Sammi admiring the cows and donkeys

Here is a picture of Beth getting ready to throw the stalks over.

Across the road from where we live a gentleman keeps his 15 cows, 1 bull and a family of 3 donkeys. The girls love any animal and yesterday I suggested that we go and look at the animals because the owner had just fed them and they were all down at the bottom of the hill. While we were there the owner brought corn stalks to give to the animals. The girls thought it was great fun to throw the stalks over the fence. At one point the gate was opened and we walked to within touching distance of the cows. Sammi wanted to go and "pet" the cows and Earl about had a heart attack trying to get to Sammi to stop her from going in. The owners girlfriend picked up Sammi and took her over to the cows which was a big deal to Sammi. There was also a 4 month old calf. The cows were so used to people that when the gate was opened all we had to do was say "hiya get in there" when they would try to walk out of the gate, even the bull just sauntered around calm. When I told the girls that we had to go home to feed the dogs, Sammi said "I'm not going home yet, I stay with the cows". She is definitely our farm girl.

I had my Dr. appointment yesterday that was to be just routine, urine tested, heartbeat listened to, ect. But when the Dr tried to listen to the heartbeat with the instrument he uses, he couldn't find it, so he said that he would do an ultrasound and he still couldn't find the baby or heartbeat, then he said that he would do an internal ultrsound. By this time I was starting to get fearful, Beth was asking why she hadn't heard the heartbeat yet. Thankfully with the internal ultrasound there was the little baby with a heartbeat of 167, a little head, body, and 4 little stubs where the arms and legs will grow. I told the Dr that the first thing I was going to do was spank this baby with all the sickness and problems she/he was causing. I joked with the nurse that the baby knew I wanted another picture of him/her and that if this was a clue of what was to come with this kid, I am glad this is the last one. We will find out what the baby is in Nov. Earl is highly convinced that this one is a boy, I am convinced that it is a girl even though this pregnancy is nothing like it was with the girls. More morning sickness, more tired, more emotions. The bad thing is that I have never enjoyed being pregnant, I love having the baby, but pregnancy has never been fun for me. The only part that I like is when the baby moves, which hasn't happened yet and when the baby comes out which of course won't happen for another 6 months.

Earl goes to see the wound specialist today to get his bandage changed and see how the leg is doing. He is not allowed to get the bandage wet so he can't take showers ( I told him to duck tape a plastic bag around it) so he takes baths with his leg hanging out of the tub. He is afraid that his leg is going to stink like it did when he broke it and they took the cast off, I told him that I didn't think it would be that bad and who cares as long as his leg is getting better.

Sammi got a clean bill of health yesterday. Beth is busy with her homeschool work.

Today we went to the Ohio river to look for interesting rocks of drift wood. We went to the boat launch area in Pomeroy. I let the girls take off their shoes and let the water splach on their feet. Sammi didn't like the splashing of the water, however my waterbug Beth was having a ball until she fell face forward because it is slippery at the launch. Earl thought that Beth was going to be sucked under because of the waves from the boats and barge in the river and ran forward to get her and slipped in the same spot as Beth and fell on his backside getting his hurt leg wet. I wound up getting Beth then their buckets that were floating away then trying to help Earl up, while Sammi sat there saying "I not go in the water no way"

Beth loves to use my camera to take pictures, in fact she took this one of Earl and I

Earl tried again the other day to get one of his beagles to run rabbits, for an old hand at running dogs, the fact that NONE of his beagles will chase the rabbits is really getting under his skin. The girls have to wear hats because of the ticks down here. One time we went and I didn't make them wear hats and we found 3 or 4 ticks on us. Yuck!!!

Notice around Beth's waist is the dog leash that is how Earl is teaching Beth to carry her leash, she is doing OK with her training but is having doubts about whether or not dogs really chase rabbits.

The girls were supposed to be in a 4th of July parade with Beth's school but the rain on the 4th destroyed the float so the girls got to watch the parade instead. They usually don't get to because the are on the church's float in our hometown

We have had a busy summer, thanks to 5 VBS. I didn't even take pictures, I must have lost my mind. Usually I would be asked to help with Sammi's class. At one VBS we had 20 3-5 year olds. AGHHH! Probably our favorite one was the little Community Church that we went to with Pastor Steve Tomack. A small VBS but it was created by the pastor and his family, so it was original and not a cookie cutter VBS. The picture is from the Baptist church VBS. Theirs was 3 hours long every night.

Our cat, Boots, decided that the best place to sleep was my flowers but the picture is cute. However the center of my flowers are trampled.

I am 6 weeks pregnant for all those that were wondering! Beth starts school Aug 25th for the 1st grade, Sammi starts pre-school on Sept 2, my job at school starts Aug 25 if they get more kids. Right now we only have 3 signed up and the teacher will not need an aide for that number. So we are just playing it by ear right now.

The Dr will do another C-section and after Little B is born, I will have my tubes tied, 3 is enough. Of course Earl is hoping strongly for a boy. I don't care one way or the other, just healthy is good with me. If it is a boy the baby will be named Benjamin Ray Bickford, girls names haven't been thought about yet. Earl decided the name. Right now my only symptoms are being tired and some smells aren't very good for the nose. So far the Dr says my sugar is fine. We are being careful though and cutting out all pop and desserts.

This is not a very good copy, but it's the 1st ultrasound of the newest littlest Bickford that is due to arrive March 27. We even heard the heartbeat today.

Happy 4th of July

(Last years Birthday cake)

Happy Birthday My Love

Earl turns 51

We are having Corn Chowder Soup tonight, then on Thursday after we go grocery shopping we will have a birthday cake for Early. Sammi is very upset that there is no cake tonight but very excited to be baking one on Thursday. Beth just wants to sing to him and give him a birthday spanking. She can count to 51 but I think that her arm will get very tired haha!! A friend of mine always has a special plate for the special occasion that is going on to let the special person use. We have waited till today to start doing that. I wanted to begin with Earl's birthday first.

Today our family is growing by one.

Best wished to my nephew Brad and my new niece Melissa.

Wish we could have been there. Love ya guys!!

We got to take the puppies and the girls for their first beagle training walk. This was Sammi's first walk through the woods. We walked about a mile. We have an area that is called The WaterShed project. I had never been on it and told Earl that we should try it out. We loved it!! It was similar to walking in the Adirondacks(less pine trees). We saw deer prints everywhere. It got to be so bad that Sammi began to recognize them and stop at every one of them. We also saw 4 toads the size of dimes, lots of bugs, wildflowers, and Beth was introduced to thorn bushes.

We had a storm on Mon. the 16th and as you can see in the pictures we had hail. The girls were fascinated by it, but Sammi couldn't understand why I wouldn't let her hold her hand out to catch the hail. OUCH!! The hail was about the size of marbles.

I had my weight watchers meeting last night, I couldn't stay for the meeting so I just weighed in and then we had to go to Walmart and Bob Evans for supper. We have coupons where the kids eat free except the coupons expire at the end of the month. Last week I gained 2.4lbs I was not happy. My excuses were a 2nd degree sunburn on my shoulders and other womanly things. This week I lost 6.6lbs so I was much pleased with that. All together I have lost 29.6lbs and I put on a pair of 16avg jeans and though they were a little tight I could sit down in them and not feel like my stomach was being pushed into my spine. Considering I did wear a 20W in jeans, I like knowing that I have come down 3 or 4 sizes in clothes. I can't wait to try on a dress to see where my size will be. However I am running into problems, having always worn Women's clothes and always bought the clothes that had a W next to the size, I am not used to the sizes when I look at clothes at yardsales. Last week I bought a pair of jeans but when I got them home I couldn't fit in them even though they were 18's. I didn't realize that 18 husky's are boys jeans. At least when I go down in shirt sizes I know that they run S M L and XL. Could be interesting!!!

Bethany at the end of school had to take a 'Stanford Achievement Test'. It compared her test scores to those also in Kindergarten in both Public schools and other Christian schools. Her grade equivalent is in the 2nd grade in most of her subjects and her averages were either normal or above normal. We are very proud of Beth and are pleased with the school that she is in. She was also tested in Bible and came out with an advanced rating.

I would greatly appreciate everyone's prayers at this time for the Tillis family. My Great-Aunt Ruth passed away after a very long brave fight against cancer. She passed away last night. Her husband's name is Amos and she is Bill & Naomi Tillis' sister-in-law. She had 5 kids plus grandchildren and extended family. Thanks for your prayers.

I have lost 25.4 lbs so far on my weight watchers. I earned a new charm for my key chain. I thought that I would have not lost very much this week because of Sunday dinner at church. I couldn't count the points for the food, but I lost 3.4 lbs. Yeah! I have 46.6 lbs to go. My new 10% is 19 lbs, I've lost 4.4 lbs of it. I have till Sept. 1st but I hope to be there before then.

The girls are good. It has really rained here the last few days. And the thunderstorms have been awsome. Except the ones at 3:00 am when I am sleeping. Earl is still waiting on going to 1st shift, he is waiting on papers to be signed. A friend of our neighbors found a Mama deer hit and dead by a car, next to it was her week old male fawn. The people are raising it till it is old enough to go out on its own. The girls got to pet the deer which they loved.

My Bethany is growing up!!

She lost her first tooth on the bottom!

Yes I cried when she wasn't watching. I didn't even cry when she went to pre-school or Kindergarden.

What a week!!

First Fri and Sat I helped my neighbors (both upstairs and next door) move. Then Mon. for 4 hours I cleaned next doors house. Then Tues. my Dad had to have my Mom's dog put to sleep and I helped him bury her. Not to mention helping Bethy deal with that loss. Then Wed. I cleaned my Dad's house for 5 hours because of the Alumni dinner this weekend. Wed at school the teacher asked me to help her by cutting out apples that had the kids pictures lamanted on them. 10 x 10-15 pictures equals 100-150 pictures, which had to be done by Thursday night. My thumb is numb from cutting, but I enjoyed looking at all of Beth's schoolmates Then tonight I had my Weight watchers and Beth graduated from Kindergarten.The good news is that I have officially lost 21 lbs and earned my first 10% charm holder. I was excitied but was really focusing on Beth and her night.

Here Beth is receiving her diploma from the teacher that will be her teacher for the next two years. Mrs Asbek (Mrs.A)

I was very proud of Beth. She was one of the top readers in her class.

I am so thankful that I am on vacation for at least tomorrow.

Tonight was my weight watchers meeting, I lost 3.4 lbs which brings me up to

17.4 lbs. One day at a time. I have 3.6 lbs to go till I have lost my first 10%. Then I have to make a new goal. I haven't decided what I will make it, probably the next 10% until I get to my goal weight. which I found out was 113-141 Oh brother heaven help me.

By the way our bird died after two days of worm feeding. yuck. Earl was sad that "his patient didn't make it." We have finally got rid of the last of the puppies we had for sale, but we still have three kittens. Texas, Boots and AJ.

I had to tell you a story that happened with Sammi. Since the girls were old enough to know what worms and snakes were I have used them to explain carnality. I told them that they have a worm on the inside and when the disobey or are mean ect.. their worm grows into more of a snake and that only by being good can the snake return to a worm but that someday Jesus will remove the "worm/snake" if they ask Him. When I told Sammi the other day that her worm had grown into a little snake she just cocked her head and looked at me. In a few moments Sammi cried out 'ouch' and grabbed her arm, I asked her what was wrong. She looked at me and said

"Your snake bit me"

I couldn't even refrain from laughing. Could you have?

I thought that I would show you what is upstairs in my bathroom in a box thanks to my cat and husband. Earl heard a cat going after something and went out side and found the 3 week old baby robin trying to hop away from the cat. He brought it in and waited for me to come home with Beth. I had to get a box and then go find worms so that we (Earl and ME!!!) could feed the bird. I could cream my husband. Needless to say I wear gloves where the great outdoors man my husband just catches it with his bare hands.

This had better not be what he is getting me for Mother's Day

Well here it is another Friday morning.

Last night I was totally bummed out for only losing 1.4 lbs for the week.

Bringing my weight lost to 14 lbs all together. So my newest stratgy is to stop eating after 7pm. I was still having snacks to make sure that I would get my points in.

Beth only has 9 days of school left, she is very excitied. One of those days she is going to Old Man's Cave here in Ohio. I had to fill out 15 blue letters with names of family and friends for pledge money or she would not have gotten to go. Beth was very concerned that I might not have 15 friends of family. haha It didn't matter if the people actually sent them back just that I had to surrender 15 people's names for the beg-a-thon. I know the school is a good reason just sits wrong in my craw. Another day she will be going to have field day down here which is going to include water guns and water balloons.(Gotta remeber to take towels and dry clothes that day)

Sammi is just happily going on her merry way. Doesn't like it when Sissy is gone for the morning. I don't dare tell her that Beth will be gone for all day next year. But hopefully Sammi will have her hands full on Mon Wed Fri in the morning anyway. I am going to go today and sign her up for headstart. It is earlier that I did Beth but if I am going to work on those days then I have to find someone for Sammi Hey do any of the Aunts or nieces of nephews want to move to Ohio to be my Nanny. hehe Better yet why don't the Bickfords just move home to the Adirondacks. Well this is enough for this time. I have to go get Beth ready to face her day. Usually on Fri. I tell her tomorrow you can sleep in, she never does, but somehow that helps on Fri. morning when the eyes don't want to open

My total is now 12.5 lbs for those of you wondering

Bethany got to sing at the National Day of Prayer

Here is a picture of the Kindergarten class, there are 10 kids. One is missing because of strep throat

Earl and Sammi got to be there also. Earl tried to get up and come closer to the front but Sammi wouldn't hear of it.

Sammi's 3rd Birthday

Beth got her some bubbles that blow themselves.

Sammi chose to go to Wendy's for her birthday lunch.

Blowing out her homemade birthday cake.

(1/2 a sheet cake at the store is $40. I don't think so, besides I used egg beaters instead of eggs for my husband's cholesterol and applesauce instead of the oil for my diet)

We had to take Beth to the Dr. on Sammi's b-day. She came home from school crying with an ear ache (not like her at all) She has another bad ear infection. Earl and I have decided that we are going to invest in some good ear plugs for when the girls wash their hair in the bath tub. I believe that is where all the germs are coming from. They both take their bath together, so twice the germs(and twice the drownded bathroom).

3.6 lbs

Which brings the total up to 9.4 or some weird number. I just round up to a healthy 10 haha.

I am doing this post at 12:30 am because my loving husband came home and woke me up once he decided to come to bed and talk to me for 5 min. Unknown to him Beth had already woke me up twice. I had been asleep at 9:45 (very unusual). The girls had gone to bed early after playing hard at Beth's school talent show tonight. (pictures to follow tomorrow) So I did too. I don't know about the rest of you but I can't be woke up too often or my brain goes into thinking mode and not normal thinking mode but suspicious thinking mode. I tend to analogize every little thing. So here I sit hoping my brain will shut off, listening to Earl say in the bedroom "Where did she go and why is she awake at this hour" Good questions Honey, (I think I'll go make sure he's awake and explain it to him, with my shoe)

Well here it is another day for my weight watchers meeting. Monday was the only day that I didn't get to walk my 3 miles. So when Earl came home early from work Tuesday, I fixed his supper and headed out the door to get my walk in. I was going to do my normal walk but as I got to the end of it I had started to think about somethings and got (worried, aggravated, confused)well pick one. So I kept walking. I wound up walking 5 miles in a loop of country roads and was gone for 2 hours. The next day I really felt every step that I took. I also get to count my activity points. Usually I only earn 3 points but that day I earned 8 points. You can eat those points that you earn or not, I choose not

The only bad food that I had this week was pizza, but I counted them. I just felt guilty (but it was goooooooood)haha.

7 lbs

Thats how much I lost. I earned my first 5lb sticker. yeah me!! (and Earl for letting me walk every morning while he would take care of Sammi.)

I even have dreams about my walking,like sometimes I don't have my music and I can't figure out how to get home, or I forgot to get dressed and all of a sudden I realize it, or I'm walking and have no idea where I am!! Wonder what those dreams mean hehe.

Well, here it is summer is coming, the warm weather, Earl turning on the air conditioner to see if I can freeze to death at night.

My Dr. has told me that if I don't lose weight(again) that I am going to head into a diabetes diagnosis, so I have (with the blessing of my husband) joined Weight Watchers. I am also walking 2 miles a day in the morning. May not be a lot to some of you but excellent for me. I miss Mirro Lake Dr. in Lake Placid and the walks that I used to take around it. I feel foolish to walk to a certain point in town and then turn around to walk back the way that I came. I also have taken the girls for walks at night. They don't even know that I am exercising with them. I weighed in last week at my first meeting.(Don't even think about asking what the weight was)hehe. Tonight is my second meeting and I will find out if their meal plan is helping me lose weight, I am feeling anxious. So I hope to blog later that WW is working or I will try something else.

I don't know if all of you know that my brother and I are adopted. It became final on April 1, 1976 and on that day every year we celebrated as a family our adoption. This year we simply called one another and visited. This year I found myself thinking about my heavenly adoption and the relationship that I have with my Father.

I read a story where the girl in it explained all the things that she did and did not do was because her church said to, the other girl in the story explained that she did the same things but because she believed that God expected her to do the things. I believe that I am in the place of the second girl that I am do certain things or don't do certain things because I want to please my heavenly Father. Though I must admit that growing up I used the same excuse as the first girl.

I also love the scripture in

Jude 1:24

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

I love the fact that Jesus also wants us to make it to heaven and to be joyful when we are presented before the throne of God. Especially the fact that Jesus is able to keep us from falling. When temptation hits me lately I remind Jesus of this scripture then sit back and wait for the rescue.

Have a blessed day everyone, family I have remebered you in prayer. Especially the Myers clan.

Love you all!!!

It was beautiful today so we hit the town park. The children were not willing to have their picture taken so I only took one. Make sure to look close Beth is not doing what you think she is.

However Sammi had her play group today and they had an Easter egg hunt. We haven't had a play group session since Christmas and Sammi missed that due to her pneumonia and hospital stay.

We had a turkey dinner for Easter.

Ham was my first choice but the frozen turkey in the freezer won out against the ham still at Walmart. (hehe!)However my girls enjoyed the turkey legs very much!

A tradition of breaking the wishbone.

Happy Easter!!

Our First Easter Egg Decoration

The night before Easter and for the first time the girls and I did Easter eggs. I had never done them before with the girls. I guess growing up we focused on church and the Easter morning goodie basket we would get as kids. We stopped getting them around 12/13, but I have friends that are 24 and still expect their parents to load them up with sugar.

The girls and I decided to do the tie-dye eggs. Maybe not the best idea for a 2 year old. AGGGHHH. But thank goodness for plastic baggies that acted as the paintbrush. The finshed eggs were very nice. It took 12 shots until we got the picture that I liked. Then the girls headed to the bathtub to remove any dye.

Who wants to go swimming????

Welcome to Rutland the land of the Flooded Creek

This is behind my house to the left our neighbors back yard.

This is in front of our neighbors house next door

This creek behind our house

In Memory of

Mom

Saundra Kay Tillis

Gone one year today.

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free

I'm following the path God laid for me

I took God's hand when I heard the call,

I turned my back and left it all.

I couldn't stay another day,

To laugh, to love, to work, to play.

Tasks left undone must stay that way,

I found peace at the close of day.

If my parting has left a void,

then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared a laugh, a kiss,

Ah yes, they're things that I too will miss

Be not burdened with time of sorrow

I wish the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full, I've savored much,

Good friends, good time's, a loved ones touch.

Prehaps my time seemed all too brief,

Lift up your heart and share with me

God wanted me now- He set me free.

A picture from our hike last summer to Mercy Dam.

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends. May God bless you in this new year. My scriptures for this year are:

Philippians 3:13-14

....but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus

Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

I didn't make any resolutions but I would like to try to lose wieght this year and to be more determined in my relationship with Jesus. So I guess you could say I want to get skinny physically and fat spiritually. Hehehe.

Our love to you all!!

Sammi loved her pots and pans from Christmas. Almost every day since she has washed them and made "soup". It was 55 here yesterday it doesn't feel like winter at all. I found my gift certificate that I was thought lost. We are still waiting on the MP3 player. I put all of my Christmas decorations away Thursday, reaaranged things in my kitchen and rearranged my house (year round) decorations. I was able to add a new black bear and a moose and bear kleenex holder to my pretties.

Bethany asked me to put a picture of her newest 'daughter' on the blog. Santa delivered this new baby Christmas morning.

Sammi also got twin babies. As you can tell from the picture she could have cared less. Sammi really didn't care for Christmas package opening time. It seem to over whelm her and make her very upset

I got a MP3 player that I have been asking for (for a very long time) and much to my and Earl's dismay it turned on once and refused to work anymore. Even after trying 14 new batteries it refused to work. Then to console myself I went to find my $25 gift certficate that my Dad got me only to find that when we were cleaning up the Christmas wrapppings at Dad's house, someone accidently put it in the bags to be burned. Which Earl had done right away to be helpful. Thankfully I called the store where Dad got the certificate and the lady said that it was OK I could still come over and pick something out, but if I found the certificate to get rid of it. And Earl is hot on the trail of the company that he bought the player from.

Christmas was good, but Mom was sorely missed. I realized that the reason why Christmas was always so good for me was Mom made sure of it. Dad did a great job without her help, but Mom will always be hard to out do. So if your Mom is still with you tell her today how much you love her and appreciate her, you never know when she might go home to heaven.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends

I was going through my picture archives and found this picture from when we took the girls to a bull riding event at our county fair this summer. I love the outline of the girls with their pigtails.

Tomorrow Sammi will be having her tonsil and adnoids out remeber us in prayer. Daddy Earl has to work and is not happy at not being able to be there with Sammi.