addendum

I'd almost forgotten a funny--When I picked Fredo up, I noticed that he has no hair on his front elbow.  Turns out, he DID have mange.  But he's been treated.  So we have a mangy mutt.

Oh, and Bonnie points the way to making a fun freshman word collage out of your blog entries.  The Word Cloud.

Here's mine.  It pleased me.  I wish it was bigger.

I know it was you, Fredo.

Fredo (nee King) is home!



Who's a good boy?!?

He's wearing his seatbelt harness, not a stylish shearling vest.  He's totally not that trendy.  The crappy purple collar I bought as his Coming Home outfit was just a little too loose, so I kept the seatbelt on him until I could get him a collar more suited to his sense of style.  Part of the reason to GET a dog is to be able to shop at Two Paws Up in downtown Frederick, so we went there today.  He's now sporting a cool Earth Dog hemp collar and leash.  He has rosemary mint shampoo just like the people of the house.  And he has an utterly revolting "bully stick" that is keeping him happily quiet while I type this.

Maggie, for one, is unamused by this dog business:


She came stalking in, tail totally bottle-brushed out.  "I...smell...dog..."


She stalked right past the actual dog in favor of sniffing the bag the dog stuff had been in.  Maggie, while a very nice girl, is not. very. smart.  She has continued to harrass Fredo wherever he goes.  She literally scared the shit out of him last night.  But that has been his only accident.  I have seen Allie exactly once since the dog arrived.  She is Gone.  Fredo, for his part, would love to play.  As if.

So far, so good.  His first night was fine.  He whined a little when we put him in his crate and turned out the lights (Lily--"Why is he squeaking, Mommy?").  He was VERY happy to see me at (gah) 6:30 and did his dog biz quite happily.  I keep having this mild panic...Ack!  We got a dog!  This is for keeps!  Ack!  But I think that once the constantly-tethered-to-the-dog phase passes it'll be fine.

D-day approaches

So, we've FINALLY been approved for a dog.  Yes, one shelter seems to have rejected us.  Apparently, the dog would be better off in a crowded foster situation than to face the hell of my fenceless yard, the danger of my not-immaculate floor, the clear lack of animal care evidenced by the fact that my cats are allowed OUTSIDE (aieeee!).  So, two home visits later, a different rescue group has deemed us worthy to adopt King.  First order of business, change his name.  We go to meet him on Sunday and if all goes well (i.e. he does not lunge at my children with his teeth bared or obviously have mange) we'll bring him home.  The kids are over the moon.  Julianna goes to her first Tailwaggers 4-H club meeting tonight.  All Dogs, All the Time.  I'm kind of disappointed, I set up the crate and not one child has gotten into it.  5 years ago, Julianna would have moved right in and insisted that all of her meals be served there.

Thank heaven for little girls

Seriously folks, how cute is this?  Lily got her costume for her June dance recital today.  I don't think she'll be allowed to wear the cowboy boots with it.  Their loss.

One down.

Okay, Ben's party is over.  Whew.  It went well, I just planned out a simple treasure hunt for them--first they had to crawl through a hoop to get to a clue hanging from the porch ceiling.  that clue sent them to a relay in which they had to hippity hop or scooter up to get a card with a letter on it, switch vehicles, and scoot or hop back and hand off the ride to the next two kids.  At the end, Julianna helped them put the letters together to spell TABLE and another card said "under."  Under the table, I'd taped balloons with clues inside.  They popped them and then had to figure out what the clues meant.  "Brown" "box" "inside" "hall" "mirror" "wooden". "bench."  All leading to the inside of the bench on the "hall butler."  I'd read them off.  A kid would go "I know I know!!"  "what?"  "The bathroom!"  uh, no.  "I know I know!...under the table!"  Steve tossed an umbrella onto the bench and said, "Next clue: 'umbrella!'"  Crickets chirping.  "Next clue: 'I'm pointing at it.'"  a-HA!  So they each had little wooden chests filled with shiny rocks.  Cake, presents, pinata, beat it.

They gather for the Hop-n-Scoot Challenge:


"No, get out from under the table...Yes, bring the balloon.  The balloon.  Yes, that.  Now bring it in here and pop it.  It's okay, I'll give you a new one.  The clue is inside, you have to pop it.  I'll blow up another one, come ON."



Lego Star Wars!  WOW!


Everyone grimaces as the candy falls from the mandarin-orange-box-turned-pinata:


Although it looks like he was having a Very Biker Bar birthday, those vests are from a pirate dress-up set from the Dollar store.  A buck for a vest, an eyepatch, an earring, and a dagger.  So the vest was made from hefty bag and ripped with ease?  So the elastic popped off the eyepatch the first time you put it on?  So the earring pinches so badly it leaves a mark?  At least they were armed.

Cake once more courtesy of Playmobil.  Ben is all about the icing.  he doesn't care for "the bread."  So I made this one with two recipes of frosting.  One was the filling and crumb coat and the second was slathered all over that.  The waves are solid frosting, my friend.  Who wants diabetes for his birthday?

Oh RIGHT, a birthday party tomorrow!  With parents I don't know coming into my house!  Which needs cleaning!  So, what else can I read?  Maybe I can just open the front door a crack, pull the kid inside (being careful to be certain the child has a pressie), and slam it back with a "see you at three!"  Then when they come to pick up, they'll assume the mess is from the party.  Excellent plan, if I do say so myself.

Julianna got pretty elaborate parties.  Much planning and games.  I'm over it.  I still enjoy making the cake, but really I'd like to just give them some cake and turn them loose.  But Ben wants an obstacle course/treasure hunt..."Here kids, climb over the chair.  Oh look!  There's a treasure map!  A picture of a couch with a big X on it...yep, there's the treasure!  Well done!  Okay, that's it, go play."  See, I just needed to think at the keyboard.  I'm nearly done...goody bags...First, I take issue with the bags.  Candy from the pinata is plenty in my book.  No one needs more dollar store crap.  You'll get crap on your own birthday.  I know!  A lovely Small Angels rodent.  We have 4 or 5 guests...we have two guinea pigs, two gerbils, and a hamster!  perfect!

Well, I'm so glad I took the time to plan it all out.  I'm more relaxed already. In fact, I could really use a nap.

The birthday boy

Ben had his "birthday walk" at school today.  In Montessori schools, they have the birthday child hold a globe and walk around  a representation of the sun one time for each year.  While doing that, the teacher talks about what the child was doing in that year (parents supply that info).  It's cute and the other kids looove to hoot about things a classmate did as a baby.  I was a little afraid Ben would see it as teasing, but he did fine.

Here he is after his birthday walk:

He's decided not to cut his hair anymore, hence the 'fro.

In all of these pics, watch the back ground kids.  Kindergarteners are just so boneless and goofy.  They cracked me up  At one point in Ben's timeline, I'd written that he jabbered all the time, but we couldn't understand him.  We thought he spoke Polish.   Keenen pipes up, "He could talk to Polar bears!"  Ben took off the flannel shirt he'd been wearing, prompting another kid to unzip his fleece, prompting Emma to unbutton her dress.  "NO!" screams Noah, "you can't take off your shirt!"  "I can too, I do it all the time!  I'm hot!"  "No!  Girls have breastes and we'll see them!!"

Here's Ben and his Posse. Only Loagan is missing from the shot:


Love the random stuff going on in that shot.  And Heidi, the one in pink, couldn't be any more Classic Kindergartener in that shot.

Ben showing Loagan his timeline:


Heidi's kind of oooozing to the ground.  His teacher, Miss Penelope wasn't in today, so just the aid, Miss Leslie was there.  How she gets through the day without pharmeceutical help is beyond me.