A sad week in the Howle house

  WARNING: This is not going to be a happy post.  There are some humorous tidbits, but on the whole, not happy. Just something that I feel might help purge some of my sadness.

  This has been a sad week for animals in our home.  I should start out by saying we used to have a menagerie.  1 dog, 2 cats, and 2 fish.  As of this morning, we are now down to a sometimes dog and a fish.

    Stardust and Moonshine came to us a few weeks after we got married.  I told Jason I needed  a baby to nurture. Not wanting a real baby at that point in our marriage, we adopted two precious kittens.  Of course, with the usual Howle timing, we found out we were expecting Emma about 2 months later. 

  A couple of months ago we made the rough decision  that it was time to find a new home for the cats.  Stardust had developed a bladder problem that led to puddles all over our house, and we didn’t really want to split the two apart, so we started looking.  We found a nice lady who could take one of them, so Stardust went and Moonshine stayed with us.

  Around the same time Sadie, our mutt, and Grady began to have a difference of opinion.  Grady thought she was a pull-up toy, and Sadie didn’t.  To avoid bad feelings on either side, Sadie lives with my parents for now and comes to visit occasionally.

  And for the fish…Emma won two Betas a few months ago, which she named Angelina and Taylor.  They did well for a couple of months, and then a few weeks ago, Taylor umm,  leapt out of the tank and swam down the drain to find her family.  Have you ever had a fish run away? 

Taylor 1

  She adopted a new fish – a female beta this time, and the new Taylor and Angelina lived happily on either side of glass for roughly 2 weeks.  Then Tuesday night,  Angelina suddenly um, miraculously, changed her color and looked totally different from the fish he used to look like (thanks to late night trip to Wal-Mart).   The next day the new Taylor died.  The newly light blue Angelina now  happily swims in the whole tank without the divider all by himself.

   This morning was the worst of it.  Emma wanted to go outside to “check on something” She wouldn’t tell Jason what it was, but he discovered it when he looked out her window.  Moonshine was laying very still in the grass.  Jason went to check and reported that forensic evidence suggests the Moonshine was bitten by a snake. I won’t go into other details.  I don’t know if he was lying to save my heart, but I chose to trust him on this one.

  As tough as this is on Emma, I am taking it a bit harder.  Moonshine was my buddy. Every night when I crawled in bed he hopped up next to me and laid against my tummy and purred while I pet and scratched him. He wouldn’t stay long – just long enough to let me know he loved me and then he curled up at my feet to sleep.

  So to all of our departed friends – Taylor 1&2, Angelina 1, and Moonshine  - we will miss you very much, but we will see you again on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.  I know there are plenty of our other pets there to welcome you home.

Moonshine

All it takes is faith and trust…and a little bit of Pixie dust.

   After school on Monday, we went over to my mom’s house for some swimmin’ time.  The kids love it when Daddy gets in the pool. He plays the best games with them, like Otter Rides, Kids Stack, and Big Sea Monster.  But Jake’s favorite is the Jaker Flips. 

  It starts by Jason asking if he wants to do a Jaker Flip. Jake pretends to be scared and fake yells “No!” all while swimming towards Daddy.

Then Jason launches him into the air.

And he flies…

…then lands with a splash.

  And then he does is all over again.

  Emma is not too much into getting air.  She has just recently begun to put her face in the water, so she has her own way of using her Daddy as a launch pad.

 

  She also enjoys the Super Jump, which involves starting at the back corner of the yard to get a running start and then leaping off the deck  into the water.

   Grady isn’t too into the flying action yet, but enjoys the water and the games as much as my other fish.

    I am looking forward to the day when he can participate in Emma’s other favorite Daddy game:

 

   I think those four would live in the water if they could, and as much as a I hate the heat I hope it stays swimming weather for a good while yet. 

These are a few of my Favorite Things….

   Tonight Emma did her first homework assignment as a “grader”.  Ms. Taylor sent home a brown bag and attached to it was a list that Emma had to find objects for.  The key was that the objects were to be 3-dimensional (no pictures), they had to fit in the bag, and they had to be unique.  This was Emma’s collection:

 A  hobby or a free time activity that you enjoy

Painting & Drawing

A favorite thing (such as a color, book, food, etc)

  Chinese Food!

Something special about your family

  I’m going to have a baby sister!

Somewhere you would like to visit

Sea World and Disney

Something that reminds you of a special time in your life or event

  Dozing with Dinos

Something that you don’t like

Being in the dark

 

  (Notice that my little granola girl even has a “green” night light.)

  I really enjoyed spending the time with Emma as she decided what to include in her bag.  It was especially challenging for her to find something that would fit in the bag.  My favorite dilemma?

“Well, I really don’t like it when my little brothers mess with me when I’m trying to do something, but I don’t think we can stuff one of them in that bag.”

We Won! We’re Really Gonna be Famous!

  No, you’re not having déjà vu, we won again! I always knew my kids were cuties, but it seems like the folks at Conner’s Amazing Acres agree with me.  For the second time, we won the weekly photo contest.  I won’t make you play guessing games again, this is the picture that won:

Still not one of my favorites, but I do love the look of Pure Joy on Jake’s little face.  I am glad that Emma is face front in this one, and maybe if we win again it will be the great one of her smile:

  Either way, I am looking forward to seeing my kids on the Conner’s website soon, and visiting the farm in the fall….so who wants to go with us?!

Back to School!

  Yesterday was Emma and Jake’s first day back to school.  At this point, I’m not sure who was more excited at the prospect, me or the kids.

  Jake should have been in VPK this year, but trying to find a special needs VPK that isn’t a daycare is pretty tough going.  He has been going to Lighthouse Learning Center since he was 17 months old, and I have been happy with it, but last year things changed.  He was in a classroom with only developmentally disabled kids, and he did really well at first, but then he hit a plateau and they wouldn’t move him to a different room.  I guess I raised enough cane and this year he is back in an inclusion class. His teacher, Miss Diane,  has been at LLC since Jake started and has always loved him. She is so excited to have him in her class and I think he is going to do great.  He was really excited to start back – so excited that he actually ran out to the bus when he heard it pull up.

                      

He was quite proud of himself.  I hope that his new teacher keeps him so happy about school, and looking forward to going every morning.

  Emma was so excited that she is going to be a”grader” this year.  (she says that once you’re out of kindergarten you’re a grader – 1st grader, 2nd grader, etc.  I swear she made this up on her own.)  She had had her clothes laid out for days, and her backpack filled with her new supplies.  She ended up with the teacher she wanted and loved the classroom when we visited during orientation.  She was not however, excited about mom and the camera.

This picture is one just like my mom took of me and my sister every first day. She is holding up a one for 1st grade.

   She looks so little headed up to that big school!

  As you can see, she was done with the camera. 

  After we dropped her off, Jason (who is such a great daddy that he takes the first day of school off every year to share it with the kiddos) and I headed to our annual back to school breakfast,hung out awhile, and then picked up Jakers from his school.  We had to drag him kicking and screaming from his classroom. He wasn’t ready to go home yet.

    We picked Emma after school and then went swimming at Nina’s and had dinner there. Emma reported that school was awesome, and even though she only had one friend from Ms. Fox’s class, she had a bunch of her playground friends in her class.  Her biggest excitement about the day? The new playground equipment. 

Better late than never….

  I have been meaning to post these pictures for a couple of days now, but other things got in the way, and yesterday I spent the day in bed with some strange sinus/stomach virus that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.  Since today is the first day of school, I really should be posting those pictures, but I thought it would be more fun to get all of Emma’s commentary for that post.  So instead, I am posting about our back to school trial run.

  Last Wednesday, we got our playgroup pack together for one last hurrah before school started.  We put our swimsuits in our backpacks, packed our lunch boxes, and headed to Nina’s house for some fun.

The kids started out craft time with a “time capsule” that they can open on the last day of school, and then they made a back pack tag out of Shrinky Dinks.   After that, it was time for recess and they hit the pool! (yes, that is Jake in Emma’s pink floaty suit…do we see a pattern here?)

  After a little bit of swimming, Emma rang the bell and it was time for lunch….a nice little picnic under the trees.

  Grady was happy to sit with the others and have lunch, but it soon proved to be just too much for him.

After lunch time, we had some more pool time and then Emma rang the bell again for some yummy cake before dismissal.  We all had a great time and it was nice to have one last splash before school started!

Breakfast of Champions

 

  This morning I thought I would fix a special breakfast for the kids, considering it is the last day of summer vacation (WHOOOO-HOOOOO) and they would be eating quick bites and grabs for the next 180 days. I offered cu-cakes (pancakes – next time you see Jake, ask him.) bacon, eggies – but no takers. This was the fantastic breakfast they each chose for themselves:

Jake went to the freezer and pointed until I brought down the waffles. He carefully selected one and took it to the toaster oven where I lovingly prepared it for him. 

He took it to the living room and ate it as usual – no syrup.  And yes, he is wearing pink Tinkerbelle jammies. They are one of his favorites and he picked them out himself.

  Emma had one pop tart from a pack last night for dessert, so I offered her the other half for breakfast. Nope. She wanted a bowl of frosty flakes. No milk, just the flakes. She also took hers to the living room. (Will none of my babies eat with me in the kitchen?)

  Grady usually shares my breakfast with me (oatmeal, toast…) but today he heard Emma reject the pop tart and quickly snatched it off the counter before she could change her mind.

He didn’t get a choice. He had to eat with Mommy.

  Everyone enjoyed their breakfast, and Emma was kind enough to share her frosty flakes with Jake, who later shared them with Grady, who decided that the rug, the TV, and the floor were all very hungry.  Oh well.  They are only little once, and Emma loves to vacuum. 

  I hope all of you were as entertained at your morning meals as I was!

A continuation and update post….

   First for the updates.

I mentioned in our post about our surprise pregnancy that we had our ultrasound scheduled for August 7th, and I would report back about the baby’s gender and health when the results were in.  Well, I guess you can say no news is good news.  Apparently, the ‘anatomical scan’ ultrasound can not be completed until the baby is 22 weeks gestation.  This scan was just to make sure everything is developing correctly (to this point) and to find out the gender.  The doctor said that so far everything looks good.  All the bone ratios are normal, the baby is moving well, and all the other measurements – cranial space, spine, etc. are on the mark, too. If anything the baby is about a week ahead, size wise. (Howles!)  Of course, this baby is modest.  The scan took about 30-45 minutes, and never once did the little bugger open its legs.  Crossed ankles, knees tight, the whole nine yards. Jason is so proud.  So we still don’t know for sure what we are having.  The doctor and the ultrasound tech both agree that it is more than likely a girl from some of the other views, but until they get the money shot, I can’t get rid of any old baby clothes.  The one thing we do know is that this one is going to look just like Emma and Grady.  I have seen those two enough on ultrasounds to recognize the profile.

    We go back on September 22 for the ‘big one’, where they will be able to do a fetal echocardiogram and get some other more technical measurements to give us even more assurance that this baby doesn’t have Down syndrome.  Hopefully the kid will also give up the goods, so to speak.  I really do hope its a girl – otherwise its going to have a complex.  All of us refer to her as Gretchen and call her by name when we are talking to her. 

  In other news, for those of you that offered a guess as to which picture was going to make us famous – here it is:

I thought some of the others were much cuter, but I guess they wanted a fun-for-all-ages picture.    They are having another contest, and if you are on Facebook you can help. Plus, if I win (free pass) you also win! Details on FB soon.

  And now for the continuation of an earlier post: I am REALLY glad I bought those washable markers.  I went out for a little while last night and this is what I found in the front hallway when I walked in:

   

They even got the baby this time.  

I tried to punish them by making them clean it up, but they fought over the clean wipes and had waaay to much fun. 

  Okay, I think that is everything. If you have made it to the end, you are to be commended!

The guy Jason can hide behind

Last weekend, I finally got to meet someone I have wanted to see in person for a couple of years now. His name is John, and he is bigger than my husband. Jason started working for Jon at the FedEx at the beach a couple of years ago. He came home and told me that he could hide behind his new boss. He said that one day someone came in looking for Jon – told Jason “No, I was working with the big guy.” Jason’s not the big guy? Who is this man?

Well, now that Jason is a district guy and Jon is no longer his boss, we finally planned a family outing to the zoo. We got there a little early, so we sat inside the gate and waited for our friends to arrive. There were a lot of big men at the zoo that day, but once I saw Jon there was no mistake. My husband wasn’t exaggerating.

It was tough trying to get these two shy guys to pose for a picture, but I finally did:

Notice that Jon is taller than Jason even with his feet so far apart, and Jason is actually standing up straight (for once).

Other than finally meeting Jon, we got to spend the day with his wife Jennifer and their daughter Cassie. Jake was in love:

Emma and Grady had fun, too.

Emma with HER plant – a “Queen Emma Crinum”. And Grady got his first “Zoo Sipper”.

After seeing all the animals we hit the splash park and let the kids cool off. We had a wonderful day. We got to see the new baby giraffe, we heard the Siamangs sing, and we saw the otters playing instead of sleeping. Best of all, we did it all with new friends!