Ayres Insanity

  Not too long ago I had posted about the unexplainable rage of our little Boston Terrier, Annie. She's friendly and sweet to everyone except other small dogs and this has been a huge source of stress for me for quite a while.   Well, it happened again, the kids left the door open and she bolted out and attacked another dog, this time it was one of her own kind, another Boston. Upon hearing the commotion, I ran outside, grabbed her and threw her about ten feet into the house. As she was sliding across the floor like a bowling ball, I was surveying the damage caused to the other dog, A little blood, but nothing serious. Still, I had reached my breaking point, that dog's luck had run out.   The next day, we found the owner of Annie's victim, who was sweet and explained that her dog was probably at fault too, however I still felt that Annie was too much of a liability for us at this point. She told us that her in-laws had spent their lives raising and breeding Boston...

  May I just say that Russ is superdad, and not only that, but the most amazing husband ever. Having said that, I suppose he deserved the fancy gift he received for fathers day.   On Saturday I told Russ that I needed to stop by the Verizon store to have my phone fixed, when we arrived Russ wanted to stay in the car with the kids while I went in so I went in and talked to them about my options for Russ new phone. I texted him to come in, which he grudgingly did with a sleeping Ryler in his arms and an irritated look on his face at my insistence that he join me, but his demeanor quickly changed as soon as I told him to go pick out his new phone. He was thrilled as we headed home with his new iPhone.   Sunday was pleasant and easy going, we had my dad over for dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening.   I've expressed many times my feelings toward my husband, but I'd now like to share my feelings about my own father. My dad is one of the kindest and mo...

  Today I'm going to write about something that I've come to feel quite strongly about. I am aware that not everyone will agree with me on this but this is my blog so I'll write what I want.   I'll start by saying that it has taken a while to get my little ones to sleep through the night. It seems that just as they get old enough to sleep without a feeding at night, they start to teeth and it throws everything off, and every time I've mentioned our sleep issues, there is always someone who is quick to say "just let them cry it out".   I'm sure the so called "professional" that came up with the idea of letting a baby cry it out was not a mother, but probably a man with little understanding of babies. I tried this method with both of my boys and found it not only cruel and neglectful, but ineffective and complete torture for me. There is no amount of schooling that can take the place of a mothers instinct, it is a gift given to mothers by Go...

  School has been out for a few weeks and the time is flying. Because we spend our days outside, blogging has taken a back seat, but an update is in order.   So just before school got out, Taevin lost a tooth, to the best of my knowledge it wasn't even loose. He just came to me one evening after a routine wrestling match with his brother, tooth in hand and the cutest little toothless smile I've ever seen. Not sure of the going rate these days for lost teeth, the tooth fairy settled on 2$, that seemed to work.   And speaking of teeth, Callae now has 5, but not the ones you'd expect. Three on the bottom and the two upper "i teeth", she looks like a squishy little vampire, so stinkin cute! The little darling is ten months now and into everything, she crawles, climbs stairs, babbles and is obsessed with playing in the dog food.   The boys are enjoying the summer and I think I might even be getting a bit of a tan (shocking, I know). Russ is working like crazy...

  Today is the first official day of summer vacation and the kids are thrilled!   Kindergarten was a fantastic success for Taevin, he had wonderful teachers and learned so much.   This morning we woke up and had pancakes for breakfast, the kids immediately wanted to play outside, but I had to set some rules in order to make summer as productive as possible. I told the boys that before we could head out to play we first needed to read two books, and second, make sure the house was for the most part, in order. I couldn't believe how fast Taevin worked to get things done! Why didn't I think of this sooner?   I'm excited for a lazy summer and some good quality time with my kids, let's just hope the weather cooperates.

  Here in our happy little community we have several great neighbors that we've become friends with, but one in particular are the Fairbanks. They live next door and our kids play, we have dinners together, hang out and so on.   The other day as I was getting home from the grocery store, the kids were all playing outside as usual and a few of them ran up to the car. Taevin quickly informed me that Taylor (the Fairbanks 5 year old daughter) was his "girlfriend", I looked at Taylor who nodded and grinned ever so innocently. I said "Really? So what do boyfriends and girlfriends do together?" He said "We kiss on the cheek". After a quick reminder that although cheeks are ok but kissing on the lips is not allowed, they assured me that they would not kiss on the lips until they were 17, I guess I can live with that.   Later Tasia told me that when they broke the news to her, she told Taevin to tell Justin, when he looked at him, Taevin got shy and ran aw...

  I love quotes, I have them all over my house. I think that a good quote can inspire us, but as I sit here paying our miserable monthly bills, I am questioning the truthfulness of a certain quote.   That quote is "money doesn't buy happiness". I've always doubted this statement, in fact a few years ago Russ and I went to a finance seminar, the speaker, Dave Ramsey, said that whoever coined that phrase must not have ever had any money. It was meant to be funny, and it was, but in a way I agreed with him. There have been a few times in our lives when we've had a few extra dollars to spend (yay for tax returns!) and there is something exhilarating, an adrenaline rush, or natural high of sorts that comes from purchasing something you've been longing for (that is before the buyers remorse sets in).   Although on occasion I have caught myself designing my dream house in my head, or wondered what it might be like to wear designer jeans, I've never aspired t...