Week 8

Monday, Feb. 16th

Renna and Josie, just hanging out inside the cabinet.

Game in Cranston, Rhode Island meant the team was allowed to wear their warmups and ride the coach bus...stylin'!

The Cranston game drew all of our Eastern CT family out to watch.

Tim and Elizabeth had us over for dinner!

Tuesday, Feb. 17th
This was a llllooooooonnnnggg day!  It started 4:20 when my alarm went off.  Melody and Lisa came up and Lisa and I were out the door at 5:00, headed to Hartford for a procedure.

Melody stayed back at my house doing whatever the kids convinced her to do.  I heard rumors of epic hide-n-seek.  Melody now has seen spaces of house that I had hoped would be my secret I took to my grave.

I ate a sandwich in the cafeteria next to these two.  I wouldn't trade my life for anything, but had I not wanted to be a homemaker so badly, and had I had even the slightest encouragement along the way, I probably would've gone to medical school and been a part of this conversation.

My day was a lot of waiting.  Lisa and I had hopes of being out of there by noon...worst case scenario.  We thought: an hour procedure, an hour recovery.  Bada boom.  Well, the procedure lasted 3 hours and I nearly completely lost my stuff when the doctor came out and motioned me to follow him and asked the nurse for a private room...just to tell me that everything went perfectly!  [sigh]  Are you stinking kidding me????!!!!???  Could you have said, "Everything went great.  Let's go find a place to chat."??

I finally texted Melody about 2:30 that things were taking longer than expected and maybe we should swap places so I could get my Tuesday kid activities going for the evening.  It worked out well.  She came and we overlapped in the hospital for a half hour or so.  She was able to get Lisa home (5:30pm!!!) and I was home for exactly 2 minutes to shuffle everyone to dance, Moe's for dinner, a homeschool meeting to check out Classical Conversations, pick up Maddy from dance, and home at 10pm.  Marathon day.  BUT, Lisa's procedure went well, she and I got bits of sweet time together, the kids had quality Melody time, God's grace is sufficient, and I have a rockstar sister who is so incredibly brave and the easiest patient on God's green Earth!  Plus I escaped the day pain-free.  The same was not true for Lisa :(

Sometimes you gotta climb the ginormous mountain of snow in the Moe's parking lot!

Wednesday, Feb. 18th
I guess I failed to mention that this particular week was also C4's school vacation.  We took advantage of the vouchers we got in January and headed back to Magic Mountain for an overnight and two days of skiing.

Colombo and the skiers headed out at the crack of dawn.  I needed to catch my breath from the day before, so I left a bit later with the little guys.  Josie rode shotgun.

Believe it or not, 25 and sunny actually felt lovely.  Acclimation, baby.  

I took these guys out so the boys could tube.

They also found great (FREE!) fun in rolling down the slope.

We had dinner in our hotel.  The cool hotel / lodge that we stayed in last time that has an extra bedroom with bunk beds.

After dinner we hung out by the fire.  There was a family / group from Boston or further north that made for some great people watching (/listening) entertainment.  They had a couple little girls that Renna ran around with all evening.

Thursday, Feb. 19th
Day 2 of skiing.

It was a beautiful, snowy morning.  A bit colder and windier than the first day, but toasty warm in the lodge.

We stayed to all eat lunch together and then I took the three littles and dog back home.

Friday, Feb. 20th
C4's hockey game.  Rink rats!

Drove right past a car fire on the highway.

We enjoyed a quiet evening in front of the fire.

Saturday, Feb. 21st
I watched Fan Man's game from the nicest and warmest 'warm room' I've ever been in.  Delightful!

Walked into the kitchen to find this.  I gasped, she smiled, and then asked me to take her picture.

C4's game was canceled because of more snow.  That meant a day around the fire playing games until church.

Check out Nathanael in the atrium!!!

Madison went to a friend's overnight and to the Globetrotters.

Back at home, we got cozy.

Here's a very sad story.  Through the evening, Josie growled and snapped at Renna.

She didn't break skin, but you can see the two purple tooth marks.  We were devastated.  It was so uncharacteristic of her.  This is exactly why I was nervous about doing a rescue; you just don't know their history.  But I also didn't want to start all over with a puppy again.  Josie had been assessed by a trainer and temperament tested.  You've seen the pictures of a very lovable, tolerant dog.  Perhaps Renna did something to provoke, but nothing out of the ordinary that any two year old wouldn't do.  I texted the lady at the shelter.  After two days of back and forth and a couple of more growling incidences, I drove her back to the shelter.  A brutal ride.  And poor Josie thought we were just out for a little car drive.  I felt sick leaving her there.

I still feel terrible!  Terrible for Josie and terrible for Renna who is so, so, so sad to lose her dog.  I'm not a smart enough dog person to know why it happened.  Why would three weeks of hugs, kisses, tail pulling, etc. be fine, only to have this behavior begin?  Was she getting comfortable enough with us that old behaviors were coming through?  Had she just reached her limit with Renna's 'love' after three weeks?  I think I determined that the dog's bed area was a 'do not disturb' zone.  That seemed to be the trigger.  And while I think I could've taught my kids to leave her alone when she was in her bed, I did not feel like I'd be able to trust her completely.  And I'd never forgive myself if Renna or another little niece or nephew ended up with worse.

It's sad.  She was so good.  Sweet, lazy, no chewing, no barking, not too big, not too small, obedient, lovable, house trained.  Ugh.  Just sad.

Sunday, Feb. 22nd
Rehearsal in the choir room.

Another quiet evening of games and a fire.

One more picture with my Josie Girl.

An unrecognizable Tim and Faith at the Oscars.  Can't believe he went without his Stetson!  Man, they look good!