She has issues

A few weeks ago we found a nice community park that includes a dog park. Since we have basically no yard and Maho needs to burn energy we've taken her there a couple times. I thought she would love it and had visions of her running, chasing and making lots of new doggie friends.

Turns out she's more of a loner.

When we take her inside the fence, she is excited to go find a place to do her business and then she likes to stay RIGHTBYMYSIDE. The other dogs try to come play and sniff, but she's not interested. To make matters worse, after a while of walking around (maybe a little running) she is foaming at the mouth so she looks like a crazy dog. I try to take her to the water bowl, but either she is not a fan of community-shared water or she thinks she doesn't need a drink. The foaming is gross though.

On top of that, she stands by the fence door waiting/whining for someone to come in or out so she can get out. To go where I'm not sure since I stay inside the fence with her, but she's more interested in all the people and kids at the park than the other dogs.

She has issues.

And after a little incident at the dog park yesterday, Jackson may have issues too.

Two older men came into the dog park with their greyhounds. Big, sleek retired racing dogs. Since I was standing near the fence when they came in (because that's where Maho likes to hang out) I heard them talking to another couple and the man said that he wasn't sure if he wanted to let one of the dogs off the leash because it had eaten smaller dogs before. Since the dog park we were in was for dogs 30 pounds and up I guess he thought they would be safe.

I went to sit down at the picnic table and watch all the dogs (with my dog beside me) and soon Patrick and the kids were done playing at the basketball court and came to join me. One of the greyhounds started chasing a springer spaniel type dog and continued until it started to attack it with a bunch of the other dogs following. Of course the old man could not get to his greyhound to be any help and the poor spaniel was yelping. It really was a big, terrible scene. Some other owners finally got the greyhound off and the spaniel owner tended to his dog. Then some loud name calling and yelling obscenities ensued and the scene just got worse. All of this in front of KIDS.

Jackson is our most sensitive kid and all the events taking place really bothered him. He was almost in tears, saying he never wanted to come back to this park again. So we had to explain that the greyhound was doing what it's trained to do in racing, chase a small animal, and that the owner just couldn't control it and that in the end we were thankful that the spaniel was not hurt. It was scary, especially with the all the fighting afterwards.

I don't think he'll forget about it anytime soon, but I hope that next time we can have a much more positive experience at the park.

And that Maho learns to be more social.

A New Favorite

Like lots of Americans, I vowed to lose weight this year. I had a lot of success with Weight Watchers at work when we lived in Tulsa, so now that we are back on the mainland with plenty of grocery stores to choose from and plenty of "diet" foods I think I'll be able to do it.

I've been a subscriber to the Hungry Girl emails for a couple years now. She gives lots of good tips and food finds, plus recipes PLUS weight watcher points for almost everything. Not that I always followed the advice or anything, but it's good to be in the know. :) One of the products she always is talking about are VitaTops. They are like muffin tops and are made by a company called Vitalicious. They come in lots of flavors. I'm not sure how widely available they are, but I found them at the Publix and decided to try them out since they were on sale.

I only tried the deep chocolate kind, but man, they are my new favorite! I'm not even really a muffin fan either. They are satisfying because they have like a gazillion grams of fiber (well, 6). They are also only 100 calories and only 1 point on the Weight Watchers system. I have been having one as dessert and I am good for the night...which is good because otherwise I'd be snacking all night.

Plus it is chocolate people!

Go try some.

And if you don't like them you can send them to me.

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Last night the girls and Patrick attended a Daddy/Daughter dance at their school. Since I wasn't there, I can't technically give you all the details, but I can provide the sweet pictures and some second-hand commentary.

When Ella heard the news about the dance, she came home really excited and has been looking forward to it. She wasn't exactly excited about Kaley going as well, but she couldn't really argue about that point.

They decided to wear some dresses they had gotten shortly before leaving AK. Kaley was debating about wearing a flowery pink one, but I kind of coerced her into the black so they would all match.

And of course we had to take pictures of the cute couple (threesome?) just like you do traditionally before any formal dance.

Then Patrick pulled the car up and opened the door for them like a gentleman (reminding Jackson he needed to do the same thing for his mother when we went on our date to McD's later on...didn't happen)

They're off to the dance in style!

Patrick said there were probably around 30-40 dads at the dance, so it wasn't a HUGE turnout, but fun. A spaghetti dinner was included. The girls said they played group dance songs like the Macarena, the Conga line, Electric Slide, and of course the Chicken Dance. Kaley said her favorite was the Chicken Dance.

Afterwards they went for ice cream and saw some of the Epcot fireworks from afar.

The girls had a great night out with their dad and I think it was definitely a night for Patrick to remember as well.

Fake it til you make it

You know the old saying "Fake it til you make it?" I'm thinking I might need to apply it to my life right now.

Me and the kids left Alaska and the safety net of my parents 3 days before Christmas. I admit, it was hard to leave. When I should have been counting down the days to reunite my family and see my husband I was instead mourning the little time I had left with my family. My heart really did not want to leave. We had grown comfortable in Fairbanks. It was nice to finally live around my family and see them on a day-to-day basis. To be involved in the menial talks and tasks that go on in a household. And to make matters worse, my whole family had gathered for the holiday at my mom's house so it was especially hard to leave right before all the Christmas festivities.

But, leave we did and now we are in Florida. The weather has only gotten slightly better and my heart hurts only a little less each day wishing I could be back home.

As we head into the new year and our new life I am having a hard time. I'm not really excited to be starting over, I'm not really excited to be in FL, I'm not really excited to learn a new school routine and find new friends (if only!) or find where all the great places to shop are or even find out how to drive into Orlando.

So, after a week or so of a pity-party for one I have decided I need to change my attitude.

But what if I can't change my attitude? Does that change my situation? No. I am still starting over, I am still in FL, I am still going to have to learn a new school routine and find new friends and where to shop and how to drive into Orlando.

So I've decided I better "fake it til I make it" Act like I am interested in my surroundings even if I'm not, act excited about all the possibilities when all I want is the familiar, act brave even when I feel scared inside about starting over.

And then all that faking might just turn into sincerity.

At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Sneak Peek

Ella's 8th birthday party is this Saturday. We (I) decided to undertake a rather elaborate party, so I hope all goes well.

We are having a stuffed puppy adoption! Here is a sneak peek at the invites:

We've got 24 stuffed puppies up for adoption, collars to decorate, papers to fetch, dog bone shaped cookies to make and decorate and a digging area to dig for "bones" so I hope it is well-attended!

I'll be working the rest of this week to get all the last minute stuff done so I hope I can pull it all off. Wish me luck!

Doggie Birthday

Maho turned 1 (well 7 in dog years) this week. Ever since we got her last Christmas the kids have been talking about Maho's birthday and how we could celebrate it.

And celebrate we did.

Googled dog-safe birthday cake: check.

Bought some birthday bones: check.

Invited some doggie friends (well, they live here, but anyway...): check, check

Tried to get the perfect picture of the birthday dog: well, see below.

We had to add the Feliz Cumpleanos banner since she IS a Mexican dog :)

And just in case you were wondering, here is the recipe for the doggie cake.

Simple Dog Cake Recipe (courtesy of here)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix:

2 cups flour, white or wheat

4 teaspoons baking powder

Add:

2 six ounce cans of your dog's favorite food

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar (optional)

4 eggs

Approx. 1 cup milk (add slowly until mix reaches batter consistency)

Pour in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for thirty-five minutes until set in center. Let cool in pan for twenty minutes before removing.

Board of Thanks

With so much hoopla surrounding Halloween and then all the stores immediately gearing up for Christmas, I thought a little attention to the season of Thanksgiving was in order for this crew. I want the kids to recognize all we have to be thankful for each and every day of November, not just the anticipation of Christmas. I got some inspiration for a from here and decided to make my own board.

I think it turned out pretty nice. We have it hanging on the wall by the dinner table, so we have been writing our "thankful fors..." before dinner each night.

It has gone pretty well so far. Ella likes writing on the board and Kaley writes out her little notes as well (although they sometimes eat up a lot of the tag!) Jackson we are having a hard time getting into the spirit, but in the last week he did have one thought of thankfulness that moved him to write on the board.

Last year it was his basketball, this year Michael Jackson. I guess he gets points for honesty.