This Crazy Life

Things that amused me this week:

• Greg and I walked upon a couple of little boys playing with water balloons and little boys being boys, they were placing their balloons strategically as they squeezed them until they popped. Their giggles were awesome and they were so preoccupied with their activity, they had no idea we were observing their shenanigans.
• When fighting sleep, Diesel gets the zoomies and races through the house, treating the couch as part of an agility course. The dog is crazy but entertaining. 
• Ava dressed as a cowgirl for family day at Churchill Downs because she was certain she was riding a horse there. Of course she was.
• While washing curtains, Diesel was wrapping himself up in the clean ones as I re-hung them. Apparently clean things are overrated. 
• Greg drew an analogy about our dogs and our children. First kid/first dog=compliance, self motivated, easy to raise. Second kid/second dog= stubborn and distrust of all people until they prove themselves worthy but still likely to bark first and relax later. They both turned out good though. Third kid/third dog= so far, the loudest and most dramatic. He is not wrong. We love them all.
• Both Makenna and Kate started new jobs Monday. Makenna will be a therapist for the special needs community and Kate is spending her summer serving children in our more impoverished community with summer camps and meals. Both reported the change being tough but feel it will be rewarding in the long run. However, Makenna admitting she wasn't sure how to navigate a new position after three years of making the rules in the previous gig made me laugh. I can only assume she will be making rules again soon.
• Noah turning down dinner out to celebrate his new job with the city of Louisville as a firefighter but requesting giant pulled pork nachos at our house instead. Alrighty then.
• Ty looking through essential oils and suggesting "Peace and Calming" for the house in hopes of it impacting Diesel. I totally tried it and added classical music for good measure. I know, I'm laughing at me too. 
• Diesel's temper tantrums. Truthfully, they are highly entertaining while I have the time to wait him out. But the drama is legendary. There is nothing quite like seeing a fifty-five pound dog throwing himself around and playing dead when he has to do something he doesn't want to do. 
• Momma bird refusing to leave the nest so I can see her third round of babies this season. She eyes me closely and is not impressed with my pride in her resilience. However, I did get one glimpse of her babies. 
• Greg believing he is a snake handler despite protests from the entire family as he attempted to remove a rat snake from the yard. 
• Daily car rides went from a full blown panic attack for Diesel into a pretty good time this week. His kisses while we drive are a bit much. This bothers him not at all.
• Diesel deciding the chair Ty was occupying would be perfect. So he jumped in behind Ty and nudged him out of the way. This dog.

He has a bed in our room but chooses to squeeze into this chair once we fall asleep every night instead. Sigh. 

Waiting on belly rubs. 

Compromise. Dogs have never been allowed on our furniture. He broke us.

Training is exhausting; the dog training humans, in case that wasn't clear. 

Ty loves homemade pizza and requests it frequently. I never want to make it since it's time consuming and neither Greg nor I can eat it. So I decided summer break was the prefect opportunity to teach him how to make his own. Despite his firm reluctance, he enjoyed the process and the results. He swears his sisters will take advantage of this new skill, just like they do with his pancakes. None of them want to cook, so they beg Ty to feed them. It's fairly ridiculous. 

Oliver has been stressed by the new addition. Diesel has no chill when it comes to his enthusiasm toward meeting him and the result is loud and chaotic. So Ollie gets to hide in the guest room until life quiets down in the rest of the house. We all sneak in to snuggle with him frequently. 

Kate's report card arrived and she was pretty discouraged by her first C. I looked at the comments and pointed out she understands the most important thing. Her character is strong and that C? Well, she has enough Spanish knowledge to order her favorite dish so it's all good.

Exchange Cheez-its with Goldfish and the Xbox for a Playstation and this meme has fully captured our son. The end.

Diesel and Other Questionable Decisions

Last weekend, we allowed Kate to stay with a friend. Throughout the weekend, both girls managed to have minor accidents. Under the category of "you live and you learn" we are grateful they both walked away without injury and only superficial damage to the vehicles. Neither required police involvement but our girl bravely knocked on the door of the home where she took out a mailbox and was met with grace and a lesson learned. We are thankful for the lot of it.

We laughed about our preferred method of relaxation so clearly noted on the same Saturday. 

My mom reserved the guest room for a night to break up her drive to Indianapolis for the annual Indy 500 with her aunt. Those ladies have ventured into that speedway for decades together. We fed her well and let her in on the secret we'd slipped over to the shelter without the kids that morning to meet a potential new member for our family.

Greg's new workout partner can't hang

He loves laying at our feet and wishes we'd all stay still when he is ready to relax because if we move, he has to find out why. Every time.

We are working on manners because everyone gets kisses whether they want them or not. Also, "down" is my most used word now.

He loves this game where he jumps on my couch and I tell him to get down . He does and then he jumps on the chair and I tell him to get down. He does but then he jumps back on the couch. And we do this until I convince him he is going to lay on his bed and not my furniture. And then he pouts. 

Greg left his protein shake unattended. 

When we prevent him from crossing our property line, he lays down and refuses to walk. If you wait patiently long enough, he stretches his body and nose just far enough to succeed in crossing that line after all. Did I mention the stubborn streak? Oh boy, we have our hands full.

Dozer, as in bulldozer, would have been a great name option. He has barreled through all barriers and overcome all obstacles designed to keep him safe. He is a beast.

He plays dead when he doesn't want to do something. Not only did he throw himself down but he yelped as if he was being hurt. It was quite dramatic and gathered several laughs from neighbors as we attempted his first walk.
P.S. I was absolutely no help as I doubled over laughing with tears streaming down my face while my husband, who is used to maintaining total control of our dogs was bewildered by this display.

He is so curious about our other animals. So far, he is showing determination in meeting them despite how they may feel about our excited new friend. Keeping him out of their food is proving difficult too. He actually brought me the empty cat food bowl today. 

Obviously, his sweet face won us over. We have learned he is much younger than we previously believed and his behavior indicates he has had very little training. But he is highly intelligent and quite energetic too. He is trainable, mastering sit, stay and lay down while we eat on his first day. Our relationship is new but the way he pushes boundaries assures me he will fit right in around here. Lord help me. 

Kate wrapped her sophomore year on Thursday and has mixed feelings about the entire experience. She will be graduating early so she is combining her junior and senior year in the fall. Whereas she is ready for life outside high school, she does have a great relationship with her teachers and has made some valuable friendships as well.  I am anticipating a lot of big feelings throughout the next twelve months.