so ready for spring break

Very early Monday morning, Andy left for an out-of-town business trip.  

This is our life when Andy leaves town.

He loads the freezer up with frozen food.  Andy is the family cook, and between work and getting the kids to and from practices and other activities, I can barely manage a simple meal.

He has not traveled in over a year.  In the past, I had to switch my hours at work to get everyone to school.  That really isn't an option any more, so our new plan goes like this.  Zach takes Julia to the bus stop, then he takes Wyatt to before school care and then drives Savannah and himself to school.  This week was our maiden voyage with this new plan.

As of last week, I have been officially packing a library for a move.  Andy left Monday morning, and I packed 80 boxes of books at work that day.  A team of just eight people packed 728 boxes in just under four hours.  I arrived at home exhausted.

The kids managed the morning quite well except for a missed medication that resulted in some minor challenges that afternoon.

Tuesday brought more packing at work followed by a skating party for Wyatt's school-definitely felt too old and tired for that.  The kids once again managed to make it to school on time.

Today was not so smooth.

The first thing I did this morning was start a load of laundry.  Then I found this:

That would be potting soil all over my living room floor.  Oh joy!  The dog bedding was a mess, and the washer was already busy.

The accused:

I quickly assessed that Shiloh was the guilty party.  While the evidence was circumstantial, I do believe it would hold up in a court of law.

1. She did not sleep in her crate last night.  She was pretty stubborn about the crate thing in Andy's absence.

2. She has torn up a bag of potting soil before.  Why, you may ask, did she have access to potting soil based on her history?  Well, we have a garden growing on a table in our living room until the weather clears enough for it to be transplanted outside.  The potting soil was supposedly out of Shiloh's reach on the table.  Clearly, not so.

3. Nobody else with any freedom spent the night in that room or area of the house.

4. She has a history of throwing herself parties that get pretty messy.

Guilty as charged!

So this morning started with a hurried sweeping job and quick text to Andy to let him know what he would be finding at home as he was not exactly coming into a haven of rest from a grueling business trip. 

I was late to work.  Zach missed Julia's bus and had to drive her to school.  That made him and Savannah late to school.

We are all grateful that Andy returned today.  When he announced this trip, Wyatt told him to watch out for piranhas and killer spiders in this state.  Where do kids get this stuff?  We are glad Andy skirted the piranhas and killer spiders while away.

We have 2 more days until spring break.  We need a break. Can we get some spring weather with that break?  We are all so tired here.

Shiloh's 1st b-day 9/18/2010

We don't typically celebrate pet birthdays around here, but the first one is kind of special.  On September 18th, Shiloh turned a year old. My intention was to supply her with a much needed, new crate liner and a much needed bed that would hopefully encourage her to stay off the couches.  However, that day was rough, and the budget was tight. I decided to settle for a cookie.  A friend of mine stopped by with a deluxe crate, two nice crate liners, a nicer bed than I would have bought and two buckets of toys.  Unbeknownst to my friend, this was Shiloh's birthday. Wow!  I am sure my kids don't get that spoiled on their birthdays.  All of this stuff was hand-me-downs from my friend's sister who raised dogs until her death almost a year ago.  Shiloh and all of us were much appreciative of this shower of cool stuff.

So after 10 months or so of life with Shiloh, this is where we stand.  She is a sweet, affectionate dog who loves her family (so much so that we have to entice her to go outside unless she is desperate to take care of business).  Shiloh still has some destructive habits, but that is to be expected at this age.  She still jumps on people, so we are constantly working on that.  Unfortunately, that means that she is always crated when we have people over.  The good news is that she loves her crate.  When we held Mom's party, we crated Shiloh in the basement and never heard a peep from her.  Wow!  Other than that, I constantly try to keep her off the furniture which I think would be successful if Zach was on board on this habit.  If one person permits inappropriate behavior in a dog, everyone might as well permit it.

I think Shiloh will be the dog for which we hoped.  You know, the dog who excitedly greets the kids when they return from college and sits with them when the tears flow over all that teenage angst stuff.  She is definitely a counter and table surfer and does occasionally drink from the toilet -those were the two things I insisted I would not have in our next dog when we were searching.  sigh

Graduation Day

Shiloh graduated from her Manners for Life class tonight.  The class was well worth the effort.  We learned so much, and she loves training.

Shiloh received a certificate of graduation and a plush toy.  She was a rowdy dog for class tonight and did not win any contests.

If her behavior tonight were graded, I think she may not have passed.  We worked and worked to get a picture of her in her cap and gown.  We quickly gave up on the cap and had to get the gown backwards.  You can see that she was "sitting" and "staying" for a treat.  That was the only way to get her picture.

Crazy

Quite accidentally, Andy discovered a few weeks ago that Shiloh loves the hose.  She played in it this afternoon, and I lathered her up with some shampoo for the easiest doggie bath ever given.  I keep wondering what she would do if we had a wading pool.

"Master, this is how you turn it on.  Please, let's play in the water again."

Shiloh is sweet, smart and fun. If only I could get her to stop chewing everything she gets can get in her jaws and to stop table and counter surfing, we might just have the perfect dog. 

Spring Break Day 2

Tuesday was recovery day.  We were all tired from Monday's trip.  Savannah spent the day with friends, and the rest of us hung out at home.  We were glad to have Andy home from work for one more day.  So, we took a walk around the block.  Wyatt and Julia rode their bikes.  When we returned Shiloh was so tired that she laid on the floor to drink her water. Come on Shiloh.  You are a peppy six months old, and we only went around the block twice, a long block in the heat, but still.  This is pathetic.In the evening we let Wyatt and Julia soak their feet in the hot tub.  Julia's new cell phone was handy as she snapped a picture of Wyatt and herself so that she could post it on Facebook.  She needed to place calls and text as necessary.

Shiloh?!Julia also used her phone to record video of Mom.  She then edited the video to include obnoxious noises and whispered what she had done to Wyatt.  Of course this Tinkerbell phone cannot do any of these things, but Julia has a great imagination.

Made in China

so, what has been happening at our house? snow days - two this week, and enough snow to make it appear that we have no deck (there are actually two stairs from the deck to the yard)
For the record we have no sledding pictures because I have never done that and neither have my kids. I keep saying we will do it next year, but the money never seems to be there to buy the boots and long johns, so....maybe next year.

Can you find the dog? Shiloh is five months old today.

She does not seem to have a favorite person.

These two keep us amused. Check out their sweatshirts. Wyatt's says "Made in China" in both Chinese and English (at least I think that is what is says in Chinese, how would I know?). Julia's says "100% American Girl -Hand Wash Only - Do Not Bleach --Made in China." I have wanted to buy these for a long time and finally broke down and did it.

My purse started falling apart. I loved this purse that Wyatt helped me pick out. It was about a year ago, and his English was pretty good. He wanted me to buy a baby poop yellow purse...ick. He told me black was a bad color, but this one was shiny, so I think that is why he approved.

Why is a new purse cause for a family celebration?

black cell phone + black purse lining = lost cell phone

My kids had the constant joy of trying to find my ringing cell phone in my purse whenever we were on the road. A joy that brought much groaning. Well guess what...finding a purse without a black lining is no small task, and I did not accomplish it, but the small pocket on the front of this purse should save my kids some headaches. Now if I can fit everything in my smaller purse.

Savannah does not care to wear jewelry, but she loves to bead it, so she has been beading bracelets so much after our beading bee that I bought her the stuff to continue. She can do what she loves, and we can donate the results to fight autism and to missionaries who want trinkets to hand out on short-term mission trips. How's that for finding a purpose in something you love?

Today was also supposed to be the day that my mom started chemo, but we have another setback. She has cellulitis in her arm and now has to go through another antibiotic. Keep praying. Your prayers are much appreciated!!

Finally, snow worthy of a snowman

While we slept last night, a school-halting amount of snow was dumped on us. So, we slept really late (Zach got up at noon). We have had one other snow day this year, and the snow at that time was too powdery to stick, so a snowman was out of the question. When I went outside this morning to snap some pictures of Shiloh in the snow, I realized that this was snowman snow that we had on our hands. Of course I am not going out to play in it, but I thought the kids would be excited. They weren't, and I assumed that Shiloh would be the only one in this family getting any time outside today.

Baby, I was born to run!

Shiloh took her pig's ear outside and buried it in the snow.

There it is.

Andy came home for lunch, and Savannah did actually go to work on a snowman. She got a little help from Julia. You can't tell from the picture, but that snowman is wearing a Broncos cap.

Zach built a fort.

I have been unusually tired lately and even considered calling in sick so that I could sleep one day last week, so today I slept late and also took a two hour nap. I think I am still recovering from watching the Superbowl Sunday night and then arriving home at close to 11:00p.m. with a 5:30a.m. wake up call ahead of me. Maybe I will be functional for the rest of the week with this relatively unexpected reprieve.

watching her grow

Shiloh marked her four month birthday on January 18th and went to the vet just three days before that. At her vet visit, she weighed 15 pounds...a five pound gain in just three weeks!!! I am so glad that I don't add another 33% to my weight every three weeks. It is like we can actually watch her grow, and while we are still trying to control some puppy behavior that is unacceptable, I do think that, someday, she will be a very good dog.

Shiloh saw the vet today,

and she weighs a whopping ten pounds. Wow! A three pound weight gain in three weeks! Anyone want to guess how big she will get? Since she is a mixed breed, we have no idea.

Picture December at Our House

I offer another picture post:
Zach participates in wrestling tournaments every Saturday. Weigh ins start at 8:00 or 8:30, and Zach is not usually finished before 5:00 p.m. His coach announced tonight that Zach is the number 1 heavy-weight in the state. Although, we are not sure where he gets that data. We do know that Zach's current record is 19 and 1.
These are Zach's buddies Blake and Matt.

On December 5th the girls and I attended the annual American Heritage Girls mother/daughter tea. It was Julia's first one and likely Savannah's last. We learned about Christmas around the world. A missionary from Papua New Guinea shared her experience with Christmas there. A mom who grew up in Switzerland shared Christmas traditions from Switzerland, and our troop coordinator and her daughters put together a skit about Christmas in Afghanistan.

We used my grandma's antique teacups this year. She collected them from Kroger years ago, and I ended up with them. People sometimes ask why I would use these for the tea and let my little girls handle them, but I always say that we can't enjoy them if they remain wrapped in newspaper in a box in the basement.

The cat likes sleeping in the manger again this year. I believe this is the closest to God that she can get. I am afraid that if there is a Heaven and Hell for animals, our cat will be feeling the heat.

I decided one night that I wanted to get a picture of Shiloh under the tree. She decided that she had no idea what I was trying to do and that camera was a curious thing, so I snapped this picture in an effort to show her what the camera would do.

My crazy plan worked.

Wyatt celebrated turning seven with friends at a pool party. I could not get pool pictures because it was too humid and fogged up the lens.

A grown up taking pictures!! UGH! This was the best shot I could get of the whole group..Jack, Emmanuel, Wyatt, and Abby (standing). Wyatt had a blast!

After pizza and cupcakes the kids got to play in the gym.

On Sunday some of the extended family celebrated with us. Wyatt has been over-stimulated and rather rotten for the past several days. To follow up on an earlier post, he never returned to school before the start of Christmas break.

I get up twice in the middle of the night to let Shiloh out, but of the kids, Savannah is the most helpful. She is also the biggest reason I decided we needed a dog. I consider a dog to be a good home safety asset.

I tried to post a picture of that cool Bakugan cake, but it kept flipping sideways on me.

and the birthday tradition continues...

Wyatt with his Aunt Tara

Grandpa and Grandma

Uncle Joshua

Uncle Tony, Austin, Logan, and Aunt Tiffany

Rock On!

Aunt Tessa

They think Julia is looking at Tessa's camera.

Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Danielle

All the activity called for a nap in a quiet place.

"The Show" - This is my term for the activity that takes place when Sparkle and Shiloh become aware of each other. Sparkle hisses and paws at Shiloh while Shiloh jumps around and pounces. Sparkle is not playing. Shiloh is. If Sparkle had claws in her front paws, we would have needed at least one extra vet visit for Shiloh.

Bambi was always completely indifferent to Sparkle. Shiloh loves to antagonize her. Maybe there is a reason that she is evil.

These pictures were taken this morning just before the sparring got out of hand and they started chasing each other around the Christmas tree. I don't have this much sibling rivalry from the kids.

The shopping is not finished but getting there bit by bit. I am ready for some rest and relaxation though I am not sure that I will get it. It is nice to wake up later than 5:15a.m., but the kids have an early dentist appointment tomorrow, and next Monday Zach has an early wrestling tournament two hours away. Is it really selfish to want to sleep until 8:30 every day of Christmas break?

On a completely unrelated note:

Zach has another friend from school hospitalized with a leg fracture. She actually broke both legs. He and Megan were great buddies in kindergarten, so I hope to get up to the hospital to visit her. She was in a car accident and her little sister is also there with more serious injuries. This eighth grade class has really been through it in the last few months. They lost a classmate this summer. Another classmate miraculously survived a serious infection complicated by leukemia. Now since Thanksgiving, two of them have been hospitalized. Of course the holidays are not always fun, and I am definitely aware of that this year.