Another reason I am too busy...our "half" child

Not only has family sickness prevented me from being the great housekeeper that I am...but our new addition to our family has too. He is a Jack Russell terror-opps, I meant Jack Russel Terrier that we finally named Jack. 

Before I introduce him, let me tell you about a sad day back in June.  Our sweet dog Max died.  We had Max since Joshua was  a baby.  We were NOT expecting his death, so it was really sad.  Really, really sad. Here he is doing what he did best-taking a snooze.

If you look back over the years through our family pictures, you find many with furry little Max in the background.  That is how he was, just always there, always in the background.



One day I was trying to do a photo-shoot with Sophie. I thought it would be cute to put her in this big bowl, so I got it all ready with some soft blankets. I went to get the camera, and look who was in the bowl posing for the photoshoot!  



Max seemed invincible. Last summer he was attacked by two German Shepards while we were in California.  The vet said it was a miracle he was alive. This was the least graphic picture I could find of it.  He was so sweet through the whole thing and made a complete recovery. 

Later that winter Luke was out waiting for the bus and a moose was nearby in the yard.  Max charged it full speed and almost got trampled to death.  ("I ain't scared of no moose!"-that is supposed to be in the Ghost Busters voice)

Then in June Max got sick and before we knew it, he died.  We had a little "viewing" and funeral.  We did it in my parents backyard. We all wrote Max letters and then put them in a jar to bury with him.

 Here is the family at the viewing...

 Ryan and the boys dug a very deep hole on the hillside.

 Everyone helped fill in the grave.  He was burried in his bed with a cozy blanket and our letters.

Okay, fast forward five months....

I am in town and we see someone selling puppies and decide to just take a "look".  We find Jack and of course he was SOOO cute.  However, he is not our mellow OLD dog.  I forgot how much work a puppy is! 

The Garzas were in town when we brought him home. Here he is with Holden. The kids had a great time with him those first few days.

He is sure cute and he is good going to the bathroom.  He is great with the older kids, not so good with the little ones.  If I could "rehome" him at this point I would.  Probably not the best fit!  For now though...he is our new dog and he is the reason I don't get anything done!  My sister told me I might as well have had another baby! 

Sick

The past three weeks someone in the family has been sick. It started out with Sophie.  I pretty much just hold her 24/7.  She no longer has a fever and ear infection, but somehow she has not gotten the memo and she cries if I set her down even for a second.

 Next it was Joshua, if you ever see Joshua laying down after school taking a nap...you know something is wrong.

Anne was next, I discovered her taking a snooze up in my room. 

Then last Friday the school called, I was not home so Grandma went and picked up Luke...big surprise, he had a fever too.  He missed the Primary Program.

By Sunday night, Michael was hot with a fever.  He missed the next few days of school. Lots of Cartoons and sleeping on the couch. (Not a great picture, but didn't want to miss him too!)

James was the only one that did not get sick.  I told him that all those hard workouts playing football must have boost his immune system.  We are grateful that there was no throwing up involved and lots of sleeping!  I was a little achy and sick a couple days but it was not too bad. I am just glad it was not over the holidays too, that is never fun. Let's cross our fingers this is the end for us!

Gross me out!

I have always loved Fall.  I remember being excited when I was little to come home from school and the halloween decorations were out.  We had this glass witch that my mom had made with crazy shaggy orange hair and a little hat on top. My mom would fill it with candy corns.  Do you still have that mom?  When Joshua and James were little I had decorated our whole house and was so proud of how "cute" it looked. I thought my boys would appreciate the cute Halloween decor like I had when I was little. One day Joshua broke the news to me though, "Mom, when are we going to get some REAL Halloween decorations...I wish you would decorate like so-and-so."  WHAT?!  "So-and-so" decorates with nasty, gory, bloody, dark, plastic decorations...you know what I am talking about.  A mask with blood dripping everywhere, a plastic door cover with some gory scene covering the door, and every gross decoration you can find at your local Halloween store.  That is what my boys wanted! 

Those type of decorations have always sicked me out.  Seriously, like make-me-lose-my-appetite-sick-me-out. (And not much makes me lose my appetite!)  Whenever I would go through a haunted house it would make me sick.  Even worse are the commercials at Halloween!  You don't even get any warning.  You could be watching some family-friendly show and then BAM...some sicko Halloween movie being advertised.

My Aunt Kathy hosted her family for a Halloween party last year and they all brought a Halloween treat to share.  It made for a GREAT blog post, but I have to say if I had attended I would not have been tempted to overeat one bit!  All those "Halloween" treats gross me out.  The only Halloween treats I like are things like cute little pumpkin sugar cookies.   Anything that is made to look like "blood" or any body part-forget about it. 

Here is some "happy" Halloween decor from last year...

 My kind of scary from over at 320 Sycamore...

Now brace yourselves for the next pictures if you have not had breakfast yet...we have nice "meat head" made with your favorite deli meat for a party, complete with olives for eyeballs. WHO WOULD EVEN TOUCH IT?

 We have some "bloody" fingers here...nasty.

 Here they teach you how to make earwax out of butterscotch and marshmallows.  I don't get it!  WHY? I think I will stick to my appleslices and caramel, thank you very much!



Hey, since I have trouble sticking to any diet...maybe I could have some success with this.  The gross-me-out-gory-Halloween-decorations diet.  I could decorate my whole house and then I would never be tempted to snack. Even better, my boys would LOVE it!  Hope you all are having a "cute" Halloween out there!

5th Grade Football Champions

 

James played football this year for the first time on the Sandcreek South Team.  He had a great experience.  Although he didn't always want to go to practice and missed a few family outings-in the end it was worth the hard work!  He did awesome on defense!  He made several interceptions and would just dive in to make a tackle! He really improved over the season. It was especially fun having a lot of friends on the team.  We were grateful he had such awesome coaches that led them to the championship!

Here he is on Kickoff...

Sophie showing her support in some cozy pajamas in team colors.

It was great to have the Garzas in town for the playoff game.  We were playing Eagle Rock and it was a nail-biter!  We ended up winning by ONE POINT in the LAST SECOND!  Chloe declared it was the best game EVER.  Not only was it exciting, it was chilly!  Here are Heidi and Chloe holding Anne and Sophie.  I wish I had gotten a picture of Holden and Nic...they were their number one fans cheering them all the way.
Here is Grandma and Ryan, and if you look close that is a puppy he has in his jacket!  (Did I say jacket?  I meant Lodi swim parka circa 1992, excuse me.)

I love this picture of the defensive coaches telling the boys to do their thing (or whatever they tell them in those huddles).

After winning against Eagle Rock they were on to the Championship against Madison (Rexberg).  The morning of the game we all met at the school and decorated our cars.  We then caravanned to the stadium with our music pumped up! 

Balloons were released into the sky when they made their first touchdown.

What time is it?  Knight time!

James hurt his knee cap a few games back, and the last tackle he did he had to get it re-wrapped.

The team all went out on the field after the game to get their trophies. Pretty sweet!

 

James always had lots of family support from his brothers and sisters...

James heads home after the big win with a smile on his face.  What a great first season!