"Moving" Bales

Well, to put it mildly, our house is a "little" drafty in the winter time. So, to help combat that we put bales around the backside of the house. Gavin was helping Jed with this project yesterday afternoon. It was all he could do to move it a foot at a time but I do think he was fairly creative in coming up with a solution...put it on his sled.

Settling Into Life With Ruby

Well, we have now had Ruby for about 2 weeks and we are finally starting to settle into life with a dog and three kids - believe me, it's taken some getting use to. Gavin isn't quite as on top of the feeding and letting her out as he was the first week, but he still does pretty good and he just loves that dog. He is always hugging her. Kyra loves to be the mother of Ruby - feeding her, watering her, brushing her hair (with the girls' brushes not the dogs brush), washing her face - anything that she might try to do with Carley, she does with Ruby. Carley had a miserable first week with Ruby but somewhere along the way the came to an understanding and she now tolerates Ruby and once in a while will even go up to her and pet her and talk to her. Jed continues to think Ruby is a perfect dog (all she does when he is home is sleep). I know the truth - dogs make more mess, more laundry, more craziness and in general more work for Mom! But she is cute and the kids enjoy having a pet so what can I say?

It's a Girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, did you think we were referring to the Valentine’s “kid count” in our last blog? Our newest addition to our family is a German Shorthair puppy (or as Jed calls her a German Feeder Pup) that goes by the name of Ruby. She is a good puppy and so far has proven to be a pretty good house dog as well (although she does like to scout out socks and mittens and claim them for her very own chew toys). Gavin is absolutely in love with her, and her with him. Wherever he goes, there she is and he has taken it upon himself to be the best little 5 year old dog owner that you have ever heard of. He has taken her outside every time today to “do her duty”, cleaned up her treat crumbs, and given her hug upon hug upon hug today – it’s pretty sweet. Kyra also enjoys her, but is a bit more timid around her (they are more on eye level with each other – better to lick, which Kyra doesn’t love). And Carley, well…Carley hates the dog and that is putting it nicely. Hopefully they will come to some sort of terms soon. So, for those of you who “misunderstood” our last posting…blame Jed, he wrote it. For the Valentine Family – you win hands down in both the kid and the dog count!

Keeping up with the Valentines

As many of you know Laurel and Ernie are expecting and broke the news to the world on their blog, so in keeping up with tradition and the Valentines we would like to announce our soon to be addition... Gavin and Kyra are excitied, Carley doesn't have a clue yet. Although this won't bring us to equal with Laurel and Ernie, it closes the gap a bit.

First Snow

I know that many of you who read this are in the midst of a winter storm warning or blizzard so this might seem like nothing, but the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. We woke up this morning to a white ground. We have about an inch of snow on the ground, our first (other than flurries) of the season. Gavin and Kyra were outside in less than 10 minutes playing in the wet wet wet snow. Hope all of you in the cold, blowing snow are staying warm and safe!

Apologize God

Okay, so we try to be good parents and instill some morals and beliefs into our children. Lately we have been trying to explain that in some way God has a hand in everything that happens...

Yesterday we had rain and wind here all day and at one time we had so much wind that Jed was looking out the window for a tornado (I know most people would be looking for a basement, Jed was looking for a tornado, but I digress). Well, the semi traveling down the highway outside our house did NOT win the battle against the wind. As Jed and the kids were watching the tow truck and the police turn the semi back upright and pull it out of the ditch Gavin said, "Dad, I think God is going to have to apologize for tipping that truck over."

Happy Halloween

We had a great night for trick-or-treating. The weather was the nicest any of us ever remember. Because our local town was in a playoff football game last night, we didn't go to as many houses as the last couple of years since a lot of the people were gone to the game but it also meant there were not as many kids out and about either, which must mean more candy for those who are out because each of our kids (including 1 year old Carley) came home with a completely full bucket of candy. Yikes!

The night ended up just being too much for the little girl who decided not to take a nap yesterday!

Dancing With the DeWitz "Stars"

Our kids, especially Kyra, love Dancing With the Stars. So, every Monday night, we sit down and enjoy the show (not the one on tv - the one in the middle of our living room). Kyra will sit and watch them dance and then she will get up and start trying to copy whatever they do. Needless to day, sometimes this tv shows gets to be a dangerous sport!

Sometimes it turns into a game of cat and mouse.

And sometimes it's just a good excuse for the girls to dig out all of their dress up clothes and put on their dancing "costumes".