Porfirio

We have a dog.

It began 8-9 years ago, when Elijah chased pigeons and dogs throughout Manhattan. He just wanted to annoy the pigeons, but he wanted to possess the dogs. He asked all dog owners if he could take a turn with the leash; take their pets for a stroll. That's when we promised him he could get a dog when he was 8. We thought that making a promise that far in advance would give him time to forget the yearning. 

He didn't forget. And although he hasn't been hanging it over our heads for 8-9 years, he kinda has. And now that we are kinda stable-ish, the time has come to meet our fears of pet ownership. Fears of dealing with the feces of more than one species (I'm a poo poet). 

Pooper Scooper I am. In fact, I feel like our backyard has turned into a veritable cesspool. I counted 6 times of number 2 before 5pm on the 3rd day. That's just mean. I literally had a breakdown. Elijah and I used to play soccer out there hourly (2 goals per finished subject of homework). But I can't play soccer in a toilet.

Strike 1.

If you can't tell already, my doggie emotions have run the gamut in the past week. We have been web-browsing and shelter hunting for a few months now. Our qualifications: light-colored dog (I don't want black hair everywhere), medium-sized, 1-2 yrs old, won't kill us, doesn't bark, doesn't poo. The first 3 can be determined immediately. But since the kids don't agree with taxidermy, I had to cross the last one off the list. The penultimate one though, that was tricky, because have you ever been in a county pound? If you want to be depressed, look no further. I thought the dogs that didn't bark at me were the docile, friendly types. I learned that they are more probably sick and suffering from PTSD. 

Strike 2.

He is a Boerboel (South African Mastiff). I though Boerboel sounded sweetly foreign, like eating a baguette on a cobblestoned lane. When we got home with him, instead of pulling up Parisian pictures of Boerboels online, I encountered a long list of countries where they are banned bc they are vicious fighting dogs. 

Strike 3.

And then I took him to the vet. 

Ticks

kennel cough 

starving

expensive medications

cook his food!

detox the house and 

tweeze the little buggers out of his fur.

Strikes 4, 5, 6....

On the second night we had him, I was tucking Elijah in as we listened to Porfirio (David picked the name and I feel silly every time I tell someone bc nobody can pronounce it) hack up a lung, and tears started coming to Elijah's eyes. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Is he going to die?" he asked me.

"No, not anytime soon."

No. He's sweet and house-trained, sit's and shakes hands on command, but most importantly, 

he has a healthy fear of Sybil, 

(we all do) 

and Elijah's ginormous heart might split if we gave him back, 

wait, 

Can we give him back? 

bday weekend

The day before my birthday was a billion times more perfect than my actual birthday. We started the day with a run (me) / bike ride (C and E) to a park where Elijah, as usual, rounded up all the older kids for a rule-laden game of tag. Of course he started by rounding up the Spanish-speakers and went from there. We came home and Elijah had a playdate while Claire made linner. After perusing pinterest, and finding too many meat dishes, she made up her own recipe and executed it all by herself.

We also got in some good reading. We are in the middle of the 4th book of Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites.
Then there was the rainy soccer game. 

Claire took this picture of the full (and at times double) rainbow.

That night was Claire's soccer game where Elijah and I continued our juggling competition. He got to 10 consecutive juggles while I only got to 33 (I had to get to 45 to win).

Then I stood behind Claire and coached her as she played goalie. Brought back memories of the glory years.

My birthday wasn't as spectacular, but still fairly ok. 

We were going to have a dinner with family, but E and C were bickering to the point that I refused to leave the house. 

So my family threw an impromptu surprise party, driving up to see us. 

And I have no idea what this snapchat filter is, but I'm guessing it's the "this is what my soul looks like when I throw my food on the floor."

David and the girls in NOLA

They all survived! 

On a diet of the NOLA trifecta: 

snowballs, king cake, and love.

Iris the dancer

Iris always takes forever to put her PJ's on.
Tonight we were waiting for her to say prayers and I asked Claire why it takes her so long:

"Because she dances naked while she sings to herself."

Of course.

I questioned Iris and she said she's always done it: dancing naked is better.

San Diego: Part 2

It was a drizzling day at the San Diego Zoo, but we decided to brave it and we were all glad we did.

It was at the zoo that Sybil said "Mama" for the second time. 

Both times were in reference to MY mother, not her mother.

We had a wall-sit competition back at the Schmitt house.

I was the first one out at 10 minutes but there was CONSIDERABLE cheating all around.

Accompanied by CONSIDERABLE smack talk.

Lexi gave Claire a beautiful manicure...

Claire sacrificed the manicure in the name of the stage. 

She slipped me the nails right after her performance. 

Soldiers don't wear nails.

We went to the Sand Diego temple, but the Christmas lights had already been turned off. 

As we drove up, Elijah said the temple reminded him of a tooth.

Lexi had taken the babies home to sleep while we went to the temple. She had prepared sandwiches for us. The sandwiches were made with croissants that the Schmitt family had deemed "too hard to eat" a week before. She sent a picture to these Schmitts of the Udalls partaking. I add this bit not to shine a bad light on anyone, but because it highlights a Udall mantra: thou shalt not throw food away.

On New Years night we had a mini birthday celebration for the January birthdays.

And played some minute-to-win-it games.

The Cup Stack

How many sick notes can be stuck in a minute?

Finding candy in whipped cream

On this trip, the girls learned that even though Iris is missing half of her teeth, she is still quite capable of grinding all of them extremely loudly while sleeping.

I caught up on all of the past posts during a marathon: David, Elijah and I were doing a Rocky marathon (since the girls went back to school before Elijah).
I am finishing this very last post because David took Sybil and Iris to New Orleans for 5 days. It has been wonderful to have time with just the older 2: almost like a honeymoon with them. And a honeymoon with my dormant organizational obsession. Very dormant.
Taking Sybil was a very last-minute decision. The morning of the flight, David claimed he was "excited," but quickly fell into morosity. He later said he was "excited like a man going to the electric chair." Soon after I dropped them off, I got a message from him: "Our trip began with Sybil making a jail break escape once we got to TSA. She took off fast and furiously, the TSA agents told me to speed through to catch her. At least they didn't taze her." And then a few texts after the first leg: "Iris is awesome. Sybil is wild." And "Sybil has become a mean drunk."

San Diego

We went to San Diego and met up with Andrew and Ashley at Eegee's who were on their way back to NOLA.

In San Diego we did some face painting

This one was mad bc I didn't let her have i.e. cream for lunch after her breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. he gave me the same face when I said "no" to ice cream for lunch. Not to worry, as soon as I ran an errand, Jon gave her just what she wanted. Uncles are the best.

This time, the eucalyptus tree was out of marshmallows. It grew chocolate chips instead.

The boys hunched around the video games and phones

We went to the beach on Thursday.

Sybil wanted to strip as soon as she saw where we were.

 And then she partook

 Elijah and Clay went out to catch some waves. Elijah was man enough to wear Elle's pink wetsuit.

 The kids still had face paint for quite some time.

 Attack of Tyler

Every party needs a pooper and that's why we invited David. 

He was bummed that he didn't have a wetsuit for surfing.