Somtimes Things Can Get a Little Crazy

With a family of 7 no matter what kind of day we're having there is always some excitement.  Unfortunately sometimes the excitement happens all at one time.

Take for example this evening.  It all started when my husband decided to take a short trip into town. I was in the kitchen with my two year old, who suddenly noticed the sound of the pick-up leaving the driveway.  Within an instant he was out the door and around the corner only to discover the truck and daddy were already gone. Well that didn't deter him one little bit.  He quickly hopped on to his trike (which in itself is sad as it has been through all 5 kids, run over at least 3 times which has required the back tires were replaced with lawnmower tires, it's rusty and missing one pedal, but none of that slows Lil' B down one bit). He swiftly started down the driveway towards the street with tears streaming down his face and screaming "I'm coming with you. Don't leave me Daddy!!" Luckily I caught up with just before he hit the street and any on coming traffic.

After wrangling him into the house, calming his sobs and cleaning his tear stained face I finally convinced him to go outside and play with his older brothers and sister.  I reminded the kids to keep an eye on him and went to work in the kitchen.  Checking on the four of them (little K was playing downstairs because she said she was feeling tired of outside) every few minutes, I worked to clean up the mess from dinner while our new puppy that we adopted on Monday, rested on the couch in the adjoining room. Suddenly I looked up and noticed that Lil' B was no longer visible and fearing that he was trying to follow Roy again I ran to the door, flung it open and there went the puppy.  Now not only could I not see my baby but our puppy (an 11 month old terrier mix, named Henry, who can run like a bat out of hell) was on the loose.

I quickly looked for Lil' B whom I found sitting buckled into an extra carseat in the garage. Figuring he was safe I took off after my older three kids and the puppy.  They were already in the neighbor's yard and the kids were trying to trap Henry. That however is about impossible.  Henry is an expert at dodging people and runs fast enough that none of us can keep up with him.  I sent K (my oldest daughter) home to watch the little two and helped the boys pursue the dog. After about 15 minutes of chasing him in circles around the neighbors yard Henry made a break for it into the neighborhood that's under construction behind our 's.  We took off fearing that this we may never catch him.  After we broke through the tree line we were surprised to see Henry jumping around the feet of a guy who had stopped to look at one of the houses for sale.  I yelled "grab that dog's collar!" He quickly obliged and caught the Henry.  After thanking him and giving him all the positives of our neighborhood and school system I took the dog and the boys and headed towards home just in time to see my husband walking across the field to offer his assistance.  His 30min errand turned into a mad dash after a crying toddler and a wild puppy.

Now as I sit here this evening the sweet puppy is curled up sleeping in a chair and my little boy is safe upstairs in his bed and I am grateful. I am however beginning the search for invisible fencing and wondering if it would be considered bad parenting to put a collar on Lil' B. Just kidding :)