Our newest addition

It's been a long time since I posted, and that has most to do with our newest addition, Gus. He has been such a joy to our family these past three weeks!

Bryon and I had 2 labs when we first got married. We adored our Maggie and Angus. In fact, to this day, one of the saddest days of my life was when Angus, our beautiful black lab, was run over on a busy road over a mile away from our home. We had just moved to our first house, and we think he was running back to our old house.

After Matthew was born, Maggie, our yellow lab, turned from being our baby to being our dog. She stayed outside most of the time and kept us awake barking at fire trucks and such. This was not a great characteristic for our dog to have considering the fact that Matthew did not sleep through the night until he was nearly a year old! Right around Matthew's first birthday, we found a farm for Maggie to live on. As much as we loved her, I will never forget the flooding relief we felt sending her away. I know that sounds terrible, but Matthew was an extremely active and demanding toddler, and he was about all I could handle at the time! I thought that the dog owning chapter was over in our family.

Fast forward 10 years...

Thomas has been begging for a dog for a few years. He suffers terribly from allergies, and was even wanting a poodle for a while since they were hypoallergenic. Since our kids are at such easy ages now, the "doggie door" began to crack open a bit in my brain. I started talking to friends about their dogs and picking their brains on whether they enjoyed owning a dog while maintaining a busy family life. This summer, we were in New Mexico with some friends and I brought up the dog issue to them. My friend suggested that I look at the dog that they had bought for their daughter the year before. A miniature Aussie. Our friends had had dogs their whole lives and couldn't speak more highly of the breed. She mentioned several things that were important to me: calm, gentle, intelligent, sweet with kids, a manageable size, rarely sheds, doesn't smell. After our trip, we let Thomas spend some time with our friends' dog. He quickly fell in love and we were thrilled to see no allergic reaction!

In August, I called the breeder of our friends' dog. She had just had puppies three weeks earlier. After much discussion, we decided that this was a great time for our family to acquire a dog, and we signed on! The breeder was fabulous and called, texted, and emailed me several times a week. We were so excited to finally get Gus, and the last week of September couldn't come quickly enough.

On the day that we were to meet in Abilene, I started off taking Thomas to school and surprised him by changing direction to head to pick up our puppy! He was so excited to spend the day with me and to be the first to see Gus. The past three weeks have been so much fun, although I do feel like I have a newborn again! I am not used to waking up in the middle of the night with a baby! ;)

Gus has been a dream puppy. He lets everyone hold him and his bobbed tail wags furiously when the kids are around. He loves to snuggle and stays right by me at all times. In fact, I took him up to the elementary school the other day while I was planting flowers. He sat next to me the entire time without a leash on despite the commotion with kids and cars everywhere. We love taking him for walks. Again, he hasn't used a leash yet, but doesn't leave my side.

We love our little Gus and are so proud that he is a member of our family!

Mary Beth absolutely adores Gus. She calls herself Gus's "Junior Mommy" and carries him everywhere. In fact, Bryon calls Gus Mary Beth's American Girl Dog, because she plays with him like he is her doll!

Goings on

Matthew has been playing tons of baseball. We have had 3 tournaments in the past 4 weeks! Baseball makes me a nervous wreck, but Matthew is in hog heaven. He was starting pitcher yesterday and after a few batters, he fielded the ball and jammed his middle finger. Today, it is bruised to the second knuckle, and he is scabbed up on all of his elbows and knees, but he wouldn't have it any other way! I, on the other hand, am looking forward to a three week baseball break! I absolutely love watching Matthew play all sports, but with the oppressive heat, it isn't easy spending the weekend outside.

Mary Beth and Thomas started soccer this weekend as well. Our fun filled/jam packed weekends have returned! What fun!

Both boys have poison ivy. Again. On Tuesday night, the boys went exploring behind our fence. There is a huge cow pasture and lots of irresistible boy things back there. On Thursday morning, I get a cell phone call from Thomas's school, and he is complaining about his itching. No sooner had I answered that call, but my home phone starts ringing, and it is Matthew calling from his school that he is miserable with poison ivy! So, I am literally talking on two phones having the same conversation with both boys at different campuses about this issue! After a cortisone shot per boy, we are on the road to recovery, but there is plenty of scratching still going on!

And in other exciting news, we are getting a puppy! I will tell that story later of how this all came about, but we have been researching the perfect dog for our family for years, and finally feel like it is time to go for it. Our sweet Thomas has been begging for a dog for years, and we feel it isn't right for a child to not have a childhood dog if that is his desire.

Meet Gus.
Gus is a miniature australian shepherd. He has all the beauty and athletic skills of an Aussie in a smaller package. He will be all of 12-13 inches tall and only about 20-25 pounds. After much research, we found our 3 week old puppy over a month ago, and continue getting pictures from our breeder. He will be 8 weeks old tomorrow, and we should be bringing him home in the next week or so. We are equal parts excited and nervous. It's been over 10 years since we have had a dog! The kids are at great ages for one, and we look forward to lots of fun with our new addition!

Mary Beth age 6

Mary Beth at 6:

*Her favorite colors are yellow, magenta, and red. She claims that she no longer likes pink. When I looked shocked and asked why, she said, "Mom, pink is for babies. I am not a baby. That's just how life goes."

*She is incredibly social, and doesn't seem to need alone time like the boys (and me!). She loves hanging out with me, all "her boys", extended family, Whitney, and younger sisters of Matthew's teammates.

*She still wants to be a nurse when she grows up.

*Mary Beth is very healthy. She didn't miss a day of school for being sick her entire kindergarten year. She has a tinge of asthma, which is exactly like Matthew's. No wheezing, just allergy induced congestion that she has a hard time getting rid of. Since she started her life with so many issues with her kidneys, we feel very blessed by her good health. Speaking of her kidneys, she has had no problems in a few years. We avoid ibuprophen and limit her soda intake, both of which are hard on kidneys, but other than that, she has no limitations. Her perfect blood pressure is also a good indicator that all is good inside our little girl.

*She is 46 pounds and 45 1/4" which puts her at nearly 50% for both height and weight. The doctor thinks she will be somewhere around 5'6" like me.

*All things princess have left her life. She loves Hello Kitty, Barbie, and American Girl things.

*Words I would use to describe her personality: spunky, feisty, sweet, loving, laid back, funny, talkative, obedient though sometimes sassy, joyful. She continues to be a very easy child to raise.

*She just wrote out a list of what she can do, and brought it home from school today. This is what she said:

I can skip.

I can rub my moms bac.

I can relax. (Followed by a picture of her laying down with the caption "Ah Ah").

I can love.

I can hug.

I can mop.

*One of the funniest things about Mary Beth is her mature taste buds. She loves (and has always loved) tomatoes, mushrooms, deviled eggs, raw and cooked clams and oysters, guacamole, sour cream, roasted red peppers, Thai and chinese food, and every vegetable she has grown in her garden. This is funny to me as she doesn't care as much for shepherd's pie, chicken soup, and square pizza (the one reason she did not want to go back to school!).

*She still can't ride a bike. ;)

*She is a terrible artist.

*She is a fabulous reader.

*She can quote tons of movies.

*She loves speaking in accents.

*She uses lots of "grown up" words, and loves talking with gestures. Very funny!

*She loves being silly and laughs all the time.

*One of her favorite activities is to sing and dance with her best friend, Whitney.

*She can be fearful of new situations. She was worried about starting 1st grade since she didn't know first grade things, and was nervous about piano lessons since she didn't know how to play piano.

*Her most commented on physical characteristic is her hair. Her long, blond, curly hair gets lots of compliments, and usually is followed by, "Is her hair naturally that curly?" On my nice days, I smile and say yes. On my sarcastic days, I smile and say yes, but inside I say, "No, we have our 6 year old's hair permed twice a year."

*She loves math.

*She wants to be called Mary Elizabeth, but only wants to write Mary on her papers. Mary Beth is a good compromise!

*She still can't sleep without her bibi that she still "Nanas" daily. I really need to get video of this as it is quite humorous. She is proud of herself for no longer asking to bring it to church or errands, but she is always happy to find it after school and bedtime.

We love our little sunshine to pieces and couldn't imagine life without her! What a fun 6 years it has been!

First week reflections and looking towards Fall

Here are three happy kids after the first day of school!

It's been a long week, but everyone seems to be on Cloud 9 after the first few days of school!

Matthew:

I am so happy for him right now. He is absolutely loving his new school and being with all his friends from other schools in the area. He loves the independence of having his own locker (with lock!) and 9 different teachers. His math teacher last year was less than ideal, so I am most pleased with the fact that he has a fantastic math teacher and Matthew is thrilled that he has a 6th grade math textbook and will essentially be skipping over most of 5th grade math.

Something that will be glaringly absent from our Fall schedule is soccer for Matthew. He loves soccer so much, but this fall, we made him decide between select baseball and soccer. It is getting so hard to chose between different loves, but we know that having three active kids makes doing it all rather impossible. He hasn't completely given up on soccer, as he loves it so, but for now, he's a base baller.

Matthew made his select team again, and decided to play baseball. He has never solely played baseball, so it will be good for him to get to focus only on baseball and not having to skip practices to play soccer games. He has spent the summer doing P90X and speed clinics. Bryon and I are amused that we have somehow produced a gym rat, as we are most decidedly NOT that way! Matthew has added tons of muscle this summer and he is pleased to say that he is much stronger than me! He also surpassed me in foot and arm size this summer and he keeps asking how long it will be until he is taller than me!

In other Matthew news, the tooth fairy visited him for the last time this week! As disgusting as I think losing teeth is, I am glad this chapter is closed! He does have to get his 2 top incisors extracted this fall as his adult ones erupted in front of the baby ones, but he is through losing teeth and enjoying grossing me out by wiggling them close to my face!

Thomas:

Our T-man is loving 3rd grade and feels so grown up changing classes. In our school, one third grade teacher in a block teaches language/reading and the other teaches math and science. He adores his teachers and has a huge smile on his face each day.

For the first time ever, I did not recognize a single boy's name on his class list. This was a little distressing to both Thomas and me. However, I am continually inspired by Thomas's optimism, and he looked at me after the reality that all his friends are in other classes and said, "Well, at least I don't have to worry about which friend to talk to in my class!" So far, he is doing fine without his friends, and is getting to know a few sweet girls in the class.

This fall, Thomas will play soccer and piano again. Nothing new. We love his soccer team so much and they are so much fun to watch. He also cannot wait to get started playing piano again!

Mary Beth:

Mary Beth, who decided this summer that she was going to stay home with me instead of go back to school since she "didn't know any 1st grade stuff", is loving life as a 1st grader! She has decided that she ADORES math, and her teacher told me that she continues to ask when they would get started with math problems! During her bath each night, she wants me to ask her math problems, and judges her school day by how many math problems she gets to do.

She seems much more independent these days, and loves to get her own snacks, pack her own school snack, and pack her own lunch. She is also loving her big class upstairs at church and even has church homework to be completed next week.

The biggest change for Mary Beth this year is that we have dropped ballet/tap. We try to only have the kids involved in two extracurricular activities, and with the introduction of piano, something had to give. Ballet/tap was so much fun when Mary Beth was in preschool, but we didn't enjoy it as much last year as it was just another activity right after school when we were all ready to be home. So, we say goodbye to the pink fluffy tutus, tights, leotards, and tap shoes/ballet slippers. She will start soccer again in a few weeks and is loving piano!

The beginning of school!

Well, Summer 2010 has officially come to an end, and the kids are back to school! I'm a little sleepy from my annual terrible night sleep before school starts, but wanted to get the pictures up.

Poor Mary Beth got is feeling a little allergenic this morning.

Here is my sweet 1st grader! Mary Beth was so excited to see that she was going to have the same teacher as both the boys. Her teacher met Mary Beth right after her 2nd birthday when we took Matthew to 1st grade. She got to spend lots of time with her when she was in preschool as well, when Thomas was in 1st grade, so we feel confident that she will have a great year!


Here is our 3rd grader! Thomas also has the same two teachers that Matthew had. This will be his first year to switch classes and to take the TAKS test! Thomas is so excited and can hardly wait to get started with the year!
And here is our 5th grader! This is the first year that we haven't taken Matthew to school. No parents allowed in the intermediate school, and even if they were, he just wanted to go to school with his friends in carpool. Matthew's intermediate school is brand new and is where three of the elementary schools in our district filter in to. He is excited to go to school with his friends from the other elementary schools. Many of these kids play baseball with him, and I feel confident that he will have a fabulous year!


Bryon and I took the little two to school today. Here is Mary Beth walking into school.

Getting the red carpet greeting from our principal.





"Bye, Daddy!"



Against all odds, Thomas and Allie have been in the same class together since kindergarten!

Pool Party!

I love this picture. Mary Beth ADORES having people sing Happy Birthday to her. She is looking at me while everyone is singing to her just as happy as a clam!

We celebrated Mary Beth's birthday on Sunday. It was most assuredly the hottest birthday on record. I guess if we were going to celebrate, it was a great day to be at the pool! Two years ago, her party was at the same place, and it was in the upper 70s. Strange weather.

What happens to buttercream after being outside in the 104 degree heat for a few minutes? You can see from this picture! ;) At least is tasted great!




Mary Beth with the aunties and Jack.

Sweet Lydia

Mary Beth and her bff, Whitney. On MB's actual birthday, people would wish her a Happy Birthday, and she quickly pointed out that it was her best friend's half birthday! Whitney will be 7 on Feb 12th.