30...Really???

Friday, January 02, 2015

Macy

Today we lost our "first baby," our almost 12-year old golden retriever, Macy. When a dog gets that old you know this day is coming. But it took me off guard how hard it would actually be.

Macy was such a great dog from even the very first moment when Wade met her. She was one of ten puppies in the litter, and she walked right up to him and plopped herself in his lap. She was the cutest puppy. She was great with kids letting them pet her, climb on her, whatever. We could leave the door open, and she would never run away. Such a sweet, gentle personality.

Wade & I reminisced today about some sweet memories...bringing her to Wade's softball games, typing up a full page of instructions when we would leave her with my parents, how much she loooooved peanut butter, her funny "submissive wetting," how she would position herself on the top step of the pool at my parent's house, how she would put her head on the side of the couch when she wanted to be petted, and how she would listen to Wade way better than to me. :)

But one of my memories that is both sweet and sad was after I had a miscarriage and surgery following. I came home and slept on the couch, and it almost felt like she knew I was upset. She sat right up next to me for hours as I cried. I will never forget that.

Our boys haven't known any different than having her as part of the family. We are so thankful for almost 12 years with such a great dog. We will love and miss you, Macy!

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Super Summer Challenge ~ 2014

There are so many fun intentional parenting ideas & activities out there (dumb Pinterest!) that I can rarely ever make happen. But somehow the Super Summer Challenge has turned into one tradition that we keep going. Tate is for the most part pretty excited about it. Probably about halfway through we have to get a little extra motivation, but he keeps at it each year. And the big prize at the end always makes it worth it. As I say each year, kids (and parents!) are growing up with so much instant gratification. It takes real effort to find ways for them to to work toward goals. And my reasons behind a lot of the challenges are to keep refining current skills over the summer and to get some practice at new skills to hopefully turn into habits. :)

A few of the accomplishments from SSC 2014:

math flashcards

write in summer journal

memorize both cell #s

"Slide Through Summer" packet

art class

read "BFG"

Sumdog

write & illustrate a story

handwriting worksheet

Music Camp

complete shower 100%

dribble while walking

three events at swim meets

10 push ups

brush teeth in AM with no reminder

Sports Camp & Summer Spectacular

What's in the Bible videos

Scripture Safaris

make your own lunch

lemonade stand

write & mail a letter

Keller Parks & Rec Challenge

Eyebomb

no complaining at dinner

Flag Football @ Sports Camp

Summer book together - BFG (great suggestion from Cousin Corry)

The story Tate wrote about and illustrated was a true story about our friend Jon diving in Africa with sharks. He "interviewed" him and watched the cool (and crazy!) video. Then he went back and worked on his story.

Art Class

Swam his heart out with the Barracudas swim team, improving his time every single week

"Sliding Through Summer" packets from the awesome 1st grade teachers

Dribbling while walking

Ran his annual lemonade stand this time raising almost $75 for a local children's home

Eyebombing was fun!

Jump rope 20 times without stopping

He technically made his own lunch. We will be repeating this one again for more practice. :)

City of Keller I Spy in July Scavenger Hunt

He did it!

And of course the rewards are probably his favorite part. :) I try to have a combination of simple, different things that don't really cost $ to do along with some special experiences.