Our final decision on a puppy!

Spent some time at Our Pal's Place playing with the puppies today! After talking with the trainer we decided to go with a puppy named Jayden. Her name will obviously need to be changed! No idea to what yet. She will be coming home on Monday and we are all very excited. Today we did some shopping for a collar, bowls, toys, food.....

The puppies were much more energetic today! We definitely have a lot of work ahead of us training this puppy!

I'll post more pictures when she joins us on Monday!

Hanes Comfort from toe to toe.

I wear many hats! Mom, travel agent, tastefully simple consultant, medical planner, teacher... the list is endless! One thing I enjoy is testing new products for companies! Some are in the planning stages and I just receive an unmarked bottle that just says shampoo but then others are for marketing purposes that I get to talk about!

Right now I am wearing the new Hanes comfort from toe to toe socks. They are comfy and fit well on my small feet. I'm involved with BZZ Agent and they sent me some coupons as well as 3 different pairs from the Hanes line to try out and Buzz about! So if you are in need of socks check out Hanes Comfort toe to toe. ;)

Heyward is wanted!

Heard from OPP today and they are reviewing our application! The Trainer is going to spend some time with the puppies tomorrow to see if they are ready to leave mom and be seperated from each other. They also have a vet check on Monday. There's been lots of interest in him but we are the only ones to actually apply for him. If all goes well we could have our home visit this week/weekend and have a new family member by this time next week! We will hear from them tomorrow about whether he will be ours or not. Then we get to go shopping for puppy supplies!

Town and Country Vet Clinic (Another look at pets)

So the kids and I tried to explore dogs at a different pet adoption location. I had no idea how different these places could be from each other. The place today had a lot of dogs up for adoption but the center was not as loving as Our Pal's Place! They had no yard for the dogs to play or run or even to be walked to go to the bathroom. From what I gathered these dogs will stay in their cages for majority of their stay! :( 2 dogs stood out to us, a high energy black lab and a sweet red dachshund. Both were under 2 years old, their stories are unknown other than that they were picked up at a county shelter where they were about to be euthanized. These dogs would have to be retrained to go outside to the bathroom and be crated for at least awhile till they got used to our home. We will continue to look for now!

We are officially looking for a new member for our family!

Took the kids to Our Pal's Place in Marietta. These puppies are about 8 weeks old and were severely dehydrated when OPP (Our Pal's Place) found them in a county animal shelter. The mom is very well behaved and mild mannered. The puppies are paper trained and adorable. The kids fell in love with the black dog named Heyward. We just started to look and our original plan was to get a lab or retriever of some kind since they are usually so great with kids and the breeds that most service dogs happen to be. The kids won't stop talking about the puppies though! This is a great pet adoption facility and the prices seem to be lower than what we've seen at other locations. Check out some of the other dogs that need homes! Right now we are having a hard time trying to decide if we should peruse the pup the kids picked today or wait a little longer... The kids and I have visited a few pet stores to play but have no intentions of buying a dog from a pet store. At this time the kids just want a dog. http://ourpalsplace.org/opp_dog_detail_ext.asp?Id=533&notes=min&wishlist=min&sStatus=Adoptable&Animal_Type=Dog

Consignment Sales

I LOVE All 4 Kids consignment sale! This weekend is their falll/winter sale.

Tonight I get to shop the pre-sale since I am selling and volunteering. I sell and buy almost all of the kids clothes and toys here. There is always an amazing selection at great prices!

Besides filling their closest with clothing I hope to get a few Christmas gifts for them this year! Both kids want kid tough cameras. Jayden is obsessed with Pokemon and Julianna always plays with grocery carts and kitchens when she sees one, so maybe I will see those things at a good price! Wish me luck!

Hope to see some you there at the pre-sale, for those that sell/volunteer. If not come visit me on Saturday! I will be working checkout when many things are half price!

MT. PARAN NORTH CHURCH OF GOD

400 Sellers!

1700 Allgood Road, Marietta, GA 30062

Fri., August 19th, 9:30(or 8:30)*-7:00pm

(umbrella strollers only before noon)

Sat., August 20th, 9:00-1:00

(many items 1/2 off on Sat.)

Julianna and her love of dogs!

Julianna wants a dog so badly but we don't want to get just any dog! We really wanted a therapy or service dog for her. Most are labs or goldens. We've applied for one and were told that she will be about 9 years old by the time that we see a dog! That's 4 years from now!!! She talks about it constantly, pretending that she has a dog and even pretends that she is one some times! The other day she was playing with all of her puppies and asked me make them all kiss her. Another night I went in to put her mask on and found her asleep with a photo card of Casper, a Canine Assistance dog that we see at the hospital. When I asked her about it in the morning she said that she couldn't

take her eyes off of him! I am currently looking at other options but they are all very expensive.

I also applied for extreme makeover for our family. The kids love watching the show and Juli told me she wants to build and tear down houses just like they do on the show when she grows up. I'm worried the kids are too excited about it, I'm sure they get millions of applications a day! Both the kids keep talking about all the things they want to do to their rooms! It's very cute.

For now we will visit the dogs that come to the hospital and visit animal shelters. Hopefully things will come together soon and we will be a family 5, with the 5th member having 4 legs! ;)

Back to school!

Today is the first day of school for our county and our school Georgia Cyber Academy (officially!).

Jayden is half way through first grade and doing well. He loves history! Especially learning about the Greeks. We are looking forward to a great year. He should be starting 2nd grade after Christmas if we have no major illnesses causing us to take an extended break. I was hoping that Jayden would start swim lessons this week but we are still on the wait list. He will be taking classes through a program called Timothy Ministries. It will be one day a week in addition to his regular classes that we do from home. Chemistry, Animal Science, Spanish and PE! He loves going to this program.

Julianna was supposed to start a pre school program through Timothy Ministries this year but we've been advised by her doctors to not send her. Her immune system has a really hard time fighting off something as simple as a sniffle. She's been doing her own "school work" when Jayden does his and is doing well. We've filled out the paperwork for Cobb County School Distrust to get Juli an IEP (individualized education plan) so she is ready to be enrolled in GCA for next year. I am hoping to start some speech therapy for her soon. Ever since she was sick in February with that tube (life support) in her throat for 3 weeks it really messed up her vocal cords and she is having a hard time pronouncing some letters that were easy to say before. She may qualify for an in home teacher due to her immune system though. Juli will be doing a session in September at the Music Class, one of her favorite things to do! She's on the list for canine assistance but they won't move her to the active wait list till she is 7! Then it can take up to 2 years to get a dog! We've also applied for Extreme Makeover! It would be so amazing for them to come to our home and make things easier for Julianna! Her wheel chair should also be in soon!

We plan to have some fun outings throughout September before cold and flu season gets into full swing and forces us to stay home and protect ourselves from all the germs out there! We will do a few outings just to stay sane when the weather gets cold but will be very cautious and it won't involve settings where children get in her face! I'm tempted to put a sign on our front door to remind people how dangerous their "little" cold could be to Juli! Maybe something to put on her wheelchair too for when we are out might be a wise idea.

Another trip to the Center for Puppetry Arts!

We absolutely LOVE the Center for Puppetry Arts! They put on the best shows. The kids loved seeing Martha Speaks and this was the dog puppet that we made after the show. The kids were excited to bring my mom with to enjoy the show since they are always talking about it.

We plan to go to see the Ugly Duckling next week! Can't wait to see the puppet we make then!

Our trip home!

No trip to Pennsylvania is complete without a stop at Sarris Candies! We all love the ice cream shop and Justin LOVES the chocolate hard cap! I couldn't resist posting this adorable picture of the kids sleeping in a hotel somewhere in West Virginia! I can't remember where we stopped, the drive through that state takes forever!!! They were both so wound up when we got to the hotel that night they couldn't settle down and slept in nice and late the next morning.

Visit to Pittsburgh!

Since I was supposed to visit Pittsburgh for a few days before driving home Justin flew up to be with us and make the drive home! He was so worried about all of us since Julianna got sick. While in Pittsburgh we were able to visit Justin's family including his Grandfather and Uncle Mark! The kids were happy to visit Grandma and loved spending time with their cousins. I can't wait till Hailey's old enough to come visit us! She is so much fun. We took the kids to the children's museum and had so much fun. The kids favorite area is the art room. They also had a Dora exhibit which they all enjoyed. Jayden and Hailey took turns dropping parachutes to each other while Juli explored some of the vehicles they had to check out. We spent the last night at the house and Juli even talked Grandma into cutting some of her flowers for her to have! :) There were a lot of tears when it was time to say good bye!

Visiting Central Pennsylvania

What a trip! Seriously, it's hard to describe all of the insanity that we dealt with! Juli had a mild cough on the drive up and we thought all would be fine with lots of breathing treatments and even a visit to the pulmonary doctor before we left town! We left Georgia Saturday morning and drove half way only for Jayden to spike a fever in the middle of the night while staying at a hotel in Virginia. Ran to the pharmacy at 1am with both kids and thankfully got it under control. Got to Zena's house Sunday night and Juli was struggling to breathe! Packed our hospital stuff said good bye to Jayden and Zena's family and she took us to the hospital. We were admitted to the ICU and spent 8 days in the hospital there. During that time Zena and her family took Jayden in for me! Thank you! Since I had to stay with Juli I missed my Grandfathers funereal. Thankfully we were at least able to visit with my Grandmother before leaving town. We did not take Julianna in though, I was to nervous to take her into a nursing home with all the germs! The last day that we were there I took Luke and Miranda to Perkins where we met Josie and our Aunt Barbara. We got to celebrate Miranda's 10th birthday while there! Afterward I was supposed to take the kids over to Dot and Roland Beavers house to meet Zena but on our way over we got the disturbing call that Roland was ill and not to come by the house. My heart goes out to all of the Beavers! They went through a very stressful week before they had to say goodbye to Roland.