A full house once again

Today my oldest son comes home from visiting at grandma and grandpa's house. So I will have my full house back in it's entirety. It's amazing how just having one voice not in the mix of things makes our crowded home seem empty. But it's true. We didn't have any shuffling to and from practice. Any begging to play outside with his friends and asking if we wanted to play video games with him. And while I know he had a lot of fun away from home, it was just way to quiet for me. His noisiness is nothing compared to younger three but I missed his sweet personality. So I can hardly wait for them to return late this afternoon so that my normal routine will feel right again. You'd think I'd be overjoyed to have one less in the mix but I've decided I like it all or nothing. Kind of crazy I guess.

Dogs

It seems that lately dogs seem to be the new theme in my life lately. I don't know why since I really don't like dogs all that much really. I reluctantly agreed to my husband to dog sit for a very old friend of ours. Mainly because the friend is looking for a job and really doesn't need the cost of kennelling his dog. So we had him bring his Border Collie up the other night to see how he got along with the kids and our dog. It all seemed okay so it was decided that Harley would come visit us for about a week. Now our dog has no manners and likes to jump up on people which I am forever trying to fix but she's a work in progress. However Gigi is great with our kids and will take any punishment they can dish out. Harley hasn't been around kids much but was pretty calm the other night. So it's all good right? Well after Harley arrived this morning the kids went out back to play and got on their trikes and such and speeded around the back patio as usual. Well for Harley this proved to be to much chaos for him and his natural instincts at herding kicked in. He started trying to round up my kids and naturally started nipping at their heels. So within two minutes both the kids were in tears screaming that Harley bit them. They were fine just upset at the turn of events in their play. Meanwhile Harley looked quite proud to have restored calm to the back yard. So for the sake of my children's heels the new rule is Harley has to stay inside while they are outside riding around on their wheels.

And the day just keeps getting better

I went to visit our "new" baby. He is perfect and mom is doing good. They should be home tomorrow. It amazes me how tiny and perfect all the features are on a baby. How does God do it? Every little crease and fold is perfectly laid out from his eyelids to his ears down to his toes. Amazing.

So what could possibly make a good day like this get any better? Finally hearing from my old college roommate who has proven to be quite the nomad since graduation. Catching up on all that is going on in her life is a lot of fun.

Silly I'm sure, but I just feel like I have been given a little bit of extra sunshine from God today and am thankful for it.

Welcome to the world

Happy Birthday and welcome to the world. My friend had a beautiful and healthy baby boy. He weighed in at 6lbs 9oz and has wonderful red hair. I am so excited for them all since it was a long journey to get him here. For me it's just another small reminder of all God's grace to provide us with a small piece of heaven here on earth. I can't wait to go see them this afternoon and share in the joy a new baby brings.

Good things about today

1. My friend is having her baby today. I'm so excited for them and can't wait to go and see the new baby when he arrives.

2. Hubby called with good news from work. I always like those phone calls.

3. We found a house we like enough to go and have a second look. Hopefully it will still look nice to us today and we can decide if we will do it or not.

4. The kids are all playing so nicely today.

5. Our dog is almost done with being in heat. Now I just need to make sure she isn't having puppies so I can go get her spayed.

Kill the dog

That seems to be the general consensus of everyone we have talked to. Kill that mean dog. We have even had volunteers offer to come and do it for us. Are you wondering what happened to start such an outpouring of support? Well after dinner the other night we decided to go for a walk around the block with the family and our family dog. So we put the baby in the stroller, my two middle children rode their bikes and my oldest ran ahead with a basketball. My husband was holding the leash. And off we went for our walk. As we approach the corner house where I know the dogs will get crazy and bark I warn them all to move past as quickly as they can. One dog is always jumping up on the fence and hanging off it somehow. But this night it wasn't enough for the dog to just jump up and bark at us. It saw our dog and somehow managed to get over the 6 foot fence and went into attack against our dog. As my husband is trying to kick this mean dog off our dog I'm frantically trying to get my children out of harms way. But that dog was everywhere and my husband was in the middle of it all. So I run to ring the doorbell to try and get the owners out to control their dog praying he won't turn on my kids. And he didn't, we got him cornered on the porch and the front door finally opened up. Yelling at the poor boy who opened the door to get his mom or dad. Well mom finally showed up and got the dog inside somehow. And we were only able to get her to say that yes the dog was current on his shots before she locked herself inside and didn't come back out.

Well I am sorry but I am pissed off at this point and this just wasn't enough to my way of thinking. So as soon as we got home I called the police to report this dog attacked us. I wanted it on record before any children were hurt, especially mine. So the next day the animal control officer came and talked to me and then went and talked to the neighbors. The dog did have proof of his vaccinations and would be gone by Sunday. Apparently the mom was the step mom and has always been afraid of this dog. The dad wasn't home at the time so when he got home he called his ex wife and said come get the dog. So hopefully the dog will now be in a place where it can't jump fences and attack other dogs or children. I did go by the house last night and for the first times in months that dog didn't jump up on the fence and bark as I walked past. My only thought was good riddance.

UPDATE:
I drove past the house this morning and saw that the dog was still in the backyard so I guess the ex wife didn't come and get him after all. Maybe I'll just have to start carrying pepper spray with me on walks and use it if he comes up on the fence again and tries to get out again. Or I could just call on some of these volunteers we have had.