At Our House...

It really warmed up this weekend, like 57 and windy. But, we'll take it. We've been outdoors doing yard stuff and going for bike rides.

We got Noah a walker because he uses one during preschool and looks so proud when he can move. He seems to enjoy it. Even if he can only go backwards.



Emily wanted to feed him. I certainly wasn't going to discourage her.


Emily's friend can ride a bike without training wheels, so Emily felt that she had to try it too. We were putting off trying it because it's a pain to take off the training wheels and if it doesn't go well, have to put them right back on. Luckily, her friends Mom gave us one of their bikes that they weren't using anymore. So, we have one with training wheels and one without. She was super excited about trying to ride a two wheeler as she calls it.


She did well for her first time trying. She couldn't get her balance right. She didn't fall, but only because David was there to catch her. She was back inside after 20 minutes sucking her thumb looking half her age. I love that she wants to be grown up, but then still sucks her thumb and wants her Porky. She's a girly girl and wants her nails painted, but look at all those bruises on her legs.


Anyone have tips on how to teach a kid to ride a bike?

Sugar and Spice

Emily, my one and only daughter...she gives me laugh lines and stress wrinkles every day.





Here she is being sweet reading to Noah.


I'm so proud of my girl. She started Kindergarten as probably the youngest kid in the class, making the cutoff by one day. We weren't sure how she would do and thought instead of paying for and doing a third year of preschool, we'd give Kindergarten a shot. If she didn't do well, she could repeat it. She has done so well and we couldn't be more proud. Last week was Read Across America and she read the most books in her class. She was at 64 and the majority of those she read on her own. She's smart and very competitive.

She also refuses to eat anything but the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms. I told you she was smart. They should just sell a box of those marshmallows forget the oats.


She can be very helpful. Here she is pushing Ben on the swing.


Today she was trying to teach him how to pump his own swing and he was starting to get it. I love when they are sweet and get along.


Then, he got mud on his power ranger and she told him to lick it off. Thank God I was supervising and I told him not to. Then, she mischievously says, "Why not? I like mud." What does she get him to do when I'm not around? I don't want to know.

And this scene, looks like nothing but trouble and I know who the ringleader is.


Garth Brooks has a song that sums her up perfectly...
She's sun and rain.
She's fire and ice.
A little crazy, but it's nice...
(then something about making love, but we won't go there)
...She's anything but typical.
She's so unpredictable.
But even at her worse she aint that bad.

That's our girl.
And we love her just as she is.

Little Darling

This was the tree in our front yard this morning and I couldn't help but sing this Beatles song when I saw the blue sky and sunshine.

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

I'm feeling a little better today too.

I fed Noah some apples and blueberries with oatmeal and he had some sunshine on his shoulders which seemed to make him happy.






This is his classic one sided smile. As a friend on Facebook said, he looks mildly amused. That describes him perfectly.


Uh oh, not so amused.


Just had to share pics of my little darling. You wouldn't be able to tell from the photos, but his last ear infection never cleared up so he is starting another antibiotic. His fourth in as many months. Hopefully it will do the trick.

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

It's all right.

My Turn

Due to Spring Break next week, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day today in preschool. We made leprechaun milkshakes and ate lucky charms. It was all magically delicious.


Then I came home and threw up my milkshake and lucky charms. It was not magically delicious. I was hoping that because I got the seasonal and swine flu shots that I would escape the flu that Ben and David got. We obviously got something not in the shot. Figures.

My husband came home early from work and picked up the kids from school. He knows all too well how I feel and he knew I couldn't handle two kids and a baby while my head is in the toilet. I love him.

Then, I read my Aunt Linda's blog about it being 70 degrees in Illinois. I was jealous.

Then, out of no where, David went to let Rocko out and this is what he saw.




An hour later...


The forecast wasn't even calling for snow, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Yet, I am. This is Arizona after all.
It's my turn to feel better.
And, my turn to feel some sunshine.

Maybe tomorrow...

More Snow

We are getting more snow today. Possibly 2-4 inches this afternoon. Spring break starts in three days. This poor soccer ball is waiting for spring as much as I am.



Meanwhile I still can't over the resemblance. "Max" was dropped off at the humane society yesterday. I hope he finds his real home.

He Has Balls?

Well, Max is definitely not our Max. Unless over the course of 3 weeks, he grew back his balls.

The markings were spot on and with an abscess in both cheeks it was hard to tell on the shape of his face. David and I kept saying "That's Max, right?" He had freckles on his gums. He was a big cat. He had circle stripes around his tail. Then, I finally heard him meow at the vet and I knew right away that wasn't his voice. Then, the vet found balls. He was not microchipped.

I didn't even think to ask the people who called about him because in my ad it said neutered male, I guess I thought they checked. I guess if every person can have a twin, so can every cat.

So, what do we do now?

David and I had already given up on Max. We talked about it and decide we would not get another cat or any pet for awhile. We have Rocko. That's good. The vet is telling me that we need to neuter him and he needs antibiotics. He'll give us half price on the neuter and then there is the round of regular shots since we don't know what shots he's had. I still can't even wrap my head around what he is saying. The only thing going though my head is this is not Max, Max is still missing.

I called David and we were both torn. We were going to pay the $50 for the office visit regardless and a dose of penicillin that they gave "Max" immediately. The rest of his stuff was going to be another $70. I agreed to get him neutered which they were going to be able to do today. We decided to keep him.

Then, the more I thought about it, the more I was talking myself out of keeping him. I realized on the paperwork that the $120 amount did not include regular shots, so I called about that. Distemper, rabies, feline leukemia vaccines run another $130. $250 and this isn't our cat. Plus...
Will this cat be good with kids and babies?
Good with dogs?
Not claw our furniture?
Will he bolt the second we let him out if he insists on going out?
That would be like flushing $250 down the drain.
What if Max does show up and the two cats don't like each other?
What if I find an ad on craigslist for a missing orange tabby lost by the McDonalds in a few weeks, after we've spent the money and gotten attached.
Can my kids (and us) handle losing a third pet in two months?

In the end, we felt it was too much money on a cat we know nothing about.

David is picking him up from the vet and bringing him to the Humane Society after work. While he's there, he should check for our Max...just in case.

Max's Journey

We've had our cat Max for almost 7 years. I found him thrown in the bushes at my work as a kitten. He is an outdoor cat and a creature of habit. He wanders the streets at night and comes home everyday at sunrise and sunset for food and to sleep on our bed. On Valentine's Day, he didn't come home.

He does this occasionally. We would go outside every night, call his name and shake his food bowl. Then, we'd listen. Max always answers with a meow to let us know he is on his way. He's very vocal. He gets that from me. But every night all we heard was silence. Days turned to weeks and as of yesterday he had been gone for 21 days. It rained Saturday night. Sunday morning I got his food bowl, that had been sitting by the back door every day, and dumped the rain soaked food in the garbage. I put the bowl in the dishwasher. We had given up.

We were watching the Oscars last night and I checked e-mail out of boredom. There was a reply to my Craigslist ad for a lost cat. I thought it was another pet rescue group with 101 tips on how to find your cat. It wasn't. It was a man who thought he found our cat. He said his family was driving by McDonalds and saw an orange cat in the rain peeking up out of the culvert. I quickly googled culvert. It's a drainage pipe and I knew it was Max.

We have a storm drainage area right in front of our house. Those drain pipes are Max's second home. If we go on a family walk after dinner, Max will pop up out of the drainage area 5 blocks north of our home because he can hear our voices. He'll meow at us as if to say, "I'm hungry people, get home and make me a chicken pot pie!" I'd tell him we'd be home in 5 minutes and he'd dip back underground to his maze of pipes and be waiting for us at home.

But, the McDonalds where they found him is 10 miles away. My heart sank knowing that if it was him, he had been through hell and back. Did he travel all that way through drainage pipes? I don't know a thing about them, but I imagine several meet up in a common drainage area. Did he leave one and go into another and make his way 10 miles South? How did he get lost anyway? Did something chase him and by the time he got away he had no clue where he was?

The nice family that picked him up brought him to their home, 40 minutes away. I didn't want to drive that far if it wasn't Max. So, he sent me a picture. At first I wasn't sure. He doesn't have the beautiful orange coat that Max has. He was really blonde and his face looked puffy. Bad lighting? Harsh flash? I had to pull up a picture and compare the face markings. When I darkened the coloring on the photo, I knew it was Max.


David didn't want me to go into Prescott alone. It was snowing and it was a long drive. So, we all loaded up at 7:45 on a Sunday night to get Max.

David waited in the car while I went in. I couldn't believe it. It barely looked like Max. Our once wild independent beautiful orange cat was not in that box. This cat was blonde (or very dirty) really beat up and scared to death. I called his name thinking he would stand up and come rub foreheads with me. He didn't move. It was as if he couldn't hear or see me. I was relieved that we found him and I was scared to death. His face was so puffy, most likely from infection. The insides of his ears were black and filled with God knows what. His fur on his ears was missing and he has scabs all over. The box he was in has blood in it, from where...who knows?

On the way home, he sat on the floor of the passenger seat and devoured some cat food. The nice family had fed him liver, but I think he was happy to have his own food. We got the kids ready for bed and got Max situated in the laundry room. We didn't want to give him free roam for fear that he would hide under the bed and we'd never get him out. I knew we'd be going to the vet this morning and I couldn't chase him for hours.

I went in to bring him ice water in a glass (which is how he likes it) and make sure he was settled on his blanket tucked into a cabinet so he'd feel safe. He looked so tired. I pet the top of his head being careful not to scratch his scabs or the raw spots on his ears. I told him he was safe now.

Welcome home sweet Max.