I finally got the pool cleaned up. It was dark green. Now it's finally clean and Doug and the kids came over to go swimming. I got in with Hannah for just a few minutes but then we got out because Hannah doesn't really like the water. So we went in to dry off and get dressed and went back out to make pictures. Here's the kids and Doug:

Hannah decided to go to the porch to pet Troy instead of getting splashed by everybody:

Oh no! It's the loch ness monster:

Help! It's about to get us!:

Some of my flowers:

Hannah thinks they're all crazy:

The cheerleader (think she wants to be like Rebecca):

This was too perfect! Billy's jumping over Shelly's and Doug's heads:

There was a strange creature in the pool. I still haven't figured it out:

Let's take a closer look. Can you help me figure it out?

Name

Okay, I've chosen a name for the puppy. Thank you Rebecca for the suggestion. His name is now Jasper. As you know, I'm a Twilight freak, and Jasper was in the movie. But then again, I'm a Christian, and I'm anxious to see the walls of jasper. So as I sit here at my computer with Jasper in my lap, I'm getting all kinds of kisses from him. He's so glad to finally have a name. As for Troy, he wishes the new dog would just disappear.

Got my income tax check yesterday. A bit smaller than I expected, but still big enough to accomplish what I wanted to do. I got a poodle. I've been wanting one for quite some time now. So guess who made pictures? He is so funny. He had never been on the floor before, just in a cage. So when he runs he usually gets his feet tangled up and then he falls over sideways. He's so tiny, and he's already 3 months old. The lady said he probably won't be over 4 pounds, full grown. I haven't named him yet. I thought about Bitsy, but kind of girly, right? So I was singing itsy bitsy spider to him and thought about Spyder. What do you think. Suggestions? Anyway, here he is:

Goodbye Chevy...Hello Dodge

We have owned a Chevy Venture van for 6 years so we could haul all the kids around. I lovingly named it the "kidmobile". We definitely got our money's worth out of it. But all good things come to an end, and so did our "kidmobile". We drove it Easter Sunday with all the kids going to church. It did fine but it had almost 101,000 miles on it, the brakes were about gone, and the a/c had quit working. I know, it would have been cheaper to fix these things, but with that many miles, there's no telling when something big might happen. So we had seen some advertisements for cars on tv, and started watching the on demand channel that advertised cars. I also looked in the paper and on the internet and we decided to go to Burgin Dodge, as they seemed to have a better selection. Well...they had a white van that was in our price range but it had quite a few flaws and high miles. It was a 2005 Caravan. We asked to see some more and he showed us a 2008 Grand Caravan with only 35,000 miles on it. It has everything I wanted. So what if it was $3,000 higher. I wanted it. That's my biggest downfall. If I see something I want, I buy it. Anyway, I made several pictures of it this morning, so here it is. I love it!
Side view:

Front view:

Back view:

It has lots of cupholder space:


Second row of seats:

Third row of seats:

Rear a/c:


It has heated side view mirrors and so much storage space it's unreal! And get this! The back windows roll down! God is so good blessing us with this van. It will be paid for, I'll just have to stop buying so much stuff like camcorders, laptops, etc. Also, we'll have to start eating at home more. If we ate at home any, it would be more than we do now. But I just praise Him for everything I have. It's not the fanciest thing in the world, but it's fancy to me.

Another Weekend

Rebecca and Nicholas finally got to come up and spend the night on Friday. Doug brought Billy, Shelly, and Hannah over to play with them. Here are some pics. My crazy grandkids, minus Billy:

Billy and his dad:

Hannah getting nerdy:

Rebecca getting relaxed and laid back:

Nic batting with a broom?

Penny, this one's for you:

Billy and Shelly love each other:

My bed on Sunday morning (how could Billy stand it?):

Cheerleading

I don't know why my photobucket won't let me upload the videos of Rebecca and Nicholas's cheerleading from yesterday. Maybe it's too long. It let me upload a 15 second thing with Shelly in it, but not the expeditions. Anyway, Rebecca's team got 1st place and Nic's tteam got 5th. So here's the up and coming cheerleader with the help of Rebecca and some of her team members:

Sunday at the Carter Household

I had Billy, Shelly, and Hannah last night and today. And of course, I had my camera ready. So here goes.
This was last night, and he finally smiled for a picture:

Shelly likes my Snuggie:

I woke up around 5:30 this morning and noticed Hannah wasn't in her bed. I got up and was going to look on the couch to see if she was there. Good thing I was watching where I was going. She got her blankets and came to my bedroom and laid down in the floor:

Billy got up this morning and started playing with his game boy in Hannah's bed. He's just like his MeMe, not a morning person:

Shelly and Hannah like to lie in my bed and watch tv:


Here's all 3 of my angels:


Doug had surgery on his foot and he still has over a week before he can put weight on it. It's been almost 3 weeks now. He can't walk on crutches without falling either:

Hannah likes his wheelchair:

Me and My Dog and Shelly too

On New Years Eve some of my neighbors were shooting off really big fireworks. I had to work, of course. Anyway, when I called home that night to talk to Doug he told me that the lady down the street called and said that Troy (my dog) was down there running around scared to death. He put on his shoes and jacket and went down there but Troy was gone by then. I searched high and low for that dog. I made daily trips to the animal shelter, put up flyers, went door to door, searched on foot and driving, even passed his picture around at church. Every day I would go outside, several times a day and call for him. I know if he had heard me, he would have come. Finally, I got up on Monday morning dreading another disappointing trip to the animal shelter. I also dreaded the tears that I knew would come since that's about all I had done. I looked out the kitchen window and there he came running up the fenceline. (He dug out from under the fence). I went running out the front door in an old nightgown with holes in it and kind of short. I was jumping up and down and probably showing my butt to every neighbor I had. I brought him in and woke Doug up. Shelly, Billy, and Hannah were here and Shelly raised up in bed and she was so happy. He had been gone for 4 days and 5 nights. I had just about accepted the fact that he had gotten killed and I just hadn't found his body. Shelly was all smiles all day. And of course I made their picture together:

He looks awful clean to have been outside running all that time, but looks can be deceiving; he stinks. But then he's a dog and it's been raining and he smells like a wet dog. Maybe that's why he stinks. Anyway, he is now microchipped, his collar and rabies tag is on, and I'm having another tag with my address and phone number on it. But I really don't think he'll run off again. But in the event he does, I'll be ready!