The Perfect End to the Perfect Day

Today dawned early for the Andersons - it was garage sale day!!
Cori called a while back saying she was having a garage sale and did I have anything to contribute, which of course I did. I dragged down the bins from garage sales past of stuff that didn't sell and went thru toy chests and closets one last time. I had told the boys that if they would contribute some toys they no longer played with, when the garage sale was over we'd go buy a new toy. They were great and with every bag I packed they were ok with all that was getting sold.
We were off at 7:30, with Starbucks and Krispy Kremes in hand.
All in all it was a good day, I got rid of trash (I mean, my trash, but someone else's treasure), and collected a nice sum of money. The boys went to play at the Patricks, which, what 4 year old boy wouldn't loved being watched by a pretty 17 year old girl WITH A TRAMPOLINE IN HER YARD (I'm sure Thornley was smitten too, but he declared his love for another last night, Matt & Luanne we're looking forward to the wedding). Jack was telling me about the hot tub party he is going to have at her house later this summer; he'll bring his life vest and float.
AND the weather was GORGEOUS! At one point we had to move our chairs to sit in the shade, I mean it was at least 70 degrees (ha-ha-ha, just kidding, we do see the sun every now and then in Seattle).
And since I promised, and you don't want to break a promise, tonight we were off to the mall. Thornley had his heart set on this Star Wars Lego set to the tune of $100, but alas, the store was out. He was good about it, didn't even throw a tantrum and had picked something else out when he spotted IT...yes, the Star Wars Lego game for the Wii. He has been wanting this FOREVER and they had 1 let that was 1/2 off!
Jack wanted some Ben 10 toy that Adam was none too thrilled about, and is super hard to find (which I'm none to thrilled about - endless trips to Target and Toys R Us with a 6 and 4 year old). While we were on our way to Baskin Robins after the Lego store I spotted it, the perfect solution for Jack - Build a Bear. Jack LOVES stuffed animals - his all have names and he takes care of them. It's his dream to have an Alaskan Husky some day. And now he does - albeit a stuffed one. He is sooooooo excited, and it's much cuter than that Ben 10 WildMutt toy he wanted.
I'll leave you with pictures of Thornley conquering the galaxy and Jack and his new Cutie.

Adios Amigos!

I have to say I'm feeling a bit bad for my Thorns lately. Thornley has many wonderful qualities, which I keep needing to remind myself daily/hourly/minute by minute, as he is also a very intense person. One of the things I love about Thornley is how much he loves his friends. Eventhough it doesn't always come across as such, he is a very sensitive soul.
This year he became friends with Emily, a cute little girl from his class. We LOVED Emily, every day there would be an Emily story to tell, and for a few weeks they even got to sit at the same mesa! Emily's family decided to move to Arizona, and I have to say I had to think long and hard about if I should tell Thornley because I knew he would be upset. But the bright side is Adam's parents live in Arizona, so we may be able to visit.
THEN the news came that another of his friends, Kelsey, is moving. This really makes ME sad too, since Thornley and Kelsey have ALWAYS gone to school together. They were in Young 3's, Young 4's and kindergarten together. Kelsey was the girl, that a year ago when Thornley was having his boy only party, he wanted to invite one girl - Kelsey. They are moving to Australia, and while I personally would LOVE to visit them I don't think that will happen any time soon.
THEN I'm told that his teacher from this year, whom I ADORE, retired at the end of the year. She was such a wonderful teacher for Thorns. I think she totally understood his personality and worked really well with him. No matter what he said, I know he loved her. When I told him she wouldn't be there next year, I really thought he might cry. He knew she wouldn't be his teacher, but I think he found comfort in knowing that she would be around, and since she retired, our friend Janet won't be at the school any more either, which made him really sad because I think he was thinking she'd help him get used to the playground routine.
And don't even get me started on the Nightingales moving...I mean come on now!
I hate change, and I really hate it when I have to help my kids, especially super sensitive Thornley, work through changes that make him sad.

Yikes! The fireworks are going off like crazy, so I guess I should end my post and lock up my tranquilized dog before he suffers too much trauma. I will end with a picture of Thornley and his amazing teacher.

Men are from Home Depot, Women are from The Container Store

The boys and I just returned from a 12 day stay in California. It was fun seeing family and friends; the boys attended Day Camp at the church I grew up in, swam at my sisters, saw Wall E, and went to Marine World. While we were gone, Adam did some "home improvement" projects. I think it's funny how Adam and I differ when the other is out of town.

When Adam is gone, the boys and I get take out from the restaurants I like but Adam doesn't, and I try to clean/organize the house, get caught up on laundry, make some runs to Goodwill (usually to drop off, not shop), and of course stay sane. It never ceases to amaze me that my husband can go out of town for 21 days, and usually Cori is the only one to invite the boys and I over for dinner (I won't even go into my summer without a washer while Adam was in Jamaica for 21 days...).

When the boys and I are gone (why is it I'm never gone without the boys...) Adam takes on some project or another, he gets MANY invitations from MANY people to come over for dinner, and when he isn't invited over to someone's house he takes himself OUT to eat. This time was no exception. Adam decided to paint the stairs, which was much needed, as I can't even remember what trip the boys and I were on when he took the carpet out. Painting the stairs turned into, painting the ENTIRE entry way, stairs included, installing a new ceiling fan in the entry and putting in a new/much needed shower head in the boys bathroom. He was going to paint the hall, but ran out of time. It looks great, it really does. He has a better eye for that sort of thing than I do, and definitely is a better painter than I am (Cori and Mark can vouch for my painting "abilities").

I really appreciate all his hard work - I really do, but now I will leave you with a few pictures while I'm off to scrub the toilets and kitchen floor, and ask how one manages to only run the dishwasher once in 12 days...

Lots of Pomp for the Circumstance

From the first day of kindergarten...






To the last...






Thornley did awesome, and I am very proud of our graduate!




It was all too much for Jack to handle!

I Love This Kid

Don't quite know what was going on, I walked in on the tail end of some Kung Fu Panda something or other.

The 6 million dollar dog

Move over Lee Majors...meet George, the 6 million dollar dog. Although, nothing is robotic, or controlled by a computer chip or two. Nope, just a lot of pain medication and IV drips going on here. We've decided we're going to change his name to Europe, or perhaps Summer Vacation, since we could have taken some nice trips with the money we're going to have to give the vet when George comes home. He is still at the vet, and will remain there until at least Sat. They started giving him water yesterday in the late afternoon and he has been able to tolerate that. We stopped by for a visit today after lunch, and he was happy to see us, but as we were in the OR and they were about to start a procedure (which I for one would have loved to watch), we couldn't stay long. They are going to introduce food to him this evening and see how he does with that, and if all goes well he should come home on Sat. Which is a bit of a silver lining for us, since we're going to be gone tomorrow night and would have had to get a dog sitter. The down side is we usually pay $20 a day, not $200. He is in good hands, and I do appreciate the vet being cautious. Adam and I did, however, agree that even though we love George, if this happens again we will miss him.
On the bright side, I vacuumed on Tuesday, and the floors are still clean.

The things we do for love

This morning, around 3:00, Adam woke up and said he heard George making noise. How the heck can he hear George when he is locked up downstairs (George, not Adam), and not hear our children who are in a room a yard away from us? Anyway, he said he heard George, so he went down to check on him and without going into detail, came back up to say he was sick. Now, it's not out of character for George to eat something, have it upset his stomach, throw up a time or two and then bounce back. He threw up again in the early morning, and then when the boys and I got up, I went downstairs to let him outside. When he came back in, he wanted a treat, went downstairs to lay on the couch for a bit, then threw up again.
Tuesdays I usually drop the boys off at their schools, stay out doing stuff, work for 2 hours and come home around 2:00. I didn't want to leave George unattended that long, so after I dropped the boys off I came home and he had thrown up AGAIN! So off to the vet we went. It appears he has pancreatitis, but they are awaiting the results of the blood work to say how bad it is. He will spend the night with his IV drip as they continue to monitor him. How much is this going to cost us? Roughly $1,000, maybe more - buh bye stimulus check! How can I not pay this though? We've had George longer than we've had our kids! Not to mention the fact that Jack ADORES George and is so sad that he's at the Dr and can't be home with him. I do hope he's feeling better and can come home soon. Too bad dog's don't learn lessons, like, oh yeah, last time I ate out of the trash can I had to go to the vet. But no, he will come home and do it all over again, most likely.


George and I on a hike when he was a puppy.