Random Stuff

A couple of weeks ago we went to have family pictures taken at Woodward Park. After we let the kids feed the ducks. I took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures.
The boys have been taking baths together lately. Grant loves to watch Carter be wild.
Carter was helping me put switch plate covers back on after painting. He is surprisingly skilled with a screwdriver.
For some reason it is really hard to get a picture with all of the kids together. So far this is the only one I have of all three kids, all happy and looking at the camera.

Spring cleaning

When we moved into our house this closet became the catch-all for anything we didn't know where to put.

I have been bitten by the spring cleaning bug so I decided it was time to clean it out.

I am so happy with it now. I even have an empty shelf!

Early this morning. . .

I woke up to a sound. After a minute I realized that sound was water. I thought, rain? No, too loud. I thought maybe Dean ran the dishwasher and it was still going. I rolled over to go back to sleep and looked at the clock it was just before 4:00a.m. If he ran the dishwasher when he came to bed it was way too late for it to still be running.

I woke Dean up and told him to go check what was going on. He got out of bed and headed down the hall and I heard an "uh"

I got up and saw water everywhere. Dean stopped the water gushing out of a pipe that had burst under the kitchen sink. It flooded the kitchen, hallway, laundry room, entry, half way into our carpeted dinning room, into the living room and part of Abby's room.

We looked at each other and I said, "towels?" Dean laid the first towel down and it did not make a dent in the lake that was now the better half of our house.

Once Dean's brain woke up he got out the shop vac and started sucking up water. Luckily the kids slept through it.
I called our home warranty and they sent plumbers out to fix the pipe but they did not cover any of the other damage.

Once business hours rolled around Dean called our homeowners insurance and told them what happened. They said it would be one to two business days for someone to come out. Dean told them a large portion of our carpet was soaking wet. They told us to go ahead and call someone to come out and just keep the receipts.

After pulling up the carpets and cutting out the wet pad, 16 industrial fans and who knows how many dehumidifiers we are done for today.

Someone made it out from the insurance company and they said it IS COVERED, thank heaven.
We have to have the fans and dehumidifiers in the house for two to three days, have a new carpet pad installed in the living room, dinning room and Abby's room, remove all of the tile counter top in the kitchen to pull out the cabinets and have drywall repaired.

I have a feeling it is going to be a long process but I am just grateful we have family that has been helpful and offered help throughout the process, that we have insurance that will cover the cost, that we were home and it didn't flood the entire house.

I can say one thing. . .

LIFE IS NEVER BORING FOR THE DOCKSTADERS!

Army Man

Grant started army crawling yesterday. Today he is just getting faster. Grant is 8 1/2 months old. As I am typing this he is attacking Abby, she will move and he will follow her, she scoots over more and he follows.

Our Wicked Weekend

Last weekend Dean and I took a weekend trip to San Francisco.

Friday afternoon we packed Carter's bags and took him to my sister Rachel. My mom came to stay at our house with Abby and Grant.

We arrived at our hotel, checked in and went for a walk to Union Square. We stayed at the Parc 55 Hotel. It was really nice. It was also a great location because we were close to Union Square, walking distance from the theater and close to the cable car station.

This is the view from our room.
I didn't take any pictures of our room but this is one I found online. (Our room looked exactly like this.)

We were so lucky that the weather was great. Saturday we slept in, which was wonderful. Then we ate breakfast at the hotel. After that he took the cable cars down to Fisherman's Warf.

We walked around and did a little shopping.

Dean at the end of Pier 39



While we were at Pier 39 we decided to go to the Aquarium of the Bay. It was fun. They had some big aquariums that we walked through.

Dean watching the anchovy

The jellyfish were a little creepy.

February is also Tulipmania at Pier 39. The flowers we amazing.

The highlight of our trip and our reason for going: Wicked!

It was amazing. I have been wanting to see it for a while now and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The actress that played Elphaba (the wicked witch) was amazing. I have never heard anyone that could sing like that.

At the Orpheum Theater

Abby is still doing great in school. When she does her homework she always knows everything she needs to do.

She enjoys playing with Carter, most of the time. Sometimes they get into fights but I guess that is to be expected of siblings.

Abby spent the weekend with my mom. They went out to dinner one of the nights. Abby told grandma, "I want to try shrimp." She is pretty adventurous in what she will try. She will pretty much eat anything.

Abby and I went shopping, just the two of us, last week. It was fun to spend time with her one-on-one. She is so smart and mature for her age that it sometimes feels like I am talking to a 25 year old instead of a 5 year old.

Carter is working on potty training. We have made some progress but there is still sometime before I will say "He is potty trained."

Carter is becoming more of a helper around the house. He enjoys helping me with the laundry. He also helps with the trash and taking out the recycling.

Unlike Abby, Carter is growing more picky about what he will eat on a daily basis. He would be happy if the only thing he ate was cereal (in a baggie) and chocolate milk to drink. Although, sometimes he surprises me. I was recently making a salad and Carter stood next to me and ate several pieces broccoli right off the cutting board.

Grant is now 8 1/2 months. He isn't due to go to the doctor for a few more months so I don't know how much he weighs but I would guess somewhere close to 25lbs.

Grant cut his two bottom teeth about four weeks ago, when he was 7 1/2 months. He was never cranky. He is a good-natured baby and just a joy to have in our family.

Grant loves to eat. If you give it to him he will eat it, green beans, bananas, pizza, stolen on its way to mommy's mouth.

Shelby Saga

In December we decided, after much pushing from Abby, that we were going to get a cat. We adopted a five month old kitten that Abby named Shelby.

The kids love her! Carter loves her in a violent, two year old way but he loves her.

About two weeks after getting her she went missing. (This was not unexpected as Shelby is our third cat in three years. We just don't have good luck with pets, and yet we keep getting them.)

We walked the neighborhood and put up signs.

A day or two later we got a call from the microchip company that someone found our kitty and they were at a vet's office.

I immediately thought the worst.

They connected me with the vet's office. The woman on the phone said, "This is Stephanie White from the ward, we have your kitty."

I was shocked that someone we knew found her. Also, she lives across a major street and Shelby made it unscathed.

They quickly returned Shelby and things went back to normal.

Shelby loves Carter even though he is completely evil to her.

A couple of weeks ago, Dean was letting me sleep in. I heard a commotion and came out of our room.

I walked into the living room to find Dean holding something disturbing. Carter had been playing with the cat and shoved her into a toy. Dean tried to get her out but could not. Dean had to take the toy apart to get her out. Dean thought that she was dead but she survived again without injury. (Nine lives right?)

Carter still violently loves Shelby. Daily we have to tell Carter, "Don't hold Shelby by her neck." or "Don't lay on the cat." etc.

Yesterday, Dean told Carter, "Let the kitty go." Which as usual for Dean made him think of a movie. So he then stated in his Moses voice, "Let my people go!" Abby who was standing close by said, "What is people? Is that Spanish for cat?"

I have a feeling this not the end of the Shelby Saga.