One Happy Dog Speaks

Today, I surprised the boys. I let them get ready for school, and then as we were driving to the bus stop, I threw back their swim suits and told them we were going to the beach. They were scared that the police would come looking for them. I told them the school knew they were playing hooky and that I would be with them the whole time. We had a blast. The beach, taking Champ to the vet, to McDs, to the Wildlife center, and then to the donut shop. Which was closed and we had to go find the nearest Dunkins! I really enjoyed the time with the boys. I think all of us needed it.

So I will put out a photo I took when visiting the in-laws… we went to a park… the youngest got into a stinging nettles bush… so I went with the youngest to get it taken care of… only to discover they didn’t have a first aid kit or anything to help at the front office… sigh… My hubby and his family with our oldest went on a trail. The youngest and I decided to go in the other direction to meet them… and this is what I found and took a picture:

My sister’s daughter has two kids. Those are my mom’s Great Grandchildren. But my boys are her Grandchildren. When we get together at Christmas it is always funny to think about how our ages worked out with children. Here is my youngest helping his first cousin once-removed, who is the oldest of the kids… He was helping her with Scribblenauts. Great Game by the way.

And here is my youngest talking to his first cousin once-removed about cherry coke…

It was a great day. I am so glad we made it up there for the holidays.

My sister was able to get a great picture of the boys opening their gifts… she sent it to me yesterday and I have to share it!

Even though they know the truth about Santa, the amazement and joy they have when they get gifts… makes Christmas feel wonderful. It is nice to talk to them about the joy of giving and then see the happiness on receiving. Hard to believe how old they are getting … yet, the fact that they love to give and are so happy to receive… makes it worth it!

What a busy Christmas time! We went to my mom’s and I was busy busy busy. The morning of Christmas the boys opened their gifts. My oldest was sitting next to my dad’s picture… it amazed me how much they looked alike. Not sure it shows as well in this photo but there is definitely family resemblance!

And the youngest was soooo excited when he got some legos he wanted!

The funniest thing… Champ loved the boxes. And my mom, Mamaw, commented on how the young kids (furry or human) always seemed to like the boxes stuff came in as much as the gift itself!

I forgot my camera at home so had to use my phone. Not the best pictures but at least something to have some memories!

Wow. I can’t believe my mom is gone. I miss her. I see the dishes and think of her. I see the laundry and think of her. Ha ha ha ha. She was a great help around the house. I miss her more because I got to really talk to her and run around with her. Something that doesn’t usually happen when we visit during the holidays. I even gained 2 pounds! Loved the great eating! And then all of that hit me square in the face when I realized this Friday is … Black Friday. Ugh.

Last two years, I actually went out on Black Friday. This year. I don’t think I will do it. We can order stuff. Well, not the guitar. My youngest still wants a guitar. Then there is the best dr strings at Musicians friend. If you have a guitar you need extra strings. Take a look at previous posts and you know my family is now a musical family. The oldest with a drum set, the youngest with piano and trumpet. You will also see in previous posts that the youngest has asked for a guitar for almost 6 months now. If I can just hold him off til summer. I don’t see how we can fit one more instrument in our schedule right now!

The youngest really wants legos as well. You can ask my mom… we do NOT need legos. But he loves to put together the sets. The oldest… doesn’t know what he wants. Which is hard. I know he wants more video games but can’t have the ones he would really like. We do limit them to which games they can have. As it is, I had to take Safari and Google off their iPads. He would go watch videos of the games and then freak out on me. Let’s stay away from Halo a while longer. I’ll keep listening and try to hear what he may want that we can buy… wish me luck!

Last night I got 8 hours sleep. After a week of hardly any sleep, life gave me a good turn and I got 8 hours last night. Just in time for my mom to be getting here in a couple of days. In fact, I was looking through some old photos this week and found this one:

Brings back memories.

I get to go help the kids in 5th grade today. It’s a first. They have set up a town. There is a major, health inspectors, mc donalds, publix grocery store and more. I don’t know what I’m doing yet … other than I have been assigned to the Public store. I am to get trained at 8am. Wish me luck. Oh and I found out it is going to take ALL day. Hence, no time to finish cleaning my mom’s room. Two days left and no time! Egads!

School days, school days
Dear old golden rule days
Readin’ and ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hickory stick…

There is a lot more to that song… but most everyone seems to remember that piece. Today is the first day of school for my boys. Been a rather busy weekend and today is no exception. Let’s hope the routine kicks in and we all relax more!

The words in bold are his vocabulary words…

The Dog

One day a dog named Sam had huge potential that he would be bought. But at an annual sale, Melinda bought Carl, the cat. The next year I thought Christy was rummaging for me, but she really bought Ryan, the fish. So the next month I used my puppy eyes but Lisa bought Sara, the hamster in a package deal. Then I figured out why no one would buy me, I was to expensive. But I actually saw Helen walking toward me. Helen politely asked if she could keep me and the shop owner said “yes.” When she opened the door to the vestibule I darted to her room.