Nero Update

A lot of people have been asking for pictures of Nero so I thought that I would post a couple.

It is nearly impossible to see his eyes anymore, unless you pull his hair back.  They are brown if anyone is interested.

He finished his obedience class and got Most Improved Dog.  If only he could behave in public the way he behaved in obedience class :)  Kidding aside he is a good dog, but we still have a lot of work to do on getting him more comfortable with meeting new people and on his mouthing.  I actually thought we had the mouthing under control, but this week he has been grabbing me and the kids with his mouth a lot.  So back to square one on that one.  He is also getting quite loud, so we are trying to figure out how to quiet him down.  However he is very happy and he does listen quite well most of the time and he has not had any more accidents since after the surgery so I am going to count my blessings for now and hope he grows out of some of the other things.

Vacation

We took a short family vacation to celebrate the end of the school year.  We booked it prior to getting Nero and the resort we stayed at did not allow pets, so we had to leave him home with a sitter.

We spent the first night in Pittsburgh.  We really liked Station Square and the kids really enjoyed the Disney themed fountain show.  The inclines were the hit of Pittsburgh for us though. 

 

 At the top of one there was a museum and you could see how the incline worked.  It was pretty cool.

 

The view of the city was pretty cool as well:

 

 On the way out of Pittsburgh in the morning we stopped at Round Hill Park.  They had a working farm that we got to walk around and we saw 13 piglets and their parents, chickens, turkeys, sheep, and horses as well as the buildings and a garden.  It was a pretty neat stop to break up the drive.

Then we were on to Shenandoah Valley, VA.  We stayed in a 2 bedroom cabin at the resort we stayed at and they had 2 pools and a large hot tub outdoors, which was pretty neat.  The kids got to tie dye t-shirts as well, which they enjoyed.  We also went to Shenandoah National Park which was really beautiful.  We hiked down to the waterfall, which was a bit longer of a hike than we thought and we were all pretty worn out by the time we got back to the car, but I think it was worth it:

 

 

 

On our way home we stopped and got to spend some time with Aunt Bonnie and go out for crabs.  I failed to take any pictures that night, but we had a lot of fun.  She actually has a neighbor with 2 foxes and the kids got to pet one!

Graduation

 Isaac graduated from pre-k this year and they did a nice graduation event for his large class.  As we were getting ready to go to the event Mackenzie had a small breakdown because she hadn't gotten to go to her graduation.  The year of her pre-k graduation I attended a conference in Orlando and the kids, Brian and my parents flew down and we all went to Disney World.  I asked Mackenzie which she would have preferred, Disney or graduation and before Isaac's ceremony she said she would have preferred graduation.  After the ceremony she informed me that she would have chosen Disney.

Isaac did very well and was extremely proud of his diploma.  They even threw their hats in the air at the end of the ceremony.

 

Here is another great shot of Isaac sleeping in his Lazy Boy:

They Look so Peaceful When They Sleep

I am so excited that it is May.  We had lovely weather this weekend, the school year for Brian is over at the end of this week, and the craziness of April is over. 

I keep thinking that I should take pictures of Isaac when he is asleep in his La-Z-Boy and I always forget to take something upstairs with me to take a picture with.  I remembered my camera earlier this week and here is Isaac sleeping, in one of his more normal positions:

Then, of course, I took a picture of Mackenzie as well: 

Mackenzie has made a canopy on her bed (really her dad made it) by putting a fitted sheet over her headboard and footboard, thus the extra flowers over her.

 

This weekend we opened up our new tent.  I ordered it and it is an 8 person tent.  I knew that an 8 person tent would need to be large, but I didn't realize just how large.  Here is a shot of it set up in our living room:

Even Brian can stand up in it which means it is over 6 foot tall and although I would argue that 8 people couldn't sleep well in the tent, I guess they could lie down next to each other in it.

 

Here is a shot of the kids lying in it:

 And here is a shot of them sleeping, finally:

 

As an example of my practical oldest child, Mackenzie went into the tent with blankets, a pillow, kleenex, a flashlight, a book as well as about a dozen stuffed animals and baby dolls.  Isaac on the other hand has his sleeping bag, a pillow and about 4 stuffed animals.

 

They thought that sleeping in the tent was pretty fun.

 

Today I divided up my huge mum plants.  I divided one into 8 piece and the other into about 6.  I am hoping that all of the pieces survive and look nice.  Hopefully I did it right.  Our blueberry and strawberry plants also seem to be coming back nicely, so hopefully we will have homegrown strawberries this summer (or at least the birds will).  The blueberries are supposed to take one more year before they actually produce berries and to be honest I am not sure I have prepared the soil properly.  So we shall see next year. 

People keep asking about Nero, so here is a shot of him just a few minutes ago.  We wore him out this weekend.  Our obedience class yesterday was supposed to be 2 hours long and we were there almost 3 hours, so he didn't get much sleep in the late morning and early afternoon and we were pretty busy until dinner time, so he was pretty exhausted by then.  Today Mackenzie walked around with the dog  most of the morning putting together a show and then they performed the show, which seemed to really wear him out and then this afternoon he was napping when Mackenzie came in to say the neighbor dog, Lily was out so he went out and played with Lily for a while.  So here is a tired 40 pound Nero on the kitchen floor:

He is going in for surgery (nuetered) on Wednesday.  I am feeling a bit guilty about it already, but everyone suggests we do it, so I am following the advice of those more knowledgable.  Hopefully it is the right decision.

Typical Isaac

This is going to be a very short post.  On Sunday we went to a park that is basically adjacent to Shannon and Doug's yard.  So Shannon, Gavin, Nathan and Carson joined us at the park for a while.  Afterwards Isaac and Mackenzie stayed there for a little while.  Later Shannon sent me this picture that Isaac asked her to take:

I think that this picture captures the true essence of Isaac, from the tongue and the hand motions to the sandals that are way to big from him (at least they appear to be on the right feet).  So I thought that I would share this picture of my boy!

Isaac's Fifth Birthday Party

It took me a while to get this posted.  Isaac's fifth birthday party was a success.  The kids had fun playing Imaginext and although it seemed a bit crazy at times, I think that everyone had a good time.  Isaac loved all of his new toys.  He got a lot of Chima, Imaginext and even some Octonauts.  He enjoyed everything.  Although at the time he didn't seem too excited about the clothes, that night he wanted to wear his new pajamas and the next day he asked me to wash everything so that he could wear it.

Here are some shots from the Toy Story photo booth:

Here is a shot of the snack table with the Imaginext cupcakes (and Mackenzie in the background):

 

 Here is a shot of the birthday boy waiting to blow out his candles:

Things are going well with the puppy.  The kids and I took him to a socialization class on Tuesday and I thought he did pretty well.  He wasn't super comfortable, but he tolerated it quite well.  The only time he growled was when the trainer asked the kids and I to leave him in a room with some other puppies and he evidently went into a corner and felt trapped.  Since then we have been trying to socialize him as much as possible.  He has met a lot of the neighbors and neighbor dogs now that the weather has gotten better.  He met a 1 year old Labradoodle today, Lily, who I think is his favorite.  She has an 8 year old "sibling", Caleb as well.  Hopefully we can all hang out more.  He also got some quality time with Grandma Linda last night, when Brian and I went to a dedication for Nils at Ohio Northern. 

We all went to the park tonight and Nero did quite well there as well.  It was packed since it was the first Saturday that we have had nice weather.  Isaac ran into a friend from CDC that is about a year older than him and a head taller.  Isaac felt that he could do anything his friend could do, including the monkey bars and jumping off a large rock.  I am starting to learn more about active boys and I think I may need to do some research on the closest emergency rooms.

Happy Fifth Birthday, Isaac!

Isaac turned 5 today.  He is registered for all-day kindergarten in the fall (not next year as Mackenzie likes to point out to me).  I can't believe that he is five!

He chose french toast for his birthday dinner tonight.  Grandpa Butch came and joined us for dinner and then Isaac and Brian opened their birthday presents.  Brian's birthday is tomorrow, but he will be working late so he opened his presents tonight.

Mackenzie got Isaac an Iron Man mask (paid for with her own money):

 

And he got Skylanders Swap Force from Mom and Dad:

I didn't have the camera on video, so I didn't catch the jumping for joy.

Brian got a Bass Pro play set from the kids that included a truck, boat, jet ski and ATV:

He also got a Disney Infinity but I didn't get a shot of that one.  There was also a lot of jumping when that one was opened :)

Nero is doing well and adjusting to our house.  We have a trainer coming to the house tomorrow to help teach me how to train him not to bite when playing and how to feel more comfortable with strangers as well as many other things (we will attend 6 classes at her training center starting in May).  If I could get him to stop biting while playing though, I would feel pretty good.

Grandma Kathy and Lexie came and stayed with the kids last weekend while Brian and I were at a conference in Dallas.  Grandma took this shot of the kids in Nero's cage with him:





 I like this shot of him stretching:

 And this is how he often lays down, which does not seem comfortable to me:

He has grown a lot since we brought his home.  The breeder told us he was 15 pounds the last time he was weighed there.  At his first vet visit a week later he was 20 pounds and at his visit last Thursday (a mere ten days later) he was 26.6 pounds.  So although he always seems hungry and I worry that he isn't getting enough to eat, he is growing by leaps and bounds.

 

That is pretty much my life right now.  Isaac's birthday party is Saturday.  He chose an Imaginext theme.  Pictures of that to come . . .