dorkus is a term of endearment

As you know Sofie has been a little under the weather. We have filled and pushed liquids down her in hopes that perhaps she was just slightly dehydrated and not something more serious. As a result Sof has spent a good amount of time on the toilet. Good, I think....After her around 8th time Dave and I were sitting in the kitchen and we hear her say "Mom, come here please." I get that a lot with no real good reason to respond so sometimes I will don my "Sam ears" and pretend I didn't hear anything. Well she persisted and yelled "Mom, quite acting like a dork head!" Dave got a little up in arms and yelled back at her that's not a nice word. She responded.."Well she calls me that all the time." I couldn't deny it and I couldn't stop from laughing. I do call my kids dorkus' or dork heads. But it really is a term of endearment coming from a Davis. When we were growing up we (the sisters) called each other princess. We did for a long time and still do. But things changed now we interchange princess and dorkus. How did we ever get to dorkus--Jason perhaps. And how can I be so cold hearted to think that calling my kids dork heads is OK?? However, as I write this I am still chuckling. Maybe I'm subconsciously hoping this will better prepare them for their days of possibly being bullied. Or not.

Sam wanted to feed the horses some barley today. I wanted to see if he would actually do it. To tell you the truth the horses are not ever ridden so they are not that people friendly. Well I knew he wasn't going to ride one--which we would never do--I'm not even sure if Micah is that brave, but I wasn't sure how aggressive they would be with a 7 year old coming out with their favorite snack. Sweet barley. Below is the short "slide show"
We've ridden the 4 wheeler out to the pasture. Sam has a handful of barley in his hand to draw the horses in a little so he can leave them the barley bucket. He's playing the brave one but he has rehearsed how to start the 4 wheeler 3 times to me so if we need to let the horses dine and we need to dash then we'll be prepared to do so.
Ahh the horses have been tempted and they are on their way in from the outer pasture to see what the 7 year old boy may have to interest them. I wish you could see how fast he is running. I'm certain he has secured himself a world's record and all I can hear him yelling in a panic is "Start the engine Mom! Start the engine!"

By then I knew we were quite safe and told Sam to put out the bucket and the horses wouldn't give us a second look. Well maybe Savannah, but she's a meany. And she is. She is the Alpha horse. I'm not sure why but she is. She decides who can eat the barley and who can't. Molly and I don't know the other horses name and neither did Dave can--sometimes..but Rudy isn't allowed to. It is very sad to watch. We call the other horses the mean girls.
Well Sam is not going to put up with cliques of any sort and is going to put an end of the exclusion of Rudy. At this point some kids living in Wyoming would find a cowboy hat and get to work. Sam decided a safer option would be his bike helmet. I think I lectured him a little too much about horses kicking. But Savannah always does seem to get excited and will buck for very minor reasons so I thought it better to warn him. I had no idea he would think safety first with his helmet. Well bull riders wear them now. So good for him.
He got tired of the helmet--decides to go in full throttle and he takes the bucket away from the mean girls---t--r--i--e--s-- to give it to Rudy but the mean girls will have nothing doing and to be honest they are a bit intimidating and even though he is far braver then he was at the beginning he still has a little sense of fear and I was always told that horses can sense fear.
Well Rudy in the end did get a few good chomps of barley. Sam still feeling overly protective of him goes up and gives him some love. I think Rudy actually appreciated it.

My "13" year old and the infamous barley bucket
Miss Sassafrass
My 3 loves. Isn't that a book?
We had a great Sunday actually. Sam has a friend and enjoys going to Primary and though Sofie got a slow start with, I must admit a rather stoic looking/acting teacher, we picked her up at the end of the day all smiles--yelling "I learned about Jesus today!" Sam knew what he learned but didn't want to tell us. Yeah sure.

We decided to draw up our plans for the playhouse. We all sat around the dining room table and were to draw what we, individually, would want. Sam surprised me. I know he's not that creative, when he draws it's usually a stick family with a sun shining in the background. As endearing as it is I do wish he would branch out. He protested initially and as Dave talked him through it convincing him that it takes practice to get good--sure coming from an artist--but in fact the argument worked and Sam actually drew a great house--it was really well done. It looked much more like a house then my drawing. But that's not really saying anything. Sofie's was great too but I always knew she had an artistic side. I've never seen a 5 year old color so beautifully. After which we headed outside to enjoy the daily wind storm that always seems to hit around 3 p.m. and lasts for about an hour.

Captains Courageous:

On your marks.....
Get set..........
GO!