Points for being all caught up. Go me.

I went to Ikea and put a mushroom hat on Jonah.  I don't know why I feel compelled to do things like this but I do. It's like asking me why we named our external hard drive "Steve" - I don't know these things, so don't ask.
But don't you think everyone should have a mushroom hat?

This is the time of year where I stop hating the place where we lived because of its weather and start basking in the consistency of 70 degree weather (that lasts just a couple of weeks before the completely schizophrenic swing of 30 degrees a day that we get through the winter.  Do you feel the sarcasm and pain? I love the weather 3/4 of the year here...it's just when that 3/4 of a year takes place that can be unpredictable.)  I love taking Jonah and the dog to the dog park.  The humans walk and sometimes play in the dirt, the dog runs and gets all his energy out.  Also, he comes when you call him and that is kind of cool (and more predictable than my own children....though if I handed them a cookie every time they listened they might be more obedient in that regard. Maybe I'll try it.)

Sometimes I even take Jonah to the human side and let him play on real things instead of whatever dog toys have been left behind by others.

The other night we got to taking pictures of all the girls and trying to decide who looks like who.  And then I kept them on my phone for a long while because I like to look at these girls who are so much alike and so different I just can't figure any of it out.  But I love and adore them and am so grateful for them I could just die.

I am grateful for these girls too.  I love working in the Young Women's program at church and I love what I learn from them.  These youth are such a force and a strength.  I have no doubt that these soon to be leaders will continue to teach me my whole life.

Clark and I had an awesome opportunity last weekend to go spend some time with our good friends.  Clark, along with Mike and Laurie have all been involved in multiple races over the last several years.  When the Millers invited Clark to come do the Richmond 1/2 marathon with them in November I willed myself to train as well.  I didn't like the prospect of going all that way to cheer every else on while I froze.  So basically, peer pressure got me to run 13.1 miles, something I was quite sure my body was not capable of doing.
It was a lovely weekend - knowing my babies were all snug and secure with their Grandma here in Houston, Clark and I were able to enjoy a couple of days to live as adults, unhindered by opinionated children.
We stayed with the Millers down in our old stompin' grounds then traveled up and stayed the night before the race in Richmond. On our drive up we made an impromptu stop at Fort Monroe, because when you are just adults and have no kids to whine about such things, you do them.  I wish I had gotten more pictures because it was interesting and beautiful, right on the water.

Then we stopped off in Williamsburg for a late lunch and stroll.  I love being with these people.  Good friends have been such an important part of our life as a married couple and we love them to pieces. 

Race day! Really besides not wanting to be left out, I just wanted a t-shirt.  Seriously a lot of work for a stinkin t shirt.

Race day was cold! Up until Saturday, Clark and I had not run in weather below about 55 degrees, and also had not upped our mileage past 10.  That was a lot of firsts for me in this training.  When the race started, it was just under 30.  Not only did we run the entire 13.1 without a problem (barring walking at water stops and one bathroom break) but we crushed the last three miles, running them faster than our first three.
We came in more than 5 minutes under my goal.  I can totally live with that.
Laurie was going for a PR, and being in pretty superb shape she ran ahead of us and did awesome.  Mike, Clark and I stayed together for the entire race -  almost every official race picture that was taken of any of us, has all three of us which I found pretty cool.
Ignore the fact that my foot is swinging out at some crazy angle and that I am too cheap to purchase any of those pictures.  It's only kind of against the law to post that, right?

The course was beautiful.  We were early enough in November still to run through amazing trees.

So that's that.  I did it.  I feel pretty satisfied. 
Nope, no marathon in my future.  No amount of peer pressure could make me want that.

This week we had the chance to go to an open house at the kids' school to see what they have been working on.  I love their school.  I love their teachers.  I love that they love school.  It really is a blessing.  These girls can make me so super crazy sometimes but they sure do make me happy.  Happy more than crazy and that's all that matters in the end.

Aaaand October.

Sometimes I feel as though my blog has turned into a Great Uncle's slideshow of his vacation to the Grand Canyon.  But I have found that the pictures are much more interesting than most of what I have to say at the moment.  Early on my blog was an outlet for what I needed to get off my mind...at this point I'm not so sure there's much up there to get out.  I am in a daze of motherhood that stretches now from new teenager to toddler with a puppy in between.  My mind is all taken up, and then some.
So for the time being I will enjoy my little slideshow so as to remember a few of the details down the road.
Jonah LOVES trains.  He is a little boy through and through.  He used to love planes, then dogs, now trains.  If you draw train tracks on a piece of paper and hand him something with wheels, he can be kept occupied for a very long time.  There is a little train depot with one little caboose near where we live so every now and again I let him go play and pretend, and it makes him sublimely happy.

The dog, the dog, the dog.  People talk about their dogs a lot because really and truly it is a big deal.  You have a live animal living in your space, for crying out loud.  It's another thing that I have to remember to take care of and exercise on top of that! or else by the end of the day he is an absolute maniac.  I'm afraid some of Rocky's bad habits are rubbing off on my son who was throwing a fit the other night by chewing on the leg of the hunt table.

The dog likes to climb up in your lap.  He is not small.  And he will only get bigger.  I will readdress this problem in the future, I'm sure.

Jonah is cute.  But you already knew that.

The other day I was washing my hands and had to suddenly turn off the water when I saw that a droplet of my soap eerily resembled an alien.  It's kind of like seeing the Virgin Mary in your toast, but not.  Plus I don't know what it means, but I knew I had to take a picture. What was he trying to tell me?!
True story.

Some of our friends were nice enough to throw a little shindig for the gals a couple of weeks ago.  We were invited over for dinner but when we arrived it felt like we had been thrown into the pages of Country Living.  I love that they live in the country.  I love that they have land.  I love that they have goats and chickens and bunnies and a pig.  And I love that there was a couch sitting out there.  And I love all my friends.
The night was perfection and exactly what I needed at the end of what had been a crazy week.

I never really fancied Jonah in a bow tie and then I made him one.
Now I do- I totally fancy him in a bow tie.

Remember when I talked about the velcro dog?  When I am getting ready in the morning he not only comes to the bathroom but he has to lie down leaning up against my leg.  Reminds me of a few of my children who claim that they can't sleep unless they are touching someone.

He doesn't really like to go upstairs which is just as well.  There are about a bajillion and one choking hazards all over the place for a puppy that chews on everything and anything.  So when I go upstairs I will come back down and find him just like this, sitting and waiting for me.

We got pumpkins, cuz that's what you do in October.  We were sadly, too busy to make it to any real pumpkin patches this year and that made me sad.  It caused me to fondly remember our time on the East coast and how gorgeous those places are in the fall.  Oh well, we got our pumpkins from a church on a busy road that gauged us out of all our money.  Stinkin pumpkins.

Happy October.

September in Review

 So here is the story of our sweet little pup Dashel Bark Vadar Scharman.  The girls have begged for a dog for years, FOR YEARS! Being in the stage of life where I am still cleaning up copious amounts of things that do not belong to me, and other people's poop, I was not ready for a dog.  In a strange moment of dog wantingness I texted Clark "Let's get a dog" and BOOM! in less than 24 hours we had one picked out.  Clark was on the girls' side.  He wanted a dog too.  We knew that when we got a dog it would be one of two options: either a rescue lab from a shelter or a purebred Vizsla.  Two ends of the spectrum.  We decided to try for the lab.  I found the perfect puppy at a shelter.  He was black with a white belly and his name was Clark.  I kid you not.  Clark.  It was a sign.  Clark (the human) went to check him out on his way home from work and signed on the dotted line.  The next day we brought the girls onto the couch, blindfolded them and brought the dog in to lick their faces one at a time.

Immediately smitten, all of us.  He was the sweetest dog.  So calm.  So snuggly.  He learned quickly and was obedient and calm.  However we noticed very soon after bringing him home that he was not entirely well.  He had a bit of a cold which turned into a cough, which turned to diarrhea and so lethargic that he was no longer a fun, energetic little guy.  Worst case scenario was our worst nightmare and we found ourselves with a severely sick puppy just a few weeks later.  When he got really bad the vet ran the necessary tests and found that not only did he have a liver disorder that would cost thousands to maybe fix, he tested positive for distemper, a death sentence for a little puppy.  Because he was already so sick the vet supported an immediate euthanization.  It absolutely broke our hearts.  It was a Friday afternoon and the vet was afraid that at this stage of his illness it was only a matter of days before he was seizing so bad there would be nothing we could do.  Not wanting that for our poor Dash and not wanted the kids to have to go through that we chose to put him down that very afternoon.  Clark came home from work early and picked each of the girls up from school.  We explained the situation and let them all say good bye.  It was the worst.  I have never felt so sad for my family.  The girls were devastated.  But we said good bye and Clark took Dash back to the vet and then to bury him at his parents house next to his cousin dog, Shamus so he wouldn't be alone.
It was sweet to have him even though 6 weeks was much too short.
And unfortunately life goes on.  We still had things to do and places to be.  We still miss that sweet little face and calm demeanor.  But our hearts have found joy in a new little friend, but I'll get to that in a minute.

First I have to skim over a few birthdays.  These two weeks at the end of August/beginning of September is our birthday blizzard! I already covered my blissful birthday of "Emily's greatest desires" where I gave specific instructions which my family followed very well. 
Next up was Haley who shoved us into the teenager stage, against our wills.  I could go back and quote anything that was ever said at any age about this girl.  From the time she could talk she has been a firecracker of determination and personality.
This is how we usually look when we do a birthday wakeup.  Real life here folks.

She got lunch out and a shopping trip to the mall with her Mom and Dad.  Haley heaven.

 We enjoyed the last few weeks of the pool until it closes up shop for the winter.  Seatbelts, optional.

Next up is Mimi.  She also got a lunch out with Mom and Dad and her own shopping trip to pick a present.  I love getting to spend one on one time with these kids.  They are pretty super awesome.

I can't really remember much about Clark's birthday except he apparently got a cake and looked angelic.

Now I remember! Clark got fishing stuff for his birthday which was only partly self serving because they girls have wanted to go fishing with him for a long time in our little neighborhood pond.  He gave them a good, thorough tutorial before handing over the rod.

 We live in a great neighborhood.  With the exception of a couple of less than stellar neighbors and some speeding issues, its lovely.  We have a wonderful path around a nice lake with plenty of ducks.

 Nothing quite warms my heart like a little girl writing spelling words.

This was the day that Megan and I thought we had an amazing idea to go see a movie in the middle of the day.  We thought it might be the golden discovery - empty theater, babies mesmerized by the big screen and some snacks.   There were some oversights.  In this shot right here, those two babies are watching a terrifying preview of a movie about a haunted house, screeching ghosts and dumb teenagers.  Then other people had the audacity to come into our theater.  We moved down to the front of the theater hoping we could make it through without disturbing anyone.
IT'S LIKE WE HAD OUR FIRST BABY YESTERDAY! That was very wrong choices.  We went to see the Giver and it was very good and we were determined to actually see the entire thing, meaning we spent the last 45 minutes standing in the stairwell to the exit bouncing really big toddlers on our hips and trying to keep them quiet.  Wrong wrong choices.  Next time we'll just take turns.

Then I took Jonah to the zoo.  I was reminded that I used to do fun things like that when my older kids were little.  Poor Jonah.  He may have the most photos taken of him but he sure gets gyped on getting out for Jonah geared fun.
I'll have to work on that.

See?  Lots of pictures get taken of him.

What can I say?  He does cute things.  And his hair is real blond.

Hazel has insisted, since the very first day of Kindergarten, that she have a note from me in her lunchbox.  I realized early on, that she keeps every, single, one.  I have to throw them away in batches when they start to clog up her backpack but I find it sweet that she holds on to them.

 The Scharmans like to play hind and go seek.  We don't usually decide to play and then count and all that jazz.  It usually goes down like this, "Dad is almost home.  HIDE!" Anytime Clark gets home before the girls, HE hides.  If the girls come home and see his car, they refuse to go in because they know he is lying in wait to scare the bejeebies out of them.  So now the game has become, stump Dad.  He is a really good seeker.  We have to get more and more creative because he can find all of them in no time flat.  We have had a couple of real winners.  This laundry basket would have been good except Clark noticed it wasn't that full when he left that morning.  And it was breathing.

This was an obvious one but Haley was going for effort points.  Getting her body up there was quite impressive.

So this was the winning spot on this day.  Mia is up on top behind that sign.  You can kind of see her owl pj pants on the right.
I like to watch Clark seek.  I'm much to giggly to hide myself.

Clark and I had decided that we should try again while still in puppy mode.  Who knows when we would feel so inclined again.  This time we swung far to the other side of that spectrum and found a Vizsla breeder near Houston.  When we first spoke to her the current litter had one puppy left and they were nearly ready to go home.  After speaking with her vet we all decided that our safest course of action was to wait out all of his immunizations and then test to make sure he was as safely guarded against distemper as possible.  That was a long month!  The breeder was two hours away, not a quick jaunt but we went to visit him a couple of times to bond and play and make sure he knew who we were.  His name changed a couple of times but we finally decided upon Rockets Red Glare since he was born on the 4th of July.  We call him Rocket or Rocky, an appropriate name since he is fast!

He has been at home with us for 3 weeks now and we like him.  He is spunky and playful but also so very sweet.  He is a velcro dog that does not leave our sides, has to be in the same room with you and is usually trying to climb up into your lap when you sit down.
We'll keep him around.