Aubree's Ear Piercing

Aburee got her ears pierced. She had been asking to get them pierced for a while and Heather decided if she wanted to that was fine. She was so excited, but a little scared too. We told her it would hurt, but she still wanted to do it. Here she is before they started.
Heather held her hands as she waited. Can't you see the fear in her eyes. But she still wanted to do it.

Stacy and Connie did the piercing so Heather could give her moral support and help to hold her still.

All finished. She didn't cry a tear. Right after they were done the first thing she said was "That was it?" Everyone in the shop laughed. She is sooo excited and growing up so fast.

Lions and Tigers and Bears - Oh My!

Some days, most days actually, I love my job. Today, as I was going to a home to do an appraisal, I came across this bear. Yes - it is still winter and he should still be hibernating. I was coming down the road and saw it in a tree in someones yard. The homeowner, on the corner of Elm and Gibson, has a taxidermy business and my first thought was that he put it in the tree. Then I saw the Channel 9 News truck, I stopped and asked - "Is that a real bear?" Ok, not one of my brighter moments. (As I said, I thought maybe it was "stuffed".) Anyway, they said some hunters were running their dogs (I think coyote hunting) and they flushed out a bear that was in his den. They thought the bear was about 250-300 pounds. Here are a few shots for you. I actually did not get that close, but had my good camera with and my new lense. Have I mentioned lately that I love my camera.

Aubree's Birthday Party

First - Sorry for the delay in posting these pics. I copied them on a CD and couldn't find where I put the CD (definitely not old age setting in). Aubree recently turned 5 - where does that time go. I remember so well when she was being born and holding her for the very first time. OK, I have to stop that, I am getting all teary-eyed. This first picture is really not from her birthday, but I love her smile and happy face on here. It was one of the first photos I took of her with my new camera and I just love it.



This next photo is on the day of her party. All dressed up in her tiara. Our little princess. She loves all the girl things, getting her hair done, wearing pretty dresses, etc. But, she also loves to play in the sand, pick up snakes by the pond, ride the four-wheeler in the woods - go figure. An all around kid.



She had a Hannah Montanna cake and loved when everyone sang Happy Birthday.

She wanted to have her friends here - Kylee, Tyler, Hannah, Caidyn and of course Felicity and Chloe. So we decided to get a Pinata (don't know if I spelled that right) but the kids loved it. Aubree took the first swing.Then Tyler....
Then Hannah....

Then Kylee.... That went on for a while. Boy can those kids hit.

Then..... jackpot. It broke and candy filled the floor. (Lorin and Morgan were in charge of the candy and they bought two huge bags of chocolate to fill it.) Heather decided they should each take 10 pieces to fill up their bags (hoping to limit some of the sugar intake). Only one problem, not all of them knew how to count to ten, and if they did, they didn't listen. Oh well, they all went home. (Isn't that the best part about being a grandparent - fill them with candy and send them home?)

Caidyn and Brock decided to show us some wrestling moves. I think we have a champ coming up in the future.



The day was filled with fun and ended at about 11:00 p.m. Aubree was out - even with all the sugar. That's only three and a half hours past her bedtime.

Aubree's Birthday

Here are a couple more pics from Aubree's Birthday. Since her party was on a Saturday and her actual birthday was about a week and a half later Heather, Morgan, Lorin and I took her to Texas Roadhouse. Aubree refers to it as the place with the peanuts on the floor. She loves to go there.

When its your birthday they have you sit on a saddle and have everyone in the place "give you a big Yee Haw" - Maybe thats what she likes so much.

We bought her another little birthday cake. More sugar, but again she went home with mom not Nana.

I should be working

For all of you who have been here lately this is a common site, but I know Lorin wanted me to post this so - here it is. We have so many turkeys that come in every day and eat under the bird feeder. There have been times that we have between 60-75 turkeys. They look like they are taking over the back yard. All I know is they better not be messing with my plants.

Here are a bunch of them coming in. Just wait till Thanksgiving.

Icy Roads

No this wasn't me. I started on my way out this morning and the roads were awful. My first appointment was in Athens. I always take Stetsonville A and this time, came across this awful site. (Right down the road from Connie and John's house.) There were no other cars at the site. I stopped, called 911 and was told nobody had reported it as of yet. In the meantime, another car stopped and we both went to see if we could see if anyone was in the truck. It was down in the water (with all the rain we have gotten, the ditches are overflowing.) Unfortunately, this person went in right where the water was. There were a couple of us trying to see if anyone was in the water. I am so glad we didn't find anyone. (A girl who lived across the road said nobody came to her house so we were worried that maybe someone was still in there.) The police were there shortly and they took over. What a way to start the day. Although, whoever did this definitely started the day out a whole lot worse. Hopefully they are ok.