christmas in may?

As some of you know, I tend to start Christmas sewing about this time of year. I already have ideas about what I am doing for people who are on our Christmas list. Last year, I made these cute embroidered pillowcases for my family and friends. I should've taken pictures of them... I have learned my lesson about not photographing my things. I love making things!

I have been checking out other's blogs to get some ideas recently. I found these rockin' crocheted booties and I thought that next years learning 'a new thing' maybe crocheting. How awesome are these sock and berks baby booties??!!

sprouts

For an activity, last week or the week before...I can't remember now, the kids and I planted a bucket of watermelon seeds. I had the help of some super planters; Jacob, Penny, Blaklee, and Kelson. They have sprouted! I am so excited! I hope that they grow big and fruit well!!
As I was weeding the front yard this afternoon, I looked over to find Uno trying with all her might to say hello, through the fence. How cute is she?!

zoo record

Zoo attendance sets recordBy Kathi Keys -- Staff WriterPosted: 05/28/08 - 11:46:15 pm CDT
ASHEBORO — The N.C. Zoo set a new three-day holiday weekend record of 32,734 visitors over the Memorial Day weekend.The previous record was 25,806 for the three-day Memorial Day weekend in 2005.“We shattered it,” said Rod Hackney, the N.C. Zoo’s public relations manager, about the previous record.Zoo officials believe several factors contributed to the record attendance.They attribute media coverage of the new Watani Grasslands Reserve, featuring an enlarged elephant herd in a new habitat which unveiled in April, to more visitors.

****It felt like there were bunches of people @ the zoo, but who knew that nearly 33,000 people had the same idea this weekend!! Wow!!****

life

I got an e-mail from Clyde this week and in it were all sorts of pictures of people doing silly, silly things. People sitting in the back of a pick-up truck, in a canoe, so that the canoe wouldn't fall out...people standing on a ladder, while the ladder is on top of another ladder. crazy. My favorite picture was this one. Doesn't life feel like this sometimes?

memorial day zoo visit

Since Clyde had the day off for Memorial Day, he wanted to take the family to the zoo. So, did everyone else in Randolph County too, BTW. It was a perfect temperatured day for a zoo visit. The humidity was low and the sun was shining with a slight breeze. Perfect Zoo temperature. We started out in North America seeing the reptiles and the sea animals...sea lions and the polar bear. The puffins stink, but they are in an air conditioned building, so it is always nice to get a peek at them and walk through their building. We then let the kids play at the playground and since there weren't any available tables to eat at, we ate our packed lunch in the playground area. We then walked back the the tram and rode to Africa and walked around the park there. Clyde was disappointed that the rhinos weren't by the gates. He loves rhinos. We saw the monkeys, elephants, zebras, etc. We left the zoo after out 4 hour visit and ate in Asheboro @ the Sagebrush...where you can throw peanut shells on the ground, for dinner. We used some of the gift cards that we got for Christmas or for teacher gifts, in the small Asheboro Mall and then we were off to return to the Emerald City.
I really enjoyed the Lazy 5 Ranch, because you can touch and feed the animals, but I am still in love with the zoo. I love walking around and sneaking the otters some grapes. Ahh...the Zoo!!

lunch...
the kid zone playground

camping

Friday night was our ward's father/ son campout. Clyde was so excited about taking the boys out. He had planned his menu, organized the camping gear, and had even arranged to leave work a few hours early to get ready. He picked up Jacob and Penny from Gretchen W.'s house on his way home and then picked the big girls up early from school. I had Josh at the lazy 5 ranch, so when we got home, Clyde was nearly ready to go. We helped him load up the red car and they drove to the camp site. It sounds like a fun place to camp out. Clyde arrived and begun their fire, and unloaded their gear, set up the tent and campsite. Clyde said that everyone else migrated to thier site and they all enjoyed hotdogs, marshmellows, corn and the gourmet peaches that Clyde had prepared. They really had a great time. The boys ran around goofing off with fire, and only one accident. I think that is why the wife's don't go on these trips. I think that we would all be more cautious and more aware of the surroundings than what the men are. As a tradition to the campout, Clyde buys the glow in the dark bracelets and sticks and attaches them tot he boys so that he can keep an eye on them in the dark. He can always tell where they are by the glow in the dark stick. that is a staple to campouts...a must have for safety. The next morning, after the rain, Clyde began his breakfast...bacon and eggs and awoke many campers with the smell. He cleaned up their site, loaded his gear and then took the boys canoeing. They were home by 9:45 am and boy were they camp stinky. They all smelled like the fire and the outdoors. Josh and Jacob loved the campout, but probably not as much as Clyde.
meanwhile...
The girls and I had a night boy free. I had planned on taking them to see the new Narnia film, but once I began to think about it, I thought that the movie being 144 minutes, that Penny wouldn't make the experience fun. And since it wasn't the early bird price and being $8 per ticket, I thought that I'd rather pay for just the big girls to see it at a later time, when Penny could stay home. We decided to eat @ Chick-fil-a and play in the play area for a bit and then we were off to Target. I thought that since we weren't going to a film, that we could buy a chick-flick for way less money and have some snacks to go along with it. We bought "Everafter", the Drew Barrymore Cinderella story. The girls loved it. They chose sourbaby chew things, and some Swedish fish for their snack. Penny and I shared a yummy box of good-n plenty's. Penny fell asleep 20 minutes into the film, thank goodness, so we finished the film in peace. Even Uno our dog sat snuggled in the girl mix. Erin and Libby wanted to sleep downstairs, like a slumber party and they were in heaven. The next morning, we were surprised to have the boys return so early. We helped them unload the car and then I took the Wardlings, who were awake, to Rudd Farm to pick strawberries. In about 10 minutes, we had picked nearly 9 pounds of strawberries. Penny loved holding the little basket. We then went to Costco and did our shopping. We were all so tired by the time that we got home that night after 8. We all crashed. What a fun Saturday!

fabric stashes

I have been collecting fabric for years now. I love fabric! I love the creative possibilities that a rockin yard of kick butt fabric allows. I can look at a piece of fabric from my stash and tell you why I bought it, & it's purpose. I simply adore the creative possibilities that fabric allows, a dress for one of my girls, new pj's for my boys, gifts and more gifts... Whenever I have been stumped for a gift of any kind, I find myself going to my fabric stash and letting my mind create. I love it! As I was reading one of the blogs that I read, which BTW must be weird for them to know that complete strangers have a window into their lives...the main reason I have opted to keep my blog from just anyone seeing it...I spotted this...a photo of their stash. Isn't it beautiful?!

lazy 5 ranch

What a fun field trip, the Lazy 5 Ranch is. This was the first field trip that I had the opportunity to go on this year. I try to do one per child, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way. I like for the Wardlings to have seen my face alot during the school year, in their classroom. I really like to be involved in anyway I can. We left the Wardling's school around 8am-ish. I rode with another Mom, saving a bunch of gas in the mini-van. There are such cool animals that we were able to feed and to touch. Josh really liked feeling the buffalo and the Siberian buffalo. Clyde bought me a disposable camera, so once that film is back, I'll post more pictures.

Once our tour was over we caught a glimpse of the farrier, who was re-shoeing a Clydesdale horse. That was fun to watch. I think that the farrier was bored with people watching, but we were going to watch it. Way neat.
There is a boy in Josh's class that looks alot like Josh...
I'm sorry to show the poop, but mid shoeing, as you can see, the horse dropped a load. The kids went nuts!

i'm cool!

This one was taken the other day while we visited Frazier park. I love this picture of Penny! She loved playing that day!

school pictures

Three of the Wardlings came home with picture packets taken by the school. Just wanted to share.

When Clyde saw these pictures last night, he busted out laughing asking where they had picked up the awful "saved by the bell" backdrop. He is right...do the photography people not realize that the 80's and early 90's are over? Do they think that this is retro?? The Wardlings in the pictures are adorable, but whew- what a backdrop!!

jacob's boo boo

Last night Clyde went over to a friend of Lou and Rochelle's to get a couch and a loveseat. I wish I had taken a picture of Clyde in the van to get the furniture. He had to move the driver's seat all the way up and so his knees were in the dashboard and it was adorable seeing him pry himself out of the van. Clyde and I were behind the van getting the couch out of it, when I saw Jacob do some crazy cartwheel thing and fall out of the van, hitting his head on the concrete driveway. It seriously sounded as if someone had hit the driveway with a hammer. "THUNK!!" His head instantly got a nasty goose egg on it while beginning to pink up and bruise. We grabbed ice packs and kept him awake for a long time to make sure that he was ok. This morning, it isn't as bruised as I thought that it would be, but the goose egg is still there. He was so lucky not to have broken his eye socket or his arm/ wrist from the fall. What a night! (Again, this picture is from the cell phone, so sorry it isn't too terribly clear.)

yellow paint

I have wanted to paint my entry hallway for some time now. I haven't done it because I wasn't sure which color I wanted to paint it. I still have some of the green that I painted the kitchen and I have more yellow from when I painted the living room. Decisions. After asking several people's opinions, I decided to go with the yellow, since I didn't want the green in the kitchen to make the hallway look like it was apart of the kitchen. Last night was the night to do it. Today Cheryl, Audra, and Michelle are throwing me a housewarming party and I wanted it to be done before a few of the gals from church got here. I get out my yellow paint that was left over from the living room and I begin to paint. The pail becomes empty and so I get the other gallon from the garage. It has been awhile since I used it, so I needed to stir it up to mix it all up again. As I poured it into my painting tray, I notice that it is much lighter than the paint that I had already used. Again, What the poop! First a flat tire and now the paint is wrong??!! Since the first coat of paint didn't cover much I wasn't too unhappy that I had the lighter to cover it up with. I looked @ the paint cans & noticed that the brighter color of paint was mixed with a different base color than the other paint can. By this time I am getting upset borderline angry @ Lowes all over again. See the 1st time I bought paint, the guy told me, from lowe's and olympic didn't make the particular type of paint that I needed and talked me into buying another brand. Then when I got home, I opened up their flyer to see that in fact olympic did make it and I felt like the biggest chump ever. Anyway, as I was painting last night, the conversation that I was going to have with the lowes manager was played out in my head. I would've taken in both cans of paint, so show the manager that they were mixed on the same day, just a few minutes apart, yadda yadda, and that I expected to have another gallon of paint with the same base mixed to compensate for their mistake. I wasn't even going to tell Clyde about it, I was just going to make it happen. Then I go back to load up my roller and I looked @ the paint can lids..... that's when I saw it. I had begun to use the obnoxious yellow paint, which is named sunshine btw, that the previous owners had left in the garage. This yellow paint is big bird yellow and is in my 1/2 bathroom downstairs. I was using the right paint, the 2nd time and went back into the garage to find the other can of paint from the living room and there it was mocking me in the garage. Ok- what a dork I am! I am so glad that I looked again and didn't make the biggest of all biggest idiotic of mistakes. How could I have ever shown my face again in lowes?? Whew-

what the poo!!

Yesterday on the way to pick the kids up from school, I heard a thump, thump noise. I turned the corner on the street and stopped to take a peek. It just didn't sound right. I got out of the van and looked at the tires. The driver's side was fine. Then I walked around the other side and heard, 'sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss' and noticed that the passengers side tire was deflating. Crap!! I only had 20 minutes before the Wardlings got off the bus too! Double Crap!! I called Bruce and Mitchel's mom, since she is the closest to the old house and she happily agreed to get the Wardlings off the bus for me. She said that she wanted to have them over for a playdate anyway. So, whew! However, in the mean time I still had the other 2 Wardlings and Blaklee with me. I called Rochelle and told her what was wrong, so she met me and got Blaklee and my baby Wardlings. The next step was to call Kia, since they have roadside assistance and have someone come out and change my tire. I could've done it by myself, I think, but thankfully someone else came. The place that I pulled over was /is a new development of houses. As such the asphalt was brand new. As the tow guy was changing my tire, the jack was sinking deeply into the asphalt. He had some boards that he put under the jack, in order to get the car jacked up again. I don't think I would've realized that, as I kept raising up the van to change the tire. Thankfully kia covered the cost as well. Cool.

As I sat waiting for the tow guy, I was glad to have my knitting with me. Once I had used all my yellow and couldn't knit anymore, I read Sports Illustrated about Danica Patrick and her win! Go Danica!!

Dr. Ben

Clyde's 7th grade Social Studies classes are studying African History. I do not remeber studying this when I was in 7th grade...oh maybe it was because I was homeschooled that year. That may have something to do with it. In our ward, is this man, Dr. Ben, whom is a native Nigerian. He is a Dr. in African and Carribean Literature. Clyde talked to him @ church to see if he would be willing to come to his classes and talk to them about life in Africa. He happily agreed! Way neat! I picked up Dr. Ben this morning and drove him to Clyde's school, in rural Asheboro. We chatted the whole way down to ASheboro and it was nice to get to know him better. We got to SWRMS and the SRO officer escorted us to the library, where it was completely set up for a speech. I had the little ones with me and Blaklee was putting on a show! We didn't stay long, maybe 5 minutes or so. Clyde's 1st class came in with just a few minutes remaining in their block and Dr. Ben began his speech. Clyde said that it was amazing! I'd like to be a student of Mr. Ward's! They had quite an audience. Afterwards, students were anxious to shake his hand and to get his autograph. I think that Dr. Ben had a very positive impact on Clyde's students.

hey- there's Jessup back there!! :)

donna lee loflin

While in Asheboro, we went to this rocking playground, which happens to be across the street to the Elementary School that Erin and Libby attended their kindergarten and first grade years. We lived 4 blocks away and on sunny days we would just walk. That was cool. I always drove them in the mornings, but would walk quite regularly to pick them up. Libby's kindergarten year, was the year that Jacob was born, so I did drive a bit until the spring and warmer weather. I hated waiting in the pick-up line. You either had to wait 20 minutes before school ended, or 30-40 minutes after in the long line that circled a block. I preferred the first, being 20 minutes early and waiting. That way, once the girls were out, they would load into the van and I was off. The school had a playground on it's property, but the ingeniusness of whomever created the under-street walk path to get to the park. Frazier park is so cool and pretty big, that the kids would rather play there. So the teachers would take them underground through the tunnel, to go underneath the street, to go to the park. You can see the tunnel in the picture. Way cool!

Frazier park

After I dropped Dr. Ben off @ SWRMS, the kiddies and I had some time to kill. I didn't want to drive all the way home, to have to load the kids up again, to get the big Wardlings from the bus. Since we were in Asheboro, we went to our old stomping ground to play. This is a rockin park! This was made more for children who are between the ages of 5 and 12. Everything is a bit bigger. Oh- my camera still isn't fixed, so these pix are from my cell phone. Sorry for the lack of quality. The babies had a blast. We stayed here for at least an hour and a half. I had stopped off @ Wendy's first to get lunch. They had to eat their lunch completely before they could play. They snarfed down their lunch super fast. They really wanted to play!

Jacob loved this rock climbing-like wall.

How dainty!

bare naked lady

Mother's Day was fabulous here! Clyde and kids made an excellent breakfast for me. They gave me lotions for my gift..gotta love bath and body works! Clyde started lupper, with my favorite meal... (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans), so that when we came home from church, it would be done. It was delish too!! We took it easy, got dressed and left for church. I had made myself a skirt, but I couldn't find the right shade of plum zipper, so I'll have to hang onto it until I do. If I don't find the right zipper, then I'll figure something else out. I love the fabric for the skirt. Anyway, I drove to church and as we were going down the street, we saw this lady on the side of the road. She wasn't wearing a shirt, just a bra and she was jumping up and down while screaming and all I could think was, "please let her girls hang in her bra!" My children did not need to see some lady's ta ta's before going to church. As we passed her, Clyde asked if I had noticed the blood on her face. No, to be honest I was a bit distracted by something else. We think that it must've been some nasty domestic violence thing. Poor gal. I hope that she for one got a ride and some help, and b- I hope that if she were attacked that she kicked some butt!! Happy Mother's Day!!

tickets

Thursday morning started out as a usual morning for us. Get up, get dressed, eat, leave for work and school. On the way to work and to school, either Clyde or I call each other to chat. Thursday morning changed things abit. While chatting, and getting ready to turn left, @ the LDS church, to go to work, Clyde looks both ways and then pulls out. Well, the problem is that he didn't look completely to his right and pulled out in front of a state trooper, barely missing him, whilst on the phone to me. The State Trooper pulls him over. Clyde had his license and registration ready for the trooper when he came to the window. They chat with the usual conversation...where are you going, why are you going there, etc...& the trooper takes his sweet time writing Clyde the ticket for not stopping @ a stop sign. He felt terrible. He really could've hit the trooper. That would've been a mess! I have to admit that I am glad that things like this happen to Clyde and not me. I haven't had a ticket for speeding, in 13 years. The last ticket I got was for the inspection being out on our car & that was 8 years ago. I hate the feeling of getting pulled over!

Yesterday wasn't anything super special here. We were asked to watch a few pals from church, Mitchel & Bruce while their mom had a job to do. We loaded up the car and went as usual to get the kids off the bus. The girls had been invited to go to Audra's house after school, and since I had a van full, Audra came to get the girls off the bus. Thanks Audra!! On the way home, we are jammin' to the Beastie Boys when I hear an unfamiliar sound... police sirens. I look up in the rear view mirror and there was a police man. I think he had tried to get my attention and that the sirens were the only thing that made me stop. What the crap, I was being pulled over? I looked down and I guess I was speeding. I get my license and registration out for him and the police man asked why he had pulled me over. I said that I must have been speeding. He laughed. He said, "you just pulled out onto the street, you didn't have time to speed." Then why was I being pulled over? Do I have too many kids in the van?? He said that I didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign that I had just past. Thinking back, there was a car coming, when I pulled out, but I had plenty of time to safely pull out onto the street. It was an unmarked police car. I had pulled in front of a state trooper too!! So, he says that he is going to pull my information and most likely if I didn't have a rap sheet 5 miles long that I would most likely get a warning. Meanwhile, I have my Wardlings, Blaklee, and Mitchel & Bruce with me. I had to explain that I did something wrong and that the police man was giving me a ticket. Jacob starts complaining that it is taking so long & that he's hot, and Mitchel starts telling me stories of when his mom had been pulled over. I just knew that I was going to get a ticket. Minutes, that felt like an hour, go by and the police man comes back up to my window and gives me back my license and registration and says something along the lines of "pay attention and to stop completely at stop signs, fair??" fair... I take my license & registration, start the van, check my mirrors, and drive off into the sunset having only gotten a warning.

jacob and the wii

roses bloom

The brown house has roses! I was so excited to find them when we moved in. They have recently begun to open. This is just one bunch of roses thathave opened. These sprung open this week. Due to the massive rain storm, we had last night, a few of the rose bush sections were drooping. They really took a drenching last night! I hope that they make it...

casting our vote

Whist we voted...the Wardlings swung....

When Clyde came home from work last night, he was determined to go vote. I like to vote, but wasn't really up for voting in the primary. November's vote is a big one, so I am happy to do that. He talked me into going to cast our votes last night. We loaded up the Wardlings to go to our voting station and we voted. I am just at a loss for this election. None of the candidates for me are someone with whom I'd like to see in Washington, leading our country. Libby asked not too long ago why there were only 2 choices. There is the Constitutionalist party, but are we wasting our vote by voting for them? I think that Ralph Nader actually cost the democrats the election 4 years ago. Voting is a big deal to me. I just think of all those women fighting for the right to vote and it wasn't until the 1920's that women were actually allowed to vote. So, to me it is worth getting out to voice my opinion. Now, I have the right to complain, if it doesn't go my way.

Once we were finished voting, I realized that it was Tuesday night and that the big girls had Activity Night. We hadn't eaten yet, so we first went to Cici's pizza. I was not in the mood for pizza. To my benefit, their debit card machine was down and so McDonald's it was. I am not a big fan of McDonald's either (have you seen "Super-Size Me?"), but it was 6:30pm and church began @ 7. We were at our table and we saw Susan W. and her family go through the drive-thru. They had been waving for awhile, but it took a minute for me to catch on...duh...We ate and then off to church we went. Since the whole family was with us, & we didn't want to wait the hour, like I typically do on Tues. nights, so we went to Target and cruised around. When we got back to the church the girls had made these adorable flower pots all decorated and they had planted some impatients in them for Mother's Day. They were beautiful! I gave the flowers some good ole miracle grow fertilizer and they are now basking in the sun light outside.

battery death

I love posting with pictures. I usually do not like to post unless I have a picture to go along with it. This past week, the night of Einstein Choir, the battery in our camera died. No problem, I put it in it's charger to charge up, when we got home. Well, there's the problem...the charger isn't charging the battery. The camera with it's charger was my Christmas present, so it isn't as if this thing is that old either. The battery itself holds a charge for a long time, so it has only needed to be charged a few times. Then this happens. I am so disappointed about it all. I did contact the company, but since it is in Japan, we may have issues. I might just simply contact Kodak and see what they can do if anything at all. So, my next few posts will be without pictures, until we can get this figured out; let's hope that I saved the receipt.

craft wars and surgery

I have been in contact lately with Michaels arts and crafts store...rather they have been in contact with me, over my serious complaint about their stock. Because they are on the banned list I still have not returned to their store. Last week, the DM for the company called me to talk over my problem. Still nothing resolved and no gift card to get me back into the store was given...they are still on the banned list. Anyway, mid conversation he tells me that AC Moore is closing their shops within the next 45 days, because the manager had called and asked him for a job. They go way back, working together @ Wal-Mart together, years previously. I was dismayed, but chose to ignore it because, that couldn't be the truth. This morning, I had to take Uno into the Humane Society to be spayed...I'll have to write about that in just a minute... Since The Humane Society is on the same end of Wendover, I needed to go to Costco to 1- get gas, and b- to get a few groceries. It wasn't quite time for them to open...their sign says 11am...are they for real with that time? Anyway, we had to wait a minute and AC Moore is right there. We still had to wait 20 minutes before AC Moore opened. When it was time to go in and there was a crowd of people...6 to be exact... of other fellow AC Moore shoppers there, we walked into the store, & I was determined to get to the bottom of this AC Moore crisis hanging over my head. The kiddies and I walked back to the yarn section to look at and try to find some yarn for boys hats....thanks Shena for your advice...and there was a distributor for AC Moore, so I asked him about what the DM had said from Michaels. To his dismay, he said that he had heard nothing about our store closing. I mentioned that the Michaels manager said that the Florida store had already closed and that AC Moore was closing all stores below Maryland, due to the price of shipping their stock from NJ down the east coast. The AC Moore guy said that he knew that the FL store had closed, because it was the chains worst profiting store. So, we ended the conversation with him saying that he had heard nothing of the store closing, but that Michaels had signed or was about to sign bankruptcy papers very soon. A few minutes later, while I was looking @ yarn, he walks by me and says that he is going to get to the bottom of this and talk to their store's manager. Did I start something?? I can hear them talking & the manager says that they aren't closing, but knew of several stores that either had closed or were closing. The guy then pops his head back to my aisle and tells me the same thing. Now- who is lying...is AC Moore in fact closing their doors and the manager not telling...was he fretting and having a "What the Poop Moment" when I asked about it? Or is Michaels lying about AC Moore in order to get more business?? I bet I just started some major drama with that store. Who is telling the truth? Michaels or AC Moore? Where the poop is Nancy Drew when you need her?

Now Uno. We wanted to have her spayed, since I didn't want our dog to 1- go into heat and drive the other dogs in our neighborhood nutty and 2- I really didn't want blood everywhere, when she went into heat, and 3- I really don't want puppies. Finding homes for the hamsters was hard enough. I made an appointment with the Humane Society, since they were the most cost effective place to do it. She is also getting her shots and micro chipped, so that if she is lost, she can be located via satellite and found. Today was the day. We told the Wardlings that this day was quickly approaching and I think that they some what ignored me. That is until Libby was continually talking about it yesterday afternoon. Jacob started crying right away, especially when he found out that she has to spend the night tonight. He was determined to sleep with her at the Humane Society, to keep her company. He also wanted her to sleep with him last night. We don't mind if she begins the night with the Wardlings, but I do not want her to stay, because she just isn't poop/ pee trustworthy yet @ night. When Clyde and I went to bed last night, the boys had locked Uno with them, in their room. We had to wiggle and jiggle, and use our magic wand to open the door last night. Those boys...

So, this morning came. It was a usually wake up bark, but instead of letting Erin go downstairs to take her out and feed her, I did it. She couldn't have anything to eat or drink after 9pm last night, so I didn't want to take the chance that Erin had forgotten. The Wardlings were a bit emotional this morning. Erin was wailing and upset about the whole process. Josh was getting teary eyed and was abit unruly in the van on the way to school. Libby I don't think really cares either way. We leashed Uno and took her with us to school. We dropped the Wardlings off and then we needed to head over to the clinic. Jacob, Blaklee, Penny, & I arrived and checked our little Uno in. Jacob was mad at me, but not that upset yet. Then, Uno's name was called and the man took her away. Jacob immediately swelled up in tears and began to cry. I comforted him and carried him out to the van at which point he began to yell and cry @ me about Uno. He is still at this moment upset and will not get into his head that it is just one night and that we will get her again in the morning, after we drop the kids off @ school. I guess they really do like little Uno...