Leah's Growing Up.

Leah decided this week that she wanted to learn to ride a bike without training wheels. We really hadn't wanted to push her, but when she said that she wanted it, we decided that we needed to work with her on it. I think she decided it was time since our new neighbors include a girl who is probably 9 or 10 and rides without training wheels. Although the process started off as an exercise time for Rod (running after Leah and trying to hold on), Leah picked up quickly. When Rod took a break, next thing we knew, Leah was off riding on her own. She is getting better every time she tries to ride. She is still learning how to turn, but I think that the training wheels may be gone for good. I am hoping for no big crashes. So far we only have had small ones and one where she crashed into Alissa. I am very proud of her. I don't think that I learned to ride without training wheels until I was 8.

We practiced in the next door long drive. It gave Leah a long straight stretch and the other two love to ride over there too.





Since this post is mostly about Leah, I think it is an appropriate place to include Leah's latest fashion idea. She often will make her cat Harvey do more than any cat would want to. She makes him play baby and puts bracelets around his neck. However, the most recent shocked even me.

Yes, Harvey is sporting a lovely pair of barrettes on his ears. They were in there good because I didn't find him until he had been wearing them for around an hour. You can't really tell, but Leah also used quite a bit of hair spray on his head and gave him a spike hair do. When I took the barrettes out, Harvey's ears where rather squished and had barrette marks in them for quite some time. That cat is certainly very tolerant of Leah.

Warmer Weather

I think everyone would agree after a snowy cold winter that this warmer weather is wonderful. It is so welcome and I am so happy to send the kids out to play. They are happy to go too. Today is so warm that I've opened some windows to let some fresh air in. The smell of spring is so refreshing and Leah has pointed out several times that she loves the smell. She has always been the child in our family that points out smells whether they are bad or good.


I hope that the warmer weather chooses to stay a very long time, but the kids and I are going to enjoy it while it's here. Dash is enjoying the warmer weather too. He has some new found freedom with the shock collar. He now can run around the yard without a leash. Of course he hates being shocked and has been several times. He is very strong willed when it comes to going after something he really wants, but he is learning that it might not be worth it when I turn up the power! He is starting to learn his boundries and ends up playing most of the time with no shocks.

Here are some pictures of us enjoying the weather.

I didn't think that we wanted any more snow, but Alissa is practicing her shoveling skills.

Caleb can actually mow the grass instead of the snow!

My crocuses are coming up and they look so spring like. Leah had to pick one.

We were able to get the power wheels out since the snow is almost gone!

Dash loves his time outside too.

I don't know why the kids want to play in the snow now when they were so tired of it earlier.

A Working Mom

Today I completed the paper work for my new job. Yes, I am now working. My title is Adult Fitness Trainer. I am teaching cycling (or spinning) classes two evenings a week. I had been taking cycling classes at the YMCA since the summer when I joined. I really enjoy cycling and burn a lot of calories doing it. The YMCA branch I go to is a smaller and less fancy than most. However, it offers a lot of good classes for both adults and the kids, plus they have child watch that is included in the membership. It turned out that they needed to replace a cycling instructor and I was asked to do it by the instructor leaving. I've gone through the hire process and began teaching this evening (Monday). I will be teaching Monday and Wednesday evenings.

The classes are 45 minutes long. Luckily Rod will be able to watch the kids, but if he can't or wants to work out too, the kids can go to the Child Watch. The pay isn't much, but the membership benefits will make the job worth it. I have absolutely no formal training right now to teach, but I am getting help from other instructors and on-line. There is a lot of unpaid time in preparation right now, but that should change once I get used to it. The good news is that the YMCA will give me classes to help me get certified. Until then I am winging it.

It's just strange to have a job again. It doesn't really feel like a job since I was taking the cycling classes anyways. Now I just have to be the one making the calls. Am I still considered a stay at home mom? It sure feels like it during the day.

(Sorry no picture of me cycling!)

Lots of New

It's seems like we've been getting a lot of new things lately. A new dog and now a new range. This purchase wasn't by choice. On Wednesday I was baking dinner and Rod came it told me I guess you are buying a new oven since the coil is burning up. I totally missed what he was saying and told him that I was sure that it was just something in the bottom of the stove that spilled. Later I went in to check on the food and the oven temp was on the rise and the coil in the bottom of the oven was literally a blaze! The burning was working its way around the coil. At this point we turned the oven off and finally after about 15 minutes the fire went out. The kids of course were all worried. Leah was worried that our house was going to burn down. Luckily that didn't happen.

Today we decided to go and shop for a new range. I have a lot going on Saturday and Rod won't be able to shop next week since he is busy with work. I did a little Internet research trying to decide what I wanted. The process of picking the Range wasn't as difficult as I thought, but the process of getting the old range out and the new one in was quite challenging. Rod and I practically destroyed the old one getting it out. When he brought the new one in I was glad that it was a bit lighter, but not much. I had 3 stairs to go when I couldn't do it anymore. Rod's brother said he would come, but I wasn't going to have him come for 3 steps. We finally got it up.

Now it is in the kitchen and Rod is working on hooking up the electrical cord. The kids of course are helping! The had to get their tools out and work on things too.




I am excited about my new range, but hoping it turns out to be as good as it sounds. Now, to decide what I should bake and cook with it!

Say Hello to Dash

It was a crazy idea, but it was mine. For the last couple of months I have been telling Rod that I think we need a dog. He would call me crazy and blow me off. I started to get more serious about it, but he said that we could get one in a year or two. Well, after Rod's parents got a dog, I got more leverage. I finally talked him into it. The process of finding a dog was painful. There was several trips to the dog shelter where I realized that I had a glorified idea of what getting a dog was all about. We had so many things to consider in selecting a dog. We needed the dog to get along with the kids and the cats. I also thought that the idea of the dog being house trained already was a huge plus.

I had researched many breeds. There are several breeds good with kids, but not as many small breeds. I wanted a dog around 20-30 pounds max. Since we camp in the summer the dog has to be able to fit with us in the camper! I had decided on the American Eskimo dog from the beginning. They are known for being good with kids and protecting them. Rod wasn't as convinced since they have a longer white haired coat. It was a long process of what to do and what would be best. In the end, we were strongly considering getting a small puppy since it's so hard to know what a grown dog's habits are truly like.

I had also being checking out Craig's list to see what was available. On Friday night I saw a ad for a 7 month American Eskimo dog. He is a male and is house broken. He was everything that I wanted. We went and looked at him and got him on Saturday. It was a great price and they gave us his cage, food and toys.

The transition to having a dog in the family hasn't been the easiest, but it gets easier every day. He had a couple of accidents the first two days, but seems to have the house training down now. I am sure he didn't consider the transition easy either. He has a lot of energy and trying to control all of his excitement has proven difficult at times. He is still a puppy and I don't think he had a lot of behavior training in his previous home. We are working on training him and he does seem to be catching on some.

The kids are enjoying him and he has been very good with them so far. When Rod was rough housing with the kids last night the dog came to their defense. In his defense process he didn't do the greatest job at only getting Rod, but he didn't hurt the kids in the process.

His name when we got him was Ozzy (after Osbourne). We decided to change his name since he didn't seem to know it very well anyway. We let Caleb pick. I gave some options and we ended up with Dasher, Dash for short. Caleb likes it because one of his favorite characters is Dash from the Disney movie, the Incredibles. I wanted Scrappy! Rod and Caleb but a nix on that.

It should continue to be an interesting time.