How do we love thee, Ginger dog? Let us count the ways? Bub reported below on her eating a whole through the non-diet food that is Petey’s. So she ate herself silly on one occasion (distended belly, crazy lethargy), but we thought that was isolated. Alas – she nosed her way through Matt’s barricade of the bag, and managed to eat for several more days before we caught her. Ugh. Months of dieting and dragging her behind the bicycle all lost. She literally got wedged in the doggy door repeatedly- you could tell it was a painful squeeze. And then she pooped in the house. BLECH! So then something happened Wednesday that was SO GROSS (that wasn’t Ginger’s fault, but it was her food bag, so she gets the blame indirectly). We keep her diet food up high in the utility sink, sitting in a black hefty bag. There was a strange smell from over there – and I didn’t know what it was. I noticed that the whole outside of the bag was wet – then figured out there was a leak from the sink nozzle, trickling down. So I put my hand inside the bag to see if the food was wet farther down. My arm came out – COVERED WITH MAGGOTTS!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Do you feel like yakking your dinner? I sure did. The lovely plumbers who were working inside, kindly threw away the (expensive) bag of food for me, and man the smell in the sink was so very bad. Blech again. We do love Ginger, she has those totally expressive eyes (which basically tell you she’s hungry 24/7). She also loves to rub into your lap with her behind, and somehow thinks she’s a teensy lap dog.

Lucy loves this small fuzzy giraffe that Ya-ya got her at the SB Zoo. She told me tenderly, “I love my giraffe. He’s my daughter.” This morning after some cuddles, she said, “I’m going to eat you up!” She then made gobbling motions with her mouth. I said, “Do I taste good?” She said, “You taste gwoss.” I said, “What do I taste like?” She said, “Chicken.” I said, “What do you taste like?” She said, “Fruits and vegetables.” “How about brother?” “He taste like flowers.” “And Dad?” “He taste like books.”

Matt bought a new container of green bee-bees to go in his (not Max’s) little shooter gun. Max does get to play with this – with Dad’s supervision and safety glasses on. But the lovely green color must have been too much for Lucy to resist – she came to me yesterday with a strained look on her face. “Mom, I put a bee-bee in my nose!” So I look in there, and see way more nose than bee-bee – it’s been way pushed up there. Yikes! I did not want her to choke, or have it get stuck in her sinuses – man what a nasty ER trip that would be. So (thank the good Lord), when I squeezed one nostril shut and told her to blow, HARD, she did it and the bee-bee came flying out. Whew! Hopefully we’ll have no more of that.

Now that Max is 7 (pictures sure to come in November :), he is displaying some great wisdom. The other day we were speaking of one of his friends, we’ll call him John.* We don’t see John as much as we used to, but still make an effort to play with him several times a year. Max said, “Wanna know why John isn’t my best friend anymore?” I said, “Why? Is it because we haven’t seen him in awhile?” He said, “No, it’s because he doesn’t obey his mommy. I don’t like friends that don’t obey their mommy. I don’t like fussing!” *This name has been changed to protect the original disobedient kid.

Well, actually it was on May 10. Stop laughing at me and enjoy these pictures of our big girl:

The big girl and her ole lady

Beautiful host of the party Auntie Jan and enchanting guest Grandma Jo

Our good buddies Frank and Sheryl

“Jump on in this new pool!” says Max

Lucky me – getting a smooch from Dad

Life is now complete with her toy cel

She was yelling, “I’m a Princess!”

Natey says, “Hey Lucy – did you know it’s our birthday?”

A spin with Cowgirl Ya-Ya

Glad Poppa won’t get a sunburn with his silvery suit on

The sweet girl with her birthday waffle