Somewhere Over The Rainbow...a picture overload :)

When we first moved in out new house the former owner told me about a group she belonged to.  It was MOPS or Mother's of Preschool.  I'd never heard of the group but she seemed so enthusiastic about that I ended up joining.  Twice a month I meet at a large church in my neighborhood with 90 other mothers.  Our children are split up by age and play together in large, clean, toy filled rooms where they sing and are taught a bible story.  We have been split into tables of nine that sit together every meeting.  We eat a brunch, we share mothering advice, we do crafts, play games, listen to speakers, pray together, cry together, etc.  We even have secret sisters.  It is all the things I love about Relief Society combined into an every two week occasion plus some!  Besides the formal twice monthly meetings we have lots of other play groups.  For someone new in a town it is a major blessing.  This last week one of my table mates invited a bunch of families out to her parent's home for an old fashion hayride.  My kids were so excited about it, and when it looked like rain they were so disappointed it might be cancelled.  Luckily for them the party went ahead as scheduled and we even got a rainbow for our troubles :)  I took a boat load of pictures and never got the one I hoped for, all three of my children looking at the camera, smiling for a great fall shot.  Oh well.  If you find one you enjoy in the bunch, let me know which one!

This giant rainbow was over us...it is probably a sign that I am on the internet way to often  but I kept hearing this song over and over in my head...

Jamie's dad is a family practice doctor.  Right after residency he bought this home and some ponies.  30 years later he still has a barn full of ponies and spent two hours taking kids for rides on them.  My kiddos were in HEAVEN!  GIGI loves horses.  I wish I had the time and money to get her into riding lessons.  Doesn't she just look like she'd make a lovely rodeo queen?  As for us, Dr. J and I were like, "Oh thank heaven's, there is hope after residency."  Hopefully someday in the future we can be the most awesome grandparents ever, just like Jamie's dad.

The kids had a fun time hiding behind these trees, trying to scare other kids on the hayride.  It wasn't really scary but it was cute to see.

Jamie's parent's have a little oval track and train on their property.  My kids loved it.  Peach probably rode the oval track 50 times.

Peach gets in on the horseback riding.  Only two years old but she rode like a pro.  When other mom's saw her up there they brought their little ones over for a ride as well.

Hayride...Captain E was so excited about this part.  This was the highlight of the night for E!

The train really just had an on switch but the kids loved being the one who got to drive it!

Gigi got a little crazy on the hayride.  I wish I could capture their personalities and hold onto them in my heart forever!

This is probably my favorite picture of the two kids.  I tried to get Peach in there but of course she wouldn't comply!  Kid pics for me are impossible!

Can you tell I let my daughters dress themselves?

So we had a dog...

...for one week.  The problem with going to Petsmart on the pet adopt day is that you might just run into a cutie like this.  Oh was a he cute, baby blue eyes, floppy ears, best personality I've ever seen in a dog.  The only problem, he was a pit mix.  I thought I could handle it.  I talked with all the people at the pet store and they told me it is owner, not breed.  The vet tech agreed.  Turns out our home owners insurance didn't.  Within a three days of me calling them to tell them we had a new puppy they had sent us a letter telling us they were going to cancel our home owners insurance.  We were able to find one company that would be willing to take the chance, but even then they couldn't guarantee they could in every state.  Turns out Ohio has laws that prevent insurers from insuring any type of pit or pit mix.  Turns out some HOA's have rules against owning them.  Turns out the Friday after we bought him three pit bulls killed a baby girl.  Do I think this little guy ever would have bit a person?  Absolutely not.  I have never seen a dog with such a good disposition.  That being said, I started to worry.  What if after he went through puberty he didn't like other dogs or other cats.  I am a high anxiety person and this situation with the insurance company, with the possibility of HOA's, with my worries about possibly other neighbors animals, well the stress just overcame me.  I couldn't sleep at night,  I couldn't eat,  I started having pregnancy nausea again and was throwing up again, I was crying all the time. At 25 weeks of pregnancy I lost ten pounds in one week.  And so our poor little puppy had to go back to find another owner.  He needed a non spaz case who wouldn't turn him into a spaz dog.  It was hard.  We all cried a little although the kids instantly forgave me they were a little sad.  Do we want another dog?  Absolutely.  But we will be waiting until this baby shows it's little face, because mom can't deal with this kind of stress.  And we will definitely be checking with our insurance first, because it turns out there is a list of 7 to 10 dog breeds that most home owners insurance companies don't cover.  Good to know info before you get a do.  

A Companion To The Forgotten

What is the purpose of my life? What am I going to do? What is the ultimate purpose of life? What a beautiful video!

NPR Books I want to read!

I spend a lot of time in the car, and that means I spend a lot of time listening to the NPR.  They spend a lot of time chatting with authors and I've got a growing list of books I don't have time to get to yet, but don't want to forget.

 Banana: The Fate of The Fruit That Changed the World.  Dan Koeppel.  We eat a lot of banana's in this house.  Who doesn't?  Who knew the fruit had such a jaded history.  Turns out banana's have a lot to do with the the history and politics of Central America.  We are talking 20 different leaders taken out by the US just to keep banana prices low and the banana plantations out of the hands of the people.  Amazing!  Can't wait to get my hands on this book.  I just hope I'll still be able to eat a banana without guilt after reading it..

 The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al Queda,.  Ali Soufan.  I've heard two interviews with Ali Soufan now.  This book is amazing.  Ali Soufan was an FBI interrogator who ended up leaving the 9/11 interrogations after the CIA decided to come in and start water boarding.  This little beauty was released with blacked out sections.  Thank you CIA.  Excited to get to this one.   

 Boomerang.  Michael Lewis.  I love Michael's writing style.  The Blind Side, a book about the rise of the left side tackle in football was seriously one of my favorite reads ever.  This time he studies the rise and fall of different economies, especially in Europe, Greece, Ireland, etc.  Hope this one is a winner!

Moneyball.  Another Michael Lewis book.  There is a movie coming out on this baby with Brad Pitt.  It is the story how the lowest paying team in baseball put together a winning team valuing things that no one else thought were of value.  Got to love that!

Terrorist in Love.  Ken Ballen.  Ken Ballen interviews 100 different "Terrorists" and looks for themes that go through these men's lives.  There are some really interesting individuals here.

Pumped Up Kicks

 This song is a current favorite in our house...think playing on an almost continuous loop thanks to the insistence of one bossy 4 year old and an even bossier 2 year old!  The song makes zero sense to me but it reminds me of laying on my bed in the mid nineties with my best friend Pam listening to REM, Radiohead, Oasis, Weezer, Collective Soul, Foo Fighters, Cranberries, Cake....I think you get the idea of my music taste!  Back in the day I used to be cool...ok not really, but Pam was cool and going to concerts was one of our favorite things to do.  Sometimes I get a little nostalgic for the days when you could close out a club and not worry about having to run home to get a babysitter home before her parents freaked out about how late it was.