A Great Week

Over the last week we have had so much fun and many things to do! Sorry it has taken me so long to do a post. I apologize. I should also preface this post with the fact that I forgot my camera a couple of times. I'm not sure how this slipped my mind!!

Last Friday was Shea's last day of pre-school. While I was happy to not get up, breakfast made and out the door three mornings a week...Shea was so upset! She was sad it was the last day of school. I felt for her but knew in a day or two she'd be glad it was summer vacation. She cried all day on that Friday. She had a few girl friends come to our house for lunch after school. They ate and played on the swing set. None of them understood that they would still see their friends over summer break!

Here is Shea with Mrs. Amanda. She was the aid in her class and she did a great job with the kids. She has a two year old of her own.

This is Shea with Mrs. Nicki, she was the teacher of her class. For as much as Shea did not want to part from her Mom and go to pre-school, she really didn't want to leave her teacher behind. She exchanged email addresses with her!


Saturday was a fantastic, sunny day. That afternoon, the kids went to our wonderful friends, Jen and Barry's house. This is because Shawn and I were headed to the Kenny Chesney concert. Shawn was reluctant to go but I ordered tickets as soon as I heard that Sugarland was going to be in town with him. I love them! This concert started with Lady Antebellum, then Miranda Lambert, followed by Sugarland and Kenny! The concert was SO much fun. Shawn even walked away saying that Sugarland was great!! I hope they come to town again.

Sunday we went to New Madison. We had to take a swing set to Shawn's parents and then we were headed to my parents for a cook out. My cousin had come home two days prior from Iraq. This was his third tour (hopefully his last). He has missed a lot while gone, our grandfather's passing, his son's kindergarten year and he commented to me that Will actually had gotten fat rolls! We are proud of him for his service to our Country but so happy to have him back home, safe and sound!

On Monday, Shawn's parents and brother came to our house. We finally figured out how to steady the pool that Santa brought the kids and filled it up. We feared that our yard was too slopped for it. We figured out a way!!!! We took the boat out. The water was too cold for us to do any water sports. However, Shea and Justin decided that they wanted to swim. Here they are...

Shea and Justin.

This week has been full of fun things too. Shea had her riding lessons- she is trotting on her own! She started working on steering the horse through cones. I'll get better pictures of that next week. Last night the kids wanted to take a wagon ride around the drive way. Will thought this was SO FUN! If you stopped, he would point to the handle and do his happy scream. He wanted more! He also thought it was her personal play pin on wheels. Shea even pulled he and Shawn around.

Shawn, Shea and Will.

Today Danielle came out and watched Will while I took Shea on her bowling filed trip. This was what she won for selling 25 items at the Spring flower sale. We went to the bowling alley in London, had pizza, danced and bowled. It was fun to watch them all. Of course, I remembered my camera was sitting on my desk when Shea started to bowl. She did end up bowling a 74! The Wii must be paying off!

Wheww.. I'm sure next week will be just as fun. I'll try to be better at remembering the camera!!

Hanging Out

It was just an ordinary Wednesday night at the Huntington house when Shea got all excited! The peony bush we'd been watching for two weeks now finally had a bloom opening up! We got the camera out to take pictures of it and then we just kept snapping away. Shea and I ended up with a lot of photos, I told her I better post a few on my blog. Two posts in one day! Go figure!!

Shawn continued to sand the bar top that will be our counter top for the island in the kitchen. He put the rounded edge on tonight. It's looking GREAT! Our friend, Dave, stopped by and like it. He wants to know when we can have a drink at this bar. Soon!

Shawn...more sanding.

Will was playing in his car while Shea and I were watering our potted flowers. Aren't these just the cutest kids??! We may be biased...only a little!

Shea and Will

This is a photo of the gardens by the front door. We love to hear the water flowing in the fish pond. It is one of the most soothing sounds around. That and when Will actually sleeps.

Flower bed at front of house.

This is the bed that is at the front of the house and wraps around to the side of the house. This is the peony bush that is finally opening up. YEA!

This is the flower bed that continues from the side of the house around to the back yard. This bed is a work in progress. It's only a couple of years old so the plants have not grown in as much. We had to completely re-do this bed when we sided the house a couple of years ago.

This year we are trying something new with our hanging basket. Shea (Shawn and I too) really want to grow a garden. The problem is we live on a sloped lot and there is not a good spot for it. Unless you put it in the front yard. That's just a topic for a whole other post. Anyway, I got her this hanging strawberry plant. Thus far, no berries but they will come!! I can't wait to taste them. We hope you are out in your yards enjoying all the Spring beauty.

Lemonade Anyone?

This past weekend was the annual Choctaw Lake Community Garage Sales! We had lots of "treasures" to get rid of so we decided to participate. Our friends the Kucks and Todds also had things to sell. We all pooled our stuff together at our house. The kids really wanted to set up a lemonade stand. We helped them out and we couldn't believe the response they received!!! Shawn and Barry had to go up to our gas station to buy them more supplies. The kids started out making more money than we did. The girls were very nice about approaching customers and how could you ever resist this?

Kendall, Shea & Brianna

Kendall made the sign and each girl would yell, "Anyone want some tasty lemonade"? By the end of the day we counted out their money and they each made almost $12.00!! They were thrilled with themselves. We parents were very proud of their entrepreneurial spirit! They have already asked to do it again next year.



Will was too small to participate in the selling of lemonade but he made his own impression on people. We had lots of ooo's and ahhh's about him through out the day. Here he is on Sunday playing with toys while Shawn and I did more work on our soon-to-be bar top.

Will at 8 months.

Look at me Mom!!!

School is almost out and the kids are really looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll have lots of opportunities to get some fantastic photos up!

Ride Shea, Ride!

Shea has started taking horseback riding lessons. We are going down to Springfield to a Royal Creek Farms. Her trainer's name is Emily and she is very sweet. Right now Shea is riding a horse named, Little Debbie. This week was her first lesson. They started out doing some grooming and learning the names of the things they'll be using. Then onto the arena. Shea led Debbie over to the arena where they started practicing how you stand if you were at a show. Shea was taking this very seriously, thankfully!

Leading Little Debbie around.

Learning the proper stance!

After saddling up Little Debbie, it was time for Shea to ride her. Miss Emily did some balance testing while they were walking around. She had Shea put her arms out to the side, behind her and in front of her. She was impressed with how well she could balance, especially for her age. Miss Emily decided it was time to hand the reins over to Shea! I quietly gasped. Not letting on that I was nervous. I just smiled as she rode by. I have to say, Shea did a GREAT job!!!!

Shea riding.

At the end of the lesson it was time to walk Little Debbie back to her stall. Shea lead her to the right spot! They brushed her again and did some hoof cleaning. Then Shea put her in the stall, kissed her nose and said she'd see her next week.

Heading back to the barn!

Miss Emily said that she was impressed at how well Shea did, especially since she is only 5 years old. Emily said that some people have it and some don't...Shea has it! I was thrilled to hear this. I just hope it doesn't lead to her wanting her "own" horse. Thankfully they lease them now. Shea went back to school today and her teacher, Mrs. Nicki, wanted to hear all about her lesson. Her class was excited and they asked me to print off some pictures to share with the kids before the end of school. Can't believe next week her their last week. The kids asked, so I shall print them! We head back to the farm next Monday, Shea is already counting the days!

My Mom

Happy Mother's Day... Belated a bit! We had a good Mother's Day weekend, we headed back to New Madison to visit with family. The reason for the title of this post is because of something Shea made at school for Mother's Day. It was too cute to not share it with you all. Their teacher asked each child the same set of questions and underlined each of their responses (I bolded them below). Then, she had them draw a picture of their Mother and something that they liked. Shea drew myself planting flowers and there is a very pretty rainbow behind me. I loved it! Especially since she made it for me, but also because she really did draw something I like to do and we do it together. They called the project, My Mom, and their teacher laminated it for the child to give to their Mother. Ah, it was the nicest gift. Here is the question and answer part:

My Mom
My Mom is 10 years old.
My Mom is the prettiest when she smiles.
My Mom likes to make pancakes.
My Mom always says, "I love you".
My Mom is funny when she giggles.

Shea Huntington: age 5

Now, do you see why I just loved this gift?! This is something I will keep and she'll be glad I did...

Here are the kids and I on Mother's Day, this was in my Mom's flower garden. Dad did a great job taking the pic!



Shea and my Mother went around picking flowers out of the garden. They were going to make a bouquet. Instead, my cousin, Danielle, decided it would look really nice in Shea's hair. Right she was!

Shea's bouquet of fresh flowers!

We had a fun-filled weekend. The kids are both a tad tired today. Shea was to start her horseback riding lessons this afternoon but that had to be postponed until tomorrow. The horses received shots today. That's ok with me! I was able to catch up on laundry, cleaning, sweeping the floors and starting to get my "junk" out for the garage sale. The Choctaw Lake garage sales are this coming Saturday, for anyone interested in coming.

We hope that you all had an enjoyable weekend and that you were with your Mom.

Adjustments

Bailey is adjusting to living with us and he is doing great. Shea has been super with him, giving him attention every day plus feeding and watering him. On Sunday, it was time to show her how to clean out his bedding. She told Shawn that she wanted to clean out his poop- go figure!! She did a great job. Bailey loves to get out of his cage and come into the garage with us. He lays on Shea and listens to Will scream at him and Chief sniff him. Will gets so excited to see him. Chief, not so excited. He sniffs him and usually goes off and does something else, we don't 100% trust him with Bailey. Wednesday night it was raining and we decided Bailey needed exercise. We closed up the garage and let him run. It took him a while to get up the courage to go and explore, but he did! He was running and jumping all over the garage. He even managed to get himself in to some tight spots, mostly around this old engine Shawn has for the hot rod he is trying to restore. Needless to say, Bailey found all the grease spots! That rabbit ran in front of me and I said, "Oh my, he's filthy!!!". The white rabbit had grease spots on him. It took all three of us to catch him but he had to be washed off. It was too chilly out for a full bath. Shea was upset her rabbit was dirty. But hey, Bailey had SO much FUN!

Will at 7.5 months

This morning Shea and I headed out to see what he looked like after drying. The spots are much better and a few more scrubbing sessions, he should be all white again!!

Bailey and Shea, soaking up the rays!!!

We'll continue to adjust but I think Bailey loves his new home. I know we love him!!!!

A New Addition

Introducing...

Bailey Hoppy Huntington!

At long last, Shea's birthday present from Shawn and I has arrived. Her five and a half week old rabbit. Bailey is a Mini Rex and his color is called Himalayn. The reason that Shea decided on the name Bailey is because she wanted a girl rabbit. She specified that it be white. The only one we could find right now is a white male. We had to think of a unisex name! Hoppy was her first choice and we convinced her that would make a great middle name. When we got home we let Bailey run in the garage. He wasn't sure what to do, we mostly held him and took our first pictures. Will is really into him. He does his happy squeal each time he looks at him. Bailey is currently all snuggled in his new home. Shea said when she put him in there he hopped around, checking out his surroundings. I think that first thing in the morning she will be "hopping" out there to see him. Look for continued updates on our adventures with Bailey!

Shea and Bailey

Shea, Bailey and Will


Will, Shawn, Deetra & Bailey



Look at his body...Bailey's that is!