The Ups and Downs of Pet Ownership

Peri the Quaker Parrot has been a part of our family for 4 or 5 years now.  He has always been loud and able to talk, but he started out as such a nice, mild-mannered bird.  Peri would let us all take him out of the cage, hold him, play with him (as much as one can "play" with a bird).  Then, one by one, he decided he didn't like us.  We are down to only Mike being able to take Peri from the cage.  This, of course, has its bonuses - like only Mike can clean the cage!  Though, we do miss the easy-going, laid-back-ish bird we used to know and wonder if he will ever return. 

Then came Belle the poodle/terrier-of-some-sort mix.  She joined us a year and a half ago as a surprise for the kids and has settled into our family quite nicely.  There are down-sides to owning this dog, of course. She has a nervous and excitable bladder so we are frequently cleaning up accidents when guests arrive to our home (Aunt Shannon has lovingly and appropriately dubbed her, "Tinkle Belle").  It is difficult to play games on the floor as Belle wants to be a part of things, too, and tends to run over the game board or pile of cards.  And, she barks at every little noise she hears.  But, there are up-sides as well.  I love having her in the house with me during the day.  Belle is pretty calm most of the time and likes to just curl up beside us (or on us).  She is so much fun when she gets in her "Bullet Belle" mode, as the kids like to call it, running at lightening speed through the house.  And, the kids love to see how high they can get Belle to jump up for her toys.  She can get as high as Seth's head at the moment!! 

Not too long ago, Seth saved up his money to buy a fish tank.  It was a little tank for 1 or 2 fish.  There was joy when Swimmy and Fin came to live with us, but sadness at their sudden...departure.  Then came Swimmy and Fin (yeah...same names) and it seems that one of them is no longer with us, though I could be wrong about that. 

You might think that sounds strange - that I don't know the names of our beloved family pets.  But, Seth and Katey both used Christmas money to buy 10 gallon tanks for their rooms.  We now have somewhere around 15 fish.  The kids can tell you their names, but I have long given up on trying to keep them straight (especially considering Seth likes to name them then change their names a day or so later).  We have lost some along the way.  When any of Seth's die the conversation usually goes something like this:
Me:  Seth, I have some bad news.  One of your fish has died.
Seth:  Awwwww.  I liked him. 
Me:  I know, I'm sorry.
Seth:  Hm.  Can I play the Wii now?

Seth's tank

Katey lost 2 fish for the first time this week.  The first one she had just gotten the day before so she wasn't too upset.  However, "Longy" just passed away on Monday and it was traumatic in the house:

Katey:  LONGY IS DEAD!  (sobbing)

Mike:  What?

Katey:  My fish, Longy, (sob) is stuck to the filter.  He's dead (big sob)

Mike goes to take care of the fish and Katey is upstairs continuing to sob.  I go up to check on her.

Katey:  He was my first fish.  I will miss him so much (sob)
Jen:  I know, I'm sorry
Katey:  Can we go to Petsmart and get another fish like him?  I will pick one out with long fins and stripes that don't quite match up, just like Longy.

Mike had a conversation with Katey about working through grief and not trying to just replace something to make hurt go away.  Though, when all was said and done, Katey ended up with 2 new fish to replace her lost ones.  The next morning:
Jen:  I like the green shirt you picked out to wear today.
Katey:  Yes.  And I have on my black pants today because Longy died and I am sad.

I love that kid!

Katey's tank

Oh, the ups and downs of pet ownership!

Terrific Kids

We have 2 pretty terrific kids.

Katey ran her sixth 5K last weekend and managed to shave several minutes off her personal best to set a new (personal) record!!  She and Mike crossed the finish line in right at 36 minutes!  As always, Katey thoroughly enjoyed her season of Girls On the Run and was especially excited about the post-race pizza and cake celebration.

Seth got the Terrific Kid award for his class this grading period!  We were treated to breakfast and a presentation of awards.  His teacher wrote a very nice paragraph as to why Seth was chosen for the award and he was all smiles as he heard it being read.  Seth was so excited about this honor that he could hardly stand it and must have told us 10 times how overjoyed he was!  (We won't mention the part about his whining and complaining over being made to wear a collared "church shirt" to school. HA!)

 

We are so proud of both of our TERRIFIC kids!

What do archery and waffles have in common?

They are both new adventures that were experienced over Spring Break! 

I know what you are thinking.  How could waffles be a new experience?  I'll get to that.

Overall we had a pretty laid back Spring break.  The kids were happy to stay in their jammies into the afternoon and enjoy just kicking around and playing outside.  It was a wonderfully relaxing week, with the exception of trying our hands at archery...which was just plain fun!

We learned that wielding a bow and arrow is a lot more difficult than it looks!  We had a one hour session with instruction and supervision and all of us had sore arms by the time our hour was up.  We would all shoot 3 arrows then retrieve them and start again.  Mike had the most accurate round of all of us (all 3 in the yellow circle), but we all had fun and hit close (enough) to the center mark to feel pretty proud.  Check out our form!

Go Mike!  The target on the left was for the kids - half the distance of ours.  Part-way through they put a smiley face (named Squat) on the middle of it and challenged, "I bet you can't hit Squat!".  Seth hit him so we went out for Steak and Shake afterwards!

One day Katey asked if I would teach her how to make pancakes or waffles.  So, we opted for waffles and she was quite surprised when I told her I would help in an advisory role but she was going to do all the measuring, mixing, pouring and cooking.  She was so very excited about this prospect and did an excellent job!!  The only part that I assisted her on was folding in the whipped egg whites as she didn't know what it meant to do that and asked me to help. 

The waffles were absolutely scrumptious and even Seth gave a thumbs-up, which is no small feat when it comes to something that involves his sister! 

 

 

PS - Note that the kids are in their pajamas.  We ate waffles for lunch.  I love pajama days!!

Spring Shots

Shannon, Gabriella, Aubrey, Emily and Laken came to visit this week and we had a fun time together!  One of the things Grammy wanted to do was get some pictures of all the kids together.  No one expected a fabulous picture...in fact, I don't think any of us even expected a good picture...just one that contained all the kids.  :-)  Here are some of my favorites:

Exactly as expected. Love it!!

Grammy told all the kids to jump!

This one was Katey's idea.  "Whoa!  We have on the same outfit!"

Making bunny ears in honor of the Easter bunny

And, here are a couple of others from the extended weekend.

Sleeping Beauty

Wacky and Tacky

Last Friday was "Wacky Tacky" day at school in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  If you know Katey at all, you know that this day was made for her!  It seems that no matter how hard I try, she doesn't quite understand what matches and what doesn't (though I think we are slowly getting there).  

For example, she came downstairs one day last summer wearing this and not wanting to change:

So, when I got downstairs on Friday I was all ready for a "great" Wacky-Tacky ensemble.  Katey proudly displayed her chosen outfit exclaiming, "Isn't this a great outfit for Wacky-Tacky Day?"

 

Doh!  Perhaps she isn't making as much progress as I had thought.  :-)  

So it was back to the drawing board and I almost laughed out loud as I heard, "Mommy, can you please help me pick something out that doesn't match?"

The result?  

Presenting, the very whacky, Wacky-Tacky Averill Kids:

January

What a month!

We spent a quick 3 day weekend in Ohio visiting family since we didn't make it up North at Christmas.  Thankfully, we had a nice survival kit for the car, compliments of my thoughtful sister, just in case we had a repeat of the 24 hour trip from a couple of years ago.  You know, the year that I was traveling alone with the kids, had only a few granola bars in the van for food and found myself sitting on I-77 in WV for 6+ hours as they had CLOSED THE MAJOR HIGHWAY due to snow.  My favorite item there is the Folger's coffee can labeled as "Family Restroom".  Really could have used that 2 years ago...

Anyway, we had a wonderful time with family and I did not use my camera like I should have.  Shannon had her in-laws over for dinner and games one night and we all had great fun.  Then, Grandma Brown hosted a delicious dinner for all of us so we could see most of our Ohio relatives.  You just can't beat Grandmas rolls, green beans and corn!  Then it was time to head home again...  The kids did get to enjoy playing in the snow and sledding with Mike and Uncle Jason.  They were thrilled beyond measure to see the snow!

Grandma Brown with the Great-Grands

Katey and Gabriella

Aubrey (I think she and Katey may have the same sense of style!)

January wrapped up with Seth going under the knife.  It was a whirlwind event as we found out that he needed his tonsils and adenoids out January 9 and he was having surgery on the 20th!!  The good news was there wasn't much time to worry about how he would do.  Seth was very brave and, leading up to the big day, was only upset that he was going to miss a week of school (which made his teacher super happy!). 

The day before surgery I told him that I could pull out the once-beloved Puppy and Sheepy for him to take along.  He said I could if I wanted to, he didn't care either way.  However, the morning of surgery he sought-out Puppy and didn't let go...which made Mommy happy.  (I've missed Puppy and am a little sad that Seth is growing up and doesn't need him around anymore)

So, all went well with the surgery.  The doctor, upon coming out to the waiting room afterwards, informed us that Seth's tonsils were HUGE and everyone in the operating room could not believe how big they were!  Glad we got them out!

Recovery went very smooth (though it was touch-and-go with my attitude and Seth's around day 5-6!) and Seth is no longer snoring or having moments of sleep apnea that we have noticed.  Wahoo!!

Seth before surgery

Puppy got a new friend (appropriately named), "Tonsils"!

And that sums up January.  Whew!