BJ

First things first. We finally were able to get high speed internet. Yay! They finally have service out here and we were able to get it at a discounted price through the school that ended up being the same cost as our dial up. It came just in time too because Jessie has a reading program through the school that they give access to from home and when I went to download it, it was like 487Mb. It took 30 minutes on high speed, I would probably be still downloading on dial up. Since our computer is so old, they said our speed might still be a little slower but compared to dial up, I don't notice. Now I can do more stuff during the day instead of waiting until night because I didn't want to tie up the phone line during the day.

On to BJ. He is the most sweetest loving dog with brown eyes that will melt your heart. That is the only thing keeping him alive. It is like having a hyper toddler around that you have to watch every minute. He has separation anxiety really bad so we had to get a crate for him because he was tearing things up when we left. We got a fold up metal one but we can't fold it up any longer because he was popping the latches and getting out. He managed to open the locks so we put carabiners on them. He broke the carabiners and got out. Once, we aren't even sure how he did it because we came home, he was out and the door was closed. We finally got some latches that seem to keep him in but he keeps destroying his bedding. We give him a toy that you put peanut butter in and we freeze it and he manages to eat most of that also. He is getting better but on Halloween we came home and found he somehow managed to get the mat in front of Scott's chair into the crate and chewed it up. We have to keep all the doors shut because he likes to shred stuff. I can tell when he is not getting enough exercise because that is when is starts to get destructive. The problem is lately all he wants to do is play with Fear, who is getting too old to play. I wonder if dog's can sense another animal's time is short? We are hoping Fear will last through the new year at least. He is getting better at not herding the kids, at least not nipping on them as often. We are still working on that. He is really good on a leash but when you take him off and he gets really excited, then he doesn't listen, so we are really working on that right now. Sometimes I wonder why we were supposed to have him now when our life is already chaotic enough without adding a hyper dog to the mix. I wouldn't trade him though. He has also brought a lot of happiness into our lives and he can really cheer us up. It is impossible to not love a dog who is so happy to see you, even if it was just five minutes ago. He follows me everywhere and just lays down beside me wherever I am. Makes you feel loved, but also guilty if I am moving around a lot. I guess God knew we wouldn't send him back no matter what and I am really getting good use of my mending skills.

Halloween

The kids took skating lessons for five Saturdays at Skate City to learn to roller skate. We don't have anywhere out here in the county to practice, no sidewalks etc., so they were pretty much limited to just skating at the lessons. Jessie was the smallest in the class and couldn't even see over the wall. She was funny to watch because she took such small steps that she barely went anywhere. Brandon did a little better but he looked like a robot at first. We found him some inline skates at a second hand store for $3.50 and Jessie some of those plastic skates that go over your shoes on Craigslist so they could practice on our kitchen floor. Brandon was getting good at home and then he would fall back at practice. On the last day, the 29th, they had a graduation skate and Halloween party where they could wear their costumes and parents could skate too. Jessie was content to let me pull her around. She has a princess mentality, which means she thinks everything should be done for her, including skating for her. Anyway, I helped her and Brandon was slow for a few rounds and then he just took off. You would think he had been skating a lot longer than five sessions. The school offers discount family skate nights every couple of months and they are looking forward to those skating sessions now that they know how to skate.



So Saturday they went to the Halloween skating party and then in the afternoon we took them to the children's museum where they could trick or treat around the art gallery and they had a magic show. The kids had a great time. Monday Jessie had her school Halloween party in the morning, and Brandon's was in the afternoon. In between I went to the grocery store. Then we went to GG's and Chris' and then went trick or treating. This year Jessie went as half angel half princess, although she pretty much just looked like an angel but don't tell her that. Brandon was a cowboy. We usually go to the mall to trick or treat, but last year didn't go well, they got bored, so this year we went out in the "real world" as Jessie put it. She had us make a separate bag for the safe candy that came from family etc., and a bag for the to be checked candy. They didn't actually get much of that because by the time we got going, the neighborhoods we went to didn't have that many houses that still had treats, but they just liked the experience anyway and we went to Rachel's Aunt and Uncle's house again where they do the spook house and really decorate so that was fun too. The only bad thing, besides constantly running all day, was having to crate BJ several times. If we don't, he tears things up because of his separation anxiety. More on him later. That's a whole story by itself.