Christmas is coming...

DAY 333 - November 29, 2009


Another Christmas craft in progress (see the previous post about the ribbon aisle). This is a different craft than the one using the ribbon we bought. Can you tell what's happening here? I hope not since those that usually get handmade gifts from us will be getting one this year. So far, the boys have really worked hard on these and the finished product is really great. I'm very happy with how it turned out and will have to post some pictures AFTER Christmas!

DAY 332 - November 28, 2009

Doug worked his tail off on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. He worked his regular 2pm-10pm shift on Thanksgiving and then went in to work part time at Walmart from 4am-12pm the next day. I am so appreciative for him always giving up his time to take advantage of overtime to earn some extra money for our family. He's very selfless in that way. While we don't like having him gone we know he's doing it for us and we love him for that.

While he was at Walmart he spotted this PS3 on sale at a good price. When we showed up there for our shopping we of course checked in with him. He and I decided to purchase it and make soem extra cash on eBay. We did that last year with a Wii (the hot item that was very hard to come by) and made some cash then too.

**UPDATE**
We sold the PS3 and made about $70.00...not too shabby! It's already packaged up and on it's way to someone who could have purchased the same thing just about anyplace right now...we didn't get it at an unheard of price...just one that someone with a lot of money to burn would rather pay and shop from home instead of getting in their car and going to Walmart.



DAY 331 - November 27, 2009

Today is Black Friday...our annual girls shopping trip has been in full swing for SEVERAL hours by the time this picture was taken. We started at 5am at Target and made it to the mall around 11am. Here are the carolers standing outside Old Navy adding some Christmas tunes to the chaos of the mall.

Thanksgiving is here!

DAY 330 - November 26, 2009



Thanksgiving Day...who doesn't love it? This is my nephew Jonathan (Doug's sister Dawn's son) and Doug's Grandma. Jonathan is a college freshman and wow, has he grown up! I've watched him grow up into an amazing, caring, loving, and helpful young man. He's helping Doug's Grandma (Obviously making her Jonathan's Great Grandma...lots of years between these two caught in this picture!) mash up the potatoes for dinner.

DAY 329 - November 25, 2009

Just one of my contributions to Thanksgiving Dinner. No, not really a traditional item to bring but yummy none-the-less. And...obviously a hit because there were only 4 left at the end of the day!

Getting the playroom back in order...finally!

DAY 328 - November 24, 2009



We bought a new TV for the play room a while ago and it's finally in at HHGregg. Next on the list is a TV stand. We were on the hunt and found this one at Value City Furniture. This picture was taken so we could compare it to others as we shopped but after going to another couple stores there really was no comparison. All others we saw weren't really our style...or in our price range. It will go great with the other things currently in the play room. Our old TV was one of those huge big screen TV's we bought over 10 years ago when we moved into our first house. It started to go out about a year ago and the only thing that worked was the sound. I used it to listen to the morning news on while I got ready in the downstairs bathroom. Then miraculously the picture came back for a few months and it could be used again. Then the picture went out again. And, one day, I turned it on and it simply refused to stay on. It would click right off as if to say "I've had a long enough life...I want to go to TV Heaven now." It stayed in the play room as a storage shelf until now. Now we're making that room more usable by putting our new TV and stand in there along with the Wii. Now the kids can have a place to play and watch their movies away from the main living area of the house.

Ribbon and play time.

DAY 327 - November 23, 2009



WOW...can you say "ribbon"? We went to The Flower Factory today on the hunt for some supplies for our holiday crafts and I needed some red ribbon. Guess I came to the right place huh? Actually, the left side of this aisle was also ribbon as was 1/2 of the other side of the display above! I've never seen so much ribbon! Plus...I got way more than I need for less than a buck fifty!

DAY 326 - November 22, 2009

After our obstacle course at puppy school the instructor told us to take our puppies to the park where they can climb and play on the equipment. She said that it will help them learn how to use their back legs and not be so skittish when it comes to strange places to explore. By the way, have you ever noticed that sometimes a dogs back legs will just "follow along"? I've never noticed that before but now that she's said it I notice it all the time with Lilly. It's like she's not exactly sure what to do with the back 1/2 of her body! Strange.

This and that...

DAY 325 - November 21, 2009


We went to the last class of puppy school today that we joined mid-way through the class. We will be starting our regular puppy class on December 5th but got a head start by attending the last 3 classes of the previous session. Today was a fun day of obstacles the puppies had to go through. Here they are trying to get Lilly to walk up on the board following a small trail of treats. She actually did really great with all the obstacles. I guess she's too young to be afraid of these things!

DAY 324 - November 20, 2009

Since we've moved in there has been an empty lot between us and the neighbors. Quite frankly, I've liked having a lot next to us with the exception of how ugly it can look. It was a breeze putting in the pool and fence, the boys can run and play there, we used that area to put excess dirt, etc we accumulated when finishing the landscaping of the back yard, when we backwash the pool it's an easy place to let the water drain to, and I've enjoyed not having construction going on right next to us. The builder that all the homes in our neighborhood built has long since left and the remaining 5 or so lots have been sold to a realtor. With the economy the way it is right now they have remained empty. It will be interesting to have new neighbors and see the kind of house they build. There are restrictions to anyone that builds though and they must include the requirements that we have in the covenant. Things like a brick wrap on this lot because it faces a major road and no vinyl siding. At the same time, I'm going to enjoy not having the hassle of construction going on right next to us and having the lot available for things we currently use it for.

A visit to the vet.

DAY 323 - November 19, 2009



Today was Lilly's first vet visit. She weighed in at 18 lbs and was a champ getting her last puppy shot...it didn't even phase her! We did get some bad news though...Lilly has a heart murmur. It's a 2-3 on a scale of 1-5. Dr. Brichler said this will most likely not go away and she should be fine until she's around 5 of so. At that time, if she has trouble at all, there is medicine we can give her. He said that, like with humans, we should watch her weight. He also recommended we not give her people food at all. Up to now she has not had anything except for dog food or dog treats so we're good there. I'm new to this stuff and asked if we needed to take any other precautions and he said no. The boys can run and play with her all they want and "tire her out". We'll just have to wait and see what happens. She's already a member of the family and we will be crushed if something happens to her that keeps her from having a full life. Right now we'll move forward as we have been and try not to think about it.

Nice against a blue sky.

DAY 322 - November 18, 2009

This is one of the decoratve grasses we have that hides the utility boxes on the side of our property. They look really nice right now and I love the way it looks against the sky. Obviously it's just the top of the grass...this grass stands about 6 feet tall and hides the utilities well.

Getting behind a bit...here's the "catch-up" post.

DAY 321 - November 17, 2009

The one thing about bulldogs is that they often sleep in crazy positions. Here is Lilly's first crazy sleep position we've seen since we got her. She's a very picky sleeper and when she wants up on the couch or chair she'll try her hardest until someone comes over and picks her up and puts here where she wants to be. She was sleeping "normal" and was non-picture worthy...then Kaleb said "NOW we should take a picture of Lilly" and when I walked into the great room this is what I found.

DAY 320 - November 16, 2009

Tonight was Doug's one night off this week. We were headed down to Outback for a nice family dinner and Kaden pointed out the sky. It was really pretty so I told him he could get my camera out of my purse (yes, I've been carrying it with me everyday...good thing I've got a bit purse right now!) and snap a picture out the window. Granted it's not a great view with the streetlights and telephone poles but it turned out good for a rolling picture.

DAY 319 - November 15, 2009

The big football game was on TV tonight...the Indianapolis Colts vs. the New England Patriots. I picked up some summer sausage, cheese, and crackers to have while we watched. Kaden was helping me cut it up. He did a great job and only snuck a couple pieces along with me.

DAY 318 - November 14, 2009


The boys and I ran some errands today and spotted this cute sweater in the $2.50 area at Target and couldn't resist. Lilly had it on as Doug came home and then Kaden snuggled in with her to settle for the night. It wasn't 5 minutes and this is the result. Guess they're both tired huh? By the way, this is Kaden's favorite time with Lilly right now. She's really biting on EVERYTHING right now and he finds it hard to play with her because she's attacking his hands, pant legs, and shoes.

A little quiet time...

DAY 317 - November 13, 2009

In the craziness that comes with having two boys that each have a friend spend the night we found this moment of quiet. Kaleb and Kaden both had friends over but Kaden and his friend Justin really loved it when Lilly was settled in for the night. Here they are sharing the quiet of a tired puppy after a night of playing with 4 active boys.

Disney's PhotoPass Rocks!

DAY 316 - November 12, 2009




Our Disney PhotoPass pictures finally arrived! We get this every time we go to Disney...We buy one disc and combine all our pictures from each family then split the cost. This time around we got a fantastic deal. I found that you can "pre-order" and save $50. Then, while we were in Disney we got a special PhotoPass card for Doug's birthday which landed us 20% off a purchase. I used that toward the purchase of the "pre-pay" and that brought the total down to only $80. The "pre-pay" doesn't mean that you have to pre-pay before your vacation...you can actually wait and order it after you return but before you load all your pictures and order the disc. Those discounts brought the cost down from $150. This is a lot to pay for pictures but the discounts and splitting it between families cost us each only about $27!

You don't belong in there!

DAY 315 - November 11, 2009


There are some places dogs don't belong...the pantry is one of them. Lilly crawled into the pantry tonight while Kaden had it open helping with dinner. As you can see, she's still small enough to fit under the shelf. I'm sure these days won't last long.

So much for comfort...

DAY 314 - November 10, 2009



Poor Kaleb! Actually "poor all of us" right now. Lilly LOVES to bite and chew on anything. Most appealing to her is apparently shoes, pant legs, and feet...whether they've got socks on or not. Either way this is very annoying and occasionally painful. We've found that getting anything done takes much longer these days because we're constantly telling her to stop or pulling her away only to have her reattach herself again. Tonight Kaleb came down from his shower in his PJs. Comfy right?? Well, when he sat down on the bottom step to put his tennis shoes on it just looked funny to me. Here he was, trying to get snuggled in and ready for bed only to have to put his shoes on to avoid Lilly's sharp teeth. So much for comfort huh?

No walking on water here.

DAY 313 - November 9, 2009



Tonight we gave Lilly a bath. The boys were excited to help but she was not so excited to be in the tub. Of course she drank the water when we put her in...that was expected. What was not expected and looked really funny was that she kept lifting one leg out of the water and tried to "stand" on it. Apparently from her vantage point the water was "level and flat" and appeared to be something she should be standing on. Obviously, that was not the case but she kept trying anyway!

More puppy business...in more ways than one!

DAY 312 - November 8, 2009




This has been our usual hangout lately. We've been taking Lilly across the street to "do her business" and one of the boys grabbed my camera and caught me in the act. We'll probably end up changing her potty location...especially when it gets colder and we don't want to walk "all the way across the street" but for now it's nice to not have all those piles in the yard. We do pick it up over there but do it every couple days rather than at each "delivery".

DAY 311 - November 7, 2009

This is the first day of puppy school. Our good friend Joann owns Indy K-9 Kollege in Beech Grove and she suggested we get Lilly in early. She also gave us a fantastic discount of which we're very thankful for. She is currently running a puppy class and has 3 sessions left. She had us go ahead and start and finish out these 3 sessions...then we'll continue on to the full puppy class so Lilly will be getting 6 weeks of training. She also encourages all members of the family to come in and participate which I like. That way we can all hear what the instructor has to say and practice with Lilly.

Looking for a little relief.

DAY 310 - November 6, 2009

The past couple weeks have been very tough on me physically. I'm suffering from a terrible case of hives. I've had them since mid-August but they've become really unbearable over the last several weeks. I've been to the doctor and he feels I've got "Chronic Urticaria" which is the medical term for "hives". Unfortunately there isn't much that can be done to get rid of this type of hives. He's given me 3 different medications and so far one worked for a couple days but then the effects seemed to wear off. The 2nd one did not lessen their occurrence either.

I've had experience with hives in the past. In 1990 I got them really bad and they lasted for about 6 months. I even went for all the allergy testing, etc but they never found anything to pinpoint as the cause. At the time, the doctor told me that sometimes people get hives for no apparent reason. She also added that if I can get through the next 5 years without a recurrence then I'd probably never get them again. Well, I made it through those 5 years and then another 13. Now here I am, 18 years later (man, I'm getting old!), and they're back with a vengeance. It is completely debilitating. I am fortunate (I guess) that they don't really present themselves on my face or neck. Unfortunately, from the shoulders down my body is basically covered.

So, because there is no cure at the moment, I'm searching for anything that will take the itch away. I've done some online research and found some home remedies I'm trying little by little. Calamine lotion does not really work but I continue to put it on. Funny thing is that it says to apply with a cotton ball or soft cloth. Me? No, I'm pouring it on the major parts of my body like legs and arms and then rubbing it in. THAT'S how bad and wide spread they are! Another suggestion was a cornstarch paste. Well, let me just tell you how uncomfortable and cold I was standing in the tub trying to put that on and let it set for a while. They suggested 30 minutes...I think I lasted maybe 15! Baby oil was another idea...nope, didn't work either. So much for the claims that "I put it on before bed and woke up hive-free".

I've got an appointment with an allergist but that's not until the 20th of this month. I'll continue to try what I can in my search for relief. If any of the 5 or so of you that maybe read this have any ideas I'll gladly take them! I have to say that one surprising short-term help was drinking Chamomile tea. I had a cup last night and I was itch-free for about 1 1/2 hours. Unfortunately, I tried another cup right before bed and it had no effect. It seems that if I do get a little relief from a medicine or whatever, it works the first time and then it doesn't work again.

Clearing out...

DAY 309 - November 5, 2009

We cleaned up the playroom a while ago and had the boys go through and get rid of things they no longer wanted or used. After putting some downstairs for a Goodwill donation and filling up a couple trash bags with stuff that wasn't worth passing on we ended up with this pile of "good stuff" we wanted to offer our sitter, Amy. She came and picked it all up tonight. She'll keep some and then pass on what she doesn't want to her Mom's Group for their share table. She's very active in MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) and was excited to be able to take so much that others can use. It was a bit sad though to see all the well-loved things from the boys' earlier years being passed on. Things like one of Kaden's favorite games, Hullaballoo, their Scooby-Doo bean bags, the Leapster and Leap Pad educational electronic games, and yes, the little blue and white chair that came with the "feeding table" they both used as babies (instead of a high chair) that converted into a little table for play time...it grew with the kids and the chair suited them at ages 3-5.

They've long outgrown these things and I guess it's time we cleared them out and let someone else put them to use. It's all just a reminder of how big they've grown.

Trying a new sport!

DAY 308 - November 4, 2009

Tonight was Kaden's first basketball practice. He wanted to try it out this year and is playing with Perry Township. They've broken all the 3rd graders down into teams so not all kids on his team go to his school. He does have one friend that is in his class though so he was excited about that. Here they are talking with the coach at the end of practice...Kaden is about 3rd from the left in the white shorts. As expected...he's the shortest one on the team. His size never stopped him though and he's always a bundle of energy. Although, it is interesting to see just how tall some of the kids his age are! One day he'll hit a growth spurt and shoot up before our eyes!

How do you choose just one picture when ALL THIS happened in a weekend?

DAY 307 - November 3, 2009

We got Lilly some treats when we first bought supplies for her. Well, those treats were really kind of hard and didn't break in half well. I stopped and picked up some softer treats tonight and set Kaden out to cut them up so they were a better size for a puppy.

DAY 306 - November 2, 2009

Just too cute to pass up for picture of the day! Lilly is doing great! She got me up once her 1st night with us and then slept through the night last night. We're working very hard on potty training her and have had only a few accidents. We are taking her out ALL THE TIME though but she's getting used which door to go out and where to go potty. Currently we're taking her across the street to the grassy area near the pond. Right now she's not really happy with her leash but I'm sure in a few days she'll get used to it.

DAY 305 - November 1, 2009

We went to a tailgate put on my Tim Motsinger who is running for Marion County Sheriff. It was a fun event and, besides Tim Motsinger, Lilly was the star of the show. The boys really had fun showing her off.

They were having a raffle for some Indiana Pacers (NBA Basketball) tickets as well as a pair of tickets for the Colts game this afternoon. Kaleb was in charge of our 4 tickets...one for everyone. Kaden and I were hanging with Lilly, Doug was talking to someone, and Kaleb was patiently checking our numbers. They drew 2 winners for 2 sets of Pacers tickets...we didn't have those numbers. Then they drew for the pair of Colts tickets. Well, wouldn't you know it, Kaleb held up his hand and said we won. Sure enough we'd won the ticket! It was very exciting BUT very disappointing at the same time. While we could have gone to the game because our afternoon was free, it was only a pair of tickets. The last time Doug had been to a Colts game was something like 1985 and the 3 of us have never been. They also just built a BEAUTIFUL new stadium which would be really neat to see...not to mention going to a Colts game! Anyway, there was no way Doug could pick one of the boys to go leaving the other one with me. We decided to auction the tickets off and donate the money to Tim Motsinger's campaign. Whoever bought them got them for a steal...they were $120 tickets (each) in the front row and they only got $150 for the pair. Oh well...it was the right thing to do.

As a result of that whole situation we ended up talking to the guy that donated that pair of tickets to the campaign. Turns out he was willing to give, yes I said GIVE, us 4 tickets to a later game...Doug would just have to call him next week to see what tickets he had left for which game.

**Update: Doug got a call back from "Colts ticket guy" and WE GOT TICKETS! Doug and I are SO EXCITED! They're for the December 6th game against the Tennessee Titans. We haven't told the boys yet and really want to make it a big deal for them. This is something we've never done before and probably won't do for a very long time again...if ever! So...SHHHHH! Don't tell them! Only 1 minor detail is yet to be worked out. Doug is scheduled to work that day but we're hoping someone will be willing to trade with him. This type of thing doesn't happen very often.

DAY 304- October 31, 2009

I can hardly stand all the activities and happenings today...almost too much in one day! To sum it up...it's Halloween day, Doug's off work, and we got a new puppy today. We've been looking for an English bulldog for the past couple months and feel that we have exhausted every avenue possible. The basic consensus is that if you want an English Bulldog be prepared to pay an arm and a leg, travel far to get it, or both. Well, we love English Bulldogs...we want a pet. We don't want a show dog with an incredible pedigree and champion parents. We just want a cute, stocky, snorting and snoring pet. That's it. Jump now to Doug's conversations with a local breeder that breeds English and American bulldog mixes. We found our solution...we get a stocky, cute and not so snorting or snoring pet with much fewer health problems at a reasonable cost. We'd been talking about getting one of his 3/4 English and 1/4 American bulldog mixes but the female hadn't gotten pregnant yet and we were getting impatient. He hadn't called us back in a while so Doug went out on a limb and called him. Turns out he had a 9-week old female that was a 1/2 English and 1/2 American bulldog mix available. We did a little research and went to see an adult 50:50 mix like that and liked her build so we then went to see the puppy (that we knew we'd end up getting that day if we went to see her). Of course we all fell in love with her and had her in the car and on our way to the pet store within about 30 minutes. Here are some pictures of her...we named her Lilly...Lilly Abigail Wood. The boys (as well as Doug and I) just love her to pieces!

So, our busy day continues with Halloween and trick-or-treating. The boys dressed up quickly since we were busy playing with Lilly and lost track of time and our friends showed up to go through the neighborhood with us. Here are all the boys...Riley is the skeleton, Ritchie is next as some scary creature (I asked him but have forgotten what he said...I thought he said he was a mummy though), Kaden is a "phantom with fading eyes" and Kaleb is a bleeding skeleton. As you can tell, we've long outgrown the cute little Halloween costumes and have moved on to the scary ones!