Oh NO I didn't.....

Yesterday was a BAD day. I started out the day totally exhausted from not sleeping well, the afternoon was spent dealing with an emotionally draining situation, and then I killed our cat. YES. You read it right. I KILLED our cat.



I picked up the boys, business as usual, and drove home. It was a fairly nice drive home for once. No fighting, some nice conversation. All in all, a good car ride. Until we pulled in the garage.



Let me back up a bit and tell you that, as my Dad so lovingly puts it, we have slightly demented cats. They essentially have no fear of vehicles. None. So we always are pretty cautious while driving down the driveway and pulling in the garage. I let the garage door go up and slowly let the car drift into the garage. And then.....up and over SOMETHING. Horrible noise. Kids immediately CRYING. Oh cuss. I think I just ran over the cat!! What the heck? I collected my thoughts ( all 2 of them) and got out to go survey the damage. I couldn't find Lulu at first and finally found her outside underneath a trailer. Of course, she was hissing and would not come out. When she finally tried to run away, it was obvious that SOMETHING was very wrong. Her tail end was dragging on the ground. Jared is slightly freaking out. Justin has bolted to his room to cry his eyes out, and Travis and the dog are slightly bewildered as to why we are pacing and fretting. What a sight. We finally got her into the garage, only to see that she is leaking things...( I will leave it at that) and her mouth is open 'cause she is gasping for air. Oh. My. Word. I grabbed the phone and called Jeremiah, to try and figure out what to do. Of course, my sweet farmboy says "No problem, I will be home soon to take care of it".....UM......NEVERMIND. Taking care of it involved a bullet, and I knew that the kids could not handle that!



I ended up calling the vet to tell them that we were on our way. Now came the fun part. Loading up three sobbing children and a dying cat, and driving to Carlton...just a few miles away, but it felt ALOT farther than that! Sheesh. Between the cat moaning and the kids telling me that I was evil for killing the cat, it was a LONG ride.



Jeremiah met me there, and I left the boys in the car. We took her in and the whole process was over and we were handed a DEAD cat in less than 10 minutes. Wow. In the spirit of saving money, we decided to bury her ourselves.....JOY. I made Jeremiah take her in the truck, and the boys chose to not go with him to do the deed. He even said when he got home that it was awful to bury her.....glad to know he does have somewhat of an emotional side!!! :)



BUT, even after all the drama....God chose to give us a "silver lining" to it all. You will see the pun I have intended in a minute. He placed an angel of an older lady in the lobby at the vet. She was there picking up four kittens that she had just had fixed, and it just turned out that she had one little male that she was needing to find a home for. IMAGINE that?!?!? Jeremiah, suprisingly, was in favor of it and I was laughing to myself thinking this is crazy! I am leaving with a dead cat and a new kitten!! She just kept asking me to look at this kitten and giving me this sweet "come on" kind of smile....I am such a SUCKER!! I took him out the car to show him to the boys and ask them if they were interested. They all agreed that they would love to have him....so now we have a NEW KITTEN. Oh. Brother.



All in all, it has been a very welcome distraction from the drama of losing our beloved Lulu. They were all over it last night and the little two were fighting over him this morning. Little sucker bit me today, but I think he will be a fun addition to our ever expanding ZOO. I still can't believe I killed the cat, but I am glad today is a new day, and thankfully, it has been MUCH better than yesterday!!



So, let me introduce you to our "silver lining".....WILLIS....



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He is currently residing in our control room downstairs, until he recovers from, as Justin put it...."getting his JUNK taken off" So eloquently put, son. Thank you.

My thoughts are stopping here for a moment...

Yah. Pretty much LOVE this. Enjoy!

How could I forget?

I totally forgot to do a Kendyl is 1 post!!! Can't believe it has been a year already since my dear little sister totally skated pain free (pretty much, anyway) through her labor and delivery of this munchkin. I will say to my dying day that NO ONE should be sitting up in bed SMILING while in labor. NO ONE. You just really haven't lived until the demons of labor have taken over your body and you growl at people like you are SATAN, or you hear the splash of amniotic fluid all over the floor and continue to leak like you have NO bladder for at least two hours. Good times right there. Good times.

Oh well. I guess some people just miss out on ALL the fun. But, the end result is always the same....an adorable baby to hug and cuddle and kiss on.

We enjoyed watching her open her presents and cruise around in her Cozy Coupe, which by the way, has EYES. Kinda creepy.

Happy Belated Blog Birthday Miss Kendyl! We love you!

Seriously, Tami...

I will just let you all enjoy this nice little photo that I ran into over at another blog that I read...YUP. That's about all I have to say...I am sure lucky that I live with one of these so I can look at it A LOT. Well, minus the chaps, but hey, who is complaining. Oh, and by the way, this makes a nice screen saver. Great way to get one 12 year old to roll his eyes, one 8 year old to turn red as a tomato, and one 5 year old to ask "Mom, why do you have Dad's behind on the computer?" Ahhhh....good times.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

It's that time of year...Pumpkin Patch Day was this last Sunday...we made a break for it on probably the last sunny day of October! Kendyl, Sean, Kim and Grammy went along with us to Heiser's Pumpkin Patch..always a great place to go. Kendyl seemed to enjoy herself...well, mostly she just wanted to eat dirt clods and suck on her pumpkin stem, but hey, she was totally content!

I had to do a double take when I saw this picture...doesn't Jared look HUGE??? I seriously thought it was Jeremiah at first. The similarities are getting stronger by the day! As soon as she hit the ground, she was on a mission.
Here are the three cutest farmboys around, ready to get dirty and find a really BIG pumpkin. Amazes me, really, that the "competition" between MEN starts at such a young age! But, our rule is, if you can't carry it to the hayride, you can't get it. Seems to control the "Mine is bigger than yours" problem relatively well. And, it saves Jeremiah from having to wrestle mammoth pumpkins two at a time!

Kendyl, Kim, Grammy and I decided to hang out amongst the pumpkins while the guys went through the corn maze. She was most happy to slap her pumpkin and hang out!
The two younger boys are looking forward to dressing up. Justin is going to be a Motocross rider and Travis has plans to be Batman, but I am trying to talk him into being a lion. I have a great costume that I would like to get three kids use out of, but he says the fur "tickles his face" and he doesn't like it. Darnit. I will keep working on that one. And so, another year at the pumpkin patch has passed. Darnit again.

Travis Horton....Soccer Star.

Well, we finally have a winner. One out of three children that played soccer actually LIKES playing soccer!!! Hilarious! Travis has started Kindergarten Soccer (a.k.a. Beehive ball) and absolutely loves playing. He gets right in there and kicks the ball and runs through the whole game. Jared and Justin were usually the ones at the other end of the field picking daisies or hanging to the back of the pack...so...this is very unusual for the Horton clan!!! Jeremiah and I actually looked at each other during the first game and said to each other "IS THAT OUR CHILD?" !!! It has been so fun to cheer him on and watch him laugh and smile.

He even got a chance to play goalie last game and didn't let any balls get past him!

Now, if we could just keep his asthma under control, we will be set for the rest of the season. He had an episode this week that kept him out of one practice and one game. Hopefully, he is over it now and good to go! Way to go little man!

Someone help this child....

My Mom had the task of watching Miss Kendyl a few weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. I was already planning to spend the day canning and freezing lots of stuff from the garden, and my mom offered to come over and help. She and Kendyl showed up after lunch and we got to work. Sorta. I got down Kendies toy basket, and she happily entertained herself playing with toys and motoring around the kitchen, eating green bean ends, carrot peelings and whatever else she could find under my kitchen table (keep breathing Kim), as well as destroying my cookbook shelf and eating my recipes. She also found great joy in throwing canning rings ALL over the kitchen floor.

The time came for her to have a bottle and a little snooze, signaled by much whining and fussing. My mom, of course, was ALL over this task, because we all know that napping and sitting in front of the TV are two of her favorite hobbies. Because of the fact that my niece is the worlds worst napper, I figured they would be back in a very short amount of time. Hmmmm. Boy, was I wrong.

After 2 hours, I decided I better go have a look, to see what the heck those two were up to....AND.....this is what I found:

HI. LAIR. EEE. UUUSSSS. I tell ya, these two were SACKED out. I am sure glad that the baby didn't slide down to the floor, but I think she woke up with a LITTLE neck ache. Good bonding right there I tell ya. Anyway, I proceeded to wake them both up, so that my sister MIGHT actually be able to get her to bed that night...considering it was 4:30 at that point! This would be why my sister and I are always a little hesitant when my Mom says she will babysit!!!!!!!

She continued to play with the boys for awhile, and they always have fun putting her in, on and around things. She is sitting on the Winnie the Pooh chair that was Jared's as a baby.
So, Kim and Sean, in case you were wondering, this is what your daughter did while you were gone....we accomplished ALOT....what is your excuse!??!?! :)