The Abandoned Kitten Project

Bella, Jaguar, and Deacon

This past Saturday, on our way home from dinner, we discovered three very tiny but very hungry kittens at the entrance to our neighborhood.  When I got out of the car to investigate and found no mommy cat, we could only assume that they had been abandoned.  I just don't know how people can do such a mean, heartless thing.  I got back in the car and said, "I don't know what to do."  We know that Will, Anna, and myself are allergic to cats and can only guess that Jack is too.  Plus, Will was giving me the "we are NOT bringing those kittens home" look.  But they were so tiny and so pitiful.  Then Anna piped up from the back seat, "But those kittens are nature and we HAVE to take care of nature!"  Will hung his head in defeat as I raced home to get supplies.  Done deal!

It's quite unlike me to do something so spontaneous.  I had no idea where or in what I was going to put them.  I called a couple of neighbors and quickly had a crate and some cat food.  We brought the kittens back and left the crate in the garage.  It was Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, so I knew nothing helpful like a vets office or the humane society would be open until Tuesday.  We just enjoyed having these precious kittens for a couple of days--and they were absolutely adorable!  Of course Anna quickly had them named.

When Tuesday morning rolled around, I started making phone calls and began to panic.  No one was able to take them!  Every place was full and couldn't offer help for a week or two.  What?!  Poor Will was sneezing every time he walked into the garage and we knew we were leaving for the beach in a few days.  We couldn't keep these kittens!!

Luckily, one neighbor took some pictures and offered to put an ad on Craigslist.  Phone calls started coming in and within 18 hours, we had found homes for two of them!  Woohoo!  They were both sweet families with young children and I felt good about the kittens going there.  Then our vets office called back and offered to take the one we had left if we were willing to pay for testing and she came back negative.  Yes ma'am!  Fortunately, Bella did test negative and they took her to find a home for her.  

I am so grateful that everything worked out.  The kids are bummed that the "titties" (per Jack) are no longer with us, but we explained that they have new families to love them.  It was a little stressful those couple of days, but it was worth it to teach our kids that you can't turn your back, even on "the least of these".  It made me realize how much more we should be doing things like this!

Jack's EOY Party

Jack had the best year in his Mother's Morning Out class.  He learned some valuable life skills: no hitting, pushing, or taking toys from friends and how to listen to his teachers.  He spent many a stay in time-out learning these skills!  Mommy got a little frustrated mid-year when she would get time-out reports every day when she picked him up.  But by the end of the year, things were much better and he had it mostly figured out.;)  His teachers were amazing to put up with ten two-year-olds!  He called Miss Susan "Miss Suan" most of the year and it was too cute.  He would get so upset when we would drop Sissy off and he didn't get to go to school.  He loved all of his school friends and knew everyone's name at circle time!  He grew so much this year!

Happy guy: a truck and a bubble machine!

Playing in the sand with Brooklyn, Maddie, and Max

Donuts, cookies, and watermelon! What a snack!

His sweet teachers, Miss Susan and Miss Michelle

Anna's Preschool Graduation

Her besties: Leah, Ellen, Audrey, and Anna

Just as I promised Anna the night before, I didn't make it through her graduation without crying.  Actually, I bawled with full-on ugly cry.  It didn't help that her teachers played the country song "Let Them Be Little".  Come on!  That's not helping a mama out here!  It was a very cute program and we are so proud of our graduate and almost kindergartner!

Getting the "Best Reader" award.
She "minored" in being a good leader.

Her sweet teachers, Mrs. Jones and Ms. Lois

The proud graduate with her diploma.

Proud parents and their sweet girl!

Changes at the Casa

Speaking of being financially responsible, we are finally down to only one mortgage (yahoo!) and so now can start doing those little things we have wanted to for the last six months to make our home, well, perfect.

For as long as I can remember, our guest bed has been shoved up against a wall with no headboard or anything and it has slowly irked me.  When we moved into this new home, it became high on the to-do list.  And now I finally was able to check it off!  As Jack would say, much better!

For our anniversary, Will and I "gave" each other porch furniture.  It was delivered a week or so ago and we are so excited!  We have eaten severals meals out there already and Will was quick to install his TV to make it complete.  We will be spending LOTS of time out here!:)

Mimi's new bed--haha!

Our Little Sweeper

Anna really enjoyed soccer this year, mainly because she played with some of her besties from school.  And she really loved her daddy being one of the coaches!  After he complained about how slack her previous coach had been, I dared him to put his money (or time and effort) where his mouth was.  It worked out that he and our good friend Julie McCann co-coached together.  His goal was to make it fun for the girls and I think he succeeded.  The team also had no losses and one tie, so I think they were successful in other ways, too.  He has had several parents beg him and Julie to coach again next year.  What a huge compliment!?  We'll see!

Although Anna scored the first goal of the season, she soon discovered that she likes defense better and became pretty awesome at booting the ball out as sweeper.  (This makes her mommy oh-so-proud since that was my fav position when I played soccer back in the day.  Her daddy used to play goalie, so the defense thing must be in her blood.;)  We did have to remind her that she needed to stay on her feet since she dramatically started falling every time she kicked the ball.;)  It was pretty funny!

Ultimately, the girls had a great time, got some exercise, learned some new soccer skills, and made some great friends.  Win, win for everyone!!  Go Silver Stars!

Receiving the "Best Sweeper" award from Coach Julie!

Soccer pals

The gals with their coaches

Anna's Allowance

Anna has been begging for some time now to get an allowance.  I just haven't been quite ready to go there.  However, this is something that her daddy feels very strongly about--that we teach her financial responsibility.  Will and I have had a lot of discussions and have done some research.  We were trying to answer the questions: Should allowance be tied to chores?  How much is an appropriate allowance for a five-year-old?  How exactly are we going to teach her about the responsibilities that go along with an allowance?  These are tough questions to iron out and it took some time.  

When I was little, I specifically remember making allowance boxes out of old shoe boxes divided into thirds for church, savings, and spending.  We went off that concept so I was super excited to find this PINK box at Michael's divided into thirds (very important that it was pink).  A few stickers later, and I had Anna's money box!

After consulting friends, family, and some online resources, Will and I ultimately concluded that allowance should NOT be tied to chores.  Everyone is an integral member of our family and there are certain things that are needed from each member in order for things to function and run smoothly.  Right now, Anna clears her plate and cup from the table after meals, helps to clean up various areas of the house when necessary, and puts her clothes away.  These things will change as the kids get older and are able to do more, but they are required as part of the family "team" and should be done out of a willingness to contribute to the team, not for merely financial reasons.

As far as the amount questions goes, I kept reading that $1 per age of the child was appropriate.  At first I thought this was a lot!  $5 a week!!  Yikes!  I remember getting quarters for allowance!  Then I read something that spoke to me (and I paraphrase): The amount you give your child for allowance should make you a little bit uncomfortable. Only then will they learn the valuable lessons associated with money.  Wow!  That's what I was feeling--I was a little uncomfortable with $5 a week.  But that would be an amazing opportunity for her to learn early about money responsibilities with us here to help her.

So, we started giving her five $1 bills every Sunday.  She puts one in church, one in savings, and three in spend.  We were proud of her because she didn't want to go out and blow her first $3.  We explained how she would have $6 and then $9 if she waited for several weeks.  And she did!  She waited until she had $12 and then begged us to go to Toys R Us to spend her allowance.  She said she wanted a Lalaloopsy doll.  I knew they would probably be more than $12, so I prepped her that she could go look but may have to wait longer.  We talked about spur-of-the-moment spending and buyer's remorse (not in those exact terms, obviously).  She seemed to get it.

Of course we got there and the doll she wanted was $22.  I explained to her how much longer she would have to wait to save up that much.  Then she decided she would look around and see what else she liked.  She found the mini Lalaloopsy dolls and discovered she could get two of those with her $12.  Sold!  She was so proud handing over that money to the sales associate at the cash register.

Now she's starting at zero again in the spend part of the box.  But she certainly doesn't forget about allowance come Sunday!  Here's to lots of years of successful financial training!

New Trick

Guess who has just learned how to cross
the monkey bars?

The Big Weekend

My gorgeous birthday/Mother's Day flowers

Poor Will always gets barraged by holidays in the spring.  Our anniversary is the end of April and then my birthday is always around Mother's Day weekend.  At least he gets it over with at one time!  Our church had a Mother's Day tea on my birthday with the theme "Hats Off to Mom".  Anna and I had a great time wearing our hats that we borrowed from Nana!!

Ready to go with our hats on!

We went and had our toes painted before the tea.
Anna was on cloud nine!

This is what I found on the ride home...one exhausted girl!

I am so blessed to be a mom!

Jack' First Trip to the Zoo

We had been trying to get to the zoo for several weeks, but life events and the weather kept pushing it back.  We finally made it the Friday of Mother's Day weekend.  It was a fun birthday treat for me and Jack loved seeing all the animals!  Anna enjoyed being the experienced older sister. ;)

Riding the baby elephant

Jack was amazed by the real elephants!

The gorilla baby was so cute...and SO CLOSE!

They had a neat dinosaur exhibit that Jack really liked.
Anna was not very impressed. 

Jack riding the T-Rex!

Brushing for fossils

A McDonald's ice cream cone to celebrate a fun morning!

I really hate that we didn't get a family photo.  Oh well!  There's always next time!

Goodbye Nana

April 2011

Marjorie MacMillan Baker Aberson, lovingly known to us as Nana, left this earthly life and began her eternity in heaven on Saturday, April 13th, 2013.  She was so endearing and was the quintessential Southern belle.  She fought so hard, her battle against cancer, and was victorious for so much longer than the doctors could have imagined.  This doesn't surprise us, though.  Nana wasn't going to do anything or go anywhere until she was good and ready! We traveled up to Sparta, NC, on Wednesday, the 17th, and laid her ashes with Baker, her first husband, and numerous other family members.  Will conducted the private and personal ceremony and did an amazing job.  She has no doubt left a legacy and we were all so blessed by her life.  We love you and will miss you so much Nana!

February 2012

With Jack and Anna on her 89th birthday.

She left her piano, the same one Cathe learned
to play on, to Anna and Jack.  It fits perfectly in its new place.

The Hipes were so sweet and gave us a dogwood tree to plant in
her memory.  We planted it in a bed in our front yard.
Afterwards, we realized that the shrubs with it represent
her two daughters and four grandchildren!

A Little Bit of Everything

For the sake of time, here is a little bit of everything we have been doing in the last month or so...

Our neighbor, Mr. Tom, let Jack drive his tractor!!

Jack spent a whole morning watching Mr. Josh
and his mini excavator in our very own yard!
Talk about thrilled!

The final result!  Now we can get from the driveway
to the back porch without swimming in the mud!

Shaving with Daddy

April 15th was a special day, and not because of taxes.
We closed on our former home and went out to dinner to celebrate!
Hurray for only one mortgage!

Coach Will and his girls

Wearing a tie like Daddy

Anna is now reading chapter books!!!

A trip to Lowe's must always include a few minutes here.

Driving his fire truck!

A choir performance at church

Julia's princess birthday party--
Anna went in her "married dress" since all of the princesses
get married at the end!