Here horsey, horsey...

We were almost home from church last Sunday when we saw a runaway horse galloping down the road in front of us. We drove back to the house we assumed it came from and no one was home. Some guy pulled up the driveway and asked if we were missing a horse... Uh, no... He said it went into the nearby sod field. We drove by slowly, but didn't see it. As we drove the rest of the way home, we had a family discussion about whether we should search for it and return it to the owner. The kids answered with a resounding "Yeah!!" Finally!! We get to put into practice all of th0se cool roping moves we've watched on Roy Rogers during family movie nights!

We went home and Paul put on his horse catching shoes (I prefer to work in flip-flops, I know, NOT smart). We grabbed the nearest rope and a small bucket of goat food (well... if it's good for the goat, it's good for the gand... I mean, horse) and off we went. Well, to make a long story short, the horse obliged us by putting it head in the loop and following the grain bucket all the way home.

I stopped back by later in the day to talk to the owner and let him know what happened and he was very thankful. He had just had the horse brought to that field that morning and hadn't gotten the chance to get the electric fence mended. He was an older gentleman that was taking care of the horse out of sentiment for his daughter who is living in Whales. (My boys kept asking me HOW she lived in whales. I had to explain that unlike Jonah, this lady actually lived in a country near England named Whales) Anyhow, since nobody intends to ride the horse, he asked me if I wanted to ride her and said that he would like me to if I want. All the kids were so excited to hear that we now have a horse to ride! Paul and I were excited too that this free riding horse didn't require feeding, watering, cleaning up after, milking, bottle feeding, veterinary maintainance, etc. by us!!

So, today, John, the owner, dropped the saddle, bridle and other supplies by our house and said to feel free to ride it as if it were my horse. So... we just got back from visiting our new horse, Cheyenne. The boys and I brushed it and tried to get a few of the cockle-burrs out of its mane. The kids love it. We didn't ride her yet. We'll attempt that another day when we have more time... There's also a cute little donkey, Petey, that came with the deal. The boys were eyeing it up for riding being that it is much more their size... We'll see.

The Government Can...

Wave runner time...

We had fun at the beach for the past 2 Sundays. We took Grandpa's waverunner to good ole Morris (that's right, Morris, IL) and drove it around on the Illinois River. Of course, we only had one waverunner, so everyone else hung out on the beach and collected shells. I couldn't believe how many of those tiny, little conch shells (I think it's conch shells) wash up onto the shore. The kids had a blast searching for them.

Daddy and Seth out on the river.

Nathan had a great time playing in the sand and eating the rocks and sand. Let's just say, he had a very sandy diaper the next day...

Nathan's First Haircut

Nathan was looking a bit shaggy, so he got his first haircut last Monday (one day after he turned 11 months). As I recall, I gave all of our kids their first haircut between 9 months and 1 year. I think the girls may have been a little later since I only needed to trim their bangs. Anyhow, we've found that the kitchen sink works quite well for the little one's first cuts. The toys in the water keep them preoccupied while mom gets the job done. Part way through, Nathan got a bit antsy, so we employed another one of our favorite tactics... the popsicle. I think we may have used suckers with a few of the kids which works just about as well. So... BONUS for Nathan! He got his first haircut AND his first popsicle! Whoo-hoo!

Daddy with his hip, new glasses, and Nathan with his new haircut!

Nathan and his Barber(ette?? What's a female haircutter person called? A Stylist?)

A night on the town

You can't see it, but that is the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel lit up behind us. Paul and I went on a date to Morton's Steakhouse in Chicago last weekend and spent more money on our meal than I care to mention. Let's just say it could feed our family for at least a week. The bonus was that it was all on a gift card (the second half of what we didn't spend on our 10th anniversary last year). The waiter also got a huge tip, since what good is an extra $15 on a gift card when it will only buy you a potato and some lemon for your water??

Anyhow, after our big, fat, juicy steak, we walked it off (or part of it) by taking a 25 block stroll along the lake and over to Navy Pier. We didn't actually go onto the Pier, but we made it to the trolley stop benches and rested and watched all the really weird people. Yeah, weird. I think in Chicago a certain kind of weird people go home for the day only to allow the other weirdos a chance to have people gawk at them. OK, no, we didn't take the trolley back, although it was tempting, but we realized as we were watching the people stand in line waiting for it, the trolley drivers were out to play some cruel joke on the poor tourists. We would watch 5 or so empty trolleys drive right past this huge line of people who were just getting their hopes up. It could've been my imagination, but it looked like the trolleys were even swerving toward the pick-up lane, only to rev their engines and drive right past. Eventually, some of the people in line got fed up and took taxis. Maybe the trolley drivers and the taxi drivers were in cahoots?? Ah, well, we had fun just watching...

We're baaaaack...

We just got back from Grandma and Grandpa Larson's lake house in Missouri. Grandma Connie and Paul were supposed to meet us down there, but we're able to make it. That was a bummer, but the kids, Grandma Betty and I still had tons of fun. Our days went like this "eat, swim, eat, nap, swim, eat, sleep" then repeated the next day. We all had a great time in the water. Caleb and Seth both tried their hands at diving for the first time. Seth was catching on pretty well, but Caleb had trouble getting his head in before his body. He braved it out, though, doing belly-flop after belly-flop. He has a way of making something simply into a science project. He just couldn't understand the projectile of his body and how he wasn't able to make his head go in first. It probably didn't help that he still holds his nose with one of his diving hands. He's pretty convinced that if he only had a nose plug, he'd be diving like an Olympian.

Gracie still totally avoids entering the water at all, and spends her time on the shore drawing with chalk and using buckets to wet down the sidewalk. Ellie, on the other hand, is a water-baby. She can't swim yet, but with the built-in floaty thing in her swimsuit, she doggie paddled all over the place. Noah followed her. He's a bit more timid when it comes to swimming in the water, but I guess he figures if Ellie can do it, so can he. If that boy can get his coordination figured out, he's going to be a natural swimmer with his long, lanky body. And Grandma, well, she wore me out just watching her. She was the diving instigator and she gave the boys a run for their money on doing all sorts of jumps off the dock (although, to my credit, I am still the queen of somersaulting into the water. Ha :) Till next time....

Kittens and love...

My 4-year-old has found her true love...
...a fuzzy, little black kitten.

One of our two momma cats had a litter of kittens in June and three weeks later she was nowhere to be found. We assume was eaten by a hungry coyote or just used as a play toy by the neighboring German Shepard (it has a very bad habit of coming to visit, and if I could get to my BB Gun in time, I would help break the habit... sorry to all the PETA readers, but it's the truth). Anyhow, we ended up bottle feeding the kittens for about two weeks (like I needed something else to do three times a day). They are now about 6 weeks old and I had every intention of selling them as soon as possible.

Well, Ellie has always taken a liking to itty-bitty things...Polly Pockets, Littlest Pet Shop, tiny gemstones... anything that will fit in the palm of her hand. Well, this time she has attached herself to the runt of the litter. I'll have to admit, it is pretty cute. She carries it around like a ragdoll and it doesn't seem to mind at all. As with most of the kittens, it has about 5 names since every family that comes to visit gives them different names...