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Who Can Resist a Puppy?
I’ve posted about our journey with pets and our first time fostering in other posts. We have always been animal lovers and enjoy helping them. After our first Foster experience and “Foster Fail”, we knew we wanted to foster again in memory of Max. Lucky for us, two days after returning our first fosters, the shelter had two puppies they needed out of the shelter ASAP. These would be the fourth and fifth fosters. Enter Gus Gus and Jaq. These two were the smallest puppies in a litter of five and they were 5 weeks old. They smelled worse than any dogs we had ever been around. Their fur was…
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When Loss Leads to Love
In my previous post, How Our Pet Journey Began, I wrote about Max. Max was a phenomenal dog and a beloved family member. When we said goodbye to him when Cancer took his quality of life away, we were devastated. When someone you love is gone, there is an emptiness around. The empty kennel, dog bed, or spot by your feet at night. Even his anxiety left a void. The house was quieter. Every time we say goodbye to a pet, we are astonished at the quiet that remains. Quite frankly, it would be enjoyable, if we weren’t so used to the noise. Max loved everyone. He loved every dog…
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How Our Pet Journey Began
Growing up, our household had varying allergy issues so we did not have dogs or cats. I recall having gerbils. When we introduced a new one to the cage, they began fighting. When I retrieved the new one from the cage, it jumped up and bit my nose. Shaking your head around with a rodent attached to the end of your nose is definitely memorable. I also attempted to keep hamsters, until I learned the hard way that they will kill their young. Our family also had a guinea pig, a rabbit (briefly, thanks to a fox) and a parrot named Cooper. In my teen years, a beautiful Main Coon…
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Dreaming of Baby Gear
With a little one growing in my womb, I’m spending some time thinking about what baby gear I loved with my first two babies. My son is now almost 6 and my daughter is 4, so it’s been a while, but there are still some things I won’t be changing. The list below is in order, as best as I can recall, from birth on. There were certain things I was grateful to have in my hospital bag, and other things that we used for years. I hope this helps someone! Luna Bars : Yes, the hospital will provide meals, but in between, I was FAMISHED. Having some snacks of my own…
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Expectations
We all have expectations. Planning is part of survival. We plan out so much of life. There is the matter of where food and shelter and our basic needs will be met, and there are other things like social events and education and our responsibilities. Some days, I wrestle with my expectations of what I “should” be accomplishing, as plans are ever changing. It is nice to know what to expect. It gives us a sense of security, however false it may be, and helps us let our guard down. My family is in another season of “Expecting.” We recently found out that I am pregnant and the emotional roller…
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Artist Study : Monet
One of the most enjoyable parts of homeschooling, at least in my home, is that I am not limited to the constraints of a prepared curriculum. Sometimes, this is overwhelming, as I find myself desiging a custom curriculum for Reading AND Math AND Science AND Art… Most of the time, I enjoy it, immensely. I decided to start studying artists with the kids, and the first Artist that we studied was Monet. Among the fun things we learned, Monet found himself under the waves on at least one occassion, as the tide came in while he was painting. We learned that his mood could change like the weather and that…
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Library Bags : Encouraging a Love of Literature!
I took the kids to a Pajama Storytime, earlier this week. They enjoyed it very much and wanted to bring some books home. How does a Momma say no to that? I got a library card for my son, who is almost 5, and let the kids choose some books. The lesson I learned was that having preschoolers carry a stack of books can be, well, challenging. On Wednesday, I asked the little monkeys if they would enjoy having a bag to carry their library books in. The answer was an enthusiastic “Yes!” I promptly searched pinterest for “library bags” and found the Kids Totes by Running with Scissors. I had the…
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What Comes After “Z”?
Last year, we started our homeschooling journey with a simple challenge… “If you could teach him to read before Kindergarten…” It was ON! Little did we know, we – my husband and I – would begin researching risks and benefits, techniques, statistics and more. What we definitely didn’t expect was to both agree that homeschooling might be our best option. The obvious starting point, in a journey to reading, seemed to be letter recognition. I planned daily lessons, in advance, which included youTube videos, learning games, crafts and books. Day by day, we knew what to expect, and planning was as simple as addressing the next week of letters. Then……
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Another Year, Another Post!
The past few months have flown by, it would seem. Between season changes, houseguests and our first all-four-of-us vacation together (longer than a weekend…) we have stayed busy. Even the pet portion of our family dynamics has evolved. I’ll try to catch you up… I say this as if we are pen pals, and I don’t even know if I know you. Funny, that’s just how I roll… My son has been growing by leaps and bounds. He managed to outgrow almost ALL of his pants in the course of a few weeks, and managed to no longer be able to squeeze his head through the holes of many a…
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Learning about Frogs!
We have two African Dwarf Frogs in our new fish tank and we’ve all been enjoying watching their antics. Being able to watch them swim to the surface for air, crawl around, float and eat has been very entertaining for all of us. It has also given us many opportunities to discuss life cycles and learn about frogs, as well as the other inhabitants of our tank. Below are a few resources I used to help continue the learning. Frog Metamorphosis Song by Singing Zoologist – My kids actually SANG along with this one. In fact, we’ve been singing it all over the house. Catchy, and a great way to introduce the word…
