Video of the Week - Week 30 - Parelli

Here is a Q&A with Pat Parelli about the Yo-Yo Game, one of the essential games taught in the Parelli program.  This is an issue I occasionally have with Tommy and so I found the info helpful.  For those of you who have horses and practice Parelli, perhaps you might too!

Project 365 - Days 205-211

Day 205 - July 24

Starting off breakfast with a little Angelina Ballerina on the iPad...

Day 206 - July 25

Swim lessons have begun again and this little girl is loving it!

Day 207 - July 26

Stole this one from last week because I needed a filler but here is Amelia with her great-uncle Darin ;-)  As many of you know, Amelia can be quite shy when first meeting people and while she has met Darin before, it had been awhile, but she warmed right up to him.

Day 208 - July 27

We were at the grocery store after swim lessons and Amelia was tuckered out.  She put her head down on the handle and fell asleep...here's what it looked like from the top (to give some perspective)

Day 209 - July 28

First fire of the season that hit close to home.  That's the back edge of the fire on the left side of the screen and you can see the trucks and cars of volunteers from the fire department lining the road leading up to it.  This particular fire was directly across the street from the Big Cat Care rescue near our house.  Very scary for them...in fact, this fire re-ignited in the middle of the night and thankfully, the owners' Great Pyrenees dogs started barking, woke them up, and when they discovered the fire had reignited, they called the fire department again.

Day 210 - July 29

Mi-Wah, my high maintenance barn cat, needed his first of several seasonal allergy shots so it was off to the vet.  Like most cats, Mi-Wah does not like going there and apparently, all the cats like to hide in this cabinet door, so the tech opened it so Mi-Wah could climb inside and "hide".  Didn't get him out of his shot though...

Day 211 - July 30

Speaking of cats, here are my other two showing some brotherly love.  They sat there for awhile grooming each other and as it does most times, inevitably turned into a wrestling match!

War Horse

Really excited about seeing this movie.  It comes out on Christmas Day...

Have I mentioned...

That we received updated pictures of our peanut a few weeks ago?  I wish I could show the entire photo but I can't, so here's a smidge...

She doesn't look like a baby anymore - she's growing up!  And she's walking and continuing to get great care and therapy until we can get to China.  

Have I also mentioned that I think we may have decided on a name?  I'm not 100% sure so I'm not going to post it yet.  I like how it sounds with Ava and Amelia, and I like the name by itself, I'm just not sure it fits her.  And it might sound a little bit trendy.  (Of course Ava and Amelia's names have become trendy - not so when I named them - but it may fit in after all!)  We shall see...


We are currently waiting for our homestudy to be approved (it's been achingly slow) and then we will submit our I-800a to immigration.  Then we will wait for our fingerprint appointment and once we have that and it is cleared, then we can send our dossier to China.  I was just SURE we'd have that done by the end of the year but now I'm hoping it's before the end of January!  At times the wait is really hard and other times, I think because we've been through it before and I've been praying like crazy so the Lord is giving me peace, the wait is okay.  If all the approvals come (because nothing is guaranteed) we will get her on His timetable.  Not mine.  And that is a big relief!
  

Video of the Week - Week 29 - Mini Foal

This little guy is pretty cute...

Project 365 - Days 198-204

Day 198 - July 17

This was a fun week for our family because we had some of Jason's family come to visit!  Alex and Aston, who are technically Jason's 1st cousins, finally got out here to Texas with their parents to stay for awhile.  The girls were so excited for their visit and they had a blast with them this week!  The big bummer of the trip was that the boys were sick almost the whole week they were here.  They were fighting high fevers and achy joints but were great troopers!  We hung out at the house most of the time just swimming, playing video games, watching movies and relaxing!  This was right before we all left for church so I had to get a shot of them all dressed up!

Day 199 - July 18

As I mentioned, there was a lot of swimming while they were here.  And lots of diving and sliding and jumping...

Day 200 - July 19

This shot cracks me up!  There were several water balloon fights during the week and I happened to catch this shot right before Ava was nailed in the face by Aston.  She wasn't hurt (at least physically - maybe her pride took a bit of a bruising) but she got over it quickly and laughed hysterically when she saw this picture!

Day 201 - July 20

I know it pained Alex to drive this pink dune buggy, but once you're inside, you don't really notice the color that much ;-)  He and Ava had a good time tearing around the property.

Day 202 - July 21

This was taken just before they left.  We all had such a great time and can't wait for them to come back again to visit!

Day 203 - July 22

I had actually taken this picture earlier in the week but needed a filler here.  This is such a cute picture of Alex and so captures what he loves to do (but his parents carefully monitor ;-)  He was so enthralled with the game he couldn't even give the camera eye contact for two seconds so I could snap the picture.  What a ham!

Day 204 - July 23

I discovered this poor little guy up in one of the horse stalls.  Obviously a newborn, I searched and waiting to see if his Mom was going to come back.  Sadly, I found a litter mate that had already passed out a little further out in the grass.  He didn't make it either. It's been one of the casualties of this terribly hot summer, I'm afraid.  There have been lots of stories of other wildlife going into labor early, aborting and abandoning their young because they just can't nurse and care for them.  Poor little guy...