Linus

It was a whirlwind association with Caelan's first service dog in training. He was a fluffy, goofy, tail-chasing, bubble-jumping, stubborn, basketball-watching, ball of fun. Chauncey may have other opinions on the topic. Unfortunately, Mr. L did not pass his stability test. His hips aren't made for supporting a mobility-impaired person, so he and his brother are out of the program. He was set to meet a potential adoptive family today (not us, we can't afford him :) He'll be a great family dog, for sure!

He snores when he sleeps.

And really likes grandma!

He played tennis that one time.

But really DIDN'T like music lessons!

Sometimes he was naughty, and sometimes he begged for people food with his eyes, but we'll miss Caelan's toddler-for-a-month and look forward to seeing the next pup that comes into our home and lives.

May Day! May Day!

Our neighbors always attempt to May Day surprise us . . . but with two big dogs in the house, that's just not going to happen :) They ring the doorbell and run for cover--across the wide open expanse of our cul-de-sac. And the dogs . . . go . . . wild . . . ha! (So sweet of the M family to remember Gabby can't have popcorn or jelly candy with her braces, so her cup had a big Reece's in it!)





Well, that's not how our Crew rolls. They formulate a plan.



They assume clever disguises.





They find the most complicated path through wet and tick-infested grasslands, through wooded areas that alert every neighborhood dog between our house and their destination, and while we (and our neighbors watch) . . .




. . . they sneak around the corner for a "surprise" delivery about as surprising as the original one :) Ha! We were all laughing. Such a fun tradition!



And speaking of tradition, here are a few fun pictures of our traditional sending Grandma off to the airport picture. We've almost got the hang of it ;)

Did Somebody Say Birthday?

We celebrate a lot around here . . . I'm going to do a celebration mash-up post, just to make sure everything gets covered. For instance, celebrating breakfast! Blina, of course! To celebrate . . . being actually at home for a morning? :)





Caelan frantically finished knitting her dad his very own blanket (which he LOVES), as he was pulling into the driveway after his chiropractor/foot scan/haircut, etc. etc. appointments. The kids pitched in to "look natural" and clean up the evidence of final gift preparations.



The girls attended a relationship conference for young ladies over the weekend. They had a friend come home with them after band/girls' ensemble/choir who also attended. We attended a lot. I also attended, but needed to attend to taking the fluffy one halfway to his vet appointment and another weekend of weekend warrior care to do so (we are awaiting the results of his tests to find out if he can remain in the program). There was a boys' conference happening downstairs in the same church, and one of them is a very tall friend of Caelan's from youth group. He came over to talk to her in the morning until one of his buddies dragged him away. I told Buck and Buck just growled, ha! 



It might have been the weather, but I was too antsy to sit still at the conference for long, even after I returned from my two-hour trek (Buck covered for me at the conference by learning what to say to young men who are interested in our daughters; after looking over his list he told me, "If I would have had to answer all these questions, we never would have gotten married." Lol!) Anyway, I ran to about five stores, picked up baby chicken coop supplies (and Starbucks) and arrived back at the conference in time to take Caelan to work. It was quite a day, but the girls made some new friends and hopefully learned some important ways to guard their hearts, minds, emotions, and everything else until they each meet their one-and-only :) And that will be something to celebrate!



The next morning dawned upon Buck's birthday. Graysen is always the breakfast-time gift giver, and Buck was excited to be given the Rugged Outdoorsman Guy magazine he's been wanting for like six months (I think that's what it's called ;) We enjoyed a lively sermon series launch of the Song of Solomon, and both Buck and Gabby received very special cards from our chicken fan friends--the paper is scented like vanilla!


Without a moment to spare (and parking hard to find), we arrived at our brunch destination, only to be shown all the way back to the "royal" table in the sky-lit brick room. It was pretty special! Buck sat in a tufted golden upholstered chair and ate his breakfasty-lunch like a king! We had lots of time to enjoy our nook, because the kitchen seemed a bit overwhelmed. We scored some extra bacon and a second stack of pancakes as a result, so really, who is going to complain?



The rest of the day, Buck watched sports on TV and relaxed. We opened presents and ate the chocolate caramel brownies his mom baked. It was a good day of celebrating :) And notice the mug . . . it's foreshadowing . . .






Yes, he's smelling the wrapping. He's very good at guessing what's inside. The "baby" bag threw him for a minute, "Are we having a baby?" he asked suspiciously. Ha! Nope, not this year :) "Then I know what the gift is!!!" he said excitedly. Gabby stumped him with her tactical gloves, and he was excited about he ESV engraved Bible from Brennen. ATA hat came from all four, and the range finder from his mom was a mega hit! He said he was very happy with all his gifts :)


But first . . . Z visited the chickens and, though I didn't get a picture of her looking at the chickens, she very much enjoyed watching them take dust baths--playing in the dirt to get clean, such a contradiction! :)




The next day, Buck and I each had an hour-long massage. I've never had anything other than pregnancy massages, and by looking at my youngest you can tell how long ago that was :) Last year, the physical therapy masseuse Buck saw at our chiropractor's office had a sale. We bought two hour-long sessions, thinking these would be good for Buck's future neck and back therapy needs. Well, then she announced she was moving offices to somewhere downtown and would no longer have a bunch of people milling around the same space. Not cool Robert Frost! We decided we'd each use one of the pre-paid massages, but together. Little did I know, that you can't take the therapist out of the massage lady. Ha! I felt like she was massaging bruises at some points, bruises I didn't even have! Oh well, some of it was pleasant--hands, feet, head. The chin massage was weird, but at least I can say I've had a real massage (sort of :) Buck ended up with a bad headache afterwards. He spent most of the rest of the day sleeping, while the rest of us headed to karate.

I lost my train of thought . . .

Oh right, so he wanted to go see the Endgame movie, but I wasn't feeling throwing three additional hours at being gone from the house (when we have so much going on that I'm gone all the time anyway). However, he talked me into Tuesday morning before our long list of other commitments (including baseball in the rain). It just so happens it's $4.99 movie ticket day on Tuesday, so for the price of the two of us on any other day (more or less), we could take all eight (four of which were on pins and needles hoping their friends who'd already seen the movie wouldn't spoil it). They might have freaked out a little when we told them they were going to the movie too :) There were TEN previews btw--TEN! That took nearly the first 30 minutes of the three-hour runtime. Anyway, we *finally* saw the movie. Celebrate! A continuation of Buck's birthday since he'd been really, really trying to talk me into seeing the movie for weeks maybe? for his birthday. Mission celebration accomplished!






But we had another celebration to take care of . . . straight from the movie theater, we headed to our favorite bakery to keep up our annual tradition of celebrating our visitors' May birthdays (well, except we weren't quite ready for Grandma J's). As soon as Z saw where we were heading, she started cheering. It's a good place! Graysen wore his signature shirt (it has the bakery owners' signatures on it :) and traded in some bottle caps for a whole box of mini cupcakes--they are the best!! We did, sadly, find out, they are overwhelmed with the amount of hours they are working, so they're closing the store and just doing special orders. I'm glad she told us in person though, we would have been so sad to discover they'd gone :(











Z was very happy with her gifts, especially the candy, so all-in-all, the celebration continued. The owner said we were one of their favorite families who come in to the shop, and they will miss seeing us enjoy each other. 

And that is the conclusion of my celebration post, unless the boys come home with a wet win in baseball. Z and I decided to sit this one out :)