The Dog Pound

The house we currently live in attracts dogs, much to Charlie's delight. I feel like we live in a dog pound.

Seriously, though.

The first day we were here we spent it painting various rooms. I looked out the window and there was a large Great Dane, with her six very large puppies, prancing around our fenced-in yard. The gate was closed, and I kept searching for an opening somewhere in the fence. They were such big dogs that I was too intimidated to go make their acquaintance.

The second time we had a visitor, I was on my way back from a run and saw some sort of Husky breed in our yard. Again I was intimidated and had Charlie in a stroller so I waited and waited for the dog to get far enough away to head in.

The third time we had an over night visitor at this pound. A really skinny, beautiful, and abnormally sweet Pit Bull was curled up by our front deck one night. It was brought to our attention as some friends were leaving, and came back to ask us if we had a dog. We felt so bad for the shivering, obviously neglected dog. We fed her what food we had, gave her water, and let her come in and sleep in our laundry room (since it was below freezing, and she didn't have ANY fat on her). The next day she went running with me. I came back and left the gate open and she disappeared. It was a sad relief.

The fourth time we had a German Shepard sitting on our front porch barking at any car that drove past the house. I was so confused with this one. It had a collar and just sat there protecting our dog pound. I was again intimidated to leave the house with Charlie, but we had to go pick Sean up from work. I carried Charlie above my head and loaded him in the car. By the time we returned our little protector had left.

This fifth time was my favorite. I was out for a four mile run, yesterday, when suddenly I passed a house with several loud and ferocious dogs (the house looked like an eery one you'd see in a creepy movie). All of a sudden two little puppies came running across the yard, crossed the street and started following me. I tried taking them back three times, but they insisted that they wanted to go for a run. They followed me all the way home. The little things ran three miles. I fed them (by this time, the dog pound has plenty of food to feed it's tenants) and gave them water. They were friendly, but afraid to come too close. Sean said that is a sign that they have been mistreated? I am not familiar with dogs, although I should be by now, so I didn't know. Charlie LOVED these little puppies. I fell in love with the copper one. As they started following me, being rebellious and not wanting to go back to their home, I called them Laman and Lemuel. Then, the more playful they became, I started calling them Sean and Phillip. We sat on the back deck and the three of us played with them. Charlie would hold his hands out for them to lick and would shriek, with delight of course, when their little tongues would cover his hands and then his face. He LOVED it and would cry when we would take him away from them. They stayed in hotel laundry room and then were taken to a dog clinic this morning. Sad. We liked these ones. (We did attempt to take them home two more times, but were wondering if they were just dropped off at that random corner, cause they didn't act happy to be back at 'home'.)

Anyways, we've been able to do a little dog sampling, and will have fun when we actually get to choose a dog one day to keep.

Trying to get pictures, and they thought my lap was open for relaxation.

Snuggled up on my lap. I am a sucker.

A happy, thankfully temporary, surprise for Sean to come home to.

Insert happy 11 month old shrieks

Hotel laundry room, Charlie's face and hands, and anything else that the dogs have touched have all been properly sanitized!

Bad Decision

I enjoy going to thrift stores.

One day I found a little battery operated book at a thrift store. It plays various songs as you flip through each page. Some of the songs are 'Old MacDonald','Hey Diddle Diddle', 'Hickory Dickory Dock', etc.... I bought it.

Bad decision.

Charlie isn't really amused by it, but it usually gets pulled off of the shelf with all of the other toys.

It has no 'off' button.

Usually I clean the toys up and put them back on the toy shelves, after Charlie goes down for the night. I switch all of the toys to the 'off' position, that toy being the exception because it can't be switched off.

Two random nights, in the past month or so, haven't been pleasant ones. Around 2-3 am I'll suddenly get chills down my back as I hear "Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O......".

The possessed toy goes off all on it's own. You never know when it's going to start singing.

The first night it happened, I was WAY creeped out, but I got out of bed to fix the problem. I was imagining mice running across the toy, setting it off.

The second night it happened, I was WAY creeped out, but so was Sean. He got the privilege of being woken up by the possessed toy. He got up to deal with it and told me he was imagining Chucky was standing by the toy, ready to greet him.

The toy is going back to the thrift store.

Sunday Checklist

1. Wake up to Charlie wanting to get out of his crib.
2. Roll over and wish there was a snooze button.
3. Don't fight Sean as he says he'll get up and get Charlie.
4. Have Charlie crawl all over us, in bed, which gets us up and moving.
5. Sean showers as I get breakfast going.
6. Eat breakfast
7. Lay Charlie's clothes out (so he doesn't end up in something completely mismatched), and the two of us (Charlie and me) jump into the shower.
8. Sean gets Charlie ready as I get ready.
9. Nurse Charlie
10. Pack bags (diaper and lesson) and load them into car.
11. Quickly get my clothes on.
12. Try taking new routes to church that have fewer traffic lights (cause we are late).

Today we needed to add a couple more items to the list.

13. Turn bright red as a kind soul wanders up to the front of the chapel to tell your husband that his wife's shirt was on inside out.
14. Run out of the chapel, bright red, to switch clothes around.
15. Thank kind soul on my way back up to sit with my family.

And that was a fourth of our day. Thankfully the last half included pajamas (which were put on correctly), naps, and good food!

We need a full length mirror. Today proved that!

(I had a couple other people tell me that they saw my shirt on inside out, but weren't brave enough to come up and let me know)

The After Party

The partying did not die down, once Christmas day passed. We played games, went shooting (guns and archery), spent a day in Seattle (Pike's Place, monorail, H&M, and the Ballard Locks), attended a family baptism, exercised, hiked, purchased lots of great children's books at Value Village, went after Christmas shopping, got pedicures, and took family pictures.

After a crazy week like the one we had, I have drawn a conclusion: I LOVE FAMILY!

Family members love you despite your quirks, mood-swings, lack of sleep, when you have a running nose, if your zipper is down, if you have bad breath, when you beat them over and over again at the same game, and so forth.

I don't want to imagine what life would be like without family.

I went through a family 'cleanse' the week after break. It was more like a week of withdrawals. Severe ones. I was SO homesick, lonely, tired, etc.

We left the kids at home and went for a relaxing pedicure. The two hours away was the only time the women were completely without children. Bless those children, but bless those two hours!

Visiting one of Seattle's hot spots-- the gum wall

On the monorail

A nice way to end each day

Robin Hood (my dad) took little Sean and the others out wandering through the woods, shooting cardboard animals. Apparently it was tons of fun-- I was on baby-sitting duty.

My FAVORITE picture from the week! I love Sean, Micah, Emily, my dad, and Eve's expressions. I also love Shane sneakily applying his mustache.

Love the mustaches and expressions on all of the men (and Ryder)!

I am Charlie's favorite person in the middle of the night. Sean and my dad are the favorites during waking hours. He is always reaching, crawling, or climbing up on those two. I get slightly jealous. They go out and have fun, I stay home to watch the little one and he STILL prefers the other two? Unfair!

Teaching Ethan to shoot

Couples' therapy.....

And we lived happily ever after.....

So did they!

Christmas Day

Christmas day was a lot more fun with a baby, even though he didn't know what was going on.

*Side note* This blog won't let me upload vertical pictures, so I was unable to post some of my favorites: sitting on the stairs before coming down to see the tree (all of us--crowded stairs), Charlie with his first gift from Santa (a little walker that he can push around the house instead of our kitchen chairs), Eli morphing into batman as he put on his cape and mask and Ryder with his new jeans.

Still unsure as to why we woke him up.... Didn't really pay any attention to the tree or gifts.

Happy to leave his wrapped gift to play with Lincoln and his unwrapped gift.

When we decided that Charlie just needs a giant box, with wrapping paper, next year.

Seriously LOVED every minute in this box.

Koby decided to see what it was all about and was pretty pleased with his decision!

First granddaughter/niece to join the family, Ivy. We went to her baby blessing before heading home for more festivities.

Such an easy-going, beautiful baby! I don't think Charlie ever slept as much as other babies do, so I was amazed at how she would just lay in your arms!

And that's what it was all about...

Dress-up for men

Oh Sean. He's goofy. He's fun. He's smart. He's hard-working. He's handsome. He's entertaining. He's a wicked mullet-grower. He's mine.

For Christmas this year, we all gathered at the DeFreese household. Sean thought it would be funny for the guys to grow out/cut their hair into mullets. I was used to dress-up, I grew up with an older brother (who laughed at dress-up) and three sisters who were constantly dressing up. Sean, James, and Shane brought dress-up to a whole new level. Not only did I keep cutting just the sides of Sean's hair (for 4 months), but I flat ironed the back. It was wonderfully hideous!

Here are some of the 'additions' to the family, in their finest. They go by 'The Mullettes'.

Looking for an album cover for this righteous boy band....

And now for the head shots....

Man oh man am I a lucky woman!

Emily's heart throb

Megan has the privilege of being married to the trendy mullette. I believe this style can be seen across the country, in various cities.

An album's not complete without a jumping shot.

please excuse the gift wrapping in the back

The wives lived Happily Ever After the haircuts/shave.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with Sean's family this year. We enjoy spending time with them, and wish we lived a little closer.

I think this post was neglected because the day after we came home we had mice (plural-- four to be exact). We got rid of the mice and then problem numero dos crept in. Sean had a lump in his arm. We met with a surgeon, I was in a puddle of tears for a week and a half, lump was extracted, lump seems harmless and benign, and the Thanksgiving post was lost.

The start of the trip wasn't the most wonderful, but it had to happen. I got pulled over. Well, I got my first speeding ticket. Oops! We were on the way to the airport and I got caught in a speeding trap after I had climbed a hill and was descending. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Thanksgiving was wonderful for various reasons. It's ALWAYS wonderful being with family, either mine or his. The food looked as amazing as it tasted! It was especially fun this year to watch the babies, Lacey and Charlie, play. They are only seven weeks apart and are doing similar things. They were babbling in baby talk the whole trip-- that was my VERY favorite part! I am a big fan of the baby babbling!

Post-bath picture cause we forgot the before picture. Their bums are pinchable, but we'll leave the viewing to us.

They were crawling and pulling themselves up on everything. Poor Charlie had daily bruises from falling and bonking his head. He has learned how to land safely now.

The dads (brothers and best friends) cheered the babies on as they climbed all the way up the stairs, for the first time.

Playing with the 'motorcycle'. Always next to each other playing.

Sean's oldest brother (also best friend) and his beautiful family, at the lights on Temple Square. It was freezing, but beautiful.

We did get in a hike, party night at my sister's place, shopping, pedicures, eating, and Temple Square with siblings, brothers and sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, and cousins. We had quite the group.

I am pretty sure the baby babbling was all about how Charlie is supposed to hook Lacey up with his friends and vice versa, when they get to be 25, of course.

I love holidays! I love family!