- My husband's younger brother got married two weeks ago and it was a blast! We traveled about 2 hours away to the town where his wife was raised. They had a gorgeous ceremony and a fantastic reception. We were able to see some of Caleb's family, including his grandparents and great-aunt and uncle. This may not seem like a big feat; however, Caleb's father is one of 11 children. That's 11 aunts/uncles plus spouses, children, THEIR spouses and children....it's a lot of Scotts! The first time I ever met Caleb's extended family (his immediate family is good sized, too! 2 brothers, each with a wife and one has 3 children, a younger sister and parents!), it was Thanksgiving 2006 and they were having it at the local Boy Scout's hall because it was the biggest area that we could all fit in. At his grandfather's birthday celebration last week, there was 75 + of us and that wasn't everyone! We counted once, and came up with nearly 100 people...
- At said wedding, my 2-almost 3 year old nephew found my camera absolutely fascinating. He was taking pictures all over the place at the reception and wedding. He was trying to take a picture of Grandma and Bumpa (Grandpa) Scott...instead, he got lovely side view of my chest. Oh yes, it's hilarious. Oh no, it won't be posted :) My sister-in-law (his mom) and my other sister-in-law's boyfriend couldn't stop laughing. It was rather humorous.
- I posted about Ebony's haircut...or at least, I tried. But blogger ate it. Hardcore, complete with burps. Riiiight, but that's how I imagined it. And hey, I have a good imagination. Anyway, Ebony got a haircut. Twice in two days. The first time, the lady cut her hair much shorter than I had anticipated. (Thank goodness it's summer and hot!) It wasn't that her haircut was bad, just very short. Ebony is a flat-coated retriever and has extremely long hair, similiar to a golden retriever. So she has the long hair *feathering* on her legs and tail.
Or at least she did.
After her first hair cut, she resembled a black lab - VERY short hair. Except for her tail. Her tail still had the feathering and she looked.....ridiculous.
- So I took her back the next day and asked the woman if she could please shave her tail, too. The lady looked at Ebony and said, "You want her to have a rat tail?" Yes, please. At least her entire body will have short hair! That was almost a month and a half ago, so it's starting to grow out but I'm pretty sure that the dogs we met on our nightly walks snickered at her as we sauntered by. I didn't mean to give her a complex!
- Piper and Ebony have been worn out by many-a-small-child over the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, one of my former students and her younger sister came over and spent the night at "Miss Amanda and Mr. Caleb's" house. Their parents just got divorced about 6 months ago and I feel like sometimes the mom (with whom I've become very close to) and the girls just need some fun, alone time. So, the girls came here and mom got to relax. Ebony and Piper, however, did not get to relax. The girls, L and I, were insistent upon continually throwing Ebony's toys to her and playing with the laser pointer. They were all exhausted and slept well the first night :)
- This past weekend, my best friend Emily and her family came to visit. Emily and her husband, Matt came with their two children, Grace and Elijah *Eli*. Eli LOVED the dog and cat and crawled his fastest to get to them to squeal in their faces and make a break for trying to get a fistful of hair before an adult could stop it. He was in heaven! And I have to say that the furry ones did an AMAZING job with a baby in the house (He just turned 1). He was also enamored with the fish.
- His 2-almost 3 year old sister was NOT in heaven when it came to the dog. She screamed bloody murder and literally jumped into the arms of whomever was closest to her when the dog started to trot towards her. She was constantly looking around to see where Ebbie was and how much distance was between her and the dog. IF the dog was blocked off (either by a baby gate or if the dog was in her kennel), then she was okay. She would gingerly put a finger or two to pet the dog on the head and then quickly retract her arm. The "TITTY TAT" however, was a hit. Grace was constantly chasing Piper around, playing with her and only got upset once when Piper batted at her (with her no-claws front paw) because Grace petted her stomach (Piper will NOT stand for ANYONE to touch her fatty belly!).
- Other than the animals and kids, the day went well. Matt's dad and brothers own a deck care business in Holland, MI, so Matt offered to bring his power washer to clean off our deck. It looks amazing now and we hope that we can afford to sandpaper it and stain it -maybe this weekend!
- This is how Ebony and Piper relaxed after two weekends filled with kids:
- On the job front: I am going to be teaching Pre-School at the daycare where I taught Kindergarten for the last two years. I am also going to find out if I can go back to school to get my Early Childhood Endorsement and look at my options for my masters. I did have an interview for a "real" teaching job at a local Catholic elementary school but I didn't get it. So after some quick praying, crying and thinking, I decided to go back to the daycare. I considered just subbing; however, the pay isn't guaranteed and right now, that's something that we can't have.
Happy Monday!