A New Fish in Town . . .

About a month and a half ago our beloved fish Jelly Bean "bought the pond."  It happened right before we left on our trip to California so the timing was nice.  I didn't have to ask a neighbor to watch the fish while we were gone.
I assured the boys we would get a new fish when we returned.  They knew exactly what kind they wanted but I prolonged the purchase until school started and called the new fish our school mascot. 

 So...please welcome... our new fish... Fruit Loop!
Do you see him in the top picture?

He's a Blue Moon Beta, or something like that.

I've discovered that Beta fish have a slim on their skin and it makes the water dirty faster than a good old Goldfish. And one extra note, this fish is a one gill wonder.  Only one of his gills opens and closes.  He seems to be fine with it though.  It doesn't slow him down one bit.

Free Jelly Bean...

Either we have a bad case of cabin fever or maybe we've just watched Finding Nemo too many times.  (once is plenty, personally)  Last night I was looking at Jelly Bean, the gold fish, and thinking about how long he's been swimming around in the little fish bowl.  It's somewhere around 3 years.  So, I mentioned to the boys that maybe we should let Jelly Bean stretch his fins in the bath tub sometime.  They loved that idea!

In transit...

 He spent a good hour swimming around the tub.  Now I'm thinking it's cruel to put him back in his bowl.  Yep, cabin fever.  Time to get out and do some hiking.

Lovin' the Snow...

It's been snowing for a few days now and we have a good amount to enjoy. 

 I love the snow and my boys love the snow, although we appreciate it in different ways. 

Here's a video of the boys sledding next to our house.

Little Daisy dog likes the snow too.

 Our super moist snow clumps onto her legs and she has to wait in the entryway.

She hates having her picture taken.

Jelly Bean...

That's the name of our amazing goldfish.  Jelly Bean. 

 This fish is amazing because it has lived for over 2 1/2 years in this bowl.  

 Some days are better than others.  Occasionally he floats on his side and gives us all a scare thinking he may be ready to draw his last breath.  Other days he has problems with his buoyancy and can't do anything but float to the top.  This is actually kinda funny because he'll work hard to swim down and then take a break and up he floats. 

The boys think this fish has set a world record for living and they're convinced he should be in the Guinness Book of World Records.

It's School time...

A homeschooler's first day back to school can look a bit different than a traditional student's first day back but really, we're all trying to accomplish the same thing.
I take things slow and make the most of the nice weather.  My goal is to get all of us back on the same morning routine and introduce this year's curriculum a little bit each day for the first 2 weeks.  That's about it.  After that we should be up and running at full speed.

We went to the park for recess.

For this reason, I have dogs.

When it Rains it Pours...

Looking out my back porch.

Yesterday was one of those days.
It started out pleasant enough and I had consumed most of my coffee before the days events started compounding on each other like a line of dominoes set in motion.

First I heard the sound of a dog heaving.  I ran to get her outside and thought I had gotten by with just a small bit of dog barf on the tile floor.  Oh, how wrong I was.  So very, very wrong.  She had come from my bedroom so I went in to inspect.  She had hit the big 8'x10' rug we use on the wood floor.  It stretches under our bed and about 2 feet all around it.  Ya know, so we can step on something soft in the morning and not a cold, wood floor.

Then I checked under the bed.  That's when I knew this rug was a goner.  She had emptied the entire contents of her stomach multiple times under there.  All I could do was get to work rolling up this huge rug from under our bed and get it outside.

I spent the next hour washing the wood floor and washing the bedding too, including the bed skirt.  It didn't get hit but I was so grossed out I was going to clean everything!   And I did.  I eventually got the whole bedroom put back together.

Now the other dog we have is a little mini Schnauzer and she has had a bad skin irritation on her back all weekend.  It's driving her crazy!  She had it about a month ago and we had to get some antibiotics for her and it cleared up, we thought. We waited it out over the weekend to see if she would get any better but she just got worse and would hardly come out of her bed.  When she did all she could do was whip her head around and try to bite her back.

She doesn't have fleas or anything like that just super sensitive skin.  It's partially genetic to the bread and could also be allergies to the area. So I called the vet and made an appointment for her at the end of the day. 

It's now1:00pm and I'm about to get the boys in the van so we can do a few errands.  As I go to put the mini Schnauzer in her kennel, which is in my bedroom, I see a big wet spot on the floor.  I actually felt it first, I accidentally put my hand in it!  Ewwww!  That's just how this day is going.  It's a fairly clear puddle and I think "why did my dog pee on the floor?"  But that's not what it is.  It's a stream of water stomach barf that is coming from UNDER MY BED.  Some how the big dog got under there AGAIN and emptied what little was left in her stomach.

So cursing up a storm in German and throwing in a couple English "bloody hells"  I set off to clean up again.  Finally, we go on the errands ~ we get back in time to put the groceries away and get the little dog to the vet.  Out we go again right on time ~ this time.

I pull up to the Vet building to find it is under construction and the waiting room has shrunk to a 1/3 its normal size.  I can see right way my 3 boys are not going to do well in this space.  I send them back to the car with my keys so they can listen to "Hank the Cowdog."  Yes, I feel safe doing this.

Forty five minutes later I've got an arsenal of meds and anti itch stuff for my dog.  I'm checking out and one of my boys runs in saying the little one has a bloody nose.  I grab some tissue, hand it to him and tell him to go take care of it.  Little one's nose bleeds are fairly common so I'm not even phased.

My arsenal of meds for the dogs itchy back.

I pay the bill, grab the bag of medication and head out to the car.  I'm tired, wore out, and defeated by the day.  Time to go home.

Ummmm, nope.  45 minutes of Hank the Cowdog has caused a dead battery.  We're stuck.  It's time to cry and I have to pee.  This is one of those events that happens when you say to yourself "could this day get any worse?" 

Thankfully, Papa is on his way home from work and can head over to give the van a jump.  Yay for cell phones.
It's 6:30pm now, I home, hungry and done with this day.

Thank goodness tomorrow is a new one.

Bristol & Daisy

A rare sunny day today got us outside to the local dog park.  

A tired dog is happy dog.

 

Making friends.

Getting a closer look... again.

A wee little dog to hold.

Update...

It's been a full week since the Professor fell off a slide and broke his collar bone.  Today, we went back to the doctor and had another x-ray.  The bones have "telescoped" the doctor says and we need to see a bone specialist.  This means that instead of the bones lining up on their own and growing back together they have slipped past each other.
So, I'm a bit stressed out.  I'm not a happy camper.  Thankfully my guy is not in pain and he is doing well other wise.
Friday, we will see the specialist and he will give us his opinion of the best course of treatment.  The doctor today said our two options are probably going to be surgery with pins to hold it in place and he added that would leave a scar or an uneven collar bone.
Ummm, not happy with either one especially the uneven collar bone option!  So, I'm grumpy and my laundry is piling up and the dogs are not being exercised and school is not getting done and I have a cold to top it off.

Yay, we are playing outside...

The boys are making up for lost time playing outside.  Smiling, laughing, working together.  This is kinda of a big deal since I've had grumpy boys for awhile.

9 Days until Christmas

Little one says, "Mom, does God stand on the clouds?"
"Hmmmmm," I say.  "I'm not really sure."
"Well," says little one, "when I'm in heaven I'll call you and let you know... ya know, if they have phones."

This morning the kids are watching our local animal shelter program on TV called "Pet Watch."  They show the cats and dogs that need adopting.  I'm explaining to the boys that when they are 12 they can volunteer at the shelter and help out feeding or playing with the pets. 
Then my 10 year old says, "I could bring my children there."
"Hhhuuu?" I say  "Twelve is only in two years, you won't have children then, right?"
"Right." he says.

Twelve must seem so old to a 10 year old.

What is sweet is that the boys do want to be daddy's someday and I hope that's because they think so fondly of their own Papa.  But they've had the speech about getting a good job so you can have a house and food to eat so many times that they now give it to each other.

This is the new kitten at our piano teacher's house.  It's so fun to visit each week.  Puppies, kittens, legos.  I  never have to convince anyone to get ready to go to piano lessons. 

Bristol

 Bristol is about 9 months old now and loves to be outside. 

 She wanders too far sometimes so we baby gate the porch to keep her close.

She loves to watch for squirrels although her Breed is Brittany and they are bird dogs. She has learned about being a squirrel dog from our mini schnauzer Daisy.