You had me at "woof"

The fence training continued at home today and, as if they knew we needed a little help, the farm dogs from next door came over to play IN the yard with Lincoln.  He does have a little bit of a crush on the female farm dog, who I call Jane Deere.  And then there is her cautious friend John Deere.  I call them this because they both wear John Deere collars, a pink one and a green one.  So cute!  John Deere really got into the game of fetch with us and he definitely made me fall for him.  He has uaually been so skittish that I really favored Jane, but today he put on the charm and showed some personality.

First of all, he is one of those dogs that bounces into the air to catch a ball.  Unlike Lincoln, who likes to let the ball come to a safe roll before attempting to pick it up.  But the best part is that John brings the ball to us, drops it, and then barks at us until we pick it up and throw it to him again.  Lincoln flinches everytime he barks.   Adorable!  Anyone reading this who has well-trained dogs, is thinking "yay, so what?", but I'm impressed he'll even drop the ball for us.  I'm no Cesar Millan, okay?

Jane Deere was in and out throughout the afternoon, but John Deere stayed with us to play for awhile.  And the best part is, so did Lincoln!  He hasn't left the yard today and I've left him out alone for small bits of time.  Woo hoo!  It's the little things, ya know?




Lincoln and John Deere




John Deere stole our ball!




It was an extra hot April day!




Playing with Jane Deere back in January....an ongoing romance.

 Makes me wish I had more Spring break to spend with him outside, but it's back to school again tomorrow.  The kids were happy to be back and we had an ice cream party to celebrate being "Bucket Fillers".  We reached the first line of our class bucket and we'll have a Dance Party when we reach the next line!  One of my girls even told me she was crying because she missed me over break...gotta love 'em.

<3- Sarah

Missing the blue toothbrush

If you walked into my bathroom, you would only find one toothbrush.  It has been this way since I woke up on Friday morning.  One toothbrush where there are usually two.   I sit and wait for that other toothbrush to return to its place in the cup on the sink.  This is because when the toothbrush returns, so does the guy who uses it.

Andrew has been in Boston for the first three Red Sox games of the season.  Talk about a happy husband...but a not so happy wife misses him at home.  Later tonight I'll hear the car door slam and the back door open.  Lincoln will hop up and run into the kitchen and the sound of, "Hi honey!" will bring a smile to my face. 

Until then I'll keep in mind that I am a very proud mama today because Lincoln has started running back into the yard when he gets near the electric fence!  Yay!  This is exciting because yesterday, after seeing one of his toys taunting him just past those white flags, he ran right through the fence, shook off the quick shock, then kept right on running.  I was handed a very muddy leash by the farmer next door who said, "Dog a little high strung?"  Not such a proud moment.  But today, he''s making progress and getting lots of belly rubs for his efforts. Toys thrown past the fence, farm dogs wandering near the barn, me walking through the fence, and the puppy stays in the yard.  Can't wait to show Andrew tomorrow! 

<3- Sarah

Men and Steak

Lincoln's underground, electric fence was installed yesterday, which meant that my house was full of men......and steak?  The grill made its first appearance of 2012!  I've found that whenever a group of guys come together, steak is a must.  Not just one or two steaks, there were four or five.  I do love steak and I know other women who do as well, but what is it with men and steak?

Anywho, I'll have the cow butchered in our kitchen if they are all going to come help out at the house.  That fence has been waiting to be installed since Christmas, so I was a happy girl yesterday.  I even got down on hands and knees, pushing the wire underground as my dad and Andrew dug ahead of me.  Then I went inside to watch the training DVD, because you know who will be training the dog to respond to the fence correctly.  Today was our first training session and, after Lincoln and I played tug-o-war with the leash for awhile, it ended up going well.

With grass-stained knees on my jeans, dirty, chipped fingernails, and a T-Bone to wake up to this morning, the fence is in and the training will continue.  Hopefully, Lincoln will be running around the yard in a few weeks. :)

Now I am off to my eye appointment so I can stop swapping between my OLD, scratched up glasses (Lincoln chewed up the nice pair) and my OLD pair of contacts.  I am seriously embarrassed to let the eye doctor see these glasses!!! 

<3- Sarah

Superstitious

Have you ever had those superstitious thoughts?  If I do this then maybe that will happen....

Where did thoughts like this come from?  Being superstitious shows that you must somewhat believe in some kind of power outside of yourself that has control over elements of your life.  Like someone or something is in control of what happens to you and if you do these "things" that we do or don't do then something will or will not happen in our life. 

This happend twice to me yesterday...

Lincoln had pushed his dog bed into a wooden, standing mirror in our bedroom a few nights ago and broke one of the legs, causing it to lean and not work so well for Sarah, plain and tall.  While lying this mirror down to check out the damages, I thought to myself, "Yikes, seven years of bad luck if I break this thing."  Now this type of superstition has been passed on since Victorian times in England, when mirrors were expensive to produce, so only the wealthy were able to afford them.  The servants of these wealthy households would be responsible for paying for the mirrors if broken while cleaning.  It could take about seven years for the low-paid servants to pay off the price of the broken mirror, hence the story, seven years of bad luck when you break a mirror.

Later on, I finished Cole's baby blanket, which did not turn out to be quite the shape I had expected.  We keep joking that it will be the blanket he carries around everywhere....weird looking thing.  Anyways, my sister's due date isn't until April 30th, but she is full term and has felt like she will go early through the whole pregnancy.  Not to mention, she is sooo ready to get this baby out.  Nursery is ready, bags are packed, daddy is talking more and more to the belly.

This is where the superstition hits me again, this one being a made up idea, which I find even stranger than those stories passes on for ages.  I thought to myself, "I should get this wrapped up so that it is ready to bring to the hospital when Shannon goes into labor.  OOOOhhh and maybe if I do.....then Cole will come because he will know that we're ready!"  It sounds real silly right now, but last night I was really believing this idea I had: "The more we get ready for Cole, the quicker he will come."



Cole, your blankie is wrapped and ready for you!!!



Now I've seen grown men determine entire sports events on these types of things...."Jen, you need to stay in that seat because that's where you've been the whole game!"  Or a football fan turning around with his back to the game during certain points because that had worked one time.  Or a gambler spinning in circles before placing a bet.  Rally caps, lucky socks, beards, bald heads, and it goes on and on.

Not quite sure why many believe in these types of superstitions, but we sure are a hopeful bunch. 

Grab your rabbit's foot, pick up a penny on heads, and go search for a four-leaf clover.  Good luck!

<3- Sarah

Songs About Me #3

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day....

No, that's not the song about me.  But it is a beautiful morning here in The Creek. Then again, Spring Break can make any morning look beautiful!

Here's the real song about me....a song that made me cry the other night and I'll explain why after you get to hear it...

He's Mine

Rodney Atkins

From the day I heard this song, which was right after we found out my sister was having a BOY, it has always made me think of Shannon and Nick and my nephew on the way, Cole. :)

Shannon felt like she was having a boy from the very beginning and Nick, of course, being the huntin', spittin', tree stand-sittin' man that he is, couldn't be more excited to have a son. 

On my way home the other day, a man called in to dedicate this song to his son, whose name just happened to be Cole.  I started crying and Andrew thought I was crazy, but this is the biggest thing that has happened in my sister's life, which means I have already cried more times than I can count on one hand over this baby boy who isn't even here yet.

Cole will be, heck already is, loved unconditionally.  His parents will always be proud to say,

"He's mine."

<3- Sarah

Dear March 2012,

Can I be honest with you, March 2012?  You are honestly a busy body.  And you brought me along for the ride.  St. Patrick's Day celebration, selling Coasters for a Cause tickets, Shannon's baby shower, and PTA's Family Fun BINGO....how did I manage to fit all of these events and their necessary planning time into your 31 days?  Oh wait...I know....no housework, no cooking, no friends, barely any family time, neglected classroom duties, no facebook and absolutely NO blogging.  But plenty of ticket distribution, invitation stamping, cupcake topper making, centerpiece creating, prize collecting, table assembling, owl seeking, public speaking, and green, green, and then some more green.


Andrew, Ben & Melissa
Going Green in HF!

 P.S.  Thanks for your record-breaking temps, March 2012!

I have missed this blogging world this past month.  Now that Spring Break has begun, you should be seeing more of Apple Pie Spice. :)

<3- Sarah