Kitties, Marshmallows, Birthdays and a Goodbye...

We went to play at "Mama Trisha's" (Squishy's new name for Grandma) last week. The kiddos are crazy for her spoiled rotten kitty's Jack & Annie. Fortunately, spoiled in this case means they are just as crazy about getting attention as Billy & Abi are about giving it. So everything works out perfectly! It turned into a taco dinner party for Great Grandma's birthday and a final goodbye to the fire-truck, dingo, ranch truck, whatever affectionate name you held dear for the bright red 2000 Dodge Durango we proudly rolled around town in. (Silent YEA!) All said and done, it was an amazing car. It was shockingly reliable and red. A very nice gentleman by the name a Miguel bought it to drive his family back to Puerta Vallarta in. I always thought it would be nice to retire in a tropical beach town. Let's hope they all made it safely.






Ahhhhhh...... We drove Squish home from the hospital in this car. We bought it from our dear friends Tony & Violet (who have also since moved on to the bustling beach metropolis of San Fran). It made a funny noise every time the automatic door locks engaged that made everyone in the jump jump. Kinda sounded like the Aflac duck....



Annie.


Jack - he thinks he's actually a jaguar.





Roasting marshmallows. It's sort of a tradition at Grandma's. Hard to tell in these little pictures, but the progression up there is Billy's flaming marshmallow that he was trying so hard to blow out, funny kid.

Adios 503-PHT! Peace Out.

Spring Fever

I think spring is officially here. At least here as in, here in the valley, maybe not middle America yet... Anyhow, we thought it was a perfect spring day for a photo shoot and I am still loving all the new camera lenses I "borrowed" from my dad. Still learning how to use them. I need LOTS of practice and who better to practice with? Hmm?

Clockwise from top: Abi & Law; Zoe Kate; Zoe, Emi & Abi; and Billy.

One of our 3 stops. An entrance gate to a farm across the street from Auntie M's house. I love the row of Pecan trees all down the canal.

Billy & Law, this is one of my favorites because they would be the ones to happily wander down a railroad track until there was no one left in sight.

The next stop was an abandoned strip of railroad in the middle of nowhere. We were just driving past and I love how photographers use them. I am not a photographer and none of these pictures turned out the way I had imagined. It's harder to do than it looks, especially with six kids.

And finally, a sheep farm near Florence. It was so pretty out there. They sky was aqua blue and the grass and sheep were the perfect contrast. Even the mountains in the distance had snow! Very rural. Everyone knows how I love rural. At any rate they make a pretty cute crowd if I do say so. Poor Max is grimacing in the picture above because the fence that I insisted could not be electric, actually was. It was made of plastic twine didn't seem harmful to me at the time, but I have since learned that IS really what electric fences are made from. It zapped him and I told him it was probably just the hair on his belly that got pinched in the fibers....HA! Poor guy.

At the DogWash

One day when poor old Rusty Buckets is but a distant memory I will look back at this and remember fondly what an awesome dog he was. I am positive I will not remember the reason why he needed this bath. He smells like something dead all the time. I am being completely honest! It's foul and it's wrong, but we love him and so we decided he needed a little attention in the hygiene department and here we go....

He was such a good sport. That could have only meant that even he was tired of the stink he was emitting. He let the kids soak and scrub him. He let Travis trim his nails (wow) and he let me brush his coat for an hour. About the only thing he didn't let us do was brush his teeth. I have since decided that must be where the noxious odor is coming from because now he smells like dead roses.