Doggy Dad

Drew refers to the dogs as his "sons" or his "boys".
He says he's their dad and I'm their mom... but some times he tells me I'm their grandma. 


I like to remind him that one dog is his, one is mine, and the other is OURS. 


The first chihuahua we got was because he wanted one. So Brady, our tan itty bitty, is all his (except he LOVES to cuddle with Mama).

Then there's my Franklin Joseph Jackson III (or Frankie J.. for short). I found him outside my office one day and fell in love. 

And a few months ago we acquired Rocky (AKA Monster Dog) from an animal shelter. Rocky is OUR dog and is in need of constant attention.....

Drew does great with "his boys" and takes very good care of them. Feeding them is completely his responsibility (unless he's at his dad's) and he rarely has to be reminded to do it. The first thing he does when he gets home from school (or anywhere) is let the dogs in the house. He really does love his "sons".

Last night Drew noticed that Frankie was only walking on 3 legs, and kept one of the back ones lifted. Drew came right in the kitchen and demanded that we take Frankie to the vet NOW. I told Drew he probably just hurt it while playing with the other dogs, and went to take a look at it. Frankie let me touch his leg, foot and hip and never made a sound or tried to move a way. I told Drew he'd be fine, we'd just make sure he took it easy for the night. Mr. Stubborn Doggy Daddy was not satisfied with my diagnoses. He said Tylenol was in order at least for the pain, but not the yucky cherry flavor (the kid does have standards). I agreed he was probably right and gave Frankie some doggy pain reliever (it's red, and I'm pretty sure I smelled cherry....). 

But Drew was still not happy..... shocker, I know.

So he went to his room and got HIS blanket. His baby blanket... that he NEVER shares with anyone (or any dog). 

It appears my son has inherited his mother's over-protectiveness. He took great care of Frankie last night, even making him sleep in HIS bed with him all night. 

I am happy to report that Frankie survived the night and was running around with the other two monsters on all 4 legs this morning. 

Pumpkins & Apples

Since it is technically Autumn now, I decided to take the munchkin on a very Fall-ish adventure this weekend. We headed East to Oak Glen. I'd been there before ages ago (I think I was about 11) but the munchkin had never been. As soon as we exited the freeway we saw a huge inflatable pumpkin in the air and a great big pumpkin patch... so we knew that had to be our first stop. 

*****Before I go any further... let me add a little note that it was about 102 degrees here in sunny Southern California this weekend.. but I was determined to have an "Autumn Experience".

Drew was so excited that this was a "Pick Your Own" patch. He's used to just picking them from rows of pre-picked pumpkins... or from the shelf at Wal-Mart. But of course, my never-satisfied child wasn't happy with just one.. he wanted all of them, and could come up with a reason for each one, and a place where we would put it. Luckily I got him to agree to just getting a few decorative small ones, and assured him we'd go to other patches over the next few weeks and we'd buy some we could carve.

After the pumpkin patch we headed up one of the longest roads ever towards the orchards. Nothing says Fall like picking pumpkins and apples... when we get to the Orchards, we stopped at the first one we saw. They were having a western show, but Drew decided our ears were too sensitive to listen to the guns being fired, so we went to find some lunch. After a quick bite to eat (for me, the munchkin ate 4 fries and decided he wasn't hungry...) we decided it was time to do what we came for and find some apples. This orchard however, didn't have any trees where people could pick from... just rows and rows of stores... So we moved on. 

Then next place up the road was HUGE. But it was also just a lot of shopping. There was Apple-Everything... cookies, pies, towels, dolls, fritters, bread.. you name, they can make it out of an apple. We went through the petting zoo which was kinda neat and let Drew play on a bouncer.. before heading out again.

Finally, we made our way on to Willow Brook farm. There were tons of cars parked on the side of the road so I figured this must be a good spot (oh, and also the ONLY spot) where we could pick some apples. We got in, got our bag and apple-picker-stick-thingy (no clue what the name of that thing is) and headed out to the trees.

Highly Disappointing........ there were about 20 trees or so... and each had about 4 apples on it... 2 of which were either rotten or not nearly ripe enough for picking. But we were on a mission, so I gave Drew the apple-picker-stick-thingy and let him go to town just picking whatever he could reach. We left there with about 5 apples.... BOO.... 

oh well, we had (an extremely hot) very good day together and spent some well needed time out in nature (apparently the beach isn't the only place mother nature created). And later that night we played Cowboys and Indians until bed time.... great weekend, with the greatest kid ever. 

***Side Note:  Look what I found outside my office at work this morning??? If all goes well, he'll be the new addition to our family. I can't wait for Drew to meet him this evening!!! 

The Weekend

This past weekend was another one of the long and horrible weekends... the weekend when the munchkin is at his dads. I kept pretty busy Saturday with shopping with Mom and lunch with the family for (the best) Grandma's birthday, then "watching" the fight (chatting with my Aunts & cousins) at my aunt's house.

But then Sunday came along. After waking up and playing with the little monster (Brady) I had absolutely nothing else to do that day. Of course I could have cleaned the house, organized the 800 miscellaneous papers laying on the dining room table, or finished painting the kitchen... but who wants to do that on a Sunday (or any day for that matter)? So I did a little cleaning, then headed out to some thrift stores to find some apron inspiration and who knows what else. I hadn't been in a thrift store in so long.... and man have I been missing out! I found about 4 or 5 dressers that I could refinish for Drew's room, about 6 bookshelves that I have to have, and a few old aprons to add to the collection along with 2 pillowcases to get started on my pillow case aprons. 
 And later that afternoon I went on a "Mommy Date" and took myself to the movies to watch Love Happens then did a little (unnecessary) shopping. I hate the weekends when the munchkins isn't home, but I some how manage to enjoy some "Me Time" also.