As soon as Saturday morning came the boys were ready to get started on cleaning the drive and sidewalks. Dustin went out and got all the "toys" started and Josh brought me his snow pants and boots. I was playing with Lauren in her room and quickly got the bottom half of him dressed so that he could catch up with Dustin. I told him to yell out to Dustin and ask him to help get his coat and hat on.
Josh went running down the stairs and did just as I said. Then I heard a scream and Dustin yell, "MATTIE!". I went running down the stairs to find Josh laying on the foyer floor. I helped Josh up and yelled for him to "NOT LET LAUREN OUT OF HER ROOM!" and I quickly threw on my boots and a jacket.
I am the first to admit that if you didn't know better...you'd think Mattie was deaf. You can yell directions at that dog as loud and as much as you want but you might as well be banging your head against the wall because she DOES NOT listen.
You add freedom, plus a bunch of snow, plus us running after her and our normally "deaf" dog all of a sudden gets a sense of humor.
After the first 30 minutes of trying to catch her Dustin was ready to give up. It was bad enough to have our dog mock us by hurdling four foot snow drifts in order to make it impossible for us to catch her, but it was even worse that all our neighbors were outside and more than happy to enjoy the show.
I kept yelling at Dustin that we needed to keep trying. At that point I was not worried about the dog. Our luck she wouldn't get hit by a car; she'd cause a 10 car pile up and we'd be in financial ruin because every driver would get a lawyer. AAHH!!
I was frantic by 45 minutes. I mean, the kids were home alone and the door to the garage was wide open. By 55 minutes, I wanted to catch her only to strangle her. FINALLY, some kind Samaritans pulled over and the wife got out of the car and yelled, "Here doggy!" And guess who came trotting right over to her?
I grabbed Mattie, threw her in the van and thanked the lady with tears in my eyes. She understood and said she'd been in our position many times before.
I looked at Dustin and told him to hop in the van and I'd drive him home the 5 blocks. He looked right at me, put up his hands and said, "I need to cool off."
I sped home to find my son protecting his sister. I was so emotional to find him barricading the door to her room. Lauren was trying to get out and was already half way out the door but he kept pushing her back in. He looked up at me and said, "Mommy, she didn't get past her door. I kept her safe. I'm sorry Mattie got out."
I could have died. I just gave him a big hug and a bunch of kisses. He's such a good boy and a great big brother. However, needless to say, Mattie is in the "Dog House" and I am so thankful that the kids were okay.
And even though it's been a few days...finding humor in it is still a little difficult.
Other than that we didn't do much this weekend. A lot of laundry and cleaning but that's about it.
Uncle Joel had surgery on New Year's Eve day to remove his abnormally large kidney stone. Thankfully, he is "stone free" and we all did our best to see he had excellent care upon his release from the hospital. I brought him to our house after surgery and in light of that, we didn't have much planned for New Year's Eve. Joel felt good enough to play a little Wii, but that was about it.
Today we all pretty much laid low and only moved around to eat and find a new place to take a nap. While I certainly don't envy my brother's delicate condition, it was nice to have him around the house for a few days and we were bummed to send him home.
May 2008 bring health and happiness...and no more kidney stones.
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