Pretty Dog

I sort of think we have too many dogs (3) some times.
I get very, very aggravated with the two bigger ones especially.
I get tired of giving Sable a bath every week.
I get tired of brushing off bags of hair and vacuuming and STILL having hair in the house and on the floor.
And yet - I still have to admit - they're pretty good with Leila and all she puts them thru at times.
Note the hair thing on Sable's head and the ponytail holder on her ear (and two others had already fallen off before I could get the camera).


Father's Day was pretty relaxing here.
We had gone to Charleston on Fri and spent the evening running around and went out to eat then.
The guys all went on a four-wheeler ride on Sat in Ritchie Co.
So Sun was spent pretty much as a normal day.
I thought I'd put a picture that has all my favorite guys though.


Sun night we took Austin to catch the bus to go to Kansas City.
So far, it sounds like he's having a really good time.
He'll be home sometime this weekend.
His teacher sent me a picture today that she must have taken during one of his competitions.


Darrell's been just a little bit lonely since Austin's been gone.
Not as much as he anticipated though.
He had a friend come to swim on Mon and Tues.
And he's been sick with a really bad ear infection since. Hard to miss someone when you feel bad.

Austin's Day

Last Tues (6/8) was Austin's 17th Birthday!
It was a pretty good day for him.
It was his birthday, and he won the birthday cake on the radio.
It was the last day of school.
We went out to eat to Mexican food.
And his WV State Champion Wrestling Ring came in. (And what a ring it is!)





I may get aggravated with him, but I do know that all in all - he's a pretty good kid.

Gymnastics

Leila started gymnastics last week.
The boys went for years and loved it.
Austin went more for upper body strength to stay in shape for wrestling. Darrell actually competed on the boys' team.
In reality, they both did more playing than anything though.
Although both boys would love to go back, they're not going to. Too much money and time.
I've been saying for months however, that I needed to call to see about taking Leila.
Well, I finally got around to making that call. She can go to the 'Mommy/Buddy and Me' class. It's for 2-3 year olds and only meets 1/2 hr each week.
When I called, Betty told me that at that point, they were full, but she'd let me know if/when a spot opened up. As luck would have it - a mere 2 days later, she called back. A child had dropped out, and she offered us the spot. Did we want to start that week?!
Leila's going to be starting preschool sometime in the fall. We thought that with that in mind, not only would she probably love gymnastics (once she gets used to it), but the socialization would be a good thing for her too to help prepare her for that.
We went. With her fear of new things, we really expected a 2-3 week adjustment period.
For about 10 minutes the first week, she wasn't too sure. She wanted to watch rather than do. After that, she start to join in. She even let the intructor (Amanda) pick her up, flip her, etc.
We went back last Thurs (the 2nd week). I was expecting that same 10 minute 'warm-up' period. Nope! Out on the floor she went!
She is taking to it and LOVING it!


The boys took her swimming this week too.
It's so strange.
Some of the most 'common' things scare her so much (using a different potty, touching sand, etc).
And yet, being thrown up 3-4 feet in the air and landing in the water or going completely under the water - great fun.

Although one of the dogs is missing from this picture - I liked this one.
(Obviously, animals certainly don't scare her either.)