The puppy

Yesterday afternoon as I was driving through the Super Target parking lot, I found a cute little puppy by the dumpster. Doing what any nice person would do, I picked him up and brought him to my house until I could A) find a home for him B) take him to a no-kill animal shelter. Anyone want a free puppy? Seriously, if you want him you can have him. He is sooo sweet. A little on the skinny side, but not sickly or anything. He loves the boys and trying to play with Lucy. I have no idea how old he is, definitely somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks though. He does great in the crate, and he only whined for 5-10 minutes last night when we put him in his crate for bed. The only thing about him is that he seems to be partially blind. Not sure if it is one eye that is totally blind, or if he is a little blind in both, but he runs into alot of things. He can definitely see some though because he follows the boys and me around and can get around mostly on his own. He is playful, but not annoyingly so. And he is cuddly too! I think because of the blind thing, he stays in the same room with us all the time. He will wander around the room, but he never just takes off wandering around the house. This might also be because he is in a new place and is a little scared still. He needs a great home with people who will love him and take good care of him.

I will try to post again if I find out more about him, like what breed he is or how big he may get. We can't have a puppy right now otherwise I would try to keep him. He already has me wrapped around his little paw.

He looks just like a mini-Lucy, it's crazy. He follows Lucy around everywhere, maybe he thinks so is his mom!

Puppy's first bath

Poor little guy! He was so scared he was shaking like crazy. We wrapped him up in a warm towel and gave him some good cuddle time to warm him up though. Ronnie thought it was so fun giving him a bath. He kept wanting to share his bath toys, but I insisted that puppies don't need toys in the bath tub like little boys do.

How does your garden grow?

Spring Break 2010

Day 1: have a picnic and feed the ducks at the lake

Can you believe how many ducks came over to eat our stale bread?

Day 2: the Dallas Zoo

We even rode the train for the first time.

(don't worry, no children were hurt in the taking of this picture)

Day 3: Northpark mall (to see the turtles and to slide on the sculptures), and a cookout with smores that night

Day 4: Stroller Skating

oh yes, you get to take your stroller onto the rink and push your kids while you skate

The boys LOVED it. At least they sat in the stroller and didn't ask for a snack for an hour... that's got to mean something. Ronnie tried to learn but decided he would rather sit in the stroller and be pushed. It turned out to be quite the workout!

Day 5: the Dallas Arboretum

And just when we thought Spring Break was over... Day 6: SNOW!

Ronnie made snow angels

Ethan was content to eat his banana on the porch

Ethanisms

Ethan: I love you, you are the best Mommy in the world!

Okay, just kidding. But I know he's thinking it :)

For real though, Ethan is starting to say lots of things. You probably need a discerning parental ear to understand most of it, but still, it's a start. Words he says so far... Mommy, Dada, Banana, Ball, he said Lucy once, and he tries to say pineapple. More than that though, he understands almost everything you say to him. He is starting to sign a few words too which helps him not get quite as frustrated at meal times. I'm sure it won't be too long before I have some real Ethanisms to post. The kid cracks me up already so I can't wait to hear what is going on inside that incredibly cute, little head of his.

Ronnisms

Ronnie: If Jesus comes to the door I can open it because he's not a stranger. Right mommy? We know who he is.

Ronnie (at the Chick-fil-a playground): Mommy, I want to go down the slide. Will you watch Ethan to make sure no one pushes him down?

Ronnie: Look Mommy, there's Ikea!!!

Maylin and Scotty

Many of you have been praying for my nephew Scotty over the past year. For those of you who don't know, he was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma cancer when he was just a few days old, and he started chemo when he was 6 months old. He is now almost 18 months old and he just competed his 13 round. Because of chemo and his high risk of infection, we have not been able to see him or his big sister, Maylin, in over a year. We have missed them so much! Ronnie and Maylin adore each other and they are such good friends so it has been hard to be away for so long. The good news though is that the latest tests are showing that the remaining tumors may be dead (that is not the official terminology but you get the point). Scotty is taking a break from treatment for 2 months and then will be retested to see if the tumors have changed at all. No change= he no longer has cancer and he is finished with treatment. Tumors grow again= he will have to start an even more aggressive treatment since his body is no longer responding to the old chemo. Please, please pray that the cancer will be gone!

You can read more about him and his fight against Neuroblastoma cancer at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyscotty

Since he is taking a break from chemo we were able to see him. We had so much fun with them, and the kids were in heaven. They were all going 100 mph every time they were together, they were just so excited to see each other. While they were here, we had to a make a little trip to the urgent care center where my sister, Julia, ended up meeting a fireman that invited the kids to tour the fire station. He had a couple of small kids of his own and he was really touched by Scotty's story, so he wanted to meet him and let him see the fire trucks. Ronnie loved seeing where the firemen ate and slept, although he fussed a little when I told him he couldn't spend the night there. Apparently he had already picked out which bed was going to be his! Thank you so much fireman Nick for your hospitality and for taking time to love on a sweet little boy. You have touched our family more than you know.

The big update

So not really the BIG update because there is really nothing big to update you on. However, I have lots of small updates and pictures to share that all add up to a big update. Here are a few pics to catch you up to speed since the last time I posted FOREVER AGO...

Ethan's first haircut

and his first lollipop... a sweet reward for sitting relatively still

Our first carrot at the garden... so what if it is a little dinky, it's ours!

My sweet little boy had a minor procedure at the beginning of the month. Here he is waiting to go back to the operating room. Poor thing couldn't eat for 12 hours before and his surgery was at 12:30 in the afternoon- he was starving! We just tried to keep him occupied and entertained so that he wouldn't think about it too much.

The big snowstorm

The boys had a ton of fun playing in the snow! Little did we know that we were about to lose power for the next four days, have a window broken by a branch that fell from the heavy snow, and that we would lose the majority of the food in both of our refrigerators. The funny thing was that we had already planned to go skiing that weekend, so we were driving out of town while it was pouring snow to go to a place with snow. Maybe I could add another verse to Alanis Morissette's song, isn't it ironic? Or not. At least the roads were wide open because no one else was crazy enough to be out driving in it!

About to hit the slopes... notice the lack of children with us. Yes, they were with their Grampy and Gramee. We had a blast!

So there you have it. Our month in a nutshell.