A break from school and more food!

Last week, we took a break from our regularly scheduled curriculum and had a documentary and field trip week.  It's nice to mix things up every once in a while.

This morning, I gave Zachariah his second solid food - carrots! 

They took considerably more milk than I expected.  For the avocado, I used about 3 ounces of milk and got six days worth of avocado, so that's about a one to one ratio.  For the carrots, it took six ounces of milk to get them to a passable consistency.  I have enough for nine days, so that's about a two to one ratio of milk to carrots.  It tasted like carrot flavoured ice cream, and I was sure he would love it.

Not so much.  The first attempt he actually broke down in tears.

We tried again in the afternoon, and he ate them, although reluctantly.

Guess he prefers to eat in the afternoon.  Ideally, I would like for food to take the place of one nursing a day.  My chunk-a-monk still eats like a newborn, which means that he nurses roughly every hour-and-a-half to two hours.  It can be exhausting.  Dropping one afternoon nursing session would be a welcome break.  We'll get there eventually, I'm sure.
I just had to throw in these last few pictures, because they're so darn cute!  My Zachariah is so loved, even the dog is a mother-hen!  :)

28 Weeks

Ever wonder what it's like trying to get a picture with three dogs wanting to get in on the fun?

More snow fun

It continued to snow here all night long!  According to CNN, we got a total of 12.5 inches of snow, which is a new record, usurping the 12.1 inches we got in 1964.  Our dogs weren't quite sure what to think about all this white stuff!

Jonathan stayed home from work today, and this morning, we all went out and enjoyed the unusual weather more - this time, at the park.  I love it when the whole family is home to have fun together!  :)

Christmas festivities!

Despite concerns over a smaller budget for Christmas this year, we still managed a nice one!  From MP3 players for the girls to bass guitar gear for Jonathan and way too much for Mommy, it was a fun day!

The doggies got matching bowls with iron stands, and they're no longer able to push them all over the kitchen.  :)

Celestia is happy to have her Nintendo DS back.  It was broken earlier this year, and we got it fixed for Christmas.

Tatiana is loving the new stuffed Planet Earth Panda she got, and doesn't want to put it down.

Christmas would be complete without all of us getting new books, and Jonathan got an almost complete set (missing volume VI) of Edgar Allan Poe books published in 1904!

We will be adding a new addition to our household soon, in the form of ... a turtle!  I had pet box turtles when I was a kid, and something about them just makes me smile.  Jonathan bought me all the gear, with the promise of a turtle as soon as everything is assembled, and I choose a breed.  You may also notice a difference in my pictures very soon, because my seven-year-old digital camera has been replaced with a shiny new one!  Once I figure out how to use it, I'm sure the pictures will be a much better quality!  ;)

The Dallas area had our first white Christmas in eighty-three years!  Our girls (and especially Tatiana) were SOOOO excited to have snow on Christmas morning that they could hardly contain themselves!  Despite the frosty morning, it all melted from the roads by lunch time, so we were able to go over to Nana and Papa's house for our traditional Christmas dinner.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and I'm looking forward to 2010!

Happy 30th birthday, Darling!

Today is my most wonderful Jonathan's birthday! Looking through my computer, I realised how few pictures I actually have of him. In all fairness, that's probably because he simply doesn't like having his picture taken. Here are a few fun ones I DID have, though. Aside from the obvious, I have pictures of him unlocking the door to our house for the first time, and a picture of him and Arynson when we got him, on Jonathan's 25th birthday. I'm not sure what they were watching together on the tele, but it must have been good! :) The most recent picture in the group is a picture of Jonathan and the girls together on Tatiana's 10th birthday at the Rainforest Cafe.
I love you, Baby! Hope you have a great birthday even though we're not there to celebrate it with you. Now go on over to the Cheesecake Factory and have yourself a slice! :)

Mom's fabulous vacation part II!

Did you think I had forgotten about the rest of my wonderful vacation? Let me assure you, I did not! I have been both taking care of a fabulous found doggie, and looking for a job, and let me tell you - looking for a job is more work than actually having one!
After two days of sight seeing with Lisa, I headed over to my in-law's house in Leesburg. They have some wooded property there, and it is absolutely beautiful! I don't actually have very many pictures of my time at their home. I was way too busy relaxing! :) As silly as it may sound, I had heard about a fabulous grocery store they have there from both Lisa and Donna, and just had to check it out, so we had lunch at Wegmans and did a bit of grocery shopping on my first day there. We took a day and drove to the mountains in West Virginia where they will be building a house for retirement, and spent the rest of the week petting dogs, drinking coffee, and chatting. Four dogs resided at their home while I was there - Wayland (sheltie, bottom pic) and Jasmine (cattle dog mix, top pic) are permanent residents there. Fosters at the time included Dusty (an Australian Shepherd / Sheltie mix, third dog) and Millie (Sheltie, second dog down) who was a breeding dog at a puppy mill. Millie has since been adopted! :) She was a sweetie and will make a great pet once she realises she is safe. :) I did jump in the pool once while I was there, but let me tell you, it was just a bit chilly for this Texas girl! On my last night there, Jonathan's brother and girlfriend came over, and we had dinner and played a board game together.
This was the first actual vacation I had taken since Jonathan and I went on our honeymoon, and I certainly needed it! The entire week was the perfect balance of doing fun things, and doing absolutely nothing at all. I am so lucky to have such awesome in-laws who let me hang out with them just because I needed to get away!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for this important news flash!

Calypso has been found! That's right, apparently, she was in the woods behind the Creekside development across 455 from us. Someone has been feeding her for 3 weeks (who knows what the little rascal was eating before that) and finally managed to catch her and take her in to the shelter! Contrary to Floppy's experience, she has not lost any weight at all, and looks great! I took her in to the vet to be looked over, and have microchipped, and also got her a flea dip. Other than that, it's like she never left! We're so happy to have a ll 3 of our doggies home, safe and sound! Our family now feels complete again. To whoever found her, though I know you'll never read this, but I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you!!!