- Last night Keaton said that today was one of her favorite days of the year, and it is one of my favorites as well.
- First, let's start with a Marley report-last night when I woke up at 5 with her, I was so proud. I kept wondering though if maybe, Robby had woken up before me and taken her out. Indeed, it had-so Marley woke up at 2 and 5 which isn't great. It took me an hour to settle her at 5.
- Even though I had really planned on walking, I sure didn't hear my alarm ringing for nearly an hour. I still was able to wake up everyone in plenty of time to start the day plus I folded most of the clothes.
- Graham and Whitman started on their school this morning while Keaton, Campbell, and I went to Old Navy. We met my friend there and helped her buy some clothes-we bought 2 outfits and a jacket for each kid. When we finished with at Old Navy we went to Walmart to buy the kids presents.
- After all of that, we went to their office and wrapped all of these presents. We wrapped everything that we bought plus we were able to wrap for other kids as well. They buy for around 120 kids and today we finished 20 of those kids.
- Since I was gone all day, Robby had Marley duty-you can't take your eyes off of her so it isn't an easy task. He was happy to see us come home for a few minutes at 3. We were home long enough for me to pick up a few things, and then it was time to leave.
- I left first with the girls to go to church-but we had to stop at the library and then at Nike which took forever. Keaton was panicked that we were going to arrive late, but we were still there in plenty of time.
- After church, Graham and Campbell had their practice for Sunday, and all of us stopped at ChickFilA on the way home. Now, we are on the couch trying to watch a show, but I still need to get hot chocolate and fix Campbell's school for next week.
December 10, 2025
December 9, 2025
- I was thinking that Marley did a little bit better last night, but apparently I slept through one of her potty breaks (or Robby dreamed going out twice). I went out at 1 and 4 with her. Robby went out at 2 (the one I slept through) and 6. I just checked the blog and by the end of the week, Marley should be sleeping through the night if she follows Bentley's schedule. We are making it, but we are a bit tired-and this is why old people do not have babies.
- We did school first this morning-I have been skipping my morning walks since I'm still a bit exhausted in the mornings. Maybe tomorrow I'll walk, but it sure doesn't encourage me with it being so chilly outside.
- Graham is finished with his freshman comp class, and today he finished his Spanish 1 class. He had to make slideshow telling about himself all in Spanish. His pictures are great, and I love everything that he said-but man, that Spanish pronunciation is tough.
- Campbell, Keaton, and I are going to be gone most of the day tomorrow so today is kind of their last day of school for the week. We are going to do school next week too since the big kids are still at OBU, but maybe we will not work as hard.
- This afternoon Keaton had her dentist appointment for her fillings. When she was finished, we ran to get a few gift cards (where we also got a free drink gift card). Then we dropped off some Amazon returns before picking up Keaton a Sonic drink on the way home.
- Once at home, we all went to work on making tonight's supper: corn chowder. I had wanted to make corn chowder for a very long time, but since Anderson really hates corn, I have waited until he is at school. I am just now getting around to it.
- Since we were trying to eat fairly soon, I had all the help-Campbell chopped carrots, Whitman chopped an onion and potatoes while Keaton and Graham helped manage the puppies. I loved the soup though most others suggested less corn and more potatoes (it is corn chowder and not potato soup)
- Campbell made snickerdoodles for Robby this afternoon. Keaton made a dessert for tomorrow night's church-twice. She made the first batch when the oven was preheating, and they burned. Now, Keaton is about to hem a shirt, and Whitman just finished working on his advent calendar. Tonight he made a bridge-it took us forever finish it. Graham is at the ACT class for the last time, and I really don't want to leave the couch for the rest of the night.
December 8, 2025
- I possibly thought about rehoming Marley last night. She woke up at 12:30, 2:30, 4:30, 5:30, and finally 8. Honestly, it wasn't too horrible, but I'm struggling keeping my eyes open right now. And for our in the house potty count: we are now at the 3.5 accidents in the house which is excellent.
- Campbell was downstairs else, and she claimed Marley for the first bit of school. She eventually handed off Marley to Keaton and Graham. I was afraid that Marley would disrupt school quite a bit more than she did. However, things went pretty smoothly this morning.
- I made grilled cheese for lunch for everyone, and then Campbell and Graham went to work. This meant that Marley duties were passed on the Keaton. I did get to hold her for a little bit, but not too long.
- Poor Bentley-she remains very stand offish of Marley, but even more than that, I think that she is afraid of Marley. She did let Marley lay very near her, but whenever Marley almost touched Bentley she moved away. If we try to force Marley to touch her, she will run away.
- They have played a few times together, but never for a very long period of time. Hopefully, Bentley will start to enjoy Marley more as she gets a little bit bigger. (I know that I'll enjoy her more when she starts sleeping through the night.)
- Keaton's turn with Marley was over when Graham and Campbell came home, Robby picked up some supper for everyone, but now we are settled in for the best part of the evening-just sitting on the couch. It has been a few nights since we have just relaxed and not hauled people around town all evening long.
December 7, 2025
- Marley update: We put her in the kennel around 12, and she woke up first at 2:30. I took her to potty, and she was asleep as soon as I walked back in our room.
- The second time she woke up was at 4:30. She cried in her kennel for a bit, so I got her. After rocking her for about 3 minutes she was sound asleep again. The next time she stirred was after my alarm went off at 7. We couldn't have been more pleased with how the night went. Hopefully, tonight will be even better (not holding out hope for that though.)
- She has only had 2 accidents in the house though-one last night and one this morning. Both of them were #2. I guess she did potty in the garage with Robby after church, but that maybe counts as a half accident. I'll keep you updated on the count-unless I lose count.
- We did church this morning-it was the first of the Christmas performances so I was late to big church because I helped corral the kids before they sang. Robby left church early to go get Marley. She is supposed to be only able to go an hour during the day without pottying, and she was past that.
- After Robby took her potty, he said something to her about the car. Bentley heard that and raced to the door. Robby said that he couldn't leave Bentley at home after that-it would just be mean. Bentley isn't too interested in Marley, but the silly dog (Bentley) hasn't really eaten all of her food over the past few days so maybe she is a bit disturbed about all of the changes.
- Plus Marley hasn't eaten a ton-or at least what the bag says that she should eat, so I'm constantly trying to feed these animals. I do think that Marley has eaten more today than yesterday so that is good.
- After church we all met up at Nonna's house for Sunday lunch. She had chili, and this was a perfect day for chili. We visited for a little bit, and then the kids and dogs all headed home. Robby and I ran some errands quickly before heading home. Campbell helped out tremendously by helping Whitman make brownies for his life group before we came home. (I turned them into Christmas trees when I made it home.)
- Robby left first this afternoon to take Campbell to a friend's house, and then she was going out to eat. He also dropped Keaton off at her lifegroup while Graham dropped Whitman off at his lifegroup on his way to church. However, Graham just dropped Whitman off when he got word that his dgroup was cancelled so he came on home and helped me with dog duty.
- Robby picked up Keaton while I picked up Whitman. Later in the evening, I went to pick up Campbell who went with some friends to Chilis and then to get ice cream. Now it's time for me to pick up this house before I go to sleep and do it all again tomorrow.
December 6, 2025-Welcome Home Marley Jane!
- So this was a big day at the Dennie house. Keaton and Campbell left first this morning with Robby to help with the Christmas banquet at church.
- While they were gone, I ran a few errands-Trader Joes and Target were first. Then I realized that my next stop didn't open until 10 so I had to kill some time. I did this by buying a cinnamon roll at Cinnamon Creme Bakery. It was well worth the price, plus I found a loaf of bread for 1.50 so I was pretty pleased. While I waited on my store to open I sat in the car and had some of my cinnamon roll.
- I made it home in time to help Graham give Bentley a bath-I didn't help with the bath part, but I was the clean up crew. Soon Robby was headed home with the girls. Reagan and Ethan also were headed home because it was finally puppy day.
- We picked up Marley at 1 and took some pictures before we climbed in the car. On the way home, we passed Marley around like a hot potato-just as we did with Bentley almost 5 years ago. Without Reagan and Anderson in the car with us, the kids were able to have a bit longer turns this time.
- Marley is a lot lighter color than Bentley was when she was little. Plus I do not remember Bentley being so small-she seems so Fragile. When we came home, the tried to get Marley to potty, but she was wide awake and just wanted to play.
- And play she did-she had the best time chasing everyone in the grass. She would run towards them or run under between their legs. It was quite a while before she did decide to go potty, but that was fine because it gave Reagan time to make it home.
- The next big part of the day was introducing her to Bentley. Bentley really could have cared less! She was happy that we were all around and happy that we were watching her, but she wasn't that interested in Marley. As the day has gone on, she has started to show more interest.
- Marley has pretty much played super hard for about 20 minutes and then fallen sound asleep for about 20 minutes over and over again today. We ate soup and some cookies as we watched the dogs this afternoon.
- Reagan, Ethan, Keaton, and Whitman went to see a movie later this afternoon. Campbell would have gone, but she had a Christmas party tonight to go to. We did take her along with Marley-her friends were super happy to see that little puppy.
- Right now, Robby and I are sitting on the couch while Marley is possibly sleeping in her kennel. Keaton said that she put her in the kennel, and she just laid down and went to sleep. Laying down and going to sleep is something that I think that I could do right now-I figure that is might just be a long night!
- Though I can't complain too much though because as of right now (just 7:45 pm) she has not had an accident in the house.....8:00 update-nevermind.
December 5, 2025
- I did lay in the bed a bit longer today because after reading the blog about when Bentley first came home, I realized that Robby and I will not really sleep well for at least a week. I took my walk, and today was the first day in a little bit that I had to take layers off while I was walking. Sometimes, I wish that I had a walking route where I don't have to rewalk the same stretch over and over. However, on days like today it is nice to be able to walk by the driveway and drop off my extra clothes.
- My main activity this morning was organizing my Christmas attic. I have been just throwing boxes and bags into the attic, and it had become a mess. So this morning I took all of the gifts out. Then I straightened the attic before organizing, sorting, labeling, and carefully piling things back in the attic. I told Robby that I should have taken a before an after picture.
- Campbell and Keaton ran some errands with me today. Campbell drove the entire shopping trip and did excellent. We went to Walmart, Dollar Tree, and TJ Max. The only place we spent any money was Walmart, and man did we spend it!
- When we came home, I did my part on the shower-sealing the grout. Robby caulked it well this morning so I sealed the grout twice this afternoon, and I have one more to do tonight. Then it will need to dry all weekend long before we try it out-I really miss my shower!
- Keaton and Campbell babysat tonight so Robby and I stayed out and made money while they were also making money. Graham and Whitman stayed home, but I think that those two enjoy being home alone-I know that they really enjoyed the ice cream that we brought home.
December 4, 2025
- Keaton and Campbell went to Mother's Day Out this morning. (I'm always afraid when I write this that I will be re-reading the blog in years to come and will be confused about why they were going to MDO when I thought that they were older. Maybe I should say, "Keaton and Campbell went to Mother's Day to work this morning,")
- Robby took them and then stayed out and ran some errands. While he was gone, I started school with Whitman. He had done quite a bit of school last night as we were waiting on Robby and Graham to come home.
- Even though he was super ahead today, he still took every break that he could and only finished around 3. This just works for him, but as you can tell since I mention it often, it does not work for me.
- I was able to get school ready for next week, plus I made my appetizer for tonight's class meeting. I had to keep moving today because the house was pretty chilly downstairs. If I stayed busy, I was able to stay warm-ish. I really only got warm when I lifted a few weights for a little bit.
- I did think that it was warmer on my walk today than it had been in a bit; however, it just remains to be much colder than I think that it should be. I skipped out on my second walk because it was still spitting rain or something.
- Robby picked up the girls, and then they went to eat just a bit. They came back, and after a few minutes, I left to go to class meeting. We had lots of delicious soups plus it was an ornament exchange. This year I came home with a cute little tree ornament that lights up. I was happy to be able to sit it by my little santa.
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