Broken Puppy

We're still a bit shaken, so we'll make the story short and simple. Rhys was hit by a car this afternoon, near our home. It was a hit and run, but fortunately some people driving by saw it happen and waited with him until J got there. We took him to a local animal emergency clinic where they determined that his left front leg is broken (but they said if you're going to break your leg this is the best way to do it...so that's something); there is some concern about his jaw possibly being broken, but it looked fine on the x-rays so we're hoping its just soft tissue damage and will heal soon. He'll be in a splint for about eight weeks and we have to watch him very closely the next 48 hours to make sure he's not bleeding internally.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and hopefully he'll be all the way out of the woods in a hurry. Words can not even begin to express how much he means to us and how many ways he fills up our lives. We love our puppy so very much.

Ka to tha Boom!

We got to see an early screening of KFP2 (Kung Fu Panda 2 for those of you not in the biz) this morning. It was so good! J didn't work on it, so you know we're not just saying it. The look was amazing and the story was great, a good balance of serious and funny. It is not light and fluffy fare, so be warned if you take younger kids. B and C did okay with it, there were parts that B was afraid of and T had to explain some things but she made it through the whole movie. She says she did not like it as well as the rest of us. But C was pretending to be Po while we were out to lunch after, so we think he likes it!

Be sure to let us know what you think of it after you see it for yourselves (opens May 26th). And tell all your friends to see it too.

The Games Preschoolers Play

These are some of the phrases regularly flying around our life at the moment.

(about to be sent to his room)

C: One more try? You pretty. I lubba you!

~~~

B: I'm hungry. I need something that is round and crunchy. And chocolate.

T: Do you mean a cookie?

B: Something small.

T: Are you asking for a cookie?

B: (shrugs) It could be anything...

T: Are you asking me if you can have a cookie?

B: If you think so. It could be a cookie. Okay I guess.

~~~

C: Me a bad guy!!!!!! Bad guy fun!

~~~

B: If you eat a chip, I'm going to eat a chip. Just so you know. I'm just telling you. That's how it is.

~~~

B: Just stop all this nonsense.

~~~

C: Play a tiny bit?

(25 min later...)

C: Play a tiny bit?

T: I did play for more than a tiny bit.

C: Play a tiny bit more?

And we have a raccoon.

Do you remember how Rhys got stuck under the house last week? Well, ever since he has been freaking out inside the house, sniffing all the vents and prowling around (do dogs prowl or is it only cats?) and growling, and trying to get back under the house every time he's in the back yard.

T became convinced that there must be something under the house. But we didn't have any other clues, and J thought maybe he could smell the neighbors' cats if we shared vents (which we don't even know if we do). Either way, Rhys now knows where every single vent in the house is located and makes regular rounds checking them all and working himself up into a tizzy.

Just about dusk tonight J took Rhys out in the back yard, unleashed, and T was in the front of the house watering the (sad little) potted flowers (in a desperate bid to keep them for more than two weeks) and all of sudden there is a lot of growling and barking. We've never heard him bark like that before, and in fact T was positive that it was a big dog on the other side of the fence being aggressive towards Rhys and so she looked over the fence to see what was going on. In the process she caught a glimpse of the dog run on the side of our house (basically just a little cemented and gated space between the side of the house and the fence, which we never close off from the yard) and saw Rhys in a confrontation with a medium sized grey dog. She ran through the house and out to the back yard to see if they needed help..."they" because she was sure someone's unleashed dog had gotten into our yard some how and maybe the owner was chasing it down.

When she got out to the yard she found J and Rhys chasing something across the yard; J had our Thanksgiving wall hanging rolled up in his hand and was wielding it like a weapon (he said he got a couple good thwacks in, in defense of Rhys). The other animal made a mad dash for the neighbors steps and ran under their side of the duplex. J caught Rhys just in time, before he followed the raccoon under the house...again.

So now it all becomes clear. Rhys wasn't going crazy after all. He has a few scratches on his legs, but it appears that he actually won that battle. We're keeping an eye on him to make sure he hasn't contracted any dirty raccoon diseases. Hopefully our landlord gets it taken care of soon (and as humanely as possible) so we can have full, worry-free use of our yard again. And so Rhys doesn't lose his mind over this vigilant vent watch. He's just keeping us safe.

We decided to have a post moving yard sale, since we had so much stuff that we just didn't need and some stuff we need to purchase to make our new digs more functional for us. Usually we donate to the local shelter every few months, pass the kids clothes along to the children of friends back home who are perfectly staggered, and pass the kids toys on to local friends with younger kids. The occasional bigger item we will sell on Craigslist. But this time we just had so much stuff that we figured it would be worth our while to have a little yard sale. We did okay, got rid of a lot of random stuff we decided to throw in at the last minute (DVDs mostly...with Netflix and upgrading to Blu-Ray we really cut our collection down a lot). But we're not so good with the haggling and we all got pretty bored and sunburned. But we were able to use our profit to get a chair and ottoman from a local clothing shop that was moving locations and selling all their furniture. And we replaced all the dishes we sold with a simple white mix and match set, so we only have the items we need and they will always go with the pretty, random dishes T likes to pick up a antique shops and estate sales.

it was a beautiful day, even if we did spend it hawking our unwanted stuff

this scene played out over and over and over...

he's already a master of storming off, a prodigy really

the little writer

he thinks we will have better luck putting the items out in the sidewalk

calling it a day

What the bunny brought by.

We weren't very good about taking photos on Easter, mostly because we were busy cooking for our first ever Easter brunch, but also because we were up very late the two nights preceding in search of goodies for C's basket. Why are the only boy toys available either a) cars or trains b) legos or c) violent/aggressive toys. He's past the "toddler" toys and a lot of the preschool stuff we already have and then it just jumps to older boys. We were desperate not to buy more cars. Our mistake probably was going to big box type stores instead of the local toys shops. Won't make that mistake again next year.

In the end the kids were very happy with what they received: they both got Kumon work books (numbers 1-30 for B and easy mazes for C), some jumbo color crayons, books (a Disney fairies chapter book for B and an Easter themed counting book for C), new Sigg bottles, Barbie clothes and a new My Little Pony (Apple Jacks) for B and a couple skateboarding figurines and a Buzz Lightyear flashlight for C. And candy of course.

Nana was here the week before Easter and we got to spend the holiday with her as well. And since she was here we decided to do Easter up big by hosting a brunch. It was a lovely and filling holiday with friends and family. There is nothing more we could have asked for...except for some photos of the kids dressed up in their Easter duds. That would be before all that sugar set in and they went crazy.

Really. Really. Crazy. So crazy in fact, that C fell asleep at 4pm and did not wake up until 6am the next morning! We'll do less candy next year.

Easter Brunch Menu

(we have to brag, we impressed even ourselves)

Mini-Orange Crumble Top Muffins w/ orange butter

Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Mini Goat Cheese & Basil Frittatas (made by Morgan)

Baked French Bread Casserole

and fresh fruit (provided by Terisha)

Quite a Scare

We thought we lost Rhys. Yesterday, T was getting the toys out of the garage for the kids to play with and hadn't tied Rhys to the rope we keep in the yard (because it is not a fully enclosed yard) because he was doing his business. If he gets a chance to be loose in the front yard, he loves to run off down the street; which is very scary because there are fairly busy intersections on either end of our block. But in the back yard he is usually very good, tying him up is really just a precaution.

Her back was never even fully turned away from him, and she only took her eyes off the yard for a minute to open the garage and pull out the toys. But suddenly he was no where to be found. She quickly ran to the front of the house and up and down our block. No sign of him. At this point she's starting to get frantic, and calls J to tell him what's going on. She puts the kids in the house and expands the search to include one block in either direction and still no sign. J thinks that T should get in the car and start driving around. Not a huge fan of this idea, T calls her parents who are bound to have been in this situation before and asks what to do. They suggest calling the local shelter and police station to let them know that our dog is missing and then to print off photos of Rhys and start walking all around the neighborhood.

As T was looking up the phone numbers for the police station and animal shelter she heard Rhys' cry/whine. She ran outside to track it down and couldn't hear anything but the birds chirping. Ran back inside and listened again, and there was no mistaking that she heard his whine and it sounded like it was coming from directly beneath our bedroom window.

He had forced his way through some lattice and gotten under the house. He sounded freaked out and stuck. Not knowing anything about crawling under houses (and being highly anxious about what else might be crawling under the house) we decided that T should go pick up J from work and he would go under the house. We were lucky to be just at the beginning of rush hour traffic (and for some reason its always less busy at the beginning of the week). When we got back home the neighbor had already gotten home from work and heard the whines and was about to crawl under the house himself (we live in a duplex, and apparently they could hear him directly below their bathroom, through their vent). He loaned J his light and J crawled under the house. We were all so relieved when Rhys came barrelling out of the opening a short time later; a bit shaken but otherwise unscathed.

Evidently he had fallen into a waist deep hole under the house. Which is something of a blessing because we were worried that he was caught on something and might hurt himself struggling to get free, and/or that he would get free while T was going to pick up J and he maybe would run away in search of us.

So it was a happy ending to a very scary and stressful episode. Both kids asked for Rhys to sleep with them that night. And when it was time for us to go to bed we did take him in to sleep on B's bed, very happy to be with his people.