Meet Kiwi...

our Italian Jackhuahua Spaniel. Thanks for your breed input... I really don't care what breed she is, but I want a catchy answer when people ask me what she is. So, that is our new answer...
so far, the response is good... they look thoughtfully and say "oh... she is really a cute one!"

Let's play "Name that Breed"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you my Mother?????

So, my favorite pastime lately is trying to figure out what breed Kiwi is. Have you noticed that weird combination dogs are the latest rage? Used to be if your Lab got together with the neighbor's poodle, you would be appologizing and your kids would be outside the grocery store with a box of puppies handing them to anyone who was crazy enough to take the mutt! Now you can get $1500 for your labradoodle puppies! I am thinking that I may really have a valuable dog if I could just figure out what she is! Hahahah!

Kiwi strikes the "Snoopy Vulture" Pose on the back of our couch... maybe she is a cartoon beagle!

I did find out that you can do a DNA test that will tell you what breeds make up your dog... I don't know if I would believe the results, and I don't want to spend the $100 to do it, SO that is where you come in... I am conducting a non scientific poll (VERY NON!) At the end of this LONG post, you can comment and tell me what breeds you think make up my too cute doggie.

So, here is what we KNOW. Kiwi is a purebred dog, her mama is a dog and her daddy is a dog!Kiwi was born in mid to late November. When we got her she was 6-8 weeks old she weighed in at 3 lb 6 oz. She is now 5 months and weighs in at 7 pounds. She is all legs. At the SPCA Kiwi was there with her mama and 3 brothers. The mama looked like a spaniel mutt. One of the brothers was definitely a Jack Russell mix. One brother was a spanielish black and tan puppy. The other brother was a non-breed specific mutt.

One brother looked like this

Everyone always says that Kiwi is a Chihuahua mix.. no offense to the Chihuahua lovers in the crowd, but all I know about the Chihuahua is the Taco Bell commercials and bobble head dogs in cars. I just don't see the resemblance.

In all fairness, I looked for a Chihuahua picture that lookes a lot like Kiwi... I am just not admitting it... don't Chihuahua's shiver all the time?

A Jack Russell... she has that look, doesn't she?

Since one brother looked like a jack russell, and Kiwi has the markings of a JR, we figured the daddy was a Jack Russell... but then how would Chihuahua figure in? I went on a search of spaniel mix photos to find something that resembles the mama. This is the closest I found. This is what she looked like to some degree. She was more "homeless" looking and had at least one more breed mixed in.

Well Guess what, this picture is of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/Jack Russell mix! So, maybe the Jack russell came from the mama. But we still don't know what else she is...

My dad was here visiting and said "she's built more like a race horse than a dog" which is very true... AND she runs like I have seen Greyhounds run...

This is an italian greyhound running....all legs off the ground, tail out, head up


These are Kiwi running... all feet off the ground, tail and head up.

But Greyhounds are way too big for this little dog.. at least I thought that until my friend said there were "Mini" greyhounds. They are Italian greyhounds and they look like this. They weigh in at 7 to 11 lbs.. so that is the right size.

Italian Greyhound puppy... looks kind of like our girl

Italian greyhound body style above... Kiwi below
I don't have pictures, but these two poses are ones that Kiwi strikes too.

She definitely has that long legged look and runs like that, but I don't think that they are very common and would infiltrate the Stray dog blood lines.

So, now it is your turn... WHAT BREEDS would you guess Kiwi is???? Leave your comments... this should be fun!

GO SPARTANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah had a class meeting today for the new charter high school. Since she is part of the first class, they got to help chose the school colors and mascot. They had a 9am-1pm meet your classmates rally. They had narrowed down the choices to: red/black, red/gold, navy/white and the mascots to: cougar, spartan and falcon. They voted and they are now the SPARTANS and will be Navy and white. Hannah was happy about the mascot but the color was not the combo she voted for. Oh well, you learn in life to deal with what you are given. I told her that she wouldn't have been involved in the selection process at all at the other two schools she could have gone to. I am a bit bummed in the mascot.. the three high schools in town are "saints" "warriors"(think roman soldier) and "knights" seems to me they could have gone with and animal. But hey, it is their school and their mascot, so their choice it is.

Charter School News

I haven't blogged in a while. The lottery day for the charter school was February 6th. There was no lottery for the High School because there were only 119 signed up for the 135 spots. So the people signed up at that time (Hannah included) are IN! Since then, they have filled the last spots.
We were very excited, but that left us with another quandary... what to do with Bekah.

We had signed her up for the K-8 part of the charter school, mainly to give Hannah an extra chance to get in the high school during the lottery (siblings were guaranteed a spot) But since Hannah was IN it made Bekah IN also. So now we need to decide if we want her to go. The K-8 will have 8 students per grade level, 3 grade levels in one class. It is going to be at a little "country" school about 8 miles from our house. We have always shied away from combo grade classes for Bekah because she isn't a great independent learner. So, we were kind of leaning toward NOT putting her in the charter school. But she is also a quiet student who gets lost in the 32 kid classroom.
I spoke with her 2nd grade teacher (we love her and value her opinion) and she thinks that this might be a GREAT opportunity for Bekah. We LOVE our current school, we love the jr. high that she would go to, this would remove her from both of those. She has friends who will be at the new school, so that isn't a big deal. We don't know who the teachers will be and the fact that you will have the same teacher multiple years makes that a BIG FACTOR!
So, I guess we will register her for the Charter school on Tuesday (the deadline to register, or they give her spot to the next person on the waiting list) and then wait to see who the teachers and principal will be. We can always change our minds later and continue where she is. I will keep you posted.

Superbowl XLII National Anthem Jordin Sparks

I think that this is the BEST rendition of the National Anthem that I have ever heard!

I've been tagged...

I sit here with my new pretty green laptop computer... home from work because Bekah is sick.. and I got tagged.

Here are the rules:
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

L- Like to scrapbook
y- Young... I am very young..
n- Not a great housekeeper... I can't stay focused
n- never been to new york

I am going to tag: Parkie, AmyG, Sue and Paula

So, alot's been happening...

Flat Kendall has been visiting from Alaska. She is a class project from my Mom's Cousin's granddaughter Kedall. They send the flat representation of themselves to someone, who then sends it on. They learn about geography (you send them a postcard from your location), culture (you send pictures of what you did with Kendall) and they help some schools in Africa (you send a book to one of the 3 schools in Africa) I need to send her on her way somewhere else. She went on a missions trip to Mexico with Hannah (and Hannah did take pictures, but I accidentally erased Hannah's memory card... I would KILL her if she did that to me! She was very gracious and forgave me after much much much remorse on my part) she spent Christmas with us and Kendall has met Kiwi! I don't think that I will be sending the picture of the dog EATING Kendall to Alaska!

This week we have seen mostly RAIN! We have gotten 6 1/2 inches of rain (and it is pouring again this evening.. so that number is climbing) this month. The average rainfall for January is 2 1/2 inches, so we are pretty saturated.

Poor Kiwi, she thinks that we are torturing her, making her go outside in the rain and WIND (more on that coming up) to go to the bathroom. When I open the door, she looks out, looks up at me and then tries to sneak back to her kennel!

We have settled into a routine, Kiwi and I. She sleeps in a kennel in our room. Our bedroom has a "hallway" from the office to the bedroom that goes past the bathroom and the door to the back yard... it's all tile, so we thought that with the tile, the door to the outside and the ability to gate it off, this would be her perfect hang out. So, when I get up in the morning, first thing I do is let the dog out to go potty. She goes, comes in for a treat, then I lock her in the bathroom with me while I get ready for work. Once I am ready, she goes out again to poop, then we are ready to wake up the girls. She loves this part... not so sure if the girls love it or not.

Then we play for a while as the girls get ready for school, then I gate her up in her "area" and head to work. After work, and before I pick up Bekah from school, I come home, let Kiwi out, and then we go get the kids. She loves riding in the car... although, she is getting to adventurous and walks around the van now as I drive (she used to stay in her bed in the seat) so I will be buying a harness to buckle her in. Then we all play with her, she cuddles with us on the couch, we have dinner and ignore her, and then when it is bed time, I say "Kennel" and she goes right in to go to sleep. She really is a smart little dog.

So that is our "normal" routine. But for the past few days, we have been having a little change up. The WIND has been incredible. The gusts were in excess of 40 mph. That with the rain saturated ground made for some interesting sights. This morning we saw many BIG trees down on our way to church. We lost power on Saturday evening around 9pm and it didn't come back on until 1am or so. Well, the last time I took Kiwi out.. by battery operated camping lantern since there was no light to flip on, it was too dark to see. This morning, when I got up... we trekked outside, and this is what I saw!

Then we came back in, I got ready for church.. normal day, right? Wrong! Kiwi gets out of her bed, and stands by the bathroom door, nose to the door... I think "she is telling me she needs to go out!" this is a first! She has never indicated a need to go out before! BUT because of the fence down, and my fierce desire NOT to be chasing my dog through the neighbor's yard in my robe, I decide that I need to get her leash. She follows me out to the kitchen.. the leash isn't there, I locate it on the dining room table, but then I can find the dog! She is not coming when I call, there is no noise, I am looking all over. When I finally find her, she is coming down the hallway and heads to her bed. NOW she has no desire to go out. Well I am sure you can figure out what that means! She already went... so now I have to search the house for her accident. (she seems to like Hannah's room) So I am HAPPY that she showed me she needed to go out, but I now know that she means NOW! So we are BOTH learning!