Does this look painful to you?

Here is Allison's attemp to put on her underwear by herself. She was so proud of herself that I didn't have the heart to fix them. So they looked super uncomfortable - she didn't seem to mind! I am just happy that she's finally interested in dressing herself. I am realizing that I do FAR too much for my girls. Come on, a seven year old can't get a drink by herself?? It's time to make some changes around here. They are old enough now to start doing some simple chores and tasks on their own, even if it does mean they have to walk around with a nasty frontal wedgie all day!

The "lucky" tooth has fallen out

Well, the "lucky" tooth is no more! Juliet's crooked, yellowed tooth has fallen out and she is happy, though I think I'm even more thrilled about it! She's had the crooked tooth since she was two years old and decided to do a not-so-graceful ballerina spin at my mom's house in her socks and landed straight onto the hardword floor, face first. Her tooth actually chipped the floor and she didn't have time to break her fall with her hands. The worst part was that I watched the whole thing but wasn't able to do anything about it in time. There was blood everywhere and thank goodness Chris was there because I just lost my mind and any logic that was supposed to go with it!

Anyway, she's called it her "lucky" tooth since that time. That name comes from the movie Finding Nemo because Nemo has the messed up fin that he calls his "lucky fin". Hey, whatever works! Though I'm not sure how "lucky" it really was because the tooth fairy still only left her a buck! Cheapskate!

Fenway the hot dog

My Boys!

Some of you may not have "met" the new addition to our family yet. He is a 1/2 Dachshund 1/2 Carin Terrier mix. I got him this past Mother's Day when he was 7 weeks old. Trooper and him are good buddies and are working out great. He is a pretty cool little guy and just lives to have his belly rubbed and for food in any form he can get his paws on. He is a little mischievous little booger. If something goes missing I know longer automatically blame Allison - I know Fenway probably had something to do with it!

First Day of 2nd Grade!

There she goes!

Juliet is officially a 2nd grader now! She got off to school with a no tears and a smile on her face - what more could you ask for? She's not home yet and I can't wait to hear how her day went!

Check out Allison's face in the background! Too funny!

Gus is Rescued!

Gus safely back home

After two very thorough searches throughout my entire house, I had almost decided to give up looking for Gus. This is gross, but I figured worse case scenario I would be able to sniff him out in a few days and put his little body to his final resting place (a.k.a. a shoe box buried in our backyard). I tried everything I knew how to find this little guy. I even put Trooper on a leash and thought he'd magically have the capabilities of a police dog and sniff him out. But much to our dismay, we discovered that Trooper does not have a future as a K-9 cop.

However, since the girls kept insisting that we just had to find him, I thought we'd search one last time. This time I decided to look behind our washer and dryer all the way down stairs. At first, all I saw was a giant lint ball but then it moved! There was fluffy old Gus, hanging out behind our dryer. I estimate he could have been there for up to 3 entire days, based on my investigation with the kids as to "Who done it". Juliet admitted that on Tuesday when her friends were over, perhaps she didn't quite close his cage all the way.

But what I can't believe is that little dude fell from his cage about 4 feet, went all the way down stairs, and into the farthest room possible in my house, behind the dryer no less. And yet, he didn't break any bones (um, I think), starve to death, or get eaten by a dog on his journey. All I know is this hamster must have 9 lives.

Hartford Half Marathon

Well, I'm finally going to do it! I have not run a single race since cross country in high school, when I actually swore that I would never run again. Running was always a love-hate relationship with me. But now since running is sometimes the only chance I get to get a break from working and being a mom and wife, I am now in love. It is such an awesome, constructive outlet for me. So I decided to do a half marathon (aka 13.1 miles) and my eldest sister, Lisa, will join me. And we've actually been good about training. So I may be crazy, but I'm going for it on October 11th!

The Case of the Missing Hamster

Oh crap, Gus is mia again! Unfortunately the girls know about it and they are freaking out because they adore this darn hamster. Apparently hamsters life expectancy is only about 2 1/2 - 3 years and Gus is already 3 1/2. So he is really pushing his luck by pulling this disappearing act at such an old age. He's gone missing before but I have always successfully found him and Trooper, our Rottweiler, has always successfully NOT found him. So he's been one lucky hamster thus far but this is officially the longest he has gone without being found. I am praying I don't find a Gus carcass in a couple days - or worse a couple weeks or months! Ewww, just the thought. Oh Gus, please show your fat, fluffy self really soon!!

We Moved!

We purchased a home in Coventry and have been here for about 2 weeks now. We absolutely love it! We now have an awesome neighborhood (the kind of neighborhood where people actually indroduce themselves and welcome you to the neighborhood) and a great school system. The girls have been loving riding their scooters on our (looong) driveway to pick blackberries and discovering what the "country" has to offer. They love it, we love it, the dogs even love it. What more can you ask for?