Hey Guys

Just coming to touch base real quick, because my gracious, I haven't talked to you in a while.
Life, man.  It's nuts.

Our long holiday weekend was very fun and very exhausting.  We brought Lucy to the lake with all the Kansas relatives.  She liked to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, and since we were sharing a house with other people, we didn't leave her to bark in her crate.  Nathan got up with her one morning, and I got up with her the next.
One of those mornings I was sitting on the front steps while Lucy chewed a stick.  I heard a sniffing behind me and thought, "That sounds like Lucy sniffing the back of my neck, but Lucy is in front of me.  Hmmmm."  I turned to find a raccoon breathing down my back.  I jumped and scared it and it ran away.  After that, Lucy and I were too scared to go up on the porch until the sun came up.

Also, we forgot Lola's pull-ups, so we expected, and did encounter a peed bed each night.  Yawn.

Thankfully, we love our family, and there was coffee there.  It was great to play with the cousins and catch up.  I think a few people felt bad for me walking around the compound with Lucy on a leash all weekend while they took boat rides and such.  They insisted I unleash her in the house, to which I eventually did, and it was fine!  She cleaned crumbs off the floor and the cousins gave her commands.

One evening Cousin Kevin told me to leave the dog with him and take a boat ride.  I was elated.  I handed him the leash and watched the sunset on the lake with Lola in my lap.  So sweet.
We later pulled into the dock to find Lucy leash-less and healing and answering to "come" and "stay."  Everyone did their part in training her that weekend. :)  She improved hugely in a matter of a couple of days.  After that, we took Lucy on her first boat ride, and she fell right to sleep just like my babies always did. :)

We came home and jumped right back into school and homework, which eats mine and a certain child's lunch.  This child and I sit from 3:50 to 6 doing homework, eat dinner, and then sit from 6:30 to 8 and go to bed.  And sometimes we pick it back up at 6am until she walks out the door to school at 8.
She loses movie time and we never have time to bathe her.  She is "too tired" to focus and sits and does a hyperventilating type of breathing while staring at the table.  It isn't until I stand over her shoulder and talk her through each step that we actually get moving.  It's tough on us.  We both agree we can't spend the whole school year like this or we'll die.
We're working on a discipline system AND a reward system.  We'll see how it goes.

Ah, got to get going.  Happy Thursday.