Another fine parenting moment

On Saturday Karl and I were in the bathroom getting ready for the day, ok fine, it was already past 10am. My neighbor dropped by and rang the bell. Josh answered since we didn't hear the bell, and the girls were outside with the dog.

He said "hi", chatted with my neighbor, then said "bye" and shut the door. Thy repeated this twice, each time she tried to call my name and get him to go get me. She finally gave up and went home to call me. Ah the shame!

Did I mentioned the door was locked?? Thankfully my neighbors are very nice, but I'll need to work on the showering so it is speedier!

Lunch

"I've for fruit, sandwich, protein, and chocolate. What else am I missing?"

-Emily
Gotta love it!

Rain and potty training

Apparently Baxter is not a fan of the rain. All week it has been sunny and beautiful. Potty training is not a piece of cake. He goes every time I take him outside, which is great and I am taking home out at least 8 times a day, but and at least a few times I don't.

Today when I went to take him outside, he kept trying to run back up the stairs. So we used a lot of pee pee pads. Right now, he is curled up in his bed which is next to me on our bed. He had an episode of running or something in his sleep. It was really funny. he also sleeps with his tongue slightly out of his mouth. So cute!!

First week of school and Baxter updates

The first week of school went really well I think. The girls seem to like both of their teachers, and both of them is eager to head off in the morning for the day.I'm hoping Sydney's teacher will help her get out of the habit of not actually talking with words, but using facial expressions and paws, or her sister to do the work for her.

And all the family is in love with our newest addition, well, let me qualify that. The humans are in love. The cats, not so much! The few days spent with the Jack Russel Terrorist puppy seems to have made a huge impression. The first 2 days Abby and Carrie refused to come inside. Now they are willing to enter the building, but Abby was not willing to stick around. I moved their food back to the garage, so Abby sits by the cat door meowing when she wants breakfast. I miss them. Carrie came in yesterday and Baxter tried to approach. She shot him down with one look. Talk about calm assertive energy and claiming your space! She had a clear message. He turned right around and went away. Abby, maybe we did the wrong thing. We scooped her up and held her near Baxter. She hissed and threatened him with her paws, he did absolutely nothing but sniff a little.

So I started this post yesterday, and today I am happy to report that not only are the cats back in the house, they even were in the same room with Baxter.  He has been quite quiet and respectful up until this point, although just a few minutes ago, he tried to invite Carrie to play with him.  She looked at him as if he was crazy and very slowly crept away from him.  He followed until I lured him away from her with a fun toy.  We played for a few minutes, and now he is happily snoozing in the crate.

Today the potty score was Baxter 6 - Heather 8.  My scores were successful potty breaks outside, His scores are the number of accidents.  Sigh.  I am thinking of training him to ring a bell.  One good thing, he is a puppy so they are small accident spots not big lakes!  But since Karl found them with his foot twice, I don't see that info really helping me right now.  Must monitor his movements more often!  Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Ithaca, Ny, Rochester, NY, and Hershey, PA Trip-Mid August

Two weeks before school, the kids and I went on a long trip to Upstate New York to see family.  We had a wonderful time with April & her family, and Grandma Margie.  We went to Stewart Park and road the carousel, we went to Buttermilk Park and played on the wonderful playground there, went to Uncle Hugh's, rode horse, feed critters, visited Purity Ice Cream, and just had a lovely time.  The weather was great, the kids were happy, and all in all it was great!

Oh, and Sydney found some more rocks to bring home, including one the size of an ostrich!  She also lost her first tooth!

Then we headed to Rochester to see David, Lydelle, and Chris.  As usual we had a blast there two.  The kids were all for tackling Chris and making him play all sorts of games with them.  Probably the silliest one was when Chris and I taught Josh to ride down the sloped lawn on the skateboard.  Then the best part was, we got him to push it back up the hill.  A tired baby is a good thing at bedtime.  Then the girls got in on the action and everyone took turns flying down the hill and climbing back up again.

On the way home, I was not feeling up to the 12 hour drive straight through, so we made a detour to Hershey, PA.  WOW!  That is a yummy smelling town!  we didn't go to the Park but we went to the hershey's world Tour, and really enjoyed that part.  The girls got to do a make your own chocolate bar "ride"  Josh and I tried to do that, but after waiting in line for 40 minutes, Josh was an absolute mess.  So we waited at the end of the ride/tour for the girls.  he was just as happy playing on the floor with his trains.  I wished we rode the trolley instead, but the girls thought it was the best thing ever!

Our hotel was simple and clean, but we got there too late to use the pool.  So we listened in the dark as Josh laughed to himself about his glow-in-the-dark pyjamas.  It was so cute!  The next morning we hit the free breakfast at the hotel.  josh managed to catapult his cereal and juice all over himself and the chair and floor.  Ahh!  Such wonderful guests we are!  the girls loved the giantic Belgain waffles.  Again, they declared it the best part ever.  they did not like that the hotel tv did not have a cartoon channel!    With that, we headed home,  (Oh but when I was loading the car, they were supposed to be watching Josh.  he met me in the lobby.  Since we were one room away from the lobby on the first floor, that is not as shocking as it seems.  But I was ticked!  The girls had no idea he was gone.  Thank you TV).  The drive home went well, and I was so glad to be home!

Luray Caverns trip

We went on one final family vacation this weekend. We left Saturday and headed to Luray, Va to see some truly amazing caverns. Apparently most of the tourists also came that day since the line was insane! But what a sight! So glad we went!

At the field next to our hotel was a real county fair. Despite the late hour, Karl took both girl over to ride the rides and see the animals. They all had a good time! Sydney is a total spped demon!  she was ready to go on all the scary looking rides.  but for most she was too short.  Emily was much more cautious.  When Karl told me their reactions, I was pretty surprised since it does not seem that way outside of fairgrounds, but still pretty cool.  The look on Sydney's face in this picture pretty well says it all!

The next morning after church, we drove to April's house. We spent the day hanging out at the field and playground. Emily, Sydney, and Josh had fun with Caleb. We also tested the flying abilities for karl's remote control car when it shot 6 feet up a tree. (student drivers) After 2 days with poor naps, Josh fell apart at bedtime! But finally all the kids went to sleep. April and I chatted about scrapbooking while Karl read. (meaning napped)


In the morning after another round of field sports, we headed off to Shendoah to pick up our new puppy. His name is Baxter. He is a cockapoo. He is 8 wks old, so just a baby still! The kids and I are thrilled!! He seems to like all of us and has spent most of the drive napping in my arms, or napping on my shoulder or my neck. Silly boy!!