Jinny & Jack

A few weeks ago, we had an unexpected guest show up in our pasture....

We went out to visit with Jinny, our sweet, "pet" donkey...

 And found this cutie! Meet Jack :) My dad had called and told us we had a new baby donkey; we weren't certain Jinny was expecting until a few days before Jack was born.

  

Chloe's little hand

Jinny stayed pretty close for the first few days. Now I think she tries to get away from him!

Jack is now running around and acting silly. He's finally figured out how to work those long, skinny legs of his and it's pretty cute to watch!

Six Years

*This post is incredibly late*

Six years ago, on September 29th my sweet, handful-of-a-child, niece was born. Time really does fly!

We had her party at Tad's {sort of like Chuck E Cheese}. There have bouncy houses and games to keep people entertained. I didn't get many pictures {this was a few days after the broken tail bone incident and I didn't feel like running around and bending and squatting to get pictures} but I got a few of her and her cake.

We had a Tangled theme {or according to my mother, Twisted} and my mother in law made the cake!



Six purple and pink candles... her two favorite colors!

   

Our cousin, Hayden, taking a break...



Some of the kiddos at the party....

The girl loaded up with clothes and toys {as usual}. All in all, I think it was a great party! Happy sixth birthday, Clo-Monster!

Friday 15

I have absolutely no idea where to start with a catch up post. Things have been bananas lately! I'm going to post the first 15 thoughts that pop into my head. Bare with me... :)

1. We sold the house! I'm still sad and happy that I've only stalked it once.
2. We moved everything into a storage unit. I spent lots and lots of time researching and organizing. I can honestly say I know where 95% of things are. Plus they're packed away with dryer sheets {to keep bugs away}, wooden pallets {to keep things off the floor}, drop cloths {to keep the wood furniture protected}, plastic, mouse poison, moisture catcher thingys and lots of bug spray. I feel much better now.
3. I still haven't finished unpacking and organizing the apartment though. There are about 3 more tubs I need to work on. It doesn't help that Brad has moved in some of his hunting crap things already. 
4. I would have liked to finish the unpacking part, but I've been busy lately. Plus I can't sit in the floor to sort through things or sit on the couch and bend over digging in plastic tubs. 
5. My broken tail bone seems to be healing nicely. I'm very impatient though and want it to be done with... NOW. Combine that with the fact that I forget it's broken and then bad things happen. Long drives (over 30 minutes) are still not fun; neither is sitting at my desk at work. 
6. Brad and I went to an air show in Millington, TN a few weeks ago (pics to come soon) and had a good time. This was before I knew my tail bone was broken. I couldn't figure out why I was hurting SO badly. I was sitting in one of those folding chairs that you carry in a bag and I could barely move at the end of the show (almost 3 hour drive, 6 hour show and 3 hour drive home). I normally have a good tolerance for pain, but that was driving me crazy!!
7. The next week Brad went to another one in Halls, TN or somewhere around there. He took a ride in a cool plane (pics to come). I stayed home :)
8. Last weekend I drove to AR and met Brad at his workplace. We hopped in a plane and flew south to Inverness, MS for "Duster Doings". Basically this older ag pilot lets all of his ag pilot friends fly in and spend the day swapping stories and eating. It was an hour flight down and then a little more than an hour back {strong wind!} and so flippin' bumpy. It was my first flight in a 4 seater plane and my first flight to ride in the backseat {I don't even ride in the backseat of a car!!}. I didn't throw up, but I did come close on the flight back!
9. Brad is registered for a week long ag course in Ft. Pierce, Florida! Guess who will be taking a week vacation and going with him? Me! The room is booked and the rental car is booked and we're ready to go! Just a few more weeks... I'm going to miss Amos though!! I've never been away from him for this long before. Amos is a special needs dog so I'm worried about him, but I know my mom and dad will take good care of him!
10. Courtney {my sis} turned 29 and Chloe turned 6 last week. We partied Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday! I was party pooped out!
11. I have no idea what this weekend holds and that's ok... I have a few things in mind.
12. Monday is Columbus Day!! That means no work for me Monday!! Woot woot! I'm thrilled about this. Over the moon excited. I'm so ready for a day off.
13. My mom, sister, niece and I plan on shopping Monday. Lord help us! Chloe hates shopping, I'm crippled, mom's crippled and Courtney has a heart condition. Fun times! Ha! Court and Clo are going on a cruise soon so they're looking for cruise clothes. Chloe needs fall clothes. Mom is just going {although we might convince her to buy a thing or two}. I'm in desperate need of fall clothes. I have sweaters, plenty of sweaters, but nothing to wear in fallish weather.
14. Amos threw up four times this week. I have no idea why. He's such a sickly dog. He started chewing on his toy last night so I think he's finally feeling better.
15. I plan on posting pictures very soon! I have so many I need to upload and edit and hopefully I'll have time to do that soon.

Happy Friday!!!

Homecoming Parade 2011

Friday, September 2nd was my high school's homecoming- they let the middle school tag along in their parade {wasn't that nice?!}. One of my cousins, Dani Paige, was voted 5th grade maid. I tried to get a good shot, but they didn't turn out so well. Just imagine they are perfect!

 The lady in the maroon t-shirt in the background is her mom (& my aunt).

 DP's sister, Savannah

 Let's pretend her eyes were open, mmmk?

Mom and I went to the parade that Friday on our lunch break. It was about 105 degrees and we had to walk a mile quickly to get to it on time. I felt like my shoes were melting into the asphalt!

"K" is for Kindergarten

Chloe started Kindergarten Thursday, August 4th, 2011. I didn't go stalk her; I didn't cry, but thougth I might. She was such a "big girl" and "shooed" her mom right out of the room. {Much different than when her mom was in school :)}

This is her first school project and it's Squiddy the Jellyfish. She named "her" and I made her. Sort of. They do a theme every year for the first day and this year was oceans. The day before school, we ALL {Mammy, Pappy, Momma, Aunt Cassie & Chloe} sat down at the table and tried to create Squiddy. We pretty much followed the rules and this is what we got...

 Pink curling ribbon, Saran Wrap, construction paper, buttons, freakishly moving eyes, tape, glue and some lack of patience later and Squiddy was born! :)

Note to self: update and enhance craft box immediately.

I have a feeling this was an "easy" one.

Thankful Thursday

I have been quite the Debbie Downer lately and it stinks! I am such a "Cranky Cassie" or "Negative Nancy" and I'm to the point where I'm even annoying myself! So, to start things off in more of a "Positive Patsy" kind of way I'm listing a few things that make me beyond thankful...

1. Family- My mom and dad have let me & Amos {and sometimes Brad} move in next door to them for free. Yes, I try to give money, but she puts it back into my savings so what am I supposed to do?  My sister and niece come over every week day and let Amos out at lunch {Brad and I used to take turns doing this and it was getting expensive and time consuming} and then mom and dad let him out when I'm not there. They're always inviting me to eat with them so I have access to free food and snacks :)

2. Friends- They keep me sane. Period. I'm lucky enough to work with a very good friend of mine so we're constantly emailing or visiting each other. Other friends I email regularly and meet on weekends or after work. It doesn't happen too often since we all stay pretty busy, but we still meet up!

3. Amos- Dogs {I'm not a cat person} give unconditional love. If Amos wasn't hitting the 200lb mark I would let him on the couch with me. I've done that a few times and he just lays his little big head in my lap. He is not an active dog, but he gets up and meets me every time I come home. He's so protective of me when I'm home alone and he's beyond jealous when he sees me holding my first-born {Toby, the mini chihuahua} that my parents adopted.

4. My job- I don't talk much about my job on the ole blog, but I started at this bank in 2002 when I was in college. I have worked in two different cities and three different branches and my sweet boss even made a position for me and hired me full time after I graduated college. It's an 8:15-4:30/5 job most of the time and it's ok if I'm a little late or leave a little early or take a longer lunch some days. I work with some sweet ladies and never get bored. Don't get me wrong; it's not all rainbows and sunshine everyday, but I'm pretty spoiled here. {If I ever leave here, I'd prefer to work with men though. It's a hen house here!}

5. My sweet husband {AKA: B-rad, husby, honey, babe, goof-ball}- Wow, does he put up with a lot? That man has the patience of Job, I promise you. When we started our journey... oh, 9 years ago... I had no idea what I was getting myself into! As the "head of the house", he takes his role pretty seriously {even though we all know I make most of the decisions :)} He is by far an "eye on the prize" and tunnel vision person and will not give up until he has what he wants. Granted, I had no idea that one month after getting married he would decide to start flying, leave the family business and pursue a job as a crop-duster, but he gives everything 100%. He listens to my rants and raves and random talks. He makes sure I'm taken care of. He lets me have my "moments" and that's only a tiny part of why I love him. I did tell him the other day that when he does finally start making money, that I would finally start spending money :) He didn't disagree. He knows this is truth. He accepts it. He moves on.

6. Health- We all take our health for granted, don't we? That is, until we're sick or hurt! I've never broken a bone {I tried, but just couldn't}, I've only been hospitalized over night one time {tonsillectomy gone bad}. I've never made a trip to the ER {well, except that one ambulance ride}. I've never really had anything big happen so all in all I'm pretty healthy. I type this as I'm hunkered over because of a pain in my back and I'm rubbing my knee since the pain is flaring up, but you get the point :)

I could keep going, but I'll stop for now. Wait, one more thing.

7. Air Conditioning!! Hello, it's July. In Mississippi. We've been under a heat advisory and or heat warning practically all summer. It's hot people. Now, if only my boss would bump the thermostat from 68 to a nice 73ish, I would be even more thankful! :)

Is anyone else ready for fall weather or is it just me? I'm not the type to rush my life away, but I despise summer. I went shopping this weekend and most of the stores have out their fall clothes and I just wanted to snatch up all the long sleeves, sweaters and darker colored clothing. A pasty white girl with dark hair just can't pull off summer colors as well as fall colors!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Don't forget to link up today!

This weekend I was forced lucky enough to visit the great Natural State again. If you're keeping count, that is 3 out of 4 weekends in June. Brad didn't have to work Sunday so we drove to West Memphis and ate Cracker Barrel! Yum yum!

 The entire drive there I was telling Brad how I just could.not.wait for my pecan pancakes {even though I was upset at myself for eating so badly the previous week}, BUT they have a new menu with multi grain pancakes so I ordered those instead! I'm loving them! :) This isn't my picture {Brad would have died if I would have whipped out my camera right there in the restaurant}, but that's almost exactly what my plates looked like. I didnt eat it all... don't worry :)

Loving the multi-grain!

  I'm loving my crazy family too. Yes, we all have men in our lives, but they weren't invited :) I'm not sure what we'll do when John Aaron gets older. Ha! :)

 I'm loving this man {and he loves me; he just doesn't show it on camera}and those gosh awful gold aviators with the forehead piece. I promise he doesn't wear those in public. And yes, that's my zebra CD holder... I got it as a gift when I was in high school!

I'm loving my first vanilla malt from Sonic. I've always wanted to try it, but I am SO NOT GOOD at trying new things. I even looked up the difference between a milkshake and a malt {side note: what would I do without Google??}. Someone commented on a thread that it tasted like a Whopper. You got my vote!

Look at the awesome cup it came in :)

 Chloe's recital was Saturday. I left right after it was over and headed west. She did SO well during her songs and her solo. I was so proud of her!! I'm loving that my little Clo-Monster has really grown out of her shell since she started dance.

She thinks she's big stuff! :)

What are you loving? Tell me!

Vacation 2011 & 150th Post

I can't believe this will be my 150th post?! That's just crazy. I started this blog not knowing what I would do with it. In fact, I didn't tell a single person I even created it until several months after just because it was a touch and go process... Now 150 posts later and I'm still trucking along!

This vacation was a much needed one on my part. My last 5 straight days off were in March 2008 {aka: my honeymoon!} and since then I've only been off 3 days in a row back in October 2009 {when Brad and I went to Maggie Valley, NC}. I forgot how nice it feels to be "free"! Now, I'm already planning my next vacation! I just checked my last pay stub and found out I have three hundred and twenty six hours of paid time off built up?!?!?!

Wow, this is getting way off track! Anyway, here are some several pictures of our trip! I tried to narrow it down, but that's like me saying I'm not going to talk much :)



John Aaron & Chloe



"Lou" and some of her grandkids and great-grandchild.

The whole group: my mom, sister, niece, cousin, grandmother, me, and aunt!

John and his mom, Aunt Shelly

On the beach at 6:00am makes this girl happy!

Our other cousins came to visit! Dani Paige, John Aaron, Savannah Grace and Chloe... Yes, we are a double name type of family! :)

The kiddos again. The wind was nuts that day!

Mammy and Chloe outside our room

My sis, Courtney & her mini-me

Again, the wind was terrible, but we did the best we could!

Mama Lynn {Linda Lou is her name- I call her Lou} and her two daughters...

Miss Prissy Pot finally posed at the end!

They have a brother/sister relationship and it's too cute! They're both "only children" so it works out well for everyone :)

Sisters :)

Sunset is my favorite time!

Little stinker!

This was only a few of the ones I took. I must confess, I didn't edit, crop, correct anything {as if you couldn't tell!}. Way too busy and lazy for that mess. The ones I frame will be edited, but these are SOOC. Sorry people! Just imagine they look cleaner and crisper...