an explanation or two

well, hello there! i have been away a while. well, i haven't actually...our laptop's hard-drive went out. so we decided to get a new computer. oh, the joy of trying to remember all my favorite websites!
how has our household adjusted to being a dog-less household? very well. sadly, very very well. especially the hubby. i don't think i have seen him this happy in a long time. well, perhaps not exactly happy but definitely much less stressed out. he even sold a bunch of cars. all happening after getting rid of the dogs. the kids are happier too. i never thought that would be. they seem to respond well to not being yelled at to take care of the dogs. amazing, huh? i thought there may have been a delayed reaction of sadness or anger about the dogs leaving, but no, just happiness...for all but me. i was really really bummed out. i was ticked off at everyones' lack of sadness. i was extremely crabby. (more than usual, anyway)
my tale of dog woes:
we decided when our first child was 18 mos, we wanted to get a puppy. not just any puppy, but a black great dane puppy. noble was that puppy. he was great. he listened pretty good. he stayed by my side, he didn't jump, and he was protective of our family (ok, maybe just of me and the kids.). he was beautiful. unfortunately, we made the mistake of getting him before we were living in a house...we were living in a 2 bedroom condo. then we made the mistake of taking him to my sister in law's house until we were able to build our house. she allowed him to run. she allowed him and his brother (her dog) to run whenever they wanted, and where ever they wanted. right before we broke ground on our house, we found both dogs dead of an apparent poisoning. i was totally devastated. it broke my heart that he was gone.
my sister in law felt badly about what happened. she decided to get me another black great dane puppy as a surprise. thus, junior entered our lives. he was a nice enough dog. he loved me. he was ok with my kids. but he had to be penned up most of the time because he didn't want to stay in the invisible fence. he would just run right thru it. he then started to become really really protective and had a thing about pre-adolescent boys. (basically boys between the ages of 9 and 15) i don't know why, but he hated them. i couldn't trust him around them. he chased down the neighbor boy and knocked him to the ground, he growled and tried to chase my cousin, and then...the last straw...he bit the neighbor boy. i don't know if he meant to or not. i think he was just trying to grab the towel around the kid's arm...but that was it. i couldn't have a dog that i couldn't trust around kids. we decided junior couldn't live with us anymore.
after dealing with all this, i had decided that was it. no more dogs. i couldn't deal with it anymore. i hated losing them. it hurt too much. i couldn't spend the time with them that was needed to make them good dogs. i was too busy with teaching my own babies, and of course having more babies. what happens next? well the same sister in law decided that our oldest needed a dog, that he was responsible enough for a dog. now enters sami. we tried to make it work, but my kids are just not really into dogs. they want to play sports, hang out with their friends, and go places. they didn't have time in their busy lives for a dog. poor sami had to deal with it for 3 years. she is a great dog. she was a great mom. she deserves a family that wants her and loves her. i believe god has a plan for her. otherwise, why would she have a new home so quickly?


i don't want any more dogs.


atleast not until my kids are out of my house...then maybe i'll be ready.

dogs

today is the first day since the dogs all left. we decided that our home was not the best home for them...any of them. before i get into it, let me just say, there was not any abuse going on, nor were the dogs showing any dangerous behavior.
the day i brought cocoa home, my husband was not happy. i think i said that before, but believe me, i need to stress how unhappy he was. you see, my husband was not and still isn't an animal lover. don't get me wrong, he doesn't hate animals, and never ever was he unkind to them. he just was raised on a farm, and therefore, he had to witness and help with some pretty nasty farm type activities. that kind of ruined him towards animals. except gimpy the cat. he loved that cat. but that's a story for another day. anyway, i just don't want it to seem like he's the "bad guy" here. he's not.
anyway, after bringing cocoa home, jeff wasn't too happy. then zack, my helper, decided that the dogs needed to go potty. he's helpful like that. well, the bad thing is, when the door opens, sami (the mom) bolts out, followed by the puppies. oh and my mother -in-law's puppy was out too at the time. so all 3 puppies and sami started to run off. jeff yelled for them to come back, and cocoa came back, sami and the others looked at him, and then ran faster away. nice huh? jeff tells me this (i was just getting in the shower), with adding the comment, "we should keep this one, she atleast listens." i'm drying off in the shower. i get dressed, dry my hair, get ready, and come out to a really really really PO'd hubby. i guess our dog food and cocoa aren't mixing too well. she had diarrhea. in like 3 or 4 separate puddles on the kitchen floor. he had cleaned it all up before i got out there. (remember how i said she's housebroken? well, not since she had gotten to my house.) this time we had "the" discussion. the same discussion we've been having for a couple of months. the "sami doesn't listen. she's going to get hurt, or picked up by animal control. the kids don't even pay any attention to any of the dogs. we need to find them somewhere else to go" discussion. not my favorite type. i had been thinking about it. sami has a taste for deer now. thanks to my brother in law leaving all the extras from his hunting, she likes them. she is going out to find more. where is there the best chances to get a dead rotting deer leg? next to busy roads and highways. we have lots of those all around us. who hates deer-eating dogs? hunters, which we have lots of around us. what do they do when a dog comes around and chases the deer, or even worse, gets to the deer before the hunter? they shoot it.
it's not fun getting rid of a dog. i cried for a half an hour in the shower after they came to get them. and i have my good minutes and bad. i had jeff take all the stuff that was left over to his mom and dad. i couldn't look at it. my eyes still hurt and i'm still tearing up writing this.
i emailed the lady that took cocoa. her friend took sami and sally. she told me she would keep me updated on them all. cocoa was fine, she laid in her bed and watched the other dogs. sami and sally napped in the living room most of the evening at her friend's house. i don't know if it makes me feel better or worse that they did so well away from us. i guess i need to give it some time.

an eventful 22nd

yesterday was haley's 9th birthday. i have a hard time believing she is 9 already...and double digits next year?! yikes!! i had made a blanket with her in mind, and gave it to her yesterday. i will try to post pics someday. we went out to dinner with my in laws, and she got a nintendo ds game...for the nintendo ds she can't find. that kid!
what can i tell you about my girl haley? she loves animals and reading. she is great at math and reading. in fact she's a 3rd grader doing 4th grade math, and they had to start a new reading program for her and a few other kids in her class. she's a mother hen. and that get's on my nerves (and her siblings nerves too). she's a great kid. she loves swimming and soccer, but can't wait to start volleyball. she is a tomboy, but likes to be girly sometimes too. she is absolutely beautiful and i am scared to death of the day she starts to date!

yesterday, my dog's prodigal daughter returned. or rather was returned. cocoa has been brought back. the woman who took her decided that she was not home enough, and started to travel, so back she came. if you know anyone that would like her, please, please, please, let me know. jeff was not too happy with me. (ok, to say jeff was not too happy is a bit of an understatement.) i am not too happy with me. i was just getting the hang of the 2 dog household, and had to throw number 3 in the mix. she comes with her bowls, her pillows, her toys, and her crate. she has had all her shots. she's a nice dog. we just have enough dogs right now.

oh yeah, and heath ledger died. how sad is that? that man was gorgeous! and has a young daughter. how sad. is it pathetic that i almost cried when i turned on the computer and saw that?

weekend recap

ok, quick nephew update. he is doing great. he is going to be moved to a rehab hospital this week i believe. he is mentally all there...a little whiny, but what man wouldn't be? physically he is doing great. thanks for all the prayers! they definitely worked!
friday
jeff and i got away from the kids for the night. we went and saw "i am legend" and went out to eat. the movie was ok. not a "wow" type of movie. not an original idea for a plot, that's for sure. i won't ruin it for anyone, so i won't tell you what movies it was like. it was good, but not great. had will smith not been in it, we wouldn't have gone to see it. i don't think anyone would have. my brother in law was having friends over, so we stopped by. his friend, alexa, was there. her parents took one of the puppies. she said he is like 35 pounds already, and her parents love him like a kid. they are going to take him to obedience classes starting this week. glad to hear they love him.
saturday
grace had her first indoor soccer game this past weekend. she scored a goal and her team won 6-3. their game started at 7:30 AM and the place is a good 30 minute drive from my dad's house. the kids stayed the night there and so my dad drove her to her game. on the way back, she threw up all over herself. my dad is a little hard of hearing, and she didn't speak up, so she was pretty gross when they got home. she slept most of the rest of the day. they brought all the kids home after they dropped alex off for his game at 12. alex's team played the other team from his school. alex's team won. he scored 5 points and fouled out in the 4th quarter.
i got to go out with a bunch of moms. i went to my friend jen's house (the nurse) and she had a "spa" party. a nice lady selling beauticontrol products gave us mini facials, foot stuff, all kinds of good stuff. me being the youngest there, i didn't get as much stuff done to my face. i have fairly clear skin, and not too many lines and/or wrinkles yet, but most of the other moms were atleast 7 to 10 years older than me. it was so much fun to sit around and talk, and just be a woman.
sunday
second sunday in a row that we actually all made it to church. jeff is not an early riser, so we made it to the 11 o'clock mass. the boys were so good in church i was amazed. we had several people make comments about how good the boys were. always nice to hear good things about your kids. we came home to grab jeff some food (he hadn't eaten breakfast yet) and the neighbor's friend (who took a puppy) was out with the puppy. they named him marley. he is a good 5 pounds bigger than sally. he seems happy and healthy. she loves him. i'm glad he has a home where he is loved like he is. from there, we went to the hospital. jacob is doing well. he is in a normal room, his roommate is a teenage boy too. i don't know what happened to him, i didn't ask, but i heard he's a wrestler. we stayed there for a couple of hours. we left there in time to get to alex's next basketball game. he's in a tournament. he played the same team again, the really tough team that totally creamed our boys the first game of the first tournament they were in. (did that make sense?) we didn't lose by as much. only like 13 points. we actually outscored them in the second half. had our team played the first half the way they did the second, we could have taken them. that's nice to see. our boys were so sure they were going to lose going in, i don't think they realized how close they came to winning it in the end.

did i ever say i don't really like watching basketball? i still don't like it much, but when it's my kid out there, i can get interested.

update on my nephew

he is off the ventilator!!!! he is talking. he will need surgery for his neck. before he was off the vent, he was spelling things out with this chart they have in his room. so we are really hopeful about no major brain damage. i think we are going to try to get up there to see him today. it depends on when jeff gets off work. thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

the kids have handled this pretty well. they all wanted to go see him. the older three got to go in and see him. they weren't scared and they were really positive. zack and josh mostly provided some comic relief for my niece and sister in law. my niece is zack's god mother.

i am still trying to recover from all the christmas. i am exhausted! trying to put everything in it's place is really tough...especially when it's 5 different kids getting all kinds of stuff. my main floor looks like a war zone!

i think we have decided to try to find another home for black sally. she's a great dog. she is just too much puppy for us. i think it's just the puppy thing. she's too mouthy with the little kids. she doesn't realize they aren't puppies like her. if we find her a home, i would be happy. if we don't, that's ok too. i'm going to be picky when it comes to someone wanting her. i'm not going to get rid of her just to be rid of her. she really is a sweet dog.

i think all the kids were happy with what they got this christmas. it was definitely overshadowed by my nephew's accident, but in a good "more grateful" kind of way. after seeing the pictures of what the car looked like, well, let's just say it was a miracle anyone survived. please pray for the family who lost a son in this accident. no one should have to lose a child in that way...especially at christmas.

vet

haley recently told me that she wants to be a vet when she grows up. after taking the dogs to the vet yesterday, i think i am going to hold her to it. that way, instead of having to spend $360 for sami to get her shots, her heartworm preventative, and frontline, and the puppy to get her first round of shots, she would do it cheaper (for her favorite mom in the whole world), and she would have lots of money to take care of her dear parents in their old age. $360 seems like alot to me. am i crazy? this is with her only getting 6 months worth of frontline. and to have her spayed...another $180. jeff actually made the appt. why did i send him? oh wait, i remember, he didn't want to stay home with all the kids. so now i have to cancel the appt and find a place that does it cheaper. seriously, it would be cheaper to let her just keep having puppies. i also think i would rather do all the shots we can at home. it would be much cheaper, and easier on me. have you ever tried to get just one dog and 5 kids in a vet's office, and then again in the little exam room? not an easy feat. we would still have to bring them in for their rabies shots, but that's nothing. by the way, black sally weighs 15lbs. this is how much the rest of the puppies weighted 2 weeks ago. i am hoping this means that she won't get any bigger than sami. she ended up weighing 75lbs. considering how she looks right now, she is at the perfect weight.
i guess i just need to foster haley's love of animals. so for christmas, she will be getting any animal loving present i can come up with.

updates

some updates for you...
the great chicken experiment of '07 has been a bust. due to irreconcilable differences, we have decided to part ways. but fear not, dear reader, hopefully in spring of '08, we shall have more humorous stories about life on the farm. well, at least life with some farm animals. i don't think we would qualify as a farm, unfortunately. it would be great if we could (for tax purposes). anyway, come springtime, we should have a pig, haley will be taking care of a lamb or two, and we may do our own chicken thang.

the puppy has finally gotten a name. the kids still don't know she's going to be theirs. they just wanted to be able to call her something other than puppy. her name is "black sally". it was a combination of blacky and mustang sally. jeff wanted sally, the kids wanted blacky. i actually like black sally myself.

i forgot how totally awesome it is to housebreak a puppy. cleaning up the accidents, taking it outside every 15 minutes because she was sniffing around, teaching her not to scratch up the door, i can't believe i didn't want to try this sooner!

yesterday, i got to play hero. sami and black sally disappeared during an unplanned potty break (zack decided to help and let the dogs out with out telling me. and they were gone for like 45 minutes before i realized) and so we called and called, and then called some more. next we got volunteers and did a search (grandpa and alex rode the 4wheelers around looking for them), and they found sami in the creek bottoms, but no black sally. so they kept searching, i went to the neighborhood behind us and looked, but nothing. when i got back, i took the 4 wheeler and made alex stay with the little guys and went to search the creek myself. i guess when grandpa and alex searched, they never got off the bikes or even turned them off. being a woman (and therefore infinitely smarter) i got off the bike and searched the creek bank calling for her. guess what! i found her. when she heard me calling her, she started crying and i found her. unfortunately she was on the opposite side of the creek, so i had to climb in there and call her until she swam for it. it is, by the way, freezing here. so i had to hold her (completely soaked to the skin) and climb up the 10 foot bank, and then drive back to the house. she got a bath right away, wrapped in a towel, and put in a nice warm cage to warm up and feel puppyish again. now she stays pretty close to me when i take her out.

zero

well, not even a full minute after my post yesterday, i got a call i didn't expect. it was the family from that post...you know the one with "butters" the basset hound...anyway, my first reaction was "oh is the puppy ok?" i should have known better. they are totally in love with "token". (that's his name now.) in fact, so was their next door neighbor. she wanted the other male, if he was still available. this actually worked out perfect, you see, the last male was very lonely without his brother. they were like 2 peas in a pod. not that he doesn't love his sister, but it wasn't the same. so these people came out and fell in love with "sebastian". in fact, they were asking about the little girl too. but we had decided (actually i decided) that she was no longer up for adoption. we are going to surprise the kids. they think that we are holding her for a friend of my sister in law for christmas. they really have no clue! we are potty training her because "she would be too lonely down in the puppy pen with out the other puppies" and using our crate to train her. she didn't do too great last night with the crying all night...but i figure we need to get her on a better schedule.

anyway, i have much to be thankful for. we actually ended up with more people wanting a puppy than we had puppies. thanks to all who took a pup, those who prayed for us to find good homes for them, and please pray for my senses to return (i swore i didn't want any more dogs!!!what happened to me?).

and then there were two!

last night, i got a call from a jen (not the nurse or the vet) that a friend of hers was wanting to come out and get a puppy. this call was at 8:30 PM folks. but as the saying goes in our house..."if you're taking a puppy, we don't care what time it is!" so these people came out...well not just the people, but their basset hound "butters" too, and they decided they wanted the biggest boy. the guy was pretty funny. he said when his wife told him what breeds the puppies were his reaction was "those sound like some ugly puppies". and was (pleasantly) surprised at how absolutely beautiful (his exact words now) they all were. so they left around 10pm, with a puppy. i have been so happy about the homes we have found for these guys. i think every one of them will be spoiled and well taken care of. i hope at least. this has truly been the hardest part of getting rid of them all. i don't want them to end up in a shelter, or cast away outside somewhere. now if we can find homes for the last 2 (or even just 1) by thanksgiving, i will truly have some thanks to be giving!

crazy???

now i know that's not the pc way to put it, but since i'm talking about myself, i figured it was ok. i have been trying to pay more attention to myself lately. i have noticed that during certain times of the month, i am a total horn dog. which my husband appreciates, but worries me some. you see i become way more visual. i start checking out men...any men. i have always appreciated the male body. you know strong broad shoulders, big (but not too big) biceps, nice butt. but that particular time of the month, i am like a moth to a flame. not that i would ever even consider acting on it...but i worry that it could be just a stepping stone? i don't know. then, of course, at other times of the month i get angry. not just crabby, but "want to make someone cry" angry. so i have decided it is time to get checked by a "female" doctor. i saw my family doctor last year, but he really wasn't helpful. all he could say was it wasn't my thyroid, and all my blood work came out fine. i know my mom (i love her dearly) had issues after 30 (ok she had them before then too), and family members that are bipolar or addicts of one kind or another, i am scared to death it could be me too. so hopefully i am going to head it off. this is so hard to talk about. i have talked a little to my friend jen (the nurse). she said it sounded more hormonal to her, and maybe it could be a case of that ppms (?) or whatever the really bad pms is. so i am hoping and praying that's what it is.

ok, enough of that stuff. here's what you really want to hear about. WE ARE DOWN TO 3 PUPPIES!!!! two boys and one little girl left. today, there might be one more person coming to take a puppy. YIPPEE, WHOO-HOO, YAHOO!!!! can you tell i am a little excited? this has been a great experience, the kids have loved it. the pups are so sweet and good with the kids. still, i am ready for them to go to homes other than mine.

4H was last night. i brought 4 kids because alex had basketball practice, and jeff had to work. grace actually does clover kids. that's for kids 5-8 years old. they learned about worms. they got to make a worm habitat and bring home worms. josh and zack were very interested too. they got to make habitats too. so did haley. so we have 4 containers of worms in my kitchen. am i not the luckiest woman on earth? crazy hormones and worms. what i life i live!
alex had his first basketball practice last night. it went well. he loves it. i am not a basketball person. i never really liked watching it as much as football... soccer... paint drying. but i must say, i love watching my kids. i don't care what it is, how boring i may think it is, i love to see them playing.

summary of today's post. i am hormonal. i still have puppies. i have worms.
yeah, that sounds right.

kids and puppies and a couple of jens

my friends, the jens, just left. jen f. is a nurse with 4 kids and a great hubby. she stays home during the week and works weekends in the oncology ward. she has a definite calling. i don't know that i would be able to work there. she came over with her 2 youngest. benny is an adorable newly 3 year old boy. he will be in my zack's class. and meggy (meghan) who is around 7mos. beautiful kids. jen s. is our vet. well, she and her hubby are both our vets. she has 3 kids. she brought over joe (who will also be in zack's class), cora, and syd (he is her friend jessica's boy). this was the first time they had gotten to see the pups. they were all very impressed with the size and friendliness of the whole litter. jen s. said she thinks they will be at least 80lb dogs. if you have ever seen a newfoundland, that is what our fluffy pups look like. if you haven't, just google it, and look at those pics. adorable, i know!

rachel, thanks! i hope i didn't sound like a total freak in my last post. it's just with guy friends, you can get that male perspective. i love my husband, but it's hard to talk to him about him. my friend chris was fun to talk to, but when he started on the whole "well amy, if you stay home, maybe you should do more things like keeping up with all the house work, and doing laundry". i totally dropped him after that. i mean really! he's supposed to be my friend. i'm just kidding chris! you are still my #1 back-up plan if jeff decides that he can't handle the dirty house and annoying kids. (you can still afford a maid right?)

i hope anyone reading this gets that i am just joking about that. (unless it's you reading it chris)

i guess i could go into a little more detail about alex, haley, and grace's report cards and my meetings with their teachers.
i'll start with alex. he made high honors. what that means is he had all a's and only 1 b. (basically a 3.9 gpa) now this is impressive even if you didn't know how much harder the grading scale is in a catholic school. 90% to 92% is a b+. lower than 70% is failing. i was very very happy with his grades, and his test scores on his iowa basics test. that is the standardized test all catholic schools in the arch diocese take. he scored better than 98% of all the 5th graders nationally. congrats alex!
haley didn't make honor roll only because they don't start honor roll until 5th grade. she had all a's. her teacher said she is a great student and always very dedicated to getting her work completed and very neat. the teacher is also going to start her and some other students with some harder math. she said that haley is doing so well, that she is afraid this math that she is teaching is way below their level, and they need to move up to multiplications now, before they get bored. and she was the kid i was worried about. she is my child that has a hard time sitting still. always fidgeting. not in school apparently. she also took the iowa basics test and scored better than 98% of the 3rd graders nationally. who would have thought i would have such intelligent kids?
now we come to grace. kindergarten doesn't have letter grades, but the teacher was very happy with her progress. she is now bringing home books to read, by herself, every night. how awesome is that! she is a reading fiend now! all the time, this book, that book. it is awesome!

i am sooo proud of those kids. not just because they get good grades, but because they try hard and are just good kids. i was so happy yesterday when one of the moms from the field trip told me how good alex was. not that i was surprised he was good, but apparently he was great. he helped her out with directions (he's been there enough, he should know his way around), watched out for his 1st grade buddy, and just a huge help to her. i am so happy with that. it's nice he's that good for strangers. now if only he could do that for ME once in a while!

nov. catch up

boy it has been a while. i haven't had much to post about. the puppies are growing, and four will be going to their new homes this weekend. six will still be in my home, atleast until i find them homes, or give them out as christmas presents (lol).



kids are all doing well. alex and haley had good reports from their teachers, and alex made honor roll, so i am very happy about that.



we had a bonfire last friday. it went well. the kids had friends come over, and alex ended up with 4 boys spending the night. they were all surprisingly well behaved. not that they are bad kids, just when you have 5 boys at the ages of 10 and 11, you are usually expecting a little more noise and ruckus. several of our friends were there too, and it was nice to hang out with grown ups for a change. i even got a home for a puppy. one of my little brother in law's friends decided to tell her parents about them. they are coming over friday to pick up their little boy.





i have been thinking about my friend shawn again. how i miss him. well not just that i guess. i miss having a friend like him. a guy friend. one you can talk to, talk totally dirty and raunchy, complain without getting advice you can use, just a total goof off type of friend. i never had a girlfriend i could do that with. girls are different. well, maybe nike is pretty close to that type of friend, but she lives too far away...and it's kind of hard to complain about my hubby to her when she knew him first and was always way closer to him. i miss having a guy friend that is MY friend only, not my hubby's friend. i guess, in a way, i miss working outside of the home for that reason. i don't have friends that are mine. they are friends that have kids the same age as mine, or kids play on the same team, or know jeff. to these people i am so-and-so's mom, or jeff's wife, or debbie's sister-in-law, or so-and-so's aunt. not just me. i miss that. some times more than others. i miss shawn because he was someone i could totally be honest with and tell some messed up stuff to because i never really worried about what he would think of me. he was just as screwed up in the head as i was (maybe a little more) and he didn't judge me...well, i take that back, he did. but usually in a laughingly type of way. (that totally doesn't look right, but you get my drift i hope) i had other guy friends i could hang out with in high school, but it always seemed like they ended up thinking it would lead to more. tom, jd (not rachel's hubby, a different jd), joe, joe, chris, were all great guy friends. but things never really worked out. we didn't have the friendship connection shawn and i did. i really miss that.

am i way behind or what?

so not much is going on. the big 4h meeting is tonight. i get to sign up the kids for the farm animals of their choosing (pig for alex and sheep for haley). thank goodness for the man in charge of the sheep...he keeps them at his farm, we just visit, and in july haley has to go and start working with her lamb to get it ready for showing. now the pig, on the other hand, gets to live at our house. yes, i know, i am the luckiest woman on earth.

soccer is almost over for grace. she only has 2 games left for this season. she LOVES soccer too. the other monsters have until the 2nd weekend in november for soccer, and then basketball starts. it is a never ending cycle of sports.

alex and zack had their yearly checkups. zack is 29lbs. whoo-hoo! (what is really sad is alex weighed 29lbs at a year). 2 years old and hasn't broken the 30 mark. that's ok, he's the runt (like his daddy) i can't expect major growth. he is in the 50-75% for his weight and the 75-90% for height. alex is 11. he weighs over 120lbs!!! now granted he is over 5 feet tall now, but i didn't weigh that much until i was pregnant with him! i am trying not to make a big deal about it. if it doesn't bother him, i won't let it bother me. i just am trying to implement some healthier choices for food in our house. what is really crazy is, he isn't a fat kid. he is a little chubbier than the other kids, but he's not what you would think a 120lb 5th grader would look like. jeff was like that too at his age. he went thru a really chubby stage...i mean unrecognizable chubby stage. he said in 7th grade, it was like someone threw a switch, and he grew and thinned out. of course he started lifting weights around that time too. (which is why he is the shortest of his brothers...he being only 6' and they are all well over) so only time will tell. he isn't getting teased in school, he is still active in sports, i know he is ok with it right now.

puppies are growing like crazy. they are averaging out to 4lbs each. they aren't even 3 weeks old yet. some of them are going to have the golden retriever type of fur (they are so soft and furry) and the others' fur look more like mastiff (more coarse). they are barking and growling now, and eating puppy food. they are getting personalities, and are just so freakin' cute. unfortunately 2 of the 5 homes we had fell thru. i think after the 3 people who definitely want one come and pick up theirs, then i will start actively trying to find homes for them. i want to make sure these others get first choice. after all, they have been waiting patiently for the past 3 weeks.

that's it for now.

weekend potpourri

well, since last posting, we had a birthday party (well a half birthday party), kids' had a day off of school, we closed up shop at the bookfair, had 4 soccer games, and met the girl that broke nathan's heart about a year ago. it sounds like alot, but it didn't seem like much.

the birthday party for haley went really really well. it was a sand volleyball party for haley and her friend katy. all the girls from the class showed up, and one boy. (apparently the boys had a soccer game at the same time) the kids had a blast, it was really inexpensive, and the girls got a lot of very nice stuff. and the parents who stayed had a great time too.

today the kids were off school for teacher's workshop. alex spent the night at a friend's house last night, so i still have yet to see him. the kids here had a pretty good day. it didn't rain so they played outside for a while. they painted their nails, and they went to grandma and grandpa's house for a while. fun had by all but me...got a mean belly ache today.

closing up the bookfair was more of a hassle this year than the past years. the teacher that normally oversees us is a regular teacher this year not resource/gifted so she had to go to the meeting friday and i ended up closing it down with debbie, and a bunch of kids. not so easy. we were constantly having to remind the kids where they were supposed to be putting stuff, and making sure the teachers had all that they were supposed to have. not the most fun 2 hours i have ever spent.

the kids had their soccer games. haley played goalie again and didn't let a single goal get by. and they played a tough team too. alex's team won their first game. they had moved up to division A and the competition is fierce, but there is no reason why this should be the first game they have won. grace had 2 games, she played goalie in the first one and let 3 goals by...she didn't play goalie in the second game. unfortunately they haven't won a game yet...but they don't know that.

we met this girl last night. she and nathan started talking again recently. apparently she had an epiphany about how she is self absorbed (shocker?) and realized (with her parents telling her constantly) that she never gave the relationship she had with nathan a chance. she seems like a nice girl. jeff works with her. i don't know if they will start dating again. i told him that he needs to take it easy. she hasn't exactly proved to be someone he can trust with his heart. so i am really hoping that i didn't totally overstep there. i couldn't say i didn't like her, because the whole time he dated her (like a year and a half) she never once met his friends or his family. not one single time. he met her family, friends, acquaintances, whatever. she had no interest in his family or friends. strange, huh? oh well, it will work out the way god wants it to.

oh yeah, we have 6 boy puppies and 4 girl puppies. i guess the kids had a harder time figuring out which was which. but i think we have homes for 5 or 6 so far. not bad considering they are just over a week old. i hope it works out.

shall i start something new?

i would like to start something completely new to me. i would love to not be completely boring. ok, i may not be "completely" boring. there are times when i insert my foot into my mouth, thus causing everyone around me to become uncomfortable. i feel like all i ever talk about is my kids. there really isn't anything i do. it is all about my kids, what they do, what my hubby does, what the freakin' dog does. i don't do anything. and when i do open my trap it's to say "hey cindy i heard you adopted a little girl." only to hear "no actually that fell thru last week". oh, this isn't the first time i've done this. i asked my aunt when her baby was due (this happened several years ago), she told me she had a miscarriage. yeah. i felt like total dog doo on the bottom of someone's shoe. people like me shouldn't be let out of the house.

rachel, thanks for turning me on to the Krunchy mom. i read her blog everyday now.

kids have soccer practice today. all 3 in one day. what will i do with the other 2 days we normally have to run around to and from practice? jeff is selling cars still. he really likes the new place. the dog still has 10 pups...5 boys, 5 girls. some are still black, some are gray, one is getting some brown in his coat. i haven't gotten much of anything done.

some very nice people keep leaving bags of clothes on my porch. seriously, i have had 5 trashbags full of clothes on my front porch in the passed 3 weeks. very nice, but i have like 25 loads of laundry everyday as it is, and now i have another 10 to work in. plus it reminds me i need to go thru my own kids clothes to pass around the the youngers. this is not a chore i relish. which may explain why it rarely gets done. thank you driveby-bag-leaver.

PUPPY WATCH 2007 IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!!

that's right folks. sami delivered her pups last night and this morning. all 11 of them. she only lost 1. pretty good for a first litter. they are all black (i guess, they were still a little wet when i saw them) and a few had white markings. all seem healthy and of good size. i was a little surprised though, i thought for sure we would have atleast one that looked like sami. perhaps a mastiff sized golden retriever? or maybe a golden retriever sized mastiff? by the way, anyone out there in, say, the greater st. louis area need a new puppy? they will be ready around thanksgiving! of course christmas follows shortly after thanksgiving.

oh yeah, the contest! guess who picked 11! NOBODY!!!! ha ha ha ha! we all actually picked around 11. i think jeff and i were the closest...i picked 10, and i gave him 12. (i guess i should say my 2 guesses) so no kids get to fight over which puppy stays with us. darn!



has anyone seen the new show on nickjr called yo gabba gabba? the weirdest show i have ever seen. i think the creators are perhaps involved with drugs and raves...seriously, watch it and tell me what you think. it actually is a pretty funny show, but seriously weird. (if you can find the episode with the "party in my tummy" song, watch it. i cracked up for hours afterwards! i know, it doesn't take much to entertain me anymore.

perhaps i will be able to post some puppy/kid picks soon. but don't hold your breath! (that means you rachel)

puppy-watch 2007

that's right, we are definitely expecting puppies. in fact any day now. poor sami is panting constantly now. her belly is getting pretty big and you can actually feel the pups moving around in there. it is pretty cool. she seems pretty miserable though. we have 2 possible leads on homes for atleast 2 pups. we shall see. i am pretty sure they will be golden retriever and mastiff mix, but since she was out a couple of times without anyone watching her (thanks kids) i can't say for sure he is the only possible father. i am trying to decide if i use this as an example for the kids to discourage sex before marriage. usually i just watch the paternity shows on maury for that, but this is a little closer to home.

anyway, it is testing week at school for haley and alex. it is similar to the mmat tests we did in school, but the arch diocese uses a different test. the kids love this week because there is no homework, and they only test half the day, so the rest of the time is fun stuff. i don't know how i feel about these tests. they give the kids 2 different tests. one measures what the kids know, the other is similar to an IQ test, but it tests their ability to learn. now (not to brag or anything but) my kids always test very high in the "what they know" test. alex has done horrible on the IQ part though, and haley didn't do that great either. according to that test, my kids should be testing in the lower half of their grade level. not to brag, but they actually test in the 90% in most things. (basically they tested higher than 90% of their peers) so my question is, how accurate is this test? can't wait to get the results back this year.

jeff has started his new job. the hours are sooo much better. he works shorter shifts during the week, and saturday is longer. so he is either leaving for work at 9 and getting home at 3:30, or leaving at 2pm and getting home around 9. we actually see him way more. he can help me more with different errands. it is really great. and they get more walk in business there too.
so he has been much happier lately.