Well, we knew...

Someone in our family would make the "big time" someday. Apparently for us, it is Muffy Ann and Eustace- the cats. They've been published!!!

http://www.noahsark.org/adopt/happy_home.htm

You have to scroll down to "Muffy Ann" but check out some of the other stories while you are there!

More goodies...

I must have hit my max size for the below post... I have more pics!!! The top one of Nick and Zach was after Zach's first trip to the swimming pool this year. Zach's eyes aren't closed, they are swelled shut. But as you can see, he's still happy as a clam! Next is Zach's first Ash Wednesday. Bottom is Christian and Bella before we left for San Diego in the Omaha airport.

Oldies but goodies

I have finally transferred all of my pictures from our old computer to our laptop. I had a good time looking through all of the pictues and thought I'd share some of my favorites. Happy Labor Day!

First picture is Zach and Bella when Zach was 5 days old. Next is Bella right before she turned 1. Then is Bella on her 2nd birthday with a party dip mustache. Nick getting a face full of cake at our wedding. And then my nephew Michael and I. Very embarassing picture for any 14 year old boy, however, I think it looks like a photo audition for an 80s hairband with our out of control curls everywhere!

We survived this week, but...

I think we are going to have to tweak our schedule. This is a morning at our house right now.

Nick gets up at 430am- gets ready for work- feeds Abby and puts her into her outdoor kennel for the day with fresh water.

I get up and out of bed at 6am. Shower, brush my teeth. Before I leave the bathroom I set out another towel, Christian's toothbrush with toothpaste on it, qtips, and his deodorant. I head to my room via his room, flip on the light and wake him up. I get dressed, return to his room to remove his blanket so that he actually gets up and heads for the shower, set out some matching clothes for him to wear and football practice stuff. Sneak into Bella's room, get her some clothes, wake her up and sneak back out without waking up Zach. Bella eats breakfast while I do my hair (comb, apply mousse, scrunch)- it's a 30 second thing. Then she gets dressed, brushes her teeth, and I brush her hair. Christian arrives downstairs and I leave them to load up their back packs, gets socks and shoes on. I then go back upstairs, wake Zach up, change his diaper and throw his clothes on before he's actually awake. Throw him on my hip, grab my purse and a frozen lunch, and it's out the door we go... by 7am. Bella goes to the bus stop by 710, Zach to daycare, Christian to school by 720- luckily Christian and Zach eat breakfast after they are dropped off. I'm at work by 730- whether my shift starts or not...!

Now, this week went extremely well, but I'm not sure I can continue at this pace without meth or some other stimulant.

First Day of School!!!

Bella had an awesome first day of Kindergarten! Christian successfully navigated the Jr High School all day!!! It was a great day!

Happy Friday!

I had the day off today so we found some time to have some fun. Bella planted some sunflowers in preschool back in May, today they bloomed! Happy weekend!!!

Abby update

Just thought I'd follow up to let everyone know that Abby is doing fine. She came to Duluth with me this weekend and is acting like her old self. Actually, she had a great time with her new friend Martha (black lab mix) and Martha taught Abby to swim. Most people would be very intimidated if their first swim was in Lake Superior on a very windy day- but dogs apparently don't mind. Now I need to find a Great Lake in our area for her to keep practicing.

They say things come in threes

And I think we have filled our quota now for medical dramas!

1. Nick's chin laceration

2. Dad's pulmonary embolisms

3. Abby and the emergency trip to ISU Vet Med-

A little background information- we got Abby 03/31/08 from the Rescue League. She came to us at 105 pounds. At her vet appointment he informed us he'd like her to weigh about 80 as labs historically have hip problems worsened by weight. Since that time we have been trying to adjust her diet accordingly. At 4 cups of food a day (as recommended by the bag for an 80 lb dog) she lost nothing. At 3 cups a day she lost nothing. Now we have her down to 2 cups of food and 1 cup of greenbeans and she's losing weight (97 lbs at our last check) but she thinks she's starving. I can totally empathize with her there... So in the last few weeks, the vet is happy she's finally headed down on the scale, but she's developed a very naughty behavior out of this- rummaging the trash.

On Tuesday morning I woke up to find she had been in the trash in the bathroom. Right outside my door I had the remnants of a Schick Intuition razor. All the pieces were there- except the blade. We scoured the house looking for it, but it was nowhere to be found. Long story short, we ended up at the Doggie ER Tuesday night. They did find a foreign body on xray exam, but for now we are just watching and waiting to see if she can get rid of it on her own. $326 dollars and 36 hours later, she's doing well.

I just wanted to make it public that we have fulfilled our misfortunes that came in "three". Perhaps writing it down will encourage the powers that be to move on from our house. My best wishes that they don't settle in yours.

Counting our blessings this weekend

We have had an eventful weekend. What started out as a weekend of R&R with no plans quickly took a turn for the worse. It's a long story, but the abridged version is my dad was diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary embolisms- blood clots in both of his lungs. This can be life threatening- luckily his clots were not large enough to stop his lungs from functioning. All that I know for sure is, we are so thankful he's still here. And if you are reading this dad (which I know he will)- be prepared! We are most likely going to be pestering you a lot more about doing the things you need to do to stay with us for many, many more years!