Mud Bowl: 2019

Just had to catch some of this on camera.  On the (one) warm day between snow and Arctic Blasts, my boys went out to play football in our backyard, which is a mud pit.  The yard is surrounded by trees which a) block sunlight from reaching the ground and b) suck up all of the water, leaving the grass...well, non-existent.

 Now, at times there is grass, but not after a tough stretch of weather, a thorough raking of leaves, and...a tackle football game.

Perhaps you've heard what I've heard said, that "I'm not raising grass, I'm raising children".

I hope that my kids remember their childhood as one in which they had a blast together, playing ball and wallowing in the mud.  Honestly, I'm so grateful that I have FIVE sons to play together, that it only gives me joy.

 Some day I might have grass, but I'd rather look at my boys, playing and best-of-friends, any day!

November: a daybook

Outside my window: snow.

We were robbed of fall.  I was basking in the glorious fall colors this year, when one day we had a snow fall.  I always love the first snow, so I just made hot cocoa and enjoyed it.  I figured it would melt and go back to fall.  A few days later it snowed again.  Then an "arctic blast" was predicted.  It snowed again last night.  So...on to Advent?!

I am wearing: my husband's sweatpants.  He's never worn them (maybe once!).  They are my pajamas and I am sick.  The family has been plagued by an awful coughing cold/flu sickness that is slowwwwly moving on and out.  I did manage to get a good day of home schooling in with the kids.  I have been reading more to the littles this year (history and science), and this COUGH has just made that really exhausting!

I am pondering: How fast life is going.  I can't stop thinking about the fact that Arwen will be heading to college in the fall.  She was accepted to the college of her choice a week or so ago, and we're so excited for her.  But I am going to miss her!!  My "baby" is Three now, and suddenly it's dawning on me that I'm in a new phase of life.  There are pros and cons... I'm trying to focus on the pros, and embrace this moment for all it's worth.

From the Kitchen: Hot chocolate.  Lots and lots.  I'm trying to buy organic milk these days. Depending on where I'm at, it's really cost-prohibitive.  Anyway, hot chocolate.

Looking ahead: My husband's Mom is coming for Thanksgiving (unless the weather prohibits her trip to the airport).  His brother's family is also set to join us, although with refundable tickets, we're still waiting for the "official" word.  In the meantime, I'm trying to do a good job of preparing for maybe six out-of-town guests for Thanksgiving (and maybe not).

To do list:  I'll spare you the un-fun details.  On a frivolous (but oh-so-necessary) level, I need to schedule haircuts for myself and two oldest girls.  I also need to get to Home Depot to pick out some vinyl flooring for our kitchen and some tile for a backsplash.  We're finally putting things into motion to give our kitchen a facelift, and if I don't get those items cued up, I'm going to be regretting it come Christmas, when our new countertop goes in, leaving a torn-up backsplash in it's wake.

Befriending: a dog update

Muffin has weaseled her way into Reina's tolerant heart.

 I find them curled up together all over the place!  On the couch, in Reina's dog bed, on the front hall rug.

I'm not actually sure that Reina really loves Muffin, but she lets Muffin treat her like a surrogate mother.

And when she's sick of her, she just goes to sleep.

Muffin

We've had Muffin for just over two weeks now.  I introduced her in my St. Francis feast day post, but it wasn't too in-depth.  The pictures for this post aren't great, so sorry for that, but I just randomly picked some from my phone to give you the general idea, which is: small and fluffy.

It  should be amply clear by now that I'm a "dog person", and after a long and painful path of struggling to find a dog that fit our family and that didn't die on us (!) due to bad breeding, we were thrilled when our neighbors bred their labradoodle and we got a puppy!  That was 4 years back now, and Reina has been such a wonderful companion.

She is calm and sweet and gentle.  I look forward to our daily walks as much as she does!  Around 11:30 am my young schoolers have had about all they can take.  I load up the little ones in a double stroller, the grade-schoolers grab bikes or scooters, and we go around "the loop", which is our equivalent of a city block (or two).  The dog gets walked, and so do we!  The 10-15 min of fresh air and exercise refreshes all of us and we're ready to finish the school day when we get back.

But this post is about Muffin, not Reina.

 Rosie (9) was the first one to start pointing out Teddy Bear puppies and saying, "That's my favorite kind of dog".  About a year later, of her own accord, Galadriel (13) started doing the same thing.  Then Rosie said she preferred yorkie-poos, but the idea was the same: they wanted a SMALL dog.

Well, Reina is many wonderful things, but she is not small.

first vet appointment

the wait got very long. They brought Sam coloring materials, and muffin just...waited. 

This summer trip to the Southwest took a hard toll on a bunch of us, but especially Galadriel.  She wasn't sure she'd make it home in time for her 13th birthday.  We just barely did, and we celebrated as a family, but I wasn't able to plan a surprise party with her friends as I had hoped.

Thirteen can be a hard year as girls start dealing with teen-aged emotions.  I began to think that a little dog that could be taken on "therapy walks" might be really handy (as opposed to fighting the "lunging labradoodle", Reina (I absolutely must add that Reina walks nicely for me)).

we often mistake Muffin for her favorite chew toy: an actual teddy bear!

Teddy bear dogs are a "designer breed", which is a fancy way of saying they're a mixed breed.  There are a billion "backyard breeders" of toy-sized dogs.  They can be a combination of yorkies, Maltese, Bichon Frises, mini-poodles, and on and on.  The "official" Teddy bear mix is between a pure bred Bichon Frises and a shih tsu.  Thus, Shichon or Zuchon are also appropriate names for this breed.

After a good amount of searching, and walking away from a sketchy breeder or two, we found a lovely couple who homeschooled their children, now grown.  They own the Bichon mother, and brought both her and Muffin's brother (the only other pup in the litter) along with them when I went to meet Muffin.  They live in a big city about two hours away, but were making a trip to our city and offered to meet me at the local library.  (Actually they offered to bring her to our home, but I am protective about meeting on-line acquaintances at our home.  Still, it was very convenient!)

The puppies and mother were clean, healthy, and obviously well cared for.  So, Muffin came home with me!  I hadn't told the kids, so they were all surprised and Muffin had a name within about 30 seconds of arriving home (thank you Eowyn!)

Everyone fell in love with her fluffy cuteness...which is why she gets away with being hard to crate-train!  We love her and are happy to have her in our home!