A Dog's Life

We are a pet friendly family and home. I grew up with at least one dog and one cat at all times (usually more) and Jeff had a few pets while he was growing up as well. Simply put, our pets are members of our family. The other evening our dog, Zack, thought he would have a rest on our bed for a few minutes. But the kids got on the bed, too, so Zack got all kinds of love, pats and kisses.




Zack, a Golden Retriever and Chow/Sharpei mix, is ten years old now. I adopted him when he was three from the Humane Society where I was volunteering. I know almost nothing of his "past life" but I am convinced children must have been a part of it. He has always been drawn to kids and at 60 pounds he is always gentle with our children. He is a good dog and I'm glad our children will always know the love of a pet.

Born Free

In an earlier post, I described our new "pet" Patsy. Patsy was a caterpillar given to us by Emily's friend next door. We carefully kept Patsy in a jelly jar and fed her the leaves from the vine on which we found her. I even dropped a few drops of water in the top of the jar (I have no idea if caterpillars need water but it made sense to me). After about 10 days Patsy turned into a chrysalis that was first bright green, then later turned black.

I had been keeping a close eye on her in hopes she would in fact turn into a monarch butterfly like our neighbor's did. One day I picked it up to let Emily peek in the jar and at the very moment I bent down to show her, Patsy came out transformed into a beautiful butterfly. I mean at that exact moment we watched her emerge from her chrysalis. How cool is that!?!? I told Emily we would soon have to let her go outside as she wouldn't survive in her jar for very long. It took a little bit of convincing since Emily told me, "But Patsy's my friend." But the next day, as I watched Patsy struggling to spread her wings in the confined space, I took the jar to Emily and without me saying a word she looked at me and in a very grown up way asked, "Is it time?" I told her yes, it was time. So we let Patsy out of her jar in some flowers I had spotted other monarchs land on. At first, Patsy did nothing. I was worried. How would I explain it if the end of the story wasn't a happily ever after ending? But after about five minutes of Patsy stretching her wings repeatedly, she fluttered a few feet away and landed in the grass. Again, I was worried. But with a little nudging on my part with a stick, Patsy took flight. It was a breezy day (what day isn't in Kansas?) so we watched as Patsy floated up to our rooftop, cross our driveway, and fly past the neighbor's house. That was the last we saw of her.

I have never kept a caterpillar and watched this process so I think I was as excited, or perhaps more so, as Emily. Luckily I have photos of the process from start to finish.

Patsy in her full glory.

Here Emily is telling Patsy she can come back and visit us if she wants. :-)

You have to click on the photo above and look in the top left corner to see Patsy flying away. Godspeed, Patsy. Thanks for letting us take care of you. :-)

Benjamin Turns One!!

What a bad mommy for not getting this updated before now. But September 27th our little guy celebrated his first birthday! We were blessed to have some friends and family join us for cupcakes and ice cream. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the extra people in our home. But he did really well and has enjoyed playing with with all his toys.

He was not one of those children who dove right into his birthday cake. In fact, he stuck a finger in the icing and didn't even put it in his mouth (this was his first experience with cake, icing, etc). In this photo you can see a little bit of icing in his right hand and he was holding it away from himself until I wiped it off.

I am happy to report however that later in the day, after all our guests had gone, Benjamin did enjoy some of his cupcake (I had to "prime" him a bit by putting some icing in his mouth so he could get a taste). Here he is finally enjoying his birthday cupcake (the peas were leftover from his supper).

Some photos of Mommy and Daddy with their birthday boy. Happy birthday, baby!

New Glasses and a New Pet!

Well, we picked up Emily's new glasses last week. For the first few days, it was a little difficult getting her to keep them on. But now she keeps them on all day. She did have to take them off for gymnastics tonight and afterward she told me she didn't like taking them off! Yeah! Hopefully she is getting used to them.

Also, we have a new "pet." We've been playing a lot over the last week with our neighbor who is a six year old little boy who likes bugs. Apparently he keeps a "bug jar" in his house to store his finds. He first gave Emily a roly-poly but let's just say Emily set him free somewhere in our basement. So the next day, he gave her a pretty caterpillar. That was on Sunday. It is now Tuesday night and it's still alive! We are feeding it the same leaves that it was on when we found it and boy, can it eat. It has affectionately been named "Patsy" and Emily says it's her best friend. Patsy lives in a jelly jar and seems to be doing well. We are hoping she will make a cocoon and turn into a butterfly. We have no idea what kind of butterfly it will be but right now she's a really pretty black, white and yellow striped caterpillar. Here are some photos of Patsy and Emily (and the new glasses).

A Few Really Big Milestones

Emily has officially, FINALLY, given up her binky (aka pacifier). I'm a little ashamed to admit that my nearly 4 year old still used one when she slept. But it was like it was a part of her. She came to me with the clothes on her back and pacifier around her neck and that was it. So I felt like the binky was the one thing that helped comfort her during that difficult transition in her little life. However, over the last few months she voluntarily gave away or threw away a few of her binkies (yes, she had a collection that she carried in an eyeglasses case). But she did this knowing she always had one more safe in her room. Well, Labor Day weekend binky went missing. I mean truly missing, not that Mommy or Daddy quietly slipped in her room and took it. So she had a few sort of rough nights without it. Then about a week later I was putting her to bed and glanced in the corner and saw binky staring out at me from under some of her stuffed animals! Emily had made such great progress up to that point, I REALLY hoped she didn't spot it. She didn't and after she fell asleep, Mommy (aka Binky Fairy) came and quietly took it away. There has been no mention of binky since those first few nights without it. For that, I am grateful!

Second big milestone...my baby girl is getting glasses. She had an eye appointment yesterday and it was discovered that she can't see all that well. Who knew??? So, we will go Friday to pick them up and have them fitted. And yes, there will definitely be photos. Daddy took her to the appointment and was there when she picked them out. All I know is that they are "purply-pink"--Daddy's words--and Emily calls them Barbie glasses although I think they are Cinderella. So I'm not sure what to expect but as long as she likes them and WEARS THEM, I don't care.

More later...

Labor Day Weekend

We had a terrific Labor Day weekend last weekend. It was sort of a family reuinion as my family had not all been together for probably close to two years. It's sad, since we all live in the same state but we made it happen this weekend. My two older sisters and their families, my aunt and my dad and his wife all made the trip to our house. We cooked out, celebrated my dad's and aunt's birthdays, ate lots and visited. Emily enjoyed playing with her cousins and with my sister's step-granddaughter who is close to the same age. Of course, Benjamin just enjoyed the excitement and all the extra attention. I'm glad we were able to get lots of photos!

My sisters and me

All of us girls with our dad

Not all of the grandkids but most of them

Emily and BB's granddaughter, Carmella

Papa getting a physical before his workout shown below...

Emily instructing Papa on the fine art of doing the hula hoop!

Me and my baby boy.

The loves of my life!

A Quick Post

I don't know where the time goes but it's been two months since my last post. What's been going on here, you ask?

This past month, Emily has started at her preschool again. She is attending two mornings a week and this is her second week. So far, so good. She LOVES school and her teachers and paras. I have volunteered to be the children's clothing closet coordinator for the PTO so I'll be busy with that. I also will be volunteering for other various activities during the year. Here are a few photos from the first day of school. And great news! Her best buddy/our neighbor is also attending and they are in the same group!

Two weeks ago, Emily also started gymnastics. She attends just once a week but so far, it has also been a hit. She loves it and our next door neighbor is her teacher so that's a plus. The class only lasts for another three or four weeks and at that point we'll re-evaluate whether she'd like to enroll again. She's always doing headstands and somersaults here at home (usually on the sofa) so hopefully class will provide her an outlet for all her energy. Here are a few photos. The first one is a little hard to make out due to the net around the trampoline. But that's Emily working on the bar. :-)

Lastly, Emily has started a class at church on Wednesday nights. The kids meet for supper and then have their class time. It's 90 minutes and last week was a little difficult for her but now that she knows what to expect hopefully she'll not cry this week when I leave.

I'm happy to say we're trying to keep big sister busy with a variety of activities. At the same time, Brother is also getting lots more active. At my last post, he still did not have any teeth. But a week after turning 9 months old, the first bottom tooth appeared and a week later, the second came through. We seem to have stalled now on teeth and still only have those two at nearly 11 months old. He is able to eat some very soft solids but still really prefers his smoother baby foods.

Benjamin is not yet walking but is pulling himself up all over the place. A few times he has even let go, only to fall on his bum a few seconds later. He jabbers a lot and I heard the most precious words from him last Monday--"Mama." He's only said it two or three times and usually it's when he is upset or tired and wants me. But it's still nice to hear. Of course he's been saying "Dada" for a few months now. He LOVES his Dada and squeals with delight and waves his arms wildly when he sees Dada coming home from work.

We've joined a new Mom's playgroup here in our community and have met a few new friends through that. Benjamin even had a friend over last Thursday for a few hours. She is just a few weeks younger than Benjamin but they are right about the same developmental level. They seemed to like having another little person crawling on the floor and playing with toys.

The kids has cousins, Haileigh and Eric, come visit for a week earlier this month. Emily and Benjamin both loved having the kids here to play, especially Emily who kept saying she was a big kid just like H and E. Mommy enjoyed having her niece and nephew here, too. Hopefully we can make this a summer tradition! That is, if the kids weren't too worn out after they left here! Here are a few photos from that week...

Mommy and Daddy are both doing well. I started teaching another Counseling class to a group about 45 minutes away from where we live. It's one night a week for 6 weeks so it's a short term stint but nice to get out of the house, dress like a professional again and make a little money at the same time.

Until next time....