Jayna's Day

It was Jayna's day at the doctors office and this time the whole crew went with her. She was a little nervous after seeing what Tony had to go through for his day at the doctors, but the nurses were smart and the word shots was never uttered. Of course, three year old can be shy and Jayna refused to do all the normal testing like the vision and hearing, but I know she hears from all the times she ignores me. This went fairly fast, but we still had to wait almost an hour in the tiny room for the doctor. So you can imagine five of us in the small room, but the kids did great and we all survived.

Jayna weighed in at a whopping 33 lbs 8 oz. and was 37 inches. She is tiny but is right at the 50 percentile for her so I guess she is average. She just looks so petite. She ended up getting one shot and was a trooper and received a Dora Explorer sticker that she proudly stuck to the back van window. So now we can wait for one whole year for another visit.

Puppy Kindergarten, Day One

Today was Emma's first official day at school and she did marvelously. She was the oldest puppy and the largest puppy there. I think the other dogs have been at class for awhile because all Emma wanted to do was play. She caught on pretty quick once the other puppies were focused on their own training. The class started off with some play time and Emma got to know the other dogs. There was a brand new puppy named Rosie and she was really cute but Emma wanted to play with her, so Rosie stayed under her owners chair most of playtime. There were other lab puppies that Emma got to play with too, but she was the largest by far.

Once play time was over the instruction got underway. Emma caught on really quick to the act once she realized there were treats for her. Part of the puppy kindergarten/level one is for the dog to pay attention for five seconds, sit, take treats nicely, and a few other calming acts. Emma right now is on one level...HYPER, but she is quick. The trainer used Emma for examples because she was new and expected the rowdy puppy, but more than once Emma was already sitting and waiting for her treat. So the instructor had to wait for Emma to become rowdy rather than tame the rowdiness out of her. Those were the cute moments.

Jasmine had the chance too to see what type of lessons Emma was learning so she can help at home too. I think she like to watch the other dogs and see how Emma could be in the future. Jasmine is already asking me if we can bring Emma to the puppy playgroup that the Humane Society holds weekly, but I told her that we should just hold our own puppy play groups. So if anyone wants to get together let me know.

I think Emma girlie is going to be a great dog really soon. We are going to show the rest of the dogs that she is just as smart as they are. Watch out Lassie, here comes Emma.

Tubby Tony

Well Tony finally went in for his one year check up at 13 months and this is what the doctor reported. He weighed in at 24lbs 5 oz (which I thought was light), 30 inches long, and his head was 19 inches around. He is hovering around the 50-60 percentile and his head is off the chart, which I guess explains why I have to buy 24 month shirts to fit over his melon. He also got the next set of shots, 6 to be exact, and his finger lead test. Poor guy was covered in band-aides and one by one on the way home he pulled them off. He was a tough guy, crying only for the initial pokes and Jayna was the one shedding the tears as she watched her little brother get poked. Tomorrow is Jayna's day, so we will see if the bug actually grows.

Our Little One Is Growing Up

I got you all. The little one is actually Emma. Hehe. We just got back from our introduction class for her puppy kindergarten class and I am excited to see how she does. Next Wednesday is our official first day with her for the classes and by the talks of the other owners, Emma is already the smartest one in the bunch. She must take after her mommy. Jasmine is going to be my partner in crime for these classes and she will have to tell you how they go. Other than that everything is the same here.

When Chris gets home from Canada on Monday I think we are going like gang busters on the house. We are so close to getting this place sheet rocked it is driving me nuts. We have to get the inspections done on the lath and staircase again and then I think we are ready for sheet rock. Cross your fingers we are going to get those done Tuesday I think.

So right now we are putting the kids party on hold until September probably. I promised Tony that he still got his cake so he won't be disappointed. On Wednesday Jayna finally turned three but if you talked to her she would tell you that she was five :-) Jayna was excited to get her Dora "bike" aka tricycle and her Dora helmet to go with it. Thanks to Grandma Jan and Grandpa John for supplying the gifts and if it is still nice in September she will be able to show everyone the cute outfit Grandma Beanie mailed her from Nisswa. Now all that she has to do is learn to peddle. So while we wait for Chris to come home, we have two birthday cakes to eat.

Cherish the Moments

I just got word that my cousin Aimee and her family lost their house and everything inside to a fire. It is hard to believe how quickly everything can vanish, but at least everyone was out of the house doing other things. I send my prayers their way and I am thinking that a "barn raising" is in order for them and I know with the size of my family a rebuild will happen fairly quick. So if anyone has spare things laying around their house let me know and I will see if they can use any of it. Thanks everyone.

Typical Carvelli

Jasmine's been home for a week and already I am looking for ways to separate the kids. The walls are closing in but that isn't what made this day "special". Jayna, being the little girlie girl that she is, actually lets me comb her hair as long as she is watching her Naughty Kids and I usually take this chance to braid her hair. So on this particular day, we were waiting for Chris to come home so we would start our 4th of July weekend and Jayna wanted her hair to be cute. I, on the other hand, was looking for something that could keep it out of her face and neat. After a good scrub down and shampooing, I had started to french braid her hair and stop the presses what do I find. TICK!!!! This sucker had started to bury in but I was a pro at this time having dealt with the other kids, but that brings me back to Jasmine almost nine years ago.

Not having dealt with little kids much before having my own kids, anything out of the ordinary had to be tackled with an open mind. Jasmine was about the same age as Jayna is now and I believe that she had just gotten back from spending time out and about. I know this for sure that she had just taken a bath and I was combing her hair out. It was evening and I was fighting a battle of tangles and wasn't giving it much thought to the knots in her hair, but after a closer look I noticed that there seemed to be a large black skin tag like thing at the top of Jasmine's head. Of course I did the first thing I knew what to do...I asked my mom what the heck that thing was. Moms are suppose to know all the answers, but not this time. Totally grossed out, we weren't sure what to do and it was getting later at night.

So not to blow anything out of proportion, we head to the ER :-) So we packed up everyone and headed out. The ER was undergoing construction at this time so the entrance was being moved so some walking was expected. After checking in, we sat and waited and waited and waited. I was lucky that Jasmine was totally oblivious to why we were there. She just played with the toys. Finally after three hours of waiting in the waiting room our name was called and we were lead through the corridor to a room. 30 seconds later the doctor pulled the tick out and added ointment and we were out of there. After it was pulled, we got to see the size of that sucker. It was very large. You couldn't see the head of it anymore. Needless to say the doctor was glad we had come in just to make sure ever part of the tick had been removed.

It is odd to think that it was so long ago and now I have removed a few ticks from Nick's head before he got his haircut to his crew cut and now Jayna has been introduced to the club with her first head tick removal today. I didn't even bat an eye when I saw it in her head. I just told Jazz to get me those tweezers and yanked it out. Jayna didn't even know what happened. No more freaking out for me and I expect to see more of them around now that Emma is out in the yard and in the house, and the kids are playing with her more. So I have no idea what the future has in store but I am ready with tweezers in hand.

Circle R Ranch

The two weeks Jasmine free is finally over and once she got home I still don't get to see her. She is already at a friend's house. Circle R Ranch is totally for the horse lovers and more. The end of the week ceramony was to show off the skills the kids have learned/developed and give the parents a chance to look around. The farmers aka Jerry and Pat drove over from Osakis and Jasmine was excited to see extra people watching her.

The final day show started off with announcements and introductions of the staff and then we got a show from the drill team. Jasmine's good friend Sami was on the drill team and they did formations and led us through the National Anthem. The girls were good and Sami was the youngest by a few years at least. Once the drill team was over, the rest of the camp broke down into their groups and their shows started.

Counselor Sasha started off Jasmine's group by handing out the horsemanship award which recognizes good horse care with their tacks, saddles, and mounting. Jasmine won a blue ribbon for that task (1). The first "game" was Egg and Spoon. Now walking and holding a egg on a spoon is hard enough, but try riding a horse carrying the egg and spoon. First they had to walk and then trot. One by one the eggs dropped until there was one...Jasmine got another blue ribbon (2). The second "game" was H2O. I think you are getting the idea how these games go, but this time there was a measuring cup with water. They started with 8oz of water and who had the most at the end got the blue ribbon. There were a few girls with no water left and a lap full of water. Once again, they had to walk and then trot until there was one person with 6.5 oz of water left...Jasmine got another blue ribbon (3). Are you seeing a pattern? The final game was musical tires. It was fun to see the girls try and control their horses and get themselves in to the tire, horse next to them with reins in hand. After all the girls were eliminated another blue ribbon was handed out...Jasmine got her fourth for the day.

It was a successful day for Jasmine and when she asked if she was going back next year she said yeah but maybe for only one week. I think she missed home just a little, but she got to take care of her horse 24/7 all by herself.