Love came a whining with some sad sad eyes

Lost, no collar, no microchip, but trained and hungry.

Two weeks ago this little female Black and Tan Coonhound pup showed up at our door.  Not wanting  our to see another dog get hit on our busy road, I let her in the house.  Because we all know I need one more thing to take care of...   We quickly figured out she was house trained as she would run to the door when she has to go and gave us about 30 seconds to get moving or start cleaning. 

Penny and Bandit in a tug-a-war over a stick

Oh, I didn't want ANOTHER DOG, we already have two larger type dogs (German Shepherd, Australian shepherd, and now a Coonhound????? 

We called every shelter, vet office, and rescue place seeing if anyone has called in missing her.  None.  Zip.  Nada... So here we are with a $300+ dog... I know that what I was thinking!  But Only fell in love with her and those floppy ear, the elephant way she thunders through the house, and she snores when sleeping, and attempts to learn the boundaries of her new home.Pretty Pink collar, sleeping on a cushion in her room.  Course she's not fond of those 5 a.m. "I gotta go potty" times, but it will get better, we tell her. 

The "fierce" turtle Penny tracked and hunted down. 

Other morning I caught her baying up a storm and rolling something around in the mud.  I felt so sorry for the pour turtle that cause so much excitement that morning as to warrant being attached by some ferocious yipping, slobbering, sharp toothed beast who was trying to teach him to fly.  I wasn't working.  I finally took the poor creature and let it be free on the outside of the yard.  Penny must have followed it's scent for 5 more minutes before I made her come in.  Whew!  Saved a life! 

So that's some of what is new in our lives.  I'll have to share more later.

LYNNET

Invisible child and a very Public bathrooms

Snapshot of our morning

School is finally winding down and we decided to take the day to celebrate - that and wear the girls out...   They had a great time getting out on such a beautiful morning and the Miss AB loved having Youngest to play with all to herself.  He's great with little ones, playing on their level, and not being afraid to be silly in the process.  I love hearing the girls giggle and laugh while playing or even see youngest being goofy and not caring.   But I'm sometimes really amazed at the things we see or experience when we're out.  Maybe I should clarify a bit.


 

The "Invisible" Child

The "invisible" girl

Youngest and Miss AB were playing a great game of Hide and Seek around the playground equipment and having a great time in their own little world.  There were a few other kids there absorbed in their own play and no one really purposely went out of their way to take part.  It was Miss AB's turn to "hide" and of course she picked the same spot she had found Youngest (remember she's only 3).  Connor was a good sport and looked in many various places, asking me several times (with a grin) if I had "seen" her as he obviously walked right past her.  What a good sport he is!  I was holding Miss "A" on my hip watching and taking pictures when a girl whom was there with other kids, who had been watching us from the merry-go-round, walked up to us with the most incredible look on her face.
     "Don't you see her?  That little girl you're looking for is RIGHT THERE!" she said pointing to Miss AB hiding under the slide.  I honestly think she thought we couldn't see or find her!  Maybe she had not had the chance to play hide-n-seek with a much younger child and didn't understand why we were doing what we were doing. Doesn't matter, It was lunch time for us, so we took that cue to leave as the girls were tired.

A Very Public bathroom?

As we were driving away, Youngest and I glanced over at the playground area just in time to see a boy (whom we'd seen earlier with the girl above), clearing peeing in the grass just a short distance away from other children and where other kids played... incredible that the adult watching these kids did not take the time to walk them 25 yards across the way to the public bathrooms.  Makes me wonder how many other places I had taken my kids that morning during playtime that some kid had relieved himself on.

Lynnet

The Very First Easter Bunny lead the way for humble learnings.

This Easter I wanted to do something with the girls to help them possibly know more about what Easter is really about, so I read them a book about the first Easter bunny.  Yes, I know, stick with me.

I've had this book, The Very First Easter Bunny by  Kari Dahlin   since my kids were little and loved it.  It takes a simple garden bunny who is witness to some pretty intresting events pertaining to this man named Jesus. Along the way he discovers some pretty incredible things that help him realize the truth about Jesus death, his burial, and finally his resurrection.  He was so excited to learn these things, that he wanted to tell others in some very special ways.  

I think it was a way to introduce the girls to this in a way they could understand.  We also talked about the passover feast and how Jesus was humble enough to wash each of the men's feet that were present, as an act of being a servant. 

So we talked about the passover Feast, what they ate and why they did it, and in the process, made these adorable little bunnies from their feet and hands.  We talked about how their feet were very dirty traveling many miles to get there.  and no one had offered to wash their feel.  So Jesus did the leader thing, and washed their feet. 

We also talked about how they can use their bunnies to tell others about Jesus the way the first Easter Bunny did through treasures he had found that told the story of through bird egg, a butterfly chrysalis,

 

But do you know, the girls didn't even remember the story I had just read to them.  No, what they rememberer the most and best was making those funny bunny project we made and how I washed their itty bitty but feet and toes.  

Later that afternoon, I happened to be at the back door letting the dogs in and they had muddy feet - something that must be washed off.  Miss I says "Miss Net, that is the worse job in the world to have, washing someone else's feet, especially a DOG's feet. That is a very humble job to have!"



The last two weeks we've been able to go outside and enjoy some beautiful sunshine!  Loved watching the girls chasing dandelions, bubbles, playing in the playhouse, and our first real attempt at sidewalk chalk.  I love seeing their masterpieces out there - even weeks later.  Love seeing how they interacted with each other outside and all the wonderfully silly things they did and said. and that, Friend, is the sum of our Easter celebration with kids and we all found it quite lovely!

Works for Me Wednesday: Dirty Dog Paw cleaner

 Imagine two dogs who love outside, but those dogs actually are indoor dogs... (the simple fact that we have a BIG indoor dog is another matter, but not of our choosing).I think they believe we live in a barn as many times as they go in and out of the house (no we have no place for a doggy door).  Most days it isn't a problem except on snowy or rainy days.  Can you imagine wiping those muddy paws off with a beach towel up to 10 times per day? That's 80 paws per day!!!  Imagine what that does to our floors! 

Loving the snow time - muddy paws

I was excited when I saw a product on TV one day The Paw Wash - While I thought it was ingenious, I'm not willing to pay close to $30 for this, but put it in my Pinterest Pet file.  I thought there had to be a more thrifty solution and one day, while making dinner, it hit me.  Why not use an extra empty Kraft Parmesan cheese container because it's big enough for a big dog paw and for a smaller dog as well!   (check out how I reuse one for everyday cooking). 

exploring the creek - muddy paw

Here's what I did:

Paw-fectly gross!

1. The next time the dogs went outside on a rainy day, I was ready!  Taking the lid off, I filled it with warm water and had two ratty old towels ready. 
2. Laying one ratty towel at the door, I let one dog in at a time, stopping them on the towel.  
3. Starting with their front paw, I inserted it into the water filled container, and gently moved the container up and down, washing the mud clean off each paw.  While the dogs were not exactly thrilled at first, they have learned to stand and wait.  It only took a few "pumps" in the water to get each paw clean and quickly wipe their paws dry with the towel as soon as I remove it from the water. Doing all four didn't take that long and the results were great!  Of course my kids think I'm nuts, but it's much easier than trying to make sure you've RUBBED all the much off. ** Note, if you have multiple dogs, use clean water for each dog. 

 This is how it helped:

1. This has not only dirtied up fewer towels (note less laundry)
2. It has saved my floors from the muddy paw trails. 
                   Can you imagine that mess tracked in on the floors!
3. Less need for mopping and vacuuming constantly. 
4. Dispose of dirty water back outside

 Call me crazy, but this is what Works-For-Me and I'm joining in with We Are That Family for What Works for Me!

Resident Chef in training

Thursday was Youngest's night to cook :  Steamed carrots, green beans, Italian seasoned chicken, and fettuccine from scratch.  I made the Peasant bread to help the process go along more quickly.  He said it was the first time he had fixed a fancy meal and he was pretty proud of it!  So we got out our nice dishes, wine glasses and beautiful bottle of Post Muscadine Grape Juice (It was gone in a matter of seconds!)  I think he did an awesome job fixing dinner and learning.

Silly Boy.  During each cooking lesson, we talk about handling chicken and meat and how to clean the counters they touched, and so on...  So so starts going on in this imaginary voice about the rule of cooking and about had me cracking up.  I was sure proud of him!  and he  lost his cockiness as well! 

Dinner with a smile

Youngest's Grilled bacon cheese sandwich

Tonight was Youngest's turn to fix dinner

His menu of choice? Grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches. It's hard to step back and let them create and learn, but he did well and his new wisdom was "making dinner tonight is like a vacation compared to homemade chicken nuggets! I can do this!"

We had a whole lesson on burns, cuts, safety, ecoli, staph, botulism, and other wonderful food things... He kept calling botulism "chewbotulism". This kid even had to insert his personality in it as well!

He makes me smile!


If you would like the read the story on how we have "guest chef's" four nights a week, click over here