Before we left town a few weekends ago (another post for another day), I noticed our sweet pup wasn't himself. Whining, sore, tired, grumpy. Sounds like a man cold, right?

Umm... Not so much

My first clue was the green puss coming out of his ... man part.

And then we went to the vet.

Did you know a dog can get an infected man part?

Neither did I.

Apparently, he leans over so far when he is doing his business that his ... man part ... rubs against whatever he's peeing on, and gets bacteria.

After suffering the indignity of an exam by the vet, the indignity of vet techs catching his pee, and the indignity of the vet techs cleaning out his ... man parts ... poor Ty was more than ready to come home.

But not before costing me $200.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my bones to keep.
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord the cats to take.

In the last thirteen hours I have:

Packed the car

Given the dog his meds (more on that in another post)

Driven the hubby to the airport

Driven back home to get the chains for the tires, just in case

Driven 9 hours with 3 kids by myself

Consumed far too much coffee

Listened to too many kids' movies

Caved to the siren's call of the Cracker Barrel

Hugged my grandma

Invaded my sister-in-love's house

Snuggled my niece

Wrestled my nephew

Listened to the beautiful sounds of 5 cousin sleeping

We are settling into our daily routine. We don't have a specific start time. I've discovered I'm just not that type of homeschooling mom. Some days we start at 8:30. Some days it's 10. And that's ok. Madi is reading sentences all on her own, Violet can spell and write her name, and Kat no longer hates math! I love teaching my girlies!

Kat is doing amazingly well after her surgery. The only reminder we have are her two tiny scars on the backs of her legs. She is doing well with her "physical therapy" - swim lessons, wii, chasing the dog.... In other words, being a kid!

And in case anyone wondered why I call my kids my minions ...