Water Escapades!

Sakora's 1st Swim!!!
This is what happens now at the Carr household after it storms and pours all night! THis is our "creek" in the backyard. Sakora loved it --we could hardly get her out of the water :)

Her faithful buddy Bear follows up the rear.

She looks more like a little girl than a baby in this one! Curtsey, please!

Love the Ruffles!

Pre-swimsuit...

BYE BYE! We captured the wave:)

P.S.---as I was writing that last line, she took her first crawling step!!! But now seems to be regressing (literally, scooting backwards).

Synopsis

So, the computer is not letting me move the pictures, so everything is out of order, but I hope you enjoy the long-awaited update on the Carr family!

Reaching for the camera..... (ABOVE: hanging out at Norris Lake, getting ready to paddle away!)

Fun with Papi up in St. Charles.

Some of Kacey's students....we made an awesome, but too short, trip back to Marianna for graduation. Sakora loved all the people and did great!

A radish from our garden! yum!!! Very HOT :)

Kacey and the mower that we replaced the engine on (more details further down)...
**AA-CHOO!** Carrots everywhere!

More at Norris Lake!
Handing Daddy yummy strawberries.

"Grandma Betty, I think I'm ready to start washing dishes!"

Ready to sail away :)

Helping Daddy study for school.

How 'bout those cute leg rolls??

Strawberry from the garden...

Hmmmm..... end stage otitus externa, how interesting!

It's been awhile since I have posted, so my apologies to all the faithful readers!! I have been traveling and studying for my National Council on Strength and Fitness Personal Trainer Exam. (Which, I passed a week ago!! Praise God! Now I am a certified personal trainer and looking for clients!)

There has been so much going on in the past 2 1/2 months that it would take forever to detail it all, so i'll settle with some highlights. First the update on the little Carr Princess:

Solid food has been going well. She has liked everything she's tried except my homemade squash and green beans...can't say I blame here!

Her new skills include sitting up, waving, giving high-five, and chasing Spanky (we hold her hands and she practically runs after him).

Things also seem pretty easy right now because she is back to sleeping through the nights plus goes down for naps on her own. She doesn't even really liked to be bounced anymore. When it's naptime, she just wants to lay down in her crib and go to sleep on her own. ...AMAzING!! She loves skyping people and gets excited when she hears it ringing. The seperation anxiety/estranging has been improving and, for the most part, is a very social baby. She thinks the dogs are hilarious and belly laughs at them everyday...that has been the most fun of all! The sound of her laughing is the most wonderful sound on earth :) You can't help but laugh along with her and we find ourselves willing to repeat something a hundred times if it means she will find it amusing. Crawling is close at hand, although she is still able to get around by rolling right now. In summary, she is sooooo much fun now!

And, of course, we have to mention our other babies....the pups! For a few weeks now, Mighty and Bear have transitioned to totally outside dogs. They don't even come in at night! It seems like they are loving it, though,and it makes keeping the house clean much easier. Spanky has become just an inside dog, which Sakora has been thuroughly enjoying.

Also big news, Kacey accomplished an outstanding mechanical feat by replacing and engine on a riding lawn mower! His office manager gave him his Huskavana lower because the engine has blown (literallly into two pieces....he put racing fuel in it!). So Kacey took the engine out of our old craftsman that he bought last year and after hours of hard work and grease, he got it up and running! Kacey has also purchased all his books and is already started studying for school.

Tending to our garden has been on of the most exciting endeavors this spring/summer, although it has not been producing as bountifully as we had hoped. We are taking this first year as a learning year and we trust each progressing year will be an improvement from the previous. So far we have harvested 1 strawberry, 2 radishes and it's greens, 4 bunches of parsley, and about 10 potaotes (which, on average, are a little bit smaller than a golf ball...hahah). this week I have added cucumbers, squash, corn, and watermelon. We have one tomato plant and I will hopefully add some beans, more tomatoes, and carrots. I'll also try some fall produce later on.

Please pass along any gardening tips you may have :)

Also, we have been really loving our church (the Overflow) and were able to get together with some of the members at Norris Dam state park this past weekend. The beautiful state parks are one of the awesome things about living in Knoxville that we have failed to fully utilize since Sakora arrived. Hopefully we'll make visit them more often this summer.

OK,. well I will try to get another post up soon! Love you all!

Long Ago in a Land Far Away...

...God made a little boy with a big passion...a passion for animals! He gave him parents who allowed him to grow spiders in bath tubs, catch snakes in the backyard, and spend his savings on buying a puppy. He grew into a man and gave him opportunities to work cattle, ride horses, and doctor puppies. He guided him through an education in biology to prepare his mind for the journey ahead. There was no doubt that God had crafted the heart of a rescuer into this boy and was going to help him chase that dream his whole life. Even when the boy thought he was better cut out for running after other life passions, God always provided a critter for saving and brought him back to the core of his heart. Forever faithful, God has opened doors and paved roads for him to continue towards the life of a veterinarian.

Yep, you guessed it, the boy is KACEY! and that boy has been officially accepted into the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN!!!!!!!!!

It is just starting to sink in that he is actually going to be going back to school this very next fall!God is so faithful!! ALthough our hearts were pounding as Kacey opened the letter, we were confident that all was in God's hands. It just seemed an inevitable next step in Kacey's life...whether it be this year, the next year, or even the year after that! There is just no denying that this is what God created him to do, and that is an amazingly comforting and exciting realization.

Sakora was also super excited! SO excited that she hasn't been able to sleep the past several nights and even tried to eat his letter of acceptance! :) What a supportive little daughter. She has also taken to screaming lately (I was a screamer, apparently, so i guess that too may have been inevitable!). Maybe she's screaming with excited anticipation of the years to come?? Probably just gas.... We started her on rice cereal and it seems to be giving her significant stomach problems, even though she seems to really like it. She always eats the whole serving!

Other progress....she is becoming a much braver reacher. Always very tenative, she used to prefer to just intently study most things. Now, she reaches out for almost everything within reach and loves feeling new things. She was especially enthralled with my hair, which i recently wore down for the first time since her birth! Reading is also more fun as she reaches for the pages and turns then back and forth. Her favorites right now are "Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy" and "Tiny Bear's Bible". Mama and Dada see very close to being on her vocab list....she says da-da-da-da very clearly (still doesn't know what it means but still says it!), although we are working on the mamamama.

THe dogs have also been very entertaining for her. Showing her the dogs is the one thing that will always make her laugh and smile. SHe absolutely loves it when Spanky comes running up to her and she starts squealing when Mightly and Bear run at her....looks like we may have another vet on our hands??

Well, life calls, so I will have to save the garden and yard and house update for the next blog, but here are two pics of our lovely outdoors :)

On a roll!

We have exciting news!! Sakora rolled over finally! About 2 weeks ago, she rolled from her back to her stomach and has been doing it quite frequently ever since. She still has trouble going from stomach to back, but we are working on more tummy time and hopefully she will conquer that feat soon. On top of that, we found out that Kacey got an interview with the University of Tennessee for Vet School! He has the interview March 16th (so send up a prayer if you remember!) and the acceptance letters will be mailed out April 2nd. So hopefully we willl have some more good news next month!

Can't hardly believe it, but next week, Sakora will be 5 months! She is starting to get quite the personality and has been a blast the past couple of weeks. Depsite having some major seperation anxiety (over the past 2 or so months, she has very strongly objected to ANYONE else holding her except Kacey and I and Grandma Betty), she has been extremely generous with her smiles and squeals. Bear, MIghty, and Spanky even get some of her amused glances and giggles. Her happiest moments are when she wakes up in the morning, when her Daddy gets home from work (she gets super excited to see Kacey! it's so cute!), immediately after she fills her belly, when we sing and dance for her, and when she gets tickled :) Her growth has started to slow a bit and she is now only in the 75% percentile for weight (she was 15 lbs exactly at her 4 1/2 month check-up). So, the doctor recommended started her on rice cereal sometime this month. Still haven't had her try any, but we did discover that she loves water! At a resturaunt this past weekend, we let her suck little drops of water off my straw and she seemed to be enthralled with the whole thing. Although when Mom gave her a sip off of her straw, there must have been a tad bit of lemon juice because she scrunched up her face and give a quick head shake. I don't think she was expecting sour.

She has started sleeping on her side 50% of the time, which is adorable...

Sporting her track jacket...:) Thanks Dr. Sherrod!

In other news, we had massive, torential rains last week and our backyard was completely flooded, as was much of Fountain City (our Knoxville community). THe main road a few blocks from our house was flooded and Kacey couldn't get home for several hours. He ended up having to leave the Truck in a parking lot and catch a ride from Keyunta in the Tahoe. People were even having to be rescued from their cars by rescue boats. It was nuts! THankfully the waters receeded as quickly as they came once the rain stopped and the only damages suffered were by the fence in our backyard (and both vehicles...ugh). It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the water was gushing through the yard like a rushing river... it even pushed open our neighbors gate and was strong enough to push huge tree limbs into our fence and uproot it.

Kacey and the dogs survey the damage....