WITL 2018 - Tuesday

7:22am

So I broke out the big camera and took 128 photos because wow, DSLR photos are so much better and why don't I take them more! So here is a very photo heavy Tuesday. 

7:40 am - It is pretty common to find M and Moose having snuggles in the morning.  In the first photo, she is heading up for day time clothes and then she stops by again on the way down.  Their hair is almost the same color right now :)  Moose wasn't even part of our family during WITL last year, but you'll see a lot of him this time + it is his birthday week!

8:06am - E is way behind today as he got to sleep in.  He is staying home from school again today to give the anti-biotics time to work before returning to his class.

8:09am - M with presents for three helper teachers.  She is heading to the bus stop early to see Clara.  It is plenty warm today, but she is wearing her riding jacket so a younger girl from riding can recognize her. 

 8:12am - Brent would usually have been gone for an hour by now, but he had a dentist appointment nearby and got some extra time with us.  Both he and B are heading out the door.

8:14 - I love all the green and this image. I never would take a photo of this otherwise, but we are in the last weeks of M &  B riding the same bus.  Next fall, B will ride the middle school bus which departs and arrives and hour earlier. I think we'll all miss the kids being on the same schedule and at the same school.  Also, I'm going to just miss him being an elementary school kid. 

8:49am - I started work when B left.  However, I realized after awhile I hadn't seen E lately and thought I'd see how his chores were coming.... He had not gotten far, but was very cute, so I helped him get moving again. 

8:56 - E is cleaning toilets... slowly, I stopped by with some advice.

10:31am - usually B takes Moose for a walk in the morning, but he's been behind this week.  I often also take Moose for a walk around mid-day if my meetings alow.  It was great to have E along with us for the walk today--- albeit a bit slower with his help. 

 10:49 - Moose is adapting to the camera and smiling :)

11:53 - Lunch with E! Another grilled cheese for him and left overs + double phones for me!

 12:09pm - The rule of sick days is that you MUST take a nap no matter who you are.... I have doubts about if he slept, but we'll say he rested.

 3:49pm - This little pond/shady spot is near the bus stop and a cooler/prettier place to wait for the big kids.

 3:54pm - The kids are here! M walks Moose back and he enthusiastically jumps on hugs everyone.

 4:08pm - A photo of the garden before I harvested the chard and some brocolini.  The kids are doing poop pick up work too.

 5:15pm - B is working on his draft science report and bibiliography. A parent has to read, edit, and sign it... which too, awhile as I'm picky. He finished just in time for swim practice.

 6:06pm - E came with M to riding.  He sometimes goes to the Korenaks during riding, but given his strep diagnosis and Zane's impending surgery, we're going to wait a couple more days to visit.

6:34pm - M cantering on Jane.  She has made so much progress.

6:57pm - E likes to visit the petting zoo while M is riding.  The goats now have chickens in their pen.  He was sad that the mini ponies have moved to another area and also annoyed that the chickens don't want to be picked up.  Who would have guessed?

7:03pm - Riding is over and M is walking Jane out to the pasture. 

 7:31 - While we were at riding Brent picked up B from swim practice.  The lighting is weird, but dinner was SO good.  Brent grilled marinated salmon and we had watermelon and green beans too.

Brendan has a lot of skin issues this year.  Here he is putting ointment on his feet-- which are allergic to rubber and thus irritated by his fins.  He also has some weird issue under his knee.  It is a new part of our bedtime ritual. 

8:44pm -- yes, we are way behind on bedtime, but reading with B went long as did E eating dinner and everything else.  Kids reading in bed is very much our routine.  M& B get to read until 9.  He has since finished this book. 

8:20

8:44 - M is trying to finish all her school library books before the library closes on Friday so she is back to paper books for a bit.  These are from the "Dear America" series. 

9:34pm - Tuesday nights Brent plays video games online with his friends-- Usually, Gavin and Eric, but sometimes others. 

 9:51pm - Brent took some photos of me during my yoga - I practice pretty much daily and do whatever is scheduled on the Yoga with Adriene calender.  Tuesday was a rerun of TRUE day 14 "Listen." I had already finished my 8min arms (weights) circuit which I do whenever the yoga assigned is less than 30 minutes (last month I did it daily too, but it got to be a lot of time sometimes and muscles need to rest sometimes).

10:35pm - After yoga I attempted to assemble Moose's new crate.  His old one was really too small, but I may have gotten one a size too big? In any case, it required Brent and I as part of it got stuck and had to be pried loose.  Then we had to convince Moose to try it out--- Cheese is very persuasive.  He went in at bedtime again with no problems.


Not quite a standard day with E home sick, but fairly close and I'm glad to have photos of some of the basics of our days. 

Welcome Home- Moose!

So you know how they say "Never say Never"  --- yeah, that's where we are.  I've said for a long time no dogs or cats.  I have a multitude of reasons we'll skip, but today we brought home our dog Moose.

 Moose is an 11 week old Goldendoodle.  Today was his first time riding in a car, wearing a leash or collar, or leaving his litter mates.  He is handling it pretty well.  That said, he did vomit in the car, but that isn't even the first time that has happened in our car this week.

 He is aggressively loved.  The children had all but despaired of having a dog after my many "No" answers.  This summer though they managed to persuade me and they are over the moon.

 Come to find out, his original family named him Moose because he was the largest of his litter.  He is quite a bit larger than I was imagining an 11 week old puppy would be. For example, he is much larger than the dog Brent had as a kid fully grown.... and probably bigger than our youngest nephew and niece.

 The kids have the amazing benefit of daily contact and weekly visits with all of their immediate family so it was essential for them to talk to all their family and by video, if possible.

 Such a pretty dog. (For reference, my husband is 6ft 4...... He is seated here, but you get the scale issue).  His parents are 55lbs and 65lbs respectively so we "think" he will be in that range.  Although his current size suggests he could be larger.

 His face is adorable.

Brent and I are very concerned about doing a good job training him from the outset.  So we've been working on learning what we can and spent the ride to pick him up listening to dog training information. The kids listened too and read a dog training book for kids.  We have protocols for some basic things.... we'll see how it goes. It is going to require a lot of consistency and it is clear already that getting all five of us to consistently reinforce in the same way is going to be a challenge.

 Here they are.  Ready to raise a happy puppy and change their story.

I admit, I'm still a little terrified that this might be a horrible idea.  But I'm also delighted at how much joy and learning it is bringing our kids and how nice the companionship is already.  Moose has slept next to me while I type and if I move my feet away he snuggles closer so we're touching.  My, oh my, do I like snuggling.  

So, here we go, on to our next great adventure with a brand new buddy to snuggle and love along the way.  Welcome home, Moose!