I will be much more careful from now on!

OK, jumping to Tuesday night now:

I forgot to mention that on Saturday I got to go over to Glen Eyrie for a day of training. Glen Eyrie is a castle right here in Colorado Springs! Originally it was built by/for William Jackson Palmer. I am not sure what happened between now and then, but now it is owned by The Glen Eyrie group which is a Christian organization. The castle and grounds are amazingly beautiful. Now a days they have weddings, groups (mostly Christian), teas, and they do have rooms and such that you can rent for a night.

We did our all day training there for MOPS and we got 30 minutes to go outside and have solitude time. The colors there are so vibrant that you almost can't believe it. It is just such a beautiful place in person. So peaceful, you really forget you are in the middle of a bustling city. It's so tucked away and hidden just to the north of Garden of the Gods that you don't hear any city noise.

Here's their website if you would like to see more: http://www.gleneyrie.org/

Other than those big events, things are just plugging right along. We are headed to Minnesota this weekend for Maddie and Toby's wedding! Courtney is the flower girl. Hubby and I have never been to MN, so we are both looking forward to it!

Courtney is loving school and she is already learning by leaps and bounds. I hope she doesn't get bored.

We have a garden going over in our neighbor's garden box. We recently picked 8 cucumbers, half a dozen spaghetti squash, some celery, a pepper, and I think that's it. Let me tell you what. When you grow your own food, it just tastes so much better! All though the cucumbers do have a pretty tough skin. But I remedied that by pickling them. In 4 weeks we will have pickles! I can not wait to find out how they will turn out!

We ate the pepper, we eat the celery, I got 1 tomato so far off my tomato plant (highly disappointing, but it's mostly my fault for not watering it enough). I am really really enjoying the taste of our garden veggies. To the point that it makes me sad to have to buy them at the store again some day. They just do not taste as good as home grown, especially the tomatoes! Those are absolutely the best homegrown! I am so sad I only have 1 so far. I do have a few more green ones, so I should get at least a half a dozen before the plant is done for the winter.

Well, I am sure more has happened that I could blog about, but you know what? I am exhausted, and this is a very busy week for us, getting ready to go to MN and all. We will have a house-sitter here to take care of the pets. So, I am off to bed! Night all!