13
Jan
Last night we said goodbye to the best dog ever. 15 years wasn’t quite long enough.
31
Dec
Granny and Pop came to visit and we saved our Christmas from them to celebrate together. The kids didn’t seem too upset to be opening more presents.
21
Dec
Ben and Madison spend a lot of time together. I shouldn’t have been surprised to realize that Ben has started to imitate Madison. He now purposely dumps his raisins onto the floor so he can eat them like Madison – meaning with no hands…
17
Dec
I walked into the kitchen to find these two snuggled up together.
05
Nov
We haven’t used a kennel for Madison in years. However, when we leave the house we often find her in the laundry room near Pepper when we return. Today is laundry day and the kids have to bring their dirty clothes to the laundry room. (Some of them use a laundry basket and some of them just toss.) Madison evidently decided that the dirty clothes made a soft bed to sleep on until we returned to the house. Madison’s hearing isn’t the best anymore so she often doesn’t hear when we come in the door so I was even able to grab a camera and get her picture before she realized we were home.
08
Oct
I see these two do this all the time. Madison is just short enough and Pepper is just tall enough that Pepper ends up standing on top of Madison. I find it hilarious and they don’t even seem to notice at all.
29
Jul
Morning snuggles with these two.
12
Jun
Ben has decided to start fixing breakfast. It’s cereal for everyone and bowls are optional. Milk is too heavy for him to reach so the cereal is served without. Enjoy!
05
Jun
The unexpected best entertainment for Ben out of this move has been the rollercoaster. This toy has actually been around a LONG time. Alex inherited it from family friends in 2010. It’s not even Ben’s first time riding it, but something clicked this time and suddenly when he saw it at this house he fell in love. Now let me explain the best things about this toy. 1.) It has a track, but the track isn’t necessary so setup can be immediate. 2.) Because it is designed to run on a circular track. It continuously goes in a circle. You don’t have to worry about your child driving anywhere. He literally just rides in a circle over and over.
I put him in it and can go inside the kitchen and watch him out the window while I put away dishes. It’s the best thing ever!
25
May
Madison – faithful companion. She hangs out and is pretty cool with just about anything – until she feels it is okay to return to her nap.
17
May
Granny And Pop are here to help us begin moving. They drove Pop’s truck up and are here for longer than usual to help us out. We are so thankful the new house is bigger and has a large basement and barn. We have the keys to our new house and our goal is to move quite a bit of “stuff” out of our current house to the new house. We are going to list our current house and cross our fingers that it sells within a few weeks. If it doesn’t, then we are going to go ahead and move into the new house and try to sell the house with no furniture. We’ve sold all but one of our previous houses within a few weeks so we are hoping for the best.
04
May
I have often talked about how Ben and the chip drawer are a constant problem. He thankfully doesn’t know how to open a new bag of chips, but now he just carries the bag around and loves on them – like a pillow. Let’s hope nobody minds mini chips in their nachos.
02
May
Madison is the world’s best dog. I love to walk in and find Ben spending time with her – normally food is involved too.
23
Mar
We have been giving Pepper dog bones to try and keep her entertained (and reduce the chewing of our items). The problem is Madison will occasionally get the bone and guard it. Pepper will not dare take it back from Madison. Madison is too old to chew the bone. She just won’t let Pepper have it. Wade and I find the entire situation pretty funny.
Tonight we thought we had a solution. We gave each dog a bone. It went basically like it does with two toddlers. Pepper couldn’t stand it that Madison had a bone. She abandoned her bone and kept trying to figure out how to get Madison’s bone. She kept edging closer and closer to Madison. Madison never once chewed the bone but kept it in her sight or under her head the entire time. Wade and I were dying laughing.
For those curious – Madison eventually fell asleep. Pepper stole the bone. Madison never even remembered there was a bone.
14
Mar
At 14 years old, Madison is still the best kitchen cleanup I have ever had.
17
Feb
There are so many ways that we have noticed Madison’s advanced years. She is still great at cleaning up the floor after the kids, but she just tends to stay put even after the kids have left the table. I’m not sure if she is hopeful they will come back or doesn’t notice when they have left…
04
Feb
We do share the love in this house. Obviously Kaitlyn has been by and decided Madison needed a blanket.
30
Jan
It wasn’t too many months ago that we would have told Madison to get down. But she’s 14 this month (14?!?!). I’m honestly impressed she can get up in the chair. At this age she is an amazing dog. She puts up with 4 kids, a crazy house, a hectic schedule, and then we got a puppy. Madison – you can get in the chair if you want.
09
Dec
I had so much fun playing with Christmas tree lights and my lens this year. Did I mention how much I love Christmas?
05
Dec
18
Oct
I know my picture is a little crazy, but the important part is there. I have noticed recently that Pepper has gotten really smart when playing with Madison. She is too small to have any physical advantage, but she has realized all she needs to do is grab Madison’s collar. She will bite Madison’s collar and then pull her around the house. It is hilarious to watch. Madison is a good sport about it all and will let Pepper know when she is done with the game.
25
Sep
This is how we lunch. Ben has his own personal cleanup crew. It works out nicely for both of us. He also usually eats in just a diaper which cuts down on laundry considerably.
22
Sep
Madison has been ever hopeful for a dropped crumb since 2009. It’s served her well and we greatly appreciate the cleanup crew!
15
Sep
September has proved to have the craziest weather! One day we are in jeans and the next we are in the pool swimming. Today it was sunny and warm and we swam! The name of the game today was – push everybody in!
29
Aug
This boy is a walking death wish. It will be a miracle if he makes it to elementary school. (It’s not that the other kids were easier or calmer, but I had more attention to focus on them.) Ben puts everything in his mouth and for every small item I pick up there are three other people in the house putting small things right back on the floor. For every door I close, there are three other people opening them. Ben is mobile earlier than my other children so he already has access to things I wish he didn’t. (Did I mention he is the first child I have ever had to call poison control for?) He definitely keeps me on my toes!
19
Aug
Sadly summer is ending and that means the beach is one of the first things to close. The lake officially closes with a last Sunday afternoon for dogs only. This year Madison only swam a small amount and then found a nice spot near the lifeguards to watch all the action. (Her 13 years are starting to show.)
15
Aug
These are the days of summer. We spend our mornings at the lake. Some of us take a quick nap. Then we have an afternoon or evening swim in our backyard. This is the perfect summer.
25
Jun
Today’s big adventure was a train ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad.
Then Pop bribed the boys to spend some time across the street at the pond hunting for frogs. He offered to pay them each a $1 if they caught a frog. Alex was by far the most motivated.
Then we wrapped up the evening by grilling dinner and enjoying the outdoors. Wade and Alex created a new version of baseball – pineball. Using the materials on hand they played baseball with a large stick and a pinecone.
24
Jun
We are vacationing with Wade’s family in Conway, NH. It was a little hectic to leave immediately after school was over, but it was only a 3 hour drive from our house! We took both cars, Madison, and all sorts of extra things we thought we might need. Ben, however, doesn’t quite get a full understanding of vacation. My normal baby that sleeps all night (until almost 7 am) has been waking up at 3 or 4 and then is up for good at 5:30. Wade and I are tag teaming it, but it’s a challenge to keep him quiet so the rest of the house can sleep.
17
Jun
28
May
Ben rarely stays where I put him these days so Madison has been happy to claim the monkey pillow for herself. I hate to tell her it will soon be leaving the kitchen and she’ll be back to the hard floor again. Some day I’ll find a place for a pillow for her again.
14
May
Someone cut her summer hair cut today. (And now we both need a shower.)
28
Feb
These pictures weren’t taken at the same ages, but I thought they needed to be side by side.
(Kaitlyn is about 1 month and Ben is about 3 months).
18
Feb
We woke up to 5 inches of snow! With our crazy warm temperatures we knew it wouldn’t last so we got everyone out and played. (Ben didn’t love it quite as much as I had hoped.) Kaitlyn kept asking to go snowboarding (thank you olympics) so Wade helped her out.
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and taking naps.
31
Jan
This is just a typical night in the Burch house…
29
Jan
Poor Madison is really starting to show her age. She doesn’t see well, hear well, or smell well. (Eating is still no problem.) She has always followed me around the house all day. Then she would only follow me up and down the stairs in the morning. Now she does the stairs only once or twice a day and it is an obviously painful exercise. When I go upstairs she now waits patiently at the bottom till I return. We are both going to be sad when she can’t sleep upstairs any longer.
21
Jan
It was relatively warm today so we took the go cart out!
08
Jan
It appears that Madison has found a new napping spot.
09
Dec
How fun that the first snow was on a Saturday. It snowed all day (about 5 inches total). We played outside, took naps, watched a movie, played outside again, built a fire outside, had hot chocolate inside, and then ended the evening by driving around looking at Christmas lights. Perfect.
20
Aug
It turns out our local beach has a special day just for dogs. After the beach is officially closed to the public for swimming, it opens one last time for dogs. Madison has always loved to swim so we headed to the beach. Madison swam. Alex talked to every dog owner he could find. (He’s doing research on what kind of dog he wants if we get one next year.) Kaitlyn played in the sand. Teague observed it all. Then a man offered to let Alex throw a ball for his dog. He and Kaitlyn spent the next hour playing fetch with a very happy puppy.
Amazingly, none of my kids ended up in the water. We went home with a wet dog and dry kids.
14
Aug
Wade and I finally got our coat hooks hung last night. Today I pulled out all the coats and backpacks to put on the hooks. When I turned around, Madison had instead decided to use all the soft materials as a pillow.
10
Aug
Alex has been working hard at the few jobs we linked to possibly getting a new dog (next year). He knows he has to show responsibility and a good attitude for a long time. The constant puppy discussion is almost worth it for the empty trash/recycling and pool cleaning he does without complaint.
19
Jul
Madison will happily follow me into the pool but otherwise she is content to stay on the deck. Today I was under the water taking pictures quite a bit and realized Madison was in the water looking for me. I tried to photograph her, but it turns out it’s tricky to get an underwater picture of a dog (who doesn’t put her face under).
05
Jul
Madison finally decided to join in the swimming today!
22
Jun
We have a hectic few weeks but that seems to go hand-in-hand with moving. I drove the kids all down to Paducah on Tuesday (6/20). Wednesday morning (6/21), Judy and Jerry arrived early to take Kaitlyn with them to Memphis. She’ll stay until Sunday (6/25). I am spending a few days in Paducah with my Mom and the boys. Then on Saturday morning (6/24) I am taking an early flight to Chicago. Wade will pick me up at the airport and we will immediately start a two day drive to Boston (with the dog and cat). My Dad will get the boys on Saturday evening (6/24) and then take them to Memphis on Sunday (6/25). He’ll pick Kaitlyn up and bring her back to his house for the night. On Monday (6/26), my Mom gets Kaitlyn and will have her all week. Judy and Jerry are driving the boys to Paducah on Friday afternoon (6/30). Wade is flying to Paducah on Friday evening (6/30). Saturday morning (7/1), Wade, Judy, and the kids will begin a two day drive to Boston. (I was rather adamant they had to make it by Sunday so I could see Kaitlyn on her real birthday.)
Did that make sense to everyone? It will be a miracle if everyone ends up where they are supposed to on any given day! While I am in Paducah, Wade is in Barrington overseeing the movers. From what I have heard so far, it is going to be a challenging move. I requested pictures of the house with boxes and he was nice enough to help.
29
May
Knowing our last holiday in this house is Memorial Day, we decided to invite our Milwaukee friends and hope for warm weather. (This year has been slow to warm up.) Thankfully the day was pretty – even if the water was too cold for me! Our friends spent the afternoon at the beach and the evening at our house. We were having so much fun I completely forgot about Kaitlyn’s nap, but she went ahead and took one on her own. Then she was back up and playing with her friends.
07
May
These kids are so ready for warm weather that they are making it happen. It was definitely too cold for a car wash but who was I to say no? They washed two cars and then tried to “sunbathe” but ended up wrapped in their towels instead.
13
Apr
This is how our afternoon went:
31
Mar
Someone was really glad to be back home with all our chaos.
14
Mar
Today we sledded one last time. I had been hoping for snow all winter and March wasn’t too late to enjoy it for a few days.
