{Forgot to post this....}

This image was taken towards the end of last month. Our neighbor gave the kids a ride on his mower - they had a blast as you can tell. It was fun to watch because Ruth was steering and was so into making sure she didn't hit anything. Aaron and Sam were just having fun, enjoying the ride. Enjoy!!

(click to view image larger)

{ER Visit}

So this morning was crazy - I forgot about the time change and when the kids started waking up and getting into things at 6 AM I was so upset they were waking me up waaay too early. (of course if the time hadn't of fallen back it would have been 7 am and I would have been ok with it - go figure). I rearranged the furniture in the livingroom since last night I got a new recliner and didn't want to fall over it to get to the bathroom. Now the livingroom is soo much more open and spacious. (the new recliner is photographed with our new dog "Paten" if you want to check it out)

This afternoon I told the kids to go outside and play because they were just driving me a bit batty. Aaron and Sam decided to climb up on the boat and of course Ruth followed and fell down and bonked her head on a rock. I thought her cries were just the regular "the boys are being me to me" cries until I heard the boys scream "mommy, mommy, oh my god Ruth are you ok??, mommy, mommy" I ran out the back door because that's where I heard Ruth's cries from and I heard the front door open as I scooped ruth up off the front porch - I saw blood on her arm and heard Aaron yell for me again. I wiped the blood off her arm and figured it was nothing then I felt liquid dripping and falling all down my arm I looked over her shoulder and saw what appeared to be a pool of blood falling from her head and onto my arm. I screamed for William to bring me a clean towel from the bathroom and asked Clay to take me to the ER since I have no idea where the hospitals are around here.

Freaked me out - but needless to say that my probably very expensive ER visit for a nurse to put soap in Ruth's hair and put a drop of antibiotic ointment on her very small puncture wound at the very center of a very large goose egg was the scariest thing.

Yes, the visit to get stitches for her was scary too but not like this because I didn't know where the hospital was - I am glad Clay was home. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't home.

I did stop by Wal-mart and get Tylenol for Ruth. The whole time she was sleeping with her arms folded on the handle of the cart with her head down - bloody shirt and matted red spot showing and lots of horrible looks like I was a bad mom for going to the store to get milk while my child lays bleeding to death in the cart - unconscious no less.

Ruth is fine and dandy - her head hurts some but the tylenol is helping with that and she ate most of her dinner with the exceptions of her green beans. She was excited when she woke up to find that I had purchased some new PINK gloves and hat for her because the weather is getting waaay cold and she needed them. She wore them for the rest of the day.

The boys now know that there are REASONS for our insanity of telling them to not climb on the equipment, cars, boat, motorcycle, trailers and so on. They can get hurt but most of all RUTH can get hurt because she wants to be like them and isn't quite ready to do the same things they can.

So if you didn't notice I didn't make it to church today due to an ER visit - hopefully I can make it next week - I really want to go and I am a bit annoyed that I haven't made it yet. Last week the church was deserted and not a soul was around - I think it was stake conference and now this week I made my first trip to the ER in Ontario.

I am truly blessed that this happened when Clay was home and not when I was all alone and would have had to call 911 because I don't know where the hospitals are...I am trying to find all the local hospitals within a 30 mile radius of me so I will be prepared for next time. (I am sucha bad mommy!)

{Meet Paten}

As you know we did get a beagle mix named Shelbee but ended up giving her back due to her running away all the time and almost getting hit on more then one occasion. She was a good dog but really needed a family with a fully fenced in yard - which we just don't have right now. Also she played a bit too rough for our kids - she kept knocking them down and wanted to play with them like another dog and that included trying to nip at them. I hope she finds the right home for her.

So on our search continued - this time with more specific criteria: 1. MUST be potty trained. 2. WON'T run away and will come when called. 3. Must be considered a small dog (not too much bigger then what my grandparents mini palmeranian "chu chu"). 4. MUST like kids and not bark too much - I don't like yappy dogs who bark at the air.

I really don't think our list was at all hard to find if we just had the patience. I put an add on craigslist under the pet section (figuring it couldn't hurt) while looking at different rescue groups and the humane society for all the different counties.

We looked at a few dogs - some we were told we small and ended up being way too big and some were just not for us. But soon we got an email from a lovely woman who said she had the perfect dog for us.

She was right! Yesterday, we picked up Paten aka Letopan (short for little panda - I couldn't sound it out and William didn't like it so we named him Paten for General Paten). He is a 7 month old shi tzu and is just the sweetest dog around. He will need his shots and get fixed but he is just too cute. He is so stunning with his long fur and black tipped white and red fur. He loves to follow me around and around. He is so calm and hasn't snapped or barked at anyone even when the kids get all up in his face - which I would snap if they did the same to me. He is so well behaved and EXACTLY what we were looking for!

Don't you think he's just the cutest? (click image to view larger)

{Bee}

Look what I found on my font step when I opened the door - this poor thing looked cold and lost. I snapped a few pictures then put him up high somewhere warm outside so he could find his way tomorrow when it warmed up. Enjoy!

(click to view larger)

{Some Finds while perusing some blogs}

I love to read blogs and hop from blog to blog - getting my much needed "Mommy" time. I always come across some of the most fun and interesting crafts, sayings and lives. I have a nice little stash of things I am going to try for different holiday's next year if they have already past and will try for those that haven't past this year. Below are two really great ideas - if you take a look you'll see why.

Stolloween created these fun and creatively ghoolish pumpkins out of papermache.
(image created by Stolloweenphoto)

and you have to check out these mini carmel apples that Sakurako Kitsa made. They are just too cute for words and would be the delight of anyone at your next party!

(image created by Sakurako Kista)