It's amazing how Quin already thinks he can do everything his big brother can do. This morning I asked Ethan to help me take out the garbage, so he wheeled the garbage can that I had sitting out over to the side of the road. Quin, not to be outdone by his big brother, saw that I had the red plastic gas can sitting by the van waiting for me to fill it for the lawnmowers, and promptly grabbed it and started moving it towards the side of the road as well...

Testing out a new "quick-blog" tool from my Mac. It doesn't allow me to post pictures or anything, but should allow me to post more quickly and, therefore, more often.

Quin woke up ata 5:00 this morning! What is the matter with him!!??! About a week ago he went four days straight waking up at 6:30 or later. Jenny had to wake him up one day at 7:30 so she could get Ethan off to school! I don't remember when they start sleeping properly. I know it's by the age of 6 or 7 if their name is Ethan.

Quin's talking quite a bit more.  It helps that he can somewhat tell us what he wants. If he's hungry, he goes and points to his high chair, but normally he just wants a "nana (banana)." Of course, his most effective way of saying that he wants something that we're not providing properly is to scream at a very high pitch. Remember the most annoying sound in the world from Dumb and Dumber? Well, they weren't quite right.

That's about the limit of this new tool's ability to post, so I'm off.

Pets...

Quinton and Ethan's, well, all of our pet Barley passed away on Monday. Two weeks ago she suffered what appears to be a slipped disc in her back. Her back legs quickly became disabled, and over the course of the next two weeks she lost control of her bladder and bowels. She was almost nine years old.

The kids really loved her. Quin probably moreso than Ethan, though she's been a fixture in our house since Ethan has been around. Quinton just loved her, despite the fact that he tried to kick her on occasion and pulled her hair, all of which she handled without complaint.

Monday was a very difficult day for Jenny and I. She spent the weekend at the vet in hopes of a miracle that just didn't come. On Monday, the whole family went to the vet knowing what was going to happen. Jenny and I spent a lot of the time in tears. Ethan looked sad and seemed like he wanted to cry but just couldn't. I think he was upset most by seeing how upset Jenny and I were. Later in the day he did manage to get a good cry out, but it was a confusing time for him I believe.

Her life ended peacefully, though a tad early. One of the main issues we're encountering in her absence is how much we have to clean the floor around Quin while he's eating!!!

She loved to sit on the back of the chair in the sun. She loved to come and welcome you whenever you came over. She was a good dog and we will all miss her.