My Daily 5 ~ #6

368. our funny Diamond puppy, who's not a puppy anymore - she just turned 2!

369. just being able to sit and visit with my husband about nothing in particular

370. having a job where I am close to my kids

371. sour dough bread (yum!)

372. knowing I get to sleep in

Whoa January! Slow Down a Bit, Will Ya?

Isn't there a rule or something that says after the rush of the holidays January must come in gently and leave slowly? Cuz' if there is, it's certainly not playin' fair!

We've been up to our usual stuff again.

Basketball practice during the week.

Music practice and homework regularly.

Kitty cuddles often.

Basketball games on the weekend.

Dogs in your lap when you least expect it!

Treating the guinea pigs for mites... Not a regular event. Uck! I hope this goes away soon, poor things!

Building recently acquired Lego sets.

Then playing with said Lego sets!

See you again soon!

Check out my other blog, These Are the Moments, where I have decided to try a 365 challenge again this year. I started the separate blog so I could post one picture (sometimes two) daily.

Sixteen days and so far so good. You can see what we've been up to more regularly there.

Practice

The kids have a test coming up in band this week. 

When the weather is nice, I have them practice outside.

This way they can practice long and hard and not hurt this mama's ears. 

This day I snuck outside and took a few pictures before she noticed.

Then hopped up on the table to take a few more.

Diamond thought this gave her liberty to do the same.

And when I told her to get down she hopped up on the trampoline instead!

Keep practicing Baby Girl! You're doing great!

And the Saga Continues...

Okay so truthfully Memorial Weekend was not a saga, but the fact that I have gone, like, mega days without posting about it makes it sort of feel that way. :)

We took the kids to a park where they could bike ride on Sunday afternoon. Too bad  there were so many hills. Elisha wasn't as confident as he should be for them and I ended up taking his bike and going on ahead with Bethany.

I got some great pictures of the kids at the docks.

We took Diamond too!

Yohn wanted me to do a mini photo shoot with her to some new pictures of her seven month old self, but with so many new sights and smells it wasn't happening. This is the best one and it has Elisha's foot in it.

The kids played on the playground and wanted me to come and explore it with them. I am leaning down, but Elisha really is nearly as tall as I am.

See there you can sort of see how close in height he is getting to me. The kid is wearing bigger shoes than me now!

Both kids, but Elisha especially, were wanting to pose and take pictures. It was so much fun. I love when they want their pictures taken!

It took several attempts to get this fun shot!

And look! Proof Yohn was actually there too!

Lessons learned from this trip:

*Apparently on this particular day bikes were not allowed after 11 am. It was 5:30 pm when we were told this. Good thing the park rangers didn't see us. I don't know if this is a general rule or not, but we will definitely find out before taking the kids' bikes again.

*There are several trails that look fun to explore but dogs are not allowed to go on them. They must stay on a leash on the main trail.

*See that area behind Yohn in the photo above? If you look you can see Bethany in the background. Yeah, she's not supposed to be down there. The guy that told us this also told us about the bikes the hour before. He probably thought we were crazy.

*Small children who do not listen to their kind grandpas that take them to the park are quite annoying. Even more annoying is when they follow your children wherever they go. Due to the fact that your children are older and more capable, they are even more annoying when they get stuck up the steep hill and refuse to let grandpa help them down. 

*Walking away when they are stuck up the hill is a great way to lose them!

December in Pictures ~ Part 2

Here's more of December...

Remember him? We've had Lynx for more than a year now. Bethany took this picture of him cuddling with her stuffed animals. You can't really see it in the picture but his paw is wrapped around one of her toys. He's a crazy cat!

Diamond had her first bath! Well, first with us anyway. I don't know if her previous owners gave her a bath or not. Doesn't she look pathetic?

Just another picture of the silly pup!

We attended a Living Nativity that one of the local church's put on. It was cold outside, but so much fun. We had only been there about ten minutes and the kids were asking us if we could do it each year around Christmas.

Believe it or not, this was their favorite part. They are hammering nails in a large block of wood, and they kept coming back to it over and over again. I guess we should have gotten them wood and nails for Christmas, eh?

Bethany performed with the school band on a Sunday morning in church and did great. This was her second to last performance on the xylophone as her clarinet is finally ready for her. She is extremely excited about the move up too.

 Sadly Elisha was not able to perform due to uh, well, injury. One he would never let me tell you about, so let's just leave it at that okay. No worries, he's been to the doctor and checked out fine.

That same Sunday morning Bethany and Jewell got certificates for reciting more than 200 verses. Way to go girls!

Saying Goodbye, and Saying Hello

Last month our fourteen year old dachshund-beagle mix Tonka passed away in his sleep. We know it was coming because he was not acting right in the week leading up to his passing. His health was also failing him. Being a long bodied dog he injured his back several years ago swimming in a pond of all things, and had health issues ever since. The vet anticipated him needing a high cost surgery that we could never afford and we never expected to have him as long as we did.

Tonka was definitely a rascal, and we have so many stories of him, mostly good, but some that would make you wonder why we kept him as long as we did. Ornery or not he was still part of our family and has been missed. Sometimes on a sunny day when I come in the yard I expect to see him all sprawled out with his legs in the air enjoying the sunshine. Silly dog.

Saying good bye to him opened a door for us to say hello to this little ball of energy!

Say hello to Diamond! She was seven weeks old when we got her and yes, that's how big she is at seven weeks! She is now twelve weeks old and keeps us on our toes. She has also gained six pounds and grown about four inches since we got her. She's mastered "sit" and is mostly house broken. 

(Hmmm... Not sure why the edited picture is not showing up. Please ignore the background and the things on the couch... okay?)

Diamond is a black lab mix, a dog Yohn has dreamed of having since he was a kid. She's fit right in and although our lives have become that much crazier with her in it. She's definitely brightened our days.