Congratulations, Lauren!

Lauren had her field day today. Her events were the beach ball race and the 25 yard dash. She won 1st in both!


The beach ball is almost as big as she is.














This picture is blurry, but Lauren is in front. She is definately the most athletic of our children.
















Her class had their Mother's Day Tea Party yesterday. They sang songs for us and served us our food. She was so excited to do something with just me and her. They had several gifts for us and one was a page with questions that they answered about us. One question was "My Mommy is as pretty as..." and Lauren answered "a tooth fairy." Another was "My Mommy is smart. She even knows..." and Lauren's answer was "everything." Give her a few years and see if she still thinks that. HAHA!















Lauren and I outside.

Introducing Miley

Natalie's teacher had several puppies that she wanted to give away, so this is what we brought home Friday! She is part Chihuahua and part Dauschund(or Weenie Dog), so she is a Chiweenie. The girls had a Chihuahua a few years ago named Cinderella, they have a rabbit named Hannah Montana, so this little dog they decided to name Miley. She is so tiny! Here are a couple of pictures {for you Brenda! :-) } The second one shows her next to Richard's hand and a dollar bill to show you how small she is.

Good News/Bad News

I received the BEST news today! My brother is home. He's back in the U. S. with his family where he belongs. He and EVERY person in his unit who went to Iraq with him are home! WOW! That's a HUGE "Praise the Lord"! I have prayed for them every day since he left, and I want to say thank you to all of you who have been praying too.

Then the bad news. I was on the way to town today and the speedometer on my Suburban died! I went to the dealer and they said they will have to order the parts from a company who rebuilds them and replaces the whole instrument panel. $750.00 worth of work! Anyone want to contribute to the Kilmer Bail-Out Fund?!?! Plus, I have to avoid being pulled over while they order the parts and do the work.

Thanks Autumn!

My friend, Autumn, posted a challenge in January to chose a word that you wanted to be your motto for the year and I chose "simplify". I am on a mission this year to declutter my house, my life, and pay more attention to what is most important. Well, we spent this weekend getting our yard decluttered. Richard and I loaded up the trailer with an old hot water heater, a couple of lawn mowers, old cast iron plumbing that was in our house originally before we re-did all the plumbing, etc. Richard took it to town and sold it for $37.00. I'm just glad that it's gone, but the money is an added bonus! We also cleared out all the logs from a tree that we had cut down and finally got that part of the yard mowed again. Our yard looks great!

Another thing I need to thank Autumn for is posting all her wonderful shopping deals on her blog. I have always used coupons and thought that getting something for 50% off was a great deal. Well, after checking out sites like www.couponmom.com , I'm learning that free or close it free are even better deals! Here's what I've got this week:

Wal-Mart:
1 Eversave lint roller $0.97 - FREE + $0.03 back after $1 off coupon
1 travel size Colgate toothpaste $0.97 - FREE + $0.03 back after $1 off coupon
2 DVDs "Cheaper By the Dozen" (new version w/Steve Martin) and "All Dogs Go to Heaven"(cartoon) - on sale for $5 - $2.00 each after $3 off coupons for each

Target:
1 Dry Idea deodorant - on sale for $2 - FREE after $2 off coupon
1 bag Halls cough drops $1.19 - $0.19 cents after $1 off coupon
1 Johnson & Johnson First Aid Kit $0.97 - FREE + $0.03 back after $1 off coupon
1 box Hello Kitty Band-aids trial size $0.97 - FREE + $0.03 back after $1 off coupon
Total Paid: $0.15 !!!!! Can't beat that!

Beall's:
Polo shirt $40.00 on sale for $20 - $14 after additional 30% off coupon
Levi's jeans capris $44 on sale for $22 - $15.40 after additional 30% off coupon


Well, I'm off to see what other coupons I can find.

Country Girls

I may have been raised in the city, but when it comes to my girls, they are pure country girls! Lauren's Kindergarten class had a "rodeo" Friday. They barrel raced with stick horses, threw horseshoes, and roped a "steer" with a "lasso"(hoola hoop). She had a blast! She said she likes a cowboys, and a little boy in her class said, "She likes cowboys! Well, I'M am COWBOY!" Too funny! She chose the name Emerson for her horse.






















We only have two hens, but they lay alot of eggs. Here are the latest chicks to hatch. They are so cute. I'm going to try to use some of them and maybe one of the rabbits in some Easter pictures.

















Nicole and Natalie had to show their rabbits at the County Fair for 4H this weekend. Nicole placed 16th out of 20 with her rabbits.




















Natalie placed 5th out of 20 with her rabbits, and she placed 3rd for individual rabbit. This is the first year they have raised an animal for 4H, so we really weren't sure what the judges would look for. Who knew that having a round behind was a good thing?! Another lady and I said, "We would make good rabbits!" HAHA!




















Saturday night was the sale. Usually, the top 10 rabbits get to sell, but since there weren't as many larger animals this year, all the pens of rabbits got to sell. Nicole sold hers for $350.




















Natalie sold her rabbits for $550.00. She was excited. She has always been one to save her money and has been buging me forever about taking the money in her piggy bank and opening her a savings account. So, I guess we will open them each one with their rabbit money.




















After the sale, most buyers don't want the animals, they are just making a donation for the kids, so we got to take our rabbits home.

Lauren's Baptism

We are so proud of Lauren. She has been asking us questions for a while now. Every Sunday, she wanted to go down and talk to our preacher, but we worried that she is too young to understand. Well, after Richard and I both talked with her and had her pray about it, she finally made the decision to go talk to Brother Waylon. She was saved in his office at the end of January. She was baptized this Sunday. She is so little that he had to hold her up for everyone to be able to see her!


















Here she is afterward. She was all smiles!






















We are so very proud of her! She has told everyone at school about it, and we have already heard her trying to witness to her little brother. We know that even though she is LITTLE, God is going to use her to do BIG things!

Science Experiment

Richard has been helping Nicole's class with a science experiment, hatching chickens. This is the new incubator that the school bought this year. It's all digital, and Richard is in love with it! It's so much more advanced than ours at home.


















Twelve chicken eggs hatched, but one didn't make it. It had a lot of problems when it was born. One leg was longer than the other and it couldn't hold its head up on its own. Another one is having some problems, but Natalie is playing vet and trying to take care of it. They are still waiting to see if two goose eggs will hatch.