First Day of School 2012

Another year another year.  Where has life gone.  Thanks to my most awesome boss (no matter what I might say about him), I was able to work nights and stay at home with the babies over the summer.  It is so cool just to hang out with no responsibility, no deadlines, no stinking homework, and no alarm clock!  I think I might dread the start of school worse than the kids do, but it is all okay once we get into our groove.  Roland started back before the other guys this year and wasn't too happy about it, but seeing his friends soothed his ruffled feathers.

On the way...

Gorman Christian Academy

Extremely glad to have Daddy back for the start of the new year

2nd grade...so much more mature than 1st grade (Mrs. Beveridge's class)

And finally Duncan gets to go.  This is Duncan's (Mrs. Strayhorn K4)first year at his new "school" and Henry's (Mrs. Lisa K1) first year at any school.  They were good boys on their first day at Calvary Childcare, until I left Henry anyway.  He was sad, I was sad, you know the drill.  I think Duncan likes his new school though and seems to be learning a lot.  It is at least some consolation that he and Henry have each other.

Oscar 12-1999 to 4-4-12

 I wonder how we get so emotionally attached to a pet, and especially one that is as peculiar as Oscar was.   In late January, Oscar's "mass" started to come back as little golf ball size lumps on his side.  It was really rather sudden.  And then a few weeks after that, it was as if those small masses found a blood supply and manifested into something that was hell bent on overtaking him.  We took him for a consultation and the vet said we could do surgery.  It was over 3 weeks before we could actually schedule a date for the surgery and in that time the mass had overtaken the whole side of Oscar's body, including the muscle.  Oscar was very uncomfortable and had to wear the cone of shame most all of the time.  I think his skin itched a lot from the rapid expansion.  On the day of his 2nd surgery, I did not even get back home before they called me and said that they did not have the means to remove a mass of that proportion and that we would have to get a surgeon to look at it and they most likely would still not be able to do anything, and if they did, we would need to commit to chemo as this was most certainly malignant.  The vet told me that it would require extensive skin removal and months of bandaging and be a "bloody mess" and "inhumane" and that a lot of time older dogs tended to give up the fight.  We were sent home with pain medicine and some anti-steroidal spray and told to come back when he stopped eating and drinking.  I was okay with this if it meant he might have some level of comfort, but really wanted his quality of life to be better and was disheartened about the surgical failure.  But we still had our dog, right?  But about 10 days later, his side abscessed, and it went down hill from there.

Shane brought Oscar home from work in January of 2000.  He was about 2 months old and had been found in the rain by a coworker who could not keep him.  Shane had a Polaroid taken that day holding the dog like a child and wrapped in his flannel shirt.  I don't think that not taking him was ever an option.  The rain storm would  apparently scar the dog for life as he started to tremble when it thundered within 100 miles of us and would hop in the bed or curl around my feet at the computer or in the kitchen while I cooked.  Frankly, Oscar was a big ole baby.   He peed lie a girl, ran like a deer, thought he was a 80lb lap dog and was afraid of most everything.

One of my favorite Oscar memories is when he was only about 4 months old and I heard him violently barking outside and I ran out to see what was going on and find Oscar butt in air and head to the ground letting  a butterfly know he meant business.  The butterfly just sat there fluttering it's wings until I physically removed the dog.

 I have slept with this dog and 2 others for the better part of 12 years and held Oscar in my lap as we painted the house.   For the past 8 months with Shane being gone, I was the alpha, and Oscar diligently came to sleep beside my bed, rather than the one Shane typically sleeps in.  He was a good boy.

We have spent 12 years escorting Oscar through our house because of some unseen force that only he knew.  On many nights, just as we would get settled in bed, you could hear Oscar crying because he couldn't get to the bedroom without passing through the edge of the hallway.  So we would reluctantly get up and coax him around the corner were he would jauntily walk on to the bedroom.  Never ever walk through the hallway,  Never walk through the kitchen/hallway door.  Only sometimes walk through the dining room -all other occassions,  tremble uncontrollably until someone came to the rescue.

It has been boring without him.

 A family affair.

Chillin' on the porch.

 Poor Bucky is missing the ying to his yang.

 Mom and Dad miss you Bella.

Roland turns the big 0-7

Roland and I go through the age old conversation between parent and child;

Me:  I love you baby.

Roland:  I'm not a baby.

Me:  But you are my baby.

Repeat 2 and 3 over and over.

Truth of the matter is, I can't believe he is already 7 (and due to the delayed posting, pushing 8).  That is crazy talk.  As with all of our kids, Roland takes me to the brink of sanity and makes me scream and look like a lunatic.  Roland has always survived by loving his Mama something fierce and thereby weakening my defenses.  But just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, Roland turned into this mature mini grown-up.

Roland is very competitive (Shane who?) and sometimes that is good and sometimes it is bad.  Some days there are entirely too many, "Did I do better than Duncan?"s.  Or the "Who do you love most?" - which I usually answer "Duncan,"  just to instigate things.  My favorite is "Who did you love first?"   cause I can answer that one.  With Roland and Duncan the relationship is different.  Whereas Roland is a lot like Shane, I feel like Duncan is a lot like me. So while I enjoy the the similarities that I share with Duncan, sometimes it is a challenge to put up with yourself.  With Roland, while sometimes it is a challenge to put up with little Shane, I do enjoy our differences and feel like we have a great friendship.  

Roland has a beautiful memory (clearly NOT from me) and seems to be following in his Dad's math footsteps as well.  Roland loves to learn and while school isn't always all we would like for it to be, I am excited that he is clearly absorbing so much and likes the material, just not the monotony of it all.

Unlike our experience when Duncan was born, Roland is a fabulous big brother to Henry.  I often wake up to find the baby out of the crib or in some other place or position and I am like, "How did he get here?"  Roland always pipes up and says, "I got him out" or "I put him there."  While I worked nights over the summer, Roland was in charge of the household until I got up.  That usually means ice cream for everyone, but it is a huge help to me.

I love that Roland still wants Shane and I at every school function, every party, every event, to jump on the trampoline, to play ball, to play the Wii and just to be part of every aspect of his life.  I also love that Roland gets up from doing his homework and comes to find me just to give me a hug, and when I am drying him off after his bath he always hugs me and says, " I don't know why I always do that."  We hope to enjoy that as long as possible.

A Happy 7th Birthday to my biggest baby.