My little bookends

I never thought I'd say this but...

I LOVE my dog.

Andra, you would be so proud. I have a huge soft place in my heart for him. If we were to lose him, well, I don't even want to go there. I almost get teary-eyed just thinking about how loyal he's been and how much I secretly hated having a dog for awhile. I hate to admit it, but I'm pretty sure I was actually wishing something might happen to him a year or so ago. Like he might run off and find a new home. But, things have certainly changed. Our relationship has evolved. Now I would be devastated if something were to happen to him. And if you know me, that's a big deal. I'm not a big animal lover. I'm an animal liker, but not too much love.

But there's love for this dog.



In the past six months, Kona has become the dog we all hoped he would be. He has mellowed tremendously. He willingly gets on his leash when kids come over to play. He follows our kids around the yard and watches over them. He's gentle with Evan. He doesn't even try to lick or sniff him when he's in the jogging stroller. He scares off animals like racoons that might hurt the chickens. He doesn't jump up on people anymore. He watches us walk to the bus and waits at the corner of our property for our return. He's always there, but not in an overbearing way. In more of a comforting way. I pet him more now, even if I know my hands will smell like dog and I'm in a hurry. He still does his business in the far back corner of our yard where no one ever goes. There is no stepping in poop in our yard, ever. Oh, thank you, Mr. Kona.

Last night as I was doing one final bedtime check on the girls, I looked outside their window and saw Kona laying a few feet from their bedroom window. He knows where the kids sleep and he watches over them during the night. When I saw him out there, as on so many nights before, I actually choked up. Trust me, that was quite a shock, even to myself. So, in short, we've come a LONG way.

Kona, you're a good dog.

sick

Pedialyte and crackers were on the menu for Evan and I this week. Forunately it was a brief stomach bug, but oh my, there is nothing I hate more than puking. And this little fella didn't care for it either!



Rollin had a high fever, but not much can get this boy down. This picture of Rollin and my slip was taken in the middle of the night when Rollin woke up and asked if he could have one of those yummy soda drinks you get to have when you "barf". He had some serious sickness envy when Zig brought me some lemon-lime sparkling drinks earlier this week. He thought it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO unfair.



He was pretty stoked when I told him I had one more drink left.



Everyone is now on the mend and no one was sick more than a day or two, thankfully!

It is done.

The female half of our family now all have pierced ears. The frequency with which the girls ask me to take them to Claire's had increased tremendously over the past few months. I kept saying "Sure, you can get your ears pierced," and then something would come up, Saturdays would get busy, and we would all forget about it. Oh darn. Then the real catalyst. Sela's friend Jasmine invited her for a sleepover and asked the girls to dress-up like a famous person. Sela really wanted to be Taylor Swift, and earrings would be that one little detail to make everything perfect. Andrea, our babysitter, came over in the afternoon to do Sela's hair and make-up, which was so sweet of her and completely her own idea.



























And then it was off to Claire's, finally. They were excited/nervous. Everyone in Redmond was piercing their ears on Saturday, January 17th, so we waited almost 2 hours. A living hell for me might just be hanging out in a Claire's for two hours. It's crowded, tiny, and there are dozens of little pre-teens and teens in there that make me want to swish Sela and Nina right out and force them to stay and dress young forever. The serious amount of tacky stuff in that store had me running next door to Lucy ;), but the fact that my girls LOVED so much of it was even more unsettling. I felt panicky after awhile, like all my efforts at influencing their style were out the door in one afternoon. Nina walked up to some fishnet gloves and with a big smile on her face said, "Mom, this is TOTALLY my style." Oh great. Then Sela put on some gangster looking hat that I could tell she thought was cute, and I just thought to myself, oooooh boy. I bit my tongue, well, sort of.

And the worst part. Right when we walked in a 7 year old was getting her ears pierced. The girls' eyes were glued. Certainly they were hoping to feel more at ease after watching this little girl, but she went from smiles to shrieks in a matter of seconds. Serious crying, and not the happy cry. I thought, oh no, it's definitely not happening today. But Nina was determined, even more so than Sela.

When it was FINALLY our turn, Nina hopped right up in the chair. She was clearly excited. She held my hand, focused like a laser beam on some pink fuzzy, leopard-print, lacy, glittered slippers, and got those little ears pierced! Not a tear. She later told us she was meditating.

There are not enough mirrors in the store for this child. She was so happy and the little birthstone studs looked very sweet. I was relieved and so happy it wasn't painful for her.




















Then it was Sela's turn. I knew she was scared due to the spectacle she had witnessed earlier. I held her hand and in an instant it was done. But the look in her eyes was much different than Nina's. She, too, was relieved that it was over, but I could tell that it really hurt, even though there were no tears. A few 13 or 14 year old girls had gathered around to encourage her when they could tell she was hurting. They commented on how brave she was and how beautiful she looked. It was really so sweet. Fortunately, it doesn't hurt for too long and she was happy and smiling in no time. I tried a couple of times to get a good after-shot of Sela, but the earrings didn't show up too well. They're so tiny. And we were in a mad dash to stop by the chocolate shop for the chocolate they made me promise them if they were brave (do they know how to work it or what?!), and to get Sela to her party! But you can at least see how happy she was on Sunday when she wore a blue dress to match her sapphire colored earrings (please ignore the Christmas decorations in the background, we're still in that taken down, but not put away stage).



























What a day!! I always enjoy special alone-time with my girls, even if this time it happened to be at Claire's.

baby feet

This is one of those images I'm sure will bring me to tears a few years down the road when the kids are growing up and moving out of our home. I don't remember squishing and squeezing the other kids as much as I do Evan. Of course we hugged and cuddled and I kissed them all day long, but I seriously just squish Evan ALL the time. His body is as soft as dough. As jiggly as jello. It's beautiful. I can't resist squeezing these little feet every time I'm feeding him. Oh, it's the best! I love his soft little body so much.

his biggest fan

Nina has some serious motherly instincts when it comes to Evan. She responds immediately to his cries, comes straight to see him if she's been away, smells his sweet little head, carries him all over the place (she's in a bit of denial that he weighs almost as much as she does!), squeezes him, feeds him, tickles him, cheers for his progress, is sad when he's sad. She loves him to death. So much so, she can hardly contain herself at times! She can often be heard saying, "I just can't stand it, he's just the cutest, chubbiest, baby in the world!"

I love you, Nina.

rain, rain, you finally went away!

We had a beautiful MLK day today. So nice the kids were home on such a sunny day in January! It's been raining for a week so this was a much needed break in the weather pattern. The kids were outside all afternoon, all the neighborhood kids were over, the zipline was getting some good use, and boy did I start looking forward to springtime! We've had a good year, weatherwise, but the rain finally came this month. I took the picture above one afternoon after walking down the driveway and noticing how gorgeous these trees looked with hundreds of little droplets all over the branches. The sun is quite beautiful too, especially when you haven't seen it in awhile!