Camouflaged

Well That was Crazy

Gracie has been doing better.  I feel like we are getting her on a schedule.  She's sleeping for longer periods at night.  Yesterday was crazy though.

Dan took Gracie geo-caching.  I got Frontline to put her on at her vet appointment on Wednesday.  I'm freaked out about ticks so we put that on her before he left.  Dan said she was restless while he was gone and then she was crazy all afternoon and evening.  She chirped (she sounds exactly like a bird when she cries) continuously even when she was in our laps.  She wouldn't nap and she seemed wired...like one of the kids when they'd had too much sugar.  I googled Frontline reactions and saw that it can cause depression, anxiety and aggression.  It takes 24 hours to absorb in so at 7:30 last night, Gracie got a bath to wash her neck.  It took a while for her to settle down, but once she did, she slept seven hours straight.  That's her longest run so far, but she had to have been exhausted because she only had one nap yesterday morning.  She's back to her calm normal self this morning.  I called the vet and they said that's not a normal reaction, but I'm going to think twice about putting it on her again.

Finally Found a Favorite Toy

It's Official

Yes, another post about my dog.  That's my life for right now so get used to it :).

I took Gracie to the vet today and it's official, she is the cutest puppy in the world.  Three other pet owners and 2 receptionists all said so, so it must be true.  How fun is that?!  She didn't like her shot very much, but she got a clean bill of health.  She was so calm.  I was impressed.  She stayed curled in my arms and fell asleep or maybe she was just playing possum.

She had a better day today.  No soiling in her crate and she only had one accident this morning.  I should probably blame myself for it.  I took her out.  After she peed, I grabbed her up, praised her and brought her in.  She went straight into the superyard where she pooped.  I should have given her longer outside.  I guess we both have a learning curve to overcome.

Night Three

Thank you for all the advice.  I'm taking it all to heart (well, except for the advice that her royal highness didn't give.  I ain't doing that and I don't use ain't lightly :p)

Gracie is getting much more comfortable with her crate.  She goes in quickly, sniffing for her treat, and settles quicker after crying.  We draped material over her crate last.  Dan downloaded a heartbeat/white noise app and I put a box fan in the hallway.  All those things combined made for a much better night.  Gracie passes out around six at night and Dan and I do everything we can to keep her awake until we go to bed.  We only managed nine last night.  I actually laid her next to Zac.  She raised her head to look at him, yawned and went right back to sleep with a sigh.  Zac was not thrilled.  I heard crying around 1ish.  Dan said it was closer to 2, but I didn't focus too closely on the clock.  I had planned to just calm her down, but in my drug induced stupor (have I mentioned my sinus infection?), I had her outside going potty before I remembered.  She went right back to sleep and slept till five, then six and I finally got her up at 6:30.

I feel like we are close to getting night times worked out.  Now for the potty training.  Can I just say praise the Lord for wood floors?

So Cute But...

She has a cry that's killing me.  She misses her brother, sisters and Mommy something awful.  We've had two long nights.  I'm really hoping night three is better.

Saturday Scavenger

I intend to participate every week...but life seems to get the better of me.  I'm wasting no time finding and posting pictures this week.  BTW Thelma, I like the star system.  My perfectionist, over achieving personality responds well to that sort of thing :)!

Your favourite footwear

Not very stylish, but they sure are cozy and warm.

An open door

I definitely think I should win with this one since not only is the picture of an open door, there's also the world's cutest puppy in the frame.

Something that changes shape

Who Likes Sleeping Through the Night?

Not our Graciedoodle.  Many of my friends told me puppies are like babies and they were right.  I went to bed at 9 last night.  I was up at 10:30, 12:00, 1:30ish, Dan got up at 4-something and then I got back up at 6:00.  We started our day about 6:30.  She sounded so sad with her crying and whimpering. I've done enough sleep training with the kids that I knew to not let her out of them crate when she was crying. (Dan on the other hand let her right out to lay on his chest last night - pushover) I sat on the floor outside the crate and rubbed her sweet little head through the bars.  It only took about 10-15 minutes each time to settle her down and get her back to sleep.  Holly told me she was sleeping through the night and it should only take about 3 days to get her back to that.  I sure am hoping she's right because I'm too old to be doing this long term.  I'm glad our fourth child turned out to be a furbaby instead of a real one!

Even though she kept me up a lot last night, I still think she's the cutest thing around! 

Gracie's Homecoming

What a fun day today turned out to be.  We left bright and early (tangent - the kids got up really really really early - darn daylight savings time) to drive to Nevada, Missouri.  It's a little tiny town with one McDonald's on the border between Missouri and Kansas.  Gracie and her breeder were already there waiting for us. 

We were so excited.  Gracie is the cutest, sweetest puppy.  She's tiny.  It was love at first sight for all of us.

Gracie sat between me and Jaelyn on the way home.  She went back and forth between our laps taking little cat naps.  She was a great car traveler.  I was worried since we have a 15 hour drive to get home at Christmas.

Once home, we set up her superyard.  I had many people telling me having a puppy was just like having a baby.  With babies and toddlers, the key to my sanity was containment.  We had gates, bouncy seats,  playpens, strollers, high chairs.  Our kids were never loose to get into trouble.  I'm following the same line of thinking with Gracie Mae.  She will live in her superyard and crate until she's potty trained and I can trust her not to chew. 

We introduced Zac to Gracie right away and neither was too interested in the other.  I'm sure eventually they'll be good friends.  For now, I'm happy Zac didn't get upset or be mean to her.

It's Gracie Day

Who Needs a Sunbeam!

Not Zac.  He has his favorite heater vent instead.

Unbelievable

It's November 3rd.  The forecast for this morning was cold and rainy.  The forecast was mostly right. It left out the part about snow mixed in with the rain.  These weren't huge flakes.  They weren't pretty flakes.  They weren't sticky flakes.  But make no mistake, they were snowflakes! 

A Room Divided...Further

One of the reasons for our Springfield trip on Friday was the purchase of a second pink room divider.  We hinged the two together and ta-da...the girls have a great divided space that we can open up if we want to.  The best part is the second divider was clearanced about $20 cheaper than the first.  The difference covered our gas money :).  We had been considered an Ikea bookshelf, but I'm happier with this solution.  We don't have the storage, but we really didn't need it.  This will be easier to store or use in another house in two years.  It's sad, but with our transient life, you have to think about those things.

Dan's Find is My Gain

I'm not quite sure why Dan opened the drawer he opened or looked in my old envelope wallet, but he did and I'm so thrilled.  It's fun to find a dollar or two in a pocket.  Once in a blue money, maybe you'll discover twenty, but I was shocked when Dan showed me this. 

Eighty three dollars!

I have no idea where it came from, why I stuck it where I did or how long it's been in this envelope.  The packers probably packed it with all the money in it.  I should probably do something fun with the money, but most likely it'll go towards groceries or maybe a Christmas present or three (it's almost that time).

Our Night as Halloween Scrooges

Have I mentioned that I absolutely hate Halloween?  It's not my fault.  I inherited it from my mom.  She'd have to tell you why she hates it, but I'd guess it is the sugar and candy.  She was a dental hygenist when I was little and I can remember one year that she passed out toothbrushes and small tubes of toothpaste.  I can only imagine how popular our house was.  Most of my memories of Halloween are of going out to dinner and getting $20 to spend at Target.  $20 in the 70s was a lot of money.

I hate the evilness and spookiness of Halloween.  It seems like the decorations get worse with every passing year.  Thankfully, we had none of the scary stuff around us this year.  I also hate the pounds and pounds of candy.  Does anyone really need that much sugar?  It's bad for their teeth and their attitudes.  We have enough attitude issues without the extra sugar and artificial food coloring. We also teach our kids to not talk to strangers and then one night a year, we let them knock on door and have strangers give them candy???  Seriously!  Where's the logic there?

We have chosen to follow my family's tradition.  We let the kids dress up if they want or not if they don't want and we go out to dinner.  We drove to Rolla (so we'd get home later) and ate at Colton's Steakhouse.  It was pretty good.  The kids all really enjoyed it.  Allie is branching out and ate sirloin tips. The yeast rolls were better than Longhorn.  The steaks and salads were close.  They are building a Colton's right outside the gate; so I'm sure it'll be some place we'll eat at again.

Next instead of buying costumes, I gave the kids the money and they bought new toys at Walmart.  New toys are always fun and will last the whole year through.  I should back up and tell you I do offer a new costume and trick-or-treating, but if they choose that, they get one piece of candy and the rest goes in the garbage.  I think they picked trick-or-treating once in Maryland.

We wrapped up our evening at A Slice of Pie.  It's a little whole in the wall place next to a late night laundrymat.  Dan ordered a whole piece of pie and the kids and I ordered half pieces.  Dan's piece was 1/3 of a pie (no lie).  Ours were huge at 1/6.  The homemade cherry pie was divine.  If you are ever near Rolla, MO, you should stop and have a slice!

And parents...if you do choose to trick-or-treat, a porch with the light off means no candy.  Don't let your kids ring the doorbell at 8:45.  Two little girls got a lecture from me last night.  I hope they don't come back and egg my house tonight.

The Hat Parade

I am so glad we made hats and participated in the Hat Parade.  It was a big deal.  I bet 75% of the kids had hats.  The parade marched around and around the halls.  Some kids (and parents) were very creative.  Others slapped "safety" on a bicycle helmet and called it finished.

Jaelyn's class was walking too fast.  All my pictures of her are either blurry or her head is down or purposely looking the other way.

My favorite hat of the day was worn by one of Caden's friends.  His word was "Humongous."  I'm not quite sure how he kept it on his head!

They had an award ceremony at the end of the day.  Jaelyn and I won!  I know, I know, it was "her" hat, but I put a lot of thought and effort into it.  She won a $15 Walmart gift card for the most unusual word.  I loved hearing her teach the grown-ups her to pronounce lepidopterophobia.  It was awesome.

Hat Day

Monday is hat day at school.  I ignored the flyer to begin with, but after talking with some PTA moms, I realized this is a big deal and we had to participate.  Our project was to pick a new vocabulary word and display it on a hat.  So...did we do a good job???  Can you tell me what scarehead, scrutator and lepidopterophobia mean???  There will a hat parade on Monday with prizes being awarded in the afternoon.

If It's Good Enough for Jaelyn

I wanted a bed for Gracie's crate, but they are so expensive.  I didn't want to spend that kind of money until she's older and we know what size or type she likes.  For now, I bought an eight dollar egg crate for a bed and a seven dollar fleece throw (someone told me dogs love to snuggle down in fleece).  I cut the egg crate to size and sewed the blanket into a removable cover.  Jaelyn says it's very soft and snugglie.  I think Gracie Mae will love it.

 In just a week or so, we'll have a puppy!

Report Cards and School Stuff

Moving to a new school has been an adjustment for all of us.  I had a lot of concerns at the beginning of the year.  I wasn't sure about the teachers or class sizes or curriculum.  I started volunteering in September.  I'm at school two days a week and work in each childs' classroom for a couple of hours.  It's given me a chance to get to know the administration, the teachers, the students and I must admit, I'm really happy with our school.  It's tiny.  There are only 14 classrooms total. 

Jaelyn's teacher has given me a book club reading group.  We'll finish our first book next week and then the kids and I will pick our next book.  It's exciting for me.  I'm finally using my education, but on my terms.  I never want to teach in a classroom setting again, but I love the one on one and small group time.  It reminds me of my tutoring days when I was in college. 

Allie's teacher has me come in during center time.  I do something different with the kids every time I'm there.  I also get to work with all the kids in her class.  Allie has struggled the most with making friends.  I feel like I have more insight into helping her navigate the social issues of school. 

To begin with, Caden didn't want me working in his class because he gets too sad when I have to leave.  I talked to his teacher and we decided I'd come in the afternoon and help till he goes to free play at the end of the day.  He's having no trouble when I leave which makes me happy.  The tears have always been so hard for me to handle.  Caden's teacher usually has me helping one on one with her kids.  I understand why Caden used to come home unhappy, telling me how mean his teacher is, but his class is so bad, if I were his teacher, I'd be yelling everyday too.  That said, his class is really cool.  His teacher has gestures and sayings for everything she teachers them.  I really like some of the things she does.  Her students may not follow the rules, but they sure can tell them to you :).  About six of the kids (Caden included) have gold bars on their desks.  They are the "good kids."  Thankfully, when the bad ones are in the trouble, she rewards the good ones for their behavior.  The goal is for everyone to have earned a gold bar by the end of the year, but I truthfully don't see that happening with a few of the kids.

I really like the curriculum at our school.  I hated the math curriculum at Emmorton.  English was non-existent.  They took a more whole language approach.  My kids could write sentences, but they didn't know the difference between a noun or a verb.  It's so nice to finally see them learning those things.

Report cards and parent conferences were Thursday night.  They have the students lead the conferences here.  I liked that the kids explained what they've learned and showed us how well they had learned it.  The teachers were there to answer questions, but they did a good job of standing back and letting the kids be responsible. I'm thrilled with the report cards.  Jaelyn made As and 1 B in Language Arts (did a mention all this "English" stuff is new to her).  Allie had As and Bs in reading and Math.  Caden had Ms for mastered with a S for satisfactory in Spelling.  This is the first year Caden has had spelling tests.  He also started out the year hardly able to write.  His writing has improved drastically.  Not only is he writing more and writing quickly, he's making his letters correctly so you can read what he's written.  Anyway, I said all that to explain his B (when he could verbally spell the words).  I expect to see all Ms from him next quarter.

Yesterday was a vacation day so I took the kids to Springfield to Chick-Fil-A to celebrate their good reports.  I'm not sure I believe in paying kids for good grades, but they've worked so hard.  I wanted to reward them and more importantly, have them motivated for the hundred and sixty mile drive, so I paid them $1 for every A or M on their report card.  We had a really fun day shopping and eating (can you say CFA, Krispy Creme and Chipotle???) with a minimal amount of whining about the car ride.

A Room Divided

Do your kids like each other?  Mine don't really.  They play okay some of the time, but the rest, they fight.  It's no fun.  The girls have always shared a room.  Jaelyn does not like sharing with Allie, but she also doesn't want to be alone at night.  I can't tell you how many times I've threatened to play musical rooms, but I haven't followed through because three rooms of furniture is a lot to move by myself and Jaelyn would just whine and cry at night.  I've been looking for a divider to break their room into two seperate spaces so they could be together but apart.  If we had an Ikea close, I know exactly what I'd buy (if only my crystal ball had been working before we moved).  Anyway, I finally struck gold yesterday.  I drove to Rolla (30 miles) to a bookstore.  Lost in the Woods Missouri doesn't have one and our library is closed for the next month for new carpet.  While I was there, I did a little wandering.  I discovered the JC Penneys that I thought was a home store is actually a clothing store.  Yea.  I also stopped by Big Lots and I was thrilled when I saw this pink 3 panel room divider clearanced!  Score!

The view from Allie's bed

The view from Jaelyn's bed

I secured it to the wall, but I'm also going to make little feet to give it more stability.  This morning I called a Big Lots in Springfield and found another one clearanced.  They are holding it for me till Friday.  When I hinge the two together, we should have the perfect divided space!  The kids are out of school so we are taking a road trip whether they like it or not.  I'm sure the promise of Chick-Fil-A and Toys R Us will help win them over to the idea!