Why we love homeschooling... reason #11

When you homeschool the cat can keep you company while you are working on your math lesson!

John and Alexander

(yes we named the cat after our last name... we are vain like that!)

From the animals...

Of course we can't forget to include the rest of our family in our Christmas wishes...

Maxine and her antler ears. She adores these things, it cracks me up!

My parents are driving out from Maine so they can dog sit Max while we are in Oklahoma. She is getting old and we hate to board her.

OK...

That maybe a slight exaggeration...

They are going to spend Christmas with my sister's family and stay at our house, so Maxine just lucked out and didn't have to be boarded! But, just for the record, Max is spoiled and my parents would come out just to dog sit her.

Isaac took this picture of the cats. Not bad, huh? I don't think I would have a picture of the cats if it wasn't for my boys.

Merry CHRISTmas everyone!!!

This is what happens...

I do not talk on the phone a lot. With five kids it is near impossible. Because of noise level I usually have to go into the garage or outside to be able to hear the other person. But, of course, I do talk to my Mom a couple times a week. Today, I was on the phone with her and the girls decided they needed a second snack. So, they got the almonds from the pantry. The Sam's Club almonds...

that is 3 POUNDS of heart healthy almonds.

They dumped almost the entire container of almonds on the floor and divided them into three piles. One for Hannah, one for Chloe and one for Maxine. Yes, Maxine... the dog. You can see we have been working on sharing. I believe they are getting it!

This is what is left of our almonds...

I promise I didn't let them eat them all. After I snapped the pictures I had them throw the rest in the trash. I think this maybe a sign that they are growing tired of the Halloween candy!

Can you say spoiled?

Have you ever seen a spoiled dog? In case not, here is a picture...

This spoiled dog's name is Maxine and she is now TEN years old!

This is her birthday cupcake!

This is her in a sit/stay before she can have her cupcake.

This is after I "freed" her. It took her all of 1.3 seconds to inhale it!

I honestly couldn't ask for a better dog. She is amazing! I told my husband that there will never be another dog, because none will ever compare to her!

Maxine

The boys love to have me take pictures of our dog and cats. They will pose with the animals or make the animals do something cute and ask me to take a picture. I don't think I have ever posted a picture of our dog, Maxine. That is horrible of me, because she is a wonderful dog and we love her. I got her as a puppy 3 months before I met Monte. Maxine will turn 10 in April.

Here is Max guarding her Christmas surprise!

Max and Isaac cuddling on Christmas day...

Answer to Prayer

We have had a crazy week. We said goodbye to Pappy and Nana this morning (my parents) after our week long visit. We had such a great time... like always!

I have not had time to post this, but we had an interesting event in the Alexander household.

On Thursday night October 16 John's cat, Alex, got outside. I really didn't think much about it. I told Monte that I would sleep downstairs and let him in when he came back. Friday morning came and there was still no cat. He has gotten out at night one time before and he was home by morning. I was beginning to become concerned.

As you know from this post, I am not a huge cat person, but John is and I knew he would be devastated. I let the boys know that Alex had gotten out and John immediately started to cry. We prayed that Jesus would bring him back to us and that seemed to help for the moment.

My heart was broken for my child. John would cry off and on, but the nighttime and morning were the worst. Alex always falls asleep with him. John would cry himself to sleep and then as soon as his eyes opened in the morning the tears would start to flow.

We took to our knees a lot, but as the days wore on I knew there was no hope.

I should of had child-like faith...

Monte woke me up late Sunday night with Alex in his arms. The cat came home after 3 days. All I could do was give thanks to God. We tried to wake John up, but he is such a heavy sleeper. He had no clue what was going on. So, in the morning I brought Alex up to him when he woke up and the tears started to form in his eyes.

John asked immediately if we could pray and thank Jesus for bringing Alex home.

I have no clue what that cat ate or where he stayed at night while the frost blanketed the ground, but it doesn't really matter. He came home without a mark on him.

Alex and Alley

I have never blogged about our cats before. I am not a cat person and find them more trouble than they are worth. I am just being honest! They have recently decided to stop grooming themselves and are a huge matted mess. Makes me ill...

Any way...

The only reason we have cats is because of my cutie John. He loves animals and had asked for a cat since he could talk and he wanted to name him Alex. With our last name being Alexander I thought that name was adorable and my heart softened slowly.

Well, I finally broke because my bleach blond 2 1/2 year old saw a kitten he couldn't live without. Of course Isaac also needed a kitten and he decided to named his Alley.

So my dear friends here are our cats... Alex (black) and Alley (gray)

They have an unbearable life, let me tell you!!