May 2012

May 2012 was filled to the brim with activity—lots of the usual and lots of firsts too—and by the end I was a little worn out. I have a friend who says that we live an "active" life...too true. Better busy and active than not, I suppose.  I guess I’ll start with the big-ticket news items that began and ended the month for us.

First, I must ask, are you sitting down?  At the beginning of May we surprised even ourselves and got a...KITTEN!!! Super-duper adorable! Can you believe it??? Yes, you did read that correctly--we not only have a dog, but we now we also have a cat!  Have you recovered from your shock yet?  I'll give you a minute. Thought you'd never see the day?  Yeah, neither did we!  Ha, ha!  We brought Jeffery home with a very specific purpose in mind.

Part-way through 2011 our good neighbors moved and took their cats with them: an indoor hairless cat named Chowder that was so ugly, it made him endearing, and their black outdoor cat named Elvira that would keep the birds away from their house and ours.  On a side note, Elvira is the same cat the snuck into our house a couple years back one night as I was rushing Li'l J to the ER--good memories!  

Anyway with the cats gone, the birds (pigeons, doves, sparrows, black birds, etc) began to call our backyard home eating Copper's food and drinking his water. Copper would chase them away in the mornings but then in the afternoons when he naps, it's a free for all and our back deck, table, and chairs are covered in bird poop. I quickly grew tired of it all!

I tried only putting Copper's food outside for him at night, but all it did was make him grumpy and bark...A LOT. Seeing that his food bowl is full, even when he is full and isn't going to touch the food, is a comfort thing for Copper. When he has finished eating and his bowl is empty, Copper comes to the back door and barks incessantly until someone comes back out and refills it, only then will he quiet down. Funny dog!

J-rod's dad suggested putting Copper's food and water bowl in an enclosed area, thinking that would keep the birds away. So...we put the bowls in the doghouse Copper refuses to use. Doing that kept the pigeons, doves, and sparrows away, but not the big black birds. All it did for them was move the problem and make them LOUDER. The black birds would congregate in front of, above, and inside of the dog house squawking at each other as they fought over which one was going to go in next to get food. It was incredibly annoying!

So...my friend has a cat that was having kittens. This mama cat is a known hunter and was teaching her kittens to hunt too, so my friend suggested we take one of her kittens. The kids and I went to check them out when they were 5 weeks old and immediately FELL. IN. LOVE. with the one kitten that came right too me and snuggled up! Wait, what? Me??? But I'm not a cat person! Yes, yes, it's true. That kitten tugged on my heart strings and when it was 7 weeks old we brought it home and introduced it to Copper.

Our kitten is the SWEETEST little thing with only half a tail! He and Copper are best buds. They sleep together and both complain when we bring the kitten inside so it can eat. Copper barks and howls until we bring the kitten back out. We keep them separate during feeding times since J-rod's dad warned us that the kitten's food will upset Copper's tummy. Plus the kitten tries to eat Copper's food, which is too big for it and would probably not be good for him either. When we take the kitten back out, Copper picks him up like a mama cat, by the scruff of the neck and carries him around for a bit. It scared us at first, but he hasn't tried to hurt the kitten and he just wants to move him away from us to check it out and then lets it go. We keep a close eye on them when Copper is doing that just to be safe! I have given it a bath almost everyday because when Copper does that, it leaves the kitten coated in dog slobber and it ends up sporting a big Mohawk.

The kitten came to us as Jeffrey, but we think he might actually be a she so we are still trying to agree on a name everyone likes. J-rod and I like "Skittles"--skittish+little+kitten. Too bad the kids are not fans of that name! Li'l J wants to call it "Furry" because it is definitely one fluffy and furry little thing with all of its long hair. C-sta is still upset that we didn't bring home the other one that looks similar to ours that was named Lily. M suggested: Fur-mione (pronounced like Hermione from Harry Potter...of course).

J-rod has accepted that we have a kitten and loves that the rest of us are happy, but thinks that with our allergies that I'm CRAZY to have brought one home! To be fair, he just might be right. So far our allergies haven’t been any worse, so we’ll see.  Hopefully as our little addition to the family begins to grow, it will start to “earn its keep” and keep the birds away!

Isn't he darling???

At the end of May as J-rod and I were headed to the temple for a brother in our ward that was going through for his first time, we took a little detour. Every May the ASU Music Department teams up with the AZ Piano Co. to hold a sale of used pianos.  The school hosts the sale, the AZ Piano Co. brings in used and/or demo piano’s from it’s store, plus a few that have been used on campus by ASU and then donates some of the proceeds from the sale back to ASU to help the Music Department purchase new pianos.

We went with the same intention we always go with when looking at a big purchase: “just to look” and that is exactly what we told the salesman.  Ha, ha, famous last words!  J-rod had been researching baby grand pianos: makes, sizes, prices, etc. so he had an idea of what would work for us.  J-rod “test drove” a number of the available selection and noted that the prices were far below what we expected, so we asked the salesman for a few minutes while we discussed whether to wait a year (as originally planned) or go for it.  Decision made, we called the salesman back and totally made his day by signing on the dotted line, setting up delivery, and walking out about 20 minutes after we had walked in.  We were probably his easiest sale of the weekend!   Not that we could have spared more than the 20 minutes we spent there as we had a temple session to get to.

Baby Grand's first picture in our home. (Grainy cell phone pic).

So there you have the stories of how we ended up with two new additions to our family in the month of May.  We are thoroughly enjoying both of the new additions and have no regrets as to welcoming them into our home.

Now let’s see, what else went on in May?

C-ta danced in her first ballet recital the day before Mother’s Day.  All three little girls in her age group looked beautiful and performed very well!  They danced to “You Are My Sunshine”.  One of C-sta’s favorite parts of the day was getting to wear full “performance” make-up for the recital!

C-sta living her dream!

Mother’s Day was wonderful.  Since breakfast in bed wasn’t an option with early morning church, Li'l J made me my favorite sandwich as soon as we got home and served it to me with chips and string cheese while I lounged in J-rod’s recliner. It’s important to note that he did this all by himself. For dinner J-rod made yummy BBQ beef sandwiches.  Everyone showered me with great gifts!  The one that made me smile the most was Li'l J’s  “Top Ten Reasons Why I Love My Mom”, and the gift that surprised me the most was J-rod’s: a brand new sewing machine!  The nearly fifty-year-old machine we inherited when we got married (a family heirloom that belonged to J-rod’s mom from when she was a teenager until she passed away) finally quit working back in February, so it was time for a new one.  I was neither expecting one, nor one as nice as the one I received.  I am indeed blessed!  Now I just have to schedule a tutorial at Jo Ann’s Fabrics so I can learn how to use the modern model.

Mother's Day 2012

Both M and Li'l J participated in their school track meet and had a lot of fun doing so.

M at the shot put, with his teammates looking on.

Li'l J running like the wind with the baton.

M and friends. Ready, set, go!

M neck and neck with his buds J and I.

M and his friend J in the hurdles race.

Li'l J and friends.

After all the races, there was a fun relay for everyone to participate in.

Li'l J rocked the hula hoop!

Ribbons: Li'l J, friend J, M, friend I.

Mid-way through the month, preschool for C-sta ended for the year and she missed it like crazy once it was over.  Truthfully, so did I.  Once C-sta finished with preschool, the count down until the boys finished school began so C-sta could have someone to pal around with throughout the summer.

C-sta with her class and teacher Mrs. B.

With preschool over, what is a girl to do while she waits for her brothers to finish up with school? Why, spend a fun filled afternoon at Build-a-Bear with one of your besets friends of course!  B, one of C-sta's friends from preschool invited C-sta to go to Build-a-Bear with her to celebrate her birthday (and Zippy got to go along for the fun afternoon too).  This was C-sta's first experience at Build-a-Bear and she couldn't have been more excited to be there!

C-sta and B got matching bears. 

C-sta named her bear "Elizabear" 

(in honor of one of her favorite YW from our ward).  

By the middle of May, the swim season was in full swing with team practices for both M and Li'l J, as well as fun swim days with friends in our pool.

Time for a haircut? 

Both M and Li'l J performed in end year concerts and were recognized for their hard work and academic achievements at awards assemblies.

C-sta wanted to pose for a pic too!

Li'l J moves on to 2nd grade and was given

 "The Jolly Rancher" Award for his 'jolly' attitude.