Olive impostor?

Our dog Olive doesn't shed, which is awesome.  The only problem is that her hair grows and grows (and grows) and never falls out.  Olive had passed over the "fuzzy" and "fluffy" stage, and was headed straight into "mangy."  Sorry, Olive, but it's true.  The poor thing could barely see:

She could still smile for the camera though.  Cheese!

Here is one more "before" picture.  This is Olive doing her best impression of a throw rug.  A shaggy shag throw rug.

I don't know if you are aware, but getting this dog's hair cut is just about as expensive as getting MY hair cut AND colored, and that is not cool.  To save money I decided that this time I would tell the groomers to cut her hair SHORT.  That way, we could wait even longer between grooming visits.

We dropped fuzzy wuzzy Olive off at the groomers this afternoon.  When we went to pick her up, they showed me this dog and tried to tell me it was Olive:

Whatever.  That's not Olive.  

This dog did seem strangely happy to see us.  She ran right up to us, wagging her tail and trying to lick us.  She had Olive's collar on, and she seemed to answer to the name "Olive."  I was still dubious, but the groomer insisted that this sleek, skinny thing was really our dog.  She is the same color, sure, but that is where the resemblance ends.  The skinny dog ran up to our car and jumped right in, so I decided to take her home (but not until after I looked around the doggie salon one more time and didn't see Olive in there anywhere).

It has been a few hours now, and if this dog isn't Olive, she is doing a pretty good impression.  She even got loose and ran down the street to show her new haircut to one of her doggie friends, just like the real Olive would do.  She sounds like Olive, and she acts like Olive...so, I guess it really is Olive.

Or a very well-trained doggie spy, sent to infiltrate our home.

You be the judge.

Here is old fuzzy Olive, showing off a couple of her tricks.  

Of Earwax and Bald Eagles

My boy Dax sometimes doesn't listen to me the first few times I ask him to do something.  I steadily increase my volume level and sooner or later the message gets through.  It was often the same with the girls, so I didn't think too much about it...every kid has selective hearing, right?  (If yours don't, please share your secrets).

So, I was surprised when I got a letter that Dax had failed his hearing test at school.  They tested all the Kindergartners and first graders one day at school, and Dax didn't pass.  The letter was very vague, and I asked Dax about it.  He said that one of his ears doesn't hear so good.  What?!?  He had never mentioned it to me or Preston before.  I started thinking...maybe all this time he couldn't HEAR me asking him to put his dishes in the dishwasher or go brush his teeth or whatever.  Maybe he would have obeyed me the first time if he could only hear me!  And maybe he is so loud because he can't hear very well, kind of like how Preston yells everything when he is listening to his headphones! Aha!  The only thing keeping Dax from being a perfect angel is that he can't hear!  Let's fix this!

I took him to the school district audiologist, and sure enough, one of Dax's ears was not picking up sounds like it should, but the other one was working fine.  They had a tool that tested the nerve, and Dax's nerves were working fine.  So, something was blocking the sound somewhere between his ear hole and the nerve.  The audiologist took a look in his ear and said, and I quote, "Wow.  That's a lot of earwax."  

My boy has always had waxy ears, even when he was a baby, but I didn't think too much of it.  I know I am not supposed to be sticking Q-tips in there, and there is no wax on the outside of his ears, so it wasn't really on my radar.  The audiologist suggested I take Dax to an ear, nose and throat doctor to see if they could clear him out.  

Lucky for us, the ENT doctor confirmed that Dax had so much wax in his ear that it was completely blocking his ear canal, but knew just what to do.  After a week of loosening stuff up with a hydrogen peroxide solution, the doctor vacuumed him out with a specialized ear vacuum (who knew such things existed?).  Dax looked a little concerned at first:

 But after a while he decided it wasn't too bad:

I had high hopes that once his ear was cleaned out, he would magically hear and obey each and every one of my commands, and he would forervermore speak at a pleasant, quiet volume.  

So far, not so much.

Dax is still Dax, and still has a habit of making me repeat myself quite often.  And, he is NOT quiet.  But at least I know that he CAN hear through both ears, even if he CHOOSES not to listen.:-)

(Btw, the doctor said if I put 1/2 hydrogen peroxide and 1/2 water in his ears for a few minutes once a month, it will help keep the was from building up...in case you were wondering.)

Dax is doing well in school, but I can't resist sharing one assignment he brought home last week.

"If I had a pot of gold I would buy a car.  I wold buy a cat.  I wold buy a bold egle.  I would buy a homstr (hamster).  I would buy a pangin (penguin).  I would buy a cmylyin (chameleon).  I would buy a cheetah.  I would buy a notbook.  I would buy mknkil pensles (mechanical pencils).  I would buy a pensle (pencil).  I would buy a popcorn msheen.  I would buy a shark.  I would buy a dolfin.  I would buy a blue well (blue whale...cuz duh).  I would buy a trtl.  I would buy a algator.  I would buy a grizly bear."

I must admit that I am kind of glad my boy does NOT have a pot of gold, because...Wow.  He wants every animal from a hamster to a blue whale.  I have no idea where I would keep a blue whale.  I am pretty sure the cheetah and the alligator and the grizzly bear might not get along, and they would sure make a mess in the back yard.  The backyard is already in bad enough shape, and all I have is one little dog.  It is funny that he would buy notebooks and pencils...his school has vending machines with notebooks and pencils, and pretty much any time my boy gets his hand on a quarter, he puts it into the pencil machine, hoping that one of the coveted root beer scented pencils will come out.

We could use a new car though.

So there you go.  In case you wondered what Dax would do if he ever came in to some serious coin...he would buy a bald eagle.

Awesome.

Arden's Ninth Birthday!

Arden turned NINE years old last week.  Every year on her birthday I take a picture of her with her bunny, and boy howdy that girl is either getting big, or that bunny is getting small!  I remember when she was smaller than the bunny! (**sniff, sniff**)

 Supermodel:

 Her birthday was on a Monday this year, so we didn't have her "friends party" until the Friday following.  On her actual birthday, she got to go out to dinner with family (she chose Chili's for a change, which was ok with me.  Somehow I didn't take any pictures, which is not so okay with me, but I have no one to blame but myself).  She of course got a birthday cake on the big day too.  Too bad she accidentally smushed the writing on the cake with her bunny while she was putting in the candle.  Oh well, it still tasted good!

Somewhere along the line, I started letting my kids have birthday parties with all their friends every year, and now I am not sure how to make it stop.  They are so excited for it, and start planning what they want to do weeks and months in advance.  So, I just keep going.  And going.  I knew I didn't want all of the parties at my house though, because I am lazy like that.  I did some digging.  

Arden LOVES crafts, and I found out you can have a birthday party at Michaels Craft Store.  They have a party room, and for $50 they will: rent you the room, decorate it, set up the craft, give you invitations, thank you notes, treat bags, have a person there to direct the crafting, AND (best part) clean everything UP!  Arden chose to decorate a jewelry box for her craft, so all we had to do was pay for the wooden boxes, and Michaels threw in the paint, brushes, mod podge, scrapbook paper, glue-on jewels etc. for free too!  Score!  All I had to do was bring snacks.  Arden was over the moon, and counted down the days until her party on her little calendar until the big day finally came.

Here is Arden, almost ready to start painting her box:

 I wasn't sure Dax would be into it, but he was really excited to come along and make a box too.  His box is of course NOT a jewelry box, it is a pencil box.  There is a pencil machine at the elementary school, and every time Dax has a spare quarter, he can't help but buy a pencil at recess.  He is getting quite a collection built up, so I guess it is good he has a box now.  He decorated it with green, red and blue paint, and put dinosaur stickers on it.  Very manly.

 Here is the whole crew, painting away!

Here are most of the girls (and my boy, the thorn amongst the roses!), with their beautiful finished boxes!  Cora made one too of course.  They painted the sides, mod-podged some scrapbook paper on the top, and then covered them with stickers and glue-on jewels.  I hope they had fun.

 After everyone was done with their boxes, it was cupcake time!  Here is Arden making a wish:

Here are some things about 9-year-old Arden:

Favorite color:  Still red!
Favorite TV show:  Jessie, or Austin & Ally from the Disney Channel
Favorite thing to do:  Play with friends!
Favorite songs:  "Lips are Movin" by Meghan Trainor.  She also likes Taylor Swift (and says she likes One Direction, but I think that is just because one of her friends' older sisters likes them and so she thinks they must be cool.  I think she can only name one or two songs from them).
Favorite food:  Salmon or Pizza or Tacos or Coconut Curry (her tastes are expanding!)
Favorite dessert:  Cake, or York Peppermint Patties
Favorite activities:  Crafts, or tumbling (she can do 3-4 back hand springs in a row, and is pretty close to doing a "whip!")
Favorite things at school:  Art and reading
Least favorite thing at school:  Math :(
Other things she doesn't like:  Cleaning her room (her room is usually the messiest of all the kids), cleaning up after the dog in the backyard (can't blame her for that one), and eating breakfast.  I have to beg her each morning to pleeeease eat something!

She has her little quirks, but she is pretty dang awesome, if I do say so myself.  Happy Birthday Arden!!!