Wordless Wednesday; Oh. My.

Snapshots of Christmas

Francie~ bubble wrap!!

Natty~ Lego's

Johnny~ Stockings

Pop~ Christmas carols on the piano

Two days until Christmas

Woody can't handle the stress anymore.

Woody Haiku

Johnny's best friend here

Face down, having a bad day

Needs a Bo-Peep kiss

Three days until Christmas

Our Christmas cactus blooms, just in time...

Christmas Cactus Haiku

Bright green spiky stem

Suddenly a brilliant red

Christmas must be here!

Four days until Christmas

Snow, snow and more snow

Snow on the front porch...

and on the back porch too.

Snow Haiku (part two)

Everything is white
Except for our red faces

from so much snow play.


Snowman!

Five days until Christmas

Watching the snow fall...

Snow Haiku

Snow falls silently

Boys watching through the window

Let's go out and play!

Six days until Christmas

I'm stealing an idea from my very good, wonderful friend, Lorena, who is following the mama at Earth Crunchy, to do a countdown until Christmas.
Lorena said the idea is to blog, "simple pictures without lengthy posts as a way of capturing the beauty of the season - thus allowing me the opportunity to focus on family, friends............and final preparations! enjoy!" I stole that right from her blog. That's how I roll. I stole that saying from another one of my good friends, Dawn. There's your five minutes of fame, Dawn.

I'm starting today.
But, truth be told, our Christmas here is really only four days away, as we have to celebrate here first, before the actual Christmas day (Santa is making a special visit), then travel to various relatives houses for Christmas's number two, three, four and five. :) Tis the season!

And, the other truth is, I don't take pictures that capture cool, beautiful things, in different ways, angles, etc. I'm not that creative. I pretty much set the camera on "auto" and click straight on my subject. It doesn't ever occur to me to go sideways or not tell my people to say, "cheese" or to catch a glimpse of something in the camera frame just slightly, or just to take a picture of someone's foot. So, 'the beauty of my season', as captured by my camera will probably be pretty plain and simple and boring with lots of camera-ready smiles. It is what it is. Enjoy.

Santa Haiku

Still want to believe

Ask for sock monkey, Death Star

Santa, are you real?!?!

No T.V.

It has been almost exactly two months since we have had TV.
Of course, most people would say we've been without TV forever, since we didn't ever have cable and we didn't ever bother to check to see if we could receive any stations without cable.
The extra-large TV sat in our old living room taking up a lot of space and was used mainly for videos, movies, the Wii and recently, the Play Station, which Natty finally discovered Sean had and which I had been hiding.
Now, the TV has a new home in our new house- in a closet.  It sits in there happily, surrounded by other things we haven't unpacked yet and for the most part, haven't missed. I gaze at the pile every once in awhile when I peer in the closet and I wonder how much everyone misses the things in it.  I miss my computer and can't wait until we have it up and running (it's been on the list of things to do for about...two months.)  I miss the printer too. 

If you ask Natty and Francie they will tell you, with no hesitation, that they miss the TV "a lot."  Francie misses watching an occasional movie, Natty misses playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.  Johnny, if he could tell you, would probably say he misses watching all his videos as well.  But, if you don't ask them, they don't bring it up.

I am sure we will get it all set up eventually, but I am not actually looking forward to that day.  In our old house, Johnny's main focus in life was to get someone to put in a video for him to watch.  He would want to "watch Elmo" whenever he could and if he couldn't, he wasn't usually too happy.  He had a hard time finding something else to besides want to watch.

Here Johnny has not said, "watch Elmo" even once ("watch Elmo" would mean watch anything- not necessarily Elmo).  He spends a lot of time in his book nook reading to himself.  He spends time playing more games, pulling Gary the snail around, coloring, etc.  He will disappear for long times, happily playing by himself or with Natty and Francie.

I can't honestly say this is because we do not have the TV set up.  It could just be the change of scenery in the new house, the new spots to play, the different ways things are situated.  I'll be curious to see what happens when the TV does get set up.

But, in the meantime, I am loving the lack of noise from the TV.  I'm loving the fact that I get to play Monopoly every morning with Natty and Francie at a time when Natty would usually be busy playing on the Wii and begging Francie to watch him play, or to play with him.  I'm loving that I don't have the option of just throwing in a movie/video to watch on down days and we are all forced to come up with something else that is fun and relaxing to do. I'm loving that I don't have to look at the big black screen every time I walk into my living room.
I think I loving my life with no TV!  :)

An hour and a half at the local park with friends cost me...

1.  One large laundry load of muddy, wet, extremely dirty clothes, coats, hats and shoes.

2.  Over $1,000 in dental bills after Johnny stuck his mouth over the water pipe and either hit the pipe with his front two teeth or the force of the water shooting out completely blew out his fillings.  At first I thought his teeth were chipped, then remembered he had had fillings in his front two teeth.  Either way, he looked scary (haha), was upset (or maybe I was more upset) and it hurt him to eat.  Poor boy!

I took him to the dentist yesterday hoping for a quick filling fix, but it turned out he had lost more than just the filling- he had lost some more of both teeth as well.  The red parts were nerves showing, which is why eating hurt him.  The recommendations were to extract the two teeth or do two root canals and fill the teeth back in.  One cost $400, the other, over $1,000.  One was a five-minute procedure, the other more like twenty-five. The extraction was a guarantee, the root canal could possibly fail (at some point.)  Both needed laughing gas, the expensive, not-so-funny kind.

Well, what would you have done?!

Sean and I couldn't see having Johnny with his two missing front teeth for at least two more years.  He is quickly approaching five years old but Francie just lost her front two teeth recently (when she was closer to seven), and considering Johnny has Down syndrome, which delays a lot, including the growth of adult teeth, well, he could be missing his front two teeth for a much longer time.  How would he eat an apple?

We opted to go for the longer procedure, to spend more money and to get his poor teeth fixed!  The process turned out to be a bit over thirty minutes long and although I held his little hands the whole time and he sat so still for all of it and was so incredibly wonderfully patient and perfect, not even flinching with the shots or any of the work, I still felt terrible for him. 

But, all is well that ends well.  Johnny's teeth have been restored to "normal", he feels fine and happy and all has been forgotten.  We've moved on, taking with us the lesson of not putting our mouths on/around/near water pumps/faucets, and are thankful the whole ordeal was not anything more serious.

Wordless Wednesday; Men Attack Coati on Windowsill (not what I expected to see when I went to the bathroom)

 

We need a dog

My newest obsession in life and probably reason #15 I haven't been blogging as much - I've been on line a lot searching for a puppy or a dog...or both.  I haven't been ready to have another dog after we lost Zoey in March of 2007 (she is still missed terribly) but after moving out to the county, being nearly 100% sure we do not want to have another child and wanting a bit of protection, we decided we needed a dog!

My children were not part of my obsession for a long while, since their interactions with dogs have not been the greatest.  They do not know the wonderful smell of puppy breath, the love of a furry friend following your every move, the fun of romping through the woods with a dog by your side, the games of fetch, the slobbery kisses, the warm, loving eyes, the active bodies wanting always to play, to be loved, petted, etc.

I don't think I've been very good at pointing out all the positives of dog ownership either, sticking more with the negatives because I wasn't ready for another dog:  dog hair, poop, dogs underfoot, barking, muddy feet, vet bills, the inability to suddenly get up and go away for the weekend, etc. etc.  At what point did I suddenly remember all the positives out-way the negatives? I am not sure. I am not sure I actually did completely either...I just know that now, I want a dog.

I took Francie to a local pet store that rescues animals.  She held a round furry ball of puppy for the first time and she was hooked.  Her first experience with sharp gnawing teeth, warm soft puppy bodies and dark chocolate eyes staring at her was a success.  Of course, now all I hear is, "When can we get a puppy?" or "Can we go back to the pet store and hold the puppies??"

So, Sean and I have talked.  We've looked at dog breeds, types, sizes.  I decided I didn't want anything pure-bred; I don't like supporting breeders when there are so many dogs who need homes already.  I don't want a high-shedding dog (although my sister swears you give them fish oil and no dog sheds...) or a small, yip-yappy thing.  I want a bigger dog for protection, to take for walks and hikes, to romp and play.  I don't want a dog that drools or slobbers on me or needs a ton of obedience training or will run off.  I don't want a dog with a scrunched up face.  I want a dog that is playful yet protective and intimidating to strangers, friendly and not aggressive with friends, family, other dogs and the mailman.  I want a dog that barks but doesn't bark a lot.

So.  We looked at lots of breeds and found some we wouldn't mind too much, if they were mixed with something else we liked.  Like shepherds and boxers.  Or Ridgebacks and rottweilers.  Black mouth curs and...well, that's about it.

Sean really likes the Rhodesian Ridgebacks.  We found some rescued ridgeback/boxer puppies but 409 other people found them too and they have all been accounted for.  Their mother, on the other hand, has not.

We were looking for puppies, but this mother pulls at our heart strings too. She is beautiful and, from her description, wonderful with people and children, friendly, playful, happy. She won't shed a lot, she'll bark but not too much.  She might be perfect.

We decided we could fore-go the puppy stage, missing out on chewed up slippers and house training and crying puppies at night.  We decided we could bring a beautiful older dog into our lives (well, not too old, she is only one and a half!) and give a dog, who might not get a good home otherwise, a loving family.

We filled out the application for her and are patiently waiting for a reply.  Waiting is not easy.  While I wait, itching to pet her smooth head and kiss her, I dream about puppies.  And, so does Francie.

And, so Sean and I talked some more.  We decided that maybe we could get two dogs.  If the adoption goes through with the ridgeback and all goes well, maybe we could consider a puppy as well.  If one dog is good, two must be better, right?  And maybe Mommy Ridgeback will like having a puppy around after just giving birth to (and being taken away from) her own. 

So it has been back to searching for me.  And waiting for a reply.
I found rottweiler/shepherd/boxer mix puppies (see them up there?  Aren't they cute?) that I would love to go see and hold and bring home...but have to wait.  Especially since they are six hours away!!

Waiting is hard.

My "why I haven't been blogging" excuse list

As unbelievable as it is to me, it really has been exactly two months since I put out a blog post.  Naturally I have a bunch of excuses, though, because what good is not doing something if you don't have some good excuses?
Here they are, in no particular order:

#1. My children have kept me running out of the house too much because of karate classes, boy scout meetings, Brownie meetings, Homeschooling co-op days, therapies, sports group, homeschooling classes at Crow's Nest Nature Preserve, Hibernia State Park and other miscellaneous homeschooling workshops, participating in Halloween and Christmas parades, library trips, having to get together with their friends and having to have their hair cut or teeth cleaned.

#2. Sean went to Florida on a business trip and I was a single mom for a bit. 

#3. "Natty's weekend" where Francie and Johnny stayed with my parents while Natty had Sean and me all to himself.  We played Risk and ate out at a local Japanese restaurant and I had to play attention to Natty the whole entire time. 

#4.  We bought a new house!!

#5.  We went to a They Might Be Giants concert.

#6.  We had company over helping us to move and we moved!

#7. We didn't set up our computer for a long, long time after we moved.  It was very nice.  But, I couldn't blog.

#8.  We had a lot to unpack and set up.  We still do but at least now we have one computer up and a working kitchen and some beds.  :)

#9.  We have a pond now and lots of fish to catch.

#10.  We hosted Thanksgiving for my Dad's side of the family and some of Sean's.  We cooked some but mainly everyone brought something and it was wonderful.  We had a fire in our fire pit and made jiffy pop!  (That's all of us, except Natty, below)

#11.  We bought a new house and moved.  Did I mention that?

#12.  We went to Tennessee for another Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family.  We had three wonderful hotel nights, a highly amusing Japanese hibachi dinner, a long drive, a great time visiting cousins and aunts and uncles and my parents and sister, delicious Thanksgiving and Thai food, fun games and flying stunt kites.  Here's a picture of eleven out of sixteen of us cousins!

#13.  Lorena emails me too much and makes me write back to her constantly, day after day, hour after hour. 

But mainly....

#14. I am a blog writing slacker.  :)