Springtime fun

It's finally getting warm out!! The kids are thrilled to be able to spend time outside, and I'm thrilled to let them. Both boys have bikes and love zipping around the driveway and sidewalks of our cul-de-sac...Mia gets pushed on her toddler tricycle.

Sadly our neighbor has moved, so we'll be getting new ones at some point. I hope they are as good as our last ones.

We got the garden planted. We did some containers on the side of the house, and used the plot by the shed. We're hoping to get peppers (3 kinds), tomatoes (3 kinds), cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, onion, green beans, and strawberries.

Here are some recent pictures of the kids:

Things have been relatively tame as of late. Lexi had her tumor removed and did swimmingly. The gal that took the staples out couldn't believe how she didn't twitch the whole time she was removing them. The fur has almost grown completely back, but I think the scar will be pretty visible anyway.

The kids are all great. Mia is really liking the "Signing Time" DVD's, and is starting to sign more and more. The boys are remembering them better, but I think I need to work a bit more on signing to them during the day. Use or lose it, ya know?

We swapped bedrooms with the boys, which has made a big difference in the clutter downstairs. They kept bringing all of their toys down to the living room, and I guessed it was because they didn't have much floor space in their room to play. So we gave them the biggest bedroom, and we took theirs. So far, so good, they only bring toys downstairs occasionally, and are much better about cleaning their room up. Now I just have to figure out a way to declutter the basement...well...it's nothing a forklift and a dumpster couldn't fix in a jiff...

We've learned that our landlord intends to refinish the deck this summer...probably at the beginning of August. Which is a really good thing...except for the part where we can't set foot on it for a minimum of 7 days. Yeah, three kids, in the summer, and we're not supposed to go on the deck at all for at least a week. Anyone else see a problem with that? We're probably going to have to go on vacation or something...we're thinking camping for a few days, then maybe visit some friends or family. Eh, we've got time to figure it out I suppose.

We're still getting along just fine with the neighbors, and the kids are really chomping at the bit for the weather to warm up consistently. Just about every day they ask if we can go for a walk to the beach! They really enjoy the big deck, and we're very glad for the fully fenced yard since we can pretty much just kick them out the door and let them play.

Here are a few recent pictures from a train show we took the kids to...and one of Dom after he fell asleep at dinner...again.

Not much new!

There's not a whole lot new to report. The kids are finally over whatever bug they had, and are adjusting with no difficulty to the "not having TV anymore" thing. It's really nice actually. They're spending most of their time creating things with Legos, Bionicles, and K'Nex and playing together better than they ever have. I'm missing it a little, but I'm adjusting. Joe is so busy with work stuff, I don't think he's even noticed!

The kids are consistently getting up around 5am, which is good and bad. It's good in that it makes for a long day, and I can get a lot done. But it's bad in that it makes for a long day, and I'm wiped out at the end of it!

I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed in a week, so that will be fun. In other surgical news, Lexi is scheduled to have her tumor removed on the 10th.

I've got a few pictures to post. There are a couple of pictures of the kids crashed out with Joe the other night. (Joe is awake) Zack kept insisting that he wasn't going to sleep, he was just "resting his eyes." Where he picked up that phrase I have no idea. And there's a picture of Joe giving Mia her first lesson with power tools...he was hanging some stuff and she got curious.

Just a quickie update. The kids have been not feeling well for about a week...coughs mostly. They're on the upswing, so they're starting to act like themselves again.

Joe and I have decided to try something rather...unusual in today's day and age. We were never thrilled with our service from Time Warner Cable, so we decided to switch providers. While discussing who to go with, it occured to us that we don't really watch a lot of TV. The kids don't watch it much either (usually only Cash Cab, Dirty Jobs, and How It's Made), so we starting tossing around the idea of not having it anymore. We've decided to try it for a month, and see how it goes. We've not had it for a few days already, and we've already noticed that we get more done, and the kids seem to enjoy it...instead of plopping down in front of the Discovery Channel at night, we've been playing Legos, doing puzzles...basically just hanging out together, and it's been really nice.

We had some tests run on Lexi, and it doesn't appear that the cancer has spread to her lungs, but we're waiting to hear back from the radiologist. It also doesn't appear that the surgery will be as much as we thought, so we think we'll be able to swing it.

That's all for now...I'll post pics next time!

The boys have recently become fascinated by x-rays. They always want to look at ours when we go to the chiropracter, and they ask Joe and I to "draw their insides." This weekend they asked Tasha to do it, so she did. We were sitting at dinner, and Dom had brought his picture to the table. I told him that I really liked it, and he said, "Yeah, that's my brain." (pointing to the head) and then he pointed to a thicker line and said, "And that's my penis!" Tasha, who was only half listening looked up in horror and said, "What?! No, that's part of his leg!" Joe and I couldn't stop laughing. If I get the picture scanned in, I'll post it.

Now for the bad news. About a year ago, we noticed a funky little growth on Lexi's (our black lab) chest. We had the vet look at it, and they told us it was just a fatty deposit that would probably get bigger, and when it got to a certain size, they'd remove it. Well, it did get bigger, so while we had her in for a broken claw on Sunday, Joe asked them to take a look at it. They aspirated a fluid sample and sent it to a lab. They didn't seem to think it was going to turn anything up, it was more of a "just to be sure" kind of thing. We got a call from them today saying that it is a cancerous tumor, a very invasive kind, apparently. They're recommendation is obviously surgery, with all sorts of tests to confirm that it hasn't spread, etc. While we haven't even talked to the vet about what that would cost, we are incredibly doubtful that we will be able to afford it, so at first glance it looks like we're going to have to put her down or give her up to an organization that can give her the care she needs. I'm so incredibly heartbroken about this. I suppose if I think about, I've never had a pet that died of old age, or sickness. They all got hit by cars, or just disappeared (outside cats). I'm really struggling with how to explain this to the kids, because they love her so much. We've had her for six years, and I really can't imagine our family without her. So I guess I would appreciate it if you could keep us in your thoughts while we try to deal with this impending loss.

She's gonna be trouble...

I've come to the conclusion that Mia may just be more of a stinker than both of the boys. The following pictures illustrate my point.

In this one, she went into the pantry cabinet and took out a box of cereal. Now, we prefer to let the kids explore and learn about stuff, as long as they aren't in danger of hurting themselves. So, we let her play with it. We figured she'd probably tear the box apart a little bit. Joe and I got involved in a conversation, and when we went back in the living room a few minutes later we found this:

Not only had she gotten the box open, she'd managed to tear open the bag and plopped herself on the couch to have a little snack! Needless to say, child locks were installed on the pantry in short order.

Just today, Dominic had pulled his chair up to the bar height counter to get a book off of it. He didn't put it back at the table however, so Mia climbed up and helped herself to a permanent marker:

Thank goodness that we've dealt with marker art before and I had a bottle of Amodex on hand. I got every bit of that off in under five minutes.

She looks so cute and innocent doesn't she?

While we were at Christmas with my family this year, one of my Aunts told me she checks the blog every day for updates. I realized that I really need to do a better job at updating this...yeah, yeah, I know I've said that before (a lot), but it's a new year, right? So this is going to have quite a few pictures. I have to start with this one of Joe's truck. We got back from a shopping trip and saw this when we pulled in the drive...doesn't it look like his truck has eyes?!

Our holidays were crazy sometimes, but overall quite enjoyable. We had Joe's side on the 20th, a quiet Christmas Day at home with just us and the kids, and then spent four days in IL with my side over New Year's. The boys are at an age where they "get" Christmas, and it was really enjoyable for us to see their excitement. Santa was a bit worn out because he didn't finish their teepee until 11:38 on Tuesday night, but it was worth it to see them going crazy over it! While the boys tore into their presents, Mia just sort of stood by the couch looking very confused...she'll probably "get it" next year. Here are some pics of them from Christmas...Zack and Mia are in the teepee, Zack and Dom are showing off the spaceship they made, and Mia being fascinated by the tree:





We've had plenty of snow so far...I think we're in the neighborhood of fifty-some inches. For a while it was three feet deep on the back porch, and the kids have had a blast playing in it...Zack made himself a cave:Speaking of Zack, I'm happy to report that Meredith found another detox program for him, and we are able to get it into him much better. It will take us around 2 1/2 months to get him all the way through it, so we're just waiting to see how well it works at this point.

And just for laughs, the kids have decided to learn how to make funny faces...Joe taught them quite a few: