DeeDee files her nails

Here is a video of DeeDee, one of our female orangutans here at the zoo.  This was taken the other day when the weather was really nasty out, so Dee decided to stay inside that day.  She loves to dress herself in shirts and things, and she likes to have her nails done.  The keeper working with her that day told DeeDee she was busy getting things cleaned, so DeeDee would have to file her own nails.  She usually asks us to do it for her, but as you can see, she is perfectly capable of doing them herself.  :)  (I hope the video link works for you).

Time Marches On.....

Hannah on the first day of Middle School, Aug. 2011

Amelia on the first day of school, 3rd grade, Aug. 2011

Hannah ready to go into school

Amelia at her desk, ready to start the school year

Time marches on.  The new school year has begun, and we have already gotten the first progress reports.  The girls are doing great so far, thankfully.  Hannah started Middle school this year.  Here in Pasco county, Middle School is 6th-8th grade, so even though I feel like she is too young to be there with all those "big" kids, she was ready to make the move.  She has already started acting more mature, and has really gotten more responsible with her schoolwork.  Amelia is enjoying her year so far.  She likes her teacher (every year, she has the "best teacher ever!"), and has really been doing great with her work.  She was so proud of her math test last week.  She got 15/15, and couldn't wait for me to get home so she could show it to me.  I was really proud of her!  And then she told me she thought that kind of grade deserved some kind of reward.  She was going to try to get a new toy out of that deal!  She is always scheming to try to figure out a way to get me to buy her something new.  My reward to her was a big hug and a "way to go Amelia!".  Not exactly what she was hoping for....
We are already looking forward to the holidays.  Of course they are excited about Halloween and trying to decide what they are going to be this year.  Hannah wants to be Lilo from Lilo and Stitch, and Amelia wants to be Taylor Swift.  But I am sure they will change their minds a couple of times between now and then.  Hannah is already trying to decide what she is going to carry with her that can hold the most candy. 
They had their dentist appointments last week.  The dentist advised me to take Hannah to an orthodontist really soon to get the process in motion to get braces on her.  She is really not looking forward to that.  She keeps asking me how bad it hurts to get braces. I don't want to scare her, but I don't want to lie to her either, and they really hurt!!  I hated having braces!!  But she is tough, so I know she will handle it pretty well.  And she will be so glad when she gets them off and sees her new smile. 
We can't decide what our holiday plans are this year.  We are hoping to get to Demopolis either around Thankgiving or Christmas.  We did not make it up this summer to see Daddy, so it will be one year at Thanksgiving since we all saw each other.  I hope we can work someithing out so we can spend one of the holidays together. 

Summer 2011

Wow, I am always surprised when I look back at this and see how much time has passed since my last update. That could either mean that so much has been going on in our lives that I haven't had the time to update it, or that it has been so absolutely boring there is nothing to share! The girls are out of school for the summer. Hannah is now a middle-schooler!!! I cannot believe my little girl is going to be hanging out with Junior high school aged kids now. Scares the beejeezus out of me. I liked it so much better when I was the main influence in her life!! Amelia is going to be on her own at school this year. So far she has always had Hannah there to lend her a helping hand, but this next year she will have to be responsible for herself. That is kind of scary. She is just a little to carefree to ever be confused for responsible, LOL. I am sure she will be fine. She is one of those people that can do whatever she needs/wants to, but as long as someone else is willing to do it, then why bother?!

We have had a fairly uneventful summer so far. Last week the girls spent several days at Tracy's hanging out with the cousins. We capped the long weekend off with a fireworks show on the night of July 4th. Luckily many of Tracy's neighbors had splurged for the really fance fireworks, so we got a nice show and never even left the house. The girls had some really small fireworks (like sparklers and such) to keep them busy for a while. And when we left, even tho they had been there for about 4 days, they were already asking me (as we were pulling out of the driveway) when they could go back to visit again. I am so thankful Tracy is willing to put up with all 5 girls at a time every summer. It is one of the things they most look forward to every year. And even tho they are fighting with each other by the end of the visit, I really believe they are creating some of the best memories of their lives. I wouldn't trade anything for the memories of all the time I spent with my cousins when we were growing up.

The girls have also spent a good amount of time at the beach already this summer. Steve's parents have a condo at Flagler Beach, so he has taken the girls up there 3 times already, and they are going for a week long visit for Hannah's birthday next week. I will miss having them here, but I know they will have a great time. But they never take any pictures, so I won't be sharing any of those!!

Anyway, I am going to hopefully get a few new pictures uploaded to the site from the past few months. Hope everyone is doing well. Take care!!

NUBBIN

On a very sad note, we just lost our sweet girl, Nubbin this last weekend (Nov. 13, 2010). She had been with me for 14 years. I had her before I was even engaged. So she shared all of the big events of my life with me (marriage, kids, moving, new pets, etc..). She was a pit bull/english bulldog mix, and was deaf from birth. Lots of people would shy away from her because she resembled a pit bull more than anything else, but Nubbin was anything but scary! She was one of the sweetest dogs you could meet. The most dangerous thing about her was her breath! She was so tolerant of the girls when they were babies, even though she was not that crazy about babies. And she was such a help with baby animals we brought home from the zoo to care for. We have video of her trying to get an Axis deer fawn to play ball with her. She could have easily hurt him, but that never seemed to cross her mind. As a result of being deaf, she could sleep like nobody's business. This is evident in the pictures below. And nothing made her happier than to be right beside you. There were times I complained because I could not turn around without falling over her because no matter where I went, she was right behind me. But now that she is gone, I miss having her here. Every morning when I get up, I look to make sure I am not going to step on her, only to realize she is not there. We are really going to miss her, and there will never be another one quite like her. Thanks for letting us be your family for so long Nubbin.

Me, Hannah and Nubbin in Gulf Breeze

Nubbin and Leah after our New Year's Celebration

Nubbin

HALLOWEEN 2010

Since the last blog, the girls have almost completed the first half of the school year!! Is time going as fast for everyone else as it is for me? It is already Thanksgiving this week, and that means Christmas is just around the corner. I am not ready yet! It seems like once Halloween arrives, then time just flies from then until the end of the year. It doesn't help that Halloween decorations are on sale in the store right next to the Christmas decorations. And speaking of Halloween, ours was a good one this year. Hannah and Amelia were both witches, as was Chloe, my "adopted" daughter from next door. They had planned to go as the 3 Blind Mice, but somewhere along the way, plans changed. I didn't care as long as I didn't have to make a costume! They looked cute and got sooo much candy. Hannah wanted to carry a pillowcase for her candy. Nobody needs that much candy. As it is, they are still eating on it tonight as I type. I think dentist are behind the whole Halloween candy thing. It has to really be good for business. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the night, in case you have not seen them already on Facebook.

Hannah

Chloe and Amelia (and friend)

Amelia, Hannah and Chloe

Messed it up....again

I have put these posts on in the reverse order. I have tried and tried to figure out how to swap them so they are in the right order. I obviously am not smarter than the blog.