Please, spay or neuter your pets!

If you have pets, please spay or neuter them! The people who live here before us left behind 2 mamas (well, one is confirmed female, not sure about the 2nd) and 9 babies! So far 3 babies have been trapped and taken to animal control. They were spayed/neutered and got their ear tagged so the animal catcher knows they have been fixed and wont pick them up. One died and sadly, before the program above was found out one was taken to the animal shelter and sadly euthanized. There are the two adults and 4 babies left to catch. Trying to trap them before more babies are made.

The owners who lived in our house before us left them behind. The adults were once pets. Now they are very shy and scared. I feed and water them daily. I already have 3 indoor cats, I wasn't in the market for anymore, but it is what it is. They are incredibly cute and fun to watch. I can't imagine just letting them go on as they are and making more and more and more babies. It's so sad.

So someone else's responsibility is costing me $50.00 each to spay/neuter plus the $60 per trap! I am slowly becoming attached, as is Maggie. And Chris, "Mr. we are not going to be feeding those cats" has gone to the store several times to buy cat food. All but one have names....we are still trying to think of a good one! Here are a couple pictures of them.

The striped one is the female, her name is Coraline. The kitten is Blondie.


Its hard to see their sweet faces, I just fed them. The striped one is Licorice, the gray one is Green Mint and the Black one still needs a name.


The only one not pictures is the black one I assume is a female as well. But could be papa.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!

Flat Sarah does Edmund OK!

Behind on my Flat Sarah update since the move. My sweet friend Amanda and her daughter Kaitlyn took good care of her and showed her a good time in Oklahome! Here is a recap of her time there!

Flat Sarah landing safely in Edmond, Oklahoma on August 26th. Edmond, OK is located 5 minutes north of Oklahoma City. When she first arrived, it was very rainy but this weekend we have had beautiful weather. When we took her out for her pictures, it was clear sky's and in the 80's. Very beautiful.

Edmond, OK is the birthplace of Shannon Miller, who is an Olympic Gymnast. We have a park and many roads named after her. By the park, our town buried a time capsule that will be opened in 30 years. We hope we still live here when it is opened!
We also have the very first schoolhouse that was in Oklahoma which was built in 1889. At that time, it was in the middle of a huge field, and children had to walk quite a distance to attend. Now, the school is on a very busy street surrounded by restaurants and stores. We take very good care of it, to ensure it will always be around to visit and remember.

Edmond, OK is a wonderful, safe place to live. There are many things to do and lots of lakes to swim in.

Flat Sarah was a wonderful guest and after a long day of pictures we all enjoyed McDonalds. Kaitlyn will miss her- but we know she still has lots of traveling to do!

Pictures of Amanda, Kaitlyn and Flat Sarah!

Firewood Season

Well, it's that time of year again! We had our first cord of wood delivered yesterday. Funny because it has been so hot and still summer here. Firewood gets delivered last night and we had a wonderful lightning display at 3:30 this morning. Chris went out early in the morning and got sprinkled on. Every day it gets closer to Fall.....I can not wait! Fall is actually my favorite time of year!

Of course the wood got dumped in our sideyard and we had to haul it to the backyard. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and I am not as sore as I thought I would be! ROFL!! Thats encouraging for when the 2nd cord gets delivered next Friday!

Maggie was excited when the "wood man" drove up with his truck full. She had fun watching the bed of the truck lift and dump it all out. And she had even more fun getting right in the middle of her dad and I while we were trying to get it all in the back and stacked! She was so cute to help put it in the wheel barrow. And she would carry big pieces of bark back to her dad. :) It's nice to have a little princess who isn't afraid of getting dirty!

Here are a few pictures of our day:

BEFORE


AFTER


I wish I would have gotten more pictures of Maggie helping, but I forgot my camera in the house :(

This and That

I am so bummed! Maggie started gymnastics on Wednesday. A good friend of my husband (they went to middle/high school together) just bought and opened the gymnastics studio here in our town. We have been waiting, not so patiently! for it to finally open. Maggie had a blast. I took lots of pictures. Lots of great pictures. But in the middle of my snapping frenzy I got a message on my camera telling me my card needs to be formatted. I can not get any of the pictures off the card. I don't know why this happened. I have used this card many times before. I am hoping my friend Christine can help me recover them.

On top of not getting to pull those pictures off I can not get our pics of making our worm farm or any of the other cool stuff I've taken pictures of in the last two weeks.

We have been working diligently on the Dirt lesson from Lesson Pathways. Maggie has been having a total blast. We are getting ready to start on Rocks next. You know, its pretty funny to watch your sweet little girl dressed in a Disney Princess gown digging in the dirt. She is a prissy tomboy, if there is such a thing!



Another thing we have been really working on is hand washing. Maggie is good about washing after using the restroom, but I'm really trying to get her to do it a little more often. With cold and flu season upon us I am really stressing how important it is to wash up. She is really starting to do a good job! In between her fingers, scrubbing at least 20 seconds. The best part (in her mind) is getting to put lotion on afterwards.

I have come to realise that a lot of people do not really know how to wash their hands, so I took this info from the CDC. Hope it helps you keep the bugs away!

Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. It is best to wash your hands with soap and clean running water for 20 seconds. However, if soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based product to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast acting.

When washing hands with soap and water:

Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend!
Rinse hands well under running water
Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet
Remember: If soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based gel to clean hands.

When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
Apply product to the palm of one hand
Rub hands together
Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry.

When should you wash your hands?

Before preparing or eating food
After going to the bathroom
After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to the bathroom
Before and after tending to someone who is sick
After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
After handling an animal or animal waste
After handling garbage
Before and after treating a cut or wound

We are moved!

I am so thankful to be moved! I absolutely do not like moving. Although it is on the bottom of things I want to do I am SO thankful we did it. We are all so happy. We have been here a week now and it already feels like home!! The previous people who lived here left behind their two adult cats...who of course had kittens. I have sucker written all over my face and I have been trying to make friend with the wild little kitties. They are just so precious. A lady up the road from us has joined in. We catch the kittens and take them in to be spayed/neutered and then they get tagged so the animal control people know they are wild kitties who have been taken care of and wont take them to the shelter. We have the two adults and 4 babies to catch. So far we have caught I think 5 of the kittens. There are two that I am particularly fond of. Blondie and Green Mint (aka Batman).
We have 2 mama deer who come visit every morning and early evening with their 3 babies. Lots of birds, wild finches, woodpeckers, blue jays, hummingbirds, etc. We have a ton of bird houses/feeders all over the back and front yard. We have made a worm farm (we are currently studying dirt!) and boy what fun that was to make. So, even though we have been busy with the move and settling in, we have still been having "school".

I have a Flat Sarah update and some pictures I want to post. That will all have to wait til tomorrow! Now that we are settling in I plan on posting a lot more! I have been terrible about keeping this poor blog up! Sigh.......