Just doing what I'm told!

After Dawsyn's birthday party, it was time to snuggle up with Dad and wind down.  We still had company so, instead of heading up to bed, they curled up in Dad's recliner.  Dad called Milkyway over to lay down on the floor beside them.  However, he used the command we always give at bedtime, "Milky, lay with your girl."  This was the result.

Okay, I'm here to lay with my girl!

Hmm, how'm I gonna make this work?

Getting comfy ... just a little more wiggle room ...

Aaahhh, all is right in my world!  Nitey nite!

Why is it all about Dawsyn?

That is a question that our son Matthew seldom asks out loud but I am certain must run through his head more than just once in a while!

The truth is, we have two kids.  Two GREAT kids!!  Sadly, because Dawsyn faces the challenges she does, she gets the most face time, concern time and blog time.  Fortunately, she has been blessed with the best big brother EVER.  Let me tell you a little about him ...

Matt is an awesome kid, well he was.  Now he's an awesome teenager!  That is a concept this mother is having trouble wrapping her head around.  However, the calendar is not to be argued with, nor is the measuring tape, the scale, the shoe size, the fur on the lip or the grocery bill ... he definitely is a teenager!

Ice cream cake and friends to celebrate becoming a teen

In the past twelve months this boy has shot up to 5'6 1/4" and shows no interest in slowing down.  I have a feeling that one day his dad at 6'2" will be looking up to him!  His feet, oh my goodness, those feet grow a size every two months!   Last baseball season he went through two pairs of cleats.  He grew out of the first pair we bought him before the end of the season.  This would not be so bad if we lived somewhere with a proper ball season but here it only lasts TWO MONTHS!

Not only does he play baseball, but also plays the piano and now the saxophone.  This year he has the opportunity to be in a school band so we've dug out his father's old tenor sax, had it refurbished and it is getting a regular workout!  Milkyway is not so sure he likes this particular instrument ... actually, he's quite sure that he does not like this particular instrument ... but we have great faith that we will be enjoying more than just chromatic scales soon!  The big band sound will be new to Matt but, because he loves music of all styles, I'm sure that he will enjoy this experience.  I hoping that he also takes a liking to jazz and gets involved in the jazz ensembles available.

Music is a pretty big theme in this home and Matt has been able to see many of his favorite groups live during this past year.  He and his dad pulled our trailer up to Edmonton to attended YC at he end of May and, by all accounts, had a fabulous time.  They enjoyed groups like Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Manafest, Blue Tree and many more.  After listening to some of the CD's they brought home, I am quite happy that I opted to let that be an annual Father/Son experience.  I am sure there was some music there that I would have enjoyed, I'm afraid that there was more that I would not have!

Our trailer served as the gathering place for our

church youth group.  This is at breakfast one morning as 

huddled under the awning to stay out of the rain.

In a couple weeks the two of them will attend another big concert at Canada Olympic Park called Rock the River.  I'm sure they will have a very good time.

Fortunately, Matthew's musical tastes are very eclectic and he shares with me a love for Southern Gospel.  Ben is very happy to spend a weekend looking after Dawsyn so that Matt and I can enjoy our annual bonding weekend at the Great Canadian Southern Gospel Music Celebration in Red Deer.  

Michael Booth is one of Matt's very favorite people.
They have had their picture taken together every year for the past three.
Next year, Matt's gonna be taller than Michael!!

It's really hard to catch the Booth Brothers all together so we had to settle for individual shots. 

Matt with Ronnie Booth

Matt with Jim Brady

                                         

Another group we really love is Ernie Haase and Signature Sound.  Matt loves how these guys dress and I ended up spending big $$ updating his wardrobe!!

There is so much more I could say about Matt like how he has a tender heart, how he is a great help to his Dad and me, how he's growing into a young man of integrity.  I look forward to the coming days and years of watching him grow into the man God has designed him to be!  

So why IS it always about Dawsyn?  It's not!  Dawsyn's big brother is pretty great too!!

Dawsyn turns Nine

I'm having trouble believing that is beautiful girl of ours is nine-years old already!

Blowing out the candles

She received a pair of mittens (because she loves to wear them

regardless of weather) and refused to take them off ... it was fun 

watching her try to open the rest of her gifts with them on!

Looking far too grown up.

She received one of her favorite gifts a couple days early

when her cousins were here.  Auntie Shauna sent her a gardening

set.  What a winning gift ... a pair of gloves AND a watering can!!

She's been in seventh heaven since!

A Trip to the Zoo

My brother and his family visited us during the last week of July.  We chose a beautiful warm day to visit the Calgary Zoo.  Sadly, we were so busy keeping our eyes on the children, we forgot to take pictures!!  I could say that the memories will remain alive without photographic evidence but, quite frankly, my memory is just not that good!

I decided that this would be an exceptionally good opportunity to work on tethering (having Dawsyn and Milkyway attached to each other by a tether).  To my way of thinking, being tethered to Milkyway should give Dawsyn a greater sense of independence since she won't have to be holding the hand of an adult.  Unfortunately, Dawsyn did not see the logic!  She tugged and she pulled and she squealed and Milkyway, the good old boy that he is, stood there and took it like a trooper!!  I'm sad to say that, because we actually wanted to ENJOY the day at the zoo, Dawsyn won this battle ... but I still have hopes of winning the war.

It may have been for the best anyway because Milkyway got a little skittish when we got close to the animals.  I can only imagine the complete overload of scents in a place like that so I wasn't too hard on him.  I just made him remain in a heel and tried to get him to focus on me as much as possible.  It took him a good hour to calm down enough to behave as if there wasn't another animal in the world.  I don't think that's too bad for a one-year old puppy in a ZOO!

I'm so happy that our trusty helper Emily had come along.  There is no way I could handle Dawsyn AND the dog if they are not tethered together.  We will definitely have to keep working at it in a less stressful environment.  Fortunately, we had the foresight to take Dawsyn's stroller along.   I was very handy for lugging the lunch cooler and purses in and eventually Dawsyn crawled into it and let Emily push her from sight to sight!

All-in-all, it was a fun day and we managed to arrive at home weary but in possession of all the children we had left with!

Just outside the front gate of the zoo.

Matt's on his tail, McKenna under his chin and Hunter on his trunk!

You can't see this one as well but McKenna is about to be

pounced on by a mountain lion.

Princess Dawsyn

Princess Dawsyn LOVES to bathe in the jacuzzi tub!

The more bubbles the better!

Just treat me like the princess I am!!

Milkyway

Just a few shots of Milkyway enjoying his back yard!  These photos were taken on July 8 and I'm sure he's grown since then!  He and Matt both seem to have had a real growth spurt this summer!!

Sadly, Milkyway had an accident this summer and has injured his back left knee.  On Sunday, July 4, we were preparing to do a tracking exercise so Ben and Dawsyn left the yard to go and hide on us.  Milkyway got all excited about his girl leaving the yard without him!  He ran up to the higher deck so he could see them walk out into the field across the street from us.  When I came out of the house with his tracking lead, he went berserk!!  He came flying down the stairs to me but when he landed on the lower deck, his legs kept spinning like the Road Runner before he takes off.  Sadly, instead of taking off, the poor boy wiped out.   He limped a bit but was so focussed on finding his girl that he mostly ignored the pain.  I strapped him up and away we RAN!  Of course, he found her in no time!  

Over the next couple of days I noticed that he was really favoring that leg so took him in to see the vet.  He had indeed injured it and I was warned that if we didn't allow it to heal properly, he could need surgery.  He's not been particularly impressed that I've taken away all his balls and have tried to keep him from running.  Needless to say, there's been no more tracking practice over the past month!  

After a couple of weeks of rest and medication, he was no longer limping but the vet suggested that we don't let him be too active until the end of August.  That's a long time to go without tracking practice!  Hopefully we will get the go ahead to resume normal activities soon.  

**Photos were taken on the day of our first vet visit after the accident.  Already he is wanting to play!

Riding

Every spring and fall, Dawsyn participates with the Mountain View Riding Association.  She loves loves loves to ride her horse Sonny!  These are photos from the last day of this spring's session.

Dawsyn on Sonny being led by Adrian

Daddy is sidewalking tonight

(getting that close to a horse makes Mommy wheeze!)

Receiving her First Place Award

She received a trophy and ribbon!

Already she can hardly wait for riding to resume in September!!