July Post in Progress

We got back from our trip to Branson to discover that Callie had chewed all the fur off the base of her tail while at our friend's house. She was very happy at the Darnall's, just very itchy. We took her to the vet and it seems sweet Callie is very sensitive to flea bites. We have her on flea and tick medicine but that doesn't mean a flea won't bite her before they die, and they love the lower tummy/tail area.

We wrapped the sensitive area prior to the vet visit and Callie looked a little silly but at least she wasn't digging at raw skin. We got her better flea and tick medicine and gave her anti itch pills twice a day for a while. She absolutely hated those pills, which meant I had to put them in peanut butter so she would take them, so it was a very happy time for Callie.

Some family gaming with a very fancy looking Bradley. I love when he wears his Hawaiian outfit.

Sookie has been following Eleanor around a bunch lately. Eleanor is so so happy about this.

Rewrapping poor Callie's tail. Fortunately she healed up very quickly.

A climbing outing with both my girls! Eleanor enjoys showing off and Juliet has been getting more comfortable with climbing and actually trusts the belay now.

Cute girls!

Eleanor is seriously so impressive and has great moves

Proof that I got up there and climbed for a bit! Juliet is more at my level than Eleanor. Eleanor can't believe how weak I am. The thing is when she first started climbing I would often climb with her and I think she remembers me being close to her level. That is very not true anymore.

Patrick and Nathan had a lovely weekend down in Linn Valley. They spent the night at the skid shed before doing the fishing derby in the morning.

The got to see the community fireworks show the night they were there.

Apparently Patrick caught very tiny fish for the actual fishing derby and then when they moved over to our lot to fish he immediately started catching big fish.

The Fourth of July is hard on Callie. She's lucky she has Bradley to comfort her when she climbs into her crate for safety. I couldn't believe that Bradley could fit himself in there with her.

It was rainy most of the day but cleared up in the evening. We talked Juliet into hanging out in the pool until the fireworks started then she wanted to go instead and she and I watched the fireworks from the master bedroom window. Meanwhile Patrick and Eleanor played volleyball and got to see some amazing fireworks.

Bradley giving sweet Sookie some cuddles. 

Patrick's turn! She loves how he'll scratch her in her favorite spot under her chin. She doesn't have a ton of time left, she's barely eating these days and we had to put her on an appetite stimulant so she'll eat anything at all. We're hoping to get another month or two with her and in the meantime we're giving her lots of extra cuddles.

My parents moved back to Washington in July so we were gifted their foosball table. The basement is quite full now but the foosball table has been getting some good use!

This is Sookie's favorite spot before bedtime

Callie is fairly clingy around me at times. She's so sweet but it's a LOT sometimes.

Bradley is much more willing to take on all her loves and cuddles

I forced Bradley into the pool one day to play around with me and Juliet. He actually ended up having a lovely time. Although we discovered that it wasn't good to play Marco Polo when Juliet had to have her eyes closed, she ran into a wall and was very upset about it. Poor girl. Bradley did a good job cheering her up.

Trying to watch tennis. If only my children liked to be close to me. This was not a staged photo, they were sitting like this around me and I had them take a picture.

Sookie snuggles for me too! She sleeps in the crook of my left arm every night and if I wake up at all she'll scratch around at the blankets until I pet her.

Such a sweet kitty. I'm glad we're getting to enjoy all of her cuddles. She has always been more shy than her sisters, it's good to have her be able to get all the loves she wants these days.

Juliet and I had a great time at Girl Scout day camp! It's amazing how easy things are with just seven girls. I'm glad we have a lot of girls who like to be in our troop but it's just so much easier with fewer girls. Twenty kids is a bit of chaos.

Prepping for an archery event that Juliet refused to do.

She preferred to hang out with Addie and Eleanor's friends who were our teenage helpers for the troop.