Our New Baby

Okay, so I haven't posted in awhile, so thought this would be a good time to go ahead and post and tell you about the new addition to the Toto family. He's small, cute, and furry. His name is Romeo and and he is a full blooded golden retriever. He's too cute. I went to Tulsa yesterday and got him for Phillip. It was a huge surprise. A few weeks ago, Abby's guinea pig, Snowball, died. The kids took it pretty hard. Well, we had been talking about getting another pet. Well, I was looking at small dogs and all Phillip could talk about was a golden retriever and how he wanted one. Well, I thought he was just giving me a hard time. Saturday night, we got together with Phillip's family and met his sister's golden retriever. Phillip fell in love and begged me to get one. I said absolutely not. All weekend he asked and told me about how he's wanted one for a long time. Well, I decided that since he always gives me such great surprises that I would surprise him with a puppy for Valentine's day. Monday morning I looked for Golden Retriever Puppies in NWA with no luck. I called Phillip's sister to ask where they got their puppy. She looked in the paper and found Romeo. I came up with a reason to go to Tulsa for the day and picked him up. The kids were at Phillip's mom's house and wanted me to stop by so they could meet Romeo. I got Phillip to come over to his mom's also. When he got there I was holding Romeo and Phillip just stared at me. I told him that this is Romeo and still looked at me. Then I told him that this is his puppy. He was so excited. He couldnt' believe that I had actually got him one. Romeo spent his first night in his new home and did really well. He's had a few accidents on the carpet, but is doing great. Candi and Shalom aren't quite sure what they think yet. Below is a picture of Romeo. He's such a sweet boy and love to hug, cuddle, and kiss. We picked a good name for him.

Abby's New Hair

Okay, so Abby and I have a go round about every day when it comes time to brush her hair. Thursday morning was no different. I did my usual, "if you don't brush it we're cutting it off." She said to call and get her an appointment, cause she didn't want long hair any more. Friday I took her in and she got it cut. It's really cute, but I did cry a little as those long locks fell to the floor.

Farmer's Market

Yesterday the kids and I headed to the Farmer's Market in town. There was a lot more there this time. We went to get corn for tonight. (We have company coming and are grilling steaks and wanted corn to grill as well.) Anyway, we got our corn. The cool part was there was a guy there making balloon animals and he put on a puppet show. The kids LOVED it. JD really liked the dog puppet that kept giving the guy kisses. Sadly, I didn't have the camera with me. The guy calls himself "Fish Bucket". There is actually a story behind the name. When he was a kid, his parents would take him to school and his grandpa would come and take him out of school to go fishing. He would carry the fish bucket. Well, his parents didn't know until he failed that grade, but he's been "Fish Bucket" ever since. Too cute. He made Abby a balloon flower, Noah an one eyed monster, and JD Spiderman. They loved it. Sadly, I was cleaning my corn today and most of it was bad or had worms. YUCK! Guess I won't buy corn at the farmer's market any more. I'll just have to find the road side stands. Hopefully the corn tastes okay. The kids and Phillip love grilled corn and hopefully our guests like it as well.

Wedding Pictures

So here are some pictures from the wedding. There's a really nice family photo and some of us dancing. There's also a nice one of Phillip and I. Just thought I'd share. We had a lot of fun.

2 weeks

Okay, so I just had to post. Phillip and I leave for Haiti in exactly 2 weeks. I'm getting so excited. We were still short a little over $700 last week, but our trip is now completely funded. Praise God! Now we just need to start getting packed and our supplies together. I'm really excited though and look forward to sharing when I return.

Day Camp

I know it has been forever since I've written anything. It has been so crazy around here. Day Camp was over a few weeks ago and it was so much fun. Abby had a blast. I even camped. Can you believe that? We had fun though and I look forward to next year. The picture above is Abby and her new friend Sianna. Below is a picture of Abby and I. Then there's Abby with Austin and Abby with Miss Laura. Last is Abby with her group. They were the pink team. Hope to post again soon with some pictures from the wedding. You can go to our church web site to see the video from camp. http://www.gracepointchurch.net/adventure_point_info_08.htm

It is finished

Okay, so it's finally finished. We actually finished it Thursday night, but I am just now getting around to posting, so I'm sorry. Anyway, the kids love it and it's proving to be a great investment. We actually bought it with the money we made on our yard sale. The kids were a big help with the sale, so we promised to get them the play set with the money we made. Abby and Noah really love the swings. We had one of those metal play set and it would jump if the swung too high, so now they can swing as high as they want to. I had to include the picture of Phillip working on it. I even helped finish it up on Thursday. I sat in the crows nest and screwed on boards with the power drill. Scary thought huh? We're just really glad to have it done and I'm sure the kids are glad as well. It was a lot of work (for Phillip and the guys), but I think it was well worth it. I've even enjoyed playing on it. I love the swings as well. The slide if fun too. It's pretty fast though and the kids have already created a muddy spot at the bottom of the slide. We're hoping it dries up some today so we can go out and play. We've also got to finish laundry, as Daddy heads out of town tomorrow and needs some clean slacks to take with him. If the rain ever stops I'll have to let Noah camp out in the club house.