Snippets of Life Lately
Adam asked me to fill up a child-size watering can for him the other day so he could "water my flowers". After it was filled, he picked it up and commented, "Approximately, this is pretty heavy!"
More and more often, Max and Ryann are "getting it" when Stu and I crack jokes where one English word has two meanings. Like, for example, if someone was in a pool and you asked them how they were doing and they answered, "Swimmingly!" They think it is high hilarity and whatever they laugh at, Buzz laughs at too.
Max really, really loves his first and second grade teacher (the school they attend does "looping" for first and second grades and third and fourth grades). Max's teacher gave out his e-mail address to the students at the end of the year and encouraged them to stay in touch. I'm sure he was also thinking it would be a fun way for the kids to practice spelling. Well, he maybe didn't know what he was in for...I don't know about the rest of the class but Max wants to e-mail his teacher practically every day :)
Remind me to remember that at this time, when the kids were 7, 6, and 4 - they finally started initiated their own play and playing together for an extended period of time. Prior to this, they:
a. had to be started on a game or project by Stu and/or me
b. would be battling/bickering within 5 minutes of whatever they'd started
Also, Max is starting to want to take on more responsibilities - like making his own lunch. It is such an internal battle to let him start to try, knowing he's going to potentially make a mess, spill things, break things, etc. But so far, we've let him do whatever it is he's asking to do (at least try) most of the time. He tried to put his own sunscreen on today and got a little on the carpet. *sigh*
I don't want my kids to grow up any faster than they already are but I must admit, I'm excited for them to be able to do things like vacuum and help with the laundry (other than helping fold and put clean clothes away - I'm talking, sorting, putting in the washer, adding the detergent, and turning it on).
Someone needs to adopt this dog before I start thinking I want to just keep her. She is pretty perfect in every way except she's spoiled and doesn't like having her nails trimmed or to be given a bath. It's doable but she puts up a fuss and then acts all submissive and sad for a while afterwards. Otherwise, Lady has never had an accident in the house; she knows how to sit, lie down, roll over, get in her kennel on command, catch a ball or treat when lobbed in the air, play fetch; I heard she likes to swim but she hasn't had the opportunity here. She rides great in the car and only whines a bit if kenneled when people are around (like yesterday when we had a babysitter and we told her to just leave Lady in her kennel while we were gone). I've tested her for toy and food aggression and while she doesn't give up toys super willingly, she's not aggressive at all about it and I pet her face and snout this morning while she was eating and even picked up her food bowl while she was chewing and she had no problem with that. She does have a very "whippy" tail that has gotten Max in the eye, when he was sitting down, and me in the back when I was crouching and it does smart! All in all, she's worth every penny of her adoption fee - she's already trained. Like I said in her ad on petfinder - she's move in ready!!
I said above that we had a babysitter yesterday. Stu and I drove to St. Cloud to watch the SLP Panthers head coach, coach the North All Stars in the H.S. All Stars football game. A player was also part of the team - Noah Waiwaiole. They didn't win but they played well and it was a fun date day for Stu and me.
I took a photo last night that I'm very proud of and want to share:
I saw an ad on Craigslist looking for photographers to take photos of foster dogs so that their ads look appealing instead of just so-so. I'm now on an on-call list for a new rescue organization to go take a couple nice pics of incoming dogs to use as their petfinder.org images. I'm really excited! I now chronically check my e-mail :)
More and more often, Max and Ryann are "getting it" when Stu and I crack jokes where one English word has two meanings. Like, for example, if someone was in a pool and you asked them how they were doing and they answered, "Swimmingly!" They think it is high hilarity and whatever they laugh at, Buzz laughs at too.
Max really, really loves his first and second grade teacher (the school they attend does "looping" for first and second grades and third and fourth grades). Max's teacher gave out his e-mail address to the students at the end of the year and encouraged them to stay in touch. I'm sure he was also thinking it would be a fun way for the kids to practice spelling. Well, he maybe didn't know what he was in for...I don't know about the rest of the class but Max wants to e-mail his teacher practically every day :)
Remind me to remember that at this time, when the kids were 7, 6, and 4 - they finally started initiated their own play and playing together for an extended period of time. Prior to this, they:
a. had to be started on a game or project by Stu and/or me
b. would be battling/bickering within 5 minutes of whatever they'd started
Also, Max is starting to want to take on more responsibilities - like making his own lunch. It is such an internal battle to let him start to try, knowing he's going to potentially make a mess, spill things, break things, etc. But so far, we've let him do whatever it is he's asking to do (at least try) most of the time. He tried to put his own sunscreen on today and got a little on the carpet. *sigh*
I don't want my kids to grow up any faster than they already are but I must admit, I'm excited for them to be able to do things like vacuum and help with the laundry (other than helping fold and put clean clothes away - I'm talking, sorting, putting in the washer, adding the detergent, and turning it on).
Someone needs to adopt this dog before I start thinking I want to just keep her. She is pretty perfect in every way except she's spoiled and doesn't like having her nails trimmed or to be given a bath. It's doable but she puts up a fuss and then acts all submissive and sad for a while afterwards. Otherwise, Lady has never had an accident in the house; she knows how to sit, lie down, roll over, get in her kennel on command, catch a ball or treat when lobbed in the air, play fetch; I heard she likes to swim but she hasn't had the opportunity here. She rides great in the car and only whines a bit if kenneled when people are around (like yesterday when we had a babysitter and we told her to just leave Lady in her kennel while we were gone). I've tested her for toy and food aggression and while she doesn't give up toys super willingly, she's not aggressive at all about it and I pet her face and snout this morning while she was eating and even picked up her food bowl while she was chewing and she had no problem with that. She does have a very "whippy" tail that has gotten Max in the eye, when he was sitting down, and me in the back when I was crouching and it does smart! All in all, she's worth every penny of her adoption fee - she's already trained. Like I said in her ad on petfinder - she's move in ready!!
I said above that we had a babysitter yesterday. Stu and I drove to St. Cloud to watch the SLP Panthers head coach, coach the North All Stars in the H.S. All Stars football game. A player was also part of the team - Noah Waiwaiole. They didn't win but they played well and it was a fun date day for Stu and me.
I took a photo last night that I'm very proud of and want to share:
I saw an ad on Craigslist looking for photographers to take photos of foster dogs so that their ads look appealing instead of just so-so. I'm now on an on-call list for a new rescue organization to go take a couple nice pics of incoming dogs to use as their petfinder.org images. I'm really excited! I now chronically check my e-mail :)
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