Last Band Competition

We haven't gotten to do our usual Fall/Halloween activities that we normally do every year like going to a corn maze or carving pumpkins because of band competitions, etc. We also missed our ward trunk or treat because Jack's last band competition was the same day, which was last Saturday. Thankfully, the girls' school had a trunk or treat last Thursday. We didn't get the girls' costumes figured out early enough either so they just wore costumes we already had in our bucket. Charlotte was a vampire and Alice a pirate. I did order Alice another costume online and it arrived yesterday, just in time for Halloween. Charlotte couldn't decide what she wanted to be. We finally went to the store last night and there wasn't much to choose from. She says she'll just be the vampire again. Anyway, first we went to the girls' classrooms to get a fun math packet for them to work on whenever they want. In Charlotte's class, they were doing a few activities, so we did one of them together. After the activity, we went outside to do the trunk or treat. We had to wait in a long line and it was getting colder than we had planned on. I let the girls go play on the nearby playground while I waited in the line until it moved up a ways. It was fun to take them even though it was cold.

A cute simplified non bloody vampire and a cute pirate.

We had to build a tall tower for a pretend table decoration using a certain number of gummies and toothpicks. Ours started to fall down after we walked away. ☺

Jack left with the band Friday evening to head over to Everett, WA which is north of Seattle, to stay the night in a school gym and do their last competition on Saturday. Curtis and I didn't know for sure if we were going to make it over there to watch him now that we have a puppy, but the other kids said they could handle it. So, we left around 6:30am Saturday morning to drive over. It's about a 4 hour drive and we wanted to make sure we got there early so we could watch other bands and make sure we were there in time to see Jack at 11:15am. We noticed they were missing the big bass drum player in the pit but they still did a great job on their performance. It was fun to stick around this time for the preliminary awards ceremony where Southridge received best color guard, best music and 1st place in their division again. This time there were 8 schools in their division and only a few were the same as from the Yakima competition. So they were mostly new schools they were going up against. We left to head home after the preliminary awards. All of the schools (because they take the top 12 and there were only 12 competing) were to perform again in the finals. Unfortunately, our school got a lower score than the first time and ended up in 7th place overall against all of the schools. One of the schools didn't even compete in the finals because they needed to leave, so there were 11 schools in the finals. I'm not sure how they happened to get so low after getting 1st in their division. The cold must have gotten to them.

After the performance I caught up with Jack and his friend Morgan. They both kind of like each other. 😉She's a nice girl. She plays one of the drums.

Look at the beautiful mountains in the background.

Our drum majors and color guard captains.

Had to get a shot of us before we left. It was cold all day but at least the sun was on us the whole time to help warm us up.

We stopped at a gas station on the way home and got a tamale for dinner. We had to pull over so Curtis could eat his because it was going to be way too difficult to do while driving. They were pretty good.

Milo has been doing pretty well on sleeping through the night in his crate. Usually, he goes to bed around 10 or so and Curtis wakes up at 5am to let him out. That's the time he normally gets up anyway. He's gotten better at quieting down before we leave during the day also. After church on Sunday we walked him across the street to the school to exercise him. We took a favorite toy, which is donut shaped. We would roll it and then he'd run after it. That's the most exercise he's ever had so he was very worn out after that.

He likes to cuddle up by my feet sometimes. This was after church.

Curtis is luring Milo to walk by tying the donut to a rope and dangling it in front of him.

While having Milo has been fun and he's super cute, it has also been difficult. Some days I feel like I can't get anything done. He needs so much attention. I have shed a few tears and had many regrets on getting a dog. It sure helps when I see how happy Charlotte is with him though. She's the main reason that we got him. It's been stressful thinking about how now we'll need a puppy sitter when we need to go out of town. The breeder we bought him from said she can do it depending on the dates. So far, it sounds like she won't be able to help out much in the next couple of months. We may have to cancel some of our trips. The things we do for our kids. I remember my dad getting dogs for us kids at different times. We had a golden retriever when I was around 4 years old. One thing is for sure, I will never get a puppy again. The puppy biting is so frustrating. I feel like this will be the only dog we ever get. It certainly doesn't help my morale when people say negative things about having a puppy or a dog. I need to hear positive and encouraging things right now. Again, we have our good moments and our bad with Milo but I try to relate it to having a baby and all of the frustrations I had with that. We just need to get through this first year or so and it will get better.

Milo's First Days

(I started this post last Wednesday the 25th but have not been able to finish it until now.)

Well, we set Milo's crate up in the basement since there is more space down there. It was suggested that we have him in our room the first night (maybe even several nights) so he's not lonely. We decided that the girls could sleep in the family room with him on cots. He whimpered a lot and finally around 3:30am Charlotte came and got me. He had peed on the disposable pad that was in the crate but we took him out to try and go potty again. We put him right back in the crate after. He whimpered and howled more but eventually quieted down. The girls and I were exhausted. Good thing church is at 12:00pm. The girls both fell asleep during Sacrament meeting. I dozed off in Sacrament and Relief Society. I decided then that they were going to sleep in their own rooms that night. We can't have them that tired during school the next day. It's been exhausting (just like having a baby) on keeping him on a feeding schedule, taking him out to go potty and then exercising him. Sunday night was better though. We all slept in our own rooms while he was downstairs. I only remember hearing him once around 1:45am but then he quieted down again and slept the rest of the night. The last two nights he has slept through the night without any issues. I just have to make sure that when we put him to bed he's not in an excited mood. I wait for him to calm down in the crate and close his eyes before I leave the room. Last night Curtis tried putting him in there and walking away. That's when he started making noise. I had to go in and do it right, ha ha. But Curtis knows now that Milo needs to be calm before walking away. 

I have been watching dog training videos and Cesar Milan from The Dog Whisperer to get tips on training. It was been exhausting and I'll admit I even cried on Monday. It didn't help that my cycle was just starting so my emotions just couldn't handle it. Sometimes I would think things are going fine and everything will be good. Then I had moments where I thought, "what was I thinking?!". Funny, I had those same thoughts when I had babies also, but we got through it and I couldn't imagine my life without all of my kids. Having Milo will be good for our family.  We just need to get used to it and keep on training him. Speaking of training, one rule I had was that he would not go in our bedrooms. We have had our doors closed to keep him out. Whitney also helped me decide that we're going to train him to stay out of the kitchen. The gate we bought won't fit the big opening by the dining room but I put it in the hallway entry so we can at least block him from one way. It's tough trying to train him to stay out but there are moments that he knows and he'll just lay down right by the line and wait. 

Jack has even started softening towards Milo. He has taken him out for at least one potty break with Garrett and has played with him a little also. He and I are both not crazy about the dog smell we now have in our house but maybe if I get some scentsy type stuff, that will help. I used to have a scentsy burner but got rid of it because I didn't use it very much. Wish I would have kept it now. Anyway, another rule we are making is that he can't go on any furniture. Charlotte is sad by this because she wants to cuddle with him on the couch or her bed but I'm putting my foot down. It took me a long time to get convinced on getting a dog, especially a golden retriever, because Colby has one and there was hair everywhere. It drove me and Jack crazy when we stayed with them. One big reason I changed my mind was I found a grooming vacuum online and we bought it. The brush is connected to a vaccum and it can suck hairs in while you're brushing. It also came with hair and nail trimmers. I saw videos of people using it and it collected a lot of hair. So we're going to try it out.

He loves the toys we bought him.

Charlotte wanted to show the bus driver Monday morning. It was a sub, so her regular driver didn't see him until Tuesday morning. She's been so excited to show him. 

By the suggestion of Whitney and crate training videos, we moved his food and water to his crate. We want him to feel like it's his den. It's not just the place we lock him up and leave him. 

So we try to get him to take naps and play in there sometimes.

It's been a bit overwhelming but I think we're getting used it. The first walk we tried with him was a disaster because he wanted to go every direction. Sage followed us and he kept trying to chase Sage to play with her. Tuesday night Charlotte took him to meet her neighbor friend. Coco had showed up over there too. We think Coco killed a bird and then Milo got loose from Alice and Charlotte to chase him. When we brought him back over, there was a bird in his mouth! I had to pry it out of his mouth. Gross! I was not expecting that!

Just this morning, Curtis and I were getting ready to roll up the pool cover because the pool guys are coming today to help us winterize it. Milo was out there with us and he just waltzed right onto the pool cover and into the pool! Fortunately, the cover was still on or all of him would have gone under. He was able to turn right around and get back out with only the bottom half getting wet!

Quick Trips and Decisions

Last week the girls, Garrett and I made a quick trip to Nampa for Garrett's orthodontist appointment that was Friday morning. I wasn't sure until last minute whether the girls would come or stay and then whether or not we'd have to cancel because Garrett's stomach started hurting Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. I was stressing about it but finally he said that he was feeling better and okay to make the trip. I picked up the boys from school on Thursday and then straight over to pick up the girls early from their school. I wanted to get on the road as quickly as possible. I had originally asked my grandma if I could stay with her for this appointment, but as I was grocery shopping earlier that day she sent a message saying she was still in Bountiful and wouldn't be back until the next day. She misread my original text message about the date. Well, I knew my parents were out of town until the next day as well, so I called my in-laws. I knew they had made a trip recently also but did not know if they were back yet. Nope. They were not back yet either until Saturday, but said we could stay at their house. What are the odds that all 3 of them would be out of town at the same time, but we made it work!

We got into town about 8:30pm. Once we got the kids settled in and watching Full House I left to go see my friends Heather and Tracy Ballantyne. I bought something for her on Facebook Marketplace and needed to deliver it to her. We visited for awhile before I finally went back. The next morning we went to the appointment at 10:30. It was quick so that was nice. Afterwards we went to visit our old neighbor friends Ashlie and Sydney. Sydney is home schooled for Kindergarten and so she was the only friend that was home to visit. We were there a little longer than I had planned but it was good to see them. Then we went home to pack up our stuff, clean up any mess we made and then ate lunch at McDonald's and gassed up at Costco before heading back home. We had to get back for Jack's last football game performance for band.

Visiting with Ashlie and Sydney. Garrett took the picture.

Jack had his last football game performance Friday night and we finally had our whole family there to watch him, as Garrett finally came. They did a good job and I was happy to see the color guard finally had a nice costume on instead of just the band t-shirt. The band usually stays for the whole game but they were instructed to leave after half time so they could go to bed and get plenty of rest because they have to be to the school by 5:15am the next day to travel to Yakima for another band competition. It's about 1 1/2 hours away and they perform at 8:30am. Jack decided he wanted to stay at the game anyway and got a ride home with a friend later.

Jack is one of the guys helping to carry the hammer on and off the field each time.

Got a picture of the siblings.

Curtis was actually waiting in the car so he wasn't in this picture. One of the other band kids took it for us.

Well, earlier in the week, Charlotte had been pushing again about getting a puppy and saying that she feels lonely at school and that a puppy would help her not feel lonely. I did tell her that maybe I was ready for a dog. I finally let her look on my phone for puppies for sale in Washington. Most people are selling them for $2000 to $3000! I can't believe how expensive they are. I wasn't really expecting to get a puppy that soon. I just told her she could look, but she happened to find a great deal on some puppies that were for sale right here in Kennewick for $1000. It's still a lot of money for a dog but even Cindy's uncle who sells golden retriever puppies sells his for $1400. I thought we might have to travel to Utah to get a good price. Not only were the puppies that Charlotte found in Kennewick but they are in the neighborhood that connects to our neighborhood. It was a 2 minute drive and a lot less in price than all the others. I went ahead and messaged the seller to see if we could come see the puppies. Two days later she hadn't replied, so I tried again. I gave her my phone number to text or call and not long after, she texted me on Friday. We were able to go see the puppies Friday night after we left the football game. Everyone was excited, except for Jack. He was not happy that we were even going to look at puppies. He did not want a dog.

There were 4 males and 1 female available but Charlotte had already decided that she wanted a boy. They bark less and are playful longer.

Charlotte had already determined from the pictures online that she wanted the dog that they labeled as "Felix". He had dark ears and so we think he'll be a dark color when older. His dad is a beautiful dark brown/reddish color. That litter actually started out with 11 puppies! We told them we would come back the next day after the band competition. 

The girls and Garrett stayed home for the band competition. I had them clean up the house before we got back. Curtis and I left around 6:15am to travel to Yakima. We watched all of the bands perform from his division before we took off back home. Our band did really well we thought and I guess the judges thought so too because later we found out that they won 1st place for their division and had best music and best color guard! It was so awesome to hear that! Those were just the preliminary awards but our band did not stay for the finals because it was homecoming weekend and they had to get kids back for the homecoming dance.

It was a chilly but beautiful morning.

The view behind the stadium was beautiful!

I made Jack come see us before we left. He usually never comes to find us because he's hanging out with his friends. It was fun!

Well, as soon as we got back into town we went straight to the store to pick up some dog supplies and then the bank to get money for the puppy. Then I drove over with the kids to get Felix. Charlotte had already decided that she was going to name her puppy Milo. She said his middle name could be Felix (his original name). Garrett didn't want the name Milo at first but now he's okay with it. So, we brought Milo home. He was very scared and shy the first day.

Bringing him home.

Milo was more scared of Sage than she was of him. 

Jack was gone most of the day. Immediately after returning, he went to a trampoline park with some friends and then came home for a quick shower and off to a stake dance. He wasn't happy that we brought home a puppy. He's slowly getting used to him though. Honestly, I almost felt like we were directed by the spirit to get Milo. The price was so much better. The location couldn't have been better! Everything just seemed to fit, even though I had not planned on getting a dog that soon. It puts a little wrench in travel plans when we want to go out of town but we'll figure something out. He's pretty darn cute!

Illnesses and Tile

Well, the kids have been feeling well enough to go to school this week, but Alice still has a cough. On Monday it sounded very dry, but it now sounds wet and productive the last two days, and she's been coughing less, so hopefully it will continue to get better. We tried cough medicine the first couple of days but that didn't seem to help. I also remembered that I have a Vapo stick that I use to rub on her chest, neck and back. We've been using it every day. She also had to use the nebulizer a couple of times when she was coughing so bad. The last two nights I have had her take a bath and soak in the water. While she soaks, I sit on a chair and help her with her reading homework.

Curtis and Garrett both started having stomach issues last night. Garrett's stomach just hurts but Curtis had some diarrhea. Curtis feels better today. Garrett's stomach still hurt this morning, but he did go to school. Garrett's next orthodontist appointment is tomorrow morning in Nampa. Now I'm not sure if we'll need to cancel it. This is so frustrating having to travel so far for his appointments and having to cancel because of stuff like this. I'm praying that his stomach will feel better today so that we can still make the trip tonight and get that appointment done tomorrow.

Yesterday Charlotte helped me trim some bushes and rake leaves but I think it might have caused her to get a little stuffy and her throat hurt a bit this morning and before she left for school she had a croaky voice. I think the toast and cider she had for breakfast helped soothe her throat. She still felt good enough to go to school. 

Even if we do make the appointment tomorrow for Garrett, it's going to be a very short trip because Jack's last performance for a football game is tomorrow night, so we'll be trying to get back for that. Then Jack has another band competition early Saturday morning in Yakima. Busy weekend!

Well, on a different note, Curtis has finished hanging the tile in our bathroom but now has to do the grout, which is time consuming. It dries quickly and so he can only do a small section at a time because he has to make sure he cleans up any on the tile. Curtis took the first 6 pictures and sent them to me. I don't know why they look smaller than mine (the last picture).

Cleaned up and ready for grout.

I was helping wipe down the tiles to get ready for grouting.

Starting the grout.

Alice brought home this little monster that she had designed and a student from the high school made for her. She drew and colored the way she wanted it to look on paper and then it was given to the high school student as a pattern. What a neat idea! I didn't get a picture of her with it because she wasn't feeling good the day she brought it home, but here it is.

She named it Melody.

Last Week

I forgot to mention it in my last blog, but my term for jury duty was for the first two weeks of October. Fortunately for me, the first week they didn't need any jurors. The 2nd week my number was not on the list for those to report. That means I'm done and didn't have to go in! The nice part was that I only had to call in twice, on the Friday before each week. It's so much better than calling in every day for a whole month, like they did in Idaho!

A week ago Monday, I was asked to help out at Activity Days for Charlotte's group and so Alice got to come also. Sister Gale was in charge and she was having the girls help to give treats to elderly ladies in the ward. She over planned and ended up getting there late and had too many things to do while there. Technically we're not supposed to bake anything in the ovens at the church. They are just for warming things up but she had brought some rolled up cookie dough for the girls to slice up and lay on pans. They only took 7 to 8 minutes to bake. The problem was, we were running late and needed to speed it up. After baking the first batch I put two pans in at one time side by side on the top rack. Things tend not to bake evenly if there's one pan on top of the other. Well, when I pulled open the oven door when the cookies were done baking it must have trapped a lot of the smoke/steam and it all came out at once. Not long after, it set the fire alarm off. Wow, that's the first time I've ever experienced the alarms going off at the church. Sister Gale called the fire department and let them know that nothing was on fire but we did need them to come shut off the alarm. We felt so bad that they had to come out to help us that we sent them with a plate of cookies. They were pretty happy about that. Now we know why they say not to bake anything in the ovens! At home if our alarm goes off, we just fan it off and it will turn off on its own. No such luck here! Most of the girls had actually been picked up already by the time that all happened but it was exciting for those who were still there.

Charlotte in the blue and Alice in her white dress. She wore it to school for a dance party in her class that day.

That same night, Alice had some spelling homework to do. She is to pick an activity from a list of ideas. This time she decided to build her spelling words using her glass gems. It took a lot longer than we thought it would and said we better get a picture of them. I also sent the picture to her teacher and she loved it and showed it to the whole class.

Last week I started bringing in boxes from the garage and trying to find places for things so we can have more garage space. There was a box of the girls' stuff that they had already gotten into and was practically empty by the time I got to it, but I did discover a small bag of clothes that were waiting for Charlotte to grow into. I totally forgot about them! They are her size right now. One of them was a set of coveralls and she looked pretty cute in them. She says she'll wear them when she plays at home. I guess she doesn't like them well enough to wear to school, ha ha.

She finally had a reason to wear the belt that she owns.

Last Thursday I scored a deal on Facebook marketplace. I found an entryway bench with shoe racks to go by our front door. It was in like new condition and only $30. She said it was bought new for $50 a year ago at Home Depot. It was a little dusty but cleaned up easily. The funny thing is, this was the same person I bought the girl's bookshelf from just a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I looked up the address and saw it on the map, I knew it was the same person. De ja vu! I'm happy and love it! Now we have a bench to sit down on and take off or put on shoes that might be wet or dirty. And a rack for the wet shoes to dry on.

Garrett recently told us that he wants to go do baptisms at the temple as a family and wants to try going weekly. Well, I don't know if we can manage to get over there that often because of band competitions right now but last Saturday we had an available day and so I finally set it up. I say finally because he wanted to do this last spring also but we were just too busy with the house. Dad and Laverne had brought us some family names to do and I set up our appointment for Saturday morning at 9am and we dropped the girls off at a friends' house in the ward, the McShane's. These friends have 5 kids also, 3 boys and 2 girls. The oldest boy is Dallin, the friend of Garrett and Jack. The two girls are close in age to our two girls, so it worked out great. We had brought 19 female and 14 male names to baptize. We decided that Curtis would baptize me first and then Garrett would baptize Jack. There was a big group behind us and so we weren't able to do all of them ourselves. I think we did maybe 7 each, but they squeezed in the rest of our family names with the youth group that was behind us, so all of them got done. It was Garrett's first time baptizing and he said he loved it. Jack said Garrett did a good job. It was so great to finally do it as a family! Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures. We took a trip to the store afterwards to get donuts for everyone.

The girls had so much fun playing with the McShane girls that we decided to invite them to go skating in Richland. The kids had free tickets from the library reading program to use up by the end of the month. The boys didn't want to use theirs so we let the girls invite friends. The girl's mom (ShaRae) and I visited a bit while watching the girls skate, but her oldest daughter was having a hard time wanting to go out and skate because she's not experienced. We finally got her to go around the rink at least once while holding on to the wall, but not long after that she took the skates off and put her shoes back on. I felt bad for her but at least she tried. They have never been to a roller skating rink before. We were there for about 1.5 hours. Charlotte also used up the few dollars that I had to win two balls from the grab machine. One was for their friends to share and the other was for her and Alice to share. It was sweet that she wanted to give them one. 

Charlotte, Alice, Laila, Ashlee

While I was gone with the girls, the boys were having a D&D game session while Curtis worked on tiling the shower and tub. Curtis was so busy that he didn't even know we left and I guess I forgot to tell him. After we finished roller skating, we had another coupon for the kids to get a free popcorn at Popcorn Northwest. We then went our separate ways, although my girls really wanted to go over to their house again to play. They had a neighborhood party they were going to so they couldn't. I think our families are going to be great friends. 

It was a good thing that they didn't go play again because by evening time both of our girls had low grade fevers. I had suspected something might be up with Charlotte because she was tired when we drove over to Richland and when we got home she just wanted to relax. I know she has more energy than that usually but she just said she was tired. I finally checked her temp and it was at 101.8. Alice also seemed a little more tired when we got home. I checked her temp before I did Charlotte and hers was at 100.4. I gave both some medicine and let them watch shows or play on the Switch. I had to take Jack to a birthday party to the bowling alley in Richland. He has been fighting a cold all week but thought he felt better today. Well, I think he over did it because he was extra tired when driving over there. After I dropped him off I went to the nearby Rite Aid and got him some cold medicine pills. I don't think he had a fever but I'm not sure. He just seemed tired and had nasal congestion. I had already decided that the girls would stay home from church the next day but wasn't sure about Jack. When he finally woke up Sunday morning, he decided he'd better stay home. He slept almost the entire day. Since he was home though, I was able to leave the girls and go to church with Curtis and Garrett. The girls were thankfully fever free Sunday morning. Alice just has a little cough now. They watched the BYU channel while we were gone. All of them were well enough to go to school on Monday.

Saturday afternoon, we were also "Booed" by someone. It's a fun Halloween tradition to leave treats anonymously. They also leave you with a cute poem and instructions to keep it going, as well as a sign to hang on our door to let people know that you have been "Booed". After Jack came home from his party he figured out that it was his friend Eli from school who "Booed" us. Now we need to pass it on.

This skull candle came in the bag of goodies. The girls wanted to light it up.

Hard to see because the candle is black.