My Isabel

Today was a very hard day for us all. Isabel flew out this morning to go back to China. I cannot believe it had already been 10 months. She was such an unbelievable joy and addition to our family. I never wanted to let her go.

I put a picture of her from the day she arrived with her Forte hat in her hand. We had studied all the pictures of her we had gotten and were anxiously waiting for her plane to arrive, but the hat helped us. She was taller than we thought she would be. She was very quiet and shocked at the loudness of our children on the ride home. We also squeezed into a tiny car. Eric jokes that she didn't start to like us until we bought the van. We had a great year. I don't think we will have another exchange student again. No one could compare to Isabel.

Things I love about Isabel:
- She accepted Jesus as her Savior.

- She would say ketchups and makeups. I loved how she randomly made things plural.

- She called a swimming suit, a swimming costume.

- She played punch bug with me with such gusto. We also made up slap taxi. That was her favorite.

- She did the dishes and folded towels without complaining. Hattie and Emogene could learn a lot from her.

- Emogene loved that Isabel told her she was good at her pronunciation of the Chinese language and should try to learn more.

- Hattie just said she liked to play hide and go seek with her, although Hattie told me they never played it.

- Isabel loved "The Biggest Loser."

- Isabel LOVED our dog with all her heart, but wouldn't admit it.

- She was a great cook. I will miss her ketchup and pork dish.

- Isabel put up with my singing in the car.

- Isabel would watch cartoons with the girls.

- She loves baseball.

- I love how she had such a hard time ordering food at a restaurant. She would just look at us with a pitiful expression.

- I love how she would try to get help for her homework even though we had no idea how to do it anymore.

- She was a good shot with the water gun.

- I loved it when she asked for help pronouncing words like "sheet." Her friends told her it sounded like some other word.

- She liked to go hunting. She almost got us a deer.

- She loved to say "whatever."
- I loved that she confused gorgeous with genius and called her teacher gorgeous.

- I loved that she offered to pick Hattie up from daycare just about everyday.

- I loved that she could see through Hattie's meanness and difficult ways and love her.

- I loved that she would share her drink and food with us even though we are very germy people.

- Eric loved talking to her at the table late into the night.

- I loved that she grew to like our sweet tea. I had started making a pot on Friday night so she could drink some before she left. I forgot about it and went to bed. I was upset about that when I remembered it.

- I loved that she would knock on our bedroom door every single time she needed to speak to us. She would do it even if she had just walked out and remembered to tell us something else. We knew the knock was coming.

- I loved watching her grow at least another 2 inches while she was here.

- I loved how she would unsuccessfully try to change her plans because she thought it was an inconvenience to drive her there.

- Isabel would let me check my emails on her iph*ne all the time. I loved that.

- Isabel rearranged her room the last two weeks she was here to the way she liked it.

- I loved that she called my parents Nannie and Paw Paw and Eric's mom Nana. She also called all her host aunts and uncles the same thing our girls call them.

- I loved that she was so formal with us. She called us Mr. and Mrs. Stringer the whole time.

- Eric loved going to Walm*rt with her to do the family shopping.

- I loved our little shopping trips when it was just me and her. Eric didn't like them. We stayed gone too long.

- I loved that she was unwavering with her disgust of bacon. We tried very hard to get her to come over to our side, but she wouldn't.

- I loved that if you mentioned you were thirsty or just needed something, she would jump up enthusiastically and go get it. I don't think I took advantage of her on this one. I didn't fully notice it until recently.

- I loved how she went through nine pairs of contacts this year and like to wear her glasses without the lenses, because they looked so cute on her.

- I loved that she made fun of my driving.

- I loved that it didn't phase her to see Hattie and Emogene run around unclothed. It drives us crazy though. (Emogene just walked up to my bed to tell me that her lizard was missing. She she didn't have a stitch on.)

- I loved that she said, "I love you too" before leaving this morning.

- I love how she fit perfectly in our family and will always be in our family.

Oh Summer Home, How We Loved Thee

Our time at our summer home is drawing to an end. We are very saddened by this. Emogene and Emily were not happy about it. Hattie will not be happy about it. My mom came by our summer home yesterday to swim with us. Hattie walked her in so she could change and said, "This is our new house."
I just wanted to show some highlights of why we loved our summer home.

This is our tv at our regular home.
This is the tv at our summer home. You can see why we spent so much time at the summer home.

What is wrong Isabel? Oh, she is cold. That is because our regular home is kept at a warm 80 degrees, but at our summer home we crank that thermostat down to 65. It was awesome!

Isabel loved the animal theme at the our summer home. She is a little tired of the frog theme at our other home.

Why would I want to sleep on a plain mattress when I could sleep on a sleep number bed? I woke up feeling rested and ready for the day. ( I know it is a scary picture.)

We also enjoyed some recreational activites while at our summer home. Eric was thrilled to have his picture taken.

We will always remember this vacation at our summer home. Different tenants are due to arrive today. I bet the Memorial Day crab and shrimp shells smell pretty fresh in the garbage can by now. That will just be a little surprise for them.

I had the strange feeling that the house was double booked while we were there. We found a mystery pair of socks on the kitchen counter that weren't there at the beginning of our vacation, but were there at the end. It was strange. I had put them in my van thinking they could be ours, but I then returned them knowing that they were definitely not ours. Hmmm, I wonder who the mystery people were. I will have to talk to the booking agents.

Wow, I'm Tired!

We had a great day today. I took four little girls to three places today. First we went to our summer home. We went swimming. The girls enjoyed our vacation home.

Here are two little popsicles. They got out of the pool earlier than anyone else. They turned into our ball fetchers. We were playing volleyball and the ball went out of the pool a lot.

These two thought it was going to be a relaxing day.

They soon got off of the floaties and played some games.

I love Emogene's joy of swimming. She is a little fish. She didn't wear her floaties most of the time. She was eager to practice her skills.

Hattie hasn't had swimming lessons yet, but I have started teaching her a few things. She is great at kicking. She zooms all over the pool with her floaties on. She even puts her face down.

They had fun together. Emily was very nervous when we began. She got braver as the day went one. She liked using the floaties and noodles. She doesn't trust the floaties too much.

Isabel was our trickster. She liked to jump in backwards onto the tire. I'm not sure this was the picture she was wanting me to take.

The two mermaids of the pool stuck together. They had an argument over whose castle was on the steps. They were inseparable in the pool. Kali may have been the reason Emily was untrusting of the floaties. We started Kali out with Spiderm*n floaties. They did not work for her. They worked on Emogene and Hattie, but Kali kept drinking a lot of water. I pulled her out and changed her floaties. She was so cute. She didn't want a little drinking of water to keep her from swimming. She sat on the steps later whispering, "Be brave, be brave." She really got the hang of kicking. She is ready for swimming lessons. I kept cheering her on.

The mermaids were staking claim to the castle.

We then went to my friend Holly's house. She has a mini-zoo. I knew they would love it. They saw guinea pigs, tortoises, box turtles, doves, parakeets, and cats. We kept a safe distance from the cats. The girls got up close with the guinea pigs and tortoises. Emily didn't want to ride the tortoise Jumanji, but she later changed her mind. He had gone back into his house though, so she was the only one not to ride him. Maybe they can come back over again this summer and we can go see him. I told her that every visit with Mrs. Tricia will make her braver and tougher.

These two were really testing the tortoise's weight limit.
Hattie loves Big Ji.

from left to right: Hattie, Kali, Emily, Emogene, and Braylee

Hattie liked holding the little one. I can't remember his name. Maybe Holly will leave a comment and let us know.

Here was Emogene's favorite part. Charlotte the guinea pig was very good.

Hattie was an attentive and careful handler.

Emily had fun with her rodent friend.

I hope she wasn't trying to win a race.

Big Ji was very interested in Kali's flip flops. He loves bright colors.

We then went to get snowcones. I didn't take a picture of the snowcone eating time. We bought them and then sat in the shade at the local high school. I had a tough time ordering for the girls. Instead of flavors, they told me colors. The snowcone people helped me out. They ordered pink, purple, blue, and red. I ordered coconut. It was clear. We had a great day and hope to have our visitors over again soon.

Time to Brush

I went in the pallet city to try and lay with Hattie. I was trying to help all of the other children go to sleep without the little annoying one climbing all over them and talking to them. I snuggled up real close to her. She said, "Not to close, I can smell your smelling." I think that means I need to go brush my teeth. Night everyone.

One Less Man in the House

Today I dropped off Sheldon to get fixed. I planned this little procedure around our house guests. Our dog gets a little too excited and aggravating around new people. I did not want to have to keep him in his crate or in our room the whole time. He needed to have the procedure due to his over friendliness with others, and we signed a contract when we purchased him. One of the agreed upon terms was to have him fixed by one year. He is 9 months. I did take him in the van with our house guests. They were shocked at his size. They weren't scared. He jumped right into the van to lick them. He then went through his terrified car phobia stage, excessive shaking and drooling. Kali got some drool near her and started gagging. She didn't throw up, phew!

I wish I would have had my camera in the vet. It was hilarious. I let everyone that was ready to go, leave. I then proceeded to get half of Sheldon in the building. He then stooped down a little to shake and smell the remaining dog. I could not get him to come in all the way. The vet worker got behind him a pushed him in. He then collapsed and feigned paralysis for the next 5 minutes. He WOULD NOT move! He would move his pitiful eyes from one person to the next. I pulled on his leash. I petted him and talked like a baby to him. He wouldn't even wag his tail. We would pick up his front half. He would keep his front legs as stiff as a board, and he would then slide back down. They called in the only male employee. He picked up his back half and another employee picked up his front half. They had to carry him into the exam room. They weighed him. He is a whopping 94.5 pounds.
I am wondering what that black dog told him. Maybe he remembered the probe to check for worms when he was 16 weeks old. I distinctly remembered him leaving happy that day. I don't know what got into him. I promised him I would come back for him on Thursday. He didn't buy it. I wanted to call and check on him an hour later, but I didn't. I don't want to bother them. They will call me tomorrow to let me know how he is doing after his procedure.

It is very peaceful and quiet in the house right now. I can tell he is not here. We haven't had a CD, pillow, or stuffed animal eaten in hours. The monster will return though, and we will love all over him.

Adorable Guests

We have a couple of house guests for a few days. I want them until Thursday. They are super sweet and obedient. I have had to rear my ugly head at Hattie a few times. They looked at me a little strange, but I think they understood. Emily and Kali are staying with us while their mommy gets her tonsils taken out (OUCH!!). She will need all of Daddy and Mimi's attention and care, so I volunteered to take care of their joys. They are such joys. Here are a few pictures of our first few hours together.

They were very brave. Emily immediately wanted to hold Lizzie. I taught this little genius this year. I think this is all a little weird for her to stay at her teacher's house.

Kali was excited to get her turn. Lizzie looked like she wanted to jump right on her chest. I am so glad she didn't.

We went to check out the ducks. This ditch made them feel a little scared. They needed no hand holding on the way back home, and Kali was even ahead of everyone. She was proud of herself for being so fast.
I told them it was safe to go, but Hattie grabbed her back to make her look both ways. Wow, the student becomes the teacher.

I don't know who mentioned make-up. I pretended I had no idea what they meant, but they soon got it out themselves.

I'm not sure Kali thought through her decision to let Hattie do her make-up.

How often do you wear pink make-up on your forehead?

She pulled it off. Beautiful!

Just a touch of lipstick. Classic. That is my kind of make-up.

You may not be able to see the complete coverage on Emogene's cheeks. Emily used the word clown in her description. I'm not sure she is ready to go out in public.

This was Hattie's first look. She continued after dinner. She caked on the eye make-up.

They are watching Over the Hedge right now. We have a pallet city in the living room. They have all had a snack and juice. Hattie has gotten up again to complain that Kali is tired. I told her that was a good thing. Kali said Hattie was bothering her. I can believe that.

I think tomorrow I will take them to our summer vacation home. They are excited.

Summer Vacation Is Here!

We are done with school! It is officially summer vacation. On Sunday, we decided to go swimming after church. Some friends are out of town, so we went swimming at their house. Don't worry, they gave us permission. Emogene told us she didn't want to swim without them their and what if the neighbors saw us. Eric tried to convince her that we had to swim quietly, she would have to climb in a window, and then make a run for it if the cops showed up. It would have worked, but I had already eased her mind by telling her the truth. We are feeding the dog, treating the pool, and more. They are going to rethink telling us to "make yourselves at home." You will have to check back later in the week to see our week of fun at someone else's house.

These almost ruined our first swim of the summer.

The clouds went away, and Eric got into the freezing water.

Hattie didn't seem to mind the cold until later. I got out with her because of the shivering.

Emogene was a little mad. She didn't realize she wouldn't be able to touch. She jumped right in. She momentarily forgot everything she had learned in swimming lessons. She paniced. I pulled her out. She did it again a little later after she got brave enough to take off the floaties we found. She tells everyone that she almost drowned twice. She said, "I can't breathe without floaties."

Isabel had no idea what she was getting herself into when she insisted Eric get in and then started hitting him with a noodle. She just thought she wasn't going to go under the water.

We had a lot of fun. I got in too, but no pictures of me in a swimming costume (Isabel's name for them). We have plans to swim again on Memorial Day. We have huge plans for this house.
It is ours until Friday.

Date Night

We had a double date night with some friends on Saturday. We saw a movie and went out to eat. It was a lot of fun. We don't get to see these particular friends very often and we have withdrawals. We always have fun. I met Racha in the first grade. We graduated high school together. Her husband Evan also graduated with us.
Before you look at their pictures, let me tell you they are the most photogenic people I know. You will see what I mean.

Here are the love birds before the movie.

Doesn't my man look handsome? My double chins look fabulous.
This is Evan. He is like Stephen Hawkins smart. He already has a masters or two in computer stuff and now he is in college to be a doctor. We of course recommended that he be a family doctor or pediatrician because that would best benefit us, but I don't think we will factor into his decision. Racha's hand is in the picture. She thinks this is her best feature. It will become evident in the next picture.

This is Racha. She has beautiful hands. She is pretty smart as well. I am not opposed to an arranged marriage. They don't have any children at this point, but I'm just throwing that out there. I think the Evan and Racha genes will overpower the Eric and Tricia genes. The grandchildren could be super smart. Keep that in mind. They need sons first. We are a little estrogen strong over here.

FYI- Racha does not oppose having her picture on my blog, she just opposes pictures completely. She tried to convince someone to get rid of her picture for our school year book. She also was supposed to just sign my yearbook, but when I got it back, she had blacked out her picture. She has been driving me crazy for a while now. You know what, she sent me some pictures from her wedding many years ago. I wonder where they are now. I think I might go in cahoots with her mom and get some baby pictures on here. I don't have to worry, she probably won't read this.

A Visit by the Tooth Fairy

Emogene lost her third tooth on Thursday night. She very carefully put it under her pillow. I think we need a tooth holder to be sure it doesn't get lost. Thankfully it didn't. Well, I came in to put her school clothes at the foot of her bed. I lifted up her pillow to check on the tooth. I then went to my room. Emogene, who had not been asleep, came into my room asking for her tooth. We panicked thinking it had been lost, but she did find $2 under her pillow. She didn't understand. Mommy was the only one that had been in her room. I had been talking to Hattie when I checked under the pillow and Hattie told Emogene that I had been in there. We all concluded that the toothfairy must have come by before I had checked her pillow. Emogene didn't hear or see her. How could that be? I think we have figured it out. Pay attention parents and children, we have figured out something about the toothfairy that has not been revealed before. SHE IS THE SIZE OF TINKERBELL! I know! I never thought of that before. I thought she was our size. That definitely explains how she goes around unnoticed in the dark. Hattie even revealed that she saw her. By Hattie's use of her fingers to show us her size, she is about the size of a dime. How does she hold all that money? We don't know. Some things are just unknown, and we will have to accept it. I think for tooth number four, Emogene will be totally asleep. The toothfairy was probably hiding in her room as we talked about her, and she will be more careful next time. It was a close call. I can't believe she came while Emogene was still awake. She probably learned her lesson.

Hattie is a Graduate!

Hattie graduated from preschool today. She was so cute. I was very proud. I videoed a few parts so Nannie and Paw Paw could see them. I put all of them on here so they could watch them. We watched the whole graduation with her daddy when he got home from work. She was sad he couldn't come. She prayed at lunch after the graduation, "Please God help my daddy come to my graduation." The little darling was still praying. The rain didn't come, so he had to work.

She practiced a lot for her verse. Her favorite part of the graduation was the rainbow song, but I forgot to film it with my little camera. It isn't on here. She called Nannie to tell her it was a beautiful song. She was so funny with her pointing. She used her middle finger. We have been working on that, but she forgot to use her pointer finger. Well, we will keep practicing this summer.

MIghty Bee, Bee, Bee, Bee

Emogene was in the spelling bee today. She was one of six children chosen from her class. Her first word was apple. She knocked it out of the park. She struck out on her second word, belong, but I was very proud of her for trying. She was very nervous. She receicfved a certificate for participating. She has insisted that I find a frame and hang it up. I think it will go in the hallway.

Here she is waiting patiently for her turn. She just happened to sit next to the

best seven year old speller in the world.

The Answer

So, Hattie was throwing a major fit on Sunday.
#1 She was upset that I was trying to take off her bathing suit to change for church.
#2 She got even more upset when I tried to put a Bandaid on her foot.

It was b and c.

The day before she threw a fit and refused to leave the van because she learned that I took away St*rbucks. So a was close, but not the right fit.

I Pledge Allegiance

Hattie wanted to say what she called her school Bible. She said it once, and I had to get her to do it again. I had to save that cuteness. She was saying the Pledge to the Bible.

The Fisherman

Emogene won a fishing pole. She got to use it for the first time on Sunday. She had been bugging her daddy for over a week to break it in. It was chilly and threatening to rain, but he promised that if it wasn't raining after church, they would go.
Here are a few pictures of her first fishing experience.

She is on her way to the lake.

She was very patient. Daddy says she needs to work on her casting and putting on her own wiggly worm. That is her next lesson.

She got one. It was a tiny perch, but it thrilled her to death. She washed her hands immediately upon entering the house and then interrogated her dad to make sure he did the same. Oh, my dear germaphobe.

Well she has fished twice and has not provided dinner yet. She is trying though. I am sure it will happen. Today she caught a couple more small ones and a turtle. Hattie got to go today. Daddy didn't even take pictures of Hattie's first fishing expedition. She caught two fish. She also brought back a familion. It was a flower. It was not a dandelion though. I have no idea why she called it a familion, but I thought it was cute. She gave it to Sheldon.

P.S. I've gotten a couple of good guesses on the quiz. I had some more guesses from the girls at work. Some of them really know Hattie.