My Best Friends

I love these two doggies! They are the two most trusty friends that anyone could have! This pic is taken down at the creek behind the cabin. They had been running and digging and were soooooo happy!

Family Pic

This is suppose to be our family pic for our xmas card. I had the bright idea that it would be cool to show the height difference in all of us. But when I saw the pic, I suddenly had a HUGE body image problem....I felt like a chubby dwarf!

Seriously, I am a normal size woman, the rest of them are mutations.....long and lean!

Me - 5 feet 4 inches
Grace - 5 feet 7 inches
Drew - 6 feet 3 inches
Jim - 6 feet 4 inches

If there was cosmetic surgery to make a person taller, I think I would do it!

Morning Hike

It is a beautiful day in the mountains. Grace and I went for a hike with the dogs. These are pics of my two favorite trees in the forest, Grace shooting a bb gun, a mushroom and my doggies!

Welcome!

Sam, Jack and Mimi dressed the cabin "welcome" bear for winter!

New Bed!

We got Ahi new bed for the cabin because she gets so sad if we forget her bed in SJ.

But here she is in Daisy's bed while the new bed is empty 12 inches away!

New Recipe Book

I do a lot of cooking. We eat at home most nites and we eat home cooked meals. I love to read cooking magazines and cookbooks. In fact, I always check out cookbooks from the library when I check out novels.

But my recipes have been a mess. Some are in cookbooks but some are in the back of the knife drawer.

So this weekend, while Grace and I were at the cabin, I got all my recipes organized. At my mom's suggestion, I used a 3 ring binder for my loose recipes and I love it! Grace decorated the cover and the inside and I went thru all my recipes and taped in the ones I really like.

Next up - go thru a dozen cooking magazines and cut out the yummy recipes!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was at my folk's house. My Auntie Patty and Uncle Dave were here from Kentucky. And my brother and family were here from EDH. We sadly missed Grandma Anna and Grandpa Roy who were home sick.

I love these pics of Auntie Patty and all her great nieces and nephews (less Drew who was on the couch).

And what an awesome pic of Jim, channelling his inner hillbilly while drinking mint juleps with Uncle Dave.

Truly a good time had by all!

A Thanksgiving Miracle

We rescued this dog today. It was walking around outside my parents home. She was clearly an old doggie and could not hear. Her tag said "Muttville, Senior Dog Rescue."

We went to great lengths to find her family and when we were not successful, Muttville came to get her to foster her until her family came forward.

Just as Muttville was going to drive her away, a Thanksgiving Miracle occur ed!

Her family drove around the corner and screamed, "did you find a dog?" Sure enough, it was their elderly dog who got loose when the turkey started burning and the mom opened the door to let the smoke out.

Her name is Lotta and she is safe at home with her family!

I am thankful for all my doggies!

Artsy Fartsy

Check out what I put together this weekend!

Biebs goes on the Road

It is time for another birthday on Gracie's soccer team. That means Justin Bieber is on the move. Monday nite a bunch of the girls dressed in black and went slinking thru the neighborhood with Biebs, a poster of Biebs, a container of cheese balls and a Justin Bieber toothbrush!

Snip Snip

Murray got a haircut! Most of his yak like fur is gone and he is free of burrs! And....so handsome!

Delusions of pot roast?

If any of you ever had any delusions that I would ever eat meat again, you would have liked to see me put a pot roast in the crockpot this morning.

I opened the package, dumped it in the crock pot (without even touching it) and promptly started gagging.....ran to the sink, almost threw up and then stood there with my eyes watering!

I still had to throw veggies on top so I cut them up and then threw them on top without looking into the crockpot.

It was like a skit from SNL making fun of vegetarians.

Practice practice practice

I was just sitting at my desk waiting for a document to download, so I took the time to practice my sign language alphabet. I am so bad at it that I started laughing out loud at myself!

I am getting the sense that without a class, this is going to be impossible.

So far - I know "a" thru "l", "what" and "poop"!

New Boots

I have been meaning to post a pic of my new boots. The kids gave them a thumbs down but I kept them because they are so different than what I have. They are gray - not blue like they look in this pic and I have tons of new gray clothes to wear with them.

Great Aunt Rosemary

Jim's Great Aunt Rosemary died yesterday. She was 90 years old and she was an amazing woman.

She was Jim's Dad's Dad's youngest sister. She was much younger than Jim's Grandpa. He died about 25 years ago at age 84. She was the last of that generation. Now Jim's Dad, Roy, is the oldest member of the family.

I am just glad the Grace has some of her kick ass DNA because this was one tough and feisty woman!

Crabbing

Drew's first time out this season. Quite a haul!

End of football

Last game of the season today - now....onto soccer!

Shameless Brag

I just had Grace's conference and I could not be happier.

Her teacher's exact words: "there is no one else in this world than I am more proud of"!

Most parents focus on grades - which is a good thing to look at, but for kids with dyslexia grades are not such a focus.

What I see in Grace is:

* Growth as an advocate for herself
* Poise beyond her years
* The ability to talk to anyone - children, adults, peers
* Empathy
* Confidence
* Perseverance

Mix in the fact that she is getting awesome grades and what you get is: THE WHOLE PACKAGE!

Way to go Shorty!!!!

When my son bugs me - ASL

With my new found language ability - American Sign Language - when my son bugs me, I sign this:












































BITE Me!

Kong

The dogs have each had a kong for a long time but Daisy always immediately gets the treat out of hers. So we haven't used them very often. Plus, the kongs always end up outside in the bushes.

This weekend, I purchased a "genuis kong" for Daisy - it's suppose to be harder to get the treat out of it.

We have been using them all weekend and the dogs are fired up! Daisy still gets hers out pretty quickly - you can see her advanced technique in the picture! Sometimes I stuff a piece of bread in it and that takes a little longer to get out!

Soccer - November 2011

I think these pics only need one word titles:


"Pow"

"Stride"

Crabbing Opening Day 2011

It was a successful opening day of Crab Season 2011!

#80

Number 80 is not playing in today's game because he has been sick this week. Still looks rugged on the sidelines!

Sadie Hawkins Dance

Drew, his date, and his friends at Sadie Hawkins Dance at school. The theme was Candyland.

Bless You!

This morning, I was sitting in my office at work and had a big sneeze!

Two seconds later my cell phone rang.

It was my boss, who sits across the building, saying "bless you"!

I am known at work for loud sneezes and he sat in the office next to me for 5 years and heard it all the time. So now when a big, loud sneeze bellows across the building, he recognizes it!

I cracked up!

Do Good!

I believe that everyone should do something to give back to this world. I know it is hard with everything that we all have going on in our lives, but we are all so fortunate that we must be committed to help others. It doesn't have to be a lot - a little money or a little time goes a long way for people in need.

The targets of my money and time are: food banks, the American Heart Association, Leukemia and Lymphoma Association and Parents Helping Parents.

I am super happy to report that I just worked to obtain Parents Helping Parents a $30,000 grant to go towards a program called "Sharing the Journey". "Sharing the Journey" is a 6 week program that parents go thru when their child is diagnosed with something serious. The program helps them come to grips with the diagnosis and provides coping skills, including maintaining records and locating needed resources.

http://www.php.com/

Hot Doggie

This is our neighbor dog, Joey. He is wearing a jacket that was Ahi's. But like most women, she got a little chubby as she got older and it no longer fit! So we passed it down to him.

He is a cocky little Chihuahua and he thinks he looks rugged and sexy in it!