Dad's Day and a New Wallet

Ellie has taken it upon herself to keep her dad with duct tape wallets.  Adam dutifully used his clear one for months and just in time for Father's Day he was gifted with another more colorful Blue one.

I had the other kids work on a combined Father's Day card on our chalkboard and then we fed our man of the house some Gooey Rolls.

We are so grateful for our Daddy and know he is one of the very, very best.

We know because he is exactly like the other father's and grandfathers we know.

Working on the Back yard

We have worried about the rain coming down our hill, carving out our yard, and hitting our house foundation for years.  This year, we wanted to put that worry aside, so we bought 6 tons of river rock and wheel-barreled them up the hill to line the creek that brings the water down our hill, in hopes that it will keep the drain clear of leaves and dirt. With a clear drain, the water will pass through the underground pipe to the street and not run over it and through our yard and slam into our house.

A big thanks to Ethan, our nephew staying the summer again, and Shanna, my sister who was here this summer too.  They were a big force in the wheel-barrelling effort.

As a side project to the river rock, Adam had been dreaming of adding a stone stairway from our middle yard to our upper yard.  That was his little pet.  He would go out each evening and maneuver one of those rocks into place.  The next night he'd do another one, and before you knew it, we had a really pretty stairway.

Az Christmas- Gathering Wood Project

I always forget how the deset is stunning in it's own way.

Blue skies, vaste horizons, impressive mountains, and unique plants.

I got to rediscover that during our family service project.

My dad asked us to help him gather some firewood for a family in the community.  I was happy to have a chance for my kids to do a bit of service this holiday time.  A few years ago, my dad partially cleared this land by bulldozing most of the mosiquite trees together in these huge piles.  All we had to do was gather up the dry wood, while avoiding any scorpions or snakes we might find, and throw it on the trailers, and deliver it.

The cousins came to help too.

Here's the in-laws working hard.

Here's the sons hardly working;)

 Unloading at the base of Hyder mountain.

It was a good day.  My kids worked hard and got dirty.  That's why we come to Hyder.

The Last of the Birthdays

Tis the end of birthday the birthday season over here.  With 4 birthdays from Sept 30 to Oct 30 this part of the year can be wild.  Maybe that's why I feel the urge to simplify.

Cayden always has the hardest time waiting for his birthday because both Seth and Gracie have theirs before him.  It is not fair.  Thankfully he had a little better concept of time this year so he was able to handle the waiting a bit better.

He had a grand list of presents, but we narrowed it down to a few good ones.

We had the gang over...and since Cayden shares a birthday with Adam and his bio sister, Brooklyn, we had to have three cakes.

(I didn't make any of them...shh).

The kiddos are all rosy cheek-ed because I made them play OUTSIDE.  

It's a little nippy on October fall evenings.

I almost made them eat outside too.

"My Birthday"

 Then Brooklyn and Adam got to blow out some candles.

Grandma Martha gave him some great puzzles.

That's her favorite gift to give.

I'll have to show her our stack next time she visits so she gets the hint that maybe we have enough sturdy wooden puzzles;)

Love her.

 After the party went home I let the boys open their presents from me.

Did I do good or what?

They had a blast with those Nerf guns and super heroes.

And they even let Seth in on the fun.

Write it Down, so It's not Forgotten

A day I wanted remembered.

Everyone had a really nice day, except.....I made my kindergartener cry.

It was Friday and the girls were buying hot lunch(pizza day) and so no need to pack lunches.  Only I forgot that they would still need their morning snack.  Gracie came home in a huff.  "Mom, I had to sit at my desk alone while everyone else got to eat their snack!" she hollered at me.  I could see little tears starting to form and I imagine there were a lot more tears earlier that day during snack time.  I felt really bad, but not bad enough to take all the blame.  I made her a deal(deals are mine and Gracie's thing), if she reminded me about her snacks on Fridays, I would remember to pack them.

Ellie had a friend invite her horseback riding.  She still loves those horses.  Maybe, just maybe, we can let her do a little riding this year.  She will have to earn half the money for the weekly lessons and that would mean working at least three hours a week at the warehouse cleaning or filing.  I think she is up for it.

Emma was annoyed that Ellie had somewhere to go after school and she did not, but I made her favorite meal(baked mac and cheese) for dinner and her favorite babysitter came over that evening.

Cayden cried like a banshie when Adam and I were trying to leave for our date.  He kept yelling, "I hate Jessica(our really, really nice babysitter)!"  Which is ridiculous, he loves her, and has told us so many times.  He just doesn't like to see Adam leave without him.  It breaks his poot little heart.

Adam and I had a really nice date.  We hadn't narrowed down any plans before leaving.  I had a meal to drop off for a gal in my church that needed it and then we had rough idea about dinner and maybe a movie.  But I think we are kinda over "going to the movies".  All that money to sit and stare at a screen when really we should be spending out time talking, informing each other about our thoughts and worries and just general news. There is not a lot of time for that in our busy lives.  But after dropping off my meal, Adam got a call about a family in need and it was off to the grocery store for us daters for some neccesities for them.  He serves as the bishop of our congregation and one of his main responsbilities is to look after the welfare of those in his charge.

*More on how service in done in our chruch here in this link. 

So we flirted in the grocery isles, snuck in a kiss in the parking lot after checkout and headed over to deliver our goods to the family.  After a short visit we were ready for dinner.  The closest place was the Waterbury mall, but after getting out of the truck we just weren't feeling the vibe of the place-especially since Adam couldn't get his toolboxes to lock and the base music of the parking lot was making the earth quake.  We jumped back in an headed to our little hometome, stopped at the warehouse-cause we always have to stop and the warehouse for something- and dropped into the "Tavern" to have a great meal.  I am never driving to eat out again, the food was that good.  We had to wait a bit for a table, but we used that time to stroll down main street just talking about how much we have grown to love this town.  We've spent nine happy years here and plan on spending quite a few more.

Our Doggie Days

I don't know where to start with this post.  

It's not my usual "my life is so fun" post.

This about a mistake I made.

I let "my emotions/my wants/my do what everybody else is doing" get the best of me.

I have a few theories to why I wanted to get my kids a dog. Some are deep and others are shallow.

1.  They have been asking for years and they are getting better at arguing.

2.  I have two little boys and dogs are a boys best friend and my boys need some rough and tumble friends.

3.  I see "busy" families(with two working parents) managing their dogs and I don't like feeling that my kids are missing out just because our family is larger than most.

4.  Since buying the company earlier this year, I have felt the need to create our permanent life here.  To  secure our traditions and fulfill some dreams.  No more putting stuff off.  A dog was always in the "plans" but it was supposed to be in the next house.  And since our "next house" got pushed down the list a bit to after "paying off our business" I figured a dog could fit in this house just as well as any other.

5.  When your baby is almost two years old, some women start feeling the need for another baby.  I wasn't going to let that happen to me again and hoped a puppy would push those potential "I want a newborn" feelings away.

Anyhow, with all these things going on in my mind I somehow convinced Adam that we should do it.  He was against it, firmly, but he listened to my wants and the kids' and made us jot all the consequences and the initial expenses(adoption fee, crate and food, and fence) up on our blackboard.  He showed the girls how their entire summer earnings would be spent on the dog and tried to convince them with other enticing purchases that they could make.  When he saw that they coudl not be swayed he agreed.

And the next day, the girls and I picked out Penny at an adoption event.

Can I tell you what an angel this little dog was?

I had no idea dogs could be this good.

Right away she was loving and playful and patient.

But the poor girl was still a doggie, and she was a lot of work.  Work I am OK with.  I have 5 kids, I can clean up after living creatures-no problem.  The real hang up for me was, that while people warn you that adding a dog is like adding a family member, these specific types of family members have a whole new set of demands.

You can't take them everywhere with you like a kids, but you can't leave them home alone for too long either.  You always have to hold onto them when you do take them out, and its best to take them for a walk at least once a day.

They are potty trained but it happens outside, rain, shine, or snow.  This concept was really causing me anxiety as I knew our kids were not going to be at all helpful with this when it was too cold outside.

And don't forget the dog sitting we would need on our vacations!

I was feeling completely trapped as I imagined how our life was now chained to this (cute)four legged creature.  How could I have sacrificed so much of my freedom(since 5 kids leaves me almost no freedom already)?

On the second school day afternoon after a very long day, when I was corraling the homework and piano and keeping the baby from escaping the backyard and chopping up dinner ingredients, I found little Penny in the basement with the smitherings of a nerf football and I had my second official panic attack(the first was when we found out we were pregnant with #2 a bit too early after #1), tears and all. With a quick call to the shelter we had an appointment to take her back the next evening.

Thankfully my kids took it so well. We had been talking about how much work she was and how worried it was making Mom.  Emma summed it up the best that night at bedtime, "Mom, dogs are a lot more work than they are cute and cuddly."

We hope the very best for our Penny, the kids still talk about her with love.  Adam was a bit dissapointed in our flaky-ness especially since he had really started to like her.  But overall, I am grateful for the experience.  We all learned a great lesson that will stick with us.