Category: Uncategorized (Page 70 of 201)

No, she’s not ours.

We’re just dog sitting for a friend.  She is a beagle though and super sweet.  Having her stay has definitely solidified that we really do want to get another beagle someday.  I can’t explain what it is about beagles, but we are drawn to them.  I think every person has a breed of dog that they gravitate to for various reasons–ours might be the wonderful way that beagles can clean up any speck (no matter how small!) of food.  Hunny has gone right to work cleaning out corners, edges, and under things.

Of course, with that hound nose, we have quickly discovered how lax we have become about garbage cans and leaving food too close to the floor.  Dende has only been gone for just over a year, but it’s amazing how quickly we have become lazy about that.

The most interesting thing about Hunny is that she is very soft.  Dende always had coarse fur–more like hunting fur, we figured–that would repel the elements more.  But she is so soft just like a puppy.  However, I have discovered that with the cuddly layer also comes more shedding.  With Dende, although he wasn’t soft and snugly, he didn’t shed much.  So, now I’m torn.  Do I prefer a softer dog who sheds more or a “rough” feeling dog that sheds less?

After having her, I’m surprised to admit that I would rather have a dog that sheds less.  I thought I would really want a softer dog, but alas, the hair is annoying.  🙂

Chloe & Josiah are both loving having a dog to watch again.  Hunny isn’t particularly keen on Josiah (since he sort of stepped on her by accident today….)

At least with all the dog sitting we’ve been able to do, we’ve been able to get use out of our fence!  😉

Thanks everyone for the Birthday wishes this weekend!  We enjoyed a low key day with lunch at a restraunt of my choice (I chose Perkins for their breakfast menu.  I’m such a sucker for breakfast food…) and then spent the evening getting Chloe ready to head off to camp.

Plus Josiah and Chloe made me darling cards and Tim let me pick out a brand new teaching chair for my studio.  My old chair had pretty much lost all the padding in it over the past few years, so it wasn’t very comfortable any more.  Not that a chair is terribly exciting I’m very excited to have something more comfortable when I start teaching again in September.  Wanna see it?  Ok!

He also bought me a little tiara. 🙂 The kids were VERY jealous.  We all had a turn wearing it…

Well, I don’t know what happened–somehow it’s been a whole week since I last posted!  We haven’t been doing anything particularly exciting, just adjusting to the new schedule and routine of life.   This week we did a variety of things:

• Playdate at the park with a bunch of ladies/kids from church
• Enjoyed a few bike rides/walks
• Met up with the Bakers at the beach
• Attended a Birthday party for one of Josiah’s friends at church
• Visited a brand new splash pad/park with Auntie Jen
• Purchased all of Chloe’s school supplies and got them ready
• Had a few students (and their families) over to meet Maddie
• Went to a Musical Cabaret that a few of my students were singing in

Of course, I haven’t remembered to bring my camera ANYWHERE lately, so even though we’ve been doing a lot, I don’t have any fun pictures.  I’m going to make a point to carry my camera more this week.  The only two pictures I have are these:

Chloe working on an art project that she got as a gift from one of our visitors

Enjoying the sunshine at the beach! 

Princess Holly has emerged a beautiful monarch butterfly!

Actually it happened yesterday afternoon.  We looked at the cocoon earlier in the day and I commented on how black it was looking.  At first I thought perhaps it was rotting and we managed to kill it… but then I realized it was actually clear and the black that I was seeing was actually the black lines on her wings.  I tried to take a picture of it.

It’s a little hazy, but if you look closely you can see the orange of the wings on the far right side

Chloe and Josiah went to the pool with our nanny, Alisa, for the afternoon and Tim happened to come home early for the day (while they were still gone).  When he got home I commented that he should look in the box and he saw how clear it was.  Then about 20 min. later I looked in the box again and… voila!

She was out!

I was a little bummed that Chloe happened to be gone while it happened, but she was still super excited when she saw it later.

Then after supper, we released her!

Getting ready to say goodbye

She was so big! I can’t believe she fit in that cocoon…

Can you see her in the leaves?

On their trip to Nana and Bumpa’s house, Chloe found a caterpillar and asked if she could bring it home.  They thought it might turn into a monarch butterfly, I think.  Anyway, they created the coolest box and Chloe made “labels” for the box and they brought here.  Oh, and Chloe named it “Princess Holly.”  🙂

Well, I forgot about the box outside the first night and it rained, so sadly the box was ruined the next morning… but the Princess Holly was just fine, so I quick made a new box and we transferred her.  The next day she attached herself to the ceiling of the box and got cozy in her cocoon.

Today is day 10 of being in her tiny home, so we’re waiting and watching.  Every morning we check to see if there has been any color change.  Nothing yet.

We’ll keep you posted!

A family from church dropped off a meal for us and it included two personal pan make your own pizzas for the kids.  Isn’t that fun?! I didn’t know Papa Murphy’s did that.  But what a fun idea!  The kids had a blast decorating the pizzas (and snacking on the cheese as they made it…)  Good times!