sink holes and I'm never camping again

I had to pick Shawn up Sunday night and I was shocked to find a sink hole on the way. It isn't a very large one, but it appeared to be deep. We decided that it would be a great thing to blog about. Unfortunately we couldn't find the camera. The last time I remember seeing it was in my bag at 5 a.m. in our tent. We're hoping that somehow Lily ran off with it and it will turn up this week, but so far no luck. If we don't find it by the end of the week we'll start looking into getting a new one.

Last year when we went camping I lost my cell phone. We never found it and believe that it got thrown away. Since we were at the same campsite this year with some of the same people I have a new superstious belief that either:
I should not go camping
I should not go camping at Oxbow
I should not go camping with the Peters family
I should not go camping with the Peters family at Oxbow
I should not take anything of value camping

either way I'm still cranky and since the town has filled the sink hole, I have no pictures for you.

Lily

This week is Lily's last week of preschool until next fall. We took a trip to the park last week where Lily (and all of her friends) had a fabulous time.

Shawn's new toy

We have been limping along with our computer dying a slow death. As a type this now, my computer is driving me insane. So, Shawn, ever the helpful and curteous husband- and so very attractive as well, started looking into purchasing us a great new computer. I went to bed one night thinking he was ordering one using a special discount her gets through work, and woke up to find out that he ordered one that he has to build himself. His brother, Jon actually ordered all the parts, and Shawn built it last night. He did a great job. It pays to have your guy work in OIT! (and have a fabulous brother that fills your online basket so all you have to do is check out!!!) Unfortunately, one of the cables is taking it's own sweet time to get here, so while it looks pretty, we aren't using it yet. Shawn promises that I'll really love it and i can't wait to blog from it really soon.

Ballerina Girls

With all 3 girls dancing, we were excited to have them in ballet costumes that go together so well. For the record, Charlie and Emily both feel that they look much cuter in their jazz costumes and that the ballet outfits make them look like little girls. I have to agree that they look so grown up and adorable in their jazz costumes, but i only was able to get pics of them in their ballet costumes on this day. Luckily, we ordered some pics of them in their jazz costumes as well.

Charlie

Charlie has also had a very busy spring. She had her band concert last week as well as her choir concert. Charlie did very well and band, and really excelled in choir. Charlie was 1 of 2 soloists in her 6th grade choir concert. With 130 members in her choir, this was a real accomplishment. She did a fabulous job and we're all so proud of her. Maybe it's all the rockband and guitar hero she plays with her dad??????

Emily

Emily had her spring concert a few weeks ago. She did a great job singing and playing her recorder. It was a lot of fun to see and watch. She also had her track and field event last week as well. She took 5th (out of 40) in the frisbee throw and did really well in her other events.

uncommonly common

Apparently Sam is a very distinct and unusual looking dog. His uncommon looks seem to be particularly common in our town, however. What makes Sam so unusual is that he is a lab/pointer mix who has a white spot on his chest. This makes him so unusual that people feel very comfortable telling me how they all know Sam. At Em's track and field day (pics to follow this weekend) a man approached me to ask where we got Sam. He's sure that Sam is the son of his sister's dogs. I explained that Sam was found loose in a town about 30 miles from here where his sister doesn't live, but he's sure that Sam must be one of her puppies who somehow got lost/abandoned. Then yesterday at school another girl approached me and asked me if Sam was the dog from track and fiels. When I said he was, she blurted out, "your dog got my dog pregnant!" Now, Sam has never been "lost" in the month that we've had him and he came to us already nuetered, so my answer was, "he's never off the lease and he's been altered." I repeated this 3 times before I finally said, "He can't have babies." This girl was a sweet 4th grader and very polite but insisted that Sam is "the one". I am pretty sure that "the one" is one of the other 2-3 lab/pointer mixes I sometimes see walking w/ their owners, or even more likely, the one I see running through the neighborhood.(The 1st time I saw him I ran to the back yard to make that Sam was still on his run playing fetch with Charlie. So, for all those people out there who think Sam's "the one" they know, he's probably not.

a kidnapper, a dog trainer, and the blue sky...

This sounds like a start to a joke but is actually a list I got from Lily. Can you guess what she says this list is?

I didn't know.....

Well honestly I don't know a lot of thing, but in this post I'm talking about some of the changes I didn't know would happen when we got a dog. First, I didn't know that I would come to really treasure the early morning walks that Sam needs. This has become a very special time for Charlie (who is a true early bird, just like her grandpa Charlie) and I to walk and talk about all sorts of things that matter to young lady in her first year of middle school. Even today, we laughed so much as Charlie walked under her umbrella and Sam and I got soaked. I didn't know that I could drop everything right after lunch on most days to walk downtown and around the pond, stopping at the park. This is something that seems so unattainable since returning to work this fall, yet most days Lily, Sam and I make it. It's a delight to watch Lily squeal "Sam look, ducks!!!" and hear Sam bark back excitedly. I didn't know how much I missed time alone with Shawn. Our nightly walks have become the highlight of my day. I didn't know how much Ebay (our cat) loves us. Now he climbs on top of us purring as soon as Sam goes to bed. We know that we're loved.

There are a lot of other things i didn't know as well. I didn't know that dogs poop is much larger than people poop. It also stinks more and they poop 3 times a day on average. I also didn't know how hard it would be to master the "poop pick up". i have endured MANY a friend (or family member) bursting into laughter when they hear about how i got poop on my hand and/or got stuck carrying a bag of poop for a mile b/c there wasn't a trash can around.

I didn't know that dogs like butter and that it can not be left on the counter anymore.

I've learned that Sam doesn't like to take showers-but has no problem jumping into the town pond.

I've learned that Sam wants to be with us all the time -even if he's just going to nap

and I've learned that Shawn should not be allowed to feed Sam italian sausage unless he's going to walk the dog next time. (It goes back to all I've learned about poop)

So, I've learned a lot and love it so far. i imagine I'll have a different view of walks this winter....

Lazy Days

We had a great weekend as a family. It started off a little rocky with all 3 girls coming down with colds (NOT h1n1/swine flu), but this afternoon they were all feeling better and we got to spend some time taking the dog for a walk- followed by a bath since Shawn let Sam "explore" a little too close to the edge of the lake. I hope that you all had such a great weekend as well.