Jess

We did it.  We got a dog.  We had discussed what kind of dog we would like to have.  TJ wanted another Border Collie, just like Tess, but there would NEVER be another Tess and I knew we wouldn’t have the time to train another BC.  We discussed and dismissed so many that we just couldn’t decide and therefore never made a decision.

Until a friend from Southern IN posted a picture on Facebook of a little dog that had been dumped at their place.  Something drew me to her and so we made arrangements to pick her up, sight unseen.

She sat just like this for the whole 2 hour drive home. On the way TJ came up with her name, Jess.  I loved the tribute of having it rhyme with Tess.

She has LOVED the kids from day one.  She is so gentle and patient with them.  Me, on the other hand, she is only tolerant of.  She will come to everyone else and will come to me only for treats, and even then she is obviously hesitant.  But in my defense, I think she was abused and I think it was by a woman.

  It’s a good thing she’s cute because only 3 days after picking her up she went into heat.  This was new grounds for both of us.  And it turned out that we had to wait a month before we could take her in to get her fixed.  So 3 weeks later I called to schedule it and they told us to go ahead and bring her in for shots first.  And at that appointment we got devastating news.  Jess had a bad case of heartworms.

So we had a decision to make: let her suffer an early death or treat them with two powerful rounds of wormer.  I had tears in my eyes but we were already so attached and she was so good with the kids, so really there wasn’t a choice.  Is that not the cutest little face?!

The heartworms and the treatments have made her lethargic and she has been on restricted activity for 2 months.  But now we are at the end of the treatments and now start the maintenance of prevention.  And she is now SO full of ENERGY.  She will just run laps around the house and yard.  I think she will be great at agility if we can ever get her to behave on a leash or trust her not to run off.  She has quite the nose and is always sniffing the wind.

The kids have been good about cleaning the yard and keeping her fed.  Sometimes they are a little to generous with the treats.

And she is in the middle of everything we do.  She has acclimated into our lives.  I hope she thinks we are a better fit than her previous unknown life.

She is finally, now, starting to accept me.  She loves being brushed, which is good since she tends to carpet our carpet with her hair.

And she is just so patient and keeps watch of the goings on in the neighborhood for us. 

We have had Jess for three and a half months now and she is settled in well to the Hinds household.  I am sure there will be many more Jess stories to tell.

Tucker’s First Basketball Season

 

The winter of 2013 was Tuck’s first experience with basketball.  He played at the Boys and Girls Club.  All of his teammates were new friends; none of his classmates from ELA played this year.

The first practice was like herding chickens.  I admire Coach Hesler for taking on this seemingly insurmountable task of taking these fledgling players and creating players out of them. 

But with each practice they all gained confidence and new skills and soon they were suited up and took on the part of a team.

The first games looked like the kids were in a firing line as they all lined up on defense with their hands in the air, all in a line directly under the basket. But after just a couple of games they figured out how to guard (but not steal).

And soon Tuck went from rolling the ball and catching up with it near the free throw line to actually dribbling it down the court. (I apologize for the poor photos but the iPhone in poor light and quick movements were not cooperative).

Can you see the dribbling skills?  Daddy worked with him in the basement after we got our basketballs aired up properly.

Just look at these defensive skills.  His Mamma taught him those.

He wasn’t happy about being benched but he was relatively good about taking his turn.  The kids usually got to play 3 quarters which were 10 uninterrupted minutes.

I wish I could include a video but I haven’t mastered that yet.  It really is amazing to see their improvements.

Coach Hesler, Dean, Carson, Aiden, Joe, Sam, Marie, Tuck and Lane.

Way to go Tuck.  We are impressed with your improvements and we all look forward to many more successful seasons.

Tuck’s First Basketball Practice

It’s begun.  Tuck has entered the World of Sports.  We signed him up for Micro-Basketball at the Boys and Girls Club for 4 and 5 year olds.  It’s going to be like herding chickens!

 

He is a pretty good shooter but his dribbling skills have something to be desired.  Of course he hasn’t had much practice over his few 5 years because all of our basketballs are low on air.  It seems we can find either the needle or the pump but never both at the same time. 

He told me last night that he was going to score 130 points and they would all be slam dunks.

It’s going to be a good 10 game season and we are all looking forward to it.

Tucker Lost His First Tooth

On a Wednesday afternoon Tucker told me he had a loose tooth.  Of course, my first reaction was: Did you get hit? Did you fall down? Do we need to go to the Doctor?Because surely you are not old enough to start loosing your teeth. 

But he assured me that he was not injured and that he WAS indeed getting to be a big boy. 

So speed up to Saturday.  He was sitting on the floor watching cartoons and he just turns to me, holds up his hand and says: Hey Mom, I just lost my tooth.  Here it is.

And sure enough, there it was.  And there was the gap in his smile.

I couldn’t believe how little it was. 

And then I get a lesson on how we have to put it under his pillow so the tooth fairy can come and leave him money.  I didn’t even get a chance to tell him.  Where does he learn this if not from Momma?

So that night we put it on the table beside his bed, since it was so tiny.  And I assured him that the tooth fairy would use his (yes he’s a he, Tuck said so) scanner to find it.

And the next morning, Tuck came running into our room, upset because there wasn’t any money on the table.  But instead the Tooth Fairy put the $5 under his pillow. 

We are still negotiating with the Tooth Fairy on the price of the remaining teeth.

Kora’s First Haircut

Tonight was haircut night for Tucker, Kora and I.  This is Kora’s first haircut.  The last time we got ours cut, Kora got to sit in the seat in preparation for this day.  And it worked; she sat so well and did so good.  Of course, she had a good example from her big brother.

This is the before shot.  You can’t really tell it but I think every hair on her head was a different length.  Some of it was getting long and starting to curl.  Others were hardly long enough to get ahold of.

It looks like the cape is eating her alive. 

Then Aunt Rita found a ponytail holder so Kora got her very first piggy tail.  Oh it was SO CUTE!!!!!  I can only hope she will let me continue to do them.  I have had the bands for months just waiting for this day.

She got Skittles as an Atta Girl. Thanks Uncle Chuck for providing the treats.

What a Sweet Little Thang!

Tucker got his hair cut too.  It was getting really long.  Normally Aunt Rita keeps it a little longer on top but this time she buzzed it with the clippers.  How he has a really big forehead. 

What a ham.

Thanks Aunt Rita.

Idaho Arrival

Sept. 8: Our flight left at 8 am.  We arrived in plenty of time which was a good thing since we got on the shuttle without grabbing the car seats.  So we checked in and TJ took the shuttle back out to the car and schlepped the car seats back to the Delta counter while the kids and I watched planes take off and land.  Luckily they let you take the car seats and other “baby items” for free rather than considering that an additional checked bag.

We had a 2.5 hour flight into Salt Lake City.  The kids and I were in one row and TJ was right in front of us handing us snacks and games.  The kids did really well and Kora decided to finally fall asleep on the descent into Salt Lake; only about a 15 minute nap.

We had just enough time in Salt Lake to grab some lunch and use the bathroom then it was to our gate and out to the plane. The flight into Lewiston was only  1.5 hours.  Tuck was out shortly after take off and slept even thru the landing.  Kora on the other hand was wide awake for the whole trip.

Once we landed, got our luggage and picked up the rental car we grabbed some lunch and followed Mandy, Jenny and Blake to the park to run off a little steam before an hour long drive into Orofino.

We spent nearly 2 hours at the park. The slide was a big hit.

Blake wouldn’t go down without his Momma at the beginning.

Once he did go down on his own he got a little turned around.  Funny kid.

Kora was fearless from the get go.  Of course she only goes down backwards and on her belly.

Plenty of climbing, swinging and running were just what they needed after the long trip.

Kora slept the whole way to Orofino but Tuck was too excited about seeing Dash that he didn’t nap any more.  Just lots of “are we there yet”s. We all arrived at the house about the same time.  You would never have known that the kids hadn’t been together for 21 months.  They are such good friends and such good kids.

More posts of our adventures to come.

My First 5K

The local Kiwanis sponsored a 5K Walk/Run to raise money for their efforts.  It is associated with Lumberjack Days, the county fair and town gathering.  Mandy and I participated.  This was my first 5K.

I saw a lot of folks I went to school with as well as my HS softball coach/math teacher, Mr. Savage.  I got to catch up with all of them.  It was a good time.

And we finished in 49 minutes and 20 seconds.  Yes, I just walked it. And this was faster than I normally would have done it.  My hips hurt for 2 days from having to take longer strides to keep up.

It was well worth it and I will do another one, hopefully soon.

INKED

You guessed it.  I broke down and allowed the kids to get tattoos.  I know it’s a little young but hey it’s their choice. 

I, personally, have never been able to come up with a design that I would be willing to live with FOREVER.  But I think the kids have made some wise choices in that department.

This first one says: Conservation Across America.  What better message is that?

And is this not the proud face of a new tattoo owner?  Wear it proud Tuckman.

And this one is a big red heart with “Mommy” inside.  Again, a very wise choice that will apply forever.

And who is going to mess with all of this burliness?  Not me.  I see a Harley in her future.

So really they got the Conservation one’s at the State Fair at the Pathway to Water Quality where Mommy spends many happy hours every August.  And we made the Mommy ones for Tucker’s birthday party at Missy’s.  This is where I got my tattoo paper. They were a hit with the kids as well as most of the other Mommy’s.  And they just make me laugh each time I see them.

Tuck Has Mastered the Pedal

Tuck got this GREAT tricycle last August for his 3rd birthday from Grandma Connie.  Just this week he has mastered the pedaling. 

The seat is as far up as it will go and he has not been able to reach the pedals.  And when he did he had to shift from side to side and couldn’t keep up enough momentum to keep himself propelled.  He got really frustrated.

But now he has it down.  He even took it to Missy’s for a parade.  That will be another post.

Way to go Tuck man!  I am so proud of you!!!

I got a new camera!!!!

I have only had it for two days but I think I am in love.  Of course my standards are pretty low after my last one.  All I really wanted was an action setting to get clear pictures of my active kids.  Here are some samples:

Tuck in the pool.

Kora by the pool.

My pretty in pink lady

And Tuck not cooperating.  But after I showed him this on the screen he really hammed it up for me later.

It’s a Kodak Easy Share Max Z990.  It’s considered a hybrid between a point and shoot and an SLR.  I think I will keep it.

Worm Farm

For Earth Day I went to Missy’s and we set the kids up with a worm composter.  The kids loved it so I promised Tuck we would start one at home.

We tore up newspaper and cardboard for a week to get things ready.  I also started saving food scraps so the new worms would have plenty to eat in their new home.

Tuck is pretty apprehensive about actually touching the worms.

Kora, on the other hand, has no reservations.

We keep our bin in the garage.  A few of the worms have escaped and we find them dried up on the concrete floor. But there are enough of them still in the bin that the food is disappearing, so all is good.  I am trying to instill some environmental consciousness into the kids.  Hopefully some of it sticks.

And what kid doesn’t just like worms?