Dear Dave: Nothing to Report.

Dear Dave,

Well, you know. Sucky week. You come home in three days for one day. Not exactly fair, but we'll take it.

The fieldtrip today was windy and cold. Be glad that you missed it. Your daughter and niece are really cute.

Love,

Me

I Hate Caterpillars.

I really do.

They make my daughter swell and rash-up and itch like crazy. Their tiny black hairs get stuck in between her fingers and cause her to cry from pain during the wee hours of the night.

Imagine me: glasses, robe, tired, with tweezers.

Imagine hallie: crying, pillow over her head (because I had to turn on the big light).

I have to hold her little hand and try to yank out the hairs with my best tweezers. It's really no fun. And they do not come out easily.

She is now forbid to ever touch another caterpillar. Ever again. No more. Ever. I mean it.

Good Morning, Daddy!

Dear Dave,

Here was your daughter this morning. Just in case you forgot what she looked like. I had to carry her out of her bed, sound asleep, into our room where she demanded I turn off every, single light. I complied, of course. She can be totally grouchy in the morning if you don't work it just the right way.

I knew I was okay when she smiled for this picture.

I knew things were NOT okay when all of a sudden her legs were too tired to stand up to brush her teeth.

5 days down, 25 more to go!

Love you,

Me

How Long Has It Been?

Dear Dave,

Has it really only been FOUR days?

Seems like forever, maybe I need to stay busier. I sure am sorry you missed last night and today. Could have used you. No worries. She has 1,800 samples of Claritin to see if it truly is seasonal allergies causing the raccoon eyes. We will be fine.

Now you, on the other hand, need to drink lots of water. Stay out of the sun. And don't forget us. We love you like crazy.

*sigh*

26 days to go.

Love you.

Dear Dave: Ugh.

Dear Dave,

Three days down, 27 more to go.

I'm sure I don't have to remind you of this, but too bad so sad. I'm still holding on to hope that you might get to come home for 24 hours in two weeks.

Joy!

Rapture!

Today has been pretty sucky. If you were home, I would ask for a hug and you would say no, but would just be teasing and do it anyway.

Love you,

me

Zoey aka Pest Control

Do you want to rent our dog? I think you do.

Have a mole problem? Zoey will dig them up and kill them!

Have a MUSKRAT? No problem! Zoey is on it.



Gross.



$50/day should do it!

Why We Will Never Own a Horse.

My husband is terrified of getting kicked, or having them kick me or Hallie.

He almost had me convinced last week. These stinkin' horses, I tell you what. We decided to go pick up golf balls, our favorite evening past-time. Dave thought (and I agreed) that it would be smart to bring a bucket to put the balls in after they were gathered. We usually just stuff them into pockets or make a hammock out of our shirts. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Anyway, I thought it was brilliant right up until the horses thought we were feeding them and just about ran us over to get the food...err, golfballs. I wasn't too worried, and just shooed them away. Dave, on the other hand, freaked out and made us run away like sissies.

I will say it was a tiny bit nerve-wracking, but we made it though.



Hard to climb a fence in skinny jeans!



They seemed so harmless at first...no big deal. Although if you click on the picture you can see how nervous Dave looks.

Trying to eat the golfballs. For real.

Day 2 of 30

Dear Dave,

Only 28 more days!

Things you have missed: youth group, wiener roast, snuggling, waking Hallie up out of dead sleep, listening to Hallie cry about having to share her tootsie roll since she chose to take it into Irma's.

That's it so far.

I hope this goes by fast. We love you like crazy.

Love,

Wifey

The Annual Harvest Photo.

I almost missed my chance this year.

2008

2009

2010

They barely fit on the wheel this time. They look huge!

A Haircut for Hallie.

Hallie has been bugging me for months to cut her hair.

So I did.

And it looked cute for the first night. Now it is a total and complete afro of blonde-ness. It cracks us up, so I suppose it brings us happiness and that is a good thing.

And she loves it, so that is great.

And yes, I cut it. And yes, it's even.

The Sickness.

Nasty germs have stolen our good heath and have turned our tiny family into a coughing mess of sickness.

Dave was home for .5 days before he succumbed to the nasty.

I wish him a speedy recovery before he hits the road again.

It's awful. Deep, unsatisfying coughing that makes your whole body hurt.

It really is no fun.

At least the weather is pretty.

Thank You Dollar Tree

I found a Little Mermaid suncatcher for a buck. Sweet.

I wish I would have read the paint advisory on the back before I showed Hallie. Basically it will stain everything it comes in contact with.

We managed to make it through okay.

Pretty!



Hallie Show Me Your Caterpillar!

I promise this just happened.

She found a new caterpillar.

This makes a total of three. Two alive, one "sleeping."

Dear Dave,

This was Hallie this morning.

Don't you miss this?

Love you,

Wifey

Crawford Pumpkin Patch.

It's good to have friends in high places.

Especially when they have a pumpkin patch so dang close. You really can't beat it.

Thanks, Crawfords!

Hey Jessica,

Rocky says hi. He wants to live with you again.

By the way, he really stinks.

First Frost.

Dear Dave,

You are gone and we miss you. Today the first thing Hallie said when she woke up was,

"I hope Daddy gets home soon."

Me too, babe, me too.

It's never as good as when you are home, other than the house is cleaner and I got to bed earlier. Oh who am I kidding? I go to bed early no matter what.

But you did miss the first frost. It was really pretty. And the mist on the pond - gorgeous.

Love you. Wish you were here.

Love,

Wifey

My New Camera, Oh My!

I'm pretty excited. I got a new camera. Okay, used, but whatever. It was a smokin' deal and I would have been a fool to pass it up.

Dave says if I lose or break this one I am too-bad-so-sad for the rest of my life.

No more cameras. (yeah right)

I got it Thursday night and tried it out on my two favorite people. They love me so much too.

Can you tell?

It's really fun to take pictures without a delay. My old camera took about 10 seconds before taking the picture, so by then the smile was gone or whatever.

This is much, much better. Now please pray that I don't lose or drop it.

I sort of have a reputation...