We have been movin' and shakin' trying to stay warm this past winter.
We have been to the circus, the science center, the fire station and as
if our lives weren't crazy enough we added a member to our already nutty
family.
A few weeks back we checked out the circus with the kids. We had a pretty great time. Annabelle got a giant inflatable Dora and Andrew got a light stick (I'm sure there's a technical name for it, but it escapes me).
Annabelle loves any and all animals she can see, touch, smell and hear. (I'd add taste to that list, but, ewe, that's gross). It's great seeing her see the big animals up close for the first time. She is just in awe of them.
We made the trek downtown to our Kentucky Science Center last weekend. It was cold and rainy so it seemed like a good indoor activity. They have an exhibit there about the human body, so Andrew was excited. Andrew has become very interested in everything about the body lately. It began with a question like "Where does my food go after I eat it" which lead to going to the library and telling the librarian "I want to learn all about my body. Can you show me where the books are about that?" I swear, if this kid doesn't turn out to be a doctor some day, I'll be shocked. The difficult side to his curiosity are the questions like "Mommy, why don't you have a penis?" and "Mommy, how did Annabelle get out of your tummy?" Unfortunately he is too smart for generic, kid answers. He always has a follow up question. We are trying to keep everything PG lately. Part of me hopes his interest in space and the solar system will peak again soon!
Here he is trying to make a giant bubble around himself.
Annabelle and her water table fun! Any opportunity to play in the water and she's in. If she could, she would count down the days until the pool opens for the season.
We visited our local fire station with our MOMS club recently. Having a child that just barely misses the Kindergarten cut off has proved to be challenging. So the state doesn't think he's ready for school, but I get another year of keeping him entertained and challenged. It has been an exhausting year. Thanks to our MOMS clubs we have a few activities like this to go to. He always has a few dozen questions to ask.
Annabelle is pretty much just along for the ride.
Annabelle is a whole world onto herself. She is definitely the entertainment source in our house. The creativity and estrogen that emerges from this girl is hilarious. I really don't know how she turned out so girly, cause she doesn't get it from me. This is typical Annabelle. No pants, high heels, animal in tow and a
purse on her arm. Usually its 3 purses all filled to the brim with
everything imaginable: crayons, Dora, legos, hair ties, stickers, etc. If
you lose anything in our house, chances are its in Annabelle's purse.
We made a trip to Home Depot last weekend and Miss Celebrity had to walk around the entire store with her Hello Kitty sunglasses on. Oh yeah - it was 7:30 pm!
I call this Annabelle's "Dora" face. I snuck in and took this picture while she was watching Dora.
Now on to our big news... our new family member.... PENNY!!
I'm not sure whether it was boredom, divine intervention or just lack of
will power, but one look at this face at the humane society and we knew
she was coming home with us.
We had been talking about getting a dog
for a little while and finally decided it was the right time. We knew
we wanted a puppy, so the cats would be comfortable and able to "put it
in its place." Well, wouldn't you know, the first puppy we saw, we
adopted. She came to us with a few little issues, like Kennel Cough, a
heart murmur and major separation anxiety from being in a kennel alone
for the past 6 weeks, but per our vets instructions the most important
thing for Penny right now is to be hugged, snuggled and loved.
Instructions like this are pretty easy for my kids to abide by.
She has received plenty of love and attention since she's been home. We were a little worried how Andrew would do with her, since he's had a fear of dogs since he was little. But he told me the other day "Mommy, Penny is my best friend and she's going to be my best friend forever!"
We always knew we wanted a rescued dog. I feel like they are more appreciate of their new homes and as such tend to be more well behaved. For being a puppy, Penny has been easy on us. A few accidents in the house and that's it. She is very affectionate with the kids. I don't worry leaving her alone in the room with the kids. I feel like she was trained before we got her. She drops their toys when told and even walks nice on a leash. We enrolled her in puppy school and so far she has learned to sit, lay down, stay, leave it, drop it and loose leash walking. Since she will grow to be about 55-70 lbs we made obedience school a must. Andrew is even getting in on it and joining us at class.
Penny enjoyed the snow storm we got this past week. She tried to eat every piece of snow in our yard. That was pretty funny to watch.
As you can see, she fits like a glove around here.
We are looking forward to our weather warming up, which will happen TODAY - forecast is 62. More trips to the park and longer walks for Penny!
