Puppy School

Kylee and June Bug doing spelling.








Faith holding her baby while doing her science. This was such a cute picture but at the last minute she moved her ear and it blocked Faith's eye. GRRR.










Typical Junie pose.










And lastly while we were taking pictures of the baby, the big girl was sitting, waiting patiently for her picture to be taken.












She even smiled a little, but I missed it.








Then she got tired of it all and tried to go to sleep.




Kristen

All in the Name of Science

Do you ever start something and even as you are doing it realize that the results could quite possibly be not so good?

We started Apologia science this summer, Faith is doing a middle school general science course, and Kylee, Seth, and Josh are doing Zoology, winged creatures.

Sooooo, this is a picture of Joshi working on an experiment.

The idea of the experiment is to dig two holes in the ground and put in two different cups, one with a piece of meat in it and one with a piece of fruit in it. Cover it with a board and see which attracts the most bugs, meat or fruit.

There are so many things that could happen here.

When Faith asked me what they were doing, I tried to explain the experiment to her, and before I could get to the point of the experiment she interrupted me with, "Ew what are you trying to do attract maggots?"

Hm, I hadn't thought of that.

So in the name of the scientific process my kids are outside digging holes in the mud and setting traps for unsuspecting bugs and, quite possibly, their young.

Not to mention the two hounds that reside in our house and quite often use the back yard as their playground/bathroom. Jasmine doesn't sniff so good, so I am not sure she would even find the bait, but Junie is a first rate sniffer.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

Oh yes, there will be pictures.

Kristen

With Seth's birthday fast approaching it is also the celebrated birthday of Harley.

And guess what Harley got for his birthday?

Yep, a harness. Doesn't he look pleased?

Any shred of dignity that a guinea pig may have was completely stripped away with this contraption.

And to top it off Harley isn't a big, how should I say this, mover. He just kind of likes to sit and eat, so while he is a great pet to hold and cuddle, he really isn't the most fun pet to have on a leash.

Seth was a tad disappointed, he had visions of taking his guinea pig on walks around the block, going for Sunday strolls with his little friend. All Harley really wants to do is, eat grass.

Kristen

Frogalina

This is Frogalina.

The kids had big plans for Frogalina. I was, of course, on the phone when they found her.

By the time I got down stairs they had named her and located the old fish tank in the basement.

They all had their hearts set on keeping her. But the voice of reason won out.

I told them they could keep her, trapped in a tank, but what would they do when winter hit and there were no bugs to be found? I convinced them it would be cruel to keep her in a tank when she has such a lovely life outside in our yard.

Frogalina is, once again, a free range toad.

Whew, that was a close one!

Kristen

Lessons I Learned Today

I learned some important lessons today while taking the two dogs to the shot clinic for their shots.

1. A "cheaper" vaccine clinic may not actually be cheaper.

2. Jasmine gets very excited around a lot of other dogs who are all barking at the same time.

3. Little boys get very excited around a lot of dogs who are all barking at the same time.

4. Jasmine should have her toe nails clipped before going anywhere she may get excited.

5. I should never,NEVER wear flip flops when taking aforementioned excited dog to a shot clinic.

6. "This will only take a minute"does not apply to and should not be said when taking two dogs and four kids to a dog shot clinic.

Kristen

Captions

Yeah not so good at posting pictures with captions so here it is in this post. Faith took the gorgeous pictures of her puppy you see in the next post, and if you click on the second one in the first row and make it bigger you can actually see Faith in the puppy's eye. Too cute.

Little Junie B. loves flowers. Almost obsessively. She loves to smell them, lick them, and yes, chew them.

There is one somewhat blurry picture of Jasmine, posing so sweet for a picture.

And the last one of Mike laying in front of the crate? Yeah, he was trying out his dog hypnosis.

Pictures of the two dogs coming.

Kristen

Baby Pictures

Puppy Love

A few months ago Faith said she wanted a puppy. And not just any puppy but she wanted a Boston Terrier.

Knowing these were expensive dogs Mike and I felt pretty safe telling her that if she saved up her money she could have one.

So, by the first of June my child had saved up enough to buy her dog. Not only did she save up the money from babysitting, and just saving her chore money but for every 20 dollars she tithed 5 dollars back to God (her choice). Also during this time of saving she bought all her own clothes and extras. What an awesome example of God blessing you financially for being a good steward. We are so proud of her!

So this week, she found an ad for a Bugg puppy. For those who don't know that is a Boston terrier/ pug mix. A designer dog as they call them. A mutt as I call them. She wrote back and forth with this women and Faith decided she would just go and look at these puppies to see if it was a right fit.

We drove down part way to Springfield, Il yesterday and met this nice couple in a parking lot. They had their kennel with three bugg girls and two pug boys. The lady told her to just sit down and open the kennel and see what she thought.

Oh my. They were all adorable, of course, but this little one ran right up to Faith and started licking and licking her face. I took one look at that and knew it was all over.

She told me she was in love.

So, she paid the lady and off we went.

She was pretty good last night and Jasmine is okay so far with her. I think she will like her better when she is a little bigger and can play more on her level. Luckily, Jasmine doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body and loves other dogs.

As parting I thought I would post one more picture of little dog. Oh, her name is June Bugg. Or Junie B. Jones. If you have little girls you will get that, otherwise you can Google it.




Kristen

There's a Terrier in the House

There is nothing like watching another person’s dog to make you appreciate the one you have.

We have been watching a friend’s dog since Monday night. He is a Yorkshire terrier and he is approx. 6 months old. But man is he whiney!! And unfortunately way to small for Jasmine to play with. I tried to introduce them and he barked and growled at her.

At that moment Jasmine got this glint in her eye like she was going to just take one chomp, so I separated them.

So now we have been playing canine trading spaces so everyone has equal time out and play.

On top of all the normal puppy stuff, nipping, yipping, yelping, and chewing this little guy has a couple bad habits that we have never allowed. For example, waking at 5:30 in the morning and crying, loudly. By 6 months our puppies knew better than to start yipping at 5:30 in the morning.

But the girls have done great taking care of him and Mike and I have had very little to do with him. Oh, except when he decided to relieve his bowels on my kitchen floor the first night he was with us, I cleaned that up.

All this brings back memories of the time when Jasmine was about a year old we had to go out of town and left her with some friends of ours. Let's just say she was less than good.

So maybe this is pay back?

Kristen

Feels Like 10

This is how we know it is really winter. As soon as it gets cold out Jaz searches the house for the spot where the sun comes in the window. Then she lays there all day. The good thing is that if you are cold and looking for some place warm all you have to do is look for the dog and you know you will be in the warmest room.

Seth and I checked the temperature today so we could record it on our chart and at 9:30 it was 23 degrees. Oh, but it feels like 10 degrees. I won't even go into that.

Kristen

Guinea Pig Powers

Somehow a 5 oz animal has accomplished something that I have, to this point, not been able to accomplish. The girls set their alarm for 8 every morning and therefore have forty five minutes to eat breakfast, brush teeth, make beds, dress and do hair. This sounds like a reasonable amount of time but for some reason it hits 8:45 when they are supposed to be practicing their instruments and the girls have eaten breakfast, but that's it.

But since Harley has been in the house, everyone has been up dressed, brushed, fed, and ready for their day by 8:20!! What is that? I can't explain it....

The power of a guinea pig.

Kristen

Meet Harley

Some may say I am crazy, and maybe it's true, but what can you say when he has birthday money and this is how he wants to spend it?

Seth received money from his Nana and Papa for his birthday and he wanted to invest in a hamster. The problem with this is that I have a huge fear of hamsters, gerbils and lets go ahead and throw mice and rats in that little list. I just don't like to touch them, so much. But, I did have a guinea pig in college and knew they were fun and gentle so I thought I could handle that.

He bought Harley and his cage, food and bedding and is already planning future purchases for his pet with his allowance.

I was really proud of Seth to pick something that lasts. I think sometimes kids, my kids, have a tendency to waste their money on toys and junk that just break and they get bored of it too quickly. Now I am not saying that Harley's newness isn't going to wear out and he may start getting less attention but I am encouraged that Seth picked something he is going to nurture and care for. He knows it is his responsibility and he will have to clean his cage once a week and feed and play with him. And he has accepted that challenge. I know he will do great. All four of the kids love animals and have always done a great job taking care of their dog. They have spoiled her and loved on her to the point that she is such a baby!!

I think a lot of parents shy away from adding pets to their home because they don't want to care for them. But I think that if you do that you are setting that child up to fail. Why not give them the responsibility and hold them to it? Why not encourage them to stand by their commitment and finish what they start? I am excited about Seth's new responsibility and so far he is doing great! I know he will be a great guinea dad!!

Kristen

Great Neighbors

If you happened to be walking by my house yesterday afternoon around 5:30 you probably heard this:

Jassssminnnne Belllllle!!!!! Come Here Jazzzzzy!!! Come on Girl!!!

She hasn't done it in a while but yesterday she escaped. We had a fence put in to prevent this from happening and it has worked quite well until yesterday.

The boys were outside with their friend from down the street and they were playing with these hover missiles. It was a great day for it with the high winds they were having a great time. They were throwing them up and the wind was taking them up over the house into the front yard.

The boys were very happy.

Jasmine was in the house since she really likes the hover missiles as well and would love to catch and kill one.

She was very unhappy.

Since they were having to go into the front yard I told them it was okay to leave the gate open. And all was going smoothly until Faith opened the door and let Jasmine out in the yard. It took Jaz about three seconds to be out the gate and gone.

And she was gone. I mean gone.

I told the kids not to chase her because she really likes that. But as we were standing outside looking to see if she came back up the street my neighbor came driving up and said she saw Jasmine and that she would drive down and get her. Cool! Okay so Maureen left and was gone for about 10 minutes when I see her car come back up the street. No Jasmine.

She said she saw her, she was down at the park near the club house (which is pretty far down the street) playing with some kids at the park....

Stupid dog.

She then said that our other neighbor had grabbed his kids bike and was chasing her down for me.

After about 10 more minutes we see my other neighbor and his wife driving up the street with Jasmine in the back of their car. They thought it was hilarious. I was not thinking it was so funny. But what did hit me was what great neighbors I have!!! I am blown away by their generosity and kindness.

So Jasmine is home and safe and the kids are happy.

Kristen

Easter is Almost Here!!!!

I think Jaz is feeling the effects of the busy week before Easter.

Are you?

Kristen

One More Thing...

Oh, and this mighty guard dog you see here, who has been completely spoiled and pampered beyond all recognition, is terribly afraid of the new vehicle in the garage. So afraid that she just stands by the back door and barks at it. She was so concerned about us when we got back from our little family drive that she fully inspected each of her "babies" as they came into the house, then resumed her barking at the door.

It's going to be a long day.

Kristen