I cannot believe that I haven't posted here since Halloween! Several friends have been begging me to post again! But I haven't gotten a chance to download my pics off my camera yet, and I blog much better with visual inspiration.
Truly, there hasn't been all that much going on to write about. Thanksgiving was really fun; we stayed home and ate dinner at C's parents' house. The food was fantastic, as always, but since D and K are the only kids there, the atmosphere is pretty sedate. I didn't remember to bring my camera, so no pics of the feast. This year I made an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and some chocolate pastry puffs instead of chocolate pie (sorry, Uncle Tom!). The apple pie was my best ever - I used a new combo of apple varieties, but of course I didn't write down which ones and now I can't remember what they were. The chocolate pastries were inspired by a recipe I found in Family Fun magazine, they are just pie crust cut out with cookie cutters and stuffed with chocolate chips. The pastry came out nice and flaky, and the chocolate chips made a tasty filling; the kids liked them. The only thing is, all my cookie cutters make average sized cookies, and once you seal 2 together it doesn't leave much room for filling! I need to find some good oversized cookie cutters to do this one again.
Once we finished dinner, we (the 4 of us) hopped in the car and drove down to Springfield to spend the weekend with some very good friends who were up from Atlanta (spending the holiday with their family). We stayed 2 nights in the same hotel they were in, and we had a great time with them. They have 2 kids the same ages as ours, and they spent every available moment in the pool (swimming in winter is always a treat). Unfortunately, Danny managed to come down with strep throat Thanksgiving day - he was ok through dinner, but miserable by the time we arrived at the hotel at 10 pm. So the next day, while C and Dennis were out doing the Black Friday shopping (leaving at 4:30am) I took D to the nearest Urgent Care for antibiotics. If you were paying attention to my Facebook entries, he had had a sore throat the week before, but tested neg. for strep; so I was just thankful he was positive so he could get the meds and feel better sooner. That afternoon, while C and Dennis rested from their morning excursion, Lori and I went out shopping with the rest of the kids. Not that we could get a lot of Christmas shopping done, with the giftees right there, but we had a nice time out of the hotel. Later that night, Lori and I went to the movies with her cousins and saw Twilight. (Even though L loves vampire stories, she hadn't read the book or seen the movie before, so I told her she had to see it. She's the only person I know who saw the movie without reading the book first!) Saturday we went to one of Dennis' old haunts (Springfield is his hometown), a local dairy farm. The kids had fun going through the barn, and Lori and I had fun going through the gift shops! Then we went to the restaurant there for lunch before setting out for home. It was really great to see them again; C has been down to Atlanta to visit a few times but I haven't seen Lori in a year and a half. I wish it wasn't so far away, I really miss hanging out with them.
After Thanksgiving weekend, nothing eventful at all happened. We were massively busy getting ready for Christmas, and trying to keep D and K focused on school. So really, there wasn't anything to post!
In my next post I'll have pics of all the decorations and stuff, and some of Christmas Day. I promise it will be soon!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Earlier this week...
Earlier this week, Katie's Awana club had Crazy Hair Night. Awana is a Christian club at our church; this was their alternative to costumes and such. Her leader suggested last week that we color her hair using Kool Aid, so I gave it a try. I used 4 pkgs, with just a tiny bit of water in a dixie cup and applied it using a pastry brush. It made a mess, but luckily Kool Aid is washable! We also used the silver hair coloring to put a stripe in the front, just like we did for the pop star hair. Then we curled it as much as possible (boy, her hair just doesn't want to hold any kind of curl!) and sprayed glitter all over. Pretty crazy! The girl next to her won the contest, but Katie was runner up. I was surprised that almost all the girls had crazy hair - most of them just did crazy hairdo's, not coloring and stuff. It was really cool to see so much participation.
Happy Halloween!
Ok, I know it's been a long time since I posted; ever since I got on facebook, I've been addicted and my blog has suffered.
Last week Chuck carved out our pumpkins; he loves to do this because he sorts out all the seeds and roasts them in the oven. He and Danny love to eat them! Danny and Katie draw out designs on paper, and C does the actual carving.
Here are the finished products:
Danny's is supposed to be Kirby, but I didn't have orange construction paper for the hands and feet, and Dad got too tired to carve out the cheekies. I like Katie's too, with the fangs and the little pac man eyes.
Here are pics of Danny (Indiana Jones again this year) and Katie is a pop star (note: she is NOT Hannah Montana!):
She hated getting her hair done up, but she loved the makeup! Here is a close-up:
Those are actually sunglasses on top of her head; she had seen some at the costume store but they were $8! So I got a plain pair at the dollar store and some pre-glittered felt at the craft store, and made my own for less than $2. Oh, yeah! The shoes aren't exactly glamourous, but they made it easier to make it through 2 hrs of trick-or-treating!
This year, Danny went out with a friend in their neighborhood, while Katie went out with her 2 best friends here. I had a great time, because the moms and I gabbed the whole time and I hardly noticed how long we were out. The girls also had a great time!
Katie had a great haul, and as my due I got all her peanut butter cups : ) Danny isn't back yet with his Dad, but I'll bet he did well too!
Personally, I am so glad this holiday is OVER! It really isn't one of my favorites.
Last week Chuck carved out our pumpkins; he loves to do this because he sorts out all the seeds and roasts them in the oven. He and Danny love to eat them! Danny and Katie draw out designs on paper, and C does the actual carving.
Here are the finished products:
Danny's is supposed to be Kirby, but I didn't have orange construction paper for the hands and feet, and Dad got too tired to carve out the cheekies. I like Katie's too, with the fangs and the little pac man eyes.
Here are pics of Danny (Indiana Jones again this year) and Katie is a pop star (note: she is NOT Hannah Montana!):
She hated getting her hair done up, but she loved the makeup! Here is a close-up:
Those are actually sunglasses on top of her head; she had seen some at the costume store but they were $8! So I got a plain pair at the dollar store and some pre-glittered felt at the craft store, and made my own for less than $2. Oh, yeah! The shoes aren't exactly glamourous, but they made it easier to make it through 2 hrs of trick-or-treating!
This year, Danny went out with a friend in their neighborhood, while Katie went out with her 2 best friends here. I had a great time, because the moms and I gabbed the whole time and I hardly noticed how long we were out. The girls also had a great time!
Katie had a great haul, and as my due I got all her peanut butter cups : ) Danny isn't back yet with his Dad, but I'll bet he did well too!
Personally, I am so glad this holiday is OVER! It really isn't one of my favorites.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
What do you mean you've never heard of an ATLATL?
A few weekends ago, I signed up the kids for another park adventure; this one was called the Woodland Indian Experience. It was at the county park closest to my house, which I liked : ) Danny and Katie were supposed to both go, but D of course had some other thing he had to be at. Anyway, Katie and I went, and there was one other mom with her son, who I think was a 2nd grader. The park guide took us for a hike along the paths through the woods and explained the history of the parks and what kinds of archaeological digs had occurred there, and the Native Americans known to have lived in the area thousands of years ago. That part was interesting, and since there were only the 4 of us Katie got to do all of her babbling she usually does without annoying too many people. When we got back to the park area, we got to try out atlatls. What, you've never heard of them??? Pronounced "AT-LAttle", they are "weapons" developed to improve their spear-throwing. They were invented before the bow and arrow, sometime around the time they were hunting big game like mastodons and wooly mammoths. They are pieces of wood with a strap on one end and a hook carved into the other end, which you set the spear onto and use as leverage to throw the spear harder and straighter. Here is a picture of the park guide showing the kids how to set up:
And here is one of Katie's better throws:
As you can see on the ground, it's a little harder than it looks! We 2 moms both tried a few times, but the kids kept at it for a while - until Katie's arm got tired. The boy kept on going and going, until finally he did hit the target! The other mom and I agreed that our older sons would have loved this program, and that we would sign up again in the spring if they offer it again.
And here is one of Katie's better throws:
As you can see on the ground, it's a little harder than it looks! We 2 moms both tried a few times, but the kids kept at it for a while - until Katie's arm got tired. The boy kept on going and going, until finally he did hit the target! The other mom and I agreed that our older sons would have loved this program, and that we would sign up again in the spring if they offer it again.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Katie's Weekend
While Dad was hunting and Dan was riding roller coasters, Katie got to spend the day at her Grandma and Grandpa's. She had plenty of fun there!
The weekend before, she got to march in our local city pride festival parade. If you remember, last year she marched as a cheerleader, but this year she marched with the Girl Scouts. Instead of wearing their sashes, which are pretty plain so far having just moved up from Brownies last spring, they all wore the t-shirts they earned from cookie sales last year.
The one girl in the cheer uniform is also in GS; she decided at the last minute to march with her troop instead, b/c no one else in her cheer squad was in the parade. The day started out pretty chilly, but warmed up quickly, and by the time K marched past me she was pretty hot (hence the rolled up pant legs!). I thought she would be toward the beginning of the parade, being in section B4, but that ended up being closer to the end so she didn't get to see much of the parade herself this year.
I did take Archie with me, but I didn't take any pictures of him. Here is an interesting fact - normally, here in our area, people love to attend parades b/c they throw out candy to the kids. Well, if you have a dog, there are plenty of people who bring dog biscuits, too! I had my little baggie of training treats with me, and we definitely went home with more than I brought!
I sat with my best friend Michelle, whose son was also marching. We really enjoyed ourselves; we got the perfect spot - close to the end of the parade route, under the shade of some trees and close to a bathroom!
Here is a picture of her son, Ian (in the white t-shirt):
He marched with the combined middle school orchestras. This was new this year, I'm not sure whose idea it was. The orchestras are separate from the bands and basically consist of the strings. Violins and violas marched, while the cellos and bass fiddles got to ride on a trailer. I guess someone thought it was unfair that the bands got to show off and not the strings, so they put the orchestras in the parade too. They went back and forth between 2 songs, Battle Cry for Freedom (a Civil War song anyone who has watched PBS would recognize) and another one. I'm sure they were plenty sick of both by the end of the parade! Ian did a great job.
The weekend before, she got to march in our local city pride festival parade. If you remember, last year she marched as a cheerleader, but this year she marched with the Girl Scouts. Instead of wearing their sashes, which are pretty plain so far having just moved up from Brownies last spring, they all wore the t-shirts they earned from cookie sales last year.
The one girl in the cheer uniform is also in GS; she decided at the last minute to march with her troop instead, b/c no one else in her cheer squad was in the parade. The day started out pretty chilly, but warmed up quickly, and by the time K marched past me she was pretty hot (hence the rolled up pant legs!). I thought she would be toward the beginning of the parade, being in section B4, but that ended up being closer to the end so she didn't get to see much of the parade herself this year.
I did take Archie with me, but I didn't take any pictures of him. Here is an interesting fact - normally, here in our area, people love to attend parades b/c they throw out candy to the kids. Well, if you have a dog, there are plenty of people who bring dog biscuits, too! I had my little baggie of training treats with me, and we definitely went home with more than I brought!
I sat with my best friend Michelle, whose son was also marching. We really enjoyed ourselves; we got the perfect spot - close to the end of the parade route, under the shade of some trees and close to a bathroom!
Here is a picture of her son, Ian (in the white t-shirt):
He marched with the combined middle school orchestras. This was new this year, I'm not sure whose idea it was. The orchestras are separate from the bands and basically consist of the strings. Violins and violas marched, while the cellos and bass fiddles got to ride on a trailer. I guess someone thought it was unfair that the bands got to show off and not the strings, so they put the orchestras in the parade too. They went back and forth between 2 songs, Battle Cry for Freedom (a Civil War song anyone who has watched PBS would recognize) and another one. I'm sure they were plenty sick of both by the end of the parade! Ian did a great job.
Deer Season
Last weekend was the opening day of bow hunting season here. Naturally, as I have referred to in another post, DH is totally psyched. Danny wasn't able to go out with him b/c that was his youth group trip to the amusement park (also referenced in a prior post), but DH spent a lovely Saturday up in a tree. Here he is all decked out:
(Can you see him? He's standing there just in front of the tree, lol!)
He said that it was pretty quiet all day, although there were about 10 hunters all out in the same area (!). At around dusk, when the deer tend to come out and forage for food, he said there were 4 yahoos on atvs joy-riding through the area. Gah! No chance of deer with that going on. But even so, he always appreciates being outside with nothing pressing to think about.
This coming Sat., he and D are both going out. Here is a picture of D practicing in the back yard with his cross bow:
Bullseye!
I wonder how long D will be in his blind before he gets bored.
(Can you see him? He's standing there just in front of the tree, lol!)He said that it was pretty quiet all day, although there were about 10 hunters all out in the same area (!). At around dusk, when the deer tend to come out and forage for food, he said there were 4 yahoos on atvs joy-riding through the area. Gah! No chance of deer with that going on. But even so, he always appreciates being outside with nothing pressing to think about.
This coming Sat., he and D are both going out. Here is a picture of D practicing in the back yard with his cross bow:
And here is his shot:
Bullseye!
I wonder how long D will be in his blind before he gets bored.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Feeling Better (finally!)
Wow, that was some cold. Ugh!! And it wasn't just our family, either; even though it seemed that Katie was the only one sick at first, people all over have been dropping like flies ever since! For some reason my cold, although only truly awful for the first 2 or 3 days, morphed into bronchitis, and even though I got meds for it quickly, all the coughing kept me exhausted for another week. Blech! I am so glad it's finally gone from our house.
Speaking of gone from our house, Archie is leaving tomorrow. : ( awwwwww Seriously, we aren't tooooo sorry to see him go. He is leaving earlier than normal, b/c he's going to be transitioning so far away, and they want to get Jake in our house for final training and then transitioning by Jan. Archie has by far been the cutest, cuddliest dog so far, but he is also a THIEF!! [An aside: We borrowed a movie from the library last week called "My Dog The Thief", an old Wide World of Disney made for tv movie (you could easily see the breaks for commercials built in), from 1969, really cute. The dog is a St. Bernard named Barrabus, who is notorious for stealing anything and everything, which leads his owner into many varieties of mahem. Thus...] I really think he needs to be renamed Barrabus! He has been stealing anything he can find lately, with his preference running to sneakers (no pun intended, lol!) Today, I was preparing dinner and someone (he shall remain nameless) had placed a kiwi on the shelf in front of the milk; when I pulled out the milk jug the kiwi rolled off onto the floor just in front of the fridge. Sooner than I could put the jug on the counter and turn around, the dog came over and swiped up the stupid fruit! Did he eat it? no. Did he squish it? no. He gave it back to me, neat as you please, with two little dracula-like puncture marks in it! grrrrr! Those stupid things are $1 apiece! But we aren't allowed to yell at him for picking things up, b/c we have to praise him for giving them back - hopefully without destroying them. Of course, with the shoes, that is just a matter of whether or not we notice that he has them! And the socks are a totally different matter; he actually tries to hide the fact that he has one, and goes off and shreds happily in peace until we notice. Whereas we used to keep our shoes on a mat by the back door, now we have to put them all in the pantry, and make sure that the door is closed! Other than that, I will also not miss the tremendous "puppy poots" as another blogger has so named them. Whoofer, that dog can clear a room quickly! So anyway, our huggable Archie is leaving tomorrow, to be quickly replaced by his brother Jake.
I have lots more to talk about, but the library is about to close, so I'll go ahead and publish this now. More later!
Speaking of gone from our house, Archie is leaving tomorrow. : ( awwwwww Seriously, we aren't tooooo sorry to see him go. He is leaving earlier than normal, b/c he's going to be transitioning so far away, and they want to get Jake in our house for final training and then transitioning by Jan. Archie has by far been the cutest, cuddliest dog so far, but he is also a THIEF!! [An aside: We borrowed a movie from the library last week called "My Dog The Thief", an old Wide World of Disney made for tv movie (you could easily see the breaks for commercials built in), from 1969, really cute. The dog is a St. Bernard named Barrabus, who is notorious for stealing anything and everything, which leads his owner into many varieties of mahem. Thus...] I really think he needs to be renamed Barrabus! He has been stealing anything he can find lately, with his preference running to sneakers (no pun intended, lol!) Today, I was preparing dinner and someone (he shall remain nameless) had placed a kiwi on the shelf in front of the milk; when I pulled out the milk jug the kiwi rolled off onto the floor just in front of the fridge. Sooner than I could put the jug on the counter and turn around, the dog came over and swiped up the stupid fruit! Did he eat it? no. Did he squish it? no. He gave it back to me, neat as you please, with two little dracula-like puncture marks in it! grrrrr! Those stupid things are $1 apiece! But we aren't allowed to yell at him for picking things up, b/c we have to praise him for giving them back - hopefully without destroying them. Of course, with the shoes, that is just a matter of whether or not we notice that he has them! And the socks are a totally different matter; he actually tries to hide the fact that he has one, and goes off and shreds happily in peace until we notice. Whereas we used to keep our shoes on a mat by the back door, now we have to put them all in the pantry, and make sure that the door is closed! Other than that, I will also not miss the tremendous "puppy poots" as another blogger has so named them. Whoofer, that dog can clear a room quickly! So anyway, our huggable Archie is leaving tomorrow, to be quickly replaced by his brother Jake.
I have lots more to talk about, but the library is about to close, so I'll go ahead and publish this now. More later!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Inconsequential Mutterings
Not a whole lot going on here, but I thought I'd better post, in case *someone* (you know who you are) bugs me about being too quiet out here...
Danny ended up having a great time at camp, once he went back. He actually enjoyed his first day, too, since he didn't feel sick until bedtime. He came home Wed. morning, slept all day, woke up for dinner, then went back to bed and slept all night. On Thurs. morning he felt sooooo much better, so I drove him back down. It's a good thing the camp is so close! My friend told me when she was in 6th gr. her camp was 3 hrs away! I remember going away to "Outdoor Adventure Camp" in 7th grade, to a place called Thunder Mountain. No idea where it was or how far away from home it was, but it seemed a world away at the time. Of course, I had done plenty of camping trips with Girl Scouts, so it wasn't as big a deal for me as it was for D (not being a scout himself). Anyway, he got to do all the expected stuff, although the day he missed was the boating/fishing class, and he was bummed about that. But he got to do the archery class, and the nature hikes and stuff, and he didn't miss the big bonfire on Thurs. night. He really liked their version of Giant Clue - they split into teams, and had to gather clues to figure out who kidnapped the camp cook and where he was. (It turned out to be Ms. So-and-So with the fork in the tree house!) The weather held out until the last day, which was just pack up, breakfast, and load up the busses. I had to go pick him up at 11am, and they got the rest of the day off! The school promised the kids would be so exhausted they'd sleep all weekend, but all I got was, "can I have a friend over??????" Argh!
This weekend *I* finally caught the dreaded cold, and it truly was miserable for the first 3 days. It seemed like it cleared up after that, but now all 4 of us are stuffy-nosed. I missed church on Sun and my women's meeting on Tues because of it. boo hoo
Let's see, what else... Katie lost her riding lesson this week, b/c of bad behavior. We kept warning her over and over, and I finally realized she didn't really think we'd do it, so I told her one more offense and that's it - and naturally she went too far. Now at least she knows I mean what I say.
C has been tremendously busy lately, outfitting D for hunting season. Last year, he went kabongers buying his own bow (he'd been borrowing his buddy's until then), arrows, arrow heads (both field and practice), all kinds of camo clothes, gloves, hats, boots, etc. Although a bit shocked at the total expenditure, I wasn't too bothered, b/c poor DH really needs a hobby, and he so enjoys hunting. Well, this year he asked D if he'd be interested in hunting with him, and D said sure. I was happy; there are a bunch of things D likes to do, but nothing he's really passionate about yet, and during the winter there's not much to draw him outside, so I thought this would be a good activity for him. I didn't expect DH to go overboard!!! Now D has everything he could possibly need, from $80 boots (extra warm and waterproof - it does get durned cold out there in winter), pants, insulated bib overalls, lightweight camo jacket, heavy winter camo jacket, camo ls shirt, hat, face mask, gloves, PLUS his own youth crossbow AND a blind to sit in under C's tree stand. Yup, about $500 later, D is ready to go. I sure hope he really likes it!
Poor K is so jealous. She sees things coming in for D, plus hears about what a fantastic time he's having at youth group meetings, including (the straw that broke the camel's back, btw) the visit to the big amusement park at the end of this month; and she just can't help whining how unfair it all is. But if she could step back and see the big picture, she is in 4H, she had her first Girl Scout meeting y'day, she's getting the horseback riding lessons, she's in AWANA, she's getting to do the cool park activities I signed her up for... she's getting her share of cool stuff. Especially GS, b/c they are planning lots of great trips this year. First is the circus, which is coming to town in October, plus a visit to the newsroom (her leader's husband is a cameraman), to a NASA space center, and other goodies. I also plan on signing her up for a cupcake decorating class later in the fall. I think things sound pretty even, don't you?
The weather here is getting pretty unpredictable; last weekend the remains of Gustav blew through, and many many people were without power - some still are! D actually had Mon off, b/c his school didn't have power (oooooh was K jealous!). Ever since that tree fell and demolished our shed C gets panicky when we get strong winds, but we didn't lose anything this year. The temperatures can be anywhere between 60 - 80 degrees on any given day, which makes it hard to get the kids dressed in the mornings (they are taking less and less direction from me, even though they have no idea what the weather report is for the day - especially my little fashion diva). Today is beautiful, sunny and 75. (Hey Jenn, remember that song, "Sunny with a High of 75"? Think I'll pull out that cd....) I'm enjoying it while I can!
That's it for now!
Danny ended up having a great time at camp, once he went back. He actually enjoyed his first day, too, since he didn't feel sick until bedtime. He came home Wed. morning, slept all day, woke up for dinner, then went back to bed and slept all night. On Thurs. morning he felt sooooo much better, so I drove him back down. It's a good thing the camp is so close! My friend told me when she was in 6th gr. her camp was 3 hrs away! I remember going away to "Outdoor Adventure Camp" in 7th grade, to a place called Thunder Mountain. No idea where it was or how far away from home it was, but it seemed a world away at the time. Of course, I had done plenty of camping trips with Girl Scouts, so it wasn't as big a deal for me as it was for D (not being a scout himself). Anyway, he got to do all the expected stuff, although the day he missed was the boating/fishing class, and he was bummed about that. But he got to do the archery class, and the nature hikes and stuff, and he didn't miss the big bonfire on Thurs. night. He really liked their version of Giant Clue - they split into teams, and had to gather clues to figure out who kidnapped the camp cook and where he was. (It turned out to be Ms. So-and-So with the fork in the tree house!) The weather held out until the last day, which was just pack up, breakfast, and load up the busses. I had to go pick him up at 11am, and they got the rest of the day off! The school promised the kids would be so exhausted they'd sleep all weekend, but all I got was, "can I have a friend over??????" Argh!
This weekend *I* finally caught the dreaded cold, and it truly was miserable for the first 3 days. It seemed like it cleared up after that, but now all 4 of us are stuffy-nosed. I missed church on Sun and my women's meeting on Tues because of it. boo hoo
Let's see, what else... Katie lost her riding lesson this week, b/c of bad behavior. We kept warning her over and over, and I finally realized she didn't really think we'd do it, so I told her one more offense and that's it - and naturally she went too far. Now at least she knows I mean what I say.
C has been tremendously busy lately, outfitting D for hunting season. Last year, he went kabongers buying his own bow (he'd been borrowing his buddy's until then), arrows, arrow heads (both field and practice), all kinds of camo clothes, gloves, hats, boots, etc. Although a bit shocked at the total expenditure, I wasn't too bothered, b/c poor DH really needs a hobby, and he so enjoys hunting. Well, this year he asked D if he'd be interested in hunting with him, and D said sure. I was happy; there are a bunch of things D likes to do, but nothing he's really passionate about yet, and during the winter there's not much to draw him outside, so I thought this would be a good activity for him. I didn't expect DH to go overboard!!! Now D has everything he could possibly need, from $80 boots (extra warm and waterproof - it does get durned cold out there in winter), pants, insulated bib overalls, lightweight camo jacket, heavy winter camo jacket, camo ls shirt, hat, face mask, gloves, PLUS his own youth crossbow AND a blind to sit in under C's tree stand. Yup, about $500 later, D is ready to go. I sure hope he really likes it!
Poor K is so jealous. She sees things coming in for D, plus hears about what a fantastic time he's having at youth group meetings, including (the straw that broke the camel's back, btw) the visit to the big amusement park at the end of this month; and she just can't help whining how unfair it all is. But if she could step back and see the big picture, she is in 4H, she had her first Girl Scout meeting y'day, she's getting the horseback riding lessons, she's in AWANA, she's getting to do the cool park activities I signed her up for... she's getting her share of cool stuff. Especially GS, b/c they are planning lots of great trips this year. First is the circus, which is coming to town in October, plus a visit to the newsroom (her leader's husband is a cameraman), to a NASA space center, and other goodies. I also plan on signing her up for a cupcake decorating class later in the fall. I think things sound pretty even, don't you?
The weather here is getting pretty unpredictable; last weekend the remains of Gustav blew through, and many many people were without power - some still are! D actually had Mon off, b/c his school didn't have power (oooooh was K jealous!). Ever since that tree fell and demolished our shed C gets panicky when we get strong winds, but we didn't lose anything this year. The temperatures can be anywhere between 60 - 80 degrees on any given day, which makes it hard to get the kids dressed in the mornings (they are taking less and less direction from me, even though they have no idea what the weather report is for the day - especially my little fashion diva). Today is beautiful, sunny and 75. (Hey Jenn, remember that song, "Sunny with a High of 75"? Think I'll pull out that cd....) I'm enjoying it while I can!
That's it for now!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
WAGS Picnic
Here's my promised report on the WAGS picnic we went to last weekend. I don't know if this is an annual thing or not, since we only started fostering last Sept., but I was excited as soon as we got the invitation in the mail a few months ago. The picnic was planned by the founder, Wendy, as a great big get-together for the foster families, the families where dogs have been placed, and the trainers/breeders, and of course all the dogs. I think there were maybe 50 people including the kids, and about 12 dogs in all, but it was hard to keep count! When we got there, there was only one other family there, besides Wendy (it was at her house), so at first it was easy to tell the dogs apart. Wendy has Moose, who she uses as a demonstration dog, and the one family brought Bella, another golden retriever.
One by one, more families arrived, and each time they came through the gate, all the dogs would rush up to the gate to greet the new one. I tried really hard to keep them straight, but after the 6th dog, I completely gave up. At one point I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell which one was Archie!
Here's a picture of a whole butt-sniffing chain! Don't ask,
I couldn't tell you who's who!
The dogs were given the "day off", no jackets required, and were allowed to roam the (fenced in) yard and visit the whole time. You may be wondering, didn't it get a little dangerous to walk around??? Amazingly, I only heard of one incident of stepping in poop - of course, it was Danny, lol!
It was really hard to get good pics of the dogs, since they were constantly in motion, and mostly I got a lot of doggie butts.
Wendy had a great set-up in her yard, with tables set out for eating, a really cool outdoor bar, and an open area with a corn hole game set up in the far rear. The right side of the yard was mostly full of trees and shrubs, so that was pretty much the dogs' domain for the day. Here's a great shot of the back of the yard:
One of the great things about the picnic was getting to see all the dogs and their kids.
We hadn't seen Rudy since June, and since he wasn't placed from our house we really didn't know much about his family, so meeting them and seeing Rudy again was especially fun. Here is a fantastic shot of Rudy and Joe:
Although Rudy still needs to wear his haltie (to prevent too much pulling on the leash) he has otherwise settled down well at his home, and he and Joe seem to really love each other. I have to say, I am soooooo proud of Rudy, and so happy that he has been placed well. When we first got him at 10 mos old, we were worried that he'd never be calm enough to be in service. He'll always be "Freaky Dog" to me! Of course, now we're thinking the same thing about Archie; I call him "Nerd".
Here is a picture of Sarah and Murphy, with D and K. The next day, K and I spent a few hours at Sarah's, and Archie and Murphy got to play again. Wow, did he love that! Archie doesn't have any other dogs to play with here, so he just had a ball. Sarah is indeed going to school with D (she's one yr older, tho), and he does see them in the halls. He says the same thing everyone else does, "yeah, but you can't pet him!"
At one point at the end of the day, we tried to get a group picture of all the dogs. Believe it or not, it was harder than we thought! A whole afternoon of freedom apparently went to their heads, and this was the best we could do:
(No, Danny wasn't in charge, even though he looks like he's got some sort of control over them!) A few of the dogs had already left by then, but there's 11 there, 8 of them goldens! Can you tell which is Archie? Nah, me neither. Rudy's back by D, and Murphy's right there in the front; the other black lab is Budha. Not that I can tell which is which, but the other dogs' names are Moose, Bella, AJ, Sampson, Max, Jake, and...ummmm...ok, I only forgot one of them - that's pretty good, right? lol
Here is one of my favorite shots:
This is Archie (on the right) with his full brother, Jake. They are almost completely identical, except Jake is a little lighter in color. It was soooo neat to watch them when Jake arrived; they instantly got together and ran around, like they new they were brothers. The interesting thing is, Archie is going to be placed with a family about 1 hr away, while Jake - who is fostering at a home out near Archie's future family - will be placed in the town next to ours! So in about a month the two will be trading foster families, and we can each help with the transitioning. Otherwise, Lisa, the trainer who works with us, would have to keep carting both dogs an hr each way every time they went to visit. Makes more sense to switch 'em!
All in all the picnic was a huge success. I think all the kids (foster, owners, siblings) had a really good time and the dogs sure loved every minute of it! Hard to believe, but no one went home with the wrong dog! As for Archie, he slept the whole way home, lol!
One by one, more families arrived, and each time they came through the gate, all the dogs would rush up to the gate to greet the new one. I tried really hard to keep them straight, but after the 6th dog, I completely gave up. At one point I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell which one was Archie!
Here's a picture of a whole butt-sniffing chain! Don't ask,
I couldn't tell you who's who!
The dogs were given the "day off", no jackets required, and were allowed to roam the (fenced in) yard and visit the whole time. You may be wondering, didn't it get a little dangerous to walk around??? Amazingly, I only heard of one incident of stepping in poop - of course, it was Danny, lol!
It was really hard to get good pics of the dogs, since they were constantly in motion, and mostly I got a lot of doggie butts.
Wendy had a great set-up in her yard, with tables set out for eating, a really cool outdoor bar, and an open area with a corn hole game set up in the far rear. The right side of the yard was mostly full of trees and shrubs, so that was pretty much the dogs' domain for the day. Here's a great shot of the back of the yard:
One of the great things about the picnic was getting to see all the dogs and their kids.
We hadn't seen Rudy since June, and since he wasn't placed from our house we really didn't know much about his family, so meeting them and seeing Rudy again was especially fun. Here is a fantastic shot of Rudy and Joe:
Although Rudy still needs to wear his haltie (to prevent too much pulling on the leash) he has otherwise settled down well at his home, and he and Joe seem to really love each other. I have to say, I am soooooo proud of Rudy, and so happy that he has been placed well. When we first got him at 10 mos old, we were worried that he'd never be calm enough to be in service. He'll always be "Freaky Dog" to me!
At one point at the end of the day, we tried to get a group picture of all the dogs. Believe it or not, it was harder than we thought! A whole afternoon of freedom apparently went to their heads, and this was the best we could do:
(No, Danny wasn't in charge, even though he looks like he's got some sort of control over them!) A few of the dogs had already left by then, but there's 11 there, 8 of them goldens! Can you tell which is Archie? Nah, me neither. Rudy's back by D, and Murphy's right there in the front; the other black lab is Budha. Not that I can tell which is which, but the other dogs' names are Moose, Bella, AJ, Sampson, Max, Jake, and...ummmm...ok, I only forgot one of them - that's pretty good, right? lol
Here is one of my favorite shots:
This is Archie (on the right) with his full brother, Jake. They are almost completely identical, except Jake is a little lighter in color. It was soooo neat to watch them when Jake arrived; they instantly got together and ran around, like they new they were brothers. The interesting thing is, Archie is going to be placed with a family about 1 hr away, while Jake - who is fostering at a home out near Archie's future family - will be placed in the town next to ours! So in about a month the two will be trading foster families, and we can each help with the transitioning. Otherwise, Lisa, the trainer who works with us, would have to keep carting both dogs an hr each way every time they went to visit. Makes more sense to switch 'em!
All in all the picnic was a huge success. I think all the kids (foster, owners, siblings) had a really good time and the dogs sure loved every minute of it! Hard to believe, but no one went home with the wrong dog! As for Archie, he slept the whole way home, lol!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Just a Reminder
Hey, everyone, you gotta leave me some comments here! I don't know who's reading or what you care to see. Are you out there? At least say something on my chat box!
I've got a good post coming on the WAGS picnic we went to last weekend, lots of pics of the doggies : ) Also, I'll be giving you the full scoop on Dan's camp experience (such as it was). Maybe someday I'll get pics of the trip we took to the zoo, too : P
Anyone out there?????
I've got a good post coming on the WAGS picnic we went to last weekend, lots of pics of the doggies : ) Also, I'll be giving you the full scoop on Dan's camp experience (such as it was). Maybe someday I'll get pics of the trip we took to the zoo, too : P
Anyone out there?????
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Other Goings On
Even though I haven't been posting regularly, there have been quite a few things going on here; it's hard to remember all of them when I sit down to write!
For one, Danny has started going to our new church's youth group activities. The last Sun of August, they held an end of summer/start of fall kick-off at an indoor sports arena, just for middle/high schoolers (ie., the extremely jealous 9yo couldn't go). He invited 2 of his friends, and they played indoor soccer, basketball, some video games someone had set up, and used the batting cages. For my sedentary, non-athletic son, this was quite impressive! Because we had invited the one friend, Ian, at the last minute (b/c Ian had been out of town that week and had only just gotten home the night b4), his parents had already planned dinner, and since K had already finagled an invitation to Grandma's for the day, we were invited to eat Ian's dinner! lol My friend Michelle is Ian's mom (read all about her in last year's posts!), so we had no hesitation in saying yes, especially b/c she was fixing fondue. Yummy! C and I rarely get to eat fondue, mostly b/c I don't own a pot, and eating out is pretty expensive (as in, costs way more than Hometown Buffet). C and Lee (her DH) get along really well too, so we had a great time. The food was excellent - Michelle is an awesome cook, and she had an amazing spread! Then later that night after we picked up the boys, Ian stayed overnight. On Monday, Danny went over to his friend Hunter's house for a few hours, and they spent most of their time swimming in his backyard pool. One last hurrah before school!
On Tues night, Danny got to go to his first youth group meeting, which is where the middle school boys all get together at the leader's house (there are corresponding meetings for the middle school girls, and the high school boys and girls). This first meeting was mostly a get to know you night, so they did more video games, which of course D loved. Then this Sunday night was the first youth group hang-out, which they call The Mill. Half the evening is spent in "worship", which is singing along with the youth praise band, and a message from the youth pastor, and the second half is hanging out playing ping pong, corn hole, and yes, you guessed it, video games! Danny is absolutely having a ball, which is so awesome. Our old church was really nice, and had great people, but the youth group consisted of 3 boys, including D. We really wanted to get him into a bigger group, and I'm so glad this is working out as we'd hoped.
For Katie, she is having fun at our new church, too. Her age group has a special Sunday morning program called Kid's Jam, and there are lots of other kids her age too. Although she is jealous of D's activities, she will get to go to AWANA on Wed.s, and I think she'll be surprised at how cool the meetings are when there are so many more kids attending. Of course, K has way more going on than just church stuff. On Sat., she went to another park program called My First Horse, which was pretty similar to the Camelot program - but without costumes, lol. I didn't stay for this one, since I'd have to pay my own admission again, but the instructor was the same as last time, so I trusted they'd take good care of my girl : ) They basically did the same stuff: looked at the various breeds of horses, took out 2 and groomed them, and then got to try out both western and English style riding. This time, at the end of the program they got to have lunch at the park's little cafe. No pictures this time, since I didn't stay, but K loved it.
Then today, Katie had her first official riding lesson!!!!! We found a young woman at our county fairground who was willing to teach K for a really good price. We've actually been waiting all summer to hear from her, but since the horse owners have to move their horses out of the barns during Fair, she wanted to get started after the summer was over and they'd moved the horses (and all their stuff) back into the stables. Today's lesson was mostly where Katie and her horse, Snoopy, got aquainted. She groomed and saddled him (much like at her park program, only one-on-one) and then Bridget led her around the yard at the end. Here she is learning how to tie the girth on the saddle:
And here she is on Snoopy! Loving every minute of it, without a doubt.
After the end of the lesson, Bridget led us through the barns and let us see some of the other horses she's familiar with. There were 4 new foals, born last spring, and they were sooooo cute! They were wearing "pyjamas", which were close-fitting covers over their backs, necks and faces. I thought it was to keep them warm since the nights are getting so cold, but she said they were to keep them clean and neat b/c they're going to be shown this week. We visited another horse, Maynard, a Percheron, and he was absolutely gigantic, especially compared to the babies we were looking at, lol! Overall, I was very pleased with Bridget's knowledge and style of teaching. She was really good at making sure K understood what to do, without going over her head or treating her like a little baby. I think K will do really well with her, and I'm looking forward to seeing her progress - almost as much as she is herself, lol!
In other news, Danny left for 6th grade camp this morning. This is a tradition in our school system, and although there was some question of how it would work out this year (due to the switching around of grades/schools), everyone made sure our 6th graders wouldn't miss out. They stay at a camp about 1/2 hr away for 4 days. They stay in cabins with attached bathrooms, and eat in a dining hall, so it isn't camping in the roughest sense of the word. Each day is packed full of all sorts of activities, led by teachers from the school and camp staff. Some of the stuff he gets to do includes boating and fishing, nature walks, archery, something called When Art & Science Collide - led by a teacher who broke his foot over the summer, lol! - and of course the obligatory bonfire on the last night. There's tons more stuff, but I'll wait until he gets home to put all the details down. You will note, I have lots of pictures of Katie doing stuff, but none of Danny. This is because, as I have mentioned earlier, D hates it when I pull out my camera. So, no pics of D headed out for camp. Sorry!
-----> an update: as I was composing this post, the camp nurse called (yes, at 12:15AM) -on the cell phone, since I'm online - to tell me D has a bad sore throat, which he caught from K, and was worried he might have strep. He was crying b/c he was afraid he'd have to come home (plus he felt icky) but I reassured them that K didn't have strep, in fact she feels better already after only 3 days, and he should be ok by tomorrow except for an annoying runny nose and cough. Mostly he just needs to rest, so I encouraged him to ask to sit out of anything if he felt he needed to. Poor Danny! He has been so psyched about this since last year, and of course he had to go and get sick the first day. They can't even give him Tylenol without a Dr's note, so I have to go down to the office, get a form, then go to the dr's and get them to fill it out, then drive down to the camp (thank goodness it's only 1/2hr away, and the dr's is on the way) and deliver the forms and the medicine. Phew! A mother's job is never done. I just hope he feels better quickly and can enjoy most of the week at camp.
I had more to write, but I'll save it for another post since this one's so long and now it's 1AM. I have a lot to do tomorrow!
For one, Danny has started going to our new church's youth group activities. The last Sun of August, they held an end of summer/start of fall kick-off at an indoor sports arena, just for middle/high schoolers (ie., the extremely jealous 9yo couldn't go). He invited 2 of his friends, and they played indoor soccer, basketball, some video games someone had set up, and used the batting cages. For my sedentary, non-athletic son, this was quite impressive! Because we had invited the one friend, Ian, at the last minute (b/c Ian had been out of town that week and had only just gotten home the night b4), his parents had already planned dinner, and since K had already finagled an invitation to Grandma's for the day, we were invited to eat Ian's dinner! lol My friend Michelle is Ian's mom (read all about her in last year's posts!), so we had no hesitation in saying yes, especially b/c she was fixing fondue. Yummy! C and I rarely get to eat fondue, mostly b/c I don't own a pot, and eating out is pretty expensive (as in, costs way more than Hometown Buffet). C and Lee (her DH) get along really well too, so we had a great time. The food was excellent - Michelle is an awesome cook, and she had an amazing spread! Then later that night after we picked up the boys, Ian stayed overnight. On Monday, Danny went over to his friend Hunter's house for a few hours, and they spent most of their time swimming in his backyard pool. One last hurrah before school!
On Tues night, Danny got to go to his first youth group meeting, which is where the middle school boys all get together at the leader's house (there are corresponding meetings for the middle school girls, and the high school boys and girls). This first meeting was mostly a get to know you night, so they did more video games, which of course D loved. Then this Sunday night was the first youth group hang-out, which they call The Mill. Half the evening is spent in "worship", which is singing along with the youth praise band, and a message from the youth pastor, and the second half is hanging out playing ping pong, corn hole, and yes, you guessed it, video games! Danny is absolutely having a ball, which is so awesome. Our old church was really nice, and had great people, but the youth group consisted of 3 boys, including D. We really wanted to get him into a bigger group, and I'm so glad this is working out as we'd hoped.
For Katie, she is having fun at our new church, too. Her age group has a special Sunday morning program called Kid's Jam, and there are lots of other kids her age too. Although she is jealous of D's activities, she will get to go to AWANA on Wed.s, and I think she'll be surprised at how cool the meetings are when there are so many more kids attending. Of course, K has way more going on than just church stuff. On Sat., she went to another park program called My First Horse, which was pretty similar to the Camelot program - but without costumes, lol. I didn't stay for this one, since I'd have to pay my own admission again, but the instructor was the same as last time, so I trusted they'd take good care of my girl : ) They basically did the same stuff: looked at the various breeds of horses, took out 2 and groomed them, and then got to try out both western and English style riding. This time, at the end of the program they got to have lunch at the park's little cafe. No pictures this time, since I didn't stay, but K loved it.
Then today, Katie had her first official riding lesson!!!!! We found a young woman at our county fairground who was willing to teach K for a really good price. We've actually been waiting all summer to hear from her, but since the horse owners have to move their horses out of the barns during Fair, she wanted to get started after the summer was over and they'd moved the horses (and all their stuff) back into the stables. Today's lesson was mostly where Katie and her horse, Snoopy, got aquainted. She groomed and saddled him (much like at her park program, only one-on-one) and then Bridget led her around the yard at the end. Here she is learning how to tie the girth on the saddle:
And here she is on Snoopy! Loving every minute of it, without a doubt.
After the end of the lesson, Bridget led us through the barns and let us see some of the other horses she's familiar with. There were 4 new foals, born last spring, and they were sooooo cute! They were wearing "pyjamas", which were close-fitting covers over their backs, necks and faces. I thought it was to keep them warm since the nights are getting so cold, but she said they were to keep them clean and neat b/c they're going to be shown this week. We visited another horse, Maynard, a Percheron, and he was absolutely gigantic, especially compared to the babies we were looking at, lol! Overall, I was very pleased with Bridget's knowledge and style of teaching. She was really good at making sure K understood what to do, without going over her head or treating her like a little baby. I think K will do really well with her, and I'm looking forward to seeing her progress - almost as much as she is herself, lol!
In other news, Danny left for 6th grade camp this morning. This is a tradition in our school system, and although there was some question of how it would work out this year (due to the switching around of grades/schools), everyone made sure our 6th graders wouldn't miss out. They stay at a camp about 1/2 hr away for 4 days. They stay in cabins with attached bathrooms, and eat in a dining hall, so it isn't camping in the roughest sense of the word. Each day is packed full of all sorts of activities, led by teachers from the school and camp staff. Some of the stuff he gets to do includes boating and fishing, nature walks, archery, something called When Art & Science Collide - led by a teacher who broke his foot over the summer, lol! - and of course the obligatory bonfire on the last night. There's tons more stuff, but I'll wait until he gets home to put all the details down. You will note, I have lots of pictures of Katie doing stuff, but none of Danny. This is because, as I have mentioned earlier, D hates it when I pull out my camera. So, no pics of D headed out for camp. Sorry!
-----> an update: as I was composing this post, the camp nurse called (yes, at 12:15AM) -on the cell phone, since I'm online - to tell me D has a bad sore throat, which he caught from K, and was worried he might have strep. He was crying b/c he was afraid he'd have to come home (plus he felt icky) but I reassured them that K didn't have strep, in fact she feels better already after only 3 days, and he should be ok by tomorrow except for an annoying runny nose and cough. Mostly he just needs to rest, so I encouraged him to ask to sit out of anything if he felt he needed to. Poor Danny! He has been so psyched about this since last year, and of course he had to go and get sick the first day. They can't even give him Tylenol without a Dr's note, so I have to go down to the office, get a form, then go to the dr's and get them to fill it out, then drive down to the camp (thank goodness it's only 1/2hr away, and the dr's is on the way) and deliver the forms and the medicine. Phew! A mother's job is never done. I just hope he feels better quickly and can enjoy most of the week at camp.
I had more to write, but I'll save it for another post since this one's so long and now it's 1AM. I have a lot to do tomorrow!
Friday, September 5, 2008
1st Day of School and My Birthday
Ok, sorry I've actually gone a FEW DAYS since posting...sheesh!
So here are some pictures of us this week...
The kids started school on Tuesday! What a nice day that was for *me*! lol Seriously, though, they were both very excited. Here is Katie in front of her school:
She loooooooves her teacher this year. She just happens to have the same teacher as Danny had in 4th grade, so I'm glad too; I already have a good relationship with her, and I know she's a lot of fun. This year, K gets to switch teachers for certain subjects, which is new for 4th grade. I am happy to say she likes them all, and truly is excited about her classes.
I don't have any pictures of Danny on his first day - can you hear him? "Moooooooooooooom!" He hates it when I pull out the camera anymore. This year, D has a lot of adjustments to get used to. The main one is that he's now going to Middle School. Our school system has rearranged the schools somewhat, and this is the first year the 6th grade is in the middle school (which used to be the junior high, when it was 7th, 8th, & 9th) and 9th is moved up to high school. Along with this major change, he is also now taking the bus, he has a locker, he changes classrooms for each subject, he has to change for gym, and he has a real cafeteria. Phew! We took several trips to the school a few weeks before he started, to walk his schedule and try out his locker combination, and by the time Tuesday rolled around I think he was pretty comfortable with it. I haven't heard anything negative about school from him yet, but you know boys; it may be a while before he lets me know if there's something he doesn't like.
Also this week, (ok, a little out of sequence...) it was my BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy Birthday to Me!
This day is not consistently noteworthy from year to year (although last year, as you'll recall, I gave myself an awesome present, which inspired the creation of this blog!), but this year was exceptionally great! C started it by waking me up with a nice back rub (mmmmm), then letting me do whatever I wanted. For the most part I really just wanted to have a day to myself (remember, this was actually before school started), so I went off alone and spent a few hours at my mother's grave site. The weather was absolutely perfect, warm and sunny, with a slight breeze; just perfect for sitting in the shade. I took a folding chair and a book, and the dog, and had some priceless peace and quiet. Let me add, the cemetery is way out in the country, on a quiet road, with lots of trees and landscaping - very pretty and not at all morbid. So then when I got home, C had made dinner for us, so I didn't have to cook - always most appreciated. After that, they told me to go relax (as in, on the computer, lol!), while C did the dishes and cleaned up. Then K put a blindfold on me and led me back up to the kitchen, where they surprised me with a cake, cards, and presents! Here I am with my cake - note that I was NOT expecting pictures to be taken, so I am not particularly camera-worthy (not that I'm ever particularly photogenic). Can you see what my gifts were? A handful of Dove candy bars!!!!! Yummy! Later that evening, Katie gave me a little spa treatment, brushing my hair and rubbing my shoulders, even a little makeup application (her idea, not mine). She really likes doing this, even though her attention span isn't as long as I would wish. I love having my hair brushed!
Those were the main events of the week. Overall, I know I enjoyed it!
So here are some pictures of us this week...
The kids started school on Tuesday! What a nice day that was for *me*! lol Seriously, though, they were both very excited. Here is Katie in front of her school:
She loooooooves her teacher this year. She just happens to have the same teacher as Danny had in 4th grade, so I'm glad too; I already have a good relationship with her, and I know she's a lot of fun. This year, K gets to switch teachers for certain subjects, which is new for 4th grade. I am happy to say she likes them all, and truly is excited about her classes.
I don't have any pictures of Danny on his first day - can you hear him? "Moooooooooooooom!" He hates it when I pull out the camera anymore. This year, D has a lot of adjustments to get used to. The main one is that he's now going to Middle School. Our school system has rearranged the schools somewhat, and this is the first year the 6th grade is in the middle school (which used to be the junior high, when it was 7th, 8th, & 9th) and 9th is moved up to high school. Along with this major change, he is also now taking the bus, he has a locker, he changes classrooms for each subject, he has to change for gym, and he has a real cafeteria. Phew! We took several trips to the school a few weeks before he started, to walk his schedule and try out his locker combination, and by the time Tuesday rolled around I think he was pretty comfortable with it. I haven't heard anything negative about school from him yet, but you know boys; it may be a while before he lets me know if there's something he doesn't like.
Also this week, (ok, a little out of sequence...) it was my BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy Birthday to Me!
This day is not consistently noteworthy from year to year (although last year, as you'll recall, I gave myself an awesome present, which inspired the creation of this blog!), but this year was exceptionally great! C started it by waking me up with a nice back rub (mmmmm), then letting me do whatever I wanted. For the most part I really just wanted to have a day to myself (remember, this was actually before school started), so I went off alone and spent a few hours at my mother's grave site. The weather was absolutely perfect, warm and sunny, with a slight breeze; just perfect for sitting in the shade. I took a folding chair and a book, and the dog, and had some priceless peace and quiet. Let me add, the cemetery is way out in the country, on a quiet road, with lots of trees and landscaping - very pretty and not at all morbid. So then when I got home, C had made dinner for us, so I didn't have to cook - always most appreciated. After that, they told me to go relax (as in, on the computer, lol!), while C did the dishes and cleaned up. Then K put a blindfold on me and led me back up to the kitchen, where they surprised me with a cake, cards, and presents! Here I am with my cake - note that I was NOT expecting pictures to be taken, so I am not particularly camera-worthy (not that I'm ever particularly photogenic). Can you see what my gifts were? A handful of Dove candy bars!!!!! Yummy! Later that evening, Katie gave me a little spa treatment, brushing my hair and rubbing my shoulders, even a little makeup application (her idea, not mine). She really likes doing this, even though her attention span isn't as long as I would wish. I love having my hair brushed!Those were the main events of the week. Overall, I know I enjoyed it!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Katie's Sewing Class
So here is one more fun thing Katie and her friend Meagan got to do this summer. I signed them up for an intro to sewing class at Joann Fabrics. I was very impressed with the instructor, b/c there were about 7 or 8 little girls, and K & M were the oldest ones there (both being 9 yrs old). They learned to make pillowcases, which are simple b/c the pieces are all rectangles and the sewing is all straight lines. Here are the pictures:
First they laid out patterns on the fabric they had purchased prior to class. The sewing supplies you see on Katie's table are from my basket at home; luckily I had almost everything she needed, so the cost of supplies was pretty much limited to the fabric and matching thread. Each girl did their own pinning and cutting. The instructor was really good about letting them do as much of the project themselves as possible.
After the fabric was cut to size and pinned together, they practiced sewing straight lines on the machines. The instructor did thread up all the machines and get them started, but the girls did the rest of the work on their own. She would only come over if they asked for help. For Katie, using a sewing machine is like Danny getting to use power tools!
Once they felt comfortable with the machines, they got started on the pillowcases. Here is a picture of Meagan concentrating very hard on staying neat and straight.
Once all the pieces were sewn up and the cases were done, the girls each got to iron them to get the worst of the wrinkles out, which made me nervous. They each used the iron on their own! But nobody got burned - phew!
And here are Katie and Meagan with their brand-new pillow cases! I was most impressed. Great job, girls!!
First they laid out patterns on the fabric they had purchased prior to class. The sewing supplies you see on Katie's table are from my basket at home; luckily I had almost everything she needed, so the cost of supplies was pretty much limited to the fabric and matching thread. Each girl did their own pinning and cutting. The instructor was really good about letting them do as much of the project themselves as possible.
After the fabric was cut to size and pinned together, they practiced sewing straight lines on the machines. The instructor did thread up all the machines and get them started, but the girls did the rest of the work on their own. She would only come over if they asked for help. For Katie, using a sewing machine is like Danny getting to use power tools!
Once they felt comfortable with the machines, they got started on the pillowcases. Here is a picture of Meagan concentrating very hard on staying neat and straight.
Once all the pieces were sewn up and the cases were done, the girls each got to iron them to get the worst of the wrinkles out, which made me nervous. They each used the iron on their own! But nobody got burned - phew!
And here are Katie and Meagan with their brand-new pillow cases! I was most impressed. Great job, girls!!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wow, I never really appreciated...
When Gretchen first started up a web page, I thought it was pretty cool. When she added wallpaper and background sounds, I thought, way out of my league, ever! But then Blogger had these really easy templates, and now it's easy to post and everything, so here I am : ) But adding extra stuff can be a pain if you need to know html! Those cute little smileys? ugh! It took me an hour to figure out how to add one for Jenn! I wish I knew how to add stuff to my header and everything, too; I have no idea even where to start with that. Someday (maybe with a lot of G's help, lol!) I'll figure it out. Sigh, so for now you're stuck with stuff as it is. Still, the new colors are better than shocking pink, right? I mean, pink's good for say, teenagers (right, Jenn?), but not so much for us old biddies.
I'm at the library now, so I can't upload any pictures for this post. I've got D & K, as well as their friends Frank and Bradley (whom I am watching for a few hrs as a favor this afternoon). Naturally, they're on the 'puters, as well, no doubt watching Super Smash Bros videos on YouTube - Katie, of course, is on Webkins. I took them bowling earlier, but Danny forgot to wear socks, so he was relegated to cheerleader. Or not, since cheerleaders are supposed to be cheerful and Danny was pretty much sulking the whole time. Bradley won, yay!, Katie came in a close second, and Frank did as well as he expected, which was not well at all. But they (those 3) had fun!
Tonight we may be going out to dinner, b/c one of the restaurants here offers dinner for kids for $1.25 on Thurs nights and the boy's mom is taking them there tonight. The only thing is, Katie's school is having a back-to-school ice cream social tonight, and if we go out we'll probably miss it. Decisions, decisions! (Where have I heard that before? lol)
Danny had his last golf lesson yesterday, which we celebrated by going to putt-putt afterward! How appropriate is that? lol Actually, I had promised the kids all summer that we'd go, and since it was the last day I'd be watching Meagan, it was also my last chance to keep my promise. They had fun; Danny met 2 of his friends (Hunter and Christian) there, and after playing I bought them ice cream at the DQ next door, and then they all came over for an hour or so. I really like having the kids all at my house, so I know what is going on. Too bad it started raining, tho, b/c then they were all stuck inside playing on the wii. Katie had a Target gift card she'd won at the end of the school year, so while Danny was at golf, I took the girls over and she picked out the "I Can Be A TV Chef" Barbie playset, so that's what she and Meagan were doing. Katie's blonde Barbie was Sandra Lee, and Meagan's brunette was Rachel Ray - too cute!
Poor Danny went back to the orthodontist on Tues to get his bottom braces on, and now his teeth are too sore to bite down on anything. I don't remember my teeth hurting that badly, or at least I don't remember complaining that loudly! His top teeth have straightened out so much already, he looks much better. No more "buck teeth"!
That's it for now, until I can get to my pics at home.
Here is an update, just for you Gretchen! I thought it would make more sense to add it here than put it in a new post, so here's a picture of Chef Katie and her new Barbie set:
We found the pink chef's hat in the $1 bins at Target. I couldn't resist!
I'm at the library now, so I can't upload any pictures for this post. I've got D & K, as well as their friends Frank and Bradley (whom I am watching for a few hrs as a favor this afternoon). Naturally, they're on the 'puters, as well, no doubt watching Super Smash Bros videos on YouTube - Katie, of course, is on Webkins. I took them bowling earlier, but Danny forgot to wear socks, so he was relegated to cheerleader. Or not, since cheerleaders are supposed to be cheerful and Danny was pretty much sulking the whole time. Bradley won, yay!, Katie came in a close second, and Frank did as well as he expected, which was not well at all. But they (those 3) had fun!
Tonight we may be going out to dinner, b/c one of the restaurants here offers dinner for kids for $1.25 on Thurs nights and the boy's mom is taking them there tonight. The only thing is, Katie's school is having a back-to-school ice cream social tonight, and if we go out we'll probably miss it. Decisions, decisions! (Where have I heard that before? lol)
Danny had his last golf lesson yesterday, which we celebrated by going to putt-putt afterward! How appropriate is that? lol Actually, I had promised the kids all summer that we'd go, and since it was the last day I'd be watching Meagan, it was also my last chance to keep my promise. They had fun; Danny met 2 of his friends (Hunter and Christian) there, and after playing I bought them ice cream at the DQ next door, and then they all came over for an hour or so. I really like having the kids all at my house, so I know what is going on. Too bad it started raining, tho, b/c then they were all stuck inside playing on the wii. Katie had a Target gift card she'd won at the end of the school year, so while Danny was at golf, I took the girls over and she picked out the "I Can Be A TV Chef" Barbie playset, so that's what she and Meagan were doing. Katie's blonde Barbie was Sandra Lee, and Meagan's brunette was Rachel Ray - too cute!
Poor Danny went back to the orthodontist on Tues to get his bottom braces on, and now his teeth are too sore to bite down on anything. I don't remember my teeth hurting that badly, or at least I don't remember complaining that loudly! His top teeth have straightened out so much already, he looks much better. No more "buck teeth"!
That's it for now, until I can get to my pics at home.
Here is an update, just for you Gretchen! I thought it would make more sense to add it here than put it in a new post, so here's a picture of Chef Katie and her new Barbie set:
We found the pink chef's hat in the $1 bins at Target. I couldn't resist!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Decisions, Decisions
So, here I am, absolutely psyched that people are reading my blog, and actually leaving COMMENTS!! Let me say, to those of you who don't blog, or don't realize this, that writing is much easier when you know people are reading it. It's hard to get inspired to post when you think there are only 4 or 5 people who will be checking it out. So when you leave a comment, it tells me who is reading, and what you like to see here. And motivates me to post more!
So anyway, here I am trying to decide whether to spend another hour on a post, or to attack my pile of books so I can add to my finished book list. Bad me, I went to the library tonight! I was going to just pick up the next 3 Hamish MacBeths, and ended up with *9* books! I am such a book junkie, lol!
OK, I'm off to read now. I hope to post soon on our trip to the zoo, and Katie's sewing class. Check back often!
So anyway, here I am trying to decide whether to spend another hour on a post, or to attack my pile of books so I can add to my finished book list. Bad me, I went to the library tonight! I was going to just pick up the next 3 Hamish MacBeths, and ended up with *9* books! I am such a book junkie, lol!
OK, I'm off to read now. I hope to post soon on our trip to the zoo, and Katie's sewing class. Check back often!
Since Jenn asked...
Thanks for using my new gadget! BTW, is this Jenn my niece or someone else? Just curious.
So anyway, about the Twilight series. It took me a while to get sucked into the first book, I think already knowing that Edward & co were vampires but waiting for Bella to figure it out seemed to take forever. (The book she's writing from E's p.o.v. sounds like it's gonna be much better!) But once she figures it out, the book picks up. Then too, I never really got a feel for B's attraction to E. Once Jacob gets involved in book 2, I was solidly on Team Jacob! I liked the way SM depicted B's drifting through the months after E leaves by the chapter pages with no chapters. Clever! I got frustrated by book 3, not knowing whether or not B will be changed by the end of the story. Come on and do it, already! But I read SM's website where she explained that she was probably more reluctant for B to lose her humanity than B was herself! lol So, by Breaking Dawn, I was ready for the story to move along, and you're right, it didn't. I thought there was just a bit too much time spent on Jacob and Leah mooning over people they could never have. Neat twist at the end for J, but poor L never does get resolution. I really liked the face-off at the end of the book, I thought the twists and turns were great. Especially Siobhan's help - even when she herself didn't believe she had any effect.
Tell me what else you thought?
So anyway, about the Twilight series. It took me a while to get sucked into the first book, I think already knowing that Edward & co were vampires but waiting for Bella to figure it out seemed to take forever. (The book she's writing from E's p.o.v. sounds like it's gonna be much better!) But once she figures it out, the book picks up. Then too, I never really got a feel for B's attraction to E. Once Jacob gets involved in book 2, I was solidly on Team Jacob! I liked the way SM depicted B's drifting through the months after E leaves by the chapter pages with no chapters. Clever! I got frustrated by book 3, not knowing whether or not B will be changed by the end of the story. Come on and do it, already! But I read SM's website where she explained that she was probably more reluctant for B to lose her humanity than B was herself! lol So, by Breaking Dawn, I was ready for the story to move along, and you're right, it didn't. I thought there was just a bit too much time spent on Jacob and Leah mooning over people they could never have. Neat twist at the end for J, but poor L never does get resolution. I really liked the face-off at the end of the book, I thought the twists and turns were great. Especially Siobhan's help - even when she herself didn't believe she had any effect.
Tell me what else you thought?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
A Busy Weekend
This weekend has been extremely busy for Katie (not so much for Danny, although he's been having fun, too). First of all, on Friday night we managed to finagle a ticket to see..... the Jonas Brothers concert!!!!! at the last minute (no pics, b/c *I* didn't get to go, lol!). One of Dan's friends was going with his family, planned a long time ago as a b'day present for a niece, but his younger brother wasn't all that excited about it, so we bought the ticket and they took Katie with them instead - she was sooooo excited! Bradley came over here instead, and spent almost the entire 6 hrs playing Super Smash Bros with Danny. They had a blast! Katie didn't get home until after midnight, but she was so wound up it took her over an hour to fall asleep. I am glad after all that I didn't go, b/c the weather turned out to be sweltering that day (the concert was held in that outdoor amphitheater I mentioned before), and I was just happy to stay home in the a/c. So, a great time was had by all!
Then on Saturday, another surprise for Katie, a class called "Adventures in Camelot". We had recently gone through and signed up for some local park programs (some free and some not) for this fall. One was called "My First Horse," and the other was this Camelot program. She decided on "My First Horse", but later on I was talking to my sister, and once I described the medieval class she offered to send up the money for that one too! We agreed to keep it a secret, and surprise Katie that morning. She knew there was something up, b/c I kept telling her she needed to be on her best behavior or I would cancel the surprise.
So anyway, thanks to a generous Aunt Michelle, here is what Katie did in Camelot!
(Just an aside: the arena was huge and dimly lit, so it was really hard to get some of the pictures to come out right. I did the best I could!)
The first thing they did was design and paint their shields, so that the paint had time to dry during the rest of the class. Each kid made totally unique designs, which was so cool.
Then they got to go down to the stables, where they learned how to groom and saddle the horses. They used 2, one was Fancy, a Belgian/Morgan mix, and the other was Jasmine, an Arabian.
Here is Katie helping get Jasmine ready:
When they came back up to the arena, they were able to choose from several costumes and have their pictures taken next to the horses. Katie wore her head piece from Medieval Times (where we went with Aunt Michelle and the whole family over Thanksgiving) which just happened to match the dress perfectly!
The boys had several choices, too; one chose to dress like Peter in Narnia (that helmet was HEAVY!), and the other chose a plated tunic with a cloak, and the metal gauntlets and helmet.
I found out that the park had ordered the armor (including Fancy's demi face plate) from a local craftsman. They had seen his work at the Medieval Faire, and he offered to make it for them.
The kids didn't get to ride in the costumes, but they all got to ride both horses and try to spear the ring.
The side-saddle was pretty tricky; the girls felt like they should be sitting sideways instead of straight ahead, but once they got on correctly, the weird knobs fit just right. Katie thought it was way cool.
And here she is on Fancy, spearing the ring. Good job!
I could see Katie's face as she sat on the horses, she loves this as much as I do. It's too bad we don't have the money to own a horse. I know my mom always said that all girls love horses, and eventually grow out of it. Well, I never did, and I'm pretty sure Katie feels the same way as I do. DH and I are going to have to figure out a way to get her into some lessons. We have a friend at church who knows a lady with horses at the fairgrounds, and he said she'd be willing to teach K, so I put off looking into lessons all summer. Unfortunately, this lady has never gotten around to calling us. Wah!
So anyway, the weekend is not yet over; we still get to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for Uncle Ray's b'day! Yummy, cake!
BTW, Gretchen, I hope you're loving this post, b/c it took me 4 stinking hours to do!!!
Then on Saturday, another surprise for Katie, a class called "Adventures in Camelot". We had recently gone through and signed up for some local park programs (some free and some not) for this fall. One was called "My First Horse," and the other was this Camelot program. She decided on "My First Horse", but later on I was talking to my sister, and once I described the medieval class she offered to send up the money for that one too! We agreed to keep it a secret, and surprise Katie that morning. She knew there was something up, b/c I kept telling her she needed to be on her best behavior or I would cancel the surprise.
So anyway, thanks to a generous Aunt Michelle, here is what Katie did in Camelot!
(Just an aside: the arena was huge and dimly lit, so it was really hard to get some of the pictures to come out right. I did the best I could!)
The first thing they did was design and paint their shields, so that the paint had time to dry during the rest of the class. Each kid made totally unique designs, which was so cool.
Then they got to go down to the stables, where they learned how to groom and saddle the horses. They used 2, one was Fancy, a Belgian/Morgan mix, and the other was Jasmine, an Arabian.
Here is Katie helping get Jasmine ready:
When they came back up to the arena, they were able to choose from several costumes and have their pictures taken next to the horses. Katie wore her head piece from Medieval Times (where we went with Aunt Michelle and the whole family over Thanksgiving) which just happened to match the dress perfectly!
The boys had several choices, too; one chose to dress like Peter in Narnia (that helmet was HEAVY!), and the other chose a plated tunic with a cloak, and the metal gauntlets and helmet.
I found out that the park had ordered the armor (including Fancy's demi face plate) from a local craftsman. They had seen his work at the Medieval Faire, and he offered to make it for them.
The kids didn't get to ride in the costumes, but they all got to ride both horses and try to spear the ring.
The side-saddle was pretty tricky; the girls felt like they should be sitting sideways instead of straight ahead, but once they got on correctly, the weird knobs fit just right. Katie thought it was way cool.
And here she is on Fancy, spearing the ring. Good job!
I could see Katie's face as she sat on the horses, she loves this as much as I do. It's too bad we don't have the money to own a horse. I know my mom always said that all girls love horses, and eventually grow out of it. Well, I never did, and I'm pretty sure Katie feels the same way as I do. DH and I are going to have to figure out a way to get her into some lessons. We have a friend at church who knows a lady with horses at the fairgrounds, and he said she'd be willing to teach K, so I put off looking into lessons all summer. Unfortunately, this lady has never gotten around to calling us. Wah!
So anyway, the weekend is not yet over; we still get to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for Uncle Ray's b'day! Yummy, cake!
BTW, Gretchen, I hope you're loving this post, b/c it took me 4 stinking hours to do!!!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
A Word About My Book List
As you can see, I have been trying to steadily work through the Hamish MacBeth series - they are short little mysteries so I can generally get through a book in 1-2 days, depending on how much free time I have. I have to request each one from the library b/c, although the library system does have all of them, they aren't all at the same library, and it seems that very few are at the one library I like to go to.
In the meantime, I have finished Celeste Bradley's Heiress Brides trilogy, which was pretty good; I know she has another series having to do with spies, but I plan on borrowing them from Gretchen (I think she's got them all) next time we exchange books. The Twilight series is done for now, until the movie in Dec and then the 5th book, which is supposed to be book #1 only from Edward's point of view, but I don't know how long it's going to take S. Meyer to write that one. So I thought I'd go through my cache of books and read something I actually own myself, and I picked up book #2 of a trilogy I started a while back, Jane Feather's Brides series. I had a hard time getting through the 1st one, mostly because it takes place in a time period I'm not so familiar with - mid 1600's England. That wouldn't be so bad, except she includes so much political info that I feel the story gets too bogged down. So #2 is basically more of the same, and once again I'm having trouble slogging through. I don't think I'm going to bother finishing it, which is too bad b/c the back story of the 3 girls' unlikely friendship sounds so promising. But, I've got so many other books waiting for me, I don't feel too bad giving up on these. So, that said, I didn't even return to my cabinet but headed straight back to the library to pick up #1 in Nora Roberts' Sign of Seven trilogy, Blood Brothers. (Sorry to be grammatically incorrect, but there is no underline option in this stupid blogger window!) I'm about 1/3 through, and loving it. I have read her Key trilogy, and really enjoyed that, so I was looking forward to starting this one. I was kind of putting it off so I could be sure to read all 3 in a row - I hate having to wait for the next in a series. (Waiting 2 weeks for the last Twilight book was hard enough - and I can't even begin to describe the torment I went through waiting for HP#7 last winter!) So, anyway, that is my update for now. No new books added to my list lately, but only b/c I've been working on 3 at once - LOL!
In the meantime, I have finished Celeste Bradley's Heiress Brides trilogy, which was pretty good; I know she has another series having to do with spies, but I plan on borrowing them from Gretchen (I think she's got them all) next time we exchange books. The Twilight series is done for now, until the movie in Dec and then the 5th book, which is supposed to be book #1 only from Edward's point of view, but I don't know how long it's going to take S. Meyer to write that one. So I thought I'd go through my cache of books and read something I actually own myself, and I picked up book #2 of a trilogy I started a while back, Jane Feather's Brides series. I had a hard time getting through the 1st one, mostly because it takes place in a time period I'm not so familiar with - mid 1600's England. That wouldn't be so bad, except she includes so much political info that I feel the story gets too bogged down. So #2 is basically more of the same, and once again I'm having trouble slogging through. I don't think I'm going to bother finishing it, which is too bad b/c the back story of the 3 girls' unlikely friendship sounds so promising. But, I've got so many other books waiting for me, I don't feel too bad giving up on these. So, that said, I didn't even return to my cabinet but headed straight back to the library to pick up #1 in Nora Roberts' Sign of Seven trilogy, Blood Brothers. (Sorry to be grammatically incorrect, but there is no underline option in this stupid blogger window!) I'm about 1/3 through, and loving it. I have read her Key trilogy, and really enjoyed that, so I was looking forward to starting this one. I was kind of putting it off so I could be sure to read all 3 in a row - I hate having to wait for the next in a series. (Waiting 2 weeks for the last Twilight book was hard enough - and I can't even begin to describe the torment I went through waiting for HP#7 last winter!) So, anyway, that is my update for now. No new books added to my list lately, but only b/c I've been working on 3 at once - LOL!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
About our WAGS dogs
I don't think I've said anything lately about our foster dogs. I know I talked last year about Murphy, the black lab. We got him in Sept and he was ready to be placed in Nov. What a dream dog!!! What was really cool about Murphy was that he was placed with a girl, Sarah, who lives in the next town over, so we got to visit often, and we had a few play dates even once the transition time was over. Plus, she and Danny will both be going to the same school this fall!!! Way cool. Here is a picture of Murphy, in case you forgot.
He was such a cute dog, and soooo easily trained. His main job is as a retrieval dog; his girl is in a wheelchair and he goes everywhere with her - even to school! The only thing was, he would let out these HUGE stinky toots. UGH! Well, once he was placed his new family could decide what they wanted to feed him, and it turned out it was the food that was the problem.
The next dog we got, Rudy (a yellow lab/golden mix) did not have the same problem, because he was on a different food. Rudy was a very unique dog. He was 10 mos when he moved in, and totally puppy-brained. He was so spastic, jumping and running around. He would chew his toys into tiny little pieces, and constantly stole papers out of the garbage pails. Even though we liked to call him a freaky dog, he did grow on us.
Here is a picture of C with Rudy - say what he will, it was obvious they bonded!
After Rudy turned 1 yo, he calmed down a lot. He is very good with kids, as you can see from this picture of him with my nephews. They were dressing him up to be a rock star - can you see the headset? He kept chewing on the mike, but who can blame him? It was practically in his mouth anyway!
After his time was up with us (dogs are only supposed to be fostered with a family for 6 months at a time so they don't get too bonded), he spent a short amount of time in a prison training program (we kept joking that he was sent up to the big house!). He has since been placed with a family where he fits in really well. Since he wasn't placed from our home, I never got to meet his family, and I don't know anything about them.
Here is the dog we have now, Archie, a purebred Golden Retriever.
He was 8 months when we got him in the beginning of the summer, so I guess he's almost 10 mos now. He's a cutie, but an even worse chewer than Rudy, in that he too destroys his toys but he also likes to steal things, especially shoes. He's ruined my flip-flops and a pair of D's slides, plus uncounted socks. He'll take any stuffed animal he finds unattended, but he hasn't chewed any - yet. He'll come to one of us and show us that he has it, and usually he'll give it up right away when told to. He's much more reluctant to give up the socks, though. And, anything he brings is always drenched in dog spit. Yuck! Archie will not have any specific skills; he will be what is called a skilled companion, which means he'll be trained to be well behaved in public, and able to go anywhere with his child (he has been assigned to a girl, I think, but I don't know anything about her yet).
When Archie first came he was still eating puppy food, but now he is switching over to BilJac, b/c the company has decided to sponsor WAGS4Kids, and is giving them all the food for free. And, what do you know, now Archie is letting out the worst gaseous clouds ever, easily rivaling Murphy in stink factor. I am glad that BilJac is sponsoring WAGS, and it's great they're donating food, but I don't think I'll ever buy any for my own dog, if I ever get one!
Archie still needs a lot of work. I try to take him out when I'm not going to be out for a long trip, and he does really well in McDs, but he has yet to go to the supermarket. I think with the kids being home during the summer, I'm not as able to focus on the training when we go out, and I get worn out too fast. Of course, training Murphy was so ridiculously easy, we were spoiled! Now that I have to actually work at it, it's hard! But hopefully I'm doing ok. I have taught him to lay down when people come to the door (rather than jump up on them or dance around them looking for attention), and he's learning to retrieve, too. He LOVES to play ball in the yard, and he is safe off his leash while he plays - something we couldn't do with Rudy.
Next month WAGS is having a big picnic for all the people involved in the org - foster families, dogs, disabled kids and their families, volunteers, everyone. I am really excited to go and see everyone, even the dogs/families I haven't met before; I have heard so much about them! Maybe I can put up more pics after the picnic.
He was such a cute dog, and soooo easily trained. His main job is as a retrieval dog; his girl is in a wheelchair and he goes everywhere with her - even to school! The only thing was, he would let out these HUGE stinky toots. UGH! Well, once he was placed his new family could decide what they wanted to feed him, and it turned out it was the food that was the problem.
The next dog we got, Rudy (a yellow lab/golden mix) did not have the same problem, because he was on a different food. Rudy was a very unique dog. He was 10 mos when he moved in, and totally puppy-brained. He was so spastic, jumping and running around. He would chew his toys into tiny little pieces, and constantly stole papers out of the garbage pails. Even though we liked to call him a freaky dog, he did grow on us.
Here is a picture of C with Rudy - say what he will, it was obvious they bonded!
After Rudy turned 1 yo, he calmed down a lot. He is very good with kids, as you can see from this picture of him with my nephews. They were dressing him up to be a rock star - can you see the headset? He kept chewing on the mike, but who can blame him? It was practically in his mouth anyway!
After his time was up with us (dogs are only supposed to be fostered with a family for 6 months at a time so they don't get too bonded), he spent a short amount of time in a prison training program (we kept joking that he was sent up to the big house!). He has since been placed with a family where he fits in really well. Since he wasn't placed from our home, I never got to meet his family, and I don't know anything about them.
Here is the dog we have now, Archie, a purebred Golden Retriever.
He was 8 months when we got him in the beginning of the summer, so I guess he's almost 10 mos now. He's a cutie, but an even worse chewer than Rudy, in that he too destroys his toys but he also likes to steal things, especially shoes. He's ruined my flip-flops and a pair of D's slides, plus uncounted socks. He'll take any stuffed animal he finds unattended, but he hasn't chewed any - yet. He'll come to one of us and show us that he has it, and usually he'll give it up right away when told to. He's much more reluctant to give up the socks, though. And, anything he brings is always drenched in dog spit. Yuck! Archie will not have any specific skills; he will be what is called a skilled companion, which means he'll be trained to be well behaved in public, and able to go anywhere with his child (he has been assigned to a girl, I think, but I don't know anything about her yet).
When Archie first came he was still eating puppy food, but now he is switching over to BilJac, b/c the company has decided to sponsor WAGS4Kids, and is giving them all the food for free. And, what do you know, now Archie is letting out the worst gaseous clouds ever, easily rivaling Murphy in stink factor. I am glad that BilJac is sponsoring WAGS, and it's great they're donating food, but I don't think I'll ever buy any for my own dog, if I ever get one!
Archie still needs a lot of work. I try to take him out when I'm not going to be out for a long trip, and he does really well in McDs, but he has yet to go to the supermarket. I think with the kids being home during the summer, I'm not as able to focus on the training when we go out, and I get worn out too fast. Of course, training Murphy was so ridiculously easy, we were spoiled! Now that I have to actually work at it, it's hard! But hopefully I'm doing ok. I have taught him to lay down when people come to the door (rather than jump up on them or dance around them looking for attention), and he's learning to retrieve, too. He LOVES to play ball in the yard, and he is safe off his leash while he plays - something we couldn't do with Rudy.
Next month WAGS is having a big picnic for all the people involved in the org - foster families, dogs, disabled kids and their families, volunteers, everyone. I am really excited to go and see everyone, even the dogs/families I haven't met before; I have heard so much about them! Maybe I can put up more pics after the picnic.
Getting Ready for School
We still have 2 weeks to go before school starts, but since Danny is moving up to middle school this year, there are a number of adjustments to get used to. Tonight is his orientation meeting, where he gets to walk through his schedule, try out his locker, etc. There is a cookout before the actual program, but C doesn't really care about making it to that. Hopefully, I can get some pics and post them. Of course, I have shown clearly already that just b/c I *have* pictures doesn't mean you'll ever see them! lol
We went out a few weeks ago to get school supplies; I hope I got them all! I don't know how families with 4+ kids stay organized!
Poor Katie is so jealous that her big brother is getting so much attention. We've been trying to keep her busy too, but you know how the sibling rivalry goes. Today I took her and her friend Meagan to see SW Clone Wars. It was ok, they really enjoyed it. I can see how SW fans will like it, but there wasn't enough character development for me. The little baby Hutt was kinda dumb - brings to mind all those cuddly ewoks - but they did do a good job of plot twists and intrigue that I'm used to seeing in SW. I have also made sure she gets to the pool when she wants, and on Mon I let her invite her friend Lizzie over (I didn't have to watch Meagan that day). I think once school actually starts, things will even out. I am not looking forward to getting up every day at 6:30, trying to put together lunches they'll actually eat, and getting them out the door in time, but I'm sure they're looking forward to it even less. At least I get to go home and go back to bed! But then there are also the daily homework fights. Ugh! I wonder if D will have weekend assignments this year.
Gretchen says she started school already. Ha! I feel so spoiled for not starting until Sept. Of course, that's the way it was when I was growing up - school *always* started the Wed after Labor Day. You never had to look it up or call the office to find out when school started, you just knew. Ah, the good old days.
Well, it's almost time to get going to orientation. I hope Danny pays attention!
We went out a few weeks ago to get school supplies; I hope I got them all! I don't know how families with 4+ kids stay organized!
Poor Katie is so jealous that her big brother is getting so much attention. We've been trying to keep her busy too, but you know how the sibling rivalry goes. Today I took her and her friend Meagan to see SW Clone Wars. It was ok, they really enjoyed it. I can see how SW fans will like it, but there wasn't enough character development for me. The little baby Hutt was kinda dumb - brings to mind all those cuddly ewoks - but they did do a good job of plot twists and intrigue that I'm used to seeing in SW. I have also made sure she gets to the pool when she wants, and on Mon I let her invite her friend Lizzie over (I didn't have to watch Meagan that day). I think once school actually starts, things will even out. I am not looking forward to getting up every day at 6:30, trying to put together lunches they'll actually eat, and getting them out the door in time, but I'm sure they're looking forward to it even less. At least I get to go home and go back to bed! But then there are also the daily homework fights. Ugh! I wonder if D will have weekend assignments this year.
Gretchen says she started school already. Ha! I feel so spoiled for not starting until Sept. Of course, that's the way it was when I was growing up - school *always* started the Wed after Labor Day. You never had to look it up or call the office to find out when school started, you just knew. Ah, the good old days.
Well, it's almost time to get going to orientation. I hope Danny pays attention!
Friday, August 15, 2008
A New Element
I have added a new element to my blog, as you can see to the right. I don't think I could possibly review every book I read, but I can at least list them off to the side, so you can see what I like. I might be able to add some kind of rating system, but for now I just hope to list the books. As you will see soon, I read A LOT! Please feel free to comment on the list, or let me know if you have read any of the same books - I love to talk about what I read! Also, you could make suggestions on other authors or books you've read and think I'd like. I would really like to hear from you!
You might notice, I am a big fan of series novels, and I always try to read them in order. That isn't to say that I finish one series before I start another! The ones I've listed today I've been working on pretty much at the same time. You'd think it would be confusing, but since the series are so different it's not that hard to keep track of the different stories.
You might notice, I am a big fan of series novels, and I always try to read them in order. That isn't to say that I finish one series before I start another! The ones I've listed today I've been working on pretty much at the same time. You'd think it would be confusing, but since the series are so different it's not that hard to keep track of the different stories.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Me Again!
OK, so I have all these grandiose plans for blogging and keeping my friends in touch, but I can never manage to find a solid block of time to come and post! Sorry.
I have finally got my Kodak picture software loaded on our new pc, so I can post pics again (one of the major reasons for not posting), but it takes a while to shrink them down and then upload them onto blogger, so there aren't any for this post.
We've been having a busy summer so far! Whenever the weather permits, we spend at least 2-3 hours at the community pool (DH says, "We'd better get our money's worth out of those passes!"). For the past 2 weeks, Dan and Katie had swim lessons every morning, so we pretty much spent every day there, except for the one day we got rained out. I am watching Katie's friend Meagan 3x/wk, and she comes over at 7:15AM. Anyone who knows me even superficially knows that that is an automatic UGH! for me. I don't usually like to get up before 9 if I can help it. When the kids are in school, I would get up, get them ready, drive them over, and come home and go back to sleep! But having a friend over is helping to keep K from getting too bored, and for the most part M is a good guest. Even Danny gets along really well with her, so there is rarely any tension there. The other day, the 3 of them were making up a Harry Potter the TV Show, and assigning each other roles. It was so cute to see them running around with make-shift wands and claiming, "I'm Harry, Dumbledore, and Sirius!" or "I'm Hermione, Ron, and Snape!" Hey, they were using their imaginations, and the tv was off - I couldn't ask for more than that, right?
This week, I signed up Katie and Meagan for a sewing class at JoAnn Fabrics, where they get to make a pillowcase. They both had a great time picking out fabric, and the class, which was today, went really well. I was most impressed with the instructor, b/c she had 7-8 girls, from 5-9 yrs old - Katie and Meagan were the 9yr olds. They each got to use their own machines, and use the iron when they were all finished. They did great! Katie can't wait to use her pillowcase - I won't be surprised if it's on her pillow tonight. Right now we are at the library; she and her friend Lizzie are doing a little beading jewelry activity. We also met another of K's friends on the way in - a nice surprise! Danny was supposed to come too, because he's been begging to come to the library and spend time on the computers, but he spent the day at Grandma's, and he said he was too tired to come. Tomorrow, Katie and Meagan are signed up for a jewelry class at JoAnns. I think I'll try to find something fun to do with Dan while they're busy (today I just stayed in the store the whole time).
Last week I took Meagan and Katie to the movies to see "Kit Kittredge an American Girl". It was really well done (especially compared to their tv movies), and I liked the messages in it. American Girl can sometimes be a little too liberal for me (read:feminazis) so I wasn't sure if they would go too far, but I really didn't find anything at all that I didn't like in it. Next week, we're meeting a friend of Danny's in the afternoon and going to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Dan's a little ambivilent, because he knows movies are rarely as good as the book (especially with a classic like this) but I'm hoping Brendan Frasier can add enough humour to make up for it. Speaking of which, I don't know if we'll bring Danny or not, but I am looking forward to seeing the next Mummy movie - I really liked the earlier ones.
We had a visitor last weekend - a good friend of ours from the South came for 4-5 days, and he and DH spent most of their time out of the house. They saw numerous movies, went to Dave and Busters, and ate out a lot. Did I get to participate at all???? Noooooo, of course not. But that's ok; I have friends here that I can see and go out with, whereas DH's keep moving away (another good friend moved to MD!). It was nice to see Dennis (when they were around), and I really wish his wife Lori could have come too. Hopefully, next time it'll be her turn and WE can do all the carousing! When they lived here, she was my best movie buddy. We'd borrow movies and watch them while the kids were in school, or go to the movies whenever a good chick flick came out. Now I just keep seeing ads for movies and thinking, "if Lori were here I'd love to go see that!"
My friend Michelle has been inviting me to go along with her to some orchestra concerts this summer - we've been to 2, we're definitely going again next week, and I'm hoping to go to another in August. Her family gets package tix every summer, and she has to go to help with her grandmother. She bought tickets for her son to go too this year, but he always has a softball game, so I get to use the ticket! Sweet for me, and for Ian too, b/c after the first 2 concerts he said he was bored anyway.
I have been reading like a fiend, and I'd love to have some kind of list of what books I've gone through, but I haven't been keeping track. Last weekend a friend introduced me to the Twilight saga, and I blew through the 3 books in 1 week. Now I can't wait for Aug 2! I won't be going to any of the bookstore parties -we went to the release of HP7, and it was fun - I'm not sure how much I want to hang out with vampire fanatics! I am not usually into vampire romance (at ALL) but 2 different friends had read it and the 2nd actually showed me the book, so how could I say no? What I'm really looking forward to is the movie in December. I saw the EW article and was disappointed with the actor playing Edward (he just looked creepy to me) but I've seen the trailer online and the movie actually looks good. Edward is played by the actor who played Cedric Diggory in HP, and he's much better looking on screen than the article portrayed. Even so, it's hard for me to dig up much sympathetic feeling for vampires - I am definitely on Team Jacob!!!
Well, Katie is done with her jewelry now so it's time for me to go. I'll try to post again soon!
I have finally got my Kodak picture software loaded on our new pc, so I can post pics again (one of the major reasons for not posting), but it takes a while to shrink them down and then upload them onto blogger, so there aren't any for this post.
We've been having a busy summer so far! Whenever the weather permits, we spend at least 2-3 hours at the community pool (DH says, "We'd better get our money's worth out of those passes!"). For the past 2 weeks, Dan and Katie had swim lessons every morning, so we pretty much spent every day there, except for the one day we got rained out. I am watching Katie's friend Meagan 3x/wk, and she comes over at 7:15AM. Anyone who knows me even superficially knows that that is an automatic UGH! for me. I don't usually like to get up before 9 if I can help it. When the kids are in school, I would get up, get them ready, drive them over, and come home and go back to sleep! But having a friend over is helping to keep K from getting too bored, and for the most part M is a good guest. Even Danny gets along really well with her, so there is rarely any tension there. The other day, the 3 of them were making up a Harry Potter the TV Show, and assigning each other roles. It was so cute to see them running around with make-shift wands and claiming, "I'm Harry, Dumbledore, and Sirius!" or "I'm Hermione, Ron, and Snape!" Hey, they were using their imaginations, and the tv was off - I couldn't ask for more than that, right?
This week, I signed up Katie and Meagan for a sewing class at JoAnn Fabrics, where they get to make a pillowcase. They both had a great time picking out fabric, and the class, which was today, went really well. I was most impressed with the instructor, b/c she had 7-8 girls, from 5-9 yrs old - Katie and Meagan were the 9yr olds. They each got to use their own machines, and use the iron when they were all finished. They did great! Katie can't wait to use her pillowcase - I won't be surprised if it's on her pillow tonight. Right now we are at the library; she and her friend Lizzie are doing a little beading jewelry activity. We also met another of K's friends on the way in - a nice surprise! Danny was supposed to come too, because he's been begging to come to the library and spend time on the computers, but he spent the day at Grandma's, and he said he was too tired to come. Tomorrow, Katie and Meagan are signed up for a jewelry class at JoAnns. I think I'll try to find something fun to do with Dan while they're busy (today I just stayed in the store the whole time).
Last week I took Meagan and Katie to the movies to see "Kit Kittredge an American Girl". It was really well done (especially compared to their tv movies), and I liked the messages in it. American Girl can sometimes be a little too liberal for me (read:feminazis) so I wasn't sure if they would go too far, but I really didn't find anything at all that I didn't like in it. Next week, we're meeting a friend of Danny's in the afternoon and going to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Dan's a little ambivilent, because he knows movies are rarely as good as the book (especially with a classic like this) but I'm hoping Brendan Frasier can add enough humour to make up for it. Speaking of which, I don't know if we'll bring Danny or not, but I am looking forward to seeing the next Mummy movie - I really liked the earlier ones.
We had a visitor last weekend - a good friend of ours from the South came for 4-5 days, and he and DH spent most of their time out of the house. They saw numerous movies, went to Dave and Busters, and ate out a lot. Did I get to participate at all???? Noooooo, of course not. But that's ok; I have friends here that I can see and go out with, whereas DH's keep moving away (another good friend moved to MD!). It was nice to see Dennis (when they were around), and I really wish his wife Lori could have come too. Hopefully, next time it'll be her turn and WE can do all the carousing! When they lived here, she was my best movie buddy. We'd borrow movies and watch them while the kids were in school, or go to the movies whenever a good chick flick came out. Now I just keep seeing ads for movies and thinking, "if Lori were here I'd love to go see that!"
My friend Michelle has been inviting me to go along with her to some orchestra concerts this summer - we've been to 2, we're definitely going again next week, and I'm hoping to go to another in August. Her family gets package tix every summer, and she has to go to help with her grandmother. She bought tickets for her son to go too this year, but he always has a softball game, so I get to use the ticket! Sweet for me, and for Ian too, b/c after the first 2 concerts he said he was bored anyway.
I have been reading like a fiend, and I'd love to have some kind of list of what books I've gone through, but I haven't been keeping track. Last weekend a friend introduced me to the Twilight saga, and I blew through the 3 books in 1 week. Now I can't wait for Aug 2! I won't be going to any of the bookstore parties -we went to the release of HP7, and it was fun - I'm not sure how much I want to hang out with vampire fanatics! I am not usually into vampire romance (at ALL) but 2 different friends had read it and the 2nd actually showed me the book, so how could I say no? What I'm really looking forward to is the movie in December. I saw the EW article and was disappointed with the actor playing Edward (he just looked creepy to me) but I've seen the trailer online and the movie actually looks good. Edward is played by the actor who played Cedric Diggory in HP, and he's much better looking on screen than the article portrayed. Even so, it's hard for me to dig up much sympathetic feeling for vampires - I am definitely on Team Jacob!!!
Well, Katie is done with her jewelry now so it's time for me to go. I'll try to post again soon!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Hey, we're still alive!
Sorry I haven't been around for so long. I have soooooo many pictures and stories to add here, but there hasn't been a lot of time for me to work. Being stuck with dial-up is torturous, for one thing, and for another, our pc died last month and we have been working on re-loading all my stuff onto the new one. Then there is the fact that having so much to say is so overwhelming that I'm procrastinating doing it at all. Bad me!
So, first of all I have to say:
Congratulations to SOSOM on her new and totally awesome new house!! I would really like to be posting pics of that soon.
Secondly, I have to say:
Congratulations to Jenny on being accepted to "the college of your first choice" as my favorite English teacher used to say! Way to go!!!
Then, there is wah wah wah about all this stupid snow we're getting, which I am so sick of I cry everytime I see any flakes in the air. I can't wait for SPRING! (The real thing, not this But-It's-Easter-Already-excuse-for-spring.) At least it's not below freezing every night. When I went to church for the Easter programs, the song running through my head was, "Have A Holly Jolly Easter"....
So, that's it, just to let you know I'm alive and thinking of all you readers (not that I have any idea how many of you there are, since hardly anyone ever posted to my blog last fall......)
There should be pix soon!
So, first of all I have to say:
Congratulations to SOSOM on her new and totally awesome new house!! I would really like to be posting pics of that soon.
Secondly, I have to say:
Congratulations to Jenny on being accepted to "the college of your first choice" as my favorite English teacher used to say! Way to go!!!
Then, there is wah wah wah about all this stupid snow we're getting, which I am so sick of I cry everytime I see any flakes in the air. I can't wait for SPRING! (The real thing, not this But-It's-Easter-Already-excuse-for-spring.) At least it's not below freezing every night. When I went to church for the Easter programs, the song running through my head was, "Have A Holly Jolly Easter"....
So, that's it, just to let you know I'm alive and thinking of all you readers (not that I have any idea how many of you there are, since hardly anyone ever posted to my blog last fall......)
There should be pix soon!
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