Noteworthy...

Dear __________ (man in my life who shall remain nameless),


Let me first state that I am extremely thankful to you for your willingness to help out with the laundry this past weekend. As always, I am grateful to have someone in my life who is willing to help out with these mundane household chores. But I would like to offer you this advise, only because I honestly believe it will help you in your future laundry endeavors.


#1 - Socks with the words, "Size 2T - 3T" printed on the bottom belong in our 3 year old's sock drawer, not in our 8 1/2 year old's sock drawer.


#2 - The size 8/10 Batman pajamas do not belong in our 6 year old daughter's pajama drawer. Although I honestly don't think our daughter would mind wearing them, our oldest son might not appreciate the humor in seeing his sister wearing his prized pajamas.


#3 - There are only 4 days of school this week. Therefore, Samuel and Avery need only 4 pairs of socks and underwear placed in the school box. I appreciate your enthusiasm and ambition to to be proactive in this matter, however, they simply do not need 20 pairs of socks and underwear each crammed into the school box.


#4 - Placing 20 pairs of socks into the school box for Samuel, and no socks for Avery, pretty much defeats the purpose of having the school box.


#5 - Purple-toed socks = girl. Grey-toed socks = boy.


#6 - Please do not ever stop being who you are, and being willing to help out. I know how lucky I am to have a husband who not only helps with the laundry, but who is truly willing to do his part to help out wherever needed for our family and home. I will take an over-stuffed school box any day over an empty one...
Side note... A few years ago I created this box, which we call the "brown school box." Clever, right? :-) Basically, on Sunday afternoon I put all the socks, underwear, hats, gloves, etc. that my kids will need to get dressed each morning for school for the following week, all into this box. This way, they have everything they need, all together in one place. It really does help with our morning routine to cut down on scrambling around to find everything they need to get off to school on time. Socks, shoes, gloves, hats, underwear, and whatever else they need, all in one place!

This dog!

I think I have felt just about every emotion possible in the past few months for this dog...

This past summer, I felt frustrated. She was waking up 2 - 3 times a night to be let outside. She started having accidents in the house. She became a very picky eater. She was a mess! And when I noticed a large mass had formed on her back, and I realized that she might be seriously ill, I felt sad. And when I found out a few weeks later that she had cancer, and that she had only a couple of months to live, I felt heartbroken. I wept and I wept, literally each and every day for 2 weeks solid, all for the love of this dog. And when she lived past the time she was supposed to, I felt thankful for the extra time that I had been given with this dog!

And so last Tuesday, when I woke up and got the kids off to school, I noticed that something just wasn't right. I called our vet and she told me to bring Maisy in immediately. She could barely walk, and I had to pick her up to get her into the car. And the whole time I was driving to our vet clinic, my heart was breaking. She walked so slowly into the clinic, and the whole time we waited to see the vet, she just laid on the floor at my feet, barely moving. So, it shouldn't have been that big of a shock when our vet told me that she'd developed an infection. Still, it was a shock. But there I was, hearing the vet tell me that Maisy's body was too weak to fight it off, and the time had come to let her go. Her body needed help doing what it could not seem to do on it's own. I needed to take her home, and prepare myself and my family to say goodbye to this sweet, beloved dog. The vet gave her 1 "final" prescription to help manage the pain, and told me to bring her back in a week, so that she could help her go peacefully.

On the drive home, she rested her head on my lap and just laid there, weak and tired. I called Hector and gave him the news. I had to pull the car over to the side of the road, because the tears were clouding my vision. And when I got home and put Isaac down for his nap, I sat on the sofa with her, and I wondered if I had petted her enough, played catch with her enough, walked her enough, brushed her enough, and if I had given her as many treats as she deserved throughout her 10 years of life. Later that night, I gave her the prescription from the vet, and started getting the kids ready for bed. And without being told anything, Avery called out at the top of her lungs, "Maisy's not moving. I think she's dead!" My heart started racing as I ran into the kitchen, only to find Maisy sound asleep. The prescription was doing what it was supposed to do... it was keeping her out of pain. After I burst into tears when I realized she was just sleeping, Hector and I decided to tell the kids what was going on... Maisy was sick, and she wouldn't be with us too much longer. The next couple of days in our home were difficult.

But then, she started eating again. She started acting more alert, and the infection she'd developed seemed to be clearing up. She started begging for treats again, and she even enjoyed a romp in the snow with her sister dog, Molly. It was strange. I didn't know how to feel. I had prepared myself to let her go. I'd made the necessary arrangements, all in preparation to let her go. But the more I looked at her, the more I questioned my decision. She was eating and jumping and running and playing. Still, I kept the appointment with our vet for today, just in case the vet saw something I wasn't able to see. And after the vet came in and looked at this stubborn, crazy, loving dog, she told me that she'd never seen a dog with such a strong will to survive. Her body was fighting off the infection, and in her opinion today was not the day we needed to let Maisy go. She told me that we could take it day by day, and that she wanted to see us back in 2 weeks.

And that's when I felt relieved in a way, to be walking out of that clinic with my dog, when I thought I'd be leaving alone. I know that my days with Maisy are limited. I know that I will need to let her go sooner than later. I know she is dying. Today just wasn't that day. I hope you all understand. I just couldn't live with myself if I wasn't 100% sure it was time. And as of today, I'm just not there yet. I still see that gleam in her eyes that tells me Maisy is still here, active and alert, and probably feeling just like I am... happy to have a few more days together. I know this might sound silly, but I just can't think of another way to say it... Thank you to everyone for everything over the past few days, the past week, and the past few months when it comes to Maisy.

Oh, the weather outside is...

... frightful! But the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go (school was canceled today!). Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It snowed all day yesterday and most of last night. And this morning we awoke to a Winter Wonderland. We had over 8 inches of snow in our yard, although I think over 10 inches were officially reported! It is BEAUTIFUL!

These pictures are from yesterday...

In honor of Daddy, a Texas Tech Snowman.

This was the after school carpool line yesterday... Insane...

Doggie Paw Prints
Kitty Cat Paw Prints

And now it's time for some hot chocolate!!!

The Tater Tot Incident of 2010

Yesterday, Isaac accidentally dropped a toy in the toilet. I can honestly say that in my 8 1/2 years of parenting, I have never fished anything out of the toilet up until now. I have experienced something new in parenting. I have taken a tater tot toy out of the toilet with a pair of tongs. Try saying that 3 times really fast! :-)

After Isaac started freaking out, I decided to wash the tater tot toy in scalding hot water and then doused it in Lysol, and handed the toy back to Isaac and told him that I'd better NEVER see that toy anywhere near the toilet ever again. I didn't wash the tongs. Those went into the trash can.


After that happened, while I was sitting in the carpool line about 80 cars back waiting to pick up the kids from school, Isaac told me that he needed to go poo poo and that I'd better hurry. I pulled out of line and parked the car. While I was waited at the front door of the school for someone to buzz me in, Isaac was doing "the potty dance" while grunting and yelling, "Hurry Mama, hurry! It's coming out." Finally someone buzzed me into the school and we went inside. While in the teacher's restroom, Isaac decided to tell me (and everyone else in the restroom) just how stinky and big his poo poo was. And then he decided to relive the entire tater tot incident, telling me how funny it was when I got the tater tot out of the potty with the tongs. The teacher in the next stall over found it all to be rather amusing.


On the drive home, I seriously contemplated stopping at Braums and buying an entire gallon of German Chocolate ice cream for myself. But I didn't. All in a day's work as a mom, I suppose...


TGIF! :-)

Trash Talk

Each and every night, since right around the time Avery learned how to walk (or so it seems), I have gone into her bedroom after she falls asleep at night to clean up all the trash that has accumulated in her room throughout the day. The most common items that I tend to pick up and throw away on a nightly basis are construction paper that she's cut into 1,000 tiny pieces, candy wrappers, pennies, rubber bands, yarn, goldfish cracker crumbs, sequins, the paper backing off of stickers, markers that have dried out because she didn't put the lid back on, envelopes and receipts. After years of begging her to throw away her own trash each night, with it simply not getting done on a regular basis, I gave in and started picking up all the trash myself. And then, a few nights ago, something dawned on me.

Duh, I should put a trash can in her room... I didn't say anything to her about it. I just put it next to her art table and art supplies, and waited to see what (if anything) would happen. So last night, as the kids drifted off the bed, I went into Avery's room and saw something in the trash can. Oh my goodness, it worked! Two candy wrappers, some yarn, a penny and some Goldfish crumbs, all in the trash can!

This idea of mine to put a trash can in Avery's bedroom has got to rank right up there with the idea I had a few years ago to make Avery start doing all of her own laundry when she was going through a phase of changing her clothes 10 times a day. I told her that she could change her clothes all she wanted, but she'd need to wash it all herself. The first couple of days, she thought doing the laundry was neat. But by about that 3rd day, she was sick and tired of doing all that laundry, and the multiple wardrobe changes ceased.

I may not be the sharpest tack in the tool box, but every now and then I get a good idea that works! I only wish I would have thought about this sooner!