School's Out For the Summer

Bless me Father for I have children (Title of a Catholic humorist and mother's book). It's been 2 days since school was dismissed for the summer and I have already circled the first day of school on the calender, threatened to send Brendan to boot camp and decided I can't cope with potty training the twins so they will have to learn to change their own diapers.

This was going to be a post with some updated pictures. Instead you get to hear about what I hope will NOT be typical of our summer days.

I spent two hours getting everyone fed and dressed so we could go run errands. By the time they were ready, they were hungry again. We finally got off on our errands. One of the more important ones involved the need of a checkbook, which I had forgotten, along with the diaper bag, at home. Took them to lunch at McD's for my benefit. Went home and the twins took a good nap. Not a terrible day so far.

After nap, I thought it would be fun to take the kids and the dog (Chad, the lab puppy, post and info to follow) to Foys Lake to throw rocks and "wade" in the water. So off we went with our long leash, towels, snacks, fishing nets and smiling faces.

Within five minutes of arrival Rita face planted in the water and cried because her pants were wet. Took the pants off and she was happy. Brendan repeatedly threw the tennis ball into the water where Chad was not looking and so had to retrieve it himself. Ugh. Anthony happily playing in sand. OK.

Pit Bull terrier without leash comes bombing out of parking lot followed by teenaged owners. Chad, who is learning to obey around us, completely falls apart and becomes unmanageable when around other dogs. I have him on a 30 ft long training line. By the time I step on the line, Chad is halfway to the other dog. I must reel him back. It was somewhat like reeling in a 50 pound fish, all wiggling and struggling to get away. Teens play hacky sack and ignore middle aged mother struggling with dog. Tried to get the rope around a rock to secure it, got it tangled around my ankles, Chad takes off again, leaving me with bleeding rope burn on ankle. Reel dog back, get more tangled in rope. Brendan yells, "mom, Anthony". Anthony has waded out to his knees and tripped, falling into the water face first. He stands, stumbles and falls again. Then again. I can't get out of the damned rope to get him. I shout to Brendan to get him, which he does, thank God. Brendan is my hero today!

I snatch Rita and Anthony and sit them down, while standing on training line to keep the still struggling Chad from bolting. Brendan gets me towels. I wrap up twins in towels and tell them to sit right there and not move (even though I discover a pile of dog poop near them). Reel in dog, get him on locking leash with halter leader. Chad won't pull against the halter. I decide to let Brendan net for minnows, since thus far he has not been able to do anything fun. Rita looks up at me and says, "my poop coming". I want to cry. The bathroom is up the hill past the pit bull, still without leash.

So up the hill we go, me holding the struggling (not so hard since he has his halter on) Chad and Rita and Anthony trying to walk up the rocky path. Anthony falls and skins his knee. I swear, drag the dog to the car and throw him bodily into it. I go back to get the kids. Brendan (my hero) has already picked Anthony up. I pick up Rita and put her in the port a potty. I pick up Anthony and put him in port a potty. Rita pees. No poop. Ugh. I open the door and Brendan asks, "Are we leaving"? "Absolutely" is my answer. Brendan (my hero), retrieves our stuff while I put Rita and Anthony in the car. I leave 15 minutes after our arrival with two naked, wet toddlers, a bag full of wet clothes and towels, a dog madly barking in the back and me wondering what the Hell I was thinking. Brendan summed it all up by saying, "well that sucked". Yup.

The evening is fairly uneventful until after the kids are in bed for about 45 minutes. Karl heard pitter patter feet from the twins' room. Then silence. Anthony has needed to be chased back to bed several times after bed time lately. Karl goes to check on Anthony and finds him with an open container of Vicks Vapor rub, which he climbed onto the changing table to get, reeking of the stuff. He asked Anthony if he ate it and he said "yes". Crap. Call to poison control. Instructed to put Anthony in the bath and flush water over his face for 20 minutes to wash what he had rubbed in his eye out and wash the stuff off his skin. Told to watch for nausea or tummy pain and they would call back in an hour. Karl puts him into the tub and starts flushing. Makes Anthony mad. So I climb in and have a bath with Anthony (actually it was fun other than thinking that CPS might show up as this is our second call to Poison Control for Anthony).

Anthony is now back in bed and all the kids are finally asleep. Karl is asleep. I just got off the phone with Poison Control to give them the update, i.e. Anthony seems fine. Think I'll have another beer, watch some mindless TV and hope that this day does not repeat itself.

Happy Summer!

Lindsey and Trevor's Wedding pictures

My step-sister, Lindsey's wedding photos taken by my annoyingly talented step-mom, Cindy. Beautiful couple. Caution, LOTS of kissing ;)

My Trip

"Pack your bags, you're going on a guilt trip". The immortal words of Mary Wagner when I told her what Brendan said to me yesterday. He was looking for a donation of camping gear for the 2nd grade Bingo Basket (a fundraising event). Well we've been donated to death all year and it's May. So I said, "Brendan I'm just tired of giving" (I know, bad me). He looked at me and said, "Mom, you can never be tired of giving." Whose idea was it to send that kid to Catholic school anyway?

Marley and We

Some friends of ours offered us a five month old male black lab that they had rescued when the owner abandoned him and three other dogs. He is the sweetest, gentlest, most mellow lab pup I have ever met. They thought so too and ended up not being able to part with him, and I don't blame them a bit, he is a beauty. Bummer for us, but lucky for Marley. We spent the day looking at the shelters and went to Flathead County after school. I had visited the web site and had a list of names of dogs I wanted to meet. Marley was on the list, but was being led out as we came in. Turns out she was going to a sanctuary since she had been at the shelter so long and hadn't placed. Luckily I am a smart alec and I said "she's taking the dog I wanted to meet". That's when I found out she runs a sanctuary. She waited patiently while we met Marley. She said she'd rather her go to a family than the sanctuary. At first sight, she bared her teeth at us and I immediately backed off until they told me that is how Marley smiles. Hilarious! She is so calm and sweet. She is a bit out of shape (but so am I) so we are going to work on good nutrition and walks. She is gentle and patient with Rita and Anthony, although today she resorted to hiding in the van to get away from Anthony's constant attention.

So we all won. Max the puppy got to stay with our friends, we got a dog and Marley got a home. The beginning.

Mother's Day Tea Party

The second graders held a tea party for their moms. Here is a video of the song they sang and a picture of me with my "little" boy. Hard to believe he is almost nine. Love you Brendan!

Oh Rats!

Lost Generation