captial R

Random Post Warning!

 I always shy away from mishmash posts but don't know why... because I love that type of post when others blog them... so here I go.

Savannah did indeed cry when her daddy gave her the ring!

I actually was allowed to 'sit in' on the sweet moment as Shawn gave the ring to her. 

Shawn told her that this is only the second piece of jewelry he has ever picked out and that he hoped she would wear it on her left finger... and not remove it until a tremendously wonderful young man wants to place an engagement ring on that same finger.

 She adores Blue Topaz so the ring was an instant love!

Savannah had a great First Date too!

Her favorite time of the night was Dinner.  I giggled when she first said this.  But she said that the food was incredible and it was a fun time of chatting with her date.

They then went to the ROTC Ball.

Savannah had a tad bit of culture shock.  Keeping in mind that the absolutely only dance she has ever been to is a Youth Church Dance AND the fact that she is homeschooled.  She met some of Blake's friends, socialized, danced... and then after the formalities (intro of officers and Seniors, etc) of the Ball ended... the music got turned WAY up, the atmosphere got a tad wild... and Savannah promptly asked to be taken home;)

I grin typing this, because I love that my daughter felt comfortable enough with herself AND her date to have a fun first date.  I also grin because I think Savannah found out the tried and true facts about HighSchool Formals... whether they be ROTC Balls or Proms, etc...  

 The real fun is in the shopping for the perfect dress, shoes, and jewelry; 

The process of getting all dolled up;

A great dinner with her date; &

Great conversation with a date that is normally quiet but was so easy to talk to!

THEN arriving at the actual BIG EVENT... and finding out that it ends up not being the highlight of the night afterall.  But instead short and sweet... and back in the car for the ride home and more great conversation... the very thing she found the most enjoyable anyway!

 OK, she is comfortable with all I have said about her ring and first date, it is now documented for our family yearbook... and she has asked me to move on, snicker.

So in the way of moving on AND random... remember this photo of our triplets just hours old?

 Here is a new photo of them at 5 weeks old.  The two boys on the left have spend all their time out at the barn with Calli, their mom.  Willow has spent the past 5 weeks in our home, sleeping in our laundry room and being bottle fed by Savannah.  Willow is still considerably smaller in size compared to her brothers, but she seems healthy now.

 For several days straight, Savannah would bring Sparrow and Peanut to the chicken coop area for a forced 'playdate' with Willow.  Lets just say none of them were cooperating at first... but now they are enjoying each other.

 We knew the chickens would not be fond of 3 annoying goats in their pen, so we bribed them with leftover corn on the cob.

 The corn worked on the hens... not so much for the Rooster.

Keep in mind his job is to warn 'the ladies' of any dangers.  If the rooster is going crazy... inevitably I can look out the window and see a hawk or other perceived danger lurking about.

And so during the goats playdate... this is where the Rooster resides...

 OUTSIDE the coop fence.  CockaDoodleDooing his blooming head off, trying ever so valiantly to get the hens to listen to him and flea the coop.

Thing is though... I think the hens find the goats amusing.  Free entertainment if you will.

Rooster... not so much!

 We were supposed to receive several more inches of snow last night.  Not sure yet if any one did, but we sure didn't.  Thankfully so, because our practice took a huge financial hit from being closed all those days due to the earlier snowfall.

And here is the only reminder of that snowfall.

Our snowman... notice the last remaining body mass which is now a bitty snowball, the twig arms, pinecone nose (no carrots were available), and the Santa Claus hat. 

And the last bit of random... I am down in the dumps.

Yep, crying headaches and all.

Yesterday was one of those days.  Homeschooling was ROUGH!  Tasks seemed too many to manage.  And really bad news to round out the rainy cold Tuesday.

Hopefully 6 months from now... the storms from our bad news will be 'old news' and we can get back to our beautiful, calm, existence.

But as for today... kids seem chipper, all the laundry and ironing are done (rare), hubby was able to go to work after dreading snow all night that never came, chili is on the menu for dinner (yum), and I shall avoid attempting math again with youngest son... just for today... math tends to not be friendly to either of us!

Sweet 16

Our Sweet Savannah just left on her first date.

She was very sure how she wanted to look and I helped and she was thrilled with how everything came together.

 Savannah's favorite things about this dress were the color and the tuxedo ruffles.  She is normally NOT a frilly gal but she thought the ruffles were fun!

 Her date was Blake Frye.  They know each other from church.  Blake asked Savannah to 'reserve' this night clear back in November, she was really excited.

 The corsage was PERFECT!

 After I tortured them sufficiently with pictures... they left for a fun night of dinner and a ROTC Ball.

Nothing left to do but have FUN!

Pedicure...  check!

Manicure... check!

Walking around house for past 2 weeks in killer heels to make sure she feels good in them... check!

Bottom of heels properly scuffed so they don't slip...  check!

 Savannah found two pair of earrings she just couldn't choose between.  One set was a classic set of diamond hoops.  The second set were THESE!!!  I love them.  Like really, really like them.  They will be so perfect with her dress... little sparkle... little funky and young.  I bit my lip and kept my opinions to myself.  I even bought both sets of earrings so she could ponder longer on them.  She just decided that I could return the loops... she is wearing these, hooray!!

 Don't you just love the oversize rings that are available now.  So fun!  This one is so perfect!!!

Notice the manicure... her first ever.

 And last Saturday, while Savannah was at her Youth Dance... Shawn and I went shopping.  He wanted to get her something for her birthday just from him.  Have I mentioned before that my sweetheart can analyze and research things inside, outside, upside, downside, leftside, rightside, hokeypokeyside?!??!!  He finally decided on a ring.  Whew!

 And I must admit, it was worth hours and hours of shopping and going back for second looks, and interrogating jewelry salespeople.  Cause he got the most beautiful Sweet 16 ring I have ever seen.  Savannah's favorite color is blue, and this blue topaz is going to make her cry tears of joy.

Shawn hasn't bought a piece of jewelry since he went shopping with his mom for my engagement ring.  He will give this ring to Savannah tonight.  Tomorrow is her actual BIG DAY, and in usual Savannah fashion she has a very full social agenda... with the big finale tomorrow evening of her first date, an ROTC Ball.  So fun!

Christian WUZ here

Seems my oldest son is not capable of driving in a straight line.  Nope.  This could prove troublesome when he gets his driver's permit in a few weeks.  Just felt it my responsibility to warn the general public.

 Proof... our crop snow circles. 

 In 10 inches of snow... Christian's 'signature' moves were not visible.  But as the snow melted... there they were, everywhere.  How does the boy not get desperately dizzy riding the 4 wheeler like this? 

 And the same dear son also felt the need to lean precariously out his sister's window... out over the edge of the roof, to collect this 'trophy'. 

 38 inches of icicle now resides in my freezer in the garage.  For what purpose?  I am still wondering... I shall probably never understand the working of Christian's reasonings... I may be better off that way.  He is entertaining nonetheless, so I shall keep him around!

the Orange Bronco

 We woke up to another Winter Wonderland this morning.

The forecast for this storm was pretty accurate and Shawn closed his office for the day.

Our first item of very important business for this morning... we had to find our orange sleds, because we missed out on prime snow fun on Christmas and we wanted to make up for it today!!

 Recipe for fun:

snow (of course), orange sleds, and a 4wheeler.  It is also great to have plenty of pasture with lots of hills and dips to drive crazy fast over!

Christian was the first guinea pig... I mean, rider.  He has no fear.  He rode this sled like he does a tube pulled behind our boat... no hands required... wipeouts guaranteed!!

 Ty is more of a HOLD ON TIGHT kinda guy... smart kid!!

 Savannah is the best at shifting her weight to do cool tricks... like sledding so fast that she actually ended up IN FRONT of the 4wheeler.  Yikes!  But she thought it was hilarious.

 Shawn started a wonderful fire for the kids to defrost in front of... then it was his turn!

 Christian took the honors of pulling his dad.  Wait a minute?  Christian?  Son?  I see the orange sled but looks like you lost your rider?!!!!

Huge fun!  Looks like we may have a chance to snow sled again tomorrow since the temps are still dropping.  H'ville is a ghost town.  We had to venture into town to see if it was possible for Shawn to open his office tomorrow.  A NO GO!  His street is barricaded and no traffic is going through.  So another snow day for our whole family tomorrow, yippee!

In other very important news... Auburn won the National Championship tonight.  It was a nail biter, ugh!  Came home from my Dad's house after the game with a huge headache from the stress, hee-hee.

And equally important news... we had a near emergency today.  We ran out of diapers... for the goat.  Savannah let the supply run out and we risked harm by attempting a Walmart run.  Thankfully we raced in minutes before closing and got the necessary goat seat covers, whew!

I was loved and adored by my children today, because, as their teacher... I declared it an official snow day... no homeschool.  I may fall from my pedestal though cause I plan on having school tomorrow... we will see... my resolve is not too strong... sleeping in and lazing around in front of another warm fire might persuade me otherwise, snicker!

cowgirl + ruffles?!??

Let me be honest, can I?

I was not looking forward to today.  Nope.  Wanted to soooooo stay in bed.

Why?

Our little girl is turning 16 years old in 17 days.  Truthfully, I am excited about this fact.  She already has been asked out on a date for her 16th birthday, how convenient that her bday falls on a Saturday!  Truthfully, I am excited for her about that too!  But when I was originally told about this date... it was to be a classic dinner and a movie.  By just this past Monday, said 16th birthday date morphed into a whole different thing... a FORMAL!  WHAT?!

I must add here that I did some of my best mommy acting on Monday, like grinning from ear to ear as Savannah giggled and excitedly told me about the change in plans.  I even gooshed and hugged her, hand over my OSCAR now!!!

So today was formal shopping day.  NOW do you understand why I wanted to hibernate? Whimper?!

Shopping for a modest formal dress needed in 17 short days is a task with so many odds against it I feared there was NO WAY for this day to end happy.

But, thanks to my sil, Kim, and one simple suggestion called a 'shrug' (aka also obviously called a bolero by fancy folks at the mall)... Savannah and I had an amazing day!

In fact, I am bragging here, please forgive me, I must... we found TWO dresses.  Yep!

In fact, we bought an adorable black dress... decided to double check a few more stores after that and found THE one.  And hold on to your hats because you will never believe these facts:  #1, I... ME... the mom... picked out the 2nd dress that daughter originally turned her nose up at but after trying irt on, swooned over and actually cried tears of joy over.  To Savannah's defense, the dress did look a tad lifeless on the hanger BUT the color was amazing and she had not gone for any color all day so I had to at least try and force her mercilessly to take it with her into the dressing room, #2 unbelievable fact: the soon to be dream dress was on a 50% clearance rack.  

One second,

sniffle,

while Savannah was crying with joy in the fitting room, spinning around in her dream dress... which did I mention that I picked out... I also was crying tears of joy.  Tears of joy for a clearance dress.  Tears of joy that did not last in my eyes past the shoe department.  Nope.  

Case in point:

 Savannah saw these shoes from half way across the store and screamed.  I knew I was in BIG trouble then!  Because I had just made her raise her hand and promise me that we could go home now and do the accessory shopping on another day.  She promised me.  She hugged me.  She sealed her promise with a kiss...
she lied!

But when she swiped these amazing heels, and I do mean HEELS, off the shelf... I melted, not because there was no way these beauties were on clearance too... but because they were t.h.e. perfect shoe for her dress and I had no defense what.so.ever against them. 

So, she won't let me show anything yet except for the shoes, and the amazing material of her dress... I think from this little teaser you can see we did a fine, fine, job of formal shopping today.

And lest I have not completely crossed over into obnoxious... I must add that dear daughter wanted a long formal in black... no color... simple, plain.  But happy tears sprang to her eyes over a short (but of COURSE modest length), sassy, RED little number instead!  mmwahhahahahahaha!!
Now we only need to decide on a hairdo, sparkle (aka jewelry), and a pedicure is a must for her shoes... I may be rightly accused for forcing her into a manicure too!   This cowgirl is gonna clean up nice, snicker!