Guess who's turning 1 today?

Yes...it's my little rat-eater! ha ha She was born on 9-30-08, so she's ONE today!

By the way...I want to clear up a VERY IMPORTANT FACT about that previous story. The rat was NOT in our house until she brought it in from outside. We have a cat that hangs around our house outside (we feed it, but it's not really "ours"). I'm pretty sure the cat had caught the rat, eaten its head off and that is when Kinley intercepted it. And Kate, yes..she is up to date on all her shots! I thought of that too!

On Monday, one of Matt's hunting buddies called to see if he wanted to go put up their deer stands and put out some deer corn. They decided to let Grant go with them (what a TREAT!) Here are my handsome men before they left!

And one of Grant alone. Brooklyn insisted I take another picture of him because he "looked SO cute" (she said!) Wow...my daughter being NICE to my son? It's a MIRACLE! :o)

And then I couldn't pass up flipping the camera around and taking one of my pretty girl too! We had straightened her hair that day for school picture day! Wow--it's getting long!

After the boys left, we decided to make sugar cookies and actually roll out the dough, make shapes, ice and sprinkle them! Whew! That was a job...but we had fun and MAN they were yummy!

Not my best night ever....

Follow me here:
2:07 am-I hear Kinley barking in her room (aka.the laundry room) wanting to go outside.
2:09 am-I decide she's not going to quit unless I get up and let her out...so out of my cozy bed I go.
2:11 am-WHAT is she doing? I can't get her to come back in. Whatever. I'll just lay on the couch until I hear her scratch at the door.
2:33 am-Okay, finally, she's ready to come back in--and--Sam is ready to go out. Whatever, he can stay out the rest of the night. I'm going to bed!
2:34 am-I chase Kinley into my room where she hides under my bed where I can't reach her. (she knows I'm going to put her back in 'her room'. FINE I say! I really don't care right now...I just wanna go back to bed.
2:39 am-Kinley has been prancing around the house for 5 full minutes now with her tags on her collar jingle-jingling non-stop! It's about to drive me nuts. She keeps jumping up onto our bed and then back down. Up and down. Up and down. Now she's wimpering. I lay there wondering what in the world it is that she is wanting. I think 'maybe she is looking for Sam' (who is still outside). Then I have a lightbulb moment! "OHHHH! I know what it is! Anytime she has a treat in her mouth she runs around the house frantically looking for a place she can "bury" it. I bet she's got a bone and she's trying to hide it!" (I actually say this outloud to Matt who is growing very irritated with the whole shenanigan by this point.)
I jump back out of bed, catch her and begin to start yanking the "bone" out of her mouth. Now keep in mnd, it is PITCH BLACK in our house throughout this whole ordeal. I can feel she has something in her mouth but I can't get it out. I'm yanking though.
2:41 am-SHRILL SCREAMING coming from me as I WHIP all the lights in the house on. IT'S A HEADLESS RAT!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, a rat. I'm a country girl y'all and this was no little mouse. This thing was BIG and HAIRY and 1/4 the size of Kinley herself! On top of all that, it's head had already been gnawed off!
(are you ready to puke yet?)
2:42 am-The entire family is now up out of bed and looking at this thing laying in the entryway floor. Matt throws it out the back door and we all get back in bed.
3:12 am - Brooklyn comes running into my bedroom telling me she can't sleep because she is having nightmares that there are rats in her room. I assure her that there are NO RATS of any kind in our house. She goes back to bed.
3:19 am - Sam is now at the back door scratching to come in. It's LOUD and irritating as HECK! I get up, let him in, slam my bedroom door shut, put a pair of gym shorts over the blaring numbers on my alarm clock and FINALLY get back in bed for the last time.
Well..until 5:00 am when it's time to get up for good.
What a fun night!

If life's a dance, I must be doing the quick-step!

Ya, you've been hearing me whine about being "too busy" and "overwhelmed with responsiblities" for years on here...
So what have I done now?
Well...signed up for MORE, what else?
Really, I think I have a disease. It's the "I only live once so I want to do it ALL" disease.
There are a rare few things I DON'T want to EVER experience...but other than that, I say BRING IT ON.
The problem with that is I have to be a wife and a mother and clean house and earn a paycheck and none of that really lends itself to a thing called SPARE TIME. In a quest to "do it all" in the midst of my LIFE, I seem to be trying to cram as much as possible into every day.
In the end, I am exhausted and grouchy and SPENT!
Spent (adj.) - a feeling of being burned out, physically, mentally and spiritually. Symptoms may include, but are not limited to: exhaustion, insomnia, digestive problems, irritability and unexplained joint or back pain.
Uh ya...that pretty much explains it.
There are days, like today for instance, where MENTALLY I am feeling totally PUMPED! I feel great and encouraged and just overall HAPPY---but THESE are the kinds of days that get me into trouble! When I'm exhausted, I have a MUCH EASIER time saying "no" to things. But when I'm feeling like I do right now, I say "yes" before people even get done asking the question. YES I want to teach a fitness class on Thursday! YES I want to be homeroom mom for BOTH my kids classes! YES I want to buy $50 worth of scrapbook stuff and go to a crop with you! YES I want to volunteer in this, that and the other departments at church! YES! YES! YES!
Somewhere in there, is a big problem. I'm beginning to think it's ME. This is who I am. This is what I do. This is how I live. To change would be to change my innermost being, the person God created to be Jennifer. Right? Surely there must be a way to "tame" me without making me someone entirely different. I just don't know what it's gonna take.
So...there you go Tammy! Ha ha..you asked for a new post. Bet you didn't know I was gonna barf all over ya'll! This is just what is going on in my life right now....so it's all I could think of to talk about.
One day SPENT.
One day STOKED.
One day EXHAUSTED.
One day ELATED.
and on and on and on.....

4 my dear Rene

My dear buddy Rene wants to know why neither I nor Ashley have blogged about our fabulous bargain-shopping experience from Saturday yet. Well...it's like this Rene: I got home and tried on all our "bargains" and not one thing fit comfortably. Remind me again why I bought all size 2's and 4's? Everything is just a tad-bit too tight or a lot-bit too tight. BLECK!

Seriously, I thought there would be at least one thing that I could wear NOW, but I think the only thing that fits in that category is a pink, stretchy-fabric t-shirt and even that is long-sleeved and a little too warm for the weather right now.

Anyway...the experience itself was SO FUN and I will definitely do it again. It's this cool consignment store that has a sale like twice a year where you can have everything you can fit into a bag (that they give you) for only $10. I believe I ended up with 19 items not including about 10 brand-new Lancome products (blush, eyeshadow, lipstick).

Here is a pick of us holding our bags, and then one of us at TGIFriday's having lunch. Yes, that's me there licking the bowl from our brownie obsession. Obsession is right...that thing will have me obsessing for months--wanting another one! YUM!