This Just In...

Andy FINALLY had a mediation hearing this morning with the guy who threw the brick at Daisy. The last time Andy talked to these people, the wife came to the door with a video camera telling Andy that Daisy was barking viciously and trying to attack, and they thought she was rabid, so they were defending themselves. She wouldn't even let her husband come to the door, and then called the police on Andy for trespassing (which is funny because the cop totally agreed with us). Today when they met, they wouldn't let the wife stay in the room, and it was no contest. We gathered several statements from people who know Daisy and know that she is about as far from vicious as they come, and we also had the statement from the neighbor that witnessed the whole thing, but without the wife in the room, Andy said the guy was all shakey and kept starting to cry, and just agreed to pay the whole thing. Since it was a mediation and we started this whole ordeal trying to be somewhat nice about it (we even chose the cheaper surgeon and didn't charge for the gas we used to make the 1 hour round trip drive every week for 3 months for bandage changes) they agreed that he would pay for it over 6 months. Andy said when they walked out of the room and the guy walked over to his wife, he finally did start crying. What a goober!

Birthdays and Spring

Evan and Alli celebrated their 7th birthday this weekend! I can't believe they're so old. When Drew turned 7, I felt like she was so grown up, but Evan and Alli are still my babies. On Friday night they each had a friend over to go to the movies with them and spend the night. Four 1st graders in a house at one time is an adventure in itself. On Saturday, Andy and I actually got a night away from the kids and went to see Hall & Oates at Chastain Amphitheater, outdoors in the pouring rain. We went and bought rain suits and were really prepared and ended up having an awesome time! The concert was GREAT. We went with my mom and dad, and during one of their best songs (She's Gone), mom and I actually sneaked our way up to the front about 5 feet from the stage. It was great! After a fun, but long and exhausting night, we decided the best way to top it off would be to have a bunch of family to the house to grill out and celebrate Alli & Evan's birthday some more. We had grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors over, and since Evan and Alli are their own unique people, we had a cookie cake for Alli and an ice cream cake for Evan. It's so nice to get to have a birthday party where you actually have a legitimate reason to buy 2 different kinds of cake!

Here are all the kids right before they did candles.

Here they are blowing out the candles.

And, here they are with some of their gifts.

Also, just because I'm proud of my flowers, this year our neighbors gave us some strawberry planters, and Andy bought some bright colored spray paint to paint them with. I went and got some flowers, and I'm so excited about how pretty they turned out! I wanted to take a picture of them, so Evan hopped in the picture and posed. I'm not sure why he's only wearing one shoe - this is a problem we've had with him. He wants to go outside so badly to play that he either makes it with no shoes, only socks, or socks and one shoe. Thank goodness for the steam setting on the washing machine!