A hard lesson for Ginger...is not funny at all for the rests of us

There are memories of the last few weeks that will stay with me forever. Number one on my list: the smell of Ginger after she gets sprayed in the face by a skunk. Oh. My. Gosh. Sunday night she came inside and we quickly ushered her back out. Oh but the damage was done. Our house smelled like skunk for two days, actually I think the smell is still lingering no matter what I do. So you can imagine if the smell was that bad in the house, Ginger was in bad shape. Steve couldn't even be in the house for several hours without gagging. I have given Ginger about 10 baths a day since then. I have tried every home remedy and powerful product sold, she just stinks. As does the house. The last thing I hear that is tried and true: waiting about 3 weeks. So as I write this, I can't help but throw her dirty looks, even though I know she must feel way worse than me. The sad thing is that I'm pretty sure she would chase down a skunk again-probably the same one even.
Katie started complaining of boredom this week-not bad, since I normally get that during the summer around June 1. We made it all the way to August this time! I made her a fun scavenger hunt around the house, where she was led to a bag of water ballons to have some summer fun. Boredom gone. She also completed her Ramona the Brave book, and I bought her the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book as promised. Only problem was she read it in two days, and wanted the second. This is a new series, and only in hard back at 15 bucks a pop-so we also had a trip to the library this week. Katie got several new book, including the second in the Wimpy Kid Series.
We all had a head cold last week, so the world stopped for about 3 days for each of us. Jason missed two days of football practice last week, at his request. They have now received all their football equipment and they are beginning to practice in the 85 degree weather with helmets and padding. (Sometimes I'm amazed at things that we can do as kids that we would just pass out at the thought of as adults!) Jason went to Hoopla this week with church (they do various activities every Wednesday, and call it Hoopla). This week the theme was "Mess Fest". I envisioned they would get wet, maybe a little dirty-perhaps a pie would be envolved. I was oh so wrong. We're talking mayo, ketchup, mustard, syrup (yes, maple syrup), flour, tortilla chips and more. The smells that hit my nose when he got in the van were just not right. But, he had fun-which was the point!
Guess what!!! Matthew realized he has hands this week. He is reaching for everything, and putting it right in his mouth. We are having such fun shaking toys in front of him, watching him scrunch up his tiny face in concentration, and shakily reach for whatever is in front of him.
Steve sent me an Edible Arrangements for absolutely no reason, which was the highlight of my week!! The kids and I enjoyed eatting it at the table, and we saved some for Steve, too.
9 days until vacation-we have so much to do before then, but we cannot wait to be on the beach or in the pool (our rental house has a private pool!!).