A Party Fit for a Princess!

Erin's birthday is on Thursday (May 22)...she'll be 4. We ended up having a small princess party for her on Sunday. We invited 3 of her little friends from "school" and 2 were able to come. I planned some activities and away we went...

First, Princess Erin:

We made some tiaras (and crowns for the one Prince that was there):

Then we played "Pin the crown on the Princess:"

Followed by decorating cookie wands:

Next I read Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, followed by a game of "Pass the Poisoned Apple," but the pictures aren't all that great so I don't have any of those! After that game, we had Erin open some presents:

And finally, the cake. It was an ice cream cake and it was the perfect size for such a small group:

All in all, a great party! Honestly, I'm just glad it's over! And now...a final Princess Wave from Erin and Dani:

Judging, primary caregiver, what else?

Judging:

I just judged my 2nd show back from my year off and am going to be judging my 3rd show this weekend. I experienced some travel issues this last time, which left me physically and mentally exhausted. Made me again ask "why am I doing this?" Then I think back to the actual trial. This trial was in the Northeast, home to some of the best volunteers I've ever encountered. The people there are phenominal. Rarely did I have an issue in which I didn't have enough jump setters. Makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

I also have friends up there that I've known for years. When the weather was a teensy bit wet, and my tennis shoes (and socks) got soaked, one friend offered up an extra pair of rain shoes and another offered up two pairs of socks...one being a pair of gortex socks. My feet were so snug and warm! It was fantastic. Makes me realize that the reason I judge is the people. The people are great and I'm happy to say that even though I don't see these people every day (or every year) it's so easy to pick up where we left off!

Primary Caregiver:

Our Nanny resigned and her last day was last Friday. This left us without childcare for Dani's last month of school. Since I'm not about to pull Dani from school to put her in a daycare, my husband and I decided to forgo daycare this month and do it on our own. Since I work from home, the bulk of the burden rests squarely on my shoulders. This is the first day (for me since I was on a plane much of the day yesterday) and so far, it's going OK. They're maybe watching a bit too much TV, but they're happy and quiet. I had Erin create a picture with all the art supplies I could find this morning and she had a ball. I need to come up with some more creative efforts though cuz we could all go crazy pretty quickly!

What else?

Just trying to get my head and house in order. I'm feeling a bit frazzled lately. I think judging two weekends in a row, prepping for Disneyland, prepping for a new puppy, designing courses for a Regional in June, work, the girls...everything is starting to overwhelm me. I've never been a very organized person...I tend to thrive on chaos, but dang...I'm crying UNCLE right now! It'll all be good...I have to keep telling myself that...it'll all be good...right??!

OH...and here's a pic of the girl puppies in the litter...they're 4 weeks old now!

Zippy

I so wish I could say that Zippy and I are well on our way to training for agility, but I can't. My husband does not want him in the house. He wants him gone. Zippy has been just fine, but my husband closed his mind right after "the bite."

I fought bitterly to keep him, but it's either the husband or the dog. Tough decision...trust me. I am a DOG person. I do not give up on dogs. I just don't. To do so goes against every grain. I am extremely peevish about the whole thing. Extremely. I am also very sad because Zippy truly is a sweetheart. He has some annoying habits (like ripping apart every single dog toy) but otherwise he's a very good dog. The girls just LOVE him. They grab him to hug him and he doesn't bite or nip at them. Honestly, I think he's an awesome fit for the family, but husband does not.

We actually got Zippy under the premise that we would foster him for my friend (she has about 15 dogs at her house right now and needed the space freed up!). Eventually I figured we'd be keeping him. Not. So my friend is going to put him up for adoption after all and hopefully he'll go to a great home. I personally think he's in one right now, but I must give up on that.

So, husband is now opened up to the idea of getting a puppy from the litter of Border/Staffy's that were born about 3 weeks ago. I reminded him that puppies can and do nip...will he want to get rid of this pup too?? I reminded him that dogs are NOT disposable and any puppy that comes into this house STAYS in this house. He's on board, so we'll see how it all pans out. I know I'll be the one responsible for everything with the new pup, and I'm OK with that.

Just wish Zippy was gonna stay too. He's a sweet, loving dog who just wants to please.

Scorpions suck

Erin got stung by one yesterday. I had no idea the effects scorpions have on young kids. It was awful. Erin was inconsolable. The venom was spreading through her body, causing pain every where. At the ER, they tried to put the IV in her right arm but the vein kept rolling. She was screaming. They had to put it in her other arm. I had to leave the room. She didn't even know if I was there or not...she was in her own little pain-filled world.

She was given sedatives and Benadryl. She finally calmed down, but was spasiming on and off. After about 4 hours, they were able to give her the anti-venom. We spent another 4 hours in the ER for observation, but she slowly got better. During that time she was pretty dillusional...she was telling the dogs to get off her and she kept calling me by her teacher's name.

By the end of the ordeal, we were singing songs and she was chowing down on popsicles and Oreo cookies. My husband brought her a cheeseburger from McDonald's that she happily ate.

All in all, a terrible ordeal, but Erin is just fine, thank God. The scorpion was in my Nanny's house, not ours. My Nanny had her house sprayed yesterday so I'm now the primary caregiver for the girls.

I hope to God we don't have another incident like this. It was simply horrible to watch your child go through what she went through. Thankfully she really has no recollection of the awfulness of it all. I do, but that memory will fade too.

2008...weren't you supposed to be great?!

2008...gonna be great, right??

At this point, 2008 has been so-so. Here's the low-down so far...

January: not much happening. I had a show or two and we went on our 6th Caribbean cruise, so not bad.

February: Jeff got yet another hernia. Ugh. His operation was at the end of the month. I had a HUGE show in which I was secretary for. It went well but was seriously exhausting. The girls...I have been trying to figure out where Dani will got to school next year. It's no small task. I do not want her to go to her "home school" since it's just not a great school. There are a couple options...1. get her tested for the gifted program (CATs), she'd then go to Conley school and be in CATs at a Kindergarten level, 2. hopefully get into Sanborn, a really really good school, and be in 1st grade...she'd be one of the youngest, if not THE youngest in her class, so it's not optimal. Erin has just been Erin...we thought her fits (tantrums) were getting far and few between, but they still rear their ugly heads every once in a while.

March: Jeff is in recovery mode. Karen does everything...EVERY thing...ugh. Dani took the gifted test...we now wait 6-8 weeks for the results. Why does it take so long to score a bubble test? I have no clue. I head to another show in Albuquerque. On the way, I meet my next dog. Which brings us to...

April: The new dog is here, but Jeff and he do not get along. Since I've been home from the show, he's been doing just fine. I, however, seem to have an extremely short fuse when it comes to the girls...need to work on that. Jeff is going to get the boat tonight with his sister (we kept it up at the lake...time for some maintainancing before the season begins) so that'll be nice. Just wanna get back out on the lake... the girls love it and so do we!

Course, I've been taking pictures, so here's a few of the girls, etc...

Some trouble in paradise

I was gone for 4 days judging a rather large agility trial. 4 days. Hot sun. LOTS and LOTS of dogs. All in all, it went just fine, but by the last day, I was fried...mentally and physically. Just fried. I was quite happy to climb on a plane and head back home, where there was some trouble brewing.

Zippy, the new addition, apparently had a tough weekend. He ended up biting every member of the family, which of course, is NOT good. He must've been in a situation previously in which the male member of the family did some bad things to him, cuz he does NOT react well to Jeff at all. If Jeff tries to discipline him he growls at him. This past weekend, Zippy kept climbing into the girls laps at dinner time. Jeff went to put him in his crate and he started growling. Jeff got him in a submissive position and was petting his tummy. When he went to pick him up, Zippy went postal on him and bit him. NOT good.

Then while my younger daughter was playing ball with him, he bit her cheek. Now, I think he may have been over-zealous and actually jumped up to get the ball, but missed and got her cheek. I have no clue...but he did bite her. Apparently, a similar thing happened with my older daughter as well.

I'm getting all this over the phone, so I have no Earthly idea what the heck is really going on! What I DO know is that we picked him up on a Sunday. I left that same Wed. night for 4 days away. In retrospect, I should've had my friend hold on to him until I got back today.

At this point, I'm going to watch him and see how things play out. I know my husband is ready to give up on him. I must admit that after hearing about the bites, I was ready to as well. BUT, I wasn't there and I didn't get to witness everything that went down. I need time to see what's up and see if I can work with him on these agression issues with my husband. I'm not too sure how long I'll give him, but time will most certainly tell.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get back into the routine and get on with it. Easier said than done!

Our New Addition!

I wore my hubby down and he FINALLY agreed to open up our home and our hearts to a new addition!!

Zippy, the mini-Aussie I mentioned in my previous post, will be joining our family on Sunday! I am over-the-top excited! There's going to be some adjustment for the Princess (aka, Jam) and the girls will undoubtedly have some adjustment time of their own, but in the long run, I think this is going to be a great addition. Here is a picture of him...

Isn't he CUTE?! :)

He's slightly smaller than Jam so he'll be jumping 16" in USDAA-style agility. He has MAJOR ball drive and tons of enthusiasm. At first his training will consist of foundational work...hand games, target games, etc. Eventually I'll start introducing him to the obstacles, but I'm going to take my time. He's about a year old...we'll most likely put his birthdate as April 6, the day we pick him up. That'll make him eligible for competition October 6. We'll see how he progresses.

The girls are very excited as well. They've seen his picture and can't wait to see him in person!! What fun! :)