bye sweet girl.

This is how our dog Missy spent her last day. By the fire, in a warm spot and getting a lot of attention. Today was her last day with us.

This last week has been really hard on her. We knew the time was getting closer, but the last week went downhill pretty quickly. It was almost exactly like the movie Marley and Me. One night she just stood at the bottom of the stairs when it was time for bed and looked like she just didn't have her in it to make it up. Her back legs were not working like they should have been and each step (she sure tried.) she'd try pulling herself up with her front legs. We would carry her up to sleep in her spot under the bed.

Last night I noticed she hadn't even moved an inch from where she went to sleep last night.

This past week she'd go out into the yard and stop and lay down. Like she was looking for a place to go and be alone.... like dogs do.....when they know it's time. With how cold it has been and some snow on the ground this seemed strange. She'd be carried back in and would go into her favorite spot in front of the fireplace.

Yesterday and today she would struggle to get up but her back legs would fail. She had also stopped eating her normal food for the past few days. She was telling us it was time. She did enjoy lots of human treats today.




(above) back in 1998 not enjoying getting a bath.

(above) better and younger days - before Megan was born. (wow.)

So today she goes to see my Katie dog, and Dixie and I'm sure is chasing tennis balls. She was obsessed with them. I mean OBSESSED. - This is hard because she's the last link to life before my kids were born. It seems like such a different time...kind of a time I don't remember much of anymore. She's the last link to my best dog ever Katie (who actually had an emergency euthanasia on Christmas Eve of 2001.)

The vet was a much better experience (if you can call it that.... let's face it....making this decision sucks.) Mike carried her inside and set her on the table. She didn't move. She was in pain, you could tell. She was taken back to have an IV put in, and given a sedative. Something I wish was the experience for our other animals.... this girl was sleepy and not aware when we said our goodbyes. She was just sleeping hard. Then when we were ready the doctor came in and gave her the final shots through the IV without her even waking up. She went from a peaceful sleep into her final one. Damn, it sucks making this decision, but knowing the pain she was in it was time. You could see it in her eyes. This is the worst part of pet ownership. Making a decision when you want to be selfish and keep them around forever.

I say it every time that we have this happen....that I never want another dog. That I never want to experience this again. But we do, we get another dog (Piper) and the cycle will go on. For the amount of pain that you feel when one animal member of your family leaves.... the happiness, frustration and madness of their life with you does really enrich your own. It's just too bad that their lives are so much shorter than our own.

Miss you Mook doggie dog. :(

Matthew and George.

I was redoing a layout that was lost during my computer crash about Matthew getting his tonsils out. Part of the journaling was how George was able to lay down next to him on the operating table after he fell asleep and they could pry him from Matthew's hand and tuck him in under the sheets during his surgery.

Side story: while typing the journaling for that layout Matthew came up next to me and was reading it while I was typing. He said, "Wow mom that was years ago, shouldn't you have done that page a long time ago?" I thought it was kind of funny how he thinks I'm so up to date on scrapping. I understand where it comes from though, since he's the child who has seen the most digital changes....there are more photos of him as a baby and toddler since that's when I got a digital camera, and also now with digital scrapping I usually am quick to make a page about an event or something within that YEAR unlike some paper pages in the past. haha.

So while typing about George I realized that little stuffed monkey needed his story told. I went back and found a million photos of Matthew with George in his hand. It was easy to find photos. That monkey was with him constantly.

gettin my digi on.

Is it catching up or falling behind? Photos from Megan's 11th birthday. Finally on a page. I still have the boys to do. - Yay for sleeping children and husband, and a case of insomnia!

Today was a very social day. Trevor had a friend over who happens to play really nice with Matthew too. Sometimes the big boys don't play nice with little brothers.... but this boy is always nice. He's a pleasure to have over. They played Legos for hours.

Megan had a friend over for dinner tonight too. A boy! He's a good kid, and one of her group of friends from lunch. He lives pretty close to us.

Yep, you've seen a version of it before, but since my computer crash... I'm redoing some pages. I'm listening to boys playing Legos in the living room. There are friends over, and this way I can 'multitask' and pay attention to what is going on. ;)

These pictures of the summer are making me miss warmer weather right now. Don't get me wrong, I am loving the snow....but right now most of what we got the other day has melted. The sun is out and it looks so much warmer outside than it is! It makes me want to go for a walk or play outside....until the cold hits you! Brr.

drive by posting...

I'm feeling stressed out today so I decided for some scrapping therapy (and a coke!) I'm working on some more pages and will post them later. (The kitchen and vacuuming can wait right?)

Christmas morning

Christmas photos. They are never good. In fact, they really stress me out! This year I didn't get that many because I was watching the action. This one of Megan and Matthew makes me laugh though, because I had the camera on manual and hadn't fixed all of the settings yet. But the funny thing is, with Matthew's blurred head is that is about the speed the kid was on most of the morning anyway! It was definitely a Lego Christmas too. We saw this look on Trevor and Matthew lots of times.

I have no idea what to say other than we did have a very nice Christmas. There were times that I had to stop and remind myself that it actually was Christmas day. I have had a really hard time lately feeling like time is where it is. I think it's because of Mike being gone so much this past year or something. It really feels like that time didn't happen now that he's home. I really do feel like it should be spring or something. Weird.

The kids were all very happy with all of the things that they got from family and from Santa. (Matthew is still holding onto the Santa thing this year.) It was cold outside so we stayed indoors and stayed warm all day. The kids were all quiet playing with their new toys.

Christmas photos continued...

Boys putting together Legos.
Trevor playing with one of his new wii games

Megan putting a halter on one of her new horses....plus new webkinz in the background.

Me getting a little Christmas nap in. Not sure who took this photo. I think I look much better blurred.

There is not much cuter than finding smiling boxes waiting for you by the front door. Especially knowing there are presents in there that you didn't have to go to the store for. I can't even get into the debate about whether online shopping is hurting the local economy because Amazon has a warehouse in Hebron....not far from where I live. So I get the added bonus of knowing my purchases paid employees locally. Score!

No way. Is it really Christmas EVE eve? What year am I finally going to learn that I should wrap more presents in advace? I think I did last year, but this year I put it off and now the kids are home for winter break. Which also means they are staying up later and not always asleep even at midnight! I did it to myself. I have to find a way to be sneaky and get some started tonight.

I went to Walmart today. Usually a place I avoid at any time of year...but especially around Christmastime....I'm not sure what we were thinking. I had a couple of last minute filler things I needed to buy, and I have been to Target, Meijer and Toys R Us a million times only to find that they have nothing new. - and believe it or not... it was a successful trip into Walmart. Which made the crowd worth the trip. I have to give them props for that.

Is it me? Is it Kentucky? The economy? I don't remember it being like this in years past. It is like stores got toys and things in back in October and that was IT for the holiday season. There hasn't been any restocking. I can tell you from the million times I've been back to Target that the same Space Police Lego sets are still sitting in the same spot on the shelves. And for some reason, the aisle that used to be entirely ALL Legos has been cut to 1/3 for over a month....sharing shelf space with some weird baby dolls. So if the picking was slim before, it's even more so now.

BUT

I am done. Shopping is done. And that is all that matters. I think there will be some happy kids in our house in the next couple of days. Oh and there will be many more legos to step over, kits to put together, movies to watch and all that. :)

I am behind in blogging. The past few days have gone in fast forward. It's crazy! We made our Christmas cookies on Thursday. - and yes, they were good. Too good....not many made it out to neighbors, so I guess we have to make a couple more batches. The ones above with just sprinkles on the side are dipped in white chocolate. Those were my favorites. Next time.... I am dipping the entire cookie in chocolate!

We didn't get hit with as much snow as expected. We did wake up on Saturday with a white neighborhood. I can tell now when it has snowed overnight as soon as I wake up because of the shade of light coming through our bedroom blinds. It's hard to explain.... it's like when the sun is up, but much more intense. I peeked through the blinds when I got up and sure enough! SNOW!

The kids got dressed and went outside to play. This year we were better equipped with snow boots, gloves and pants. So they were outside for hours. Kids had taken over the neighborhood and were sliding on sleds out on the street. The hill in front of our house is the best sledding hill.

Until the snowplow/salt truck comes. But still, there's plenty for them to do.

It's finally feeling like Christmas.

little holiday update...

I took this photo of the boys from the family room when Mike and I were watching TV together the other night. (He finally had a night off!) It was before we had put decorations on the tree. I remember loving sitting in the same room as our Christmas tree, sitting in the dark, looking at the lights or just wanting to be near it when I was a kid. I loved that the boys were playing a video game together and enjoying the lights too. The boys have been inseperable friends lately.



The tree is now decorated and the skirt is around the bottom. And no Star Wars ships at the bottom for the time being.




Today while the kids were in school I started rolling and cutting some cookies. This year we are making cookies instead of our usual gingerbread house project. I baked a lot of trees, bells, stars and wreaths and tomorrow after school we can decorate them. I figured I'd make the cookies before all of my 'help' arrived. I was talking to my sister on the phone while baking.... she wanted to smell the cookies. :) Here is a photo for her. *Hi Kim! I hope you are feeling better!*



I also scored on finding some snowboots at Once Upon A Child today. Last year we didn't have any, and were not prepared well for the snow. This year I found stuff early and we are set with snow pants, heavy jackets, boots and real gloves that snow doesn't stick to so we can make a snowman. Matthew has been so happy about his new boots that he is walking around the house in them, with jeans and his Cincinnati Reds shirt. I can't help but laugh at him.... he looks like Napoleon Dynamite. I keep waiting for him to start dancing. Gosh.



We are supposed to get snow this weekend!! I'm hoping! I saw a snow plow truck on our street today. Hopefully figuring out his route!

December progress....not much.

Photo for Christmas card taken, ordered and stuck inside cards that will be making it out this week.

Christmas tree up, and finally decorated by the kids. (I had no input in it at all....and even my OCD self does not care how it looks. It's done.)

Hopefully Christmas cookie dough made tomorrow and baked. Maybe decorate some tomorrow night....maybe not. We're flying by the seat of our pants here.

Some gifts bought and hidden. - and I think searched for by small boys.

Tonight we went out to drive around in the warm car, with cups of hot chocolate and jammies, and Christmas music playing to go look at Christmas lights around the neighborhood. We do this every single year. Part of that tradition is having the good intentions of doing this and getting excited about it only to realize that the only people who seem to hold to it the longest are megan and I.

The boys start to bicker, which makes part of the tradition also being me yelling back at some point, "If you boys aren't going to sit nice and look at lights out the window I am going to turn around right now and head home." Again, it's a Christmas tradition that starts out with good intentions.

Tomorrow we are planning on rolling out some Christmas cookies to decorate on Sunday.

quick post!

We woke up to more flurries this morning. I think I really enjoy driving Megan to school when it is dark and it is snowing. (after the car has warmed up and the heat is on high of course!) - and when the roads are clear.

They're baaack!

This photo is from last year.... but I noticed today that they are back! A sure sign that something is coming! SNOWPLOW TRUCKS! I love watching them. I've noticed many more of them hanging around lately.

Flurries! Even though it was cold, I stood out on the deck at 6 this morning smiling waiting for the dogs to do their thing. Nothing is prettier than flakes of happiness falling from the sky! (That's what Megan and I call them in Will Ferril type enthusiasm.) Yay! I love waking the kids up and telling them to look out the window. Trevor of course asked first thing, "Snow day? Hour delay??? Anything?"

It isn't supposed to stick at all, but it made for a fun and pretty drive to take the kids to school this morning.

This isn't a new story.... but a new page. Last night I decided to ditch all responsibility and work on some of my pages that I lost when my computer crashed. Thank goodness I was good about posting most of them on my blog or other galleries. Even though I learned my lesson on how to save them so I don't ever lose them again.... I still feel superstitious enough to want to post this one if I ever lose everything again. Ugh. (It was fun to sit and do some digi scrapping while the boys were a few feet away playing wii though.)

I am having a very difficult time finding any Christmas spirit this year. I have no idea why. I think after Mike got home my body just realized that I was on auto pilot for 6 months, and I'm in need of a vacation or rest of some sort. When he is home we try to get our things done that have been waiting for him, or just spend time together. I guess the last thing on my mind is Christmas right now. (Sorry Maddy!) I keep getting asked every day when we are putting up the tree, when we'll put lights up outside, when we're baking cookies or making a gingerbread house.... etc.

I'm sure the spirit will get here. It's just waiting for snow and a few presents to hide somewhere in the garage.

Brrr.

I'm pretty sure that is the way my kids see me at times.

Today we went to Rabbit Hash with a hopeful me that I could get some really good family photos. I have been planning on this since the last time Mike was home. Ideally I really wanted to get pictures when the leaves were changing, but now they are all gone and it was colder than heck today. So I have a lot of pictures of unhappy freezing children. It was worth the effort, and maybe one or two good photos that may make the Christmas card.

The kids always think a trip to Rabbit Hash is worth getting to pick out a bottled soda though.

bummer

Bummer. My computer crashed on Thanksgiving. Resulting in losing all of my digital pages that I have done, plus all of my digital scrapbooking stuff. I am bummed. I think I can get some of my scrapping stuff back.... but the pages..... *poof* gone.

At least I am the redo queen and the thought of going back and redoing them doesn't scare me. I have most of the pages I've done on my blog or in an online gallery so that is no big deal.

Thankfully all of my photos were on an external hard drive and I have all of those. I would be sick to death if those were lost. I'm lucky. I have had friends that have lost all of their photos. Just when you think computers are your friends, they go and remind you who is boss.

Also thankfully.... Mike worked so hard trying to get it all fixed on Thanksgiving, in between cooking a delicious meal that we were also incredibly grateful to have him sitting at the table with us. As hard as he tried, we had to head out on black friday to get a new hard drive. So now I have a new and improved computer. Which I will baby and remember to never mock or cuss at. One day offline about made me crazy!

No flurries as promised on Thanksgiving day. We had a little bit of rain. Today was certainly cold enough that I was surprised we didn't get any flurries. I can tell it's coming though.... and I'm still excited for that first snow. :)

home.

Home! Thank you for the nice photo Megan.

I still wake up in the middle of the night and can't believe that Mike is here. :) He has actually been home since last Wednesday night, but between him getting used to the 8 hour time difference again, and coming home with a crummy airplane crud sickness.... he's finally had a real NORMAL day.

* Went to Indiana for a short road trip. It was drizzling. We saw wild turkeys walking on the
side of the road!

* Had real - honest to goodness - Mexican food that was spicy, deep fried and the closest I've
had to Phoenix food in a year and a half.

* Mike turned on the gas on our fireplace. Which I cannot wait to have on while snuggling under
a blanket while watching TV tonight. We are supposed to have flurries on Thanksgiving day,
which would be magical! Bring on the flurries and snow!

It's a BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Like the song says: The heart is a bloom - Shoots up through the stony ground. If my heart could sprout wings, it would fly right out of me today. I feel like that bloom today. :)

Today is beyond awesome. First of all, it's overcast and rainy which is usually a good day for some intense U2 listening therapy. (I'll use any excuse really.....lol) but I have always, for some reason or another, loved watching U2 videos on days like this. Ever since Under A Blood Red Sky decades ago. Rainy days always remind me of those days of staying in and watching them. They still do.


I have the Vertigo tour from Chicago in right now as I go about cleaning the kitchen and doing my downstairs chores.

BUT all the cool little tie-ins today. That airport that is in the above photo? Charles de Gaulle International in Paris. - Where the photo for the album was taken and the video for Beautiful Day was shot. But what else you say???? MY HUSBAND IS THERE! 4,000 miles closer to coming home!!!!!

I can't stand it. Today is the BEST DAY EVER. Or .... tomorrow will be when I pick him up from the airport here. I did get to IM with him earlier without any internet interruptions (Yemen internet is frustrating to say the least.) and it just feels..... GOOD. Content. Happy.

It's the perfect storm of happy today. Mike coming home, U2 and a great moody weather day.



I am you and you are mine
Love makes nonsense of space And time... will disappear
Love and logic keep us clear Reason is on our side, love...

Miracle Drug

POTD. It was raining when I stopped to get the mail before heading out to pick up Megan from school. These trees are by the mailbox bank. I loved the droplets of water on the berries. - Someday..... a macro lense to take better close ups.

Monday!

(This kid, unlike me, isn't very excited about it being so early on a Monday morning. He looks tired.)

I don't know if I've ever been so excited about a Monday. This is a big week for the family! I feel like there is a constant smile on my face! So.... I figured this would be a good week to do a photo a day, and finish the layout on Sunday. I love looking back at these after awhile. So stay tuned!

The weekend went by pretty quickly. I had plans of working my children like crazy to clean the house. Actually it's their mess anyway, so I think that is fair. ;) But... plans change. In the early afternoon on Saturday Trevor's friend called to see if he could play. I reminded him that he could go for a little bit but there were still chores to do. Of course a few hours into play, I get a phone call, "Mom, can I go out to dinner with them?" OK.... Then after dinner, "Mom, can I have a sleep over?" I talked to the other mom, who loves having Trevor over because he's a polite guest (Love hearing things like that, it makes me feel like I'm doing my job right!) and she told me the list that Trevor was then telling her to tell me to bring over. DS, Bionicles, Mario Party for the wii....and the boring things like toothbrushes, etc.

Then Megan had been over at a friend's house since lunchtime. She shows up and asks if she can have a sleepover too. She packs and is off. It's just me and Matthew for the night. Who is upset that he didn't have any plans. So let's ditch the chores and do something ourselves. We had dinner and went out for ice cream. I gave him a small Lego Star Wars thing I had bought for his stocking, and we had our own sleepover. It was fun. It has been a long time since I've been able to have one on one time with any of the kids. It was really nice.

So here is the beginning of our exciting week. :)

Veteran's Day.

Just a quick post for Veteran's Day.

My kids don't have the day off of school like a lot do, but I actually prefer the way that our school handles the day. I'm sure that they don't get it off due more to the fact that they have to factor in snow days that are soon to come, and making it all up at the end of the year. We really don't even get a real "fall break" but more a three day weekend. I guess it all works out in the end. Especially when we've had a week off that wasn't planned due to ice storms or snow. I notice the kids don't seem to complain then. ;)

However, Veteran's Day is pretty awesome at the kid's school. There is a huge HUGE flag raising ceremony in the morning that lasts forever. Any child who's parents or grandparents or any family member really, are a veteran, they come dressed in their uniforms. It's a pretty impressive sight. There is a lot of patriotic music, lessons about what the day is about, and the best..... if your class is lucky enough to have a veteran come to your class, they talk about their experiences and the kids get to ask questions.

Which I think is really super cool. It puts a face on the day, and not just the "we have the day off of school and we don't really know why other than mom goes and shops at the mall because the sales are good."

Matthew came home and was talking to me about his visit in his classroom today. His speaker today was a Vietnam vet. He said that one child asked if he had ever lost a friend during the war and the man started to cry and said yes. I think that really hit hard with some of the kids. I know Matthew has been asking me about it since he got home. It has brought up some pretty good dialog.... except for now he is convinced that he wants to join the military next year. LOL.

I'm posting and running tonight. I am looking forward to this time next week having a snoring man (getting used to the time difference again!) on the couch while I watch TV! Yeeeeeeee! :)

I love templates.

Seriously. Digital templates have saved my life. I have a million event type photos I have needed to get stories down before I forget...and I finished both sides of this tonight while the kids built Lego sets and colored. Good grief, these photos are from September of 2006. That feels like a lifetime ago. Now, I can take that little bit of information and put it in the little recycle garbage can in my head. - And now have room for other important things....like whose socks are whose and other mom stuff. ;)

Not too much to update here. We are incredibly boring, and yet somehow keeping really busy.

10 more days! 10 more days! 10 more days!!!

Darth Vader, Garden Fairy and Luke Skywalker

Well the rain left early, in time for the street to dry up and kids to go trick or treating. However - it was FREEZING. It was 50 degrees, but with the breeze it felt much colder. Megan was freezing and put her wings on and took her coat off long enough for a quick photo. It's too bad because the wings are huge and cute. The boys have sweats on underneath their costumes. I sure wish I would have thought of a black turtleneck for Trevor's costume.

I wish I would have gotten more photos but I wasn't feeling it this year. - and it was too cold. I did manage to handle the whole night by myself since Mike still isn't back yet. Megan went out with a friend of hers, and the boys kept going around with a big group of friends that they know. It all worked out, but I felt kind of bad not being out there with them. Who knows, they might be at the age that it only adds to the fun to not have mom or dad hanging back while they run house to house.

I still can't get used to trick or treating hours here in Kentucky. It is from 6 - 8. At 7:59 the doorbell stops ringing. There are some die hards that are out sitting in their driveways with fire pits and bowls of candy, but I am happily tucked inside with the heat on.

It rained all last night. I'm not sure what is in store for today. I'm still crossing my fingers!

Happy Halloween! - costume photos later.

Matthew's pumpkin is on the left. That is a total "no mommy involved" job. He cut the top, scooped out the inside, cut the entire face and ears by himself. I think he did a pretty good job!

(click on image to enlarge)

The middle is Trevor's and the one of the far right is Megan's. - with minimal parental help. ;)

Black barns

I hope to get a picture of our completed pumpkins later when the sun goes down. That is if they don't blow away. It is so windy out today! Something big is on it's way and it's threatening RAIN on Halloween. WHAT?!

(click on photo to make it bigger)

I was talking to my sister awhile ago and somehow I started telling her about the black barns. There may be a farm or something with several barns of different colors, but most places seem to always have one black barn. I knew about why most old barns are red.... it was based on using the cheapest material possible to paint them at the time, which was leaded red paint. Personally, I'm glad that now even though there probably is not any lead in the paint... that they are still traditionally red. There is nothing prettier than a bright red barn.

I also learned most dairy barns are white to denote cleanliness and sanitation. Cleanliness...okay. Mucky cow poop. Ew. - But from what I've noticed, this theory in barn colors seems to be true based on the farms near me and on the way to Louisville or Lexington.

(Who knew there was so much to know about barns.)

So the answer to the black barns in Kentucky or any other tobacco growing state: Historically the barns that are black weren't actually "painted" ... they were covered with creosote. The barns are covered with it for two reasons (usually)... to keep the termites and other wood-eating critters away from them -- thereby making them last a lot longer, and (2) ... to make the interior of the barn much hotter to cure tobacco leaves.

Megan and I stopped to get this picture on our way home today. It just makes me so happy that I get to pass stuff like this on my daily drives to do errands. These scenic roads make me happy. I must be a farm girl at heart... except for the fact that I've gotten quite girly and don't like mud, or poop, or chickens, or asthmatic inducing barn dust, harvesting big fields or raising my own food. I like to think that meat comes in rectangular styrofoam from a refrigerated section of the grocery store. - Hey, but I still appreciate a beautiful farm, long fences, rolling hills, patchwork quilts of different crops, hard working farmers who do a job that personally I couldn't do, and cool barns.

PUMPKINS!!

Should I really be letting Matthew wield a knife at a pumpkin? Mike will remember..... he's always had a thing for knives. Remember Uncle Don? haha.

My plan was to start doing one pumpkin per day so that it wouldn't become overwhelming. Sure... but as soon as you get one started, the rest have to do theirs too. Megan and I were out front working on hers (with the turtles) before the boys got home from school. They get out an hour later than her so I thought it would work out perfect. - Until they saw us out there as soon as they got off the bus.

At least this year I wasn't the only scooper. Usually everybody is so grossed out that I have to do the gut scooping.

We still aren't totally done with one of them, so I will post pictures in the next day or two of the finished pumpkins. I did have extra help this year when I thought for sure I was losing my kids who had friends stop by and they ended up playing tag with them in the front yard. Two boys from down the street (11 & 13) helped me finish the carving. The pumpkins became a neighborhood project!

Sadly, we are expected to get rain on Halloween. I can't say I've ever seen rain on Halloween. If it does, that sure will be strange. I'm crossing my fingers that it rains later in the evening, even though the storm is supposed to come in tomorrow. Maybe we'll get a couple hour break. *crossing fingers.*

more photos below. Now, I'm off to find tights so Megan can wear her costume to school tomorrow.

pumpkins continued -