I just had to write and tell what happened yesterday. The girls and I were going to Walmart to get some much needed undergarments for Beth, tennis shoes, ect. They have built a new bridge from Ohio to West Virginia and to get to Walmart you have to go under both bridges then come to a 3-way stop to turn left to go over the bridge or right to go to town. We went in our 87 Dodge Ram pickup truck and I had noticed that my brakes were acting funny once I got over town to a red light. Well we were coming up to the three-way stop and I pushed to slow down and had NO BRAKES, I saw that I was going to hit the car in front of me so I instead went over the curb, hit a gaurdrail and ran into a pile of dirt from the construction going on. Thanks be to God that no one was hurt and I actually only did cosmetic damage to the truck (the same one that Earl had hit deer with and that deer had run into Earl with). While it was happening the only thing I can remember is that Beth was yelling "Were having an accident". 4 or 5 of the construction guys came over to checks us the truck and let me use their cell phone to call my brother. (Yes I called my brother instead of Earl, because Donny can fix the truck and tell me what to do) I did call Earl with my brothers phone and he came straight from work to check on us. I will post a picture of the brake line later today it had broken off. Needless to say we did not get to go shopping because as we were waiting for Bubby(Donny) to fix the truck the children went to play in the big pile of dirt and I didn't want Earl to go home by himself with the truck.

We are planning on going to a musuem today for their Founder's Day because it is free and they are having things for the children to do. Then a picnic and a shopping adventure with Earl. He is SO thrilled hahaha. But we are all looking forward to the musuem. It is called 'Our House" and was built in 1819 as a home and has a building out side that was the kitchen area.

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