Our Adventures: September 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

5 minutes or less...

In college, I took an athletic training class - the main thing I remember learning is how to tape ankles, knees, wrists, etc. I'm sure there was more to it, but it wasn't as fun as taping up my classmates! For the final, I had to be able to tape an ankle in 5 minutes or less, and Dave and I have joked about that many times over the years. I never thought I'd need that knowledge, and I have considered it a useless skill of mine ... until Saturday. Erica sprained her ankle last week and wanted to play in her soccer game even though it was a bit sore, so I brought out that piece of "useless" info, and did this:

It doesn't look very pretty, but this is what it looked like after the game. I doubt it was done in 5 minutes, and I'm pretty sure I used too much tape, but Erica said it felt great and wants me to do it for her again!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Our Ballerina

It's official - we have a ballerina in our house again! Jenna just started ballet a few weeks ago, and is really enjoying it. We love watching her and the other little girls - it is so cute to watch them try to move the way their teacher does! It seems like just yesterday it was Erica that I was watching - how time flies!!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hokie Football

Dave and I try to spend one on one time with each of the kids as often as we can. A few months ago, Dave asked Liam what he wanted to do on their next "date" - Liam usually asks for ice cream, or a trip to the soccer field to kick the ball around, so that's what Dave was expecting. To his great surprise, Liam asked to go to a Hokie football game - and Dave was all too happy to oblige. After 5 years of living far away, he was thrilled to get to go to a game again - and to share it with his son. No one else wanted to go (except me!), so Dave and LJ went to the game, and I hung out with the other kids on the Tech campus. It was so much fun to be back there, and to see how much Blacksburg has grown! We had a chance to tailgate with my best buddy from junior high/high school/ college - and I enjoyed outfitting my crew with new Hokie shirts.:-) Liam LOVED the game - he said he wants to be a Hokie football player when he grows up!!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sweet dreams...

I woke up at 4:15 this morning to the sound of Jenna yelling my name. It sounded like an emergency, so I jumped out of bed, stepped on the dog, and stumbled to her room ... expecting to find something wrong. When I got to her bed, she looked fine, she sounded fine, and she said she felt fine. So I asked her, "Why did you call Mommy?" She said, "I want another cookie!" I mumbled something like "I'll make cookies tomorrow", to which she said, "I just had one now and I want another one." I told her OK, that I loved her and that she needed to go back to sleep - which she promptly did. Eating cookies in your sleep ... that brings new meaning to the term "sweet dreams"!

BJ Stories

One Saturday when we lived in Milton, FL, we took the dogs for a swim in the river. On the way back we approached a stop light and slowed to a stop. We had the second row seats in our Blazer folded down and Kadie and BJ were standing with their heads out the windows on each side. As we came to a stop, the cooler fell over. The noise startled BJ and he jumped. As I was stopping the car, I saw a brown object come past my window. I put the car in park and climbed out to find BJ, dazed and confused, standing on the double yellow line and staring back at me. Not knowing what else to do, I just opened the back door for him, and he climbed right back in. Kadie gave him a condescending glance over her shoulder and then turned to look back out her window.
Within the first couple weeks after getting BJ, we were sitting on the couch watching TV. We heard some splashing in the toilet and immediately yelled for Kadie to stop drinking from the toilet. After a little more splashing and yelling at Kadie, we realized that Kadie was laying at our feet. We ran into the bathroom to find two brown puppy legs kicking out of the center of the toilet seat. BJ had gone in for a drink but was so short that he couldn't reach the water. He went past the point of no return finally and was in the toilet bowl head first with his legs flailing above him. He was desparately trying to keep his face above the water line by spreading his paws out and pushing off the bottom of the toilet bowl.
When we first got BJ, we would take him and Kadie for walks down the gas right-of-way. While the unsuspecting BJ would be sniffing the grass and leaves, Kadie would get ahead of him and hide in the grass like a lioness. BJ would finally realize that Kadie wasn't in site and he'd stop walking. Kadie would lunge from her hiding spot and run full speed right over top of the little chocolate puppy---just to show him how much she cared.
When you would take off your clothes to take a shower or bath, BJ would come in and move your clothes. He would take each piece of clothing, one at a time, and move it into the other room. He didn't chew it, just move it to the other room. We always joked that BJ thought this was his job. We'd catch him doing it and say, "BJ's going to work." and make no attempt to stop him. We always wished we had taught him to move the clothes to the hamper.

Our Adventures