Willow's Nails . . .

I don't know how we end up with dogs that have "issues" but it just seems to keep happening!

We used to have Casper (passed away several years ago from Congested Heart Failure after being with us for 13 years) who didn't like being alone and loud noises, that actually dug through linoleum and chewed halfway through a door one night because he didn't like the noise of a water softener recycling.

Anyway . . . We now have Willow. Willow is a beautiful dog that we have had since she was 8-weeks old and she will be two in May. We aren't sure what Willow is (when bought we were told she was a Beagle/Jack Russell mix) but seems to be more Dalmatian/Greyhound/Nut Case/Wild Thing. But, to top off her wildness she has a "chicken-liver" side. She severely dislikes riding in a vehicle, noises from airplanes, helicopters, trips to the vet and most definitely getting her nails cut!
The last time we had them cut we took her in to the vet to have them done. We were told it could cost anywhere from $11 -$25, depending on the dog. Needless to say I knew we would have to pay the full $25 plus she threw such a fuss they didn't get all the nails done all the way and she had to have a bath when she got home because she "messed" all over herself.

This time we decided that we would keep her home, try to sedate her and have a peaceful time of it! Who was I kidding! This is Willow, Remember!

We started off with a 1/2 tablet . . . no go. Tried adding another 1/2 tablet a while later, still no go. Then gave her another 1/2 . . . For a dog that was stumbling around like a drunken sailor it was amazing the fight she put up as soon as the clippers came out! We ended up having to put her harness on because she would actually crawl up Kurt and kept hurting him. Kurt had to hold her and even Hailey had to get in on it and hold her too so that I could clip her nails! It was quite the struggle! But after hours of trying and many doses of sedative we got it done!


Poor thing looked sooooo sad!

We are not looking forward to having to do them again in a couple of months!

Oh, did I mention the time last year that she wanted to make friends and play with bees? She loved bees. But when she was done playing with them she decided to swallow them!!!!! She had to be run to the vets to get emergency shots that time too (thankfully Pat could run her there for me, I couldn't get her there, I think Ty was home sick and Kurt was working!)

Makes your heart hurt just looking at the pictures! Believe it or not after she got back from the vet she played with the bees a little more but mellowed out on it for the rest of the summer! Wow!

Where did this come from?

I just had to post this! This snow storm came out of nowhere! It was short but cool!

All this snow fell in a short period of time but as I speak the beautiful sun has popped out and is starting to melt everything. I love snow!

Idaho is such an interesting place to live!

Grandma and the Cello !

Grandma came to visit and she had a surprise up her sleeve for Hayden! She arrived in the mid afternoon and waited patiently for Hayden to return from school!

The surprise destination!

This was a great day for Hayden! He had decided that he would like to learn the Cello when he goes to Middle School this fall and Grandma surprised him by taking him to our local music shop and getting him one!

It is a beauty and the store worker was kind enough to let her picture be taken in the process!

Hayden trying it out for himself!

Well, here he is! All ready to go! He is sooooo excited to get to do this!

He didn't wait a minute to start trying to learn. When they got home with it Hailey started to show him the basics of how to hold the bow and posture. By the next day she had already taught him the "G" scale! She is going to be his instructor for the summer! If we can keep the sibling rivalry at bay this might be a very productive summer!


As for the rest of Grandma's visit - she was put to the test by the boys of the house at various card and board games. This seems to be a tradition that is forming here. Grandma comes to visit, we love her, hug her and then try to cream her with every possible game we can play!

Sadly for Grandma she was bested by Tyler in several games of Go Fish and Old Maid.

Tyler's sweet look is deceiving. He will eat you alive at games and loves every minute of it!


Then she was to play Hayden and Tyler both at checkers. She had had enough of being Mrs. Nice Guy and then took them both down in the checker matches. I would like to think it was hard for her to defeat her sweet, wonderful grandchildren but I really didn't see it in her face just more like a hidden, silent victorious joy!

Well, it was another great visit with Grandma that came to an end too quickly.

But, as usual with Grandma, her timing was perfect because not but 45 minutes after she drove away on her two hour journey home we got blasted with a snow storm of sorts - it is still snowing as I type! It almost looks like white-out conditions! No warning of this one! I hope she makes it home okay, she had a great head start!

Thanks for everything Grandma! Hope you had a good time too! We all miss you and love you!

Irish Dancers . . .

While Grandma was in town visiting there was plenty for her to do! Friday night she went with Hailey and Hayden to the Nampa Civic Center where Kurt was working and watched a bluegrass band by the name of Bearfoot. I heard it was quite good. Forgot to send the camera with Hailey.
Saturday, after a day of doing some shopping and such they went to another venue at the Civic Center. Irish dancing. I believe it was a local dance team. This time I sent the camera with Hailey and here are a few shots.

They must have been dancing with lights in this picture. I think this is Hailey's favorite.

It is sad that a lot of these shots came out blurry but Hailey said the camera wasn't behaving. I heard there was an episode that was funny that I know Tanya will be sorry she wasn't around for, to capture on film. While Kurt was removing something from the stage he tripped over a cord and stumbled, while the spotlight was on him. Being somewhat of a silent ham he then finished the trip with a little jig to the joy of the audience. I also heard there was someone up in the sound box that was taping the whole show. I want that tape! I have got to see the jig. I need to know if I am going to have to walk around in public with a paper bag over my head!!!!

Rocky Mountain High School!

I think Hailey is pretty exhausted at this point! This week has been full of interesting things and tonight just added to it! Hailey attended her Freshman Orientation! I hadn't known about it at all until nearly the last minute and she ended up going with her friend Kylie and her mom, Beth.

Of course you can imagine the excitement!

She was supposed to take pictures for me to blog on her adventure but I think friends and giggling took a higher place in her mind and no pictures were brought back. So, I took one of her in the upstairs hallway holding up the program they had handed out.

She is soooooo excited about going to high school. As you can imagine, I am having issues! I am having a hard time believing that my "baby" is going into high school! And WHAT a high school! This thing is HUGE! I tease her that she is really going to attend a Mall, that is how big it is! In the future I will have to attempt to take a picture of this school to show you. I might have to take a panoramic shot!!!

She loves the name too - Rocky Mountain High! They are the Grizzlies and the school colors, I believe, are purple, gold and maybe black (I have to laugh because my high school colors were purple and gold too). I joke with her and tell her that the mascot should really be John Denver!
She doesn't find that funny at all!
Getting old is weird . . . it comes on a lot faster than I thought it would.

This fall I will have a kid in high school, a kid in middle school and a kid in elementary. I have a gut feeling it is going to be busy!

The Results Are In !

When Hailey returned from her piano lessons today she brought with her some great news!
The results from her Piano Festival from Saturday were already in and she received a "5"!
A "5" is a Superior! She had given herself a "3" so she was pretty happy about it!


She also informed me that in order to get a Gold Cup you have to have fifteen points, so, if she gets this on her next two festivals she will qualify for a gold cup! We are all really happy for her!

What a wonderful reward for all of her hard work. She really practiced these pieces and I personally loved the one called "conquistador"! Now I probably won't get to hear it as much. :(

We are so very happy for her. GREAT JOB HAILEY!

Piano Festival

Hailey had an opportunity to do something a little different today. Her piano teacher had given all her students a chance to sign up to play in a local festival. I have a hard time calling it a festival because to me that usually means a party and such but this wasn't like that. It isn't really a competition either, it is more of an opportunity for a pianist to get to play in front of a few judges and see where they are at. They have a scoring system and the kids can eventually earn something called a "Gold Cup". But I believe it takes about 50 points to get a cup and each judging can allot you anywhere from 1-5 points.
Hailey in this picture is practicing for the festival before we leave home.

The place where the festival was at was interesting. It was held in a private School of the Arts that is located in the town of Eagle (about 15 minutes from where we live). The room we waited in was neat! The walls were all painted to look like red brick with some graffiti or behind this one piano they actually had curtains painted that looked very real. Here is one of the lunch tables. Tyler liked these so we took a few pictures of them.

This is us patiently waiting. I was VERY BUMMED to find out that you couldn't sit in and watch. The kids were brought to a separate, private room and played only for the judges. Do they really think that me in the room taking a few hundred pictures would have been distracting??? I spent most of the time Hailey was gone chatting with her piano teacher, Andrea. She is a very nice lady and lives right up the street.

Kurt and Tyler are patiently waiting too!

This is a picture taken with Hailey and her piano teacher Andrea right after her turn! What a look of relief was on her face! She was so serious and quiet before hand I felt sad for her. But, she survived. She felt like she did fairly well and said out of 1-5 she would have given herself a 3. I was happy she had the chance to do this.

Of course I took the opportunity to use this as a small photo session! This wasn't the piano Hailey had to test on but it was sitting in the lunch area we were waiting in and thought it was a nice prop!

Made Tyler pose too! He was having trouble sitting still. I wanted a smile out of him but his facial expressions changed so much that this is what I ended up getting by the time it flashed!

I wanted to take another one with a smile but a 6 year old has his limits on cooperation and the pouting and chair slinking started! Hayden was spending the night at Jonathan's so I couldn't get one with him and the piano!

Kurt was being a stinker too! He wasn't cooperating too much with my picture taking either. I informed him that I haven't been able to really do anything on the blog just about him and he seemed fine with that. I will have to step up on catching him doing things!

I realized something too that a "blogger" is probably tagged as the "over-achiever Mom". I was really one of the only people that was taking pictures in the waiting room (Andrea did take one of her two children in front of the piano). I feel like I should wear a button or shirt that says "Don't mind me, I'm a blogaholic"!

I am really impressed with Hailey because she is currently playing two instruments! She plays violin in the orchestra at her school and piano privately. I think I would be too overwhelmed to do two, actually, even one! She really has her father in her with her interest in music! To top it all off she has excellent grades too! We are so happy for/with her - what a smart kid! You go girl!