I may have done a thing

So, Callie has been begging for another dog.  With the cost and hassle and effort to get just one dog over here, and still having to worry about how to get him back to the USA, I'm not about to even think about a second dog.

However, I discovered a very active dog rescue that is in need of fostering families. I thought, hmmm... that might work.  But I knew Dan would never go for it.  I told Callie if her dad said yes, then we could look into fostering.

I may have been a wee bit astonished when Dan said yes.

So we filled out the paperwork and got approved to help rescue dogs.  And I learned a little more about the process.  It isn't like in the States where dogs typically have been socialized and trained and maybe abandoned or surrendered due to moving or whatever.  Nope.

There is a shelter here that has a very efficient way of operating.  They have 7 large rooms and there is one for every day of the week.  So all of Monday's dogs go in the Monday room.  And the next Monday, every dog still in the room gets to cross the rainbow bridge.  The Rescue will go in and try to save as many dogs as possible from this shelter.  Most of the dogs have not been well loved or trained.

These dogs seem to mainly be semi-feral dogs.  Dogs that are not use to people and are not potty trained.  Not up to dates on shots and not neutered or spayed.  Apparently the non-neutered thing is a problem because the male dogs will get in the house and start marking everywhere.  It is a little intimidating and nothing like my lovely vision of having a sweet neglected dog who knows how to dog who can come be Levi's buddy.

We have been watching the Rescue's "need a foster list" for a week now and everything seemed to be more high maintenance than I could deal with.  Or they had requirements we didn't meet.  I felt bad not stepping up to help out.  Then, today, a group of puppies came up.  I said we could foster one.  And tomorrow I get to go pick up a puppy!  Oh my gosh, how did that happen?!  I do not want a puppy!  I don't want to deal with potty training!

And I am not entirely sure Dan intended to agree to this when he said yes. Especially since I will be gone all next week. Heh heh heh.  So we shall see how it goes.  If it goes well, there will be photos later.

Happy 242nd Birthday Marines!

 Dan and I went to the Marine Corps Ball this year.  I was unenthusiastic.  We are new here and I do not know anyone.  Plus, realizing that every year I get all dressed up and we never get any good pictures and I don't get to do anything fun and we are old and boring... well, there wasn't much to look forward to.  I didn't even pick out what I was going to wear till 2 hours before and I just threw my hair into a fancyish, low pony-tail.  Whatever.

Inspired by my cousins amazing Halloween eye makeup, I went for extra dark and heavy eyes. It was a little different than I usually do.  I came out to make the kids dinner before putting on my dress and Rylee and Delaney were eyeballing me.  Delaney asked why  I looked like that.  I said we were going to the Ball.  Rylee informed me I had too much eye make up on.

After I got them dinner, I put on my pretty dress and we headed out.  I was wearing my awesome royal blue dress and fabulous red heels.  Dan wore his matador ....er, his Dress Blues uniform.  I knew exactly one couple there- a new family that just moved in, and I had briefly met at church.  I did not really want to socialize, but I did.  It wasn't horrible.  The program was good.  But what's not to love with Marines in uniform involved?!

The guest speaker was pretty amazing.  He had 2 sons who joined the Marine Corps after 9/11.  When his oldest son was killed by an IED, he decided he wanted to join the Navy.  He was an orthopedic surgeon and wanted to help.  He was told no way would he get an age waiver, at his age of 60 to join up.  He was able to get (then) President Bush to personally request the age waiver, and he joined the Navy and served several tours in Iraq as a doctor.  Pretty cool guy.

Dinner was tasty, cake was meh.  We left early and it was fine.  Dan had a friend take a couple pictures on my phone.  You cannot see the greatness of my dress, nor can you see my fabulous red heels, so I was sad about that.  Whatever.

Okay, not the best photo to see the heavy eye makeup! I don't know what Rylee was complaining about.

Dan with his boss and another guy he works with.  They were lovely table companions.

 The lackluster photo of us. But pretty much the only photo of us, so there you have it.

 Our name tags on the table.  Whoo hoo.

My little witch

Rylee had a birthday party to attend and it was a "costume Party" which pretty much meant, a Halloween party for the kids birthday after Halloween.  Which I find to be brilliant.

But I digress...

Rylee dressed up in her same costume she donned for candy-grabbing.  So I thought I ought to get some pictures so I could feel like a good mom.  And thus, I give you, Rylee in her witch costume:

Rylee's Baptism!

 Rylee turned 8 in September.  They like to do the baptisms monthly and the first Saturday of each month, our Branch has the building reserved for any kids who have turned 8.  Unfortunately, General Conference landed on the first Saturday of October, so that was a no go.  And I got caught up in other things and they reorganized the Primary Presidency and it kind of ended up being a little thrown together at the last minute.

Which was fine. The new Primary President was awesome and took care of all the details.  She printed up a beautiful program (which was waaay nicer than I was planning to print off) and coordinated getting the font filled and making sure we had a Branch Presidency member there, and a bunch of other little things.  All I had to do was make treats.  And Rylee wanted donuts so we stopped by Dunkin Donuts and pre-ordered 150 donut holes to be picked up Saturday morning.

On Friday Rylee said she wanted a photo shoot like Callie had. Ack!  I took some cute photos in the yard and ran to the 1 Hour Photo place and got them done. She was pleased. And adorable.  And looking so grown up!

Baptism day, things went beautifully.  I didn't expect a big turnout since we haven't made many friends who would feel obligated to come, and we didn't make a big deal about it.  We still had a few families and I was impressed that a sweet young couple with 2 small children showed up, mostly because I did not even know their name!

The program was perfect.  Dan's Mom gave her talk through the computer, Callie gave the other talk and both were wonderful and well received.  Josh was able to perform the baptism, which was pretty special.  He did have tp do it twice- by the time he got her hair all under, her feet were coming up. It was just perfect though.  Dan did the confirmation and we enjoyed delicious treats.

So it was a successful day!

Please enjoy the pictures from her impromptu photoshoot with my phone camera:

Posing with her photos.  And the recently released primary president did the framed photo for her.  Isn't that sweet?! 

My oldest and my youngest!  I love them so much! 

Feeling like this is a slightly inappropriate photo.  Dan took it as they were getting settled.

Halloween.... or.... proof I'm a bad mom

So Halloween happened and the weather was glorious.  Which is good, because two back-to-back weekends of typhoons tanked EVERY Halloween activity in the area.  So this was it.

I am a terrible mom.  I took exactly zero pictures of the night.  Delaney and Ryle decorated and did a nice job.  I carved a really cute witch pumpkin.  Callie dressed up with her black cloak and horse head to pass out candy and she was a hit.  Marian debated going out for candy but decided to stay in.  Dan took Delaney and Rylee around the neighborhood.  Here is the only photo.... and the neighbor took it!

Delaney is a Cereal Killer (see her knife and box of cereal?), and Rylee is a witch.

I don't know if their loot haul was good.  I didn't really want any of it.  And we had 2 large bags of candy left over.  I had gotten a lot, since I didn't know how many kids to expect.  So we have plenty of leftovers!