Thanksgiving Day Parade

I love the winter holidays. I love Christmas shopping for my family. I love the magic of Santa Claus. And I love that my husband has more time to be home during the winter months. It's so nice to have him home with the kids and I.

This picture is an example of what I love about having Tom home. On this Thanksgiving morning he was feeding the kids toast for breakfast and had them lined up in front of the TV watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sounds like a family tradition in the making!

Style Series: Lily dresses Coco

Never trust a quiet child in there room with the door shut.

I think it's time to start saving for Lily to go to one of those fancy art schools.

Style Series

Recently Lily wore my swimming goggles to school. She told me it was because she was concerned about air pollution. Along with the swimming goggles, her outfit in this picture includes: a white turtleneck, a black tank top with angel wings on the back, red leggings with silver hearts on them, and a pink tutu.


Just another Fall day when my daughter decided that all she really needed on top was a swimming suit. Any excuse to wear her swimming gear I guess!



Here she is getting ready to go play outside while it's snowing and blowing 100 mph. Over her clothes in this picture, she has a dress up dress, pink tutu, rain boots and Drew's monster stocking cap.

Oh My! Oh My!

What have we gotten ourselves into?

Yesterday Coco came for another visit, to play outside and to get to know us better. They asked if we would like to have her stay for a couple of hours just on our own. I thought that would be a good idea since we needed to see how it would be with just me, the dog, and the kids. I was a little nervous about it but if we were going to go through with the adoption, I needed to know that I could handle all of them at once. So, the lady left me with the children and the dog and told me she would be back around 6:30 to pick her up.

The visit went really well, she ran around the backyard with Lily and then came in the house and hung out while I made dinner. She didn't seem to mind my crazy kids and really warmed up to me as the evening went on. By the time the lady returned to get her, she was already our dog. However, Tom and I wanted at least one more night to get ready. We hadn't purchased a dog crate yet, and we just wanted just a bit more time. This lady was not on the same page. She indicated quite strongly that if we really wanted the dog that we could just keep her from now on. (I think she didn't really want to go back to the prison). So, we agreed to the adoption and Coco hasn't left our house until this morning.

This morning after we dropped Lily off at school, I decided to take Drew, Julianna and Coco for a short walk around the neighborhood. Ha. We were doing pretty well until Coco managed to slip out of her collar. She was gone after that! First she pooped in someone's yard, then she was off on the trail of a bunny or a bird...and I didn't see her after that. I called Tom and he raced home from work to help me with the search. After a short time we spotted her, running after any wildlife she saw...and I managed to get her to follow a command and sit down until I got to her. I held on for dear life after that!!

I don't think Coco and I will be taking a walk with the children again anytime soon. I think I'm going to practice having her on the leash in the backyard for awhile, and then take her out in the neighborhood again without children. It was a traumatic morning!!

Other than the first walk being a disaster, things have really been going well otherwise. She is calm and did great last night. As I mentioned, we didn't have a crate, so she just slept on a blanket on the floor by our bed. She really did well all night...until Lily came in at 5 AM and woke us all up...but that's another story entirely.

Dog Days Part 3

I'm sure you are all on the edge of your seat wondering what is going on at the Stivers' house regarding the dog. Well, a lot has changed since my last post. However, I'd like to explain myself before I tell you what's gone down. I am passionate, sometimes to a fault. I become consumed with exciting things happening in my life and I fall in love easily. I'm a romantic, and an idealist. I can make anything sound like it's the best idea I've ever had when thinking to myself about something. That's what happened with Macy. Tom and I agreed that we were going to get a dog...and then he left for a three day hunting trip. We talked a few times here and there about the dog search. However, everytime we talked he told me to slow down and wait until the weekend was over. I never heard a word of it. All I heard was that he agreed we should get a dog and I never heard his many words of caution about taking things slowly.

Since last Friday I have fallen in love with a puppy, filled out an application for that puppy, visited her twice, had a serious sit down with the husband about the puppy, called the shelter to let them know that we could not take Macy, and had to tell my children that we couldn't get that sweet dog we had named Macy. It was emotional...crazy, I know. But, I had become passionate about getting a dog for our family...and in turn, made a poor choice of dog.

The good news is, we're still getting a dog. But, this time with the help of my level-headed husband. During our long sit down over the weekend, we decided together that we should look into getting a dog from the Lucky Dog Program. It's a wonderful rescue program that trains the dogs before you have them move into your house. We love the idea of not adding another baby to our already young family. Knowing that the dog was trained and housebroken was a huge draw for us. Also, they interview our family and work with us to find a dog that will fit in well.

We met one of the dogs from the program last night. Coco, who is a 4 year old German Shorthair Pointer. She is calm, shy and very sweet. She also likes to take long walks and has plenty of energy for the kids. I think she's a good mix of energy and calm for our family. We are all excited about Coco and are planning on having her over to play again soon. I will keep you updated about how it goes from here on out.

Dog Days Part 2

If you read my last post, then you know that the kids and I were up early. We were excited to go out to the lake and check to see if the abandoned puppy had come to eat the food we had left for him. We were out the door before 9 AM. We got out there to inspect the dog bowl...not a piece was gone. :( We were so sad. I was just sure that the puppy would have returned to find the food. No luck. So, we had our hearts set on a puppy...we were going to get a puppy!

Last night while dreaming about rescuing the dog at the lake I searched the website of the local animal shelter to see if there was a dog there that would work for us. I chose a Chocolate Labrador mix puppy who they had named Sable. So, when I called Tom this morning to tell him that the puppy at the lake had not returned, I informed him that we would be making a stop at the animal shelter. He was not totally on board. He wanted me to be patient (which, I can't say I'm very good at). I told him that we just were so sure that we were getting a dog that I (and the children) would be so sad if we couldn't. He told me to wait until Monday and we ended the call. HOWEVER, my husband called me back about 30 minutes later and told me to check my email. That he had chosen a couple of dogs from the shelter website that he liked. Guess what?!? Sable was his number one choice!! Crazy, I know!

This afternoon the kids and I went to the shelter. We walked all through the shelter and looked at every single dog. Lily kept saying, "I don't want that dog. I don't like that dog."...Then we came upon a Chocolate Lab puppy. She pointed right at the puppy and said that that was the dog she liked. You guessed it. It was the dog Tom and I had picked out completely independently of each other. That has got to be a sign! All three of us picked the same puppy!! I was just sure that she was the dog for us after that.

At the shelter the have what they call "Adoption Rooms" for people to spend time with a dog that they might want to take home. So, we requested Sable to come in a room with us. I was a bit nervous. I was alone with all three children and who knows how this puppy was going to be. Well, I had no reason to worry. She was so sweet and friendly! She just sniffed everyone and licked the kids hands. Then she crawled on my lap with Julianna and just sat there wagging her tail. Could this be our dog? I think so!! Sadly, we didn't get to bring her home with us today. At the shelter the do background checks before they will send the dog home with you...so we have to wait until at least Monday.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you!! Lily and I have already re-named the puppy. Her name, from now on, is going to be Macy Rebecca Stivers. (Lily added the middle name.) We are all so excited to get Macy home and make her a member of our family.

Dog Days

We might be getting a dog. For those of you who know me well, you know that getting a dog at this house is mostly because I think it would be good for the kids. I am not really a dog person. There are very few dogs that I really enjoy spending any time with. I'm a stickler for doggie manners and doggie owner manners as well.

Tom and I have talked and talked about getting a dog for the kids. We always ended up coming up with a reason not to. The house is too small. The kids are too young. It's too much work on top of three small children. They poop...a lot. These are all very good reason to think very hard about going thru with getting a pet. However, there was a friendly puppy abandoned out by the lake. Tom saw him out there on Tuesday, and the Bill saw him out there twice after that. Tom said that he was friendly and just followed him around. That's the kind of dog we're looking for. Not too wild and crazy, but friendly so that he can play with the kids.

I didn't hear about the dog until yesterday. Tom called me out of the blue from work and said, "You know how we've talked about getting a dog for the kids?" Yes...."Do you want one? Because there's one at the lake we can bring home if we want to." So, that is how it all began. I got so excited that I loaded all the kids up in the van and we went directly to PetSmart to get some supplies. Not only did I get some puppy food to feed the dog, but I also purchased doggie treats, a leash and a collar.

We were all very excited by the time we got out there to meet the puppy. However, we couldn't find him anywhere. I searched for over an hour. I was so sad because I had expected him to be there waiting for me to rescue him. I decided to leave a bowl of food for him and I'm hoping that he will be there waiting for me this morning. It's not even 9 o'clock on a Saturday morning and the kids and I are dressed and ready to head out the door to find our dog. I don't know what we're going to do if we can't find him....we might have to make a stop at our local animal shelter.

Standards

Drew a little nervous about the tire swing.


Lily was flying!



Growing big!




Lily





Julianna and Papa

Piggy back ride from Papa.

For me, this could turn into your standard mommy blog post. I bet if you Googled "mommy blog" you would find a million and one posts all about a trip to the pumpkin patch, full of pictures with the kids picking pumpkins and riding on hay racks. It's a perfect topic to show what fun it is to be a parent. That is the point of some blogs out there. It's to share your family's experiences with family and friends all over the country. I have cousins who blog, and they live far away, but reading their blogs bring me closer to their every day...and I like that.

I know that my blog is mostly about my kids and husband, but I hope that it's more than that too. I hope that with my honesty and sharing that someone finds comfort. I hope that finding and sharing the humor, the sadness, and the joys and trials of my life help someone to live more honestly. Pumpkin patches and trick-or-treating are special memories that we create with our kids. However, the peanut butter and jelly lunches and reading your child's first chapter book with them are probably more important.

Style Series: Lily dresses Julianna

Here is the lovely outfit that Lily picked out for Julianna on Sunday. Lily wants to dress her just about everyday...Lily is always making suggestions about what I should put with what when dressing the baby. Usually, I tell her that the bonus to being a mom is getting to pick out what your baby wears everyday. However, this weekend, I figured we weren't really going anywhere important so I gave in.

I love to wonder what LIly will do when she grows up. Will she continue to dress freely thru junior high school and high school? At what point will she notice that she doesn't always dress just like her peers? I will be sad when that day comes. I wonder if her passion for clothing and style will survive junior high and if she will make it into a career of fashion. I can see it. She would be amazing at it. In fact, this weekend, I took some inspiration from her. I wore a dress over my jeans to go out on a date with Tom. I asked he if I looked okay...She said yes, so I went for it. What the heck?! Sometimes I think she knows way more about fashion than I do. That's no joke.

Patio Post

My husband may not bring me flowers or buy me little gifts. I don't mind really. I don't mind because he does things like building me a beautiful brick patio from scratch.

Let me tell you, the guy had no desire to put too much time and effort into our backyard at this house. He was happy with the large backyard for the kids to play in. However, I had some different ideas. I wanted a fence around the yard so it was safe for the kids to go out and play. I wanted a swing set for the kids to play on. And I wanted a nice back patio. We did the fence soon after moving in. It was a muddy, horrible mess. But we got it done with a lot of help from my mother in law and dad. Then, for Lily's 3rd birthday we got her a fancy swing set...that my darling husband put together by himself. The patio, however? I had to wait a long time for this one.

For me, when I imagined putting in a new patio, it went something like digging up a bit of dirt, lining up some bricks and calling it good. I had no idea what really went into a project of this magnitude, and doing it all ourselves.

For those of you who are like I was let me just say, it is not as I imagined it would be. We spent hours with a wheelbarrow and shovels moving dirt. Tom had to measure it out just right so that the patio would slope away from the house. We then drove stakes to the depth we wanted and then spend several more hours moving MORE. Dirt. After that we ordered 7 tons (yes, tons) of sand/gravelish stuff to haul back to the backyard one wheelbarrow at a time. (Thank you David, Niki and Ann). Then and only then were we able to lay the hundreds of bricks. And cut the hundreds of bricks to fit in our pattern. (Thanks Chris!) This project was hours and hours of hard labor and took a lot of thought too.

This patio is the reason I don't get too hung up on not getting flowers on my anniversary! (The patio, and the fence, and the swing set, and the millions of other projects Tom has done to improve our home.) Thanks Tom.




Tom also re-built the stairs heading out of the back door of our house.

The 2 bonus planters that my husband built for me!

The almost finished product. I will post another picture when I have the backyard cleaned up and flowers planted in the planters.

Style Series

Dressed up for the Pumpkin Patch!

Yummy sweet Turds

Last night was Halloween. Tom and I decided for this holiday that Lily and Drew could eat all the candy that they could handle. It was fun to hear them tentatively ask for another piece of candy and see the look of shock on their face when we would always reply with a yes. These are the joys of parenting!

More than one funny thing happened last night. However, the funniest and most memorable came from Miss Lily. She got confused last night while trick-or-treating. She was sitting in the back of the van munching on a box of Nerds candy. She called up to Tom and I to tell us that she really like these Turds. (Obviously, she meant Nerds). But, Tom egged her on anyway. He asked her why she liked them and she said that she liked how they were round, sweet and crunchy.

Mmmmmmm........