Goodbye Sweet Tobie

  This was one of our family pics taken on Jan 30th, 2009, but I didn't know it would be my last picture of Tobie.  He continued to deteriorate after they went home, and on Feb 13th I got this text from Megan: "We said goodbye to tobie this morning.  He is at the rainbow bridge with rylie.  I hope they are getting along this time."  I cried most of the day.

   Tobie was almost 14 years old.  I took Megan to pick him out at a dog show at the Pierce County Fairgrounds when he was just a tiny puppy.  He has been a part of our family ever since, splitting his time between our house and Megan's.  He often drove me crazy, like when he would herd Jenna when she was little and accidentally cause her to fall down, or the many, many times I had to clean up his barf, or his poop off the kids shoes. 

   But he was such a sweet boy and I loved him dearly.  I loved the way he loved to play with Dustin when they were younger, romping together in the backyard.  I loved the way he herded the ball around the back yard, even throwing it up in the air with his nose (he was very talented!).  I loved the way he knew when the schoolbus was coming, watching for it down Edwards Road, then would run to the door, so excited to greet the kids.  I loved the way he loved to BBQ with Kirk (Kirk was always a sucker for that freckle face), waiting patiently for a little morsel of meat.  I loved it when we caught him spooning with Abby on Jenna's bed.

      There was much to love about Tobie.  But most of all, I loved the way he was totally devoted to my daughter.  He loved all of us, but Megan was always his first love.  And anyone who loves my daughter that much is okay in my book, no matter what trouble he may get into.

     I will miss you Tobie.  It will never be quite the same without you, but I will carry you in my heart always.

Megan's Visit

   January was a fun month because Megan and Casey came to visit on Wednesday, Jan. 27th!  Casey got his first airplane ride at only two months, and he was a perfect passenger, slept the whole way!  Kelly, Caleb and I picked them up at the airport, then hit Babies R Us, then Applebee's for lunch.  Caleb and Casey were very well behaved at the restaurant, although there were some worried looking customers when we arrived.  Caleb did throw a toy at some businessmen, but luckily it did not land in their food! 
   On Thursday, Grandma De De came up and we had all the boys at my house for the day.  Four adults, four kids, but still I think the kids were in charge!  We had a great Oriental Chicken Salad for us girls, mostly breastmilk for the boys, lol, except Cooper.
    On Friday, Megan, Kelly and I, with Caleb and Casey, went to the Supermall.  The Carter's Outlet is a fave for all, so we spent lots of time and $$ there.  Then we went and took Shauna to lunch at Subway.  Again, the babies were great and we got to have a fun girl's lunch out.
   Friday night, Ryan arrived from Tri-Cities with Tobie, and we had dinner at our house with all the kids and grandkids.  Woohoo!
   Saturday morning, Shauna's photographer friend, Tonya arrived to take family pictures.  The house was complete chaos with everyone trying to get ready.  But Tonya did a great job and it was actually really fun.  And we were VERY happy with the results!  We got over 200 pictures!

And finally a picture of Kirk and I with all our grandsons!

We had a ball getting all the pictures, and we will treasure them forever, along with the memories of how funny it was to try to get them!  That evening, after the big boys went to the Sportsmen's Show, Grandma and Grandpa Porter came up and we had a prime rib dinner to celebrate Shauna's birthday.  And we had not one, but two birthday cakes!  Yay, cake!

   Megan and Ryan headed home on Sunday with a sick Tobie-dog, who was not eating.  I told him goodbye and gave him a love, but later I wished I had given him a hug, because I would not get to see him again.

A New Year, A New Decade!

   Wow, a new decade!  This is the one where Kirk and I get fit and healthy!  Yeah really!  We started the year out right by having one of our favorite little visitors on New Year's Day. 

Christmas Day 2009

   I am determined to get caught up!  On Christmas Day, Matt, Kelly and Caleb, the Heberts, and Grandma DeDe and Grandpa Al all came to our house, as is our tradition.  We had to put each of the two babies in the giant Christmas sock, another tradition, for a photo in front of the tree.  They are, of course, the best presents of all!
   Speaking of presents, that gets pretty crazy, with so many!

It can take so long, that some people actually fall asleep...

But, of course, it's not the PRESENTS, it's the PRESENCE of the people you love that matters the most.  We missed Megan and family, but it was wonderful to be together with all the others we love, and especially to celebrate Caleb and Keegan's very First Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2010

  On Christmas Eve, Kirk and I took Jenna and Dustin to church at Grace, where my mom met us for a very special service.  It was wonderful, with a live nativity, including a donkey, and we enjoyed it so much.  At the end, as we sang "Light a Candle", we all lit candles we were holding by passing the flame from person to person, until the whole Family Life Center was filled with only candlelight.  It was beautiful!  I was so thankful to be there, alive and healthy. Last year we missed the service because I had just been discharged from the hospital that afternoon, and I really missed it.  Thank you Lord for another chance to celebrate the birth of your Son!
   After church we headed home for a ham dinner with Matt, Kelly and Caleb at our house.  After dinner, we watched "Christmas Vacation," and laughed as hard as we do every year.

Caleb was sweet and adorable in his Santa hat!

February Already?

   Really?  It is February?  And I still haven't finished blogging about December?!  Dang it!  Will I ever catch up?

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   Well, I need to write about our Christmas with the French Family.  Megan, Ryan and Casey drove over from the Tri-Cities to celebrate an early Christmas with us on December 18-20.  It was the first time the rest of the family had met Casey, and the first time the four little cousins were together, so it was a weekend we all were really excited about.  And, of course, the three babies would all be celebrating their first Christmases.  They were pretty adorable in their matching reindeer butt sleepers!

    We had a great weekend together, with "controlled chaos" being the best description of my house!  Crazy-busy, but so fun!  All the boys were adorable, and we tried to get shots of them all together, but really, it was like trying to herd cats.  Just not a lot of cooperation from the babies, or the two year old! 

But we tried....

And we tried.....

  While it was not possible to get them all to smile, or even look in the same direction, we had to settle for getting them all in the same picture!  Except, where's Cooper?

Got him in this one! 

The photos were not a complete disaster.  I got some darling shots of Caleb in the reindeer hat.

And the Santa hat.

    And of Great Grandma and Grandpa with their newest "Great", Casey.

But none of Kirk and I with all the grandchildren, Darn!  Next time for sure!

Photos were fun, as were presents!  We had a great weekend, which ended all too quickly, and we had to say goodbye to the Frenches, until their next trip over.  Casey will probably be much bigger and be smiling by then.  Can't wait to see his smile and see if he got his mama's cute dimples!