Easter 2011

Was everyone else's Easter weekend Super Busy?  And overflowing with sunshine, family and memories?

Turning hard-boiled eggs, the BRIGHTEST of colors;

Or with Daily hunts; 

Full of smiles and candy;  

LOVE;

Plastic Eggs;

Easter baskets;

BUNNIES;

Cousins;

Pointers for the most  unsuccessful egg hunts;

And most importantly, Family from Friday morning to Sunday night!

Ours WAS! And it was absolutely FANTASTIC!

Weekend Wonderful

This weekend started with some loving from Scout. Happy kids. Happy Scout. Oh ya, did I forget to mention that JJ and Grandpa Dan were here. That, too.

Saturday morning the girls, myself and JJ did the 5k stroll around downtown La Grande, the local weekend event. We enjoyed lunch out, shopping, and the sunshine.

Fitzgerald Flowers gave my girls carnations and that made their day. Beautiful. Just as I would expect, MaKenna picked pink. Morgann, yellow.

Tired girls.

One last parting shot before our final good bye on Sunday morning. This was a great weekend. The girls had fun. And if you look close enough you can see the goggle lines on Mason's face. The boys had fun, too. 13 inches of powder, sunshine and good lodge food. What's not to enjoy about that?

MaKenna's Turn

MaKenna was so excited for her turn. For us to miss her, instead of us missing Mason. She had her bags packed the night before, all by herself!

When I asked her, "who are you the most excited to see-- JJ, Grandpa, or Scout?" She responded, minus any hesitation, "SCOUTY POUTY!!" One of the first things we did was go find him on the farm. He jumped out of the truck, ran the drive way with us and then plopped himself in this puddle.

Morgann found a fascination with the puddles, too.

I turned my head as she got really muddy. Because those were the only shoes we brought. I could not stop her fun though.

I couldn't stop it because she would have yelled at me, "NO NO NO NO!" In seriously, the cutest voice you've ever heard. She looked up long enough to yell, "COW" here and there but otherwise kept herself happily in the mud.

After a great dinner and a quick hot tub the weekend was over. They go too fast and I feel as though I spend the majority of my time on I-84 in the slow lane. But they are so worth it. My KIDS are loving the farm-life, from afar.

Full

It's going to be a full house this weekend. JJ, Dandaddy & Scout are here to spend the Halloween weekend with us. In other exciting family news, my sister got engaged! Yay for her and Bill. Let the Wedding Planning begin!

Our Hood is Good.

It happens almost nightly. We take a leisurely walk around our neighborhood. After work, soccer games, spin classes, runs, dinner and bathes, after all the chaos from the day melts away. The six of us, if hubby is home and it's our week with Scout, stroll away. Through the old southside blocks of La Grande, we call our hood. When the temperatures creep up it feels especially good outside in the late evening. We go up and down the streets, enjoying each others company.

The girls in their buggy.

Mason on wheels of some sort.

Scout taking breaks as needed.

We get home,

And the kids brush their teeth.

Then hurry off to dreamland.

In their pink,

And blue rooms.

These 2 Are Still Surviving.

Missing Someone

I shared back here that he had three legs, but failed to share what happened. Long story short: he attempted to jump through an industrial size metal fan. Probably not the smartest idea but we're told that more than likely he could not see the fan moving. And happily his nose only got nicked and he only lost a leg. I'm serious, happily. We still don't know what he was going after, but I am sure it was something good, perhaps a mouse.

And maybe I should remind everyone that well, he isn't technically my dog. Even if according to my mom he' s mine. But if you asked my dad, it's HIS DOG! Don't worry I gave him up prior to the big accident. In fact after the accident I thought maybe I should take him home. Only to realize that this dog is SOOOO not mine and ever since day one, he was really Dandaddy's and they're pals. Like real pals, who have seen each other through a lot of rough times.

So, putting all of his not the smartest moments aside this dog is adapting like a genius. The vet said he'd do that. I questioned it, but he really is. Having only three legs isn't really slowing him down. It's making him think a little bit more. And I have first hand knowledge since I've been dog sitting. I thought hey, E is gone, why not take the dog back to his old stomping grounds. My hands are full, but what is one more person, oh right, dog.

And He ended up sleeping in my bed, which is a real NO NO (according to hubby)! But you knew that. What you don't know is that at first he LOVED getting into my bed. But HATED getting out in the middle of the night to go outside. He'd slip and stumble on the wood floors, you try it. It's slick and he doesn't have two legs in front to catch himself. So after the first night I showed him I could help him off the bed in the morning. So he wouldn't fall.

I think he kind of liked that and every morning after that he's barked a few times until I come and help him. Then he started getting into the bed after his nightly outing. I told you he's genius. And after getting assisted off the wood pile twice, he has quit climbing up it all together. If only everyone in this household could pick up on things so quickly.

Kicked Out

*Picture taken at 2:12 AM, after Morgann's nightly bottle.

**Published at 2:46 AM, while Scout was out taking care of his business.

The First Two Hours Home

I felt like it all went entirely too smoothly. And I was right. As soon as I got home the chaos began. It's been tradition that Scout escapes each arrival only to run over to the neighbors for a quick chase of their cat. Apparently he was not locked securely in the home while I was unloading the car and off he went. Hobbling, still faster then I could run.

After a block of chasing him, I remembered the children. At home. Oh SHIT! So I ran home. Good thing because MaKenna found the same escape route the dog did, the front door. If you know my home, the front area is a scary place for wobbly walkers. It's stairs and hills. I found the little toddler smiling pretty in the middle of the lawn. Almost to the hill and past the concrete stairs she does not normally go down.

I snatched her up and decided to hell with the dog. The kids are more important. And my heart was being pulled in two directions so I looked one more time through the very back gate. And there he was. My protection for the next three weeks. Giving me the look of, where do I stand? Weren't you at least going to come and find me.

Deep breathes I thought to myself. I got him and my other limbs. Let's get out of this house. As if we haven't been gone long enough, but I seriously needed to get some exercise and relieve some minor stress from that entire happening.

I loaded the girls in the double decker, Mason got on his new Giant bike (it's a 16 incher) and Scout got the rope attached to his Christmas collar. Yes, rope. I made sure to grab a glove for my right hand so there aren't anymore rope burns. The dog gets more attention than I did when I lived there. So I am not quite sure what's up with the collar and so called leash.

The first block of our walk took us past some neighbor kids playing football in the street. Whom yelled at us, that's a cool dog. And then laughed. I knew I was having issues, but for 8 year olds to laugh it must have been hilarious.

We went for a total of maybe 10 blocks. My right arm was yanked out of socket while my left hand became sore from steering the girls' cart. Mason rode his bike. The only part of our walk that worked, kind of. He failed to look for cars. Tomorrow night we'll be going straight to the track and going there until I figure out the dog and kid walking thing.

Reflections

Grandpa Dan + Scouty= Love at First Sight


So this dog, Scout, is in a much doggier place. Instead of eating IAMS, he gets eggs. He gets to go to the ocean, just for the day. Frequently he is taken to Marrimore Dog Park to play, despite the traffic jam drive. He runs and hunts for mice on over 300 acres of farm. He chills inside when the previous doesn't sound fun, not in the stairwell. He hangs out in cars, begging for a ride, until finally someone takes him. Scout is living the doggie high life. Happily.

Protected

Scout spent his weekend protecting this party of five plus Grandpa Dan from people like the mailman and Uncle Alex. La Grande's scariest, right?

The kids spent their weekend going on bike rides, working on the downstairs and grinning from ear to ear with delight because we had special guests.


And next weekend we have extra special guests coming from Alaska.