If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know our life is a bit of a circus. I’m beginning to think our sweet pup, Niva, is the ringmaster! This week, she ate a squirrel and got in a fight with a raccoon. Meanwhile, Dakota had a diaper blowout at the library and is still struggling with a double ear infection.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take another L, Sadie beat both me and Jimmy at puzzles—by a landslide. Just your average week at our circus full of critters, diaper changes, and humbling puzzle challenges 😉

Join me for a trip to the Zottola circus this week. Admission is free!

Niva vs. The Backyard Wildlife 🐿️

It’s nothing new for our neighbors to text us about Niva. We could fill a bingo card with their texts and phone calls. It could be: Niva escaped our fence, caught a bird, is eating a groundhog, chasing a rabbit, going after a raccoon, etc. This week it started with a squirrel.

Niva chewed on the squirrel and hid it somewhere in the yard. The next night, she was outside at midnight and Jimmy heard her barking. She never, ever barks. I think I’ve literally heard her bark one time in her six years of life.

So, Jimmy got up and went outside to see what the ruckus was. She was in a fight with a raccoon! It was on our fence and would. not. back. down.

Jimmy said he was throwing rocks at the raccoon and it wouldn’t move. The raccoon bit Niva and Niva bit the raccoon. Their fighting was so loud that some of our neighbors woke up and turned their lights on. Jimmy was so embarrassed at this point that he resorted to spraying the raccoon in the face with our garden hose. For 15 minutes straight. Did it move? Nope.

He was finally able to drag Niva inside but she was an emotional mess. She wanted to eat that raccoon so badly and her lip was bleeding. It was a long night. Did I wake up? Nope. Not until Jimmy crawled back into bed and told me the story 🤣

Niva’s lip is healing and we’re super glad we keep her up to date on her vaccines. Just another day at our circus 🎪

---

Books, Babies, and Blowouts 📚

Dakota is still struggling with her ear infection. She’s been on an antibiotic for over a week now and it doesn’t quite agree with her tummy. Case in point: I took her and Mordecai to the library one evening and it started like the picture below.

It ended like the photo below. It reminded me of a similar situation with baby Mordecai at the grocery store 😂

Let’s just say that all her clothes and some of mine went straight into the wash that night, lol! Speaking of the library, we’ve been reading some great books lately! I finished Christmas at The Cupcake Cafe and loved it. It was one of those books where I was sad when it ended because I became attached to the characters.

Dakota has been into the “Where’s The…” series of books and it’s so nostalgic for me! Sadie and Mordecai both loved these books and to see Dakota pulling on the felt flaps with her tiny hands while we read is so sweet.

Back to Dakota’s ears! She has still been running a low temperature and pulling on her ears so we went back to the doctor’s office. We’re regulars there between all the checkups and sick visits lately! I’m thankful we really love the staff and trust their guidance.

The verdict was that one ear was cleared and one was still infected. The doctor mentioned she’s a candidate for ear tubes surgery but I’m just not going to think about that until we get through this infection 🤣

---

The Great Puzzle Showdown 🧩

Sadie loves to do puzzles! I never thought much of it until our neighbor—who regularly does 1,000 piece puzzles—mentioned that Sadie had a knack for completing them. Since then, we’ve grabbed a few puzzles and she finishes them pretty quickly.

One afternoon we decided to get two 48 pieces puzzles and race each other to see who could put the puzzle together faster. I think we can all guess how that ended… I lost!

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m horrible at things like puzzles, Lego kits, and sudoku. My brain does not work that way! Jimmy came home from work after our competition and I was ready to put Sadie in her place so we had Jimmy race her. She beat him, too! How did our seven-year-old beat us!!!

The best part? We filmed it all. Complete with a cameo from Dakota, Malcolm, and a pesky fly!

---

In the Kitchen This Week 🍪

Baking helps me keep my sanity amidst our circus! This week was a busy baking week: I had a big order for a first birthday party and volunteered to contribute to our library’s bake sale. I also made some truffles and challah knots just for fun 😬

The kids love when they see me baking bread! They’re little dough vultures 😂

Jimmy is turning into a truffle addict. He loves to have one after dinner for a little treat with his coffee. I made chocolate and butterscotch flavors this week.

For the first birthday party, I was asked to do three dozen chocolate covered Oreos in a fall theme, a dozen vanilla cupcakes, a dozen chocolate cupcakes, a dozen pumpkin cupcakes, and a smash cake. Everything had to be allergy-friendly—no dairy or nuts. I love a good challenge and had fun tweaking my recipes!

The order got picked up and the mom was like “So you actually like doing this?” I was like “I’d do this all day, every day!” It felt good to get all of the order and bake sale items out the door! I always love getting our counter space back after a big baking session 😂

---

The Three-Ring Circus 🎪

Everyday life has looked like more puzzles, homeschooling, and dance parties.

The kids are so happy when Jimmy comes home from work each day! They tackle him and snuggle and play.

Dakota danced to Forrest Frank in our sink. Just another normal day over here!

Someone commented on this video and was like “Why is she in the sink?!” haha. I guess it’s not normal to plop your baby in the sink but it works for us 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sadie started typing lessons on my laptop and thought that was very cool! I think it’s important that she’s tech-literate in today’s society.

Sadie and Mordecai snuggled in bed with me to read one night! We’ve been working our way through the newest Adventures in Fosterland book. It’s a book about fostering kittens. One of the kittens in the story had a cleft palate and that sparked a whole conversation with Sadie about cleft palates.

Our school days have been going well! We studied the story of Daniel and Esther this week. The kids loved acting out the story of Daniel in the lions den!

Mordecai is on lesson 9 of his pre-reading curriculum and each lesson has been working on letter recognition and rhyming. He didn’t seem to be grasping the concept of rhyming until lesson 9 and boom, he rhymed! I was so proud of him 😊

Our puzzle savant completed a 100 piece puzzle no problem!

Mordecai swiped Jimmy’s hat and sat on our front porch. He is too cute!

---

Other Notes and Thoughts 📝

• Mordecai likes to randomly say he loves me throughout the day (cue heart melting!). I always say “I love you more” and he replies “I love you all!” 🥰
• Dakota played with Mordecai’s busy board for 30 minutes straight the other day! I was able to fold a basket of laundry! 🧺
• Settle this debate for us: Jimmy thinks it’s weird that I put random things in our dishwasher. I wash our scissors and sink strainer every single day. Is this strange?! He also laughs that I wash things that hold things. I am constantly washing Malcolm’s cat food container and our dish pod container (they’re these glass storage containers). Tell me: do you wash your sink strainer? Scissors? Am I just a freak?! 🤷🏼‍♀️
• Sadie and I introduced Mordecai to her Hot Dots reading set this week and he loved it! It’s so much fun to see each child discover something that Sadie liked when she was younger. 👧
• I think I have this long sleeve shirt in five colors?! It’s just so soft, comfortable, and I can nurse Dakota in it easily. Win-win. 💫

---

Aaaand that’s the end of our circus tour! From raccoon fights to diaper blowouts and puzzle challenges—we’re a bit of a freak show. Hopefully this post was entertaining 🤣

Tell me something chaotic from your life lately!