The Leprechauns are Coming!

Does anyone remember some saying or book or song I can't be sure now, "The Lemmings are Coming! The Lemmings are Coming!" 

That's what just popped into my head writing the title of this post... the Leprechauns are coming! And let me tell you, now that Pearl understands time and has a calendar she brings home from school each month, she knew exactly when those little Leprechauns were coming.

And she wasn't going to let us forget.

She even left the leprechauns a note on her chalkboard in anticipation of their arrival. It even had a cute thank you note.

As luck 'o the Irish would have it {I can't help myself}, we read two St. Patrick's Day books about leprechauns the night before "Leprechaun Day" as Pearl calls it which I'm pretty sure secured our scavenger hunt the next morning. Our leprechauns don't cause mischief or make messes. With the exception of turning Jeff and Cole's milk green in their cereal. No.... Jeff told Pearl he pays them gold to be good and that's the real reason there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Instead they leave us pictures clues that lead us to a little treasure. Only this year, those lazy leprechauns' camera broke so they just wrote down different words. 

They made up for the broken camera though with their the treasure they left behind. Books, Legos, toy horses, and green shirts {no one wants to get pinched}.

Walks

I've been taking the kids with me on my walks with Blu along our favorite walking path. It's been fun and I'll admit, slightly stressful trying to wrangle not one but three little beings who have more energy, curiosity, and willpower than I do. Especially when they insist on bringing their bikes... you can probably imagine who ends up carrying at least one of the bikes the entire walk!

I've quickly learned that the glorious Spring days with sunshine and warm temperatures also have a slightly stressful impact on our walking adventures because my favorite walking path becomes everyone else's favorite walking path. Not to mention it borders the local golf course which doesn't have a fence or barrier between all those rolling golf balls and people that Blu finds fascinating. And geese. She likes to chase them too.

The trail has taken on a whole new life now that the snow is gone. I kind of miss my quiet, peaceful alone time on it.

Until I see these little faces running in front of me.

Or in Blu's case, slobbering in front of me.

We're Going to Disneyland

We're going to Disneyland!

Not really.

I've never been to Disneyland and sadly for my own children, don't ever plan to go. It helps that Jeff gets sick on amusement park rides. And that we don't have cable T.V. to remind them of any Disney channel commercials promoting the happiest place on earth. 

But...

We do go to Disney on Ice every year. I almost didn't bother {fine, remember} with tickets this year but then had the thought that I'm probably only a few years away from Pearl being totally appalled at the idea of going or even being seen with her mother. So I sluffed work, had my sister-in-law and niece sluff work and school and off we went. 

What in the world is up with Pearl's face? In both pictures? It must be the excitement. 

And as per tradition, each kid got their own tub of popcorn. And of course, a ridiculously overpriced toy. It's a scandal. Pearl got a Tiana or Cinderella horse which was actually less overpriced than I originally guessed. Ruby got a Little Mermaid necklace. And Fern, well, in a see of pink and purple and sparkly princesses as far as the eye could see, somehow that boy spotted the one, single toy for boys. A sword. You can imagine the fun we had with that.

The show was way better than last year. Rapunzel flying around in the air with her hair was pretty cool. Even Cole liked that part. He barely squeaked through intermission, declaring he wanted to go home. Luckily the Zamboni was entertaining enough during intermission to give him the boost he needed to make it through the end of the show.

The kids humored Emily and I afterwards with a few pictures. They were saying, "Disney on Ice!" They make me laugh.

Seriously! Can we not have one decent picture together?

Compare to E.Z. and Ruby-juby. 

At least Rue-bug always has a smile for me! And E.Z. don't kill me! I am totally having baby hunger pains seeing that cute belly! Seriously. Isn't my sis-in-law amazingly beautiful pregnant? I can't wait to meet my new niece at the end of April!!! Gah! My uterus is screaming for a baby.... don't worry, Jeff doesn't read my blog.

One Little Monkey

One little monkey....

Jumping on the bed... well, first he threw the pillows on the floor.

He jumped off... despite his mother's warning that he would get hurt.

And bonked his head... ok, his leg. 

 

Mamma called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

{Don't tell the Daddy monkey!}

Dog Gone Discouraged

I am discouraged.

Dog gone discouraged.

Blu is eating our backyard. Literally.

Not to mention she still pulls on the leash and it makes me feel like a complete failure!

She's eaten all of Jeff's roses, the climbing honeysuckles, the kids' sand toys, soccer balls, a hula hoop, and who knows what else at this point.

And I was recently informed that she had eaten through the drip line sprinklers and our telephone line - it's a good thing we are a cellphone only household - and was coming dangerously close to the air conditioner with her digging and feasting on anything and everything non-food related. 

I really can't imagine any of that tastes good. Or feels good coming back out... rose thorns? Really? I guess her toys, rawhide chews, and bones aren't nearly as appetizing as advertised.

The Alpha male has also informed me he is not pleased with the situation. Shocking.

To which my response is, I'm not either but what am I supposed to do about it when I'm not home? It's like leaving Cole unsupervised in the house to destroy to his heart's content and then coming home and trying to punish him, only this "Cole" doesn't speak English!

I have no clue what to do. I have tried to talk about possible solutions to our "little" problem but with no luck or interest on the Alpha male's part. He just gets angry. Which upsets me because that was my greatest hesitation with even getting a puppy. That the Alpha male would want nothing to do with it. Apparently our "I think a dog will be good for our family" decision wasn't really so. Trying to keep my boiling emotions in check and now repair our entire backyard, train her to be perfect (which is never going to happen given my track record with two little human beings), re-plant everything, and come up with a solution to Blu's digging and eating is wearing on me. 

I spent all weekend searching online for dog kennels, how to install chain link fences, types of sprays to deter dogs from eating your plants, how an electronic dog fence works, and measuring the backyard to try and figure out where we could even put a dog kennel.

After hours of searching and thinking, I've decided there are two options to choose from. Option #1 build a dog run. Option #2 install an in-ground electric dog fence. Both are going to cost several hundred dollars. And both require skills I don't have and a lot of time. I really like the idea of an electric fence so Blu could still have free rein in the yard when we're gone, but I know installation is out of the realm of my expertise and there's the possibility that she won't care if she gets zapped and then I've spent hundreds of dollars for nothing. 

So that leaves a dog run. My sweet neighbor who comes and checks on Blu will be so sad. But I don't really have a choice anymore. Should I buy a dog kennel or build my own with chain link fencing? I'm sort of leaning to buying a dog kennel because that saves me on some manual labor and I can get one quicker so I can contain Blu sooner than waiting for this blasted winter to be over! But the one I want doesn't have a real roof, just sun shade, so I'll have to figure out how to put a dang roof on the thing to keep her dry in bad weather. Like this week.

I can't decide if the best spot for a dog run would be in what was once our playground area (pre-hurricane winds two years ago) or next to the garage, extending out to the patio area so Blu has both shade for summer (with the garage) and sun for winter (with the open patio). I think next to the garage would be the best because she could have more room to play and sun/shade. I did suggest moving our garden area so the dog was as far away from the house as possible but that was met with little enthusiasm. And there's the problem of the winter because the garage side of our house is freezing and the ice and snow pile up. And what flooring should you use? I don't know how or really want to pay for someone to come and put in a cement pad for a dog run. So I'm thinking of pea gravel or even pavers? 

But until I can get the side of the garage prepped, I'm saddened to say I'll have to chain Blu. I hate the thought of leaving her chained up (again... where to chain her is the question) while I'm at work all day. She's a good girl. Really. At least in the house she is. She will be so sad on a chain and she's too dumb to go in her dog house so she's going to be soaking wet all week with this rain. Hopefully she doesn't kill herself on it either. I don't want to leave her inside though because she'd freak out if she couldn't get out to go potty and heaven forbid she starts eating the house too! And I'm sure if I left her in the garage I'd come home to a half-eaten can of gasoline.

The ironic thing is, Blu has been my saving grace on those days I'm a hormonal, crazy woman because she demands to be walked every single day, rain, snow, sleet, or shine. I like having a walking buddy. It's nice to come home to someone who is always happy to see you and who doesn't care what you look like, smell like, or act like because they think you are the greatest. The kids love Blu. Cole calls her his "Sweetie" and tells me Blu is his best friend. I'm afraid Pearl would have black eyes and missing teeth if it weren't for Blu because Cole is constantly wrestling with her now instead of tackling his sister. And Pearl seems to get her need for physical affection from Blu so she isn't so touchy with the rest of us.

But love can only go so far when your backyard is being eaten alive.

A friend told me someday I'd look back on this and laugh... maybe write a book called "Blu and Me" (playing off of "Marley and Me"). I sure hope our ending is like that book. And that Blu doesn't eat my wedding ring. That would be bad.