"Mom, Yoshi pooped on the floor again"

Having two dogs is working out really well. In Max we have a built in playmate, babysitter and tattletale. A few days ago we noticed that we could be upstairs and the dogs would be downstairs playing. Max would stay and have fun up until the point when Yoshi would pee or poop in the house. At that moment he comes upstairs and sits down in front of us and just stares at us. Even if we try to ignore him, he follows us and stares some more. We realized that that is his way of saying 'I am up here with you and in case you are wondering I didn't make the piles or puddles downstairs.' It makes me laugh a little.
As far as the new puppy goes, we continue to call him Yoshi because nothing else seems to fit right now. However he has a few commonly used nicknames. Fuzzy britches and snuggle britches are the two we use most often. He really is such a cuddly dog. We love him and have fun with the two. Yoshi is mostly house trained as long as we don't let him play and get excited for too long. Max plays both older brother dog and mother dog to Yoshi.
I hate to sound so 'oh, my boys are so cute' when they aren't humans, but you've seen the pictures!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Knecht's thanks for the tutu pictures! Made my day.

The Cops

I finally left work tonight at 5:05pm. The children left at 3pm and normally on the day before a Holiday Break, the teachers are peeling out of the parking lot at 3:01, gift bags in hand. Well, that would have been me if it weren't for my student sitting in the office with the cops! A bit of a stressful day.
But my break has officially begun! I came home to an US Weekly in the mailbox, so I settled in for an hour of guilty pleasure reading. We are going to try to start a book club with a couple gals from work, so I've got to get in my fluff reading now before something important.
Any suggestions for books we should start with?
One more update: 7 inches of snow on it's way tomorrow! I remember reading a book Snowbound with Betsy when I was a little girl and it sounded so fun to be snowbound. I am going grocery shopping tomorrow for some good trapped inside food. Any good ideas?

So how do you say Latke anyway?

Today was our 'Around the World Holiday Celebration' for kindergarten. Having come from a school with no real parties to speak of and no real expectation, I am feel a little overwhelmed with the holidayness at school.
I don't know how much you guys know or what I've shared but there are 5 kindergarten classes and 4 are in a wing together and I am in exile. It is probably a wise choice on their part. :) So, they have been working together for 3 years now and I am kind of out of the loop #1 because I haven't taught with them and #2 I am far away and don't see them regularly to get the lasted update on plans.
Some things are done the same and most things are not. I kind of just guess what these things are. So, Holidays Around the World. I'm in! I'm in charge of Hanakkah. Good. Making Latkes-don't how to say it. Lat-kas or Lat-keys ??? I should take a poll, but all day people kept saying both and switching back and forth. Just another good reason to have a Jewish friend! I'm going to temple to find out!
So, I was chatting with my co-workers at lunch yesterday and they casually mention in passing something about their Christmas party on Friday! Huh?? I thought the 3 hour festivities on Thursday (today) counted as our party? So, I just found out that in order to keep up with the Kinders I have to have a little party!! No one wants to be the only teacher not celebrating and giving out candy or treats. You know the parents get the kiddies off the bus and compare treat bags and seeing that their child has none will suddenly feel that they have been assigned the wrong teacher. I hope this isn't the case, but no one wants to be the lame teacher. So, another day of craziness tomorrow. It was actually a very fun day, but one that I am grateful is over.
As of 3:30 tomorrow I am announcing to the world, or just the handful that read this rather, that I will be in my adult size feetsy jammies until I am good and ready to get out of them. That may or may not be on Saturday morning.
To the teachers reading this blog: 1 more day! If you are already on vacation: You suck! Just kidding I love you all!

More Cuteness!

Surprise!!!

I know you are thinking 'Hmm, that doesn't look exactly like Max and plus he's so much smaller. Well, that is because this is not Max.

Intoducing Yoshi...we think. We brought home our second puppy this morning after stocking up on paper towels and a extra helping of potty training patience.

We have been thinking about getting a friend for Max for a little while now and John fell in love with one of this guy's siblings on-line. So this morning, we took Max down to PetSmart and met our new little friend. His name was Miki, but we don't think we like that. He is an Akita/Lab/Sheperd mix so he and all his siblings have Japenese names.

If you know anything about Akitas, Labs and Sheperds they are big dogs. Akitas are usually 100lbs. What was I thinking? I don't know. I was in love with a tiny little dog named Cookie who was a Beagle/Terrier mix. Then I remembered how much I hate yippy dogs and I don't think there is a Terrier out there that doesn't yip. So, John retrieved Miki/Yoshi from his cage and brought him over to me and said that I could hold him. I was trying to be strong since I wanted a true lap dog, not just one that thinks he is. Well, I was holding him and he just snuggled right into my chest and was a calm and non-licking pup! He melted my heart. When I put him on the ground, he just sat there and stayed by my side.

So, now you know, the dog to human ratio in our house is now even.

Our back yard is full of snow and Yoshi was a little hesitant, but soon was out there jumping around with Max in the snow. I wish I could link a video cause they are really cute! Right now they are enjoying the peace of kennel time.

Here's another picture for the road.

What The...

A little bit crude, but a whole lot of funny! Thank John!


http://www.tamponcrafts.com/lights.html

To Quote

To quote the weather channel in regards to this weekend
"At the same time bitter cold arctic air will keep oozing southward from Canada. The combination of the arctic air and moisture produces a wide swath of wintry precipitation into early next week from the Rockies to the Northeast."

Weather Report

Last Saturday 4 inches of snow, followed up by rain = 2 inches of snow covered by 2 inches of ice
Tuesday 3 inches of snow
Thursday 4 inches of snow
Tomorrow- you guessed it...more snow!
This coming Tuesday- "oh the weather outside is frightful"
What's the temp in CA and TX? Just curious. Gina how about UT?

Magical Snow

Saturday morning we got quite a snow storm. We heard that it was going to be 3-6 inches. Well, they've got to do more than that from convincing me not to go out and get my hair cut. So at 9am, I headed out just as it started to snow. Well, I headed home 3 hrs later. I get sucked into the mall and spent probably 1 hr in Barnes & Noble just feeling excited and intelligent. I think that I love books so much because if I stand in the cookbook aisle long enough, I actually think 1)I can cook and 2) I want to cook. Every other section has a similar effect on me. Maybe not the romance section, but then again I don't frequent those aisles, so I can't really tell. Oh, and the travel section...don't get me started because that is not the topic of this post.
So, back to my snow story. Those of you who have lived in snow and survived, know that when they say 3 inches are going to fall, you don't stop your whole life, just to be inside, certainly not if it means having overwhelming hair for one more day. You assume that the plows will be out and doing there job to make everyone safe and happy AND alive! Well, you would assume that because you don't live here in the frozen tundra. It was 12:30 and I was driving home. The roads hadn't been touched by a plow and 3 inches had already fallen. Cars were fish tailing everywhere. I am a safe and cautious driver in snow and I was constantly waiting for Mr. Can't Get Off My Cell Phone to flip his car around 3 times and end up driving into my hood. It didn't happen, but it could have. The roads were horrible. So, as I sit on Main Street at a red light, I was thinking to myself, 'why aren't the plows out?' Just then I see a plow going in the opposite direction. Happiness? No! The plow was up! He was however salting the street. That just made me a little on the psycho side, so I crept home (I would have been speeding cause I was so mad, but I know better) and wrote an email and made a phone call.
So, Monday at work in the faculty room, we were all chatting about the weather, etc. I was expressing my frustration with the natives and one man who told me he was on the public works board asked me in all seriousness 'Did you expect them to start plowing before it had finished snowing?' He really thought that was ridiculous! Um-yeah, just like they do in all the other snowy states that I have lived in! Then one co-worker who has actually never left the state piped in with 'Our state is one of the best when it comes to snow removal!' What kind of crack was she smoking? I'm not sure why she thought she should add that since she has no point of reference unless of course she has taken upon herself to do some independent research on the topic! The natives are so defensive!
Anyway, I went home and didn't shovel, but instead went inside, turned on the Christmas tree and the fire and vegged. It was lovely, due to the canceling of Stake Conference and all. We just enjoyed our weekend until we realized that it sleeted almost all day Sunday and just froze onto a lovely layer of snow. I couldn't even leave the house to take supper to a friend who just had a baby. I have failed the R.S. calling chain!
It snowed another 2 inches or so last night and we are supposed to get a few more tomorrow. Shoveling aside, I have been mesmerized lately by the snow.
It really is magical! As I was driving home yesterday in it, the snow on the ground and in the air was all sparkly and glimmering. You know how in animated movies they try to make it seem like it is millions of diamond chips on the ground? Well, that is what it is like. Just gorgeous. Then last night I stood at my back door. The deck light was on and I watched the snow as it fell and swirled around the light. One second it would be falling straight, only to start falling up and then to the right and then a bunch to the left. I can't explain it adequately, but know that even though I hate salting and scrapping windshields, etc. I am loving the snow for it's beauty. Liz, I'm going to take some pictures tomorrow I hope and load them up. We don't have any dirty snow yet. Just beautiful white piles. As I live out in the country it is beautiful to look out at the acres and acres of land covered in snow and then to see a red barn popping up.
Winter has it's perks. Ask me again in two months.