Its a New Year

The new year is over a week old and yet, i haven't even sat down to list my "resolutions"... I've been pondering a lot of things, but sitting down to list them is almost too overwhelming right now... thus the procrastination :)

Christmas is officially over now. We had a family celebration on Epiphany that sort of closes the season. It was a great time of celebration and I am greatly relieved that its done now. Not that life ever slows down to the extent that I hope it will, especially in January with a bunch of birthdays to celebrate, as well as just the regular life stuff. The tree needs to be at the curb on Thursday evening, so somewhere in the next day or two I need to take all the ornaments and lights off. Sad to see it go, and yet ready for some ordinary time.

For Owen and Suzie's birthday on Jan 5th, I hosted the family party. We went bowling (I got my butt kicked) and then came back to my house for dinner. Owen turned 12 and Suzie turned 3, exciting birthdays for both (although Uncle D insists that Suzie has no idea what birthday means). A few funnies from the evening:

Lucy (age 2), petting Suzie who was chewing a bone on the floor next to her: "oh look, happy tail, happy tail" (I always say that when she's wagging her tail excitedly)
Reenie: Lu, do you have a happy tail?
Lucy: Yeth
Reenie: Where is your happy tail?
Lucy, in a very monotone voice (like "duh"), not pausing for a moment: Net to mine butt.

Geno had a mishap in the bathroom and his shirt ended up getting soaked. Naturally he didn't want to get in his PJs yet, nor did he want to wear one of my shirts, nor did he want his wet shirt. So I took him down to the laundry room to put the wet shirt in the dryer and we planned to wait for it. Plans changed when Geno realized how cold the basement is, so when I offered him a grey tshirt of mine, he took it willingly. As he is a bit smaller than me, the tshirt fit him like an alb... thrilled, he looked at the flowing sleeves, and watched his hands and how the sleeves fell as he folded his hands on his chest like a priest. "Reenie, I think I should take this home so I can say Mass in it" he told me seriously. Later he informed me that "grey is for Easter." He may not be quite up to speed on liturgical colors, but he sure does love the way those sleeves look when he spreads his hands, and folds his hands, and moves his hands... it was a rather entertaining evening.

I've recently discovered a new trick to keeping Suzie from licking the kids to her usual overwhelming degree. If she has a bone in her mouth, she can sniff them, stand next to them with her tail wagging excitedly, she can follow them around, but, unless she is willing to set down her precious bone (which is rare) the kids are free from her overly affectionate tongue. It works quite well all the way around. Suzie spent most of the evening out of the cage and playing nicely with the kids (aka chewing her bone while they snuggle with her, or walking around with her bone hiding when the kids got too loud). Anyway, Ellie is about eye to eye with the Suze and can be a bit intimidated by this large wagging creature. She likes the idea of being buddies with Suzie, but up close and personal (especially with no crate between them) it can be a little much. Well, Geno and Ben started feeding Suzie her dinner one piece at a time and Ellie wanted to get in on the action. Long after the boys had moved on to other activities, Ellie continued walking over to the dish, grabbing one morsel, walking to the living room and yelling "Dooogggg" and then chucking it at Suzie, delighted when Suzie would eat it. A few times Suzie would come too close for the food, and little Ellie, with a panicked expression would start backing up quickly. Then, after surviving the up close and personal encounter, she would give an excited yell and grin and head back for another bite of dog food. Apparently its kind of like being on a roller coaster for her, the thrill of the terror is exhilarating!!