It's Me or the Dog

To borrow a line from a television show that Hunter often watches, it's me or the dog.  Most of my friends, especially the ones who have been over to our house, are familiar with my evil dog, Cody.  I am not necessarily a dog person.  It's not that I don't like animals, but I have never had the whole -dog as part of your family- experience...until Cody. 

Cody's with his best friend Miley

 Now to set the record straight, he is the most ill-behaved animal that I have ever came into contact with.  He barks, he destroys, he chases elderly neighbors and postal workers out of our yard, and yes he may occasionally take a nip out of a person.  You've heard the quote, "A dog will not bite the hand that feeds him"? Not so true in Cody's case.  Just last week, he sank his teeth into my hand because I unnerved him.  He is a beautiful miniature daschund, but please don't let the innocent face fool you.  He is a terror.  It's funny how you can come to love something that is so contrary and difficult.  Maybe that's how Kevin feels about me?? Ha!  It has come to be a joke to people who are close to us.  I even briefly advertised to get rid of him on facebook once, but people who knew about him quickly warned others. 

He went through the entire family's church shoes in one week.  The list of things that he has destroyed would add up to thousands (and no, this is not even a slight exaggeration).   When we returned home after the fire, he immediately set to work on the brand new sofa.  I was so frustrated with him that I closed him in the laundry room with a baby gate.  I came home to find the brand new dryer hose had been disconnected from the wall (and shredded).  One night I was happily playing on the computer when I lost my internet connection- you guessed it; he went under the desk and chewed all the cords.  He has yet to be potty trained.  I had to warn people not to pet him unless they wanted a puddle on their shoe.
He had to move outside...

Once he was settled into outdoor living, he quickly decided to take the neighborhood hostage.  He ran in people's yards, barked and growled at children, and even stole things from the neighboring homes and lovingly placed them on our doorstep, after he demolished them.

I had to purchase a $300 pet containment system, and I was not happy about it.  Now Cody is confined to his circular boundaries of our home.  It's pretty funny to watch people walk up while Cody barks and shows his teeth.  They don't know he has to stop at a certain point, but he does.  The fright in their eyes caused by this 8 inch tall menace is hysterical. He has full reign of the carport and patio.  This was a problem around Christmas when I returned home from school to find a Toys'RUs package already opened and destroyed because the UPS driver left it too close to the little piranha.

He is adjusting well.  He suns on the patio table, no matter how many times I shoo him away.  He has a girlfriend, a bulldog. Please, no questions.

I have to admit that I miss him when he is outside, so I sneak him in when Kevin isn't around.  Usually he tears something up, then has to go back outside.  For example, Ryan's new baseball glove...

I understand him...he understands me.   He doesn't mean to do bad things.We have finally made that human-dog connection. Most importantly, he has become my buddy. I'll admit it...he has grown on me.  He loves me as long as I obey him.  Whenever I sit down, he jumps in my lap.  So what if he has mud on his paws; it doesn't matter at all to him.  He warns me if anyone should come to the house.  He takes his job as protector of the family very seriously.  I must say that he brightens my day in so many ways.  Even those time that I may want to give him away, I know that no-one else on earth would take him.  If they did, they would return him.  That is just fine with me.

Ryan's Garden

It is time for me to catch up on my blogging.  I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to do much of anything.  We have been working at the ballpark almost every night, and while it has been fun, I'm ready for a break.  A good friend recently told me that I may want to slow down, and yes, I am taking her advice and enjoying the rest of my summer.  First on the list for the summer was a tiny little garden.  Ryan wanted to test his green thumb this year, so we went to my favorite summer hangout...Lowes. 

He chose some peppers, green beans, sunflowers, watermelon, and tomatoes.  We had a great afternoon learning all about plants and how they grow.  There is just something relaxing about digging in the dirt.  Patience is not a character trait that comes easy when you're 5, so he was ready to see the "plants" about 30 minutes after we planted them.  He has been watering and checking them daily.  They outgrew the little pots, and we had to transplant them into the garden. 
Hopefully before the end of the summer we will have pictures of vegetables to post.

Coach Pitch Baseball 2010

Spring in the Reid family always welcomes baseball season. Ryan had his first coach pitch game last week. He was so excited to have finally moved up to the coach-pitch league. These are a few pictures from his game.

Playing second base (like his big brother, Andy)

Papaw helping him adjust his belt

New batbag, new glove, he is ready!

#3 for the third in the family

No, he didn't need black out; the sun wasn't shining, but he did think it made him look more "professional."

His team did win their first game.  I will add a video of his first hit as soon as I find my usb cord.  I'm thinking the major league teams will be recruiting him soon.

Easter

One of my favorite holidays...We always host Easter at our house (except for the year I had my spleen removed, and there was the whole stomach flu thing one year, and oh, we missed the year the house burned).  Ok, so other than that, we always LOVE to have the whole family over for lots of food, an egg hunt, and our favorite tradition...a big water gun fight.  I'm not sure how the water gun fight started, but it is a favorite pasttime in our family.

The Easter bunny always hides the baskets in our home.  He leaves the boys clues, which leads them to their baskets.  Hunter and Andy may be tired of playing along, but no playing along=no baskets.  This fact usually encourages them to get up and start looking.
Kevin...oops, I meant the Easter Bunny,  always comes up with some great riddles and hiding places for the boys.

The boys with their Easter goodies

After the boys found their baskets, and had a FEW pieces of candy, we all got ready for church.  We went to the early service and heard a wonderful message.  We then enjoyed some time of fellowship in our Sunday school class.

My handsome men

Aren't they precious?

We tried to get a picture without Ryan...Did I mention that Easter Sunday was also our 13 year anniversary?

After church we hurried home to make last minute preparations for Easter dinner. 

My sister and mother-in-law

Nana and Papaw

Katey, ready to hunt eggs

After we ate, we went outside for the egg hunt.  The kids were collecting money at the rate of $1 for each 20 eggs.  It was originally $1 per 15, but since Amy brought extra eggs, Kevin started getting frugal.

The kids waiting to hunt eggs

Let the fun begin...

Alena was happy with just one egg

Amy brought confetti eggs!  The kids had a blast cracking them on each other's heads.  This is Lauren breaking one on Kevin's head.  He then decided to crack a hard boiled egg on Lauren's head.  The only little problem was that we got in kind of a hurry when we were boiling those last few eggs.  Needless to say the hard-boiled egg was soft-boiled and Lauren woulnd up with a head full of egg yolk.  I washed her hair and she paid Kevin back by hitting him in the head with a water gun later in the day.

Even Papaw got covered in confetti!  Hunter found the $5 prize egg, although Katey nearly wrestled it away from him.

After the eggs were counted, we broke out the water guns and then the real fun started!

Somehow the teams wound up with Kevin (the biggest kid of all), Jonathan, Bethany, and Ryan against  Hunter, Andy, Katey, and Lauren.  The second team was a little outmatched, but they certainly gave a great effort.  They soaked one another, while all of the more "mature" adults sat in the safe zone (the porch), and threatened the life of anyone who aimed a water gun in our direction.

After everyone was soaked and exhausted, we came back inside, changed clothes, and ate a little more.  We had a great time spending the day with our loud and crazy family.