Animal Domestication

Tonight, my friends, I decided that whomever determined that the domestication of animals was a good thing should be thrown into STUPID JAIL.

(Shout out to my dad! He's not in stupid jail, he just likes to talk about it and wishes he could send people there too.)

I mean really, why would someone want to bring an ANIMAL into their home? I can think of many undesirable repercussions:
-poop
-pee
-fur
-stench
-flatulence
-begging
-snoring
-you get my point

OK so I'll tell you what happened...

Our yard gets really wet. I mean swampy. (This of course is not true if you are looking to buy my home. My yard is wonderful. It is very large for a city lot, has a beautiful 6' wooden shadow box fence, and boasts multiple mature trees. It's much like a park setting.) Anyway...

The yard was wet today.
Super wet.
Unfortunately, Greta loves running.
In the wet grass.
I mean in the muddy swamp.

After being completely covered in mud (even the insides of her ears were muddy) Greta decided it was time to come inside and pick a fight with Pug over dog food.

I was upstairs putting the boys to bed when all of this went down.

Suddenly Andrea started screaming my name. I have NEVER heard my sister scream like that. She was panicked and scared. I ran downstairs as fast as I could but I felt like I was in slow motion. She had to scream at least three or four times.

When I arrived at the scene I found Pug in Greta's mouth. I yanked on Greta's collar and picked her up but when I looked, Pug was STILL in her mouth...off the floor...dangling!!! Greta let go and I shoved her into her cage. I checked Pug but she seemed to be fine. Whew!

Pug had mud all over her from Greta so BOTH dogs had to be bathed and I had to clean Greta's cage.

Chris ended up finding three gashes on Pug's body when he got home from work.

Nice.

We both agree that Pug does not deserve this at the end of her life but what are we going to do? Greta is currently back in her cage. I'm not thinking she'll be freed anytime soon.

The Victim

The Offender

Again, I'd just like to leave you with the fact that I believe that the domestication of animals is stupid. Anybody want a dog?

Baseball Season #1:T-Ball

The King Family started their first official baseball (t-ball) season this evening.

Because Jonathan's birthday is in August he missed the eligibility cut-off last year. Let me tell you...He was super excited about today!

Yesterday I spent about a million dollars on baseball paraphernalia. Cleats, matching sandals, wrist bands, water bottle, practice pants, and practice shorts. That doesn't count the baseball pants and socks that Chris already bought or the team shirt and hat we have yet to buy. Awesome. I found out tonight that every team member needs to wear a cup too. Great! How am I going to explain THAT ONE to Jonathan? "You need to put a cup on your privates to protect them." "No, not one that you drink out of."

Moving on...

Jonathan has two nights of practice a week and games on Saturday. Today's practice consisted of warming up and playing catch. Nice. It was cold and rainy. Even nicer.

The verdict is still out as to whether this baseball thing will be worth it. I am secretly hoping that both my boys are baseball stars...Don't tell anyone!

FYI...Drew took the previous three pictures from inside our car. We were both cold and wet so we spent the last half of practice shielded from the elements...

Changes Are In The Air

Change freaks me out. I hate it. Normally it comes with heartache and lots of hard work. Lots of times it's just easier to avoid change all together.

Chris and I have been able to avoid MAJOR change for about five years now. My life has changed a bit with school and now work but...

No changes in Chris's occupation...

No house changes...

No packing...

No boxes...

No showings...

No freaking out about every dust particle or wall scrape...

UNTIL NOW.

I pretty much admit that the day we moved from Marysville to Alliance was the worst day of my life. Before that the worst day of my life was when we moved from home to Marysville.

Well my friends...I think I'm about to have a new 'worst day of my life.'

CHRIS HAS ACCEPTED A NEW JOB.

Don't get me wrong...I'm excited for him and for our family to start this new chapter in our lives. The new church seems great and WE ARE READY! But...we have to move to North Canton. And say good-bye to our Alliance friends. And move away from my family. And pack up all of our belongings into small cardboard boxes from Giant Eagle (shout out to Jenn for all the boxes.)

Five years ago I thought that packing with a one and a half year old running around AND being seven months pregnant was hard. Basically that was nothing compared to packing with two eager young boys wanting to 'help' constantly. These same boys are also struggling with the fact that some of our stuff is just going to sit in boxes for a while. We're not getting rid of it but we can't play with it...Weird. Remind me why I need to keep something if we can live without it for a while???!!!

Which brings me to my next complaint: PURGING.

Purging is not easy for me. Many of you have seen my house. There is stuff (aka crap) all over! I'm trying to be non-emotional but it's difficult. We've packed quite a few boxes already in an effort to try to 'stage' the house. Packing is slow going. After the packing I need to focus on cleaning and other various 'staging' issues. We hope to have the house on the market by the end of April. Cross your fingers!

As I am typing this post I am sitting in the dining room among stacks of boxes. I should probably be working on one of our closets but I decided I need the break! Just for humor I'll tell you what kinds of boxes I'm looking at...

Sunkist
Poise
Arm&Hammer Essentials Natural Clumping Cat Litter
Tastefully Simple
Milk-Bone
KatKit
DelMonte
Jimmy John's
Pedigree Breath Buster
Bagmaster
Froot Loops
Smacks
Dixie

NICE!!!

OK...I'm done wasting time. I'll try to update but please know that life is CRAZY here. Chris starts First Friends on May 1st. I've included a link to their website in my sidebar.

I'm on Spring Break this week and am hoping to get LOTS done.

PURGE PURGE PURGE PURGE PURGE PURGE PURGE PURGE

John 14:27
Matthew 6: 25-34
Matthew 11: 28-30

Easter 2009

I took LOTS of pictures this year. Keep your eyes open and you'll catch the three King boy triplets. Chris was so excited! Too bad I didn't find a navy blue pin striped jacket for myself! JK

Here's the schedule:

Sunday AM: our house opening our baskets for the boys

yep, those are clean clothes piled on the couch

Sunday AM (later): Alliance Friends Church...the boys sat in service with us

nothing quite like jackets and Heeleys...at church...



Drew stole the camera

Sunday PM: Criss Family Easter lunch then egg hunt outdoors


The following pictures need some explanation...
So Drew accidentally opens and egg with a quarter inside and drops the quarter in between the sidewalk and the flowerbed. After a few failed attempts he asks for Chris's help.
Chris can not get it so Andrea is called over. After too much work the quarter is finally freed. Unfortunately, that is not good enough for my dear husband. He thinks it would be funny to put a roly-poly on top of the quarter so that Drew has to flick it off before picking up his money. I find that very demented. Poor kid!I forget who took care of the insect problem so that innocent little Drew could finally have what rightfully belongs to him but Drew ended up snagging the quarter in the end.

Sunday PM (later): more Easter baskets then Tripp Family Easter dinner


Sunday PM (even later): home to crash

Has anyone else heard about the theory that calories consumed on major holidays don't count???!!!

Early April

Here's just a few more pictures of my awesome family. You don't have to look at them if you don't want...

I captured Chris and Drew just moments after Drew woke up. PRECIOUS!



Greta and Pug have a not so precious relationship. Poor Pug is bullied by Greta.



It kind of looks like I was having a Pied Piper moment...

Late Winter Early Spring Family Fun

Drew and Greta have formed a special bond. He loves her!


The following pictures were taken one day when we were headed out the door. I believe that I was trying to showcase Jonathan's new missing tooth...

I'm pretty sure that's the one that he decided to yank out himself. He stood over the kitchen sink and pulled and pulled (with grunting sound effects...) Once he saw the tooth he was excited but the excitement quickly turned to panic when he saw all the blood. We cleaned him up (along with his tooth) and he was once again happy. What a kid!

Drew was just too cute to pass up taking a picture. I have the most handsome boys in the whole world! They are incredible. We have so much fun together...

I'm so proud and feel so blessed to be their mom!

I wonder if they'll ever truly know how much I love them??!!!

Biddles of Fun!

Our friends the Biddle family came to visit us in late February. I wish we were able to spend more time with them...
We met Scott and Tauni in college and have tried to stay in contact ever since. It just seems like we're destined to live three hours away from each other...

Shout-Out!

You can check out Scott's blog from my sidebar. He's awesome!

Zoe, Drew, Jonathan, Michael

Wrestle Mania!
I would expect nothing less when the Kings and Biddles get together!!!

Student of the Month Recognition Dinner

Jonathan was chosen as a 'student of the month' last fall. Chris and I were very proud of him! We were invited to a dinner for all of the first semester 'students of the months' this past February and had a great time! It was fun getting to do something special with just Jonathan.

Although...

Secretly, I believe that everyone in Jonathan's class will have been chosen student of some month by the end of the year. I should have kept track. Why is it that public schools are scared to recognize truly exceptional children?

How do you feel about each child being recognized? Do you think 'student of the month' is more like a featured entree at a restaurant rather than a special or discounted entree? I guess that would make more sense in my mind. But yet the title is deceiving! This isn't a RECREATIONAL baseball league (where I believe that every team member has a right to play as much as anyone else on the team.) This is school!

There are scholarships to be had...GPA's to be earned...VALEDICTORIANS TO BE NAMED!!! Oh wait...Jonathan is only in kindergarten. But do you understand my point???

This is just another example of the celebration of mediocrity. Do you remember the part in The Incredibles movie where Syndrome reminds us that, "...when everybody's super...no one is..." Hmm.

Sorry if I have offended you. Remember, I'm a public school teacher...

On to the pictures...

On the way in!

Does that look like the face of a student of the month?

Jonathan's best buddy Jade. He just so happened to be 'student of the month' too...

Not sure why Chris insists on making such a stupid face when I take pictures...

Jonathan was so proud of his accomplishment!

Jonathan and Jade basking in the spotlight!

This is the tallest man I have ever met. He also just so happens to be a kindergartner teacher at Jonathan's school. He was the guy at Halloween wearing the crazy basket ball uniform and wig. When I saw how close he was seated to us at the recognition dinner I decided I had to get a picture of him. After multiple failed incognito attempts, Chris decided to just ask if he would pose for a picture with me. I was so embarrassed! This man has no clue who I am and has no reason to take a picture with me. Fortunately, he was good-natured about my freaky preoccupation and agreed right away to pose for the picture. I think my face was bright red when we smiled. I'm so stupid! Chris thought the whole thing was hilarious!

This next video showcases not only Jonathan's singing abilities but mine as well. Be kind...this is my first public performance. P.S. I know I look horrible. Just go with it.




Clearly at the beginning of the program!

This second video is of the principal announcing Jonathan's name and pertinent info as he receives his award. Obviously we had not yet bought Greta when his resume was filled out. Jonathan and his classmates were the last ones to receive their awards. Patience is a virtue! Patience is a virtue! Patience is a virtue!





These videos took FOREVER to load...Am I doing something wrong?

Peace