There is nothing which is more necessary and more precious in the experience of human childhood than parental love.... nothing more precious, because the parental love experienced in childhood is moral capital for the whole of life.... It is so precious, this experience, that it renders us capable of elevating ourselves to more sublime things--even divine things. It is thanks to the experience of parental love that our soul is capable of raising itself to the love of God. --Meditations on the Tarot

I know.. I know....

It's been like foreva. And a major holiday. Well, let's see, the kids were out of school for the week of Thanksgiving. This entire week has been minimum days for parent teacher conferences, which means that Declan has gone to school in the morning instead of the afternoon. I'm not a morning person. The days that Teagan had preschool I drove back and forth to the school 3 times. Whew.

Greg has done a few more house projects, like adding shelves under the stairs. I actually took pictures so I could post the before and after, but the after part isn't done yet.

Another 'lost' dog made his way to my house. It was a little boston terrier, who Greg called "Spaz" and Declan called "Sebaz." Luckily "Oreo" did make his way back home, but he spent the night here. That was good times. Declan and I made a big "FOUND DOG" sign that we're just going to keep since all lost dogs come here. I'm sure Oreo won't be the last.

That's it for today, as I just realized the snack I packed for Declan's backpack is still sitting on the island in the kitchen.....

Applehill.... mostly pictures.

While Greg and Bart tasted wine, I played with the kids on the beautiful yard at Boeger Winery. Maren was enjoying scooting all over the place. I had to take her socks off when they got soaking wet and freezing. She had a wondrful time, and I fear she is going to wear the bottom off all of her pants. Greg calls her "Scooter McLoop."

You know you are an adult when this is how you think...

So I have this long email all typed out to send to my girlfriend V, and then suddenly it's gone. Poof. I was going to attempt to give her a giggle or 2 at my expense, and give her the blow by blow of my morning thus far. You know, the life of a stay at home Mom. Well, go grab a drink, and I'll see if I can remember that far back...

6:50 - Teagan gets in bed with us. Wiggles and squirms.

7:00 - Greg's alarm goes off. He gets out of bed, turns on the light in the bathroom (blinding me) and then goes downstairs (grrrr).

7:20 I can't take Teagan's wiggling and squirming any more so I get out of bed. I plan to get in the shower after brushing my teeth and putting my contacts in, but Greg gets in before I can.

7:25 - Here comes Declan

7:46 - Greg needs me to find a notary in the area (it's a long story...) so I take the kids downstairs and proceed to look for notary.

8:00 - We go out to take the carseats out of the van, and fold the seats flat.

8:06 - I notice 2 dogs wandering around across the street, of course because all lost dogs find their way to my house eventually (that is where Hamish would have ended up Cheri!). I recognize these dogs from our neighborhood, I've seen them at the park. Collars, but no tags. I proceed to spend the next 20 minutes attempting to capture and leash these 2 dogs who were rather enjoying their newfound freedom. I tie them to the tree in the front yard in case their owner happens to be driving around the neighborhood looking for them. I get a blanket for them to lay on and a bowl of water to drink. Then I decide to make a "LOST DOGS" sign to hang on the tree so that no one thinks I just tied my dogs to the tree in my front yard.

8:30 - I warn Declan and Teagan to stay away from the dogs as I don't know if they've eaten today, don't want them munching on one of the kids (who by the way have been unsupervised for the last 20 minutes). I leave the front door open so we can keep our eye on the dogs thru the screen door.

8:33 - Maren is up, so I get her breakfast going.

8:35 - Milo and Otis notice the dogs out front, bark like mad and Milo craps the entire way to the garage. good times.

8:36 - Begin the pick up/disinfect process of said poop.

8:37 - Wash hands and resume Maren's breakfast.

8:47 -Notice that one of the dogs has backed out of her collar. Is running loose again. I go tighten her collar a smidge and coax her back to the leash. I think she is insulted.

8:55 - Sit down to write email to V - the rest is history.

And now, as I sit here I begin to think. Maybe I should have just let the dogs wander on. I mean, I would want someone to get my dogs if they were on the lamb. But things like, what if one of the dogs gets hurt here, or eats a non-diet food while here. I mean the dogs look like they enjoy their chow. What if one is diabetic and eats a non-diabetic dog bisquit or something, and then the owner sues us. The UPS guy brought a box while I was in the shower, what if one of those dogs would have attacked him? And then he sues us??

Then I start to wonder when I got *so* cynical? When did I truly start to believe that no good deed goes unpunished? Let's just hope that I can figure out a way to return these dogs to their owner...

I am saying a prayer for you My Friend!

This post is for a very dear friend, who is suffering a broken heart today.

I'm so sorry...

God Asked the Feline Spirit

God asked the feline spirit "Are you ready to come home?"

"Oh, yes, quite so," replied the precious soul. "And as a cat, you know I am most able to decide anything for myself."

"Are you coming then?" asked God

"Soon," replied the whiskered angel. "But I must come slowly My human friends are troubled For You see, they need me, quite certainly."

"But don't they understand?" asked God,"That you will never leave them? That your souls are intertwined, for all eternity, That nothing is created or destroyed, It just is... forever and ever and ever?"

"Eventually they will understand," replied the cat, "For I will whisper in their hearts - that I am always with them I just am... forever and ever and ever."

— Author Unknown

The Scooter...

So this is how Maren chooses to get around (second to being carried of course!). I've been trying to get video of her whistling too, because this girl is not a 1 trick pony (*phews!*). Guess I don't need to worry about her burning the knees out of her pants, it will be the tootie! She's pretty proud of herself though, and that is all that matters!

Today was the big field trip to the pumpkin patch on the school bus day. Bless these little kids hearts, they were so excited. Declan couldn't go to sleep last night, he was up until 10:45! I went to take pictures of them getting on the bus. Once they were all sitting I got on the bus to take pictures and you couldn't even see them sitting in the seats, their little heads were below the seat backs!

Here they are lining up to get in. Declan is holding hands with his buddy Ian, and the little dude in the striped shirt behind them is another friend Mateo. Declan and Ian got on the bus together, but were separated once on the bus... I'm guessing they were a danger of getting wild. Hmmmmmm.

The windows are pretty dark, but Declan is sitting in the window directly above the "L" of "School" You can see his noodle, and he was waving like crazy to us. He told me he cried when the bus was leaving though because I wasn't going too *cry*. This is the first time I haven't gone with him to anything. My little dude is growing up....

Here is the fence down the side of the house. We're going to put pavers down and bring the garbage cans out instead of in our back yard. Aren't we thoughtful, conscientious neighbors?? =)

This is the front of the house. The new lights and the fence from the front. I think it's sad we've lived here for 10 years and are just now doing things we could have been enjoying all along. Oh well, what can ya do?

We've got a shed coming for the side yard, which needs leveled and pavers too. Then who knows what is next. The lights look really nice at night, and it's cool the kids can play out in the driveway after dark, because now they can see!

A few more fun photos!

I took the kids to the community Halloween festival on Saturday evening at our local tennis club. They were so excited to dress up and go out. I bet they think that was Halloween. Declan wants to be Spiderman again this year (good for pocketbook, bad for scrapbooks). Teagan is a Carebear (no clue which one this is... please post if you know!). And Maren is a princess, of course! Here is the Loop troop:

Greg has been busy with 'projects' every weekend (I think he likes having an excuse to get out of the house and go to Home Depot and Lowe's alone...). He's added coach lights to the front of the house, and this past weekend we put a decorative fence up on the side of the house. I'll go take some pictures and load them here for you to see. We've also met maximum capacity of the overhead storage he did over the summer in the garage. I'm on my constant organize and purge crusade. Man we have a lot of sh!t. =)