Meet Cowboy

Meet our new dog Cowboy. His name was Tyler, but we decided to change it and he has taken to it great. We have officially adopted him as of today. Cowboy is part beagle and something else. He is great with the kids, house trained (he just peed in the floor as I was typing this!), and fairly calm. He is 18 months old and 35 pounds. The kids are very excited about him and have started helping him learn commands. Mason is able to walk him and Ryley feeds him. This was the first night we brought him... I guess we wore him out!!

Jodie loves him. She lays with him and gets in his crate with him. She also loves to hold on to his tail and give him kisses. Luckily he doesn't seem to mind!

My New Man!

So most of you have heard by now that Ryan decided to cut off his hair. His hair has been short, long, short, long, and now back to short. He said he was tired of messing with it and now that it is so hot, it bugs him.

Oh Jodie!

Daily I say the phrase "Oh Jodie!" or "Get down Jodie!", or "What are you doing silly girl?" and I remember all too clear saying these same things to Mason just a few years ago. Ryley was our quiet one (although she isn't that quiet either!) so I forgot how challenging some children can be. However, Jodie is quickly reminding me. Everyday is an adventure with children sometimes its great fun and other days it is pull your hair out scream and cry fun! Either way at the end of the day when everyone is asleep all is right with the world and I thank God for each of the precious gifts he has given me! So this post is dedicated to Jodie and all her craziness!

Sitting in the dog crate. This is the small crate we borrowed, but the dog we brought home is too big for it so Jodie likes to play in it. (More on the dog in another post). She even likes to shut herself in it. Now that we have a bigger crate she also gets in that one, and if Cowboy (the dog) is lucky she will let him in too. Luckily he is very loving and tolerant and doesn't seem to mind the 18 month old telling him what to do.

Jodie loves to color. She colors the paper, the table, her mouth, her arms, and if Ryley is around they will color each other.

This is her latest work of art. Luckily this is our old table that we have deemed the kids art table.

The last time I took Ryley to her dance class Ryan took this picture. Apparently Jodie was very sleepy! Poor baby.

Dance Class

Ryley is taking a couple classes this month. One is a movement class where they do fun stuff like this (the bracelet): The other class is beginning ballet/jazz. We wanted her to try a couple classes to see if she likes them before signing her up for full out lessons.

She loves the dance class.

Ryley wanted to "camp out" in Mason's room so I made her a bed on the floor. It lasted until the lights went out and then she wanted her own bed. Oh well they had fun for a little while.

Cookies are good!

Jodie was cracking me up. I was trying to get all the blankets on the floor for Ryley to sleep on, and Jodie kept getting on them and doing this... She is too funny!

Sad Goodbye

Just wanted to let everyone know that we had to take Tigger (our cat) back to the shelter yesterday. I have been fighting what I thought was a cold since the day we brought him home. I now believe that I have a slight allergy to him because my symptoms get worse the longer I spend downstairs. The kids were sad, and Ryley and I cried, but they did really well when we took him back and now are asking to get a dog! We told them we would just have to wait and see. So if anyone needs a really great cat let me know and I will send you all the info. I promise to post something a little more upbeat later....I have cute pictures of Ryley at dance class and a funny video of Jodie, and I am sure there is a couple pictures of Mason.

Football Camp

I admit....I am trying very hard to shape my sons future (ha ha ha). I love football, and not just because Ryan loves football. However, it is because of Ryan that I understand football better. This weekend Mason got to go to football camp. This was his first year to be able to participate in football camp and he was a little nervous. Mason begged his Dad to help coach and after some coaxing from me Ryan offered to help. The staff at CYFL was happy to have the extra volunteers and Ryan was super excited to get to help. The camp was Sat. evening and Sun morning at the Mizzou field. The first night the local high school coaches and the CYFL coaches worked with the kids (350+). On Sunday some of the Mizzou players coached and we were able to walk through the facilities and the players signed autographs. Ryan helped out both days and Mason had a great time. We girls didn't stay the whole time on Saturday, but did stay to watch Sunday. It was great.

Mason was so excited before it started, he kept telling me that he was trying to stay calm, because he didn't want to freak out! He is so funny!

Ryley loved going up and down the stairs.

Mason is the 5th kid in from the left, wearing a black shirt. This was the second day, once again he was super excited to get back on the field.

These are the football players that coached. They were a great group of young men and we look forward to seeing them kick some booty this fall.

It started raining and thundering on Sunday so we had to go to the indoor facilities. Jodie and Ryley were loving sitting in the rain!

Mason running a drill.

Mason is obsessed with football and his favorite team is the Lakers (big surprise), anyway, he has a highlight film that he watches daily (and has for years!) and this locker belongs to one of the kids from that team. Mason was so excited to be able to sit in his locker!

Their weight room is amazing!

One of the Mizzou players signing Mason's shirt.

This was an amazing opportunity. Mason is changing and growing daily, we may just have a future Mizzou player on our hands (he says he is going to play for Mizzou and then go to the Vikings)!

Fishing

Saturday was the annual "Reel Time" fishing for kids at Bass Pro. We have taken the kids every year for the last few years and they have a blast. This year they gave away t-shirts, candy bars, and fishing supplies. Ryley was the lucky fisher woman this year. She caught 7 fish, and Mason caught 2. All in all the day was a success and the kids once again had a wonderful time!

I didn't take pictures of every fish Ryley caught, but this was one of them. She liked reeling them in, but she didn't want to touch them!