Jack

An explanation on the puppy change from Dave: We all loved Jude, but sadly saw very little of her unless she was on a leash by our side. She rarely showed interest in being around us and I started wondering if this wasn't going to be getting better. We hired a dog trainer who gave us little hope. She said with Shiba Inus, it can take over a year of work to get her to want to be around us...not exactly the buddy I was looking for for Nate and the girls. I had read that they had an "aloof" cat-like personality, but I guess the good sides of her breed clouded over that.

Anyway, we found a good home for Jude with people that already have a Shiba Inu and understand their breed. I decided to swallow my desire to have a different, more rare breed and we ended up getting an 8 week old yellow lab puppy....Jack! Nate finally has a male pet!

What a difference in personality! He follows us everywhere and is always up for any sort of playing with the kids. He loves to sleep with Nate in his bed.

He'll definitely be getting a lot bigger than Jude!

Hey Jude

Jude made her debut Christmas morning. Yes, Jude is a girl. It took us a while to figure out her name. We went all over the map for name ideas but just couldn't find one we all liked. Dave really wanted Nate to be Jude. We were deciding between the two names (for Nate). I suggested that Dave make the final choice since it was his first (and last) son. Even in the delivery room Dave was still vacillating between the two names. So this way Dave can have a Nate AND a Jude. The most common phrase to hear around the house is "Hey Jude" in a sweet high voice from Nate or the girls. Nate likes to sing "Hey Jude" to Jude for a lullaby.
She is a sweet, sweet little puppy. So mellow and calm inside the house and then outside she's a bunch of fun and loves to run around.
Christmas Morning...
One other notable thing around the holidays. I was making our usual green smoothie to go with breakfast. The girls were putting the dishes away and were currently in the middle of unloading the silverware. I ran to get the next ingredients for the smoothie when Ash somehow (still not sure how) bumped the on switch and boy did that VitaMix do its thing. It sent spinach flying every which way. In the entire silverware drawer, on the butter on the other side of the counter, in every groove in sight, in the girls' hair and clothes, on the cupboards, all over the floor, ETC!! It was quite the mess. I seem to recall a similar post back in our Georgia days except it was a berry smoothie. At least it was a Christmas-y color.

Cousins!

We had the treat of having Sage and Micah stay with us for 5 days. What fun we had!
I had fun pretending I had 5 kids. I loved it.
One day it snowed all day. Dave was planning to shovel when he got home. The girls decided to surprise Dave. They spent over an hour in the freezing cold, shoveling away for their dad.
The kids got to open an early Christmas present from a dear friend. I took before pictures but didn't take enough "after" pictures. The girls knew they were getting something similar and didn't want to see the other open their gift first, so they positioned themselves so they couldn't see. The boxes were packed with their latest obsession and hobby...BEADS for jewelry making. They were in heaven. They spent the entire day on Saturday making jewelry and organizing all of their beads.
Nate hasn't worn suspenders in a while, but today he decided to wear them. Here is Nate about to open his box of legos. Next to the girls, Nate spent the entire day building with his new Legos. What a fun Saturday.
The kids did all sorts of shows for us. This particular show was a dancing show. They did all sorts of ballroom dancing and taught the boys how to ask a girl to dance. It was adorable. The video is much better than the still shot!
Another show was an exercise show. Again, the video is way better.
We made a CD for Grandma Shelly's birthday of the kids singing primary songs. The girls were so cute huddled together around the mic.

Dog Heaven

We've had our neighbor dog, Heeley, over to play a few times this week. Nate is in heaven. He snuggles with him all day, he gets him his food, takes him on walks, teaches him tricks, how to draw, reads to him, etc.
He even puts a blanket on him when he wants to nap. So cute. I'm not a dog fan, but I can't help love watching Nate with a dog.

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

We're so glad Grandpa needed an implant done by Dad so we could have a visit! We celebrated Dad's birthday by eating chocolate cake and singing "When I'm 64" to him.
"Window" the sugar glider climbing on Grandpa.

I considered posting the picture of Mom and I during our hula-hoop contest but thought she might not want that picture posted for the world to see.
Ashlyn, Sadie and our neighbor Katie, planned a neighborhood Halloween party. They worked on it for weeks. They planned all sorts of games, prizes, food, etc. They got a pretty good turn out! The girls had so much fun being in charge of all these kids. At one point they asked the adults to scoot away a bit because we were being too loud for their game. Funny how the tables turn.
The orange cones were to let the kids know that they weren't allowed on the porch until they were called. Once it was time for snacks, they removed the cones and everyone charged the porch for the food.
Playing bingo. That's a lot of kids to keep track of for bingo, but they did a great job.

Nate was looking for a snack "high up". I guess when there is a will, there is a way. Lately when Nate asks for a snack, he says "But not something wet. I want something dry." This means: I don't want a fruit or vegetable.

Happy Birthday My Boy!

Nate turned 4 today. It was a happy day 4 years ago on August 10th! When I was little I had a cake with m&ms and lollipops. Nate has been talking about having this kind of cake for months. He also wanted it to be rainbow on the inside, so we did our best. The kids had fun helping and Nate kept saying "This is sooooo fun!"
If you've been around Nate lately, you know that he LOVES to hike up his pants as far as possible. He does this all day long. Not much gets in the way of tucking in his shirt and hiking up the pants. He even wants to be "tucked in" for bedtime. Even if it's a really big bedtime shirt. So Dave wanted to get him some suspenders to help out. He loves them. A week ago he planned that he would wear this shirt for his birthday. I asked him why today. He said because it's red. I guess red is a birthday color? Heidi...do you recognize this shirt?

Thanks Karla for the cape and mask set! Dave took the kids on a run up this mountain and Nate wore the mask the whole time.

Pets

We were babysitting our neighbor's dog for the weekend. This is the nicest dog. One day we took him on a walk and then brought him back home. He didn't want to go home. I felt so bad for it, so I brought it to our house for the afternoon. Nate was in heaven with a dog to play with.

Introducing our pet sugar gliders. Ashlyn is holding "Window" and the other is called "Chip". Nate named them, can you tell? They love to hang out on your head, shoulder, or back. Dave and the kids have put a lot of time into bonding with these creatures. So why is is that I am Window's favorite person to sit on? If I am close by, it usually ends up jumping to my shoulder or head. Not sure how I earned that privilege.
Window is eating some jicama from our salad. They also like to eat flies and bugs.