today... sucked.

I decided to stay up after sending Barry off to work this morning and watch the new episode of Merlin on Hulu. It was good. Dahlia toddled in a little after six, blurry eyed, blanket in one hand, hot pink lamb in the other.

Her: "I just want to sit with you."
Me: "Ok" (thinking: she's the cutest thing ever)
Her: "I brought my stuff."
Me: "I see that" (thinking: Christ I want to scoop her up and hold her so tight that she never gets any bigger.)

So I crawl back into bed with her and give her Barry's pillow and turn the light off and she holds my finger until we both fall asleep.

I wake up to the dog barking and her screaming. Now the dog as some of you know, was gotten from the used car dealership where they sold us our crap cars. Before that I think he was a fighting pit bull. He has the scars to suggest it and the temper around other dogs to seal my suspicions. So because of his sorted past he's been kept on the leash at all times. I just wrap the handle around a door knob and he hangs out. I know it's not a very nice way to keep an animal, but it was better than he was used to. The kids would go sit with him and give him hugs and kisses, and when we were having a bad storm I would hold him in my lap on the couch.

Fast forward to this morning. Dahlia scrambles up on the bed crying saying the dog bit her and stepped on her. From what I can tell she was lying next to him while he was enjoying some raw hide. She probably grabbed it and he said "no puppy that's mine" the way dogs do.

Dahlia's arm is fine. She has a little bruise and two very faint teeth marks.

I calmed her down and sent her to her room to entertain her brother. I had to focus on what needed to be done. First I put his bed in the back of the van. No turning back now. The box of dog biscuits and assorted rawhide/chewy toys went on the floor in the front seat. I put the last of his food in the storage space under his dish and moved that out too. I got the kids up, changed, dressed, and gave them some cereal. Then I let him out for the last time. I don't really remember what was going through my head. Just that it needed to be done, like quiting smoking when I got pregnant, no backing out.

I called Barry at work to let him know what happened. He was worried and wanted me to bring the kids by when I was done so he could see her arm for himself.
I got to the dealership and asked the owner if he still wanted the dog back. I guess there had been a few night break-ins since we took him. He said no I should take him to the pound. My head was reeling on what to do next. I saw the former owner out side on my way back to the car. A man named Tonto who's blind in one eye. I asked him if he wanted the dog back. He loved "Black" (we changed it to Methos) and did want to take him, but he'd already gotten a new puppy. But he made a phone call to a friend who wanted a dog and thankfully he took him. I didn't really say good bye because I didn't want to get upset. But as soon as I got in the car Dahlia started freaking out that she wanted her puppy and that she loved her puppy and I couldn't hold it together anymore. We went to see Barry at work so he could kiss her boo boo and see that she was ok.

The rest of the morning was alright. No questions about where he had gone. Lunch. Nap. Gregory and I slept until quarter to six. Dahlia came in my room around two and laid down with me again. I think she was making sure I was alright. They both get very upset when I cry.

We all got up, had a snack, played/snuggled for a bit. Then supper and jammies. I was still a little down so I figured I'd bring the kids to see Barry at work to say "na-nights". I carried them both to the car so they wouldn't get their little feety pajamas dirty. I noticed that the parking lights were on and thought to myself "I'm sure it's fine, it hasn't been that long." I got them all buckled and the car won't start... great. Ok I can roll with the punches. "kids, wait here" I walked to the only neighbors we're friendly with. No jumper cables. I asked a few people I saw pull up. Nope and nope. The kids were sweating in their jammies at this point but they weren't complaining because they wanted to see daddy. So I unbuckled everyone. Now the crying starts, them and me. Well maybe we'll just call daddy and say "na night". He should be on his break right about now.
My phone's been shut off for non-payment.

That was my day. Sorry no cute photos of the kids.

Father's Day Weekend.

On Saturday we went to Dee and Andy's for a big Bar-BQ/multi-child Birthday party. We had lots of fun in the pool and even tested our comfort zones in the water. Here's daddy with his kids in their little floats.


Dahlia's comfort zone involved swimmies, a kick board and mommy holding her up. This girl does not like to get her face wet!! (wow I guess she kinda does look like me, I never really saw it.)


This one on the other hand... I had the two of them standing on a step right in front of me and I closed my eyes to rub the water out, I opened them and he was under water! Yikes! He just dives right in. He at least knows to hold his breath. (Dahlia tries to inhale the water) So he's our little water baby, but damn you gotta keep an eye on this one.

She heard someone talking about cake...

Me and my little man.

Sunday was pretty low-key. Barry made us breakfast (his eggs are better), but he let me serve so I could pretend I had made him a nice Father's Day breakfast. The kids and I had gone out on Friday to try and print a picture at Ritz for his desk at work but we went to the wrong mall and came home before we ran out of gas. Maybe we'll try again this week.

Also last night I went out to a knitting group. I heard about it at Meetup.com and last night was the first meeting. It was at a Starbucks in Winter Garden. About a half hour from here. I got lost and was very late, but I'm glad I went and I'm going to try and make a regular thing of it.
Met some nice ladies and it's just good for me to get out a little.

Cake for no reason but that I love cake.

I made cake. Cause I like cake. After I finished frosting it I realized it was all white and I had a ton of food coloring. So all the color was added after it was frosted. Just thought it'd be more fun for the kids this way.

This is how my little lady eats her cake. She had just a smidge of green frosting on her fingers and the side of her mouth.

This one, however, went straight into the tub to get hosed off.

And lastly, baby bump 09. I can feel some kicking. I hope this one likes to be clean!

Kids and cars

For those of you who don't know, we've been having some car trouble. Some time last week Barry returned the rental car we had had for over a month and had to bring home everything that was in it with him in the taxi. Whoops. Should have cleaned it out first. So it was late and we just piled everything by the front door and went to bed. This is what I opened my door to first thing in the morning.

Dahlia has a thing for making sure everything that can be buckled is. ha ha ha.

Nana and Bumpa came to say hello for an afternoon, as they will be going back up to the Cape soon. Dahlia loved slurping Nana's "pagetti". And Gregory ate everything in site. (except the broccoli I tried to slip past him)

So in other news, Barry and I finally got our tax return checks and are breathing easy again. We are all caught up on our bills and we were even able to pick up the second car that's been waiting for us at the dealership. Barry is very happy with his new toy. I think he more than deserves it, as he has taken on a second full time job to bring a little more cash flow to our lives.

Isn't she purty. He says if I ever leave him it'll be his second wife.

Which means that this white whale is all mine.

I can now kidnap lots of little children and perform tickle experiments on them. Dahlia will of course help.

Summer treats and making friends...

Well as some of you may have noticed we live in Florida now. Or as I like to call it, hell on the surface of the sun. Even when there's a nice breeze outside I just feel like God turned on his blow dryer.
So the kids and I have been trying to stay cool with some summery treats.


Here's Dahlia showing me the best way to savor a popsicle until it turns to soup. The trick is to just let your tongue touch it every 2 minutes or so.


And this was our Memorial Day Strawberry Short Cake for Lunch Celebration. Some days I just can't bring myself to make another "P and Jelly samich". And hey, it's got fruit... it's healthy.



This is a time I wish I had grabbed my camera five minutes earlier. Gregory was sitting in Daddy's lap watching the Red Sox and sharing an ice cream cone. Cutest thing ever. But I couldn't drag my eyes away to run and get the camera until it was almost gone.

Baby's first road rash.
In an effort to make my son a little more independent (as well as free up my hands a bit and save my back for early contractions) I'm trying to let him walk on his own more outside. So instead of being carried to the car he walks, and instead of me pushing him in a stroller to the laundry room he walks. You get the idea. I've even tried him out in a quicky grocery run. He's pretty good and doesn't touch too much. He's even holding hands in the parking lots. This is a photo of his first of I'm sure to be many boo boos caused by this new found freedom. He fell in the parking lot of our apartment complex.

Here we are killing some time in the kids section of Border's. This is Gregory's "cheese!" face.

Later they met a little girl named Olivia and instantly bonded over their mutual love for princess books and spinning in public. I love Greggy's face the most.

Fair Isle

This is the third hat I've made from my baby hat book. I had to learn Fair Isle knitting.


I'm very proud of this and even the inside is very neat considering it's covered in strings weaved across behind the little dots. It's basically a square with tassels but it's cute. Oh and I learned do a three needle bind off. I'm getting so daring with patterns. This hat will be for my friend Marissa's little boy, Jackson.

Lions and Tigers and Hats, Oh My!

Dahlia has discovered The Wizard of Oz. We bought the VHS for her at a used kids store and she's been watching it ever since. It this particular photo she is "off to see the Wizard" (although she sings it "we love to see the Wizard"). She has a pink lamb playing the part of Toto and her pink Little Mermaid purse as her diaper bag. I think it's supposed to be like Dorothy's basket but she insists it's a diaper bag. With this loot she does her best impression of skipping around the house breathlessly repeating "we love to see the Wizard". Also she thinks the Tinman is a robot, and I think she was trying to get me to play the "robot" because she told me I had to ask for a heart. I tried not to take that personally. If Greggory stands in one place too long she'll grab him by the wrist and drag him down her yellow brick road until he falls down and cries. I won't be sad when that tape breaks.

In other news. I've made a few hats from my baby hat book. The patterns called for 9 needles but I only had 10 so they are a little big. This one is for Zander, my friend Faith's little boy. He just turned two.

And this one is for Tristen, Zander's cousin. She just turned two too. I'm really pleased with these colors together.

I realise it's a little lopsided with all these pictures of Dahlia but Gregory makes a bad hat model. I have finished another one already for my other friend Marissa's boy. Jackson. I even learned a little fair isle, photo coming soon. Right now I'm working on a crochet lap blanket as one of my art sharing give aways. I had to switch to crochet, my knitting muscles were starting to cramp.