Prize - Winners

Katie entered her first horse show today, and she won a first prize ribbon! She entered the walk only division and "walked" away with first prize! I couldn't believe it... she was very poised and sure of herself. She also entered a walk/trot division, and didn't place there. But, overall, she was thrilled with the experience. We were lucky that her dear friend, Olivia, was kind enough to loan us her sweet horse, Tex. He was great. Here is a picture of Katie and Tex with their big blue ribbon.Here is another photo of Katie and Tex in the ring, trotting away.
I have lots more pictures, but blogger is going slow today, so I will try and post some more pics tomorrow. Congrats Katie (and Tex!) :-)

Sexy Shoes

Look at these shoes. Are these not some sexy shoes? They look really sleek and fast, don't they? They really ARE as shiny as they look. Ready for the kicker? My conservative husband owns these fine looking tennies! Can you believe that? Purchased them all by himself...I was proud. I felt like a mother bird pushing her fledgling out of the nest for the first time... "Fly, my darling! You CAN shop alone!" The best part is, when Abby saw them she said they were Daddy's "peacock shoes." Gracie told him they looked like "Barbie Island Princess Shoes." I know he was so happy...

I've had a request for Christmas Pictures of the girls from Christmas morning. Well, there is a reason that I haven't posted any until now... we didn't take very many! Gracie was still under the weather and not feeling (or acting!) very well. As you can see, Katie and Abby are so happy with Santa, and are looking so cute in the Christmas PJ's... Gracie - well, not so much.
Here is Katie. "Thank You, Santa!"

Here is Abby. "I love Santa!"

Here is Gracie. "Santa Who? Somebody wipe my snotty nose!" :-)

Merry Christmas a little late from the Killian girls!

What is missing from this picture?

I know what you are thinking... WHY does she have a picture of an empty wall in her blog? Well, dear friends, this photo is missing something! Any thoughts on what that might be? I'll give you a moment to contemplate...

(Imagine you hear music from "Jeopardy" playing here...)

YES! That's right! There is NO CHRISTMAS TREE in this picture! Yippee!!! Finally, the tree came down today, and all the Christmas paraphernalia has been packed away for another year!

The relief I feel is perhaps a little out of place, but we mustn't squelch such pleasant feelings, no matter how fleeting!

Now I feel like I can say, "Happy New Year!"

Back-To-School Blues

Da-da-da-da-dum...

School started again this morning.

Da-da-da-da-dum...

And nobody wanted to go.

Da-da-da-da-dum...

It was hard to get out of bed.

Da-da-da-da-dum...

And Mama wanted to whine, don't you know?

We got the blues... Yeah, yeah, yeah, the back to school blues!!

Look -Alike Meter

It took me forever to upload photos of everyone, but I finally completed the look-alike meters for all the kids. They are posted below. However, I don't think they are very accurate...what do you think?

Killian Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Geneology

Killian Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Geneology

Killian Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Christmas Trees and Kitty Cats

Yes, it's still up... Every day I think, "This will be the day! I KNOW I'll have time today to take down that tree!" But, every day, I don't. Yesterday was going to be THE DAY, no matter what! But, I had cat issues... I guess I should explain.

We had an appointment early Friday morning to take our cats in to the vet. Our "Mama" Cat needed to be spayed before she had any more kittens, and all the kittens needed to go in for their shots. We were supposed to lock the Mama cat up the night before to be sure that she had nothing to eat or drink after midnight. So, after putting the kids to bed, I went out to get her (on the coldest night of this winter so far, mind you!) and, of course, I couldn't find her. I looked everywhere. I called her. I took out a can of super-stinky cat food. Nothing. Great. So, the next morning, I did what any good mother would do... I sent Katie out to find her! And, naturally, she found her. Our next task was to find and catch all 4 kittens. This SOUNDS easy, but two of the kittens are WILD. So, I took my secret weapon, Katie, with me out to the well house (where the kittens like to hide), to catch them. The nice kitties were easily caught and deposited in the big kennel with their mother. Then we started to work on the wild ones. We chased them all over the well house, and finally after about an hour (and spilt blood from Katie and me), we gave up. I told Katie we would have to go with the kitties we had, and worry about the others later. We came in to wash off the blood and get ready. Meanwhile, the wild kitties came up to the porch of our house! So, when we walked outside to leave, there they were - sitting primly on the wood pile! I talked nicely to them and calmly walked over and picked one up and then THREW IT IN THE SMALL KENNEL! Oh, the kitten was MAD. She hissed and spit and howled and kicked and literally threw herself against the side of the kennel. But, we loaded the two kennels in the car and left for the vet (still with only 3 kittens - not 4). About half way to the vet, Katie informs me that she believes one cat has pooped. I told her surely she was wrong, but then I smelled a strange smell. The wild kitty had not pooped, but had urinated ALL OVER the kennel! (Thank God for plastic kennels!!!!!) We finally get to the vet, and have to pour kitty urine out of the kennel before we can go in. I'm sure you can guess how that kitten looked - mad as a hornet, and covered in urine!! Luckily, the vet still took care of her, and we left the Mama Cat there and brought the kittens back home. When we got back home, who was sitting on the porch? That's right - the 4th kitten. Licking himself, and very proud. I calmly cooed and talked to him until I got close and then SCOOPED HIM UP AND THREW HIM INTO THE KENNEL!!!! Of course, then I had to come inside and call the vet and explain that now I had the 4th kitten - could they please squeeze us in? They were kind, so we loaded BACK into the car and drove BACK into town and saw the vet again.

Anyway, all this long story to say that, no matter what my plans are, I wind up doing the "fun" jobs in our lives, like kittens, instead of doing the "other fun jobs", like taking down the Christmas Tree! Isn't my world fun?!?!?!??!