What about Bob?

Meet Bob, the newest member of our family.  Bob was the name chosen by my husband, agreed upon by me, and we finally convinced the kids that it was better than Larry or Spike. Although I have to say, I kind of think he could pull off Larry. I love people names for dogs. It really highlights their human qualities.

We got Bob from the local shelter. He's about a year and a half old and is a lab mix. 

Here's what we've learned about Bob so far: 

1. He makes Stinky Beagle look positively short and squat and very, very round. Princess Blondie said it looks like Stinky Beagle shrunk like she was in the washing machine for too long. Bob and Stinky Beagle are complete opposites personality-wise as well. Bob: playful, outgoing, friendly, energetic. Stinky Beagle: timid, shy, cautious,  lethargic. 

2. Bob is potty trained. For this reason alone, Bob is awesome. 

3. Bob comes when you call him. He hardly barks. He goes where you point. He sits, shakes, sort of lies down and almost stays when you tell him too. Yet another way he is the complete opposite of Stinky Beagle. I'm beginning to wonder if she is a cat trapped in beagle's body.

4. Bob is an attention hog and gets jealous anytime you pet Stinky Beagle. He barges his way in between us and her. He needs to learn some manners. 

5. He and Stinky Beagle fight over food. They really need to learn to take turns. Or I just need to buy another dish. They are not so good at sharing. 

6. Bob thinks he is a giant lap dog. He crawls in on your lap when your sitting on the couch. Especially if Stinky Beagle happens to be sitting next to you. Refer back to number 4.

7. Bob is not terribly modest. I'm not used to having a boy dog around with all of their boy parts flopping about. I guess I'll get used to it.

8. Bob is the only one who gets to use his real name on this blog, because really, I have nothing more clever to call him. What could possibly be better than Bob?

The one about the Christmas musical

Oh children's Christmas programs, how I love thee. There is nothing funnier or more sweet than watching a bunch of kids in a Christmas program. Sonny Boy had his last night and it did not disappoint. I had a few good laughs during the show, but this morning when I looked at the pictures I found some really great stuff and  I've been giggling to myself since. I'm glad it's just me and the dog at home. Stinky Beagle doesn't care if I just sit here and laugh to myself. She's too busy sleeping 23 hours a day to care.

First up, the kids all enter and start looking for their parents. 

Aaaaand, he found us.

 Then my next big goal is to get a shot of Sonny Boy when he's really singing his heart out. You have to be quick though, because usually he is trying to look cool, and cool seven (almost eight) year olds can sing and do some of the motions, but not get really into it. 

 Here he's still got that 'yeah, I'm singing but I'm still cool' face on.

 I was trying to get some pictures of Sonny Boy's fellow scout friends because I saw their parents sitting on the opposite corner of the gym in the back. I managed to get a few. Lord knows these pictures will never leave my camera and actually make it to them, but at least I made, the effort, right? It's the thought that counts and all that jazz? Anyway, that's not my point here because I don't know who that kid in the plaid shirt is, I was aiming for someone else, but I want him. Look at those cheeks! I just want to kiss them. He's like a cuddly little teddy bear.

And the pictures just get better from here. You may think that Sonny Boy is really singing his heart out here, or that perhaps he is trying to attack the kid in front of him, but he is actually mid yawn. Yawning while in the middle of the song. My kids sleep 11 or so hours a night, so I don't know why he is so exhausted that he needs to yawn mid song.  I also did not fix the red eyes in this photo because I thought it made them all look like zombies. And I guess I just thought that was funny.... It's funnier when the picture is bigger. Feel free to move on. 

 At this point I direct your attention to the boy directly below Sonny Boy. His face is awesome. Now this is a kid who doesn't care how cool he looks. He is excited about Monty the Flying Moose.

And for the grand finale, all the kids looking like they are saluting Hitler. Their arms are supposed to be flying reindeer, but come on, am I the only one who sees this? Someone needs to have some sort of kids program summit where they can find a solution to the Hitler salute that shows up in all sorts of children's musicals.  There is some choreography that just needs to be banned. Hitler really ruined it for everybody. Jerk.

Princess Blondie's kindergarten Christmas program is next week. I'm am really looking forward to it. The younger the kids, the better the antics. My Christmas will not be complete until there is one kid who scream-sings louder than all the others and a little girl pulls her dress up and shows everyone her underwear. As long as it's not my girl.

Long winter nights = me being lazy

I sit here this morning drinking my coffee black, waiting for the sun to rise. It is 9:23 am. The sky is beginning to lighten, but no sun yet. I doubt that I will actually get to see it today, as it appears it is going to be cloudy, but it's not quite light enough for me to tell yet.

Yesterday the school bus had its headlights on at 4:00 when it drove up the hill to drop my kids off. This time of year they leave for school well before the sun comes up and come home just in time for the sunset. Luckily, they really have no qualms about playing outside in the dark. How can you be afraid of the dark when there are cheerful Christmas lights wrapped around houses, trees, and bushes? They suck all the fear out of the night.  We have almost made it to the shortest day of the year, December 21st. My parents will be arriving that day to spend Christmas with us. It's the perfect day to arrive, because with Gramma and Grampa here no one will care how short our days are.

One good thing about the short days? I'm actually up to enjoy the sunrise. One of these days my camera and I are going to take a trip to the hay flats to watch the sun come up. That's a much easier thought to stomach when I know I don't have to be there until at least 9:00 am.

For now, Stinky Beagle and I are going to stay inside where it is nice and warm and watch the sunrise from my window.

Black Friday sunrise. Best deal in town.

My girl hopped in bed with me this morning.

 She immediately pulled back the curtains and said, "Look, Mom. It's so pretty with the snow on all the trees."

She was right. It was gorgeous. 

 And so was the sunrise. Beautiful oranges and pinks this morning. 

I'd pick this over the Black Friday shopping frenzy every time.

The elusive smile

*Sigh* My boy, he is his father's son. Smiling for the camera is strictly off limits. They both smile all the time, but it is hard to convince them that they need to smile for the camera.

But yesterday I caught him. 

  

I pulled tho oldest trick in the book. You look at him and tell him not to smile in a sing song voice. 

"Don't smiiiiile.... Don't do it, don't smiiiiiiile, Sonny Boy." I have very distinct memories of my best childhood friend, Lori, doing this to me after we had a fight. And I would do it to her as well. Nothing pisses you off as much as smiling when you don't want to. It's almost as bad as me crying when I'm really angry. That really makes me mad. And then I cry more. It's an awful, horrible, viscous cycle.

"Dooon't smiiiiile....." Ha, he's starting to crack. I've almost got him!

"Doooon't smiiiiiile....." And there it is, a full fledged smile. He's taken to smiling with his mouth closed lately, and I'm not gonna lie, it's a good thing. Grown up teeth are trying to force their way into a small seven year old mouth. It takes a while for the rest of your body to grow into those teeth. He thinks he looks like a vampire with his two giant front teeth. Unless vampires have suddenly started taking after Bugs Bunny, he is wrong, but I won't tell him that. He can be a vampire all he wants, as long as he doesn't start biting people.

At this point the poor kid couldn't stop smiling and had to duck into the house to get away from me and my camera. It took some work, but I finally got a photo of him that can go on my wall.

Brotherly love

I came across this photo today. It made me ponder the strange thing that is an (almost) eight year old boy's love for his sister.

These are my kids. They are having loads of fun playing outside in the snow. At this point it was raining on them and they were still out there having a ball.

They are having a ball but this photo is deceiving. At first glance it looks as if Sonny Boy is actually hugging his sister, but be sure of one thing, Sonny Boy has never voluntarily hugged his sister in his life. He is actually tackling her and trying to shove her face in the snow, however, in Sonny Boy's book tackling and hugging are roughly equivalent acts of affection. 

He loves his sister. He will never say it out loud and he will never hug her, but he loves her. He shows her by wresting with her, building forts with her, playing in snow with her, pile-driving her, farting/burping on her, and being a general nuisance to her (in that they are equals. They each pester the other incessantly). 

His way of showing affection for her drives me batty sometimes, but I just need to remind myself that he is just saying that he loves her in his own weird way. If he didn't love her, he'd simply ignore her. So even though he'd just as soon drop kick her as he would give her a hug, he'd do it in love.

The end is near

My husband is finally coming home. He's been at tech school for two and a half long months and he will finally be back this week.

DH has been gone before, although he has never been deployed so I can never complain about that. A few years ago he had to leave for two months for some advanced training. It was hell. The kids were 1 and 3 and being stuck at home all day with two toddlers for two months is not something I would recommend to anyone. Sonny Boy also got very sick with bilateral ear infections and had a 104.5 temperature for a few days. It's always while the husbands are gone that the kids get sick. This time it was Princess Blondie with strep throat. But that was a piece of cake compared to last time.

I have to say that this go round was really easy (but I haven't had to plow the driveway yet, so I'm not sure it's a fair assessment). I'm sort of awesome at this single mom thing... as long as my kids are in school, my sister and brother-in-law live only five miles away, and I have unlimited funds at my disposal. Just kidding on the last one but the first two are key here. That and good friends. I find myself looking forward to Scouts even more than Sonny Boy because I really enjoy all of the other parents there. They have become good friends. I also jump at the chance for adult interaction. On a daily basis I teach preschoolers, babysit my nephews (infant and toddler), and then hang out with my five and seven year old. Forgive me if I get a little excited when I actually get to talk to a grown up. So if I've recently cornered you and talked your ear off I'm sorry. I blame it on the forced solitude.

My husband being gone is not something that I regularly advertised on my blog or any other sort of social forum (so it may be news to you that he was even gone. Surprise!) because I'm slightly paranoid. I don't need any local serial killers knowing that I'm living alone with my two kids and attack beagle. But just for all of those serial killers that may still be lurking, I have a viscous, feral guard dog, a security system complete ninjas, and I sleep with sawed off shotgun under my pillow.