David & Jenny (my mom’s brother-in-law for lack of a better way to describe it) offered us a couple of chickens & a chicken coop a while back.  They built their chickens an amazing little condo & passed their old one on to us.  I was pretty excited!  Even if I am a bit afraid of chickens.  The big girl in the front was beating up one of their other chickens & she had to go.  And since she is pretty attached to her sister, they sent her along, too.  We got them Sunday (for Father’s Day!) & they’ve already laid 5 eggs!  They must like it here!  They had more freedom at their old house…we just can’t do that here.  Maggie might eat them.  So nights are spent on the back deck just watching the chickens roam around.  It’s pretty relaxing!

When I got home tonight Kendall had already let them out.  This is an astonishing development because she claims to hate them.  They were being extra noisy so she thought she’d let ‘em loose.  I used their being out of their cages as an opportunity to go clean it & they got all huffy & came running to their coop to protect it.  It was pretty hilarious!

For the record, I wanted to name them Sadie & Cleo.  Yeah, that didn’t fly.  Don named them Original & Extra Crispy.  Heaven help me….

Check out the slide show of Kendall’s Senior Photos from Michelle Koechle Photography here.  Leave Michelle a comment & let her know what you think.  Kendall will win a 5×7 print if you do!  However will we choose just one?

My daughter is a Senior Ambassador for Michelle. I had no idea what that meant. When I was a senior our family friend Jody took my photos. But when you own a scrapbook store for as many years as I did you start getting pretty particular about the photos of your family. So when Michelle approached us for the Senior Ambassador gig, we jumped at the chance!

Michelle met with Kendall & I to discuss what it means to be a Senior Ambassador & what style of shoot Kendall wanted. Kendall sat there & quietly listened to Michelle’s ideas & perked up when she mentioned a fashion shoot in a pile of rubble. Not much cooler than that for a girl with an eye for fashion design!

On the day of the shoot it was incredibly windy. I honestly didn’t hold out much hope that she wouldn’t be doing this again on a better day. Still, I had Kendall get her hair & make up done at Tizrah Salon, just in case. I was at work so I had no idea how absolutely stunning my daughter looked. And that wind? It only added to the photos.

Kendall loved everything about that shoot: Michelle’s sidekick Matt, the beautiful purple dress, the hair & make up, & the easy way that Michelle had of making her feel at ease. Thank you, Michelle! Your are amazing!

Very cool!  I don’t know why it took til today to figure that out.  Duh!  So if you don’t want to visit every day to see if we’ve posted something new, just click on the subscribe button to the left & get our posts in your email box.

This is Kendall on our way to the dentist.  I promised not to post any of the photos I snapped on the sly after, but trust me, they are priceless!  Just a few notes about the day:

• Kendall opted to have all 4 teeth out at once.  The dentist told her she could come back in 3-5 years for the top two to be removed but then her parents wouldn’t be paying.  She jumped at that opportunity!
• When she came out of anesthesia she was like a little rag doll.  She couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.
• Upon entering the pathfinder & getting seat belted in, she exclaimed she needed a pillow.  When I said we didn’t have one, she crawled over the seat & got the grocery bags out of the back to lie on.
• She talked the whole way home.  Not that we could understand her with a great big wad of gauze in her mouth.
• We did understand, “I want my grandma!”
• I snapped a photo on the sly & my husband whispered, “did you get the photo?” From the back of the Pathfinder we hear, “NO PHOTOS!”  Apparently anesthesia gives her bat hearing.
• After the anesthesia wore off, she felt perfectly fine.  She couldn’t understand why anyone would think having wisdom teeth out was a big deal.  She even went to a graduation party where she bragged about it.
• All day she asked for a grilled cheese & was quite mad that I wouldn’t give her one.
• Then came 7:30 pm.  We got into the car to leave the party & her whole attitude changed.  She was miserable & in pain.
• Saturday her cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk.
• She watched a full days worth of NCIS without barely moving.
• Sunday the pain is better & the cheeks are puffier.

It will be interesting to see how she does on Monday.

1.  Feet (my dress shoes!)  2.  Celebrate (this is Becky’s photo of her son’s team wining another playoff game…mine has disappeared & hers is better anyway!)  3.  Shiny (we bought this truck shiny & new…& now it is not) 4.  Four (orchids that for all intents & purposes was completely dead & I was going to throw it out when suddenly it bloomed!)  5.  Laughter (my husband is giddy over the new bike we won!)  6.  Nature (these are upside down trees with the roots being used as planters)  7.  Fruit (our Bountiful Baskets haul this week) 8.  Summer (it’s my favorite time of year!) 9.  Shade (I will spend my summer & much of the fall under this lovely umbrella in the backyard)