In Honor of Beau

Beau is one of Becky's dogs. Beau was a bichon almost 19 years when he was attacked in his backyard this morning by a coyote. Becky rescued Beau 9 years ago and gave him wonderful life.

Today we honor Beau's passing

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....
Author unknown...

Self Portrait....

Before you go getting all giddy with excitement this is NOT a self portrait of ME...No, not me. It is Hailey's. I was busy (goofing off on the computer) and told her to go draw a picture of herself for me and bring it back...approximately 2.4 seconds later this comes back...


TOO CUTE...

Didn't take long enough though..

bummer.

Oh and don't ask me what the parts in the middle are...I was too afraid to ask.

on moms and keeping it all straight.

Motivated by the thoughts of others I got to pondering (uh oh). What exactly is organized? I have 3 calendars on my fridge...one for dinners (planned through January) one for every day life and one for hot lunch at school...I go through sticky notes as fast as I go through toilet paper and just today I left and came home TWICE just for ballet supplies for dance class. I have a spread sheet for Christmas gifts, a thanksgiving shopping list, a list of things to do before thanksgiving and a list for after - I have dentists, orthodontists, flu shots, hair cuts, rehearsals, shows, retainers, laundry, housework, work work and my brain is always buzzing, never quiet...I know I am not the only one, I know this list is way longer than what I typed, quite frankly I find it far to scary to type EVERYTHING that is in my brain, on my to do lists and otherwise dragging me down...but I am busy, I am a mom and I love every minute of it...

Right?

Wordless Wednesday

The Very First Leaf Jumping Experience

Kleenex, Mucinex and Plan-ex

We are heading off into yet another round of "Hailey has a cold". Why? You might ask. Well it is simple. We made plans for the girls to spend the night with Grams and Gramps this weekend, that is why. So someone was bound to get sick, will likely pass it on like a hot potatoe and totally blow our plans.

Hailey went to school just fine this morning, got in the car at 11:30 sounding a bit sniffly and a little hoarse, I crossed my fingers chalked it up to allergies and continued with our day...my hopes for "just allergies" decreasing with each passing moment, as her eyes glossed over, her nose started that steady drip we are all too familiar with, her attitude slid down hill and her temperature ran up hill.

Off to bed she went at 5:15, 100.6 fever, crying and otherwise on her way to "coldville" too bad Dr. Seuss never wrote a story about that, or did he? I don't know but it could have gone a little bit like this:

MY CONDOLENCES!!

Today is NOT your day
Your stuck at home
keeping snot at bay

Oh the places you won't go
when your toddler has the sniffles

It's germy in there
in that house of yours
The sneezing the snotting
Are you sure somethings not rotting?

get the Lysol
get the Clorox
Get it on the sofa
get it in a box
I don't care how you get it just get it

OH! THE PLACES YOU WON'T GO!
OH! The things you won't do...

With child on your hip
and whines in your ears
Kleenex in your pocket and

oh what I wouldn't do for a wocket instead!

Daylight Savings Time Nightmare

I hate daylight savings. Hate every minute of it. I think it is stupid. Why it can't be the same time all year is beyond me. I don't buy into the "adding more daylight" to the mornings gig. Now it will be dark before we even have dinner ready. And who gets an extra an hour of sleep in the fall? Certainly not me. My children still wake up at their "regular" time - however because we had to change the clocks it is an hour earlier. You can't exactly tell a 3 year old to go back to sleep when they already slept 12 hours now can you? And then a few months from now they will take an hour out of our day and tell it is will provide more daylight for the summer months - Why? So our kids won't want to go to bed on time because it is "Not dark yet mommy".

Sorry, Just had to vent.

Halloween Update

Trick or Treating was great! The weather was beautiful - for the first time in apparently 50someodd years! We loaded up the wagon and took off for a night full of door bells, trick or treats, thank yous and lots of walking! The girls had a great time. We met up with our neighbors and toddled from house to house with Lauren (8), Nicole (5), Hailey (3) Parker (2) - the kids did very well till we got to the scary house - you know the one, the one that takes Halloween WAY Too seriously - lights their trees, plays the scary music, has live people posing as dummies just waiting in the bushes to jump out and make you pee your pants! That one. No-one particularly had any fun there. But we moved on!

After about a dozen homes Hailey was pretty much done -we pulled her in the wagon to a few more homes then gave up and I pulled her home while Daddy and Lauren stayed out trick or treating. I figured she was just tired - it was a long day. But on the way home she kept talking about how people "always said her costume was cute, and "I make a cute tiger" turns out she was a little burnt out on the attention she was getting.

When we got home she IMMEDIATELY dumped all her candy out on the couch and started playing with the Hannah toy our neighbor gave her. She was a little too excited about the candy too though. Kept asking for more...funny thing was she never finished a single piece - took a bite, threw it out tried a new one! She was pretty cute. Off to bed at 8 for her and sound a sleep in just minutes!

Lauren and daddy came home about 30 minutes after Hailey and I and they had a great time. Lauren had a bag FULL of candy and dumped hers out pretty quickly too. Far less obsessed with her loot she picked out 3 pieces to eat and put the rest away...Sadly - she left her uneaten chosen ones on the floor and Riley snagged one and ran off to his room to eat it (sneaky little devil) -

Hope Halloween was Fantastic for everyone!

Hey, little sis get out of my photo!

Me and my loot!