December

December was busy trying to finish all the work we got behind on when we were on vacation.  Katie was also spending time getting ready for her first piano recital.  Erik kept himself busy making messes all over the house.  Here he is with some Styrofoam he decided to use his tools on. I had to vacuum him up after that and then the next day he had to vacuum the back yard with the shop vac.  He enjoyed his jobs. 

December of course brings Christmas.  We visited my parents again but this time left the dog at a friend's house.  My parents carpet looks nice and stayed that way. 

A few days before Christmas we went to my good friend Theresa's house and sang carols.  Her husband is really good on the piano so he played and we all sang.  We convinced Katie to play one song, hopefully we can continue this and each year she can play more and more.  Now to convince my parents they need a piano. 

Christmas Eve, Katie, my dad and I went horseback riding.  It was Katie's fourth time on a horse.  She does pretty well.  My biggest problem was trying to keep good spacing.  I always get nervous when the horses get too close because I don't want them to annoy each other and start bucking me off.

Erik turned four on December 27.  We had a little party for him and invited a few friends to build some projects.  Erik chose to make little coin holders. We had his party at home with the bounce house.  Save mart made a really cute cake with trucks, cookies and marshmallows just like Erik wanted. 

We took Erik and Katie to Knotts on Erik's birthday. One of the benefits of driving to Southern California in December is the great weather. 

Dog Training

We enrolled Ty in a six week class at Petsmart.  We really needed him to learn to come because we have the park right across the street. Whenever he can he gets out and then there is panic from Katie. Also whenever he is around other dogs there is panic from Katie.  She actually shouted at a little girl to get her dog away from Ty because she was afraid they would fight.  Dog training was needed so they could both learn to get along with other dogs.  Ty learned to sit, stay, down, come, leave it, and wait.  We also bought a 20 foot leash to work on come at the park.  Now we don't need to panic and he comes.  He is also alot more attached to us.  We were taking him for twice daily walks at the beginning but now, not so much.  He mostly likes to sit on my lap while we work and sometimes he gets to sleep on the bed at night.

Here is his picture at the end of puppy class with his cap on. 

Thanksgiving

Erik raking leaves.

    For Thanksgiving we went to my parents house and thought it would be a good idea to take the dog.  They were going to be getting new carpet shortly after the visit so it was a good time to see how Ty did.  Little did I know that he gets carsick.  At the halfway point on our five hour drive we stopped for lunch and let the dog out of his kennel.  He was sick at the Mcdonalds.  That should have been my clue to drive home.  Instead we continued and he was sick for most of the vacation.  I got to clean up dog vomit on Thanksgiving and the little dog did not get invited back for Christmas. 



There is a neat childrens' museum in Perris Kirk likes to take the kids to.  It is nowhere near as big as the ones we went to in Lincoln or Denver but still fun. Erik loves to play garbage man. 



Pumpkin picking and trick or treating

Thankfully we were able to all stay well for our trip but when we got home Erik got a cold which of course led to an ear infection I could not get rid of.  We wound up at the ENT and still had stuff dripping out of his ear on Halloween.  We let him go trick or treating with a cotton ball in his ear. 

The kids went on a field trip with the other local homeschooled kids to a pumpkin patch where there was a corn maze and a tractor ride.  They love standing in the corn still!

They also went trick or treating at the libray and around the city building including the fire and police station which is always a big hit.  I convinced Katie not be anything too gory and when we saw the vampire outfit on clearance we picked it.  Then we convinced Erik to be a vampire too.

Going to continue

After much thought I have decided to continue the blog.  I am to try to catch up on the last year and then start this year. I am doing this blog more as a journal for myself and a place to reflect and share pictures.  Also it gives me something to do while I sit and watch Erik learn to trace letters and Katie struggle with long division.  Plus life with these guys is always a trip so I might have to just rename the blog.   

What's new

After much thought, book reading, Internet research, and trips to various animal shelters we have chosen our new best friend. We got him yesterday from the Clovis Animal Shelter. He is one year old.  He is a terrier mix.  We are crate training him and trying to get him on a schedule. Last night he was crying so we put his crate in our room and he settled right down and went to sleep.  Kind of like having a newborn in a co sleeper.

home

We made it home a week ago. We are back to the regular schedule, school, piano, classes etc. I have decided to take it easier as far as school goes. If we get a little behind it will be ok. There is always time to catch up during school breaks. When we got home, Kirk had made brownies for us. They say "welcome home"