The Story of a Lifetime: So We Forgot a Kid

The unbelievable part? It's not exactly the first time. Though I can safely say it's the first time we managed to get 30 miles before realizing it. The even more ridiculous part? I went room to room checking and double checking to make sure we had all of our crap packed up and didn't leave anything behind at Mother's house. Yep....we sure had it all....the stuff, that is. Not one toy left out, not one article of clothing misplaced, not one piece of personal property forgotten. Except perhaps maybe a tiny little sleeping girl. Mother was with the children and I so it took 2 adults and 7 other children to forget one. So....does this mean we can now safely say we have a large family? I think we might have just made the cut. We pretty much do roll call on most days but apparently we need to do it a little more often than we do....like maybe actually make a habit out of it? We came to realize this little fact after stopping for lunch and I glanced at her sippy cup. Thinking I needed to grab it and wondering why she hadn't fussed for it while on the road. I turned to discover her seat went unoccupied. Suddenly...like being struck by lightening.....I tried to perceive that I might have actually not really loaded her into the van. Running to Grayson and Evye who sat occupying Mother's truck beside me I hysterically asked them if either of them had loaded her. Both replied with blank looks..."You said not to cause she was sleeping. You'd wake her up when we were ready to leave." Soooo...maybe I kinda forgot to wake her up.

On a little different note....Garrett's aforementioned booger. Yes.....the very odd and strange things children do. Normally I would not bring up such disgusting topics but I figured this was worthy of at least an honorable mention. Someday when I am 90 and I wonder what my days were filled with when I had lots of little guys underfoot I will be able to refer back to the archives of my life and remember such noteworthy things as this. Occurring also in FW this past weekend Garrett came to me with huge, blue, honest eyes. Infamous, mischievous grin in place, "Mama, I picked my booger." Upon glancing at the alleged booger even I was in total shock. There upon his finger had to be about the biggest booger I have ever laid eyes on. It appeared to be the right color so I never saw fit to doubt the authenticity of the object attempting to be handed over to me. As I went to discard of it, since this was obviously not floor flicking friendly in size or stickiness, I came to see rather jagged edges that could not have been pleasant to live with. As any good parent does I laid it out on the paper towel and examined the said booger only to find that it was no booger at all but a balled up straw wrapper from Sonic. I have no clue how long this foreign object has been in place or when he finally decided he no longer was comfy with it in there. I do know that the van was thoroughly cleaned out and we haven't been to Sonic in a week. That is just plain nasty even in my book.

The reason for our trip to FW.....our newest addition. Though we were not by any means actively looking for a new dog this sweet boy just kinda found us. Upon seeing his picture it was just hard to get him out of the head. It took 3 weeks of talking..and pleading....with Brad to finally give in to yet another dog. Beo's story....they had asked the rescue to take him but she declined since he was not full blood GSD. After thinking it over his day of euthanization came. He was scheduled to be put down at 10am and our dearly loved rescue lady put the call in at 9:50 or so to save him due to what a great dog he is..despite the fact he doesn't really meet rescue "standards". They put a halt on his euthanization at 5 til and he was spared. And there he sat at her rescue overlooked by most due to the fact he was less than 100% GSD...until we found him and heard his story.The funny part...he is 1/2 German Shepherd and 1/2 Malamute and at 100 lbs is not full grown. I LOVE this dog! So it was that we spent Friday night hanging out with Mother, Saturday afternoon/evening on the town with sweet friends and Sunday was dog adoption day. It is safe to say that "big" does not do this dog justice....at least when you get him in a 15 passenger van with 8 children.....6 of who are still in carseats. Anyone who has never driven 300 miles with a 100 lb lap dog, 8 children and a newly potty trained toddler has never really fully experienced life. I think Grayson, Evye and I laughed the majority of the way home. However...a side note here on the potty training toddler....though Gavin has been completely potty trained for quite some time I haven't really trusted him while traveling since completely disassembling a carseat due to urinary factors is one of my less than favorite things to do. But this trip was made with him in underwear and not even an accident occurred. We did manage to stop for 2 bathroom breaks and it never fails that if one goes they all go....at least boys. Girls don't really seem to have the love of pasture peeing that the boys seem to have. So, unpiling everybody around the dog was quite the humorous event and provided some great entertainment.

So this would be our new 100 lb boy, Beo.