I think we forgot how a puppy acts. We were so use to the way Skipper was, a dog with trained in manners, that the puppy stage was a rude awakening. We all kept saying we miss Skipper. Rocky is a sweet puppy so I know he will get there, and I keep telling the kids that. I am hoping Rocky will be with us a long time.
Amelia has started basketball this month. Of course, she had to complain about it a bit before practice but once she got there it was great. Her coach this year seems like a nice lady, who actually can teach the fundamentals of basketball. Amelia has already had her coach cracking up with her witty humor. Amelia feels confident in basketball because she is always one of, if not, the tallest girls on the team. It doesn't hurt that she's a lefty too.
I am excited to see her play. I already told her I would bribe her with trips to the concession stands for rebounds, steals and points. It's amazing how aggressive she can get with a bag of popcorn on the line. :)
The boys and Dan went to the winter lodge campout with the Boy Scouts this month. They rented the lodge at Field Springs State Park. The park gets a ton of snow, so the rangers groom the trails and sledding hill. Lucky for the boys the sledding hill is right outside the lodge. Jacob wasn't able to sled this year because of his knee but Jack did a ton of sledding. He would run as fast as he could to launch himself down the hill. He said he had so much fun expect for one time. He said he hit a bump or something, flipped up in the air, "did the scorpion" (when his feet touch the back of his head, stomach down) and then landed in a pile of snow. He said he laid in the snow for a bit after that one. Dad had to come down to check on him but Jack was alright and that wasn't his last run down the hill.
Here is the story of how we saw and picked out our future puppy:
I had prearranged to meet the lady the Monday after Christmas on our way home, the lady lived in Kelso. Well around Christmas, the westside was hit with snow. The lady called concerned about the amount of snow, but I reassured her that we were driving home anyways, and we were very excited to meet the puppies. She said OK but, on the way, down she called again to say that they had more snow. Her husband would be willing to drive the puppies down to Shari's parking lot so we could see them. I told her we were on our way so we would just keep going since I wanted to see where she kept the dogs and meet the mom, so we continue on.
The freeways were clear but once we got off that in Longview the roads got progressively worse, with compact snow and ice. The roads also got progressively steeper and steeper the further we went. But we just kept on going, Dan just started driving slower and slower. The final road we were driving up turned into a steep, steep hill with a sheet of ice over it with hairpin turns. With .8 miles left to get to the lady's house Dan slowed to go around a corner too much, the car couldn't get traction. He had to stop to take off the anti-slip feature of the car he could get more grip, but it was too late. The road was too steep and too slippery. His only option was to just back down the road slowly. The kids were very nervous at this point because it was getting dangerous. They all started giving suggestions on what to do. I had to tell them all to be quiet because their Dad was a good driver and we would be fine. Dan was halfway down the hill when we started sliding towards the ditch. We stop, Dan tried to get us going again but then we started sliding down the hill slideways. I was just looking out my window as slide down this hill thinking, here we go! Luckily, we stopped. At this point we were sideways in the road. Dan was able to jock us around so that our front was pointed down the hill. Thank God! We then crept slowly down the hill.
Once we were down the hill we called the lady, so I guess we were going to meet at the Shari's parking lot after all. She didn't pick up, so I left a message. 15 minutes later I called again. Then another 15 minutes later I called, this went on until we had waited about an hour. At this point we were all very frustrated, confused and disappointed. I finally said let's go, we still had to drive home and it was getting late. Of couse, 15 minutes down the road the lady calls! She said her phone had just gone to voicemail, so she hadn't gotten our calls. ugh... She said if we still wanted to meet, we could. I know I did and felt it was important for the kids, so I said yes. Dan did a quick turnaround and we headed back.
We met in the Shari's parking lot, like the lady originally suggested (yes, humble-pie). She brought two puppies to choose from. They of course were adorable and of course the kids' hearts melted. We held them, took pictures of them, put them down in the car to see them move around and most of all, snuggled them. All three kids wanted both of them because they were so cute. We decided on the bigger of the two. He was a cutie that interacted with us and let me hold him like a baby.
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Well the holiday season of 2021 is over. We had a great one this year. For Christmas we made to Umma and Uppa's after some heavy snow on the pass. The kids say over and over again their favorite part of Christmas is seeing all the family, of course that warms my heart. Amelia got to spend two days at Tanya's before Christmas. She loved that but her energy was really missed at Umma and Uppa's. It was great to see her on Christmas Eve, when the Martinson's showed up. Amelia was excited to share that John drove 112 on the freeway in Tanya's Telsa. I could see the boys were very envious of that!
Christmas Eve was just so much fun. After a unanimous request to play the fishing game, Umma and Uppa brought it back. The kids love the fishing game and the nostalgia of it. We also played the brain teasers. Those were fun because we were working in teams. What a great way to work together and build family memories and bonds.
Christmas morning, we gave the kids a dog collar, leash and dog toy. We told them we were getting a puppy later in January. They were all very excited about it. I told them that on Monday we were going to go pick out the puppy from a litter, that really got them excited. Later in the morning, Jack came into to talk with me about a problem he had. He said, "Mom, I have a problem. I feel like if we get another puppy, we will be trying to replace Skipper." I could see his heart was hurting over this. We talked about how we wouldn't be replacing or betraying Skipper because we could never replace Skipper. I also told him that what he was feeling was totally normal; if he wasn't ready to get a new puppy we could wait. I could see he was physically relieved after we talked. (And just as a spoiler, once he saw the puppy, we are going to get he fell in love).
On New Year's Eve we went to our friend the Schonewills. We used to go to their New Year's Eve Party every year but hadn't the last couple of years because of COVID. It was so nice to be able to go this year. The kids were so happy to continue the tradition. We stayed till midnight. We didn't see the kids hardly at all, only when they stopped by for food. Most of the evening they were hanging out with the other kids in the garage or other rooms.
