All Dogs Go To Heaven

Ya know, when you get a dog there's a pretty good chance that you will live longer than he does. Unfortunately for us, that reality came a little quicker than expected. Radar was our first attempt at taking care of something, other than a plant, and trying not to screw it up too bad. Well, as you can see below, he was really easy to love.



But still, he was just a dog. Or was he? On more than one occasion he doubled as the Daniels security force, just ask Shawn or a few of our neighbors. He may have looked scary, but there was no bite in his bark. Any neighborhood cat could scare him away in seconds.



He definitely calmed down towards the end of his life, and that made him even more enjoyable with the kids. The night before he died I came home to the sight of Isaac hugging Radar's neck in a death grip. Radar didn't flinch. Radar acted like that was his calling in life.



When Radar passed away, I don't think any of us realized how difficult it would be. At least I didn't. I keep having to remind myself that he was just a dog, and not even a house dog. Somehow it still stings.

The discussions that we have been able to have with Madison, Emma, and Isaac however have been Heaven sent. They have never experienced the death of a loved one, and this has provided that teaching opportunity without actually wading through those waters. Where they have three sets of grandparents and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins they will undoubtedly have to pass through those experiences.

Well Radar, thanks for the memories, it was a ball. Lick on buddy, lick on.



Written by Kelly

Serious Conversations

Spring Break CAN be kinda fun! When the kids aren't fighting.....they actually have a minute to be together and have had some pretty cute conversations. I had to jot down a few of the more "serious" chats that have been going on:

Starting with Isaac and his very cute, yet effective, ways of communicating. He really gets his point across even though most of his words sound like jibber jabber. He still calls horses "Neighs" and now he calls cows "Meuwws". Not "Moos" but "Meuwws"--like a cat and and a cow mixed. He says "yum yums" instead of food--and there are many more similar substitutions. I'm starting to wonder, isn't it just as easy to say "Cow"? He says "Ow" when he gets hurts, so why not "Cow"? I think he's making it more complicated than it really is!

Anyway, lately he's always talking about SCARY things. He comes up to me at least twice a day and says "Mom, DARY! ROAR!" (With both arms up in the air like he's a scary monster) And then he grabs my finger and pulls me to where the "DARY" things are. Most often it's behind the shower curtain, sometimes we have to go into the food storage room together and look around, and check inside closets just to make sure. I just love the "Roar" part--he does the biggest, scariest roar. You have to hear it I guess.

Which reminds me of Emma and something she shared with me the other day. In all seriousness, she came running into my room and said, "Mom, now I can go down and clean my room all by myself sometimes, because now I know that there are no robbers inside the bathtub. Because if there was a robber, he would get really hungry since there is no food in there. And if he came out and asked us for food, we would probably just say "No way! You're a robber! Get out of our house!" So there really can't be any robbers in there."

Since I couldn't think of anything to say (still processing all of this....I didn't know that she was afraid of robbers hiding out in the bathtub), I just said "Yep, you're exactly right!" and then she skipped on down the stairs. It kinda makes me feel bad that we've had so many little issues with cleaning her room lately.

And then today, driving home from Logan, Emma and Madison had the cutest little conversation. Emma was asking me how old different people are and when they got married. Then it went like this:
Emma: Madison, how old will you be when I'm eight....when I'm 11.....how about when I'm 16.....
Madison: Emma, I'm just two years older than you and that's all. So I'll always be two years older than you.
Emma: So you're gonna always be bigger than me. I just KNOW you're going to get married first.
Madison: Probly so.
Emma: Well who are you going to marry?
Madison: I don't know, I don't have any boyfriends to marry. I guess I'll have to figure that out when I'm about.....12. (She was totally serious--talk about scary)
Emma: Yeah, or maybe when you're 16.

Silence for a minute or two.

Emma: And then I'll get married after you! And I wonder what baby will come down first. I hope it's a cute one. But it probably won't be a black one.

(Oh boy--where is this going....)

Madison: Well if you marry a guy that is black than your baby probably will be black but if you marry a white guy it will be white (duh).
Emma: Yeah, it will probably just match. And it will be cute cuz all mom's think that their babies are cute.

By this time I was cracking to pieces as I was listening. Just then we pulled up next to by brother-in-law and he saw me busting up, which made me laugh out loud, and that was the end of the conversation. Darn it! I was really enjoying it. I need to put a little tape recorder in their room and turn it on at bedtime. Madison is already just too rational. Pretty soon they'll both be too smart to have these chats.

So Yay for Spring Break! Even when we have absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to do--even when the weather is freezing and we don't want to go outside--it's just fun to be together (at least for me, it is).

Cowboy Isaac

Anyone who has come to our house at all in the past couple months knows that Isaac is always naked. He cannot and will not leave his clothes on. I think I remember saying in a post once that luckily he doesn't know how to take his diaper off....well he's working on it. I'm sure he'll have that off pretty soon. He's always yanking and pulling on it until it looks like a big heavy string bikini (see below). I really wanted to wait until summer to start the potty training thing but it looks like I might have to start sooner. Wish me luck!