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Tropical Wishes Christmas

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Sunny Sunday

We finally got some great weather here today. Early on I had every intention of cleaning the house but that didn't last long - the mess will still be there tomorrow. Ryan had a friend of his from across the street over today and they made good use of the day while Ashley sat out back and did her homework at the patio set. While Daisy played down in the grass with Bret and the kids, Luke was too scared to go down the deck stairs to join in the fun so he stayed with Ashley and sunbathed.

She's going to regret not putting sunscreen on today!

Luke's no dummy. He knows where the attention comes from.

Down below, Bret had spray painted a kickball field for the boys in the grass and a fun for all, rules don't apply game was under way.

You didn't think I was going to just let him stay up on the deck, did you? It took a little coaxing, but he made it down just fine. He was scared to death of the white square, though. LoL

Who said you needed anything more than a batman mask and a baby blanket to have an awesome costume?

Batboys with their Batdogs.

Daisy got a nice brushing and was mighty proud.

Luke wasn't so sure about this grooming stuff and Bret was ready to go into the pillow making business.

Life is good, but Bret is talking clippers. LoL

Hopefully the nice weather is here to stay.

Vacation plans to Cancun are still on for now. Our fingers are crossed that Cancun and the state of Quintana Roo remain Swine Flu free. I've got some reliable sites that I'm following for information closely and have talked to our family doctor as well. All we can do at this point is wait and see.

Luke's Playdate

A video posted for my aunt...

Looking Ahead

Remember Luke? He's coming back to live with us permanently! The kids are so excited, especially following what happened with Mack when we tried to replace Luke when it was time for him to go back to my aunt. We got the phone call yesterday asking if we were interested in keeping him. He'll be coming home with us when we come back from Chicago after Easter.

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For a couple of weeks now, I've been consumed with researching where we will be going on vacation this summer. We had it narrowed down to Gulf Shores, Fort Lauderdale and St. Pete's Beach (last year's destination). All were within our price range, but we just couldn't decide. Someone up above must have been tired of our indecision, because on a lark we started plugging in Caribbean destinations when we came across an incredible deal for a very kid friendly, all inclusive resort in Cancun.

I am so excited about this for a couple of reasons. One, because I never really thought I would get the opportunity to see another country or anywhere as beautiful and tropical in the near future. Second, because we've booked this trip along with Bret's brother's family. The kids are really excited that we'll be going on such a fun vacation with their cousins.

It'll be really fun having another family there to hang out with. If anyone is looking for a great place in Cancun to take the kids, you'll have to check this place out! The Great Parnassus caters to kids and is absolutely gorgeous!

Spring Fever

There's just something about the first spring like day in March to set of a chain reaction. That day for us just happened to fall on a 4 day weekend. This kids are off of school today and tomorrow and the weather passed the 70 degree mark. Kids up and down the block were out playing with their friends. Families were out taking walks with the family dog and the sunset was toasted with a beer (or two) out on the back deck. The first glorious spring like day of many more to come!

Tomorrow is suppose to be even nicer and I can't wait to leave the messy house and the piles of laundry behind to spend another day outside. But along with this prelude to spring, comes the big question that has been on my mind since the weather began warming up: Where will we take the family on vacation this summer?

Every time this year I start hounding my husband about what we'll do this summer in regards to vacation. The kids want to go back to Florida. I vote Disney, but the savings account says not this year. I think we may have narrowed it down to driving to Gulf Shores, AL or flying back to St. Pete's Beach (as we did last summer) and keeping it low key and relaxing. Either choice is a win, in my opinion.

Spring and summer sports are also getting ready to promise busy nights to come. Ashley starts rec league volleyball at the end of this month. Summer softball practices start next weekend and Ryan has already been out practicing his batting and catching skills. He even got back on his bike today which required me to run about 50 laps around the cul-de-sac. It seemed like he had completely forgotten how to balance and then BAM - he remembered. Whew!

Yep, busy is getting ready to make it's return. Can you blame me for thinking vacation?

Stalker, High Tech Style

How did I not know about this whole RSS feed thing all this time? Last weekend my brother reformatted my laptop due to some problems with viruses. When I went in to set up my Outlook files, I noticed that there was a folder for RSS feeds. I am so loving this! I've got all my little blogger friends added in and now I'll either (1) never miss a blog post of theirs again or (2) drown in a sea of posts that I end up slacking on. I'm betting it will lean towards 2, but I'll definitely try and keep up now!

Well. Hello, Stranger!

I'm back. Not sure if anyone still reads this thing, but I'm back. I'm not making any promises on frequent updates, but here's what's been going on lately.

Our new puppy is now longer with us. (Did you notice his absence in the picture up top there?) A little over a week ago he unfortunately showed us his true colors - or at least what could be expected in the future. I had given both dogs raw hides and Ashley was sitting on the floor next to Mack petting him when with no warning he suddenly attacked her. There was no warning growl, just a lunge to her face that resulted in the need for an ER visit to get stitches.

This was upsetting on so many levels because the one concrete rule Bret and I had made when adopting him was that he was gone after the first bite - no exceptions. I wish I could say we didn't see it coming, but the week before he had growled at Ryan because he had stepped over him while he was eating from his bowl.

It's unfortunate because he had showed so much potential. He really was a good little pup. I'm not angry at him because I honestly think he didn't know he had done anything wrong and immediately wanted to play. Unfortunately, if he did this at 6 months old, I was willing to bet a sizable fortune that he would do it again. We have small children that live on both sides of us that use the playground equipment in our backyard so there was absolutely no way we could keep a dog that had already attacked once.

It was heartbreaking, we took him back to Paws that very next morning. I cried the whole way there and the whole way back. I cried some more while putting his things away. Surprisingly, the kids took it very well. I think they were now afraid of him, so letting him go was a bit easier for them.

I thank God everyday that the damage to Ashley's face was pretty minor compared to other dog bites that I've seen before. Hopefully there won't be any scaring. I've learned through this process that it's probably not a good idea to get a puppy from the pound. You have no idea what they've been through or how they will turn out. I'm sure we'll adopt again (and not until Daisy is gone, if I can help it) but next time we'll stick with a dog that's already a year or two old that hopefully would have already showed any aggression by then.

Keeping Us Busy

The New Year has brought busy times with it. Ashley's Volleyball Team's games have started. They are 0 for 2, but have come so close to their first win as their new school's first team. They're having fun and Ashley is getting tons of play time. She is the second tallest girl on her team.

Mack continues to grow and Daisy continues to tolerate him. This shows just how much she has to tolerate:

Mack has slept in his crate in the family room at night since we got him last month, but lately he's starting to understand where Daisy sleeps and has been trying to invite himself in. We gave in this weekend and brought Daisy's downstairs bed up for Mack and he slept throught the night in our room on it both nights! It seems there will be no more crate for the puppy at night anymore!

Exhausted.

Pinewood Derby and Puppy Updates

It's been super busy around here since the New Year rolled around. I'm planning Rock The House again this year and since it's next month, I only seeing myself getting busier from here on out.

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Mack is 5 months old now and has now put on a total of 10 pounds since we got him almost a month ago. Look at the size of his paws in the picture below. Yes, I'm nervous, too. He's pretty much housebroken now and is very well behaved until visitors come over. He assumes anyone that comes through the door is here to see him and gets super excited. When that happens he forgets all manners and doesn't seem to hear me when I try to control him. That would be our big challenge right now. He and Daisy get along fairly well until he gets these little hyper periods where he runs around the house at 60 mph and tries to engage her in play. She's an old lady and is just not having it. We're working on that right now, as well.

Today was Ryan's Pinewood Derby race. He and Bret built Two Faced a set of wheels and while it didn't break any speed records, it did come in second place for best looking.

Since bringing Mack home from the pound last month, we've had him sleep in his crate in the family room. He also stays in there when we're not home or just plain need a break from all things puppy. I've been cleaning the house today and have let him follow me around for the most part. After some time I realized that I didn't know where he was or what he was up to. (Panic!) I quietly looked for him and found him - all snuggly warm in my dark (my camera has a super bright flash) bedroom sleeping in Daisy's bed. I have a feeling this means he won't be sleeping in his crate for much longer.

Sweet, isn't it?

Reading

I received this book as a Christmas gift from my aunt last week. I had declared yesterday as a lazy day, picked up the book and started to read it, and wasn't able to put it down until I was finished. I have to say that I was under the impression that this was a true story after reading the foreword and continued to believe so throughout the book, which may be why I was able to read it so quickly. While I was relieved that the little girl in the story was not real and did not go through the unthinkable, I felt a little betrayed by the author when I went to the book's website and found that none of it was real. That said, this is still one of the best books I've read in a long time. I won't get into the details of the book for fear of ruining it for someone that still has yet to read it, but it really makes you think on a deeper level.

Happy New Year!

Christmas was wonderful, but boy am I happy for it to be over. Tonight we'll be ringing in the New Year with good friends, but I thought I'd post some pictures from Christmas while I've got a few free minutes.

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Christmas Eve at Bret's Dad's house...

Christmas morning at home....

Mack, who continues to grow at an alarmingly fast pace. I took him in for his last round of boosters today and the vet says he's going to be a very big boy. I'm told that there is a dog that comes into the clinic that looked exactly like Mack as a puppy and that he's a German Shepherd/St. Bernard mix. He's also 130 pounds. Yes, I got a little light headed upon hearing this. Only time will tell, but he's already found a place into our hearts so we'll accept him whether he's Daisy sized or Monster sized.

Late Christmas morning we hit the road and made the drive to my mom's house to celebrate Christmas with my family.

Wiped out, Cubbies style!

Christmas Presents Secured

Bret and I took Ryan to see Santa tonight so now we're officially ready for Christmas. Ashley missed out since she wanted to go to a friend's house instead. It's kind of sad when they get older. I'm also afraid that this could be Ryan's last "magical" year. He hasn't asked any questions yet himself, but last week when I went to help his classroom in the library, a lot of his classmates were offering up opinions. I wanted to hush them, but couldn't think of a tactful way to do it. So, here's hoping this isn't our last year...

Attention: Long Lost Blogger Found

It's been awhile. I realize that. Things have been so crazy around here since we got this puppy. It almost feels like we brought home an overly hyper and curious toddler last weekend. Things actually got pretty stressful around these parts.

Mack came home last weekend and by Monday morning he was running a 104 fever and very lethargic. I took him to (a very expensive) vet appointment to find out that his kennel cough had progressed into a secondary bacterial infection. He's been taking antibiotics (which are *so* fun to shove down his throat twice a day) and he seems to be almost over it. His cold like symptoms are still around but I think he's at the tail end of it.

Daisy got sick, too. The same day I took Mack to the vet I brought home some Nylabones for the dogs to chew on. Daisy chewed hers up into chunks and was throwing them up by 4:30am the following morning. We were getting pretty worried about her, praying that she didn't have a blockage. Two days of vomiting later, she had gotten over it.

Mack is doing awesome in the house training department. He's had no accidents in the house over the past 4 days and is the sweetest thing. Daisy seems to be tolerating him for the most part, but when Mack tries to initiate her in play, Daisy goes ballistic on him. We have no idea how to handle that. I know we have to let her assert herself as dominant dog, but my gut tells me that we should only be letting her "respond" to him to a certain aggressive level. We were given the number of a animal behaviorist when we adopted Mack and I'll be calling her tomorrow. Those times stress us out a lot and we really need to figure out how to deal with it if we want Mack to work out.

Last, but not least - we all have horrible head colds. For the last few days I've thought that maybe Ashley and I were fighting allergies, but Bret and Ryan both started getting the whole sneezing, head congestion, stuffy nose thing today. I'm hoping we're over it by Christmas later this week.

Three days until Christmas Eve. How the heck did that happen? It seemed like it was so far away and now all of a sudden it's about to be here and gone. The kids are starting to get really excited. We caved and opened up gifts between each other tonight which made the kids really happy to get a gift each ahead of Christmas.

Thankfully, we're ready for Christmas to come. We're anticipating that it may be a little sad and hard at times since this will be our first Christmas without Bret's mom, but we've worked hard to make sure it's a good one.

If I don't get back here before - Have a Merry, Merry Christmas!

Adjusting

Mack came home yesterday morning and things are going very well - busy, but well! Housetraining has been a lot easier than we had expected. He goes every time we take him outside. We found out instantly that he's a beggar the minute any kind of food came out. Funny how he automatically sits on his own when someone has food, but doesn't know how when you ask him to.

He's very playful, which Dasiy doesn't seem to be doing so well with. He constantly tries to engage her in play and her response is to growl at him. I may call the animal behaviorist number they gave us just to see how they recommend dealing with that. I'm not sure if we should let her deal with Mack on her own or if we should keep him away from Daisy. It seems to me that Daisy is trying to teach him manners, but Mack isn't get it.

Still top dog.

I was prepared for a rough night last night, but was nicely surprised that he let us sleep until 6:45am with no accidents. That's huge in my book!

Preparing For Baby

While we anxiously wait for tomorrow morning to come, I'll be busy puppy proofing around here. First on the list was finding a safe place for him to be when we can't be watching him. Not my idea of home decorating, but we don't really have a choice and didn't want to buy 3 different size crates, so that left us with one big one that comes with a partition. See that pretty little tree by the fire place? That would be just one of the many things that's going to have to go.

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to the Christmas tree and the Lego Train. Also, family members can probably expect presents this year with puppy teeth marks.

This plant that I have somehow miraculously kept alive since my mother in law's funeral just screams "Play with me, puppy!" Where on Earth am I going to put this where I won't forget about it?

I may leave this guy out just for some comic relief. If Mack takes on the snowman, who will win?

So as you can see, I really have no idea where to begin. I also noticed him nosing around at the electrical outlets in the visiting room at PAWS yesterday. At least I still have the plastic white plugs to fill those in with from my babysitting days.

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Daisy is clearly trying to figure out what is going on here. She's been watching our every move for the past couple of days and keeps going over and sniffing the crate. (She refuses to go in it, though.) I can already see the look on her face when we bring Mack home. It will say, "What in the hell is this and what I am suppose to do with him, huh?!"

Meet Mack

Meet the newest member of our family. We officially adopted Mack today. Tomorrow he will see the vet at PAWS to be ok'd for neutering. On Saturday morning, we'll pick him up and bring him home.

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Bret and I went and spent some time with him this afternoon. He's really a good little pup. He's already got quite the cute little personality. We took some pictures and video for Ashley, who still has yet to meet him. With volleyball practice and school going on right now, she's never home during their visiting hours. The excitement is really killing her.

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Upon spending almost and hour bonding with him today, we've come to the conclusion that he looks an awful lot like Daisy. It's almost like looking at a baby version of her. While I don't want him to get big too fast, I'm looking forward to seeing just how much he ends up looking like Daisy.