Christmas Cards?

I didn't get Christmas cards out this year. Here are the photos we had taken that were going to go on them. It was cold, wet and windy. Some cute ones, some okay ones and some to make you laugh. Why is it so hard to get good pictures of everyone? 

The most photogenic of us all

 My fav!

New Toy?

Laureli loves water! Wherever she can find it :)

Good thing she has some water toys under the tree!

dance class?

Claire has been asking to do ballet. I didn't think she would like it much, as it would require lots more focus and less of an energy burn than her previous sports. Thankfully I found a gym that offered both gymnastics and dance on the same day, at the same time, same price. Yeah! I told her she could try both and then pick one. One week she tried gymnastics and the next she tried dance. Wanna take a guess on which one she picked? Gymnastics!! Now we are off to find a leotard and shorts like the big girls wear. 

Claire's one dance class

Anyone need a Christmas gift idea for her?

A bit behind…….Here's Halloween

Carving pumpkins with daddy, a harvest party at school and trick or treating a few houses summed up our Halloween this year.

This is what I get when I ask her to look at me and smile. 

Tinker Belle

Giraffe

Claire's black eye

Its a doozy! We were rough housing and she bonked her eye right on the corner of the toy box. God was definitely watching out for her as a little to the left it would be her temple and a little to the right it would have been her eye. Thankfully all it was bruising. 

The Shed

Here's the story of Dave's shed. We had talked about putting in a shed this summer but had decided to hold off as we just ran out of time. I decided to get Dave his shed for our 9 year anniversary. It was quite an undertaking with lots of people helping me. Thankfully I knew exactly what he wanted and knew where we were planning on getting it or there would be no way I could have pulled it off.

The back story is that Dave was invited to a bachelor party in SunRiver for the weekend. Initially he wasn't going to go for the entire time and was planning on coming home early. I needed him to be gone so Steve had plenty of time to get the shed done. I asked Mike and Sean to get Dave to carpool with them to ensure he would stay. He ended up driving himself but the guys helped me convince him to stay till Sunday.

In Portland there is a company that sells shed kits. They have the best price around and it included everything but the paint. So now how to get the kit and build all without Dave knowing. 

Brian helped me bringing our trailer into town (its stored at his property since we don't have the room here). The guys at Shur-Way helped by strapping it all down for me. They were throughly impressed with the number of straps and tie downs I brought with me. That baby wasn't going anywhere. Vonda took the girls for me so I could just run up to Portland super quick and run back. No bathroom stops, no lunch breaks. Up and and back.

Next was to have Steve come over Saturday to get the shed up. He ended up getting delayed and didn't get started till the mid afternoon, but made good progress.

At it again first thing Sunday morning. Moving right along.

Walls up and working on the roof when Dave got home on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't quite finished but still a surprise. Dave helped finish the roof and Steve came back a few weeks later to finish the rest.

Ta da! It turned out great. Now to figure out the color. This is going to take FOREVER! We are painting the house next summer and would like the shed to match the house. Essentially we are picking our house color. It really shouldn't be this hard. Thankfully we were able to get a coat of primer on it before it started raining. But how long do we have to look at this?

Which one? Hmmm? Decisions, decisions……

Grass Part 3

Once the grass started growing it really took off. In fact, it would change from morning to evening. If you had time laspe photos it would be really cool to see the changes. Dave was concerned that we planted too late as we had a really wet cool September. Although it wasn't ideal weather I think that next summer the grass will look AWESOME!! On to the next project.

Morning

Evening (of the SAME DAY!)

1 Week

Gotta love baby grass sprouts

Coming in great!

Its first cut (4 weeks)

My Sweet Ruby

I said goodbye to my sweet girl last week. It was tough. In fact it sucked. I miss her. In late July Ruby was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer on her left foot. Our only treatment option was to amputate the leg and chemo therapy. This wasn't a feasible option for us. The number one reason is that by amputating her left leg it would have placed all the weight on her bad hip (which had already been causing her pain). Number two and three reasons were cost and time. The cost of the surgery and chemo would have been over $5000 and the time involved to rehabilitate her would have been more than I could give. Ultimately, we decided to keep her comfortable with pain medication until she was no longer comfortable.

Ruby had actually been doing pretty good. Happy, eating well, wanting to play. I had to up her pain medication a few times but she was getting along. We had cut out trips to the park and car rides as to not cause potential new pains, but all and all she was okay. From what I had read and from the vet this form of cancer the life expectancy was two to six months so I knew it was coming. It still was a shock and was hard to do.

Friday afternoon she went to jump up after a knock on the door and her foot broke. The cancer had been eating thru the bones and it just snapped. She yelped and cried (the worst sound ever and the hardest part for me), shook and drooled for about 20 minutes before Dave could get home and help me load her into the car. Thankfully he was already on his way but it was still hard to see her hurt so much and there wasn't anything I could do. Dave called the vet to let them know we were coming and that I would need help getting her out. Did you know that have dog gurneys? Makes sense I guess. There are some pretty large breeds out there. Anyway. A few minutes after I arrived we were in the vets office and he gave  her a sedative to help with the pain. Just a few minutes after that they gave her the overdose and she was gone. It was so sad. I'm so sad.

Mama loves you. Rest peacefully my friend. Play with Carly. Chase some tennis balls. Follow that scent. Go swimming. Eat some yummy treats. I'll see you both again!

P.S. My friend sent me this poem. Warning…. its a tear jerker. But its perfect. 

The Rainbow Bridge
inspired by a Norse legend
By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.