. . . at a conference for about 5 days this week. The boys and I are getting along fine, with a lot of help from Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Papaw -- and American Idol. Before he left, Matt and the boys recorded this Two-Minute Tuesday about what we'll do while he's gone.



Matt's plane left at 11:10 on Tuesday morning. At 11:30, this is what we were doing. We wasted no time mourning his departure.




We've also been conducting our own version of Clean Sweep in preparation for an upcoming yard sale. The boys have been so good about cleaning through their toys that I'm treating/bribing them with Chuck E. Cheese tonight. So Daddy's missing a lot of fun.

But I think he's having some fun of his own, too. This was recorded last night, or maybe very early this morning . . .

Brown Bag Lunch from Kenny Conley on Vimeo.

Here's video of the boys playing air hockey with two leftover plumbing pieces and a quarter on the ottoman. Very resourceful!



BTW, the plumbing pieces laying around the house should give a little insight into how our weekend went -- flooded basement, couldn't find the replacement part, water turned off for 24 hours, had to move in with in-laws, shower repaired, all is well now.

Five weeks ago Matt and I made a fateful decision that will forever change the face of our family. We decided to get a dog. We'd been thinking about it for several months, considering it for Christmas, but the time wasn't right. Thought we might wait until Azlan was potty trained, but that could be forever. So after much research into breed characteristics, one weekend we decided this was the weekend we were going to get a dog.

Enter, Toodles . . .

Toodles is a golden doodle, which means her mom was a poodle and her dad was a golden retriever. Her breeder says she'll be 45-50lbs full grown, and should shed very little, both things that were very important to us.

We've had a lot of fun with Toodles over the last five weeks. Here's very bad video of her playing in the yard with the neighborhood kids. She also likes to take walks around the block and loves to be cuddled.


We've also had a lot of frustration with Toodles. She bites everything -- including the children, to the point that they don't want to be around her. She's having difficulty with housebreaking. The vet says she's a slow learner. She barks anytime she's in her crate and knows we're in the house. The vet said to ignore it. She's out-of-control wild. The vet offered us a Ritalin prescription, and he was serious. This is what she tends to look like to us.

So today is Toodles 3-month birthday. For her birthday present, we're getting her puppy obedience classes. I'm determined she's going to be a nice family pet someday. This is the best birthday portrait I could get of her.

You may be wondering what I've been doing lately. Perhaps this pic will help you understand why I've not been blogging.


This is the pile of laundry I have to sort, clean, fold, and put away today.

Oh, how I wish I had a Laundry Fairy who could come in and help me. Enjoy the following video to see what I mean. I think many of you will relate to it. When you pass this video on, All Small and Mighty will donate to a designated charity.