Balloon Dog

Chauncey doesn't like balloons. If a balloon is on Chauncey's bed, Chauncey will lay on the floor somewhere away from his bed until somebody removes the balloon. We weren't sure how the puppy would react to balloons, so it was fun to watch and see. 

Buck found these really cool light-up balloons for Gabby's birthday decorations. We put them in the hallway so we could see them glow. The puppy had fun batting them around and chasing them up and down the hall--he loves balloons! 

He tried a couple of times to trap them with his front paws, this resulted in an explosion and the end of the balloons. However, he eventually figured out how to gently turn them so that the tie end is facing up, then he'd pick a colorful ball of air up in his mouth and carry the balloon around like a prize! It was the funniest thing, ever! Maybe he really is a genius dog after all! :)

Baseball Friends

Our new good friends asked if we had any time to spend with them this week. They just returned Saturday from nearly three weeks of vacation and Mr. P is about to head south for a two-week training for work. Could we sneak in just a few hours to reconnect? Um, yes! We'll make it happen! So their family braved the cold (you'd never be able to guess that it was cold, given the bare arms of the pictured, but it was!) to catch our boys' second baseball game. 



Their sun-kissed seven arrived with pizza and parents in tow :) Mrs. P and I left to pick Caelan and Gabby up from work, and had a short chance to catch up as we drove solo. Soon our husbands were simultaneously calling us to request coffees. Our return trip was a bit slowed down as a result, but hot coffee and cocoa (which our girls appreciated) made the end of the baseball game even cozier--well, for the spectators :)

G$ played left field and B played first base again. I'm not sure what happened in the middle of the game, but B ended his evening with a double, followed by two stolen bases and a headfirst slide into home. Got a little dirt on the jersey :) 

So fun that our friends were able to join us--and hopefully more will soon! I've sent the boys' schedule to sooo many people who want to come to their games. I love that this church family loves us back and wants to be involved in our lives! Love it, love it!

The Dog Whisperer

Both dogs got baths in preparation for Grandma J's visit! They are fluffy, smell good, and are pettable :) They also really like Buck, ha!





We're trying to teach this one to stay out of the kitchen . . . I'd say he's got it about half figured out ;)

Happy Easter!

Wow, did we need an Easter rest! We were up early to attend 9 a.m. church . . . I know, I know, for some of you that's noon, but we are busy people and it seemed really early to us :) Awesome message (in the pastoral outfit I helped pick out, ha!), packed room, lots of people learning about Jesus! 

For the second service (there were four at two locations), Buck was the shuttle bus driver, and all the rest of us had classrooms to attend. Buck later joined me in the nursery, where we had a lot of criers, but plenty of helping hands to dry tears. Somehow I was, again, the only one who changed the diapers. I am so out of practice, ha! Those poor babies must be very patient for me to get from one end of the process to the other.

In between services, the kids (and we grown ups :) were thrilled to reconnect with our road-tripping new good friends. They're back, hooray!! (Mr. P wanted to get a bearded friend picture with Buck, since when he goes back to work he has to shave it :) And Mrs. P got us all arranged by the flower bushes on the church lawn for a mini family photo session (I was somewhat intimidated to do the same for her, since she's a pro!) So fun to have pictures of ALL of us together!






Gabby drew this cartoon rendition of the friend picture they took at church, it turned out so cute . . .



My Easter basket plan was new this year . . . the "baskets" that our kids have, they've had since they were toddlers. The things we put in the baskets seem to keep getting larger (for instance, a new ESV Bible for Gabby, and shaving supplies for Brennen--he was thrilled, okay maybe not, hee hee). I decided this year, I would wrap all their big stuff and just put coordinating numbers in their Easter baskets. That way when they found them in "classically hidden locations" (yeah, we're running out of options that the dogs can't get to and that haven't already been used in the past six Easters in this not-so-giant house :) they would bring their candy-filled baskets back to the living room, find their coordinating package, and then open their Easter goodies all together. This also helped prevent accidental glimpses of identical items should they find a sibling's basket before they found their own. So many layers, ha!





After unwrapping their bundles, the kids played with the neighbors while Buck made tacos for lunch. We spent a pretty relaxing afternoon enjoying the magnificent weather, reading books, and looking at everyone's Easter family pics on facebook. The kids played with their bubble wands, and the puppy played with the results of the bubble-making--he was highly entertained! (Do you like how we made our deck a giant play pen?) Graysen made a game of shooting the bubbles with his new squirt gun, sometimes the bubbles popped, sometimes they didn't! I'm sure there's a homeschool science experiment brewing in there, eh, oh well :) 




Eventually we put together our delicious Easter meal (I even got "crafty" in the kitchen and made the fanciest fancy eggs ever!) It was so hot inside with the grill going to smoke the ham! I think it would be cooler to leave all the doors and windows open and cook in the oven, but that ham was oh so tasty!







Our boys were tending the neighbors' dogs all weekend, so they had plenty of running back and forth to do, but overall our Easter Sunday was a really fun, relaxing day celebrating the everlasting life of Jesus and His love for each one of us!

Egg Hunt

We really had no plans to egg hunt this year, but when work called and said Caelan had three uniforms with patches to sew on, we took advantage of the karate school being open for just one special hour to go pick them up. And, since G$ is still within the age category for egg hunting, we decided to stay :) Gabby spent hours of work time stuffing those hundreds and hundreds of eggs (color-coordinating the candy inside to the egg color on the outside :), so she and the other two enjoyed the challenge of "hiding" them between hunts. There were so many eggs, seriously, they dumped boxes on the ground and let the eggs roll across the mats, ha!



When their karate instructor did the math, his eyes got big and he said, "You can each find . . . 59 colored eggs and four golden eggs!" (the golden eggs contained quarters--50 cents this year!) Graysen took his classy plastic grocery shopping bag and got to work! His interest in the quarters was to find some that he's missing for his quarter collector books. He ended up sharing a golden egg with the karate instructor's daughter who only found one (some other kids didn't quite follow the four golden egg rule :) This worked out well, because later the egg he shared was replaced (robbed from an over ambitious golden egg collector) and his friend was willing to trade quarters with him for one he needed! And I got to hold their family's darling four-month-old foster baby, it was a good morning for all of us :)

Not long after we dropped the girls off at home, the boys and I ran to the grocery store for supplies. Not long after that, Buck returned home from a 27 hour stretch of awakeness--23 of those hours spent at or commuting to and from work. Tired fellow! What a last day at the place he's worked for six years!

The boys were dog-sitting for two neighbors, had a key to a third neighbor's yard, and our girls headed next door to babysit for the newborn and his big sister--for five hours! I kept hoping they'd have trouble and need me to come help with the baby, but of course they were fine. Ha! All I got was, "What do I do about hiccups?" "Try burping, but babies are used to hiccups, so no biggie." I told Buck, "It's strange having our daughters text me for baby care information." He groaned, "Why did you have to say that?"



Here's how the puppy felt about Caelan being gone that long . . . he just put himself in his kennel and fell asleep :)



It was nice when they were all back from all the neighbors' houses and we could call it a night, because it had been a really busy day :)

Baseball is Back!

We went back and forth about baseball this year. Mostly because the boys' ages are just far enough apart that they are supposed to be in different league designations. Also because the season starts before our other seasons (choir, band, youth group) end. 

However, when the commissioner granted permission for the boys to be on the same team, we decided it was too good of a chance (before B would have to phase out to school ball--I think?) for them to get in another season together. Also, this new team is a conglomeration of their old team and an established team that needed more players. New jerseys, same coaches, new kids, old kids . . . so far everything has been so much more relaxed (they started practices the week before the first game rather than the January before the first game in April!), organized, and pleasant. If the weather is cold and nasty, they cancel practice. If the umpire doesn't show up for the first game, one of the coaches will call strikes, balls, outs, and safe. We get to visit with our baseball parent friends from our previous two seasons here, and enjoy the warm sunshine as the boys play ball. So far, so good :)


Game one was a win! B on first, G$ in right field backing him up. Both boys started, played the entire games, and had hits, Graysen's was a pop fly and was caught, but he got a piece of it! B scored after being walked the first time at bat (the pitcher wasn't sure what to do with a batter taller than his parents :) All-in-all, the boys looked good, had a good time, and we're excited about the season.

Pupdate II

Well, Mr. Pup has been keeping Caelan busy. And because he's not tested for public appearances with his service dog vest just yet, he has to spend any busy hours Caelan has (at work and such) in his kennel. That is unless he figures out how to use his surgery cone to bust open his kennel and come thundering up the stairs and down the hallway at 4:45 a.m. scraping the walls imitating a herd of elephants all on his own!



Chauncey often gives us this look . . . "Seriously? I hope you see how good I'm being, how tolerant and kind, right now . . ." :)





It's better when we can get this pup some exercise. Walk one went well! If only we had more sidewalks around here!



Looking regal beside the fireplace, ha!



This is a pup who loves sticks and chasing his tail. Sometimes Buck thinks he's not very smart, but he likes to prove his savvy when it is ear drop time. He'll go hide under something where Caelan can't reach him and settle in for a long stubborn stay :) Or, he'll pin his ear up against a wall or piece of furniture so she cannot access the drop spot. He could sit statue-like for an undetermined amount of time, unmovable! But we always win, right Caelan?


The puppy is also very confused, but interested in the variety of musical instruments constantly being played in our household. He was licking the strings to make his own sound while Caelan was working on her guitar, then he dug around behind it to see where the sound was coming from :) He also wanted her to pet him every time she strummed the strings, which made for a very slow song, ha!

Because we thought it would be good for training, we decided to take poochy to the baseball field for the boys' first game. The girls were at work and karate class. I remembered treats, but forgot poop bags (dang it!) We take Chauncey nowhere, so I didn't think about it. Much like on our walk, dog number two decided it was potty time on the cement right in the middle of the walk way (forehead slap). I dumped the treats into my purse and used the treat bag to clean up. I don't clean up after the animals, this is the children's job. But, couldn't just leave it there. Ew!


Other than that and wanting to eat sunflower seed castoffs, the pup was fairly well behaved. The people who came to visit him . . . not as much! I was amazed that children would listen to our instructions about his training, but adults would completely ignore us. We'd say, "He needs to sit before you pet him, it's part of his training." Kids would wait politely, adults would be all over him. "He is really not supposed to lick, it's part of his training." This woman with a canker sore put her lips a millimeter from his mouth trying to get him to "kiss" her. Ew!!

One kid started crying because the dog took the stick he was playing with (after he stuck the stick in the dog's mouth). Another dad let his two-year-old get right in the dog's face. Of course, he's well-trained (the dog) and he didn't bite or snap, but this is a big dog! IDK how parents risk that with a complete stranger! Sketchy!

No training class Easter weekend, so we're hoping his food supply lasts til we can get back to home base for more. All the things you have to think about! His next vet appointment will be after his first public testing with Caelan; at that they'll check his hips to verify he can continue with the program. They don't have any concerns, but it's a requirement. Again, he'll stay the weekend with a foster family and then we'll be back in puppy-business, once more.