A doggy decision

For those of you hanging on the edge of your seat, waiting to see if we follow through on our doggy daydreams, (and if so--what we will end up with.)  We have made our decision, and have decided on a yellow lab.  My sister has a yellow lab that is just over a year old, and just after they got the puppy a few of their circumstances changed and it has been harder than they thought to be the dog loving family they had dreamed of.  While Rachel and I are obsessed with the puppy stages, Sam and I had discussed recently how much easier it might be to start with an older dog that is already house trained for one.  So when I was chatting with my sister and she admitted that they were very close to deciding that it was best to try and find a new home for their dog, I voluntarily mentioned that we could take their dog, Cali. (named after their family vacation spot-California).  Suddenly things fell into place for both of us.  They were relieved, not only do they get the much needed break from being dog owners, but they get to give Cali to a family that they know will treat it well, and will also get to have visiting rights.  And we get a dog, and a chance to test all of our knowledge gained from watching daily episodes of Dog Whisperer. 

We are both happy.  And my family thinks we are crazy.  My brother (the only other person in the family with a dog) can't believe she is giving her dog away). And everyone wonders why I am up for taking a rambunctious, large, hard to control dog, voluntarily.  For the record, Lacie and I both think Cali is a great dog: comes when called, house trained, sleeps in her crate, will play fetch for hours, not aggressive towards people or other dogs.  Most of her "annoying" behaviors comes from the fact that she is still a young dog with lots of energy to burn, and just needs more opportunities to burn it, in addition to just a little bit more time spent on obedience training.   To prove myself (and to stand up for Cali) I have taken a challenge from my little brother Trevor, to have a well behaved dog by the time we go camping in July.

• Cali will sit calmly by our side when other dogs walk by
• Cali will walk obediently at our side on walks around the campground. 
• Cali will not jump on anyone

Wish me Luck!

(for the record he had two other challenges that I did veto--his other two complaints just seemed a bit unfair--one was knocking anything over (with her tail) and rolling in every mud puddle that she sees.  Hey she is a lab with a long wagging tail, and Lacie has already warned me that she loves splashing in any amount of water she sees, including her water bowl.  Who am I to rain on her parade? :-)


Okay, so while Rachel is on board with us finally getting a dog, honestly, she is devastated that we aren't getting a puppy.  She heard us talking about having Cali spayed before we get her so she wouldn't have puppies and ever since then Rachel's brain (and heart) is hard at work to find a compromise.  I love that she isn't just stuck on the same whiny complaint "but I want a puppy", she is whole heartedly trying to find something that could work for all of us.  I think she figured out early on that at least Cali was a girl dog, so maybe she would have puppies someday--but the talk of a surgery to end that was going to slash that dream.   Here are a few of the other ideas she has come up with.  She mentions them at random times, just proof that it is always on the back of her mind. 

• "Don't make her get the surgery, she's too nice of a dog not to let her have puppies"
• (we explained that when dogs have puppies they don't have just one, they have many, and we aren't ready to take care of a bunch of dogs)
• Do you not like puppies, mom?
• Is there a surgery that the Vet can do that will make it so Cali will only have just one puppy?"
• Told her no, and also explained that problems can happen when having puppies, where the mom, or the puppies can die, and since we don't have experience, it isn't a good  idea.
• "I know, how about we take Cali to the Vet to deliver her puppies and then we can bring them home and put them in a box in our front yard that says "Free puppies, just leave 1"  (she wants to keep one puppy of course, but knows we we have to find a home for the rest.)

One thing is for sure, this little girl does deserve a puppy, so if all goes well with Cali then we will get Rachel her own puppy in the next year as well.

more birthday

Rachel's birthday fell on the end of the year class party so she had an extra special day at school.

Here is the "cake" she requested--tower of hostess donuts topped with whipped cream and sprinkles.

Another special thing was that her grandparents were able to come and see her.  Here she is sporting some new clothes that they gave her, along with the roller blades that she wears all day long.  (the weather tis weekend has been super crappy (so far it has been about 36 hours straight of 35 mph Dust storms) so she hasn't gotten to wear them outside yet, but since I am a super fun mom, and things are pretty casual here on the rez, I let her wear them inside.  (Right now she is still in her pajamas but she has them on again.)

For the family birthday cake she requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I wrote the words and then let her decorate it. (In this pic you can see the cute little navajo hair clip I bought for her from a man selling stuff in front of the grocery store. People are always selling stuff in front of the store, and usually I try to walk past without making eye contact and just say, "No thanks, not today" if they ask me anything. However, once I actually tried to find some navajo jewelry to take to a friend, and suddenly all these jewelry makers were no where in sight. So now I usually glance at the items, and when I saw these little hairclips made with leather and beaded were so cute, and it was only $7. Rachel loved it, loved that it was blue (she is starting to get to the stage where she wants things other than pink, even though she still likes it) and loved that she had another thing that was Navajo. She said excitedly, "My skin is starting to be more Navajo too." (as in tan).

This is Rach with an old friend that came by for a visit.  They were in the same kindergarten class, and she moved about 2 hours away about a year ago.  The rest of the kids, in her class would say they looked like Twins  (the only similarity being that they were both white with light colored hair--they may have actually been the only two white kids at school that year.  It didn't bother either of them, and I just thought it was funny.  Mainly as I looked at the rest of the class, I wondered how they didn't realize that with their criteria, the rest of the 20 kids in the class were "twins" as well.   And it is not an optical illusion, Rachel only was as tall as her friend's shoulder.  Out cute little shorty :)

 

Happy Birthday to Rachel

 

she is

SEVEN!!

I can't believe it :)

She is very into music these days, she loves listening to all the songs on the icarly website.  Another fun activity we did this week was made music videos of her singing along to all her favorite songs.  Grandpa Lennie and Grandma Karla sent her the pink mp3 player for her birthday--and she said it was one of the best presents ever! (Including of course the awesome roller blades that her mom and dad got her).

We love watching her play Tball, she is one of the older kids this year who actually has the hang of it, so she gets to play pitcher or first base. Love this picture of her running. I love how she can be sooo girly sometimes, but how she can fit in just as easily with the boys (playing sports, watching building shows with her dad, and enjoys (and eggs on) all kinds of "boyish" silliness with her dad).  Begs to wear a dress almost every day of school, has been sporting my high heels lately with her dress up clothes, but also isn't afraid to get dirty, loves playing in the dirt, or mud.  And I also love when she has a nice mix of both, like this girly trot to first base with her braids flying and her tongue sticking out. LOVE IT!

Sporting the "ready" position playing first base. 

Here are a few pics for the grandparents, complete with "morning" hair- ha ha ;)

(opening her mp3 player)

(opening her Roller blades)

(A big thank you to my friend and neighbor for coming to my rescue with the 'correct festivity' wrapping paper, so I was not limited to either snowmen, santa claus, or penguins).  

Do I get Brownie points for getting these posted on her actual birthday???

I think so  :)

home with pink eye

Rachel was home for a few days with pink eye.  It's been a while since I have had all day to spend with my little Rachel (who is not so little anymore).  The playroom was nice and cleaned up, so there was plenty of room to make a new mess with a picnic for all of her friends :)

Rachels school work..and puppies

Rachel drew this when they were learning about different kinds of houses. She probably just copied what other kids in her classes were writing, but I had to laugh when I read it :-)

I am sure her uncles and aunts are wondering which one of them lives in a Teepee and which one lives in a hogan :-)

She left this note for the tooth fairy. She had put her tooth in a little box she got at school but wanted to make sure the Tooth Fairy didn't take the box when she took her tooth.  (For the record, the tooth fairy read the note, and followed her request, but the note was too big for her to carry so she left it here.)  Not sure why uncle Trevor's name made it on the note.

Offical blackmail.  I don't know exactly who this is, but I know it is not a boy in her class, it is some boy from a tv show who is a singer.  Ah...her first tween hearthrob :-)

And this one leads us to the topic of puppies.

Rachel Loves Puppies!... and kitties, and bunnies.  Really anything soft and cuddly. 

These are only the pets I could find, she has many more, one I know she has been sneaking in her backpack to school every day. 

I know some friends say I am crazy for wanting to get a dog, or driving around following rez puppies hoping they woudl come home with me.  Everyone I know who has a dog has been trying to give it away, but when your little girl has all this love to give, and just really, really, really, wants a puppy or a kitty, it is hard to watch her talking to her battery operated dog named 'Lucky' and not feel like a lame parent.  (Even if the dog does do tricks on command--I mean, for a toy dog--it is a pretty impressive dog.)  

Growing up, my family wasn't what I would consider a 'dog family', but even we had a few dogs, cats, even a bunny and a chicken, over the course of my growing up years.  Sure, maybe they didn't stick around for very long  (any pet lovers out there are probably cringing when I say that, but I admit, sometimes the animals would "run away" out of the blue-usually when we were at school) --but I know that a certain chicken found a nice new home on a big farm (after it starting pecking at my little brother who had brought it home as a chick from kindergarten)  and I am sure, the rest of the animals that disappeared found equally happy new homes as well.  :-)

 Maybe I feel guilty that she doesn't have any siblings to play with.

Maybe I am trying to fill my (and her) desire for another baby with a puppy instead.

Maybe I feel guilty that we live on the rez.

Maybe I understand she is jealous that all of her friends here have dogs (and little brothers or sisters) so I know I can do something about the dog part .

Maybe I just want to spoil my little girl sometimes and give her something that she wants.

Whatever the reason, we have decided we could handle getting a dog and we have been looking to find the perfect pet. 

Sam would like something like this:

Rachel would like something like this:

And I would like something in between :-)

Maybe a Brittany?

Something medium sized, preferrably a light shedder, easy to train, loves kids, loves to play, loves to go for walks/runs (but only when I am in the mood, like when the weather is nice) and is happy to play at home (nicely). 

More on this topic later, this post has gotten really long.

Recipe for Chicken with Lime and Avacado salsa

We made this last night and it was super Yummy!   I have to admit, I was flipping through all my old Better Homes and Gardens magazines looking for recipes that I wanted to save and this caught my eye, mainly because it looked colorful in the picture, and it had cilantro in it.  (I have a nice little plant of fresh cilanto that is still alive and I was dying for a recipe that let me use some of it).  Sam loved that it was so Full of Flavor--though it was a bit spicy with the jalapeno so I would suggest keeping those separate and let the family members who like their food spicy add it to their plate, and to make it even more kid friendly keep the onions out too.  The lime and cliantro together was delicious!!

slight changes: We only used one avacado, about one-fourth of a large red onion, and only half of a jalapeno.  It needed a little something to go with it, so we made some instant brown rice. (I got this idea from somewhere recently, I don't usually buy instant rice, but brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, so I usually never make it--but the instant rice made a nice easy addition.)  The chicken I used was pretty thin already so I didn't cut it in half to make 'cutlets', I just punded it with my super heavy marble rolling pin.  For those of you who haven't ever made cutlets before this is for you:

When cooking on the stove, having evenly-thin chicken pieces makes it easier to cook the chicken evenly so it stays moist and doesn't get dried out while you are waiting for the thickest part to be cooked throughout.  This picture says to flatten with your hand, but you can also pund it with something heavy--I would suggest putting a piece of plastic wrap over it or put it in a plastic bad before you start pounding. 

Enjoy!

Annoyed with neighborhood kids

I first posted this on facebook...but I had a hard time condensing it into just a few words, so I decided it was probably a better blog post. 

There are 3 neighborhood kids who are just older than Rach, that I am losing my patience with.  Every time they come over something is either missing, or broken, and they always climb up into her closet and get out the messy toys that I have intentionally put out of Rachel's reach (legos, mousetrap game, etc). These are the kids who wander around the neighborhood, apparently their parents have given them cart blanche over where they are allowed to go.  (okay-Sometimes they borrow my phone to call their parents, and sometimes two of the girls carry walkie-talkies around and talk to their parents on the other end telling them where they are)--so maybe it isn't as bad as I make it sound.  They are in 3rd and 4th grade I think--so maybe that is normal when your kids are that age.   But they just appear all the time, usually just before dinner, or every sunday when we like to spend time with family...(you get the idea).   Honestly, I don't think Rachel even considers them very good friends, because I have heard her tell them many times that she doesn't want to play when they ask and sends them away.  (is it bad that when she does I am usually thinking "hip hip horray!)  But on a day when she is bored and they stop by she is happy to have someone wanting to play with her and she invites them in...and inevitably I get crankier. 

A while back they thought it would be a great idea to tie jump ropes to a coat rack that was hanging on her wall, to make a fort, which caused the coat rack to be ripped from the wall and holes left in it's place.

One day they brought "back" one of our brand new games and left it hanging on my car door since we weren't home.  I was happy they brought it back, but annoyed they had taken it in the first place.  Okay-Rachel may have given them permission to 'borrow' it, but she doesn't offer it up willingly, it is only after they keep asking "Can I borrow this? Can I take this home? I'll bring it back.''  And Rachel, being a nice person, says okay.  I mean, every time they come, they are each carrying a large bookbag, perfect for toy snatching.  Now I have to make sure to look at them as they are walking out and ask them nicely to leave any of Rachel's toys here.  (I am all for toy sharing, but only with kids that I trust to return it and usually I am friends with their parents)

Yesterday, one girl brought in a bag of popcorn, an entire bag, she was just carrying it around as her after school snack.  And I look over after the kids go into the playroom, and there is popcorn all over my floor.  (for the record, I did go ask her nicely to come and pick all of them up.) 

Then, I found two otter-pops (popcicles in the plastic wrappers) in the playroom the other day, not only did they take food into the back rooms (again)--which Rachel knows is not allowed, but she also 'forgets' the rules when they are here--but they set them down and forgot about them! Thankfully they were standing upright so they didn't spill even though they were completely melted. 

And, there are certain toys that I put up high in Rachel's closet--in attempt to help her keep her room clean, I decided those would only be allowed out if she asked and we cleaned up the rest of the playroom first.  They are up really high in the closet--like on a second shelf above the where the clothes hang.  And a few times I have gone in there and saw it out, and knowing Rachel can't reach, assumed I had left them out or something.  Only to go in there the other day and see one of the older girls climbing on everything in my closet (a stereo, boxes, and metal shelves) to reach up and drang the toys down.  UGH!!  I mean, I wasn't trying to be mean, I never actually told them, or Rachel, that these toys were banned, it was just implied with the fact that I put them out of reach.

Then yesterday, right after they left I realized a certain American Girl library girl book was missing.  (okay this one is probably not their fault--I have no proof, but this is how I have come to think of these girls.  --Not to mention that we have looked everywhere and still can't find the book, which we know was in Rachel's room right before.

Then just now, I tucked Rachel into bed and looked over and noticed that the shelf I just hung up in her room a few months ago to hold her trophies and tball pictures (also hung intentionally out of reach), was also about to fall down because the top screws had been pulled out of the wall!  Someone had climbed up on Rachel's desk to put their lego structure up on display and pulled on the shelf.  UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More than anything I am annoyed at the person that I become when they are here.  I become mean, and strict, and hovering, and can't wait to send them home.  I like friends, I usually like my daughter's friends.  I mean, she doesn't have any siblings so the only time she gets to play with other kids is when friends come over, so I am usually the first one to call and invite someone to come play.  But these kids I want to ban from my house!  I have tried to make Rachel just go outside and play when they come over, but the weather has been so crappy that I let them come inside because Rach was bored and wanted a friend to play with.  I am a fun mom, and fun moms don't ban kids from their house...do they? 

Am I overreacting? Do I just need to lay down the ground rules for my house...again?  Do I need to post signs in the play room:  NO FOOD ALLOWED!  TOYS ON TOP SHELF ARE OFF LIMITS! NO CLIMBING ON FURNITURE! 

I also don't know if it is just these kids, or more the fact that they are older than my own kid.  You know, since I haven't had a kid that age yet I don't know how they act or what to expect.  Does anyone else have similar problems?

(okay, taking a deep breath and trying to relax and go to sleep now ;-)

Dog sitting for a day

So a friend of ours lost their dog (a little husky pup) and I found it this weekend. Our friends were out of town for the day so we took care of it until they got back.

We thought it was a great time to practice all of our skills we have learned from watching The Dog Whisperer :) The first time we fed her we realized she had some doggy food aggression issues, she totally snapped at me when I walked by her while she was eating. But after feeding her just two more times we successfully got her to calm down--to where even Rachel could feed her. YAY! (I was, however, unable to break her of the habit of thinking that my arm was a chew toy).   Here is Rachel waiting patiently for the dog to be calm and look her in the eye before she gives her the food.

Here is Rachel holding the food (and also practicing taking it away a few times) to show the dog that she is the "pack leader"  and that the food is hers, and she is just sharing it with the dog :-)

The family was so happy that we found their dog, they even brought us some flowers to say thank you.

I called them the next day for something else, and before I hung up they asked, "So ....um...have you seen our dog?"  Yea, less than 24 hours they lost it again.  It dug a hole under the fence to escape the first time, not sure how it got out this time. 

Lose your dog once, and I will feel sorry for you and your kids who just barely got a puppy for the first time (especially because their grandpa had just died that week)  and I will help you find it.

Lose it again, in less than a day, and it starts to get old. 

It is a cute puppy, and now I have friends who helped me find it that say they make no promises they won't keep it for theirselves if they see it around this time.  I guess I can't blame them. 

May on the rez

We have had a few days of snow in March and even April...and now in May too.  : (

We are just so anxious for spring...and it is taking forever to get here.

After all this crazy weather (not just snow, but 60mph winds, freezing temps and 50 degree temperature swings up to 75 degrees) was making me wonder if any of my grass seed would even make it.  It was supposed to sprout in about a week, and after about two weeks of watering it I was losing motivation to keep watering dirt.  So I got down on my hands and knees looking for some sign of life. And thankfully I found some! Wahoo! So these pics are from a few days later when the grass was actually visible.   

So I may not have the perfectly filled suburban lawn, but there is signs of life in my front yard, and I even saw a butterfly two days in a row.  Sweet!

I started all of these seeds after I went to Phoenix in February and saw spring starting there.  I knew it was way too early to plant here, so I started some seeds inside assuming I could transplant them in a few weeks, or months. But with the bad weather, here they remain, 3 months later.

here is a closeup--some of these cosmo flowers are actually starting to bloom.  :-)

In all of these larger pots I have tomatoes, peppers, and in the font there is cilantro and basil.

So if nothing else, here is proof that I can keep plants alive, and if they die later,

 it is all the weather's fault.  :-)  I actually wish I could keep them in this protected little space forever.