Dogs

In the past year we have gone from having no pets to having two dogs.  Chad got me a Labernard (St. Bernard/Lab) puppy for Christmas last year.  We named her Luna, and we love her sometimes.

*Note to any males who may be reading:

DO NOT under any circumstances get your wife a puppy for Christmas (unless she specifically asks for it, and is not medicated in any way).  Especially if she just had hip arthroscopy and is drugged off her gourd.  This warning is for your own personal happiness and safety.  Thank you.

About two months ago we also acquired my parent's boxer, Penny.  She is more of an indoor dog than Luna and is very patient and sweet with the kiddos.  Sophie is completely in love with her and has even started calling Penny her "sister".  Penny sits and allows Sophie to lay her head on her while she watches tv and has even been known to suffer through a round of princess dress up a time or two.

Last Saturday I went Christmas shopping.  By myself.  For five glorious hours.  It was the first time I had been alone in a week since we had lots of company come in for Thanksgiving.  

Chad stayed home and began to supervise bath time with the youngsters like a good dad.  Before that, he let Penny out to go potty, not thinking much of it since we have an electric fence and she usually stays within it's boundaries.  

A little while later he went to let her back in and she wasn't waiting at the door as usual.

He began searching for her all over the yard.  No luck.  He walked the neighborhood for the next two hours in the cold.  No luck.

Since Saturday we have posted signs in the neighborhood & little local grocery store, made profiles with the local animal shelter and radio station, posted on Facebook, driven the neighborhood shouting her name, and prayed.  Blake even mentioned that he fasted for her on Sunday.  He has also jumped on his bike every chance he gets to ride around looking for her.  He is taking it pretty hard.

We have had a few calls that people have seen a boxer in our neighborhood, so we have hope that she is still in the area.  This morning I even chased a boxer down several streets calling for Penny.  I am not convinced it is her because I couldn't get a good look at her front and this dog didn't respond to me at all...

which is very un-Pennylike.  Our neighborhood is very hilly and spread out, with big wooded areas in between a lot of the streets.  It has also been so foggy the past few days we could barely see in front of the car, let alone into the woods.

So we wait. 

& Pray.

I can't tell you how heart breaking it was to drive beside Blake last night as he jogged down the street yelling for Penny.  That kid has a big heart, and I love him so much.

Sophie is convinced that Penny just went back to Grandma's house to visit and she'll be "right back".  

I am praying for a Christmas miracle, and I am so grateful to the many people who have stopped to help us look and have responded to the signs we put up.  People are still good and decent, my friends.  

Happy Halloween!

Last year my energy level at Halloween was subzero.  With the expense of the upcoming move (oh yeah, we moved! I'll fill you in on that later) I couldn't justify buying anything for costumes, so we scrounged up all the costume parts we could from various sources and it went just fine.  Fast forward to this year.  The kids always start talking about what they want to be for Halloween on, like, November 1.  This is the tediousness of being a mom I suppose.  This year was no exception and I am pretty sure they changed their minds at least 10 times each.  Except Sophie.  She has been adamant about wanting to be a princess for months.

Several weeks ago we had some friends to dinner and they said that they had a Dorothy costume that would fit Sophie.  That got the wheels in my head turning and before we knew it, we had a family theme going on.  

I mean, you can't have Dorothy without her posse, right?  

So I got started on putting the costumes together. The boys were surprisingly compliant about being the other characters.  We drew them out of a hat so there would be no arguing, but Kade and Trevor ended up trading anyway.  This worked to my advantage because I had no desire to make a lion costume and luckily Kade fit into the toddler costumes at Target.  From there I used enough duct tape, foil and spray paint to cover America to turn Trevor into the Tin Man.  Blake became the Scarecrow after several hours of making a hood out of fleece and a black hat out of felt.  

(There may or may not have been some cursing involved with that project.)  

I bought The Wizard of Oz movie and Sophie spent the last few weeks singing "We're off to see the Wizard" and reciting "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" everywhere. we. went.  

 All in all they were a huge success and they were all thrilled with their costumes, which made me happy. Chad was a good sport about carrying his Oz head around on a paint stick, he even wore a green shirt to match.  

 I do hope I never have a reason to paint my face green again, especially with a sinus infection. Blowing my nose became very problematic as the evening at our branch trunk or treat went on!  

Last night they were so cute trick or treating in our neighborhood. We met quite a few neighbors that are new and have little kids, it was a great family friendly atmosphere.  

Several of our neighbors are older and retired so their kids are grown and gone.  They just couldn't get enough of our foursome.  

Sophie really got into the game this year and by the end of the night she was saying "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! TRICK OR TREAT!".  She would also stop and look up to the sky and yell, 

"Oh no, it's the witch! Hurry boys!"  

She has a flair for the dramatic, that one.

Next year I think I will put white sheets on all of them and call them ghosts...I'm tired!

Yeah, right.  Like it could be that easy.

Happy Halloween 2013!

I'm Back!

It has been a while...ahem...about a year actually.  When I sat down and tried to get into my blog I had forgotten my password and the email attached to this particular account. So it took me a while to figure out how to get back in.

Oooooops.

Sorry my friends.

I will be better. 

Maybe.

Anywho, I am checking in to see if I remember how this is done, and then I will try to post updates more than once a year.

Maybe.

Send me a comment so I know I am not talking to dead air space, because if I wanted to do that I would just talk to one of my kids ;-).