Koty meets someone new

Today a dog trainer came over with her 15 week old puppy to meet Koty. He will be starting puppy Kindergarten in the middle of January, so this was like a little introduction. Koty was a little nervous about this new friend at first. When she came in the front door, he ran and squealed a little bit, then came back and looked at her like in the above picture.

This is them playing together.

He even shared his new chewy stick, and quite nicely I might add! He just watched a little, but didn't growl or try to take it from her.

Merry Christmas from all of us...Koty too!

A little confused puppy

Here's Koty opening his Christmas present. (I know it's early, but we couldn't resist)

Once the gift was opened, it just fell out on the floor, and Koty ran off with the paper in his mouth.

Here he decided that the gift was actually much better tasting than the wrapper it was in.

A visit to my parents

Tonight when we went to visit my parents. They were frosting Christmas cookies together.

Later in the night, my mom laid on the floor because she wanted to see what Koty would do. This is what he did...he climbed all over her head, messed up her hair, licked her face, and then play bit.

This is what she looked like when he was finished...well actually she took one quick swipe at her hair just before Dave snapped the picture.

An early Christmas present!!!

Tonight my honey gave me my Christmas present because he said he couldn't wait. I think I was one of the few people who still didn't have a cell phone, and I had talked to him about getting one for a while, but every time the subject would come up he would insist that I didn't need one. He has one only because he has to for his job and his employer pays for it. Anyway, there have been many many times where it would've come in handy... like when I hit the deer last August, and when I went to Vegas for my job in March (I had to borrow one of my coworker's phones or go into a smoke filled casino to use a pay phone so I could call my family.), etc....

Chocolate baked macaroni and cheese?

A few nights ago Steven put some meatloaf and homemade baked macaroni and cheese on his plate, and then proceeded to go get some Nesquik to put in his milk. We always harass him because he never fails to get some on the place mat while he's putting it in his milk. Well, this particular night he was bound and determined that he wasn't going to get any on his place mat. Just as he was about to put it in his milk (and oh SO carefully) Dave scared him by making a loud noise. This is what happened to the chocolate. He immediately looked at his plate and said, "I'm NOT eating that!" It was pretty funny so I had to take a picture. He did get a new helping of mac and cheese. (Notice the few granules that made it into his milk)

Koty and Michael playing in the snow

My Brother

Many of you know that my brother Tim, who's 10 yrs. older than me, was brain damaged at birth when my mom was given too much of a medication and stopped breathing during labor. Today was the annual Christmas Party at the home he lives in, so I visited for a bit. (he lives about 45 minutes away from me) It's very difficult to communicate with him because he really doesn't respond at all, but it was nice to see him.

Let it snow!

"The National Weather Service predicts 16 to 20 inches of snow across the Rochester area starting late tonight, which could increase the area's total to more than 43 inches this month.

A winter storm warning has been issued from 10 p.m. today until 7 a.m. Monday because of expected blizzardlike conditions with high winds and low temperatures in the 20s."

These are words from our local newspaper this morning. We may get an early start on our igloo this year!

Do you see the resemblance?

Thirteen things I got accomplished this week

1. Put up Christmas tree on Sunday that we had cut down on Saturday.
2. Put away autumn decorations and took out Christmas decorations.
3. Ordered some gifts online.
4. Washed and folded lots of laundry.
5. Cleaned powder room.
6. Vacuumed
7. Took Koty potty and poopy LOTS of times.
8. Played bumper pool with Steven and got my butt kicked more than once. He's getting way too good.
9. Played pick up sticks with Michael and got beat again.
10. Made some yummy meals and an awesome almond cake that I got at Leta's "Tastefully Simple" party.
11. Took Michael to the orthodontist.
12. Visited my mom.
13. Worked about 17 hours at my Dental Hygiene job.

Oh yeah...and blogged with Koty.

Koty must have read my blog from last night. He has been an angel today!

It's a winter wonderland out there! Brrr...

Looks can be deceiving...beware!

This post is for Heather who said that Koty must be keeping us very busy because I haven't posted in a while. All I have to say is that he's extremely cute... when he's sleeping. When he's awake he is a terror. Dave and I were just reading a dog training thing on line and discovered that we have reinforced some bad behaviors since we got him a week and a half ago, so now we need to reteach him the right way. His biting was very gentle when we got him (for the most part) and when it was too rough we would yipe which really seemed to work at first. As time has gone on he has become more aggressive with his biting and we have responded by either holding his mouth shut when he didn't respond to "NO", or today I gave him a shove and knocked him down when he kept coming at me...he came back with a vengeance. The training thing says that what we did was give him reinforcement by giving him attention for doing it. We should have put him in his crate for a minute "time out" when he didn't respond to the "NO" command. If he continues the bad behavior when he's released, he again gets a "time out" for a minute and this time when he's released we should ignore him for a couple minutes. It should take about 3 weeks to completely correct the behavior. I'm feeling like a brand new parent with a strong willed child. Hopefully we don't ruin him too bad. I'm going to start him in a puppy socialization class soon, which hopefully will benefit him. Today I took him to work to show my coworkers who had asked that I bring him, and he wriggled and squirmed when they held him until he was back in MY arms. That made me feel good, like he feels some sort of attachment to me already. He wanted to get back into the arms of "the lady who lets me be naughty". Haha, just kidding. We are lacking sleep as well, since we need to get up around 3:00am every day to avoid him pooping in his crate...then it's up again around 6:30am to feed him and take him out again.

I thought that it might be fun to have a 3rd child, but this has completely gotten that out of my system. This "child" will grow up a lot faster!

Koty

An exhausing day

Koty arrived safely last night, but was very tired after his busy and stressful day traveling. He is extremely adorable...I don't think there's a cuter puppy around!

A new family member is coming!

I know this may seem fast to some of you, but we have grieved over our sweet Jakie for so many months now, and feel a need to fill the hole in our hearts left when he was put to sleep last week. This is the puppy that has captured our hearts. A couple of days ago we put a deposit on a puppy that isn't born yet, that we would receive at the beginning of February. Dave initially wanted a dog that looks like a mini golden retriever, being cream in color, but the more we looked at this little guy the more his uniqueness and cuteness grew on us. He just seemed to keep staring at us saying, "buy me". This is a mix of a cocker spaniel and a golden retriever (also called a comfort retriever or mini golden retriever). He is a rare sable color. He is coming to us from South Dakota, as we could not find anyone breeding these nearby. We will name him Dakota, AKA Koty. Isn't he a cutie?

Snow

This was the scene when we woke up this morning...our 1st snow of the season.

Cookie frosting!

Tonight I made cutout cookies and frosted them with the kids. It was fun sitting around the table together enjoying conversation. Steven thought the cookies were finger lickin good! These last couple of days have been difficult for us, and any distraction is nice. (I'm still practicing with our new camera so my pictures look blurry.)

A Memorial

In loving memory of Jake, laid to rest 11/14/2007

Tagged

Rules: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I wear my emotions on my sleeve...I hate that, I can't hide anything.
2. I love sweets!
3. I like earth tone colors.
4. Either my hearing isn't too good or I don't listen too well...I'm not sure which.
5. I love to drink coffee in the morning, but am trying to drink decaf tea instead.
6. I love playing bumper pool with my family.
7. There are lots of things I like to eat, I can't really think of a favorite...lately it's been potato soup.
8. I love slipper socks, they're so cozy!

I tagged Bethany, Kristina, Tracy...

Tickle, tickle

This is what Dave does for fun.

Tattered jeans

These are the jeans Michael wore to school today. He wears them quite a bit actually, but I think the holes are a little larger every time I see them. He says he likes these jeans.

Cuteness

I took this picture of Bethany's baby, Joshua, on Saturday. I think it's so adorable how he put his little hand over his face just before I took the picture.

Another Birthday

Today I turned 39. Where on earth has time gone? This is me just a few years ago. When I got home from work Dave was making the frosting for a cake he had baked me, and he had invited our parents, my aunt, and his sister over. I feel very blessed to have the years God has given me so far, and that I have such an awesome family!

The stares

Every night this is what Jake does to us, he stares and stares. If we take him out, as soon as he comes in he follows us into the family room and stares some more. If we don't look at him, he makes a little noise to try and get our attention. I don't know what to do for him. The other night I just opened up the sliding door and let him out. About a half hour later I looked out and he was lying in the grass. He seemed happy so I just left him there. However, tonight I couldn't do that because of the trick-or-treaters, so he has basically driven me crazy tonight. It's a really good thing he's cute!

The Baby!

Today Dave, Michael and I went to the hospital to see Bethany and baby Joshua. Steven had Art Club after school and I just couldn't wait any longer, so he didn't come. The baby is beautiful! Michael was forced to hold Joshua even though he said no, but I think he liked it (holding him).

Refrigerator Mishaps

Tonight before Michael went to bed he went to the refrigerator to get a drink of milk. He got more than he bargained for...when he opened the refrigerator door, a container full of chicken soup fell at his feet. For the most part the cover stayed on, but a little bit leaked out, which Jake was quick to take care of. Why is it that I stack things in the strangest ways in there? I just can't seem to keep it organized. Dave is quite the organizer, he had to take over because I was getting so frustrated trying to find spots for everything. This is a before picture (aside from some things being cleared from the lower shelf. This is a source of stress for me. I think I'll clean it on my day off on Tuesday. Ugh!

Pumpkin Carving

Michael begged and begged this morning for me to let them carve their pumpkins today rather than this evening. They ended up carving them this afternoon. Michael decided that he would practice on Kristina's blog pumpkin 1st, while Steven drew his on a napkin and then went to it. These are their finished pumpkins!.... notice their (the kid's) little toesies!

Pumpkins!

Yesterday I took the boys to get their pumpkins. They will carve them this weekend. Steven doesn't look too excited in the picture, but he was happy to get a pumpkin...maybe it was all the dirt on it that he didn't like.

Jake

Yesterday we found out that Jake's heart condition is worsening. His abdomen is now filling with fluid (this is why I took him to the vet yesterday). His water furosemide pill has once again been increased to try to help him get rid of the extra fluid his body is retaining due to his poor heart. We know he won't be with us too much longer now. We have had him since the boys were 2 and 3 years old (10 yrs), Michael says he can't remember not having him. It will be difficult to say goodbye.

Outdoor photo's and weather what if's

Today Dave and I went to the park to try to find a good background for our family photo which is scheduled to be taken tomorrow morning. When we left it was nice and sunny, and when we got to the park the raindrops started. It's supposed to rain for the rest of today and into the morning tomorrow. The last time we had this kind of forcast (last Saturday) we canceled on Friday and then the weather turned out perfect, sigh...

Dinner Conversation

So this is the conversation that took place at our dinner table last night:

Steven- Sits down at the table and proceeds to take off his shirt (he has just been rough housing with Michael).

Dave- "No way, put your shirt back on.

Steven- "Aw dad, I'm hot!"

Dave- "We eat at the dinner table with our shirts on, that's good manners. The only one that's allowed to come to the table with no shirt is mom!"

Lol, men!

Oooh, look at all the colors!

We just got back from a four day trip to Pennsylvania to visit Dave's brother and his wife and kids. This is some of the scenery on our drive...taken out the car window and windshield. The colors were absolutely beautiful in some areas in the hills, but then still very green in other parts. It was a nice, relaxing 4 days!

To those of you who were a little confused by that last post, it was written by my wonderful husband while I slept. I think he was feeling neglected...don't you?

I Love Sleeping

My honey is home today, so I think I'll sleep because he's very boring and I don't love him very much. Is that a run-on sentence? I'm confused.

Fluffernutter

This is my "little boy" honey. He made himself a fluffernutter sandwich for lunch today. He was trying to put away the fluff really fast before I got a picture of the evidence.

Why are boys so gross?

This is the boys as they were waiting for their breakfast this morning before school. They had straws and were putting them under their armpits and blowing to make disgusting noises. Where they learned this, I don't know, but it sounded pretty gross!

Mismatch day

These are the socks Michael wore to school today for mismatch day. He also wore a neon green shirt with camoflage shorts. Remember those Middle School days?

End of swimming season

Blurry picture, but it was getting dark when I took it. Tonight we finally covered our pool for the season. We haven't swam in it since the first week of September. The nights are especially cool which means the heater just can't get it warm enough to swim in during the day, and the leaves are another story. Even though the leaves in our yard haven't changed yet, they're starting to fall and it's not fun fishing them out of the pool every day. Oh well... we had an AWESOME summer and the pool got lots of use!

Back to normal

This is the mansion at Three Springs, where Steven and Michael went on their retreat. I think Steven slept here, while Michael slept in a cabin. There is quite a bit of land here where they ride horses and go mountain biking. We got our boys back at 3:00pm on Sunday. They had a great time, beautiful weather, and had many stories to tell. Michael said they had about 7 Bible studies while they were there, which he didn't seem to mind. I think they're already looking forward to the winter retreat, but they both say they're still not ready to be gone to camp for a whole week in the summer. It's been nice having them back. The house has been filled with lots of activity and noise again.
It looks like this year we get a longer summer which is kinda nice. Yesterday's high was 92 degrees. That's very unusual for the end of September here. In the middle of the night we had quite the loud thunderstorm. Poor Dave was awake for 2 hours afterward...just couldn't get back to sleep. Today he had to travel to Ithaca. I hope he has a good day!