Where's Buddy?

Yeah, Buddy is still with us more often than not. Yes I feel a little guilty about it. Here's the thing about Buddy. He is an amazing hunter. Today alone he has brought 3 different dead animals to us. It is a common morning greeting that Jessica will yell, "dead rodent!" on her way to the bus. Marc thinks the reason he is hanging out on our street now is that he has cleared out his neighborhood and had to find a new hunting ground. He won't eat them mind you, just kills them and bring them over. Uh thanks Buddy.

Big Post about our Big Day at the Big E

I took the kids to the Big E yesterday. I don't like to go on a weekend for many reasons, the biggest being the crowds. The second being the cost. On Monday- Thursday you can buy an all you can ride pass for the rides rather than paying per ticket per ride. This way I let Justin go through the lame fun house 7 times in a row, since there is no wait, without watching $14 go down the drain.

It was a last minute decision to go. I realized I could only go yesterday or next Mon or Tue. Since I knew the weather was ok yesterday I called the school and said I was picking up Jessica at 1:00. She had the most skeptical look on her face when I arrived. Add to that the fact that she was missing gym and she was less than thrilled at my arrival. Luckily the news of the Big E wiped that frown off her face.

Now, did Marc go, you ask? Well last year he went for the first time. It was in the 90s, he was in his work clothes, Justin had a total meltdown when he wasn't tall enough for one of the rides and could not be consoled or redirected, and it was crowded. As far as Marc is concerned he has been to the Big E for the last time. So the three of us went off.

We were having a great time. Jessica was being a trooper about going on the kiddie rides with Justin and Justin was fine with Jessica going on the scarier rides and just waving to her from the sidelines. As we were heading out to go see some farm animals we ran into the D Family! This is especially amusing because we ran into them last year when we all snuck out early to go to the Big E. Soon after we decided the Big E was more fun when we were with our friends. So between the 3 adults we divided the 6 kids up pretty well. Justin and Luke were in heaven going on the same rides together over and over and over. Jessica was thrilled that the other boys would go on the crazy mouse ride with her and she happily followed them onto any ride they went on. Chris bought me a beer- what more could I ask? Too bad for them they could not shake us, and I swear I tried, but Jessica made it clear she was staying with them even if I went a different way. She was in her glory and not giving that up.

My highlight was taking Jessica and 3 boys on the big Ferris Wheel, Justin happily waving from the ground. All 4 of them decided to sit on one side of the gondola (what do you call those things?) and I sat on the other. After our second trip around as we passed the workers on the bottom one of them said to the kids, "better hold on tight, it is going to flip now". I didn't hear him- I was waving to my fans- but suddenly all 4 kids grab the pole in the middle for dear life and look at me with panicked eyes. Seriously- the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. I was laughing so hard I couldn't assuage their fears until we were at the top. At that point they realized they had been duped.

Lots of fair food later we split up on our way out. I almost got out by 7:30, but some Fair guy told the kids the parade was starting in 5 minutes- so we stayed. It was the Mardi Gras parade and the kids were pumped to catch so many beaded necklaces. I have to say it was the most fun I have had with them at the Big E- no meltdowns, no tantrums, not too much whining. Now I just need to go back and go to the other half of the fair I haven't seen this year. Anyone up for a $5 after 5:00 deal in the next week?

I brought the little camera but the battery died after 2 pictures and neither of them are in focus. I did take over Michelle's camera for awhile when I was in charge of watching their stuff. What better way to keep a camera safe than in my sweaty little hands, right? So these are pictures taken by either Michelle or myself on her camera.

Justin and Luke- riding the motorcycles for the 5th time in a row.
Justin coming down the slide! He loved coming down with other kids so they could race. One time he sat up there chatting up the worker while he waited for more people to come.
Jessica and Ben after having gone down the Niagra Falls ride 3 or 4 times.
This picture cracks me up. Anyone that has ever gone anywhere with Justin recently can probably guess what is happening here. If you guessed that Justin is chatting up the Police Officers and asking them if they have caught the bad guys and then telling them that he got a Police costume from Aunt Kathy (and a bunch of other things I didn't catch), all while he is stuffing his face with popcorn- then you are right!

Here I am with the Ferris Wheel crew...

SNL

Ok, just watched the full skit from SNL with Tina Fey as Palin. Go to NBC to see the full skit, YouTube only had bits of it. Fey is spot on, but more than that I LOVE the "Clinton" reactions- so funny, so true. Marc and I were highly amused.

Soccer Stars

Here are Jessica and Sara on their way to their first soccer game of the year. The year started a little late because they had a tough time finding coaches. I was unable to go to the game, but I go this pic as they headed out- don't they look fierce?

Justin's First Day of School

Monday was Justin's first day of school and believe me it could not have come soon enough. A week and a half of just him and I was really tough. As much as I whole heartedly believe that delaying him a year is the best decision it was REALLY hard not to put him on that bus. So here he is, you might think I said, "Justin, why don't you sit down, not look at me and put on a really painful smile?" but I didn't- he just does that intuitively.

No real pictures from the inside this year- forgot to put on my flash- oops. But he was amusing. Mrs. B sent out a paper stick and asked the children what they would do with the stick. Justin decided his would be a bat and practiced saying, "Batter up!". But upon arriving at school he saw that another boy had made his stick into a car and that was SO cool. Justin kept saying, "I changed my mind, I changed my mind, mine is a car I want mine to be like that too." One by one the children are invited up front to show Mrs B and the class what they did. Most of the children that go up are very shy or hestitant. They go up a little quietly only answer the questions they are asked and rush back to their seats. Um, yeah, not Justin.

He goes up and tells Mrs B that his is a car. She looks a bit skeptical- it does not look like a car. So then he has to go into his whole explanation. She convinces him to stick with bat so he gets to demonstrate "Batter Up!" Now he is louder (no surprise there, he is just made that way- ask him) and more animated in this entire discourse than most of the kids. This does bring on laughter from the parents. About 5 minutes after he has sat back down again with me he turns to me and says, "mommy I made everyone laugh". That, my friends, is his ultimate goal. He loves when he makes people laugh. Now if only we could harness this for good...

How about a look back. Here is last year's first day of school pic.

And this is my all time favorite first day of school pic, from 2006, how cute are those 3 year olds?

Ok, how many of you are thinking, when will Deb figure out what kind of hairstyle works on that kid? I know nothing about boy hair and unfortunately his entire childhood will be told with pictures of bad haircut after bad haircut.

Ah well another year of preschool it is. I have a feeling that school will always be a challenge for Justin. He gets so easily frustrated if he doesn't succeed at first try- and then stand back for the emotional meltdown that follows. He has a hard time sitting still and more and more they are decreasing "active" times (see Bec's Blog for a clip from the Today show about just this topic).

But on the positive side, people like Justin and good things come his way. He is outgoing and friendly and truly interested and easily thrilled. And I am really hoping those dimples help him skate through a tough time or two (pretty sure they have helped his Daddy).

Meet Buddy

No we haven't gotten a new cat, at least not intentionally. A few weeks before Bonk died Buddy started showing up and hanging out. I remember that at the end of Justin birthday party he made one of his first arrivals. He is incredibly friendly and outgoing.


Well since we got home from vacation Buddy has begun to hang around much more. We know his name is Buddy because he wears a collar with his name and phone number. Since the weather has been so nice Buddy has just been coming in and out of our house. Ok, we also admit to putting out food for him. Now, Dee has already given us the lecture about stealing someone else's cat finger wagging included. We looked up the number in the reverse directory and Buddy actually belongs to a family on the next street over.

Well his presence has become more constant. One night we were going to bed at 11:00 and found Buddy was sound asleep on our bed- oops. We put him outside and he was none too please about that. Then Saturday night we tried to kick him out when the rain died down, it didn't work. It started to REALLY rain and he was just at our door. We couldn't leave him outside in the rain, right? So he spent the night with us sleeping on our bed.

Now I feel guilty. So I call and leave a message for Buddy's Mommy. I didn't want them to worry that he didn't come home etc. Buddy's mommy calls me back on Sunday night. She says they have had Buddy for about a year but for the past two months he has gone on walk about- leaving for 4 or 5 days at a time. Then she gets these calls from all over the neighborhood- sort of like where's Waldo. People letting her know that Buddy is hanging out with them. She knows people are feeding him (I have a neighbor that left our sardines) so she is not surprised that he enjoys his life "on the road". I mentioned that there have been times that I come inside and he is sound asleep on my couch- "That's Buddy" she says.

Not sure if we are just one of his 5 day vacations, but for now we are enjoying his company and I don't feel quite so guilty about borrowing someone else's cat.

Capturing Lens Flare

So I still have a few assignments for my light class. This assignment was about capturing lens flare. Many times you will get lens flare on a picture and it ruins the picture, but if you can plan it and position it right, it can be very cool. Unfortunately there is a small window every day in which I can practice this method, and the conditions need to be right. I finally gave it a go tonight. I gave up getting a cooperative subject and decided just to see if I could "get" the flare. Next step is using the flare to improve the pic. Thought I would share my attempts.

Goodbye Bonk

As some of you know we put Bonk to sleep a couple of weeks ago, just before we left on vacation. I have been trying to get my courage up to write this post. This blog is as much for me as for anyone else and so I write this with that in mind.

His cancer had spread and his health was deteriorating. We said when he was in pain or uncomfortable we would make the decision. Unfortunately it didn't quite happen that way. He just slowly began to slip away. He no longer went outside, or ate, or jumped on the bed. He just lay on the floor in the kitchen or the hallway. But he was still happy to see us and welcomed our affection. I think when I returned from Cape Cod it became clear to me that it was time. I think it was harder for Marc. I admit to crying myself to sleep on more than one night as we came closer to the decision. It hurt so much to see this animal that I loved die. After much deliberation and debate we decided it was the right thing to do before we left.

The kids said goodbye to him and then I brought them to a friend's house (thank you Jenn). Jessica had asked if she could come but I selfishly said no. I don't think it would have been right for her and I didn't want to have to worry about anyone other than myself and Bonk. I returned home and Marc met me there. I put Bonk in the cage and he did not resist. He did not make a sound on the entire ride. I thought I had prepared myself for the visit, but I forgot about the "what next" step. They asked if we were going to bring him home, or have him cremated or buried in a pet cemetary. I lost it, I didn't know the answer. I knew we would want to have him here but I didn't think I was strong enough to follow through. Marc said he could do it and wanted to bring him home.

We chose to stay with him during the procedure. It was the right thing to do for us. He was so calm and didn't resist. I like to think that he knew and was ok with it. So we stroked him and talked to him and said goodbye while he slipped away, and then we both sobbed. We returned home and silently went to work. Marc dug a hole in the backyard and I cleaned up the litter box that we had moved upstairs for the last weeks to make it easier on him. I looked out and saw that Marc was done and I went out to join him. I know this is going to make me sound like a crazy cat lady and I am sure dog people won't get it, but we felt like we were burying a child that day. We both loved him so much. He was our first baby. He was the first thing that made us a family. In some ways I fear we did the kids a disservice by not letting them see us grieve. But the fact is that I just didn't want to have to worry about them or their feelings when I was in so much pain myself.

I have had a few cats, but Bonk was the best. He had a great personality. For many years, until the kids came, he and I slept together every night. He would tuck his head under my chin and I would throw my arm around him and we both slept that way. If we hadn't gotten him inside before bed I often had trouble falling asleep. Many times I would get up at 2am and call him inside, as much for me as for him. I miss his presence every day.

When we returned home from vacation it was around 10pm. Jessica and Marc walked into the house first. As I entered I heard Jessica calling for Bonk and then she turned to Marc and said, "Daddy where is Bonk?". You see, she knew he would have greeted us first thing when we arrived home and it was so strange that he wasn't there. We had to remind her that he was gone.

I was going to put together a bunch of pictures but unbeknownst to me Marc had already begun creating a video tribute himself. I am having problems embedding it so here it is Bonk Video