Bird Nest 2009

We have another pair of birds nesting on our porch light, just like last year. Just on a different porch light! I won't get as many pictures this year because the porch light on this house is much higher then the old house!

I'll continue to update this post just like I did last year!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Yep, we went to the zoo! We drove up to the Metro in a line with a couple other moms from our area only to meet up at the zoo with about 10+ more moms from other areas! We got to actually ride the Metro which I think was the kids favorite part, though it made me realize how much of a country girl I really am. All the mess of the Metro, I was completely lost! Thankfully, we had someone with us that does it often! Ok now to the pictures because I know thats all you really care about!

Riding the Metro with Breanna (her and Jaycob skipped school to make this trip!)

Awaiting everyone to gather and kids to use potties before we head off to see some animals!!

Some Flamingos for Pop-Pop! And the tiger!

Lion and kids with a tiger!

If you look really close the mama in the second picture is holding a tiny baby!

I loved this picture of a handful of the kids we went with!

Our Puppy

Our poor puppy Oreo! We've had issues with his skin lately so a greatly feared visit to the vet was in order. Daddy took him and walked out 1.5 hours, $400, and 3 medicines later... I guess they told him that they weren't sure what is was, but could tell us it wasn't that serious. They were thinking a yeast infection of some sort. So we had to give him a steroid and an anti fungal of sorts twice a day. These medicines made some sort of improvement for a couple days, but then his skin went right back to being dry, flaky, and itchy! The vet called to see how he was doing and I told them not well. So we made another appointment!

I took him last week and they took some skin scrapings and a vial of blood. From the scrapings they could tell me that it wasn't a primary yeast infection, that it was probably more just his glands secreting too much oil. They sent the blood off for all kinds of testing.

Yesterday, I get a call back from the vet with his blood test results. Not good, but definitely not the worst news we could have gotten! We found our poor Oreo has hypothyroidism. From what the vet told me a normal thyroid function level is anywhere from 2 to 4. Oreo's level was at 0.2!!! Yeah practically not functioning at all! So they gave us some meds to help out with his levels, this will be something he'll have to be on for the rest of his life. But like I said it's better then a lot of things he could have been diagnosed with and really it's only $15 for a month supply of meds. Not bad really, especially if its gonna bring our playful puppy back.

In the last year we've really noticed some changes in Oreo. Nothing bad, but we just chalked it up to him getting older! But after we looked up the signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism in dogs... Yep, Oreo has the majority of them. Here's the list:
~Lethargic behavior such as a lack of interest in play, frequent napping, tiring out on long walks (we chalked up to age)
~Weight gain, sometimes without an apparent gain in appetite (we chalked up to age)
~Bacterial infections of the skin (we were trying to get treated)
~Dry skin (yep, goes with the one above)
~Hair loss, especially on the trunk or tail (“rat’s tail”) (goes with the infection from above)
~Discoloration or thickening of the skin where hair loss has occurred
~Cold intolerance/seeking out warm places to lie down (we didn't think anything of this until we seen this... But yes this describes Oreo to a TEE)
~Slow heart rate (we wouldn't know)
~Chronic ear infections (chalked up to him being a cocker)
~Severe behavioral changes such as unprovoked aggression, head tilt, seizures, anxiety and/or compulsivity (he can have a lot of anxiety at times)
~Depression (well... he's been lazier, but again age...)

We're hoping to see some kind of improvement in about a week. Mostly just with his skin, but we're hoping his behavior too!

Backyard Friend or Foe??

Daddy took this picture! The kids just loved the whole series of the pics that he took. Gotta admit he's a bit cute! Come from the lady threatening to buy a BB to keep him off of the bird feeder!! LOL

BUGS!!

The kids were bug-hunting today... This is what they came up with!

A baby worm, there under the big one. and this nasty looking red bug!

County Fair 2008

Today we went to the fair again this year like I said we would last year. We didn't spend nearly as much time with the animals this year as last. The kids were just to weary of them. We made it through one side of a barn and one side of the rabbit and fowl section. That was enough for them! Abygail held her noise the entire way through both saying she smelled something. It was too cute!

We played 1 game this year. The one they loved last year were they got to pick a duck and pick a prize. Jaycob got a car and Abygail picked a stuffed duck.

This year we were able to ride a couple rides! It started with a train, the kids and I rode that around the track more then a few times. They enjoyed it, to me it was the train ride that never ends!! The whole time they were riding the train they seen the kiddie roller coaster and wanted to go on it... Problem being 1)we didn't think Jaycob would handle it well by himself and 2)we didn't have enough tickets for all of us to ride. So we talked them into these cars instead. Jaycob and Abygail seemed to LOVE it!

Afterwards we then introduced them to cotton candy! It didn't go over so well with Jaycob, he's a texture eater like his father and me. Abygail was all about it. Did it taste sweet? Yep, she ate it up! Between her and I the bag has been gone for about 2 hours now...

Note: Daddy has more pictures, I'll hopefully add them tomorrow.

Long Walk to the Beach

Daddy took the day of of work today and we decided to go out and check out this beach that we've heard so much about! Little did we know it was a mile and a half trek down to it! Good thing we threw the good stroller in back just in case!

This section of the trail you see was pretty uneventful, but sections of it we had to pick up the stroller over the tree roots or 'creek's as Jaycob called them!

I don't have any pictures down by the beach because it was just too bright down there, non of my pictures showed up!

Evening Beach Trip

We usually don't head out after dinner. Its generally our time just to relax. But Aspen had called and asked us to head to the beach with them and the weather was so perfect it was just too hard to resist! And boy was the weather perfect!!

We got to see a couple new things at the beach this trip! We seen the swans pictured above, we seen the beach at a different tide level then we're used to, and we seen a woman kayaking! The kids thought all of these things were the greatest!

We had a blast, wish we really could have made it last all night long! But little ones needed to still come home, shower, and go to bed. It was a late night for us!!

PA Fish

This is at the fish hatchery in Pennsylvania. This is just like an observation tank where you can see what species are in the area... Jaycob really liked it once he figured out it was just like a large fish tank. (Abygail was at home with Grandma M. taking a nap during our outings today).

We also went fishing. Jaycob has been asking to fish for the longest time. I was disappointed in the fact that it didn't seem like he was going to get a chance to do it this trip. But we DID end up getting a chance to sneak out. He LOVED it. He'd throw it out there and reel it back in. Then we would cast it out further and he would wait and slowly reel. He did have a fish at one point but the water was really shallow and rocky toward shore and he ended up dragging the fish right off the hook as he reeled it in!! Even with that he was soooo excited!

Older Sister found her little fishing spot and was really the only one who ever landed a fish. She had so much fun, against all her expectations of fishing!

Gardens

Took all four kids to the Gardens today! The weather was more then beautiful for a walk in the gardens!

We had never been in the bathrooms here before and I couldn't believe how much work was put into the walls. ALL of the walls were tiled like this....


Aby insisted on standing under this bark painting. And I thought this one little tree standing in the sunlight was really cool!

And kinda like the bottles we did last year, we did a craft that will be displayed later in the year. This time it was decorating sticks that they will, I think, turn into a snake. Jaycob and Abygail painting their sticks. Then Older Brother's and Older Sister's sticks. And the two bottom ones are Jaycob's and Abygail's!!

Evening Walk on the Beach

Tonight we went for a walk on the beach with Aspen and the girls. The kids thought it was great going to the beach after dinner, its not something we usually do! The weather was beautiful, perfect for beach walking!



My Treasures: Good and bad! (No, I didn't bring home the horseshoe crab!)