Satellite Removal 101

So my mom & dad have a old satellite dish at their lake house that they want to take down. Just so happens that we have an old one at our house too.

So my dad recruited Nathan to take down our satellite today. He wanted to 'practice' removing one before he did it at his own house. Basically he wanted a satellite to crash down on our roof, and work out the kinks at our house.

It was quite humorous to listen to them figuring out trajectories, the best place to stand, etc etc. In the end Nathan climbed 25 feet up into a 60 foot Sycamore tree with rope. Chris held rope from the roof. My dad used a saw to cut it down. Nevertheless, the big old thing came down without a hitch.

Here's a link to the video of the 'timber' moment...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2722635799006531444

Let the games begin...

Grant has always been pretty good about going to bed at night. We've had a few inevitable battles along the way, but in general, he is good about going to bed. We've got the routine down: manic playing with daddy to burn any excess energy, bath, books, prayers and then night-night.

Since we had barf-o-rama 2007, Grant has learned that "I don't feel good" gets attention.

So, now bedtime has a new addition to the routine: "I don't feel good". Somehow he thinks this will delay him going to bed. Or maybe he needs extra attention?!?!

Tonight, started with "my foot hurts", then "my ear hurts", next "my mouth hurts" then "my foot doesn't hurt".... (maybe he thought adding the "doesn't" to it changed the prognosis?) Then he tried "I'm too hot"... It's 30 degrees outside. I seriously doubt it kid.

While he's trying out all his new symptoms on me, he can barely keep his eyes open he is so tired.

Night night.

Barf-O-Rama 2007

Grant started it.

Grant woke up at 3am on Sunday morning (late Saturday night) and barfed. And barfed. And barfed.

I (Melanie) woke up Sunday morning and didn't feel too good. I started barfing around noon. Grant & I laid in bed all day Sunday (literally all day) and alternated between sleep and watching Cars (the movie) for the 74th, 75th & 76th times.

And then Kendal joined the fun at noon on Monday.

Chris is so far still healthy. Although he has been barfed on 4 times, so the chances of him joining in on the fun are high. I think Chris has done 12 loads of laundry between all the sheets, towels, & pj's we've soiled.

3 dogs!?!?

So on Friday, I experienced 3 kids. Today I am experiencing 3 dogs....

Kendal has discovered the dog food bowl and she thinks it is DELICIOUS!

She is crawling constantly and quickly. She can't make a beeline fast enough for the dog food. I'm wondering if she's missing some nutrient from her diet. She quickly puts two 'nuggets' in each hand and then proceeds to drool and mouth all over them. This turns the dog food into a smelly mushy substance. Her hands continue to smell even after a thorough scrubbing. Tasty!

At this point, the dogs are sharing with her. But I think if she keeps eating they may start to defend their turf.

3 kids!?!?

So now I know what it feels like to have 3 kids.

I watched a good friend of ours little girl, Hailey, today for about 6 hours. She & Grant are the same age- so that actually made things a lot easier than I had imagined!

She's potty trained, so she inspired Grant to pee-pee on the potty today. I was very excited.
I took the 3 kids (Grant, Kendal & Hailey) to the library for storytime. Grant picked this time of all times to ask to go pee-pee on the potty. I told him sorry charlie- I wasn't up for it! But when we got home he asked to go again, and this time it was a success.

But at this point I'm not holding my breath for potty training success. Grant could care less if he pees/poos all over himself. We're just hoping he doesn't start college in diapers!

Disclaimer: Kendal took a 3 hour nap today- so I'm sure that had a little something to do with 3 kids being easier than imagined.

Raccoons!

Well, we're under attack. Apparently Ricky the Raccoon (as dubbed by Grant) has decided to make our garage his new home. He was spotted in our garage yesterday for the first time, during the day, which is unusual since raccoons are nocturnal. After he was chased out of the garage by Chris (with a shoe & two-by-four), he came back tonight! Grace (the dog) got after him for a minute, but then Chris had to get the shoe back out.

And this Ricky is a brave one. He's entering our garage through the doggie door!

I can just see us waking up in the middle of the night to Ricky feasting in the kitchen. Grant & I recently watched "Over the Hedge", so I have very vivid pictures of what raccoons can do!

After consulting our varmit expert (Nathan), we will be setting up a trap ASAP!