Never Give Up

Taris never ceases to amaze me. This year Taris will be in skating lessons. As a part of being in the Skating Club all members were asked to take part in the annual Skate-a-Thon. Each participant collects pledges as a fundraisier for the club. Seeing as Taris hadn't skated this year we thought it best to take her out Friday for her first skate before the Skate-a-Thon, which was today (Sunday).

So Friday morning off we went, skates in tow, to the rink. Larrie and Taris laced them up while Darcie and I were to be the cheering section. Now, a little background, by the end of last year Taris could in fact skate by herself. Fast forward to this year, she's only three, and she seemed to forget that she could do this. She's very funny in the fact that her mood went from estatic "I'm doing it!", to absolutely miserable..."I hate skating, I'm never doing this again."...this being when she would fall. We explained over and over that EVERYONE falls when they are learning to skate, yes, even Dad falls sometimes. By the end of the skate she could make it a little way to her dad without holding on. The only problem that arose was that her ankle hurt. Thinking it was just her sock, we called it a morning. Turns out she aquired a nasty blister on the inside of her ankle.

This morning Larrie doctored up her blister with second skin and band-aids in preparation for the big event. Today was my turn to skate with her, so we got our skates on and headed onto the ice. Right away she complained that her ankle hurt. I basically told her to suck it up, it couldn't be that bad, right? After about 5 minutes of whining I finally relented and siad that she didn't have to skate. Well, apparantly that was not an option, she was going to skate. We went down to the dressing room to make a little cushion of kleenex for her ankle. You might say I felt pretty bad when I took her skate off and her tights were soaked through with blood. Taris, being the determined little thing she is, still wanted to skate, so we stuffed some kleenex in there and back to the ice we went. She made it another 10 or so minutes (even without holding on for a bit) before she said it was 'kind of' starting to hurt again. I told her she could stop now and I got the reply...."No, I can do it, I won't give up" So after 5 more minutes or I finally conviced her that we could go get a hotdog and slushy and just watch. She finally relented and after removing the now bloodied kleenex up we went for snacks.

I have no doubt in my mind that this little girl will be skating in no time. As she watched the bigger kids skate she said "Look at those kids, they don't fall" and pushed away the little bar she was holding so she could skate by herself. I think she's one of those kids that will be stubborn enough that when she puts her mind to something, she will do it!

As a bonus Taris also received a prize for third highest pledges raised!

So it ended up being a good day, but we definitely have to magic up something for her ankle as lessons begin tomorrow! (I think new skates may be in order...and I have a sneaky suspicion she's going to want white skates, not the black ones her mom wants her to get!)

This Just In....

SInce coming to live with us 'Baxter' has become way too famous. So, like any celebrity who has hit the big time we decided it was time to change his name. He will now be known only as Higgins. Actually, after calling our new puppy Baxter for the past 3 1/2 days we find out that there is already a Baxter registered from the same litter. Apparantly there cannot be more than one. Instead of having his registered name different from his 'common' name, we just changed it. Higgins was actually our first choice, but Taris was having a tough time with it and it came out Piggins 8 out of 10 times. So hopefully he won't be too psychologically damaged and will learn to loVe his new name!!

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.

---Andrew A. Rooney

Impulse: caprice: a sudden desire; "she bought it on an impulse"

Anyone who knows our family knows that I am the practical one, the word of reason, I am NOT impulsive. You hear of 'impulse buys' like a really expensive pair of jeans, another shirt you don't need, not normally a puppy. Now enter Baxter. Baxter is my impulse buy. Hey, if I'm going to try out this impulse thing might as well make it count, right? You see, he had to be an impulse buy or else the part of me that always analyzes every major purchase or investment would have won. The fact is, I wanted a puppy. Not just any puppy, a shedding, snoring, mischief making pug puppy. (as my dad so nicely put it) I can think of a hundred and one reasons we don't need a puppy, after all look at the freedom we have been enjoying. There was only one reason I could think of for getting him. I wanted him. Ok, maybe 2, I firmly believe all children should have the expereince and joy of having a dog. So, as you can see, he had to be bought on impulse or we wouldn't have had this cute, adorable little puppy. He is wonderful with the girls, even though they sometimes get annoyed with him, he is after all, still a puppy. I'm sure there will be times when I wonder what on earth I was thinking, but in the end is there really anything better than the unconditional love of a puppy??

One reason a dog can be such a comfort when you’re feeling blue

is that he doesn’t try to find out why.

The dog was created specially for children. He is the god of frolic.

~Henry Ward Beecher

The Pizza Caper

Thanksgiving has officially come and gone. This year the girls and I piled into my mom and dad's truck and hit the highway to Saskatoon. Thanks to a DVD player and a great gramma the trip didn't hurt too much! We arrived Friday in time for happy hour and some catching up with my Aunt and Uncle and cousin after which we had pizza that almost wasn't. You see Cosmo is my other 'cousin'. He is a rather LARGE dog who loves food! When I say large, I mean when he stands on his hind legs he is like a tower. Anyway, my dad had bought a pizza in Brandon to take all the way to S'toon for Friday night supper. It was not cooked, but wrapped in plastic and carfefully balanced on my dad's hand to make it's way into the house. All was well until Cosmo caught a wiff and did a running, flying leap into the air to 'snatch' the pizza in mid flight. But he was not to eat pizza that night as my dad quickly manouvered away from his watering chompers. We all thought it quite hilarious...my dad, not so much! So three cheers for Stan for saving Firday's supper!

We were able to visit many relatives on both my mom and dad's sides and eat lots of great food! Thanks to everyone who housed us and fed us well all weekend long!!

The girls enjoying pie and whipped cream (darcie just the whipped cream!)

The pizza 'bandit'