Baldwin and the kittens

 So our kittens turned 5 weeks old this week.  That means it is time to find them homes because in 2 weeks they can be adopted.  I love this age with them as they develop their personalities and start to purr and play. The kids have been using every excuse to be with them and taking them into their rooms at night to snuggle up to as they read and I am realizing what a genius decision it was to foster these kittens.  We will be doing it again, and again and again because our house is filled with the most fun stage of a pet for several weeks and then we just get to do it all over and we also get to watch "our babies" grow as loving pets in someone else's family.  It brings us all such joy.  Baldwin has been a big fan of the kittens since day one.  Lindy, the mama, HATES him.  I'm not sure if she is being protective or not, but she will come and stalk Baldwin when he is in the bathroom and then attack.  He is not afraid of her and tucks his tail when she comes near.  But the kittens?  He wants to love and lick them to death.  He lets them crawl on him and although he can get too excited, he is usually very gentle and sweet.  He really wants them to get big enough to play with.  We are soaking up every bit of time with these little fluff balls and although it will be sad to give them away, more are sure to come soon.

A 4 R's Goodbye

Yesterday was very emotional for me.  Even though I had known it was coming I wasn't ready for the wave of sadness that overcame me.  I awoke early before my alarm and lay in bed with teary eyes as I realized it was my littlest's last day of preschool.  It was the last day I would drive the short route to that tiny schoolhouse with the 4 red R's out front.  Mason put his hands on my cheeks in the car before we went in and asked me to please stop crying before I took him in.  How did it all happen so fast?  I remember clearly the day I first entered the doors of that little preschool with my 3 year old and a baby in a carseat.  As I got the "tour" I felt the warmth and hominess of that place.  I felt reassured that this was the place for my Cameron.  Those teachers loved my kids, all three of them, as if they were their own.  Oh how I wish they could stay there forever enveloped in that love.  Mason is excited for kindergarten, he can't wait to ride the bus with his brothers and play on that big playground every single day!  And last night there were no tears from him, he hammed up his performance as the little red hen and the letter U, and enthusiastically shook Mrs. Peacocks hand as he accepted his diploma.  I am envious of his excitement for the future, but so sad that I won't have my baby with me to run errands and take on lunch dates.  I am grieving that this chapter of my life is over, especially since the next chapter doesn't look as fun as this one was.  But for now I will soak up what is left of having my buddy with me and enjoy my summer with all three boys home.  We will all hold dear memories of those preschool years forever.

Ketchup

Our computer died about a week and a half ago.  Luckily most everything was backed up and we were able to get it fixed enough to keep it chugging a bit longer.  That's not even my excuse for not blogging, because it wasn't until today that I realized it's been 3 weeks since my last post.  Ugh!  It's one of those things where we've been so busy but I'm not even sure with what.  Sadly my camera of choice for months has been my phone which takes crappy pictures but I've just felt unmotivated to bring my big, bulky guy with me on our outings.  I am anxious for school to be out so we can have a relaxing summer and not have to dash in a million directions at once.  Our Baldwin has been a joy to have in our home.  The kids all adore him and he is by far the playmate of choice in the house now.  He is such a mellow, low key puppy, I've wondered if there might be something wrong with him!  Every day after school Gavin reads with his head resting on Baldwin's chest, and every night Cameron keeps him in his room for an hour reading with him snuggled up on the floor. Mason loves to play fetch with him, and Baldwin still tries to fit in his tiny lap for a rest.  Jeremy and I have been going to class every week with him and have learned so much.  We just had our first "walk and talk"  which is just an evaluation of the progress we've made with Baldwin and creating some goals for the next few months.  He did so well that he earned his guiding eyes jacket which means he can truly go wherever we go and we need to start bringing him with us more.  I got teary just talking to our regional coordinator about how attached the boys and Jeremy and I are getting to him already.  He really is the sweetest pup and so well behaved that he is basically raising himself and no amount of ruining on our part will make him fail.  I keep reminding the kids of the bigger picture which is that Baldwin will someday change someones life forever in a way that no "pet" can.  Wherever he ends up, he will have a piece of each of our hearts with him.    Mason ends preschool forever next week.  Yikes I am not ready for that.  I even shed a few tears writing our last preschool check to that humble little 4 R's.  He is all registered for kindergarten and so excited to be a big kid.  He keeps telling me how sad I will be with him gone every day.  I don't need the reminders...  I chaperoned a trip to Cows and Corn with Gavin this week.  Gavin had his buddies Nick and Dylan in his group and we learned all about the farm.  His favorite part was the tractor ride that took us to the newborn calves and where they milk the mamas.  His teacher is the greatest this year, it is sad that we will be leaving her behind in less than a month.  Cameron and Gavin also have been participating in a track program put on by the local Running Store.  This has been a big change from spring baseball but the kids enjoy it more and try harder every time to improve their time.  Plus I love that it is only twice a week at the same time for both kids and next year Mason can participate as well.  They both enjoy the shorter distance sprints rather than the longer runs, but are getting better at both.  This past weekend I hosted a little get together with my sister Kristin and my mom for a late mother's day brunch.  We don't do enough of those little get togethers.  The kids loved having their cousins here and far and away the big hit was the kittens!  Good thing we had one for each of them.  They are three weeks old now and just getting fun and cute!  Gavin keeps telling me he is going to sneak one in his backpack to school.  Every morning after they leave I go up to count them and make sure he really hasn't!

So that is the low down.  I hate just spouting off tidbits but they are things I'd like to remember someday.  I tell myself I'm hanging in there with this blog because I want my kids to be able to look back and remember some of the fun things we did when they were little.  But I want them to remember the little things too.  Like today when we had a freak rain shower amid sunny skies during dinner.  We all dropped our forks and ran outside to dance and look for a rainbow.  We were drenched from head to toe.  And I want them to remember that sometimes they do all get along, like in the quiet of the morning when they all sneak into Cameron's room to play legos and are so quiet because they know they're not supposed to be up yet.  And I want to remember that Gavin stays up late at his desk furiously writing down the stories in his mind and Cameron stays up to read his Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, but I caught him reading his scriptures the other night all on his own because he had a question he wanted to find the answer to.  And Mason?  Well some days he is good, and sweet, and selfless.  I cherish those days and love him on the rotten ones too.  He is the jalepeno in our salsa.  My kids are not not the quietest, and they forget to say please and thank you sometimes, and they enjoy farting jokes much more that I would like, but by golly I am PROUD of them and who they are inside.  And that is all.

 

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Lindy

Ever since last year when we fostered those two pregnant cats, the boys have been begging to do it again.  And if you'll remember right, the caveat to not keeping any of those 12 kittens was that we might be able to do it again.  Well, it's kitten season, and Dr. Murphy called me up from the shelter about a week and a half ago telling me that here was a beautiful pregnant mama, due just about any day.  I could not say no.  We x-rayed her at work and counted 6 little skulls and spines jammed in her petite framed abdomen.  I brought her home and the waiting began.  We named her Lindy.  She was so big and so uncomfortable, she would just roll around from her back to her belly and liked to lay on the cold tile on in the sink.  I was certain that she would have them any day and when Cara's girls could enjoy them during their trip here.  Sure enough, she waited until the night they left, right when the boys were about to go to bed.  Cameron and Gavin came to get me saying that Lindy had a little tail coming out of her bottom.  She did indeed, and 4 kittens were born back to back.  She took a bit of a break ad then delivered, numbers five and six, and them another!  One must've been hiding on x-ray, but in the end there were four grey tabbies, one all grey, and two black kitties.  Five boys and two girls.  Another miracle to watch.  Each of the boys got to name two, and Jeremy one.  Cameron chose Gulliver and Indy, Gavin chose Finney and Griffin, and Mason picked Mars and Anders.  Jeremy was the most creative of the bunch with Rocky...  I'm so glad we could do this again even with all the work involved.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Keeping up with the Jones'

I have been very blessed in my life to know a few choice people that have become such close friends that time and distance cannot break those friendship bonds.  My friend Cara is one of them.  I met Cara my freshman year at BYU and we quickly latched on to each other.  We were bridesmaids at each others weddings, and have shared joys and heartaches that life has brought.  Although she and her family live in Park City, Utah, we have been able to keep up with each other, through rare visits, our blogs and occasional phone calls.  One of the best things about these types of friends is that even if you haven't spoken to them in years, when you are reunited it is like no time has passed passed and you pick right back up where you left off.  This time when Cara came to visit she brought her whole family.  Even though my boys were turned off at the fact that her two oldest were girls, it was a matter of minutes before they were off playing and laughing together.  They came to see and tour DC, hard-core style.  They went into town four days straight, and passed out each night just to do it all again the next day.  Saturday our family all joined them at Mount Vernon, even Baldwin, on his first big time outing.  Thankfully, he did great and the kids were pretty good along the way.  I am sad that they live all the way across the country but plans are already in the works for us to go visit them in the near future.  It won't come soon enough.

Mason's Nursing Home Performance

Last week Mason had a short performance for the residents of a local nursing home.  Our little ham loved every minute.  He was so excited to be the "daddy duck."

Jamaica!

 

Jeremy works really hard at work.  This year he worked REALLY hard.  Hard enough to have earned a spot as one of the top 25 producers in his company last year, which qualified he and a guest (me! me!) for an all expenses paid trip to Jamaica.  This is where I am so thankful that we live near family and that I have a mother that didn't mind exhausting herself for 5 days while my children ran her ragged.  Love, love, love you Mom and Jeff!  Even just flying into the airport in Montego Bay was breathtaking, the water was so turquoise and the trees were so green.  We felt like we were in a fairytale as our driver took us to the resort we would be staying at.  This is a place that we would never be able to afford to stay at and it was absolutely gorgeous.  Our suite had a patio that walked straight out to a private beach.  The water was warm and clear, and it was sunny and hot the whole time.  We ate amazing food and got to go snorkeling, seeing the most colorful, beautiful fish and coral.  One day we went on a zip line course that took you through the rainforest overlooking the ocean.  It was pretty terrifying, especially the suspended platform and the drops straight down, but really fun once you got past all of that.  We were also able to swim with the dolphins and actually on them!  That was an experience I will never forget.  We felt so spoiled and so grateful to be treated to a vacation of a lifetime.  It was so relaxing to be able to get up whenever we wanted to and not to have any responsibilities for a few days.  Funny how we missed those little buggers of ours though.  Maybe we can all go back to this paradise someday.