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Homework and piano practice.  Two totally routine and mundane activities.  But tonight I felt like capturing them on my camera.  This is the hardest part of the day for us.  Kids are tired, hungry, and not in the mood to do more work.  I am short-tempered and spread thin.  I have been trying really hard lately to have a better attitude and make this an enjoyable time for all of us (or at least as enjoyable as homework can possibly be)!

After I put the dog outside for being a little too “helpful” with the homework, I came back in to discover that Parker had gotten sweaty and had taken his shirt off.  Whatever.  I support any move that will help him get the work done.

Parker is Star Student next week, so he’s working on his poster that will hang in the classroom.  (I should’ve known better than to give him the mechanical pencil.  Of course he had to test how much lead was still in there.)

While Parker was in the kitchen, Torin was practicing for her piano lesson.

She can now play “Amazing Grace” better than I can.  Whenever I sit down at the piano, that’s my go-to song.  And now it’s her go-to song.

And finally… it appears that the dog got mad for being placed outside and proceeded to roll around in his big new water dish.  Looks like he’ll be staying outside for a little while longer.

Look!  In my backyard!  It’s a real FENCE!  I am beginning to get my house (and my life) back.  The beast now has a secure place to roam and misbehave, and we are all much happier.  MacGyver’s favorite activity is to dig underneath the deck and then rub his muddy face on my French door, but that’s okay.  Parker has learned to Windex.  The kids love going out to play with him, and he loves trying to sneak back in the house when they attempt to come back inside.  He is growing like a weed.  Come to think of it, all three of them are.

January and February are two of my slowest months in the photography business.  I actually enjoy it… it’s so nice after a busy fall season to get refreshed and try out a few new things.  One of the things on my list that I’ve been meaning to try is “back button focusing” on my camera.  I know a lot of photographers who think back button focusing is total awesome sauce.  They swear it gives sharper images and is easier to use than shutter focusing.  So I tried it today.  I carried around the camera all day, taking pictures at the kids’ school and at home, and I used my back button focusing feature the whole day.  Honestly, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about.  I wasn’t that impressed.  I’m still not sure whether I’ll stick with it or go back to shutter focusing, but at least I can say I gave it a try!

According to both kids, the highlight of the whole show was when the elephant pooped and the circus lady had to hold her big shovel under his bottom to catch all of it.  Memories like that will last a lifetime, people.

I will NEVER have a dog in the house.  They smell bad.  They make messes.  They bark.  They smell bad.  They get underfoot. They lick.  They smell bad.

That sums up how I have felt for the past 36 years.  But last weekend, something happened.  I had a brief moment of weakness.  The kids got the best of me.  And now look what I have in my house.  It’s a dog.  (Oh, and thank you to my neighbor for loaning me the play yard/puppy jail.  Without it, every last shred of my sanity would be completely gone.)

I’m S-L-O-W-L-Y warming up to him.  He’s a 9-week old labradoodle, and he’s actually pretty cute during the day.  (Not so cute at 3 a.m., though.)  I’m hoping that someday he will live primarily outside.  But I know there will be times that he’ll need to come in, so we’re going through the painful housebreaking process.

MacGyver likes to bite.  He likes to chew.  He likes to go #1 and #2 on my white carpet.  But the kids adore him, and I love seeing their smiles.

I was hoping that a puppy might give me new opportunities to take some cute pictures, until I realized how unbelievably impossible it is to take pictures of a puppy.  I was trying to take a picture of him with Torin, but he wanted to bite her ponytail and crawl on top of her head instead.

Dave wasn’t sure I could handle it.  I think he’s afraid he’ll come home from work one of these days and find that I’ve run away.  But I know he likes dogs as much as the kids do, so I’m doing this for him, too.

Having a puppy in the house is really hard for me, but I also think that if I can stick it out for six months or so, I will learn to really love this dog.  I see potential in him.  I think when he’s older (and housebroken), we’ll be close friends.  Until that day, I’ll put on my fake smile, spray some air freshener, and try not to go completely bonkers.