Been a While.

Wow what a month it's been. Not all of it great, but I guess it could have been worse. Somehow. Maybe.

Our move went fairly well, no real problems there. Just lots and lots of small trips over the space of the month, and then a couple of weekends worth of HUGE trips. We are getting settled, and into our new routine. The kids' beds came on the 18th, and we got them set up and looking great in no time. Our room is slowly getting unpacked, and little things all over the house are finally getting put where they need to be.
The boys have the big loft bedroom upstairs this time, and we have it separated into two bedrooms. I shouldn't say WE have it that way, it's naturally that way. The smaller room is on the right at the top of the stairs is James' room, and also has Adrian's toddler bed in it, along with James' dresser. The larger bedroom has the boys' and Adrian's dressers, a captain's bed with trundle, and a full size futon. And of course all the seasonal clothes that I need to switch over in the next few weeks.

The last week has been really hard though. I posted before about the neighbor kids, and how he was coming over all the time. Well, I'd been hearing from the neighbors that he wasn't to be trusted around the dogs, as he's been caught mistreating several of the other neighbors dogs. Hitting, kicking, throwing rocks and sticks, running at the fence, etc. I figured maybe it was exaggeration, and that as long as he was supervised, it would be fine.
Guess what? I was wrong. Very wrong. He's been caught several times over here being rough with the puppy and the dog, and been told to settle down and not be so rough. Last Tuesday, he and Caitlin were on the back patio playing with Shorty (our 100+ lb shepherd/mastiff mix). The playing got rough, and the neighbor boy was "pretending" to kick and hit at the dog. Well, the dog turned around, and one of the kicks connected. With the dogs FACE! Shorty grabbed him by the leg, and let go. No punctures, no stitches, only a couple of scratches and a bruise. If he'd WANTED to hurt him, he could have done so with no problem. Shorty came in and hid, he knew he did something wrong. The kid was fine, said he was ok and it didn't hurt. He didn't even tell his mom until almost 8 that night (this happened around noon). His mom took him to the clinic to get it checked. Fine, no problem, I would do the same thing if it were my kid.
The problem came Thursday, when Animal Control came to the house. The lady was really nice, and explained that when a dog bite is reported, she has to come out, and all that jazz. That wasn't a problem for us, we understood. The problem was that she showed us the paperwork from the Dr visit. The mom apparently (according to the paper) told them that the dog was "a purebred pitbull" and "ran out of the house unprovoked and bit him". And since Shorty was overdue on his shots because of all of our funds going for the move, he needs to be quarantined for 10 days at the vet's office, at a cost of $400+ to us. A whole lot of freakin drama. And of course his mom is apparently expecting me to foot the bill for this. I told her that I'd be happy to HELP pay for the visit, but she's beating around the bush about wanting me to pay the whole cost for the visit, and any and all other bills that she can claim to be related to this. I understand about being morally responsible for my animal, but really? To expect me to pay the whole cost, for a couple of scratches that were incurred when your child was causing the trouble in the first place????
That's like me saying my kid beat up your kid on the playground, and since my kid also got a broken nose out of it, you should pay for your kid and mine. Talk about some BS. Especially since her kid has been caught doing this crap before, and SHE KNOWS ABOUT IT!
Shorty should be coming home sometime Saturday night. As of right now, NO child is allowed over here without his/her parents unless we are both home. And no child is allowed in the yard if the dog is outside. It's not for their protection, it's for the dog's.
So, yeah this month has really sucked. September HAS to be better than August was.