It's a Boy!

As I've mentioned we added a dog to our family recently. Hershey (the name came with the dog) is a full blooded Chocolate Lab. He is a good dog and seems to train easily, but he is another kid for sure. Some days I am very glad we have him, other days I want the headache to go away!

We took him to the vet yesterday for his puppy shots, and he already is weighing in at 46 pounds! He was 14 weeks when we got him and he weighed 21 pounds, now he is 19 weeks and more than doubled in size, he has a ways to go before he stops it looks like. Everyone who sees him comments on his bear like paws.

Our routine trip to the vet yesterday turned out to be not so routine after all! He was found to have a rash and was given antibiotics to clear it. The vet said if this doesn't clear it and keep it away, he more than likely has allergies. Right on cue about 15 minutes later when we returned home he started having an allergic reaction to the vaccine he was given. His head started to shake uncontrollably, and he seemed to be having a seizure! It would have been funny under different circumstances. He looked like a bobble head dog and was walking into chairs etc. We took him back and they gave him two shots to try and counteract the vacinne, but they didn't work. They gave him Bendadryl and still it didn't work. finally we decided to bring him home, give him more benadryl and hope he would sleep it off! This morning he seems to be doing better. I have NEVER had a dog with issues and we always had at least two dogs while growing up! The vet said she has never had any trouble with the dogs from these breeders. Both his parents are very healthy. The current litter was 14 and the others are all fine. I think he was reserved just for our family! Someone knew he would fit right in!

A Frog for Tea

Arianna has taken an intrest lately in catching lightening bugs and frogs or toads. She is getting quite good at it. She likes to bring the frogs/toads (she even knows the difference) home and set them free in the back yard with hopes that she will see them again. This frog she caught for Tea, but since Tea lives in MN we told her it wouldn't be a great idea to try and save it to take to her. So we took a picture for Tea instead. So here is your froggy Tea, it is living in our backyard for now, you'll have to come and visit, then you can try to catch it!

Learning in progress...

We've officially started getting back into the hang of school! Arianna starts Kindergarten this year and will be homeschooled, so we are busy with review! Ethan is joining in on the learning some also. He is learning to write his name, and we are go back over the letters of the alphabet and numbers 1-10 trying to strengthen his knowledge in these areas. Mostly this work is to help him learn to focus, and LISTEN. He usually answers what he thinks he hears and what he thinks he hears usually has nothing to do with what was said :-) Arianna is doing well with beginning reading and writting among other review and generally really enjoys it. At the end of our lessons we count up the stars they have recieved and they get to count out 1 raisin for each star and eat them. Amazingly this seems to be a great motivation!
We do memory work together in the mornings and both kids have memorized James 1:17 and Proverbs 3:1-3 so far. I am always impressed by their ability and excitement to memorize the bible. I really enjoy it also, I get to memorize along with them and get extra reading in while giving context and searching for new verses that would be good.

Ethan must find something quiet to do while Arianna is working, this can be a challenge for him sometimes. We found that if he gets his cars out, he enjoys this quiet time! This is Ethan having quiet time with all of his favorite cars from Aunt Corinne while Arianna finishes her school work. He LOVES cars right now. He will sit for hours and play with them in lots of different ways. He is so much fun to watch.

Little Helper

We've been doing some work on Corinne and Patrick's house in Centerville. The kids tend to get restless, except for Isaac! He is always right there with his Daddy mimicking everything he does, trying to help! He acts like he really knows what is going on, and when Andrew stops to ponder a situation, Isaac seems to do the same!

Paul-Pratt Family goes to Niagra Falls Sept 07

Okay Dad it's almost been a year but here are some of the pics from our trip!I have lots that are the same...so here are the few that actually came out and are different from each other...I'll email the others, Finally!! I hope you enjoy ;-) Love you

Joining the world of Bloggers?!?

Since its summer and I'm a little more on top of things than usual, I thought I would take the plunge and get a blog! I have recently joined My Space and Facebook Also. With our families and friends living everywhere but here...I thought maybe it would make information and picture sharing a bit easier in the long run! We'll see...