No Place She'd Rather Be

Eric was here first.  Tonks plopped down and promptly fell asleep.

Tonksie The Good Sport

Our poor dog puts up with a lot.

She has to wear the stupid rain jackets I put on her.

 She has the kids constantly trying to make her look silly,

and she is so little she is constantly being used as a prop.

Preschool Highlights

We've been blessed with a very active preschool both last year and this year. Here are a few highlights from the last few months:

Pet week.  We got to bring Tonks into the actual classroom.  Tonks almost wiggled herself to death in pure joy.

National Waffle Day (?) I got to come in and help the kids make waffles.  Although we had mix and milk we didn't have the oil or eggs that the mix calls for.  Missing a few key ingredients didn't stop us from trying them anyways.  The kids made the batter and I got to spend 30 minutes making batch after batch of waffles.  Most kids had seconds and thirds which just proves anything is edible if you poor enough liquid sugar on it!

The Goat Farm.  We were here last year and both times I was struck by the thought "I'm okay never owning a goat."

Baby pigs are one of the cutest things I've ever seen though.

Class height chart.  Big surprise here (sarcasm):

P.J. and Easter Party.  Because nothing says Easter like running around in the dirt in pajamas!

Lesson Learned, or Tonks Gets To Come To Christmas!

Things get pretty hectic around Christmas.  I have so much I have to remember: making travel plans, packing, prepaying bills, utility and services to put on hold, etc.  In the hubbub we may have forgotten to get the Tonks into a kennel for Christmas.  By the time I remembered to remind Eric it was too late, and there was no room in the tiny doggy inns.  So...she got to come too.  It turns out it was exactly the same price to leave her here or bring her with us, so I thought "Wow, this will be amazing!  We will have her with us for Christmas for the 1st time.  It will be awesome!"

Nope.

I don't like flying on airplanes so I knew it would be hard on her.  Because I am ridiculously invested in my dogs well being we went to the vet, got her papers and some doggy Valium.

We got to try out the Valium right away at the hotel.  It did help keep her moaning down to a manageable volume where we could actually get a little sleep.

Even wrapped in a security blanket, flanked by the girls wasn't enough to help the poor dog sleep.

Blurry picture, but Tonks is in her carrier on the express train in the airport.  She was pretty good in the airport.  She must be a people watcher like me!

I tried to help Tonks with the air pressure by giving her treats to chew on, but I think she caught on and started whining as soon as she finished a treat because she knew I would immediately shove another one in her kennel by my feet.  She was worse than any of my kids ever where!!!

Tonks just about met her limit when we got to my parents house and she was assaulted by a GIANT loving mass of Casey.  She did NOT want to get off my lap.

and it pretty much stayed that way for the entire trip.  If she couldn't be on my lap she was hiding under the desk in our room where Casey couldn't love her to death.

Seeing her constantly on laps or on the couch made Casey a little jealous.  I'm not sure who wished he was a lap dog more here, Casey or Dad.

Toward the end Tonks started seeing that Casey really did just want to be friends and they started bonding over food.  Or basically Casey let Tonks have all the food all of the time...

Until he didn't.  He finally broke on one of our very last nights.  He had been so good, so kind, always letting her lick the plates first, but then Dad made bacon.  The bacon was the end of it all.  Casey tried to let Tonksie lick the pan first, but...well...it was BACON.  He finally snapped at her, and luckily I was there to yank her out of the way from his giant mouth.  I don't think he wanted to hurt her, he seemed really chagrined afterwards, but she didn't leave our room, unless forced, for the rest of the trip. 

OTBS Ruffles Have Ridges

Tonks got a haircut. It is horrible. I paid someone MONEY to butcher my poor dog's hair. The lady use to do a great job but the last two times Tonks has come back shaking and nicked all over her tummy. Poor baby. 

OTBS every time I see her I laugh because I hear the old Ruffles slogan in my head. "Tonksies have ridges."  

Ch Ch Ch Changes... Or, the crushing guilt is killing me PLUS bonus-added-extra-random pics!

Our little family life seems to have been thrown into chaos the last few weeks and I'm not making it any easier on myself.

Biggest piece of news: Eric joined a firm.  Everyone seems really nice and he is happy to have the support staff and colleagues to bounce ideas off of.  I am sad that we lose all the flexibility and lack of pressure for billable hours, but Eric is happy about it and he is the one that has to go to work every day.

We still have our regular stuff of cubs, dance, and school (which the kids started 3 weeks ago!!!)
Livi also started going to preschool every day now.  I struggled with the decision.  She loved her teachers and it seems selfish to have her go every day, but she will be 5 in October and we do have full day kindergarten here.  It has been a... harsh...adjustment.  She loves going, but is SOOOOOOOOOOOO cranky during the afternoons.

Eric also got called into the Young Men's presidency and Ella started activity days yesterday.  Ethan now goes down to Denver Children's Hospital on a regular basis (looks like monthly at this point) to the Breathing Institute, where we are trying to figure out why his asthma is getting worse and how to get it manageable.

He had just gotten back from a lung test and he had HUGE spirals on his nose from the clip.  I told him to smile and he gave me an impersonation of James Franco:

Because left up to me, the kids were learning very little piano, I signed the kids up for real piano lessons.  When I was taking to the piano teacher it made me wish I was taking them too.  So, now I am.  And it is awesome.  And hard.  This is the first piece he gave me to work on:

Because nothing says "welcome back" like 4 sharps and double sharps placed through out.  

All in all we are basically so busy I feel like I have to schedule in what days I have time to wash my hair.

Random Fun Happy Pic Time:

I pulled this out of the toilet paper roll bag.  They really are starting to make everything smaller inside of the packages!

At the School Open House Ella made this list of favorites.  If you look closely at favorite game you can see "Betrayal at House on the Hill" was there before Clue.  None of her friends had heard of Betrayal

In Ethan's class they each had jerseys on their lockers.  Most had decorated them like sports team jerseys.  Ethan went for the whole stick-figure-comic-book thing.

Dog with a Buffaloooooooooooo.  Straight up got mauled by a puppy.

A Dog and Her Boy

It is so weird that this is the same boy who a few years ago hid on my parents counter, and behind couch cushions to avoid the nicest dog in the world (Casey).  The child we had to give away a dog for.  Now when Ethan comes home from school he wrestles Tonks and plays fetch.  She trots around after him wherever he goes.  She knows he is her boy and she loves him. Even better, he loves her too.

On a recent camping trip

In the car at a car wash.  He was her go-to for comfort. The video below is her reaction to the horrible, evil car wash.  Poor thing, but it made me laugh.  I'm bad that way.

Payback

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago, but Eric said I wasn't allowed to post it because he looked weird in it. Well yesterday Eric insinuated that me going out and mowing the lawn was equivalent fun to him going out and hunting (he also suggested taking the kids to the zoo and leaving me to clean the house was also comparable fun for me...WRONG). So now I feel no qualms about posting this photo (okay, not completely true, I did crop it so he wasn't really in it, but now I don't feel any qualms about posting the edited photo). Eric wont read this post for about a month and by then we will be laughing about the hissy fit I am currently throwing (okay, probably not).

Lots of lead up to just a random photo. I give to you: TONKS SLEEPING