Signs

The snow and ice are melting and little shoots are poking their heads out of the frozen brown earth.  Spring.  It's coming!

Wanna know something?  I just learned something I didn't know before about puppies.  You know how when you hold a sleeping infant they'll suck in their sleep?  They make little sucking noises with their mouths and it is so adorable and you know that they are dreaming about milkies.  Puppies do that too!  It's true!  If you sit and hold a puppy as much as I have been lately you'd believe me.  They dream about milkies in their sleep and make cute little sucking noises.  It's adorable!   You're welcome for this little tidbit of information about puppies brought to you from the lady who is still eating crow.....

Crow

Image from this site

Once again....... I find my mouth full of the above.  Crow.  My mom and dad had a dog that I would give them the hardest time about.  They spoiled her rotten!  It was ridiculous!

I have a new puppy.  I'm spoiling her rotten.  It is ridiculous.  Crow!

I have a friend.  Her name is Natalie.  She has a dog.  She takes her dog everywhere with her in her car and lets her dog sleep with her!  Are you kidding me?  A dog in your bed?  Okay, a dog in Levi's bed, yeah.  That's where Zoe is going to end up but my bed????  And bring the dog with every time I get in the car?  Not just when Levi gets in the car?

I have a new puppy. Her name is Zoe.   I take her with me every time I go in the car.  I took a nap today and brought her with me to sleep in bed with me.  My bed.   I'm spoiling her rotten.  It is ridiculous.  Crow!

The SM's mom has a puppy.  Her puppy has a toy box full of toys.  Spoiled rotten.  Ridiculous!

Zoe has a toy box.  I kinda sorta filled it with toys........  spoiled rotten.  Ridiculous!

CROW!

Progress!

Before I show you the how we are making progress, I have to show these photos first.  Henny Penny and Zoe taking a snooze.

Big crate.  Tiny puppy.  Henny Penny thinks Zoe needs a blankie so she put a dishtowel on Zoe.  Kind of shows how tiny she is!

Levi keeping Zoe company while she naps.

And now.........  a video showing Zoe and Daphney playing.  Finally!  It has taken Daphney all weekend but she is finally warming up to Zoe and is actually playing with her!  Big sigh of relief.......  Now if I could just get Zoe to sleep through the night and not need to go potty for like, 12 hours!  Okay, 7 hours?  6 hours?  4 hours??

Meet Zoe!!

I went to the school and picked up Levi early.  I told him we were going to go on an adventure.  He had no idea where we were going or what we were doing.  How fun is this to surprise Levi with his new puppy that he has named, Zoe.  Our friends were going on a road trip up to where Zoe was and offered to bring her back for us.  We met them part of the way.



So darling!!!  Zoe is even cuter in person than we imagined!



Poor Daphney doesn't know what to think of the little white impostor.  We started with keeping a gate between the two just in case........

So, this video please ignore Levi calling Daphney a tightie whitie (don't ask) and my boasting how smart our little puppy is only to witness at the end of the video her go potty on the kitchen floor.  Serves me right.  I will say this, she is a brilliant puppy because she has gone potty outside ever since.  I'm sure she'll never have an accident in the house ever again........  (the glass is half full okay?)

Levi and Zoe.

Seriously?  You expect me to accomplish anything when Zoe is doing this?

We're all suckers.......

Even The Scout Master.  Took her right out of my arms he did!

So, Zoe decided to tell Levi all about her life up until now.......

What a story she told of having to share a bathroom with 10 other siblings.  It was horrendous!

Ni-Night!

Guess What??

This huge dog crate arrived in the mail two days ago.  It's huge!  Oops!

Actually.... maybe it isn't too big.  I was going to return it but....... now I'm starting to think otherwise!

Any guesses as to why a dog crate arrived in the mail the other day and other like items are arriving in the mail?  (Okay, the obvious answer that I hate actually going to a store and leaving my house and love Amazon is NOT the answer.......  guess again.)

Recital Time With Two Fun Surprises

Another year has gone by and once again it is recital time. I made sure and got my camera all set up so I could get fantastic video for all of you only to look at the videos later and THEY ARE BLURRY!!! I swear I have this expensive camera and for what?? So I can have more buttons to foul up. That's what! Oh well, close your eyes and just listen........ Henny Penny was first on the program:

 

Next Henny Penny and her bestest friend ever played some duets.  We can't have a piano recital without a couple of duets from these two.



Mr. M was next.



Here is one of the treats.  The Natives piano teacher composes music too!  This piece he played for us, he composed and won an award.  We're so proud of our piano teacher.  This past Friday his piece was played in a big concert hall for many to hear.  We are so blessed to have such a gifted teacher.



So, explanation.  I realize this was NOT a video taken where the others were.  There's a reason.  I have video of this Native playing at the recital.  It's a video of the poor boy getting half way through is piece and........  nothing......... gone.........  he could not for the life of himself remember the rest of the song.  It happens, so I made him play for you at home.



Mr. T's second song:



Mr. C, Scarf Kid, was the grand finale.



Mr. C was the grand finale but I've saved this little treat for last.  Levi played in the recital this year!!!!!  I saved him for last because as you will see, he stole the show!



What follows is what you get when you try to get a whole tribe of Natives to behave themselves for one, just one decent photo.  Please?  Pretty please?  Forget it!  You're all grounded!

The End!

Betty Cracker Strikes Again!

Busy filling out their menus.................  and yes, I realize my son Mr. T is sitting there holding a pocket knife.  They're Natives.......  it's expected.

Last year for Valentine's Day I was Betty Cracker.  Remember?  (Click on the words "Betty Cracker"  for a reminder.)

As Valentine's Day has approached The Natives started bringing up the dinner I'd done last year.  Was I going to do it again this year?  It was obvious from how much they kept bringing it up that they without coming out and saying of course, hoped I would do it again this year.

Note:  The candle holders were expensive.    I'm all about going all out!

I found this link through my baby sis and started printing menus and yes, crowns.  I made them all wear crowns this year!!  Poor Levi.  He spent the entire evening/dinner with his crown perched on his nose hiding his eyes.  He was NOT thrilled with his selection as he wanted his pizza right away.  Not dessert.  Not salad.  Pizza!!  Once again I let him break the rules but everyone else had to eat their food in the order it was presented whether they had utensils or not.

And once again, after I was done serving everyone Henny Penny made me sit down, fill out a menu, and she served me my dinner.  This year we had:  pizza, salad, applesauce, soda, and cheesecake with blueberry topping.

Flight of the Bumblebees

What happens when youngest Native shows you how he can make his nose sound like a bumble bee?



You get the rest of The Native's following suit.  Welcome to family dinner!!  This is why everyone should have dinner together as a family.  Heaven forbid moments like these should be passed up.

Speaking of passed up, would someone pass me some meat!!  Please.........

Julie

As I am sitting here writing this I am frustrated that the photos I want, the photos that best represent Julie, are on disks somewhere and I am too tired to go and look for them.  My head is pounding.  I've cried a million tears today.

Levi lays on the floor on several blankets with several more on top of him, the fire raging trying to get him warm.  I got a phone call from the school today.  Levi had gone down.  He was in a seizure.  What?  When did it start?  I'm silent.

How can this be happening?  How can it be that our Levi went down at the same time as something he had no idea was happening.  Julie.  Levi's angel dog Julie was going to have a rest now.

This was taken this morning before taking Julie to the vet.  Henny Penny covered her in her blankie and put her pillow pet under Julie's head.  You can see the look on Julie's face.  She is not well.  This is not the face that Julie usually wears.

I'm trying to wrap my brain around this day.  This morning when I got The Native's up for school it was very apparent that something was wrong with Julie.  She wouldn't come downstairs and when I finally coaxed her to, she wouldn't eat or drink.  I wish I had video of what a spaz she is in the morning until she gets her food.  It is quite humorous.  Not this morning.........  I called the vet and made an appointment and then got The Native's off to school.   I figured maybe Julie had eaten something.  Had her bowels blocked.  No biggie.  Only, it was a biggie.  We didn't know that Julie had a tumor and it had ruptured.  She had very little time left to live.  She went peacefully.  For that I am grateful.  She didn't suffer.

Then the phone call from the school.  Levi, at about the same time Julie left this world, went into a seizure.  He's down and not coherent.  He's not responding when talked to.  

Levi doesn't know about Julie yet.  He's still not coherent.  He is still having seizures.  Levi doesn't know, but his spirit obviously does........ and his spirit is in deep mourning as we all are............  

I believe in miracles.  Julie is proof of miracles and how she came to be Levi's dog. (Click on link for story). I know that just as Heavenly Father brought her to Levi, he has called her home to rest.  She's worked hard and taken such good care of our Levi.  I know that our Father loves Levi very much.  He has something in store for him.  I don't know what, but I do know, that someday, when Levi leaves this earth life, there will be a miracle dog named Julie waiting for him on the other side.

We Does Love Levi

Levi's teacher sent home a big pamphlet/workbook that I needed to fill out and then send back to the school.  I've filled out this pamphlet several times over the years.  It is a workbook where I rate how Levi is doing in his progression in many categories.  Large motor skill, fine motor skill, communication, home/life skills, etc.  The list goes on.  It takes a little bit of time to fill out.

It would take a whole lot longer if the questions asked applied to Levi but as usual, I found myself marking the circles that were "Never" or "Very Little, requiring help".  In years past when I have filled out this form it has saddened me.  It's hard to fill in all of those circles saying your child doesn't do things that other kids his age do and take for granted that they do.  This time around though, it didn't bother me.  Last night at dinner Levi said, "How come everyone does love me so much"?  We all laughed and told him, "Because you're our Levi"!

Levi may not be able to do everything other children his age can do but one thing he can do that they can't, is the connection Levi has to animals.  All animals love Levi and are drawn to him.  Last week we were at a neighbor's house.  I looked over and there sat Levi with their cat perched happily on his belly purring and sleeping away.  No surprise.  This always happens.  Another thing Levi can do that no one his age can do is his ability to remember the names of every animal he comes across.  He knows several herd of horses names that he's come in contact with, he knows all of the neighbors dogs' names and cats' names, he knows animals' names that he's met only once and years later will see that person and walk up to them and ask them about their pet asking about the pet by name.  He can't remember the owner's name but he knows their connection with their pet and their pet's name.

Just another reason in a million why we does love Levi.