Loss

Today we lost Rebekah, the mama goat. As some of you have heard, both the goats were attacked by the neighbor's dogs on Sunday night while we were gone. Rebekah was on the trolley so she couldn't really get away or fight back as much as she could have if she had not been tied up. Ruth was able to run away so she didn't get hurt as bad. This morning when I went to give them their medicine, Rebekah was dead. We had suspected internal bleeding but didn't know for sure.

Dara is taking it really hard. She was the most attached to the goats, especially Rebekah as she was learning how to milk her and take care of her.

What makes all this even harder is our neighbor is shirking his responsibilities and avoiding dealing with the situation. Because of this, it makes us feel that he isn't in the least remorseful of what happened.

We would appreciate prayers for the family through this difficult time.

Cora's Birthday Party!

Cora turns 3 on Tuesday, so we celebrated today with family. She wanted a My Little Pony party so I bought some little ponies to decorate her cake and she can now play with them, too!

Cora picked out this dresses because she couldn't decide between pink or purple!


soccer ball, pants, and necklace from the Inglerights


pre-school workbook and Cheerlie Pony from Papa & Nana Carmichael


princess crown and Pinkie Pie pony from Uncle Jim, Aunt Amy, and Madalynn


boots, lots of pre-school workbooks, color book, water bottle, and Pinkie Pie Pony from Papa & Nana Smith

She liked her cake. We also served it with homemade strawberry ice-cream.

Just some fun photos!

Chad was being silly and put a grinder wheel on Jaina's ponytail. She really didn't like it.


Dara--9 years old


Eva--7 years old


Martha was really enjoying her pizza!


I was trying to get some pics of Martha and Jaina, but Jaina wasn't being cooperative and this was the best one of Martha. Not wall worthy, but still cute!

It's done!

Chad did a great job putting in the new flooring for the hallway! I really wish we had enough to do the kitchen/family room as well, but not only are we still waiting on the insurance company, we might invest that money in a different way to benefit the family.

Now we just need to get the bathroom done!

Martha Monkey

Well, Martha has joined the ranks of being a monkey with the rest of the girls! Eva discovered that she knew how to climb to the top bunk (where Eva sleeps) when she saw Martha's eyes peeking at her this morning. I didn't believe it, but sure enough, she did it again this afternoon!

Eating is hard work!

Yesterday I had to eat a quick dinner and then go milk the goat so I could get to my Scrap n' Chat. When I came back in from milking, I found Jaina sleeping in her high chair! No one else even noticed until I said something about it. Of course, that meant that Sabra and Cora had to start messing with her. She briefly woke up, but then put her fingers in her mouth and went back to sleep. I told Dara and Eva that when they were done eating to just put her in bed and not worry about getting her in some pajamas. When Eva went to bed later, Jaina was sitting up, so she told Chad that she was going to change her diaper before going to bed. Jaina went back to sleep and slept until this morning.

The Carmichael Flood

On Monday, our bathroom was completely flooded. I wasn't quite sure how it happened as the toilet wasn't visibly clogged, but it filled the bathroom and then seeped out into the hallway and through the wall to our closet. The bathroom door had been shut because the air-conditioners were on and because the babies have a fascination with toilets (as all kids do!). We didn't realize it until Eva was walking down the hallway and her feet got all wet!

Here are some pictures that Chad took while down in the crawl-space before we pulled up any flooring. This is how we knew we had to do something.

Our closet after pulling up the carpet and throwing out the padding.

Our doorway into the hallway.

The hallway (taken from both ends).

The bathroom.

Under where the toilet had been. Come to find out, the valve must have been slowly leaking for a while before it finally gave way. Chad had turned off the valve to take out the toilet (which we thought had been the problem) and even after it was off, water was leaking out of it. We had to turn the water off to the whole house to get it to stop. Chad replaced the valve so we could have water again.