We are so full of amazing animals at the shelter right now that its very discouraging. I will NEVER understand how people can give up their animals, either to the wild to become feral or hit by cars, or willingly bringing them in for a variety of reasons. Some of the shelter workers have just become somewhat immune to the excuses people give, but I have yet to be able to not care what the excuse is. Because that’s what it is…an excuse. And I see it every week. And the animals are so deserving of homes. And the types of animals we have, there’s just really no excuse for people to pay $2400 dollars for a dog. And yes that’s the going rate from a breeder for a chihuahua. $3500 for a bulldog…I could go on and on…
Needless to say, I do this for the animals though and not for people. I have to keep that in mind or I really drive myself crazy.
In other news, Anya’s softball season is going great. They lost their first game a week ago and play their toughest opponent this coming Saturday. Anya’s doing really well with playing though and she really enjoys it. She’s been playing catcher and is so cute. She’s a real natural at it too, I think she gets that from Pop Pop, who used to be a catcher for the South Central Bell team he played on when I was a kid. She also has made quite a good friend in a little boy named Kennedy in her class, his photo is also below.
Arwen is just getting smarter and sweeter every day, but with that smartness also comes her sneakiness! She’s very clever and quite the comedian! As you will see in the photos below, she has discovered a great hiding place. Apparently something she gets from her own Daddy!
Travis is doing well, he went to see “The Avengers” 3 times this weekend. He went to the midnight show, then took Anya on Saturday and managed to sneak me away for a date day today to see it while Tia, our babysitter, took care of Anya and Arwen. Our babysitter is a real find and an absolute sweetie. She’s 16 and lives right next door and is certified in CPR, first aid, and babysitting. Plus, with her being right next door, it makes us more comfortable knowing that her Mom is nearby too. We have used her about 7 or 8 times now and its been totally worth it. We went to dinner at a fabulous Greek restaurant one night too, so even if its just for a couple of hours, its very nice to have someone trustworthy take care of our girls.
Arwen has acquired her big girl bed and is doing well with it. Its a simple platform bed with 3 much needed drawers under it for extra storage. And she even got Rapunzel bedding!
Chance is getting older, he will be 12 this month but he still gets frisky at times and of course never strays far from my side.
I also started Zumba! Its fun and quite a workout so lets see how in shape I can get from doing a fun workout now! You definitely sweat in Zumba!
And now for the cuteness…
So, I’m not sure exactly what turned me on to reading the Fifty Shades Trilogy, but it is great. Its not for everyone though. Its quite risque, but its not a romance novel, definitely adult though. I’ve been reading it on Travis’ Kindle. I didn’t think I was going to like the Kindle at all, but I think you just have to really have something that you want to read to enjoy it. I really like it now and its incredibly easy to get used to. And the nicest thing about it is the simplicity of it. Nothing fancy, just books. Travis’ Mom got him the simple Kindle so it has wireless, but its not a touch screen. Very easy to use. I still like the idea of books though too, I don’t think everything should be available on the Kindle, but for traveling and for Moms that want something easy to carry, the Kindle is a good choice. Short post tonight but I have to go finish reading my book! 
Uncle Stephen came to Dallas at the end of Anya’s spring break and we had a great time. We attempted to go to the Dallas Zoo but it was packed so we ended up at the park. The girls had a great time doing that with Uncle Stephen and it took Arwen a day or so but she finally stopped called him “PopPop” and started saying “Unca Ste”. We took him to a Texas Tornado Hockey game Saturday night and we all loved that! We have been to 4 games now and we really love watching hockey! The girls are great during the games too! Arwen has commenced to raising her arms in celebration every time they score and Anya is starting to think the players are cute I think!
We also took him to eat at Cowboy Chicken, Twin Peaks, and Rosati’s Pizza. Anya and I took him to Cabela’s and Cheaper than Dirt Guns on Saturday and I think he enjoyed those stores too.
I miss my brother a lot so it was nice to spend some time with him and the girls really enjoyed him being here too, as did we.
In other news, Anya has started playing softball and she’s doing great with it. She’s been catcher twice and absolutely loves being the catcher! Her batting is getting better and better too and last night at the first official game it was the last inning, last bat – there were 2 outs, 2 runners on base, and it was Anya’s turn to bat. She got up there and got two strikes, two balls, and then a ground hit between short stop and 3rd base to get a runner into home! She tied the game before the next girl came up and struck out! Everyone was very proud of her because she saved us from losing our first game! It was a back and forth game that was very close against the other team known as the Rangers. Final score was 4-4. We are the Black Knights. Its a lot of fun, but very nerve wracking for me as I used to play softball too! Anya got 2 hits out of 3 times she was at bat last night so I was super proud of her! She’s always kind of the dark horse in sports, it takes her some time to come into her stride but when she does look out because she can play!
Here are some photos from Stephen’s visit…
From the creators/writers of LOST, so naturally I am an obsessed fan of the new show “Once Upon A Time”. Love this show. Its truly fascinating. They have had this show in the works since 2004 but waited until LOST was finished before introducing it. This show is truly character centric, and so far my favorite character is Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold/BEAST. Yes, you read that correctly, they made Rumpelstiltskin into the BEAST from the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale and its completely genius. I can’t wait to see where the story leads pertaining to him but it is fantastic TV. Onto my theory, the basic premise of the storyline is that every character from every storybook you have ever known are trapped by an evil curse in Storybrooke, Maine. The Evil Queen from the Snow White tale being primarily in power. She remembers everything and now we know that Rumpelstiltskin remembers as well. Both of them very powerful people both in the fairy tale world and the real one. The Evil Queen still has a deep seated hatred for Snow White but the feeling is its about far, far more than Snow White simply being prettier than her. My theory is that its going to turn out that the Queen had a child with Snow White’s father at some point and that child has died either by trying to save Snow White or by Snow White failing to save it. Either way it would give quite a credible vice to the hatred the Queen feels for Snow White. We will have to wait and see if I’m right though! And I for one can’t wait, I love every episode!
