My Dog Slept on My Homework

Charlie likes to be where I am.  He also likes to find something other than the bare wood floor to snuggle  up on.  Sometimes he gets lucky and can reach a dish towel to pull down and snuggle up on.  Sometimes he has to make due with a piece of abandoned homework.

Battles

We have quite a few boys in the hood now, so nearly every day, there is a battle of some sort.  

And since we are nearing Halloween, it's getting more and more normal that my boys want to be in costume nearly every day too.  For the most part,  I love it.  

I only get annoyed when I find guns and swords scattered around the yard. They always blame someone else...the worst is when they leave Jake's guns out there or guns that can't get wet.  Dang kids.  Grrr.

C is for Cat

In kindergarten, the kiddos make little paper puppets.  They come with a little poem or phrase that they sing to the tune of row, row, row  your boat or some other tune.  The other kids all seemed to like building puppets, but for Jason, it is a highlight of his life.  When it's a puppet day, he races into the house from the school bus and announces that he made a puppet.  He wanted me to treasure each one of them, hang them on the fridge, and keep them forever and always.  As they do one for every letter of the alphabet, it's just not possible.  I told him he could pick his favorite one to save forever and always and then we'd just take pictures of the rest.  So, this is where we're at now.  

I have recordings of him singing the little tune on the back, but the file is too big to upload on the blog...sorry you are all missing out on that little gem.

I'll add a picture of Charlie to make up for it.

FHE

We have been loving the cooler weather and sunshine!  

Since we got Charlie, we have been spending a lot more time outside.  He's safe outside.  Peeing every 15 minutes is very much encouraged.  Running around until his little heart pounds in his chest is the best! 
Nate is also always asking to play football.  He's in the middle of a flag football season and he wants to play in the NFL, so it's a hot topic.  So, for FHE, we went out to the common area and tossed the ball around and watched Charlie frolic.

Jason's new thing is to throw signs whenever the camera is pointed at him...what a turkey.

Mike is pretty impressive with his "throwing the ball with a kid on your back" skills.

Allie is pretty bad at catching a ball with a kid on your back, but that's understandable.

I tossed the ball a bit, but I've got a bum shoulder lately, and I'm not so good at left handed passes, so I got to sit and watch my cute family and try to keep Charlie from impaling himself with the sticks he'd pick up and run with.

Charlie is in a biting phase.  Google says that it's completely normal for a puppy his age, but we can't help but be a bit scared that this is our new normal.  He is always gnawing on our hands and if we put him down, he goes for our feet.

When he gets too crazy, he has to go in the kennel.  Thank heavens he doesn't mind being in there.  He just snoozes away.

We'll get him trained and then he'll be a peach.

Slime Sunday

Slime can be such a big fat annoying mess.  Allie loves to make it and the boys love to help, so I don't usually mind that she uses all our storage containers and that I end up cleaning up after her.  She tries to clean up her own mess, but she usually leaves things out.
Sundays seem to be a good slime making day because she is always looking for something to do with the brothers and this is always a hit.  Yay for gallons of glue!

Sad, Sad, Charlie

Charlie can't be trusted.  He'll pee outside and come in and pee again within 15 minutes.  It's just a tiny pee, but he still can't be trusted.  I wasn't getting anything done because I had to make sure he wasn't on the carpet, or wandering off somewhere to chew something he shouldn't.  My friend told me that I should keep him in the kennel more until he can go longer periods of time in between peeing.

 At first, he was a sad, sad, Charlie.  Jason and Nate couldn't stand hearing him whimper.  Jason especially didn't understand.  But none of it lasted long.  He grew used to being in the kennel with us bustling around him. 

 And when Allie or Jake are around, they take him outside to frolic.  He can pee every fifteen minutes when he's outside.  One of these days, he'll learn the difference between outside and inside...one of these days... 

Personal Progress

Allie has been working on her Personal Progress in YW.  She also likes pancakes.  So, when I was making breakfast for dinner (yet again) and the breakfast didn't include pancakes, she decided to make them herself.  She did great!  Since then, she's made a few other things too.  She's going to be a great cook to her future family.

 In other news, Charlie is still a gem. 

He's pretty curious and spends the time he's free to roam, exploring...

When he's not exploring, he likes to follow me around and fall asleep at my feet...

Like I've said before, I am completely smitten.

These Boots are Made for Walkin'

So, Jason woke up and wanted to wear his long sleeved shirt with his shorts.
I argued, but he won.

Then, a few hours later, when it was time to get on the bus, he went to his snow boots and tried to pull them on.  I told him they were out of the question.  It's still almost 90 degrees when he gets home from school.  He was insistent.  He couldn't get them on his feet though because they are getting pretty snug.  So, he dug around a bit until he found Nate's old cowboy boots.  He was thrilled to find that they are just his size now.  There was no way I could talk him out of these boots.  He said "there's a girl in my class that wears purple boots, so I know it's okay."  I told him that girls can wear boots with their skirts, but it's really odd for a boy to wear them with shorts.  By now, we were minutes away from the bus and I thought that it would be funny to let him go like that.  So, he left.

Three hours later, as the bus pulled up, the first words out of Allie's mouth were "Mom!  I can't believe you let him go to school like that!"

She used to be a pretty random dresser too.  It's just how it goes when you're 5.  And Jason's only going to be five for a few more weeks.  I'm going to let it be.

Back Yard Frolicking

We spend a whole lot of time with Charlie outside.  He's doing pretty well with the potty training scene, but he is a bit annoying because he'll be outside for an hour and will have peed out there a few times.  Then, he'll come in and pee within 15 minutes!  Rage!  I have all the rugs rolled up, but he seems to search out the one that we still have out under our kitchen table...darn you Charlie!  We still love you though.

Anyway, we were outside hanging out and we still had one more balloon from Sam's birthday and Jason asked if he could send it up to heaven.  I said yes, and we watched as it leisurely floated up into the blue, blue sky.

 Then, we played with Charlie.  He is in a "bite while he plays" sort of stage and it's really hard.

But he's so sweet and doesn't mean to hurt anyone.

We are all still in deep smit for Charlie.

The Master Builder Learns to Read Instructions

Jason and I really enjoy the time we have before school starts for him.  The other day, he found a set of Lego's that we hadn't already put together.  He's always focused on the mini figures, so he got this set for Christmas and is just now getting to it.

 I decided to show him how to read the instructions and he totally gets it!  Sometimes he places something a few holes off, but he's really got it for the most part.  He likes looking through the pile for the right piece.  If I find it first, he tosses it back in the pile so that he can find it.

He's a pretty big Lego fan.  We didn't finish the project in one sitting, so I'll have to post pictures when he does finish it.

And, on a side note, I see cute Charlie sleeping on the bed as we worked.  Those were the good ol' days.  Not long after this, Charlie discovered how much fun it is to chew on Lego's and he can't be trusted in such close proximity anymore.  :)

Saturday Stuff

Allie started playing volleyball this year.  It's been so fun to watch her games!  She's just new at it all, but she is right up there with the other girls and she really enjoys it.  Mike and I have gone to the games together and this one was intense.  The other team was really good and they were able to get several volley matches going.  They won both games, although they were both down to the wire.  On the last game, Allie served and scored the winning point, so she was pretty happy about that.

 I came in later in the day to hear music blaring and a bunch of girls in my house doing hair.

It didn't take them long to get ahold of Nate and make him beautiful...

We have been loving these Saturdays.  They are so much more valuable now that school is in session.

Wisdom and the Trot

Jake got his wisdom teeth out last Friday.  They had to come out before he was done with braces and they were impeding space for his last set of molars to come in.  So, even though he's so young, they had to go.  We went in early on Friday morning and were out of the office an hour later.  He wanted to have one of those funny videos of him crying about Disneyland or his lost youth like some of the other kids in the neighborhood, so he gave me permission to record him.  Instead of a weirdo, I just had a sleepy, but happy Jake.  When he was loopy, he mumbled so bad that I couldn't understand him anyway.  So, sorry Jake, nothing funny.

 He did great with his recovery though.   He laid around a bit all day and watched a movie and played the PlayStation, but by the evening, he wanted to go hang out with friends.  I let him go because he was doing so well.  I'm grateful.

 My three elementary kids had the Tri-School-Trot.  It's our school's fundraiser and it's always a big hit.  They didn't have it last year, so we were glad to see it make a comeback.  The only downer is that the shirts were a drab grey.  Seriously?  Shirt committee, you couldn't think of one color better than grey for an elementary school fundraiser?!  The other schools got better colors...we just got ripped off.

 The kids found friends to run with.  I thought it was cute when I saw Finn and Jason holding hands as they ran.  They are best buddies.

I felt like one of those fancy ladies who carry their dogs around in their purse...because I was one of those ladies.  It was a mistake to bring Charlie.  Everyone wanted to hold him, and he didn't sleep peacefully in my bag like I had imagined.  Plus, as we were walking in, Allie and I saw a sign that said "no dogs" so we were both pretty worried that people would think we were awful for bringing him.  :)

 We got over the worries when we saw a few more puppies there.  Yay for all the rule breakers!