Goodbye Kevy

This past Saturday, our beloved dog Kevy, passed away. He was 15 years old so it wasn't completely unexpected, but still so very hard. He had is share of health issues popping up in the past year but up until recently, was the picture of health. None-the-less, it is hard to believe that a big dog could live to be this old and still have a hop to his step.
I am sure everyone thinks this of their pets, but he was such a great dog. He looked a little scary to those who didn't know him but was a great big teddy bear. If he could have, he would have climbed up in your lap the first chance he got and would have covered you with stinky dog-breath kisses. Even in his old age, the kids were able to yank on his tail and tug on his ears with never even the hint of a growl.
I am truly grateful that he was able to pass on his own, peacefully. I have had to put two of our animals to sleep, which is not an easy thing for me to do because I am such an animal lover. Right now, my heart is absolutely breaking for Roxy. She will be 4 this August and she has barely known life without her good pal, Kevy.
They got along so well together and Sunday she seemed so lost without him. She kept looking in the dog house for him and she didn't have the pep in her step as usual so the kids and I spent the entire day outside with her throwing the ball, giving her a bath petting her and letting her eat treats to her hearts content.
Boy, we sure are going to miss you, old man. May there be many doggy treats and belly scratches waiting for you in heaven. Goodbye Kevy.

i heart faces - 'Pets'

This weeks theme over at iheartfaces is 'Pets'. I'll give you one chance to guess which pet below is mine...Tom or Jerry?
If you guessed Tom Trixie you are correct!

The story of how this picture came to be is almost as funny as the picture itself. This very afternoon, I was moving three bags of top soil and when I picked up the last one, a furry little baby mouse was scurrying around. Grant wanted me to catch it so I told him to grab one of his butterfly nets. He did, and I was able to capture this little feller (not without a couple of high-pitched squeals and shrieks, mind you!) Since we had actually managed to catch it, I figured we had better at least take a couple of pictures of it. I told Grant to hold the net while I tried to get a picture of him. The mouse ran to the top of the net and sat there while I snapped away. Meanwhile, our cat was enjoying a peaceful nap in the sunshine. Grant decided the cat should 'get' the mouse since that is why we have her (to keep mice out of the garage) and she is usually quite good at it. In this case, she was sleeping so soundly, she didn't even know that a mouse was right under her nose...literally!!!
For those of you who are wondering the fate of little Jerry...well he ended up running up the handle of the net, Grant screamed like a girl and dropped the net right on the cat. At that point the mouse ran right over the cat and up the back of the chair she was lying on and took an Evil Knievel leap from the top rung into an evergreen shrub, never to be seen again. The End.

Make sure to head over to www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com to check out all of the other furry little friends.

Sibling Love

We've been busy busy once again! Busy with the kids, the yard, the flower gardens, building the new shop, planting lilacs at the land, working, t-ball games, grad parties, visiting family and friends and simply enjoying summer. Tonight I have a little down time because after t-ball, the kids left for a 2, and maybe even 3, night sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's. Daycare is closed the rest of the week and the kids have been begging to go spend some time at the lake so timing was perfect. Since I am going to miss them like nuts, I thought I would share some pictures I took a few weeks back of them loving on each other!NO...Audrey did NOT revert back to a nukie. She found and old nukie of hers in the back of a drawer and decided it would be funny to act like a baby. It only lasted about 2 min but she thought she was pretty funny.
For the most part, I will just let you enjoy them enjoying each other without too many words.
NO...they were not making out! I told them to give each other a kiss and apparently Audrey is an aggressive smoocher! I better watch out for her some day.
I probably shouldn't tell you what they were doing in these next few pictures.
Can you guess?
If you guessed spitting, you are right.
NO, not big old loogies. More like 'say it don't spray it' kind of spitting. But still...YUCK! Whatever it takes to get a cute pic of them laughing together I guess!!
Oh, and check out that cute little pony tail. Audrey's hair is finally getting a little length to it so I couldn't resist trying her very first pony tail.
Now, off for a good nights sleep, in to work early and then I'm thinking a pedicure may be in the cards for tomorrow after work. It will nice to not have to rush to pick them up from daycare and to have a little time for myself but I miss them already.

weeds

Just wanted to share some pictures of the humongous dandelion thingies I saw in the ditch on the way home.
I say 'dandelion thingies' because I am pretty positive it isn't a true dandelion for two reasons.
Reason one: Because the stalks and leaves look nothing like a dandelion's leaves.
Reason two: They are so darn big that there is no way it could really be a dandelion!
To put it into perspective...here are three of them in a vase next to Grants head (and trust me, my kids do not, by any stretch of the imagination, have small heads!)
Next, here is one of them compared to my hand.
I know they are technically 'weeds' but these weeds get center stage, right in the middle of my dining room table.
I am curious to know...Does anybody have any idea what these gorgeous weeds actually are????

i heart faces - 'All About Babies'

Babies. All about babies. What's not to love? I can tell you that I love that iheartfaces chose 'All About Babies' as their theme this week. You know for sure that the competition will be stiff and that there will be a plethora of cuteness for our viewing pleasure. I can't wait to see what everyone else has entered!
Since my kiddos were out of their itty bitty baby stage before I got my DSLR and really got interested in photography, I am entering a picture of my dear friend, Lisa's little boy. He is the cutest little rolly-poly baby I have ever laid eyes upon. I could just eat him right up! This pic was taken last Oct when he was 3 mos old. Crazy to believe he will be 1 year old this July AND he will be a BIG brother around the same time. His Birthday is July 15th and his little brother is set to arrive around July 24th!!! Can't wait to meet and photograph that little darlin' as well.

Make sure to head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com to check out all of the other adorable itty-bitty baby pictures.

Lets Play Ball!

Yesterday was Grant's first night of T-Ball. In true Kleman fashion, we got there right on time a couple of minutes late so Grant headed right out to the field to meet the coach.
The whole thing was super cute but kind of a circus! There were so many kids scurrying around and going in every direction not really knowing what they were supposed to be doing. Sorta organized chaos :) I give credit to the coaches for having so much patience, especially since it was the first night and they didn't even know any of the kids names yet.
To start off, the kids lined up for a warm up lap around the bases. Check out how tiny Grant is compared to all of the other kids! Granted, the team is 5 and 6 year olds but I guess I never realized how small Grant looks compared to kids his age.
Look at that little punk rounding 3rd base and heading for home.
Next they practiced playing catch.
Grant was a little anxious about using a glove (actually a week ago he flat out refused to wear one and when I told him he had to if he was going to play t-ball he then informed me he was not going to play then! At times he is JUST like his Dad!!!)
He was pretty proud of himself because as soon as we got into the car after the 'game' he announced that he even caught 3 balls while playing catch.
Tootie had fun watching from her stroller for all of 2 minutes.
She got a little restless and decided she wanted to get out and run around like the rest of the kids.
Waiting in line for his turn to catch a grounder...
Look at the arm on that little stud!After practicing for a while, the 'game' started. Grant's team was in the outfield to start off.Audrey could have cared less that the 'game' had begun. She was much too busy running off some steam and playing in the batting nets.
Patiently waiting for his {one} turn to bat.
And finally lining up for the long awaited hit.
He's not used to hitting off a tee because he likes us to pitch to him at home. He had a couple of strikes but finally he hit the ball...and the T!!!
Go, go, go...Check out that stride!
He did end up getting tagged out but...
that didn't stop him from getting his very own 'home run!'
I am so proud of my little man and so happy that he is happy, healthy and able to have so much fun.
On the way home, he asked how long until he could play again and I told him it would be a whole week. Then he asked 'How long is a week? Of course I had to go into the explanation of how he had 2 more days of daycare, then 2 days at home and then 3 more days at daycare and after the 3rd day, then he could play again. I am sure it sounds like FOREVER to a 5 year old!