Christmas Pictures

We love this place called Portrait Simple at Westfarms Mall. They do amazing professional pictures for very inexpensive. We went last week to get our annual pictures done, and here are our results:

Confessions

Bless Me Bloggers, For I have Sinned. It has been 2 weeks since my last blog entry....

Many apologies to my loyal followers, but I haven't posted because there really hasn't been anything special going on. OK, so the latest thing really is about me, not the Munchkin. I have decided to become a Pampered Chef Consultant! Yeah! Dave and I have been talking for awhile about what to do when unemployment runs out, and have decided that something like this would be the most logical. I get to make my own schedule, work around Dave's crazy restaurant schedule, and have fun at the same time. Since I started, about 2 weeks ago, I have become a huge product lover. I love all their stuff, and I think that's really important in outside sales, is to be able to stand by the product that I am selling. Last night Erin and Todd were here and I did a test show with them to prepare for my cooking show the day after we get back from California, and they loved it, and loved the product, and Erin wants to do a show! So I guess I'm doing something right.

OK, so if you're confused, let me back up, yes, we are going to California. We leave tomorrow (the day after Thanksgiving) and flying to LA to meet up with Dave's mom, Carol, and we are all headed to Greg and Brittany's house until Wednesday. I can't wait. It will be so great to see them, and to be in warm California - a break from this cold yucky weather. We are all also going to Disneyland for Savanna's birthday, so I am pretty excited about that. I love Disney.

OK, enough of my rambles, I wanted to empty my memory card for California, and here are a couple pictures I pulled off.

I got this rocking horse at a tag sale for $5! She loves it!

I think we have a picture of every grandchild sitting at this piano. It's a classic.

See, still no teeth!

She loves walking under the dining room table because it's the prefect height for her. When she grows another inch, she's gonna be really bummed that she won't fit anymore!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I will post when we get back from California, I promise!

Gittin' Wood

Yesterday I needed to get out of the house. I felt cooped up with all this cold weather and just couldn't take it anymore. So I piled Hayley and Josie into the car and headed over to Mom's house. After a nice walk in the woods, and a bit of conversation, Pops and I decided to go out and get wood. As per the title of this blog, "Gittin Wood" entails the following: Pops cuts trees in the woods for the winter, then we go out in the woods and collect it in the Dodge (a bit rusty yellow pick up that is the biggest, rustiest, beater you have ever seen!!). In order to collect the wood, we must drive over small trees, huge rocks, in and out of ruts, searching for all his spots of cut wood. Yesterday, I rode in the back of the truck (which is actually better if you don't want to inhale the exhaust that comes in from the holes in the floor of the truck), standing up shouting, over there! I see some, let's stop and get it! Pops has a hernia, so he can't lift, so I did all the lifting and tossing, he did the driving (rammin' and jammin', as Antina and I so lovingly named it years ago). This is a rough ride, I tell ya'. Pops shouts out the window, it's gonna get a bit bumpy! I hang on for dear life and off we go. Josie rode shot gun and just got tossed all over the truck. But you know she loved every second of it!

Once the truck load is full, we go down the driveway and toss it off the truck into a big pile to be split, stacked, and dried at a later date. Then once it's dried, we load it back into the truck, back down the driveway, and stack it in the basement next to the furnace. Needless to say, this is a very laborious, time consuming job. And now that all his kids are grown and moved out, Pops gets stuck doing it on his own. So I have committed to helping him out this fall.

Hayley is napping right now, but once she gets up, off we will go again, to the big house. Mom will take care of the munchkin, and Pops and I will go out for some more "gittin' wood". I'm so excited!

Trejan: In Memorium

This morning we woke as if it was just another day. Dave went off to work and Hayley woke up extra early and I put her down for an early nap around 8 a.m. Then everything changed. My mother called me to tell me Trejan was sick and she was driving him to the vet here in Middletown for emergency surgery because his abdomen was very swollen, he was vomiting, and he couldn't walk or hold his head up. I told her to keep me posted and called Dave to let him know. About 15 minutes later, my mom called again from her cell to tell me she pulled over because she heard him make a noise in the back and that he had died. Shock to say the least was how I felt. Sadness, shock, frustration, shock.

It's no secret that Trejan was Dave's dog. I didn't hide my frustrations about him and that he got on my nerves a lot and it was my push to get him to move to Mom's in January. But I did love him, and knowing he is gone, I am overcome with sadness and a feeling of loss. Once he did move there, we all realized that not only were we much happier with the situation, that he, too, was much happier there. He had Opus to keep him company, he had the woods and the outdoors. He loved swimming in the pond - he went in every day this summer. He was so happy. He didn't let his blindness bring him down, he still found joy in life. He slept on Mom's bed with her and Pops, he ran through the woods with Opus, he loved riding in the truck with Pops when he went out in the woods to get wood. And this was all while being a blind dog.

Before he moved to The Big House, he was Dave's dog. They had a special bond that existed way before I came in to the picture. Man, did he love that guy. Those two were so attached. They both took the expression "Man's Best Friend" literally. I am so sad that this has happened to us, to Dave especially. He has lost a dear friend today. Losing a pet is like losing a family member. I have lost many dogs in my life, and all of them have been full of sadness, but well prepared, because of old age. Trejan was 6 years old, and it was so unexpected, words can not even explain our sorrow.

We buried Trejan under the Rose of Sharon tree in the backyard of The Big House. He lies next to Sean, Rudy, and Melrose. We memorialized him this afternoon by all saying a few words; me, Dave, Mom, Pops, Antina, and Nova. Opus lied down on the ground beside him, knowing he has lost his friend. I know you are up in doggie heaven now playing with your toys. Rest in Peace Trey.

Visit with Nana After A Beautiful Fall Day

I wanted to make sure I got the Halloween pictures up on the 31st, so here are a couple pictures from earlier. Thursday was a beautiful fall day and we went outside for awhile in the afternoon. Hayley loves playing outside and we are trying to get as much out of these last warm days as possible. I raked the leaves into a big pile and tried getting her to play in them for some "picture perfect" poses, but she was just not having it. But I still managed to get some really cute pictures.

Dave's mom was in town, well, in New Hampshire staying with Deb and Keith, so we headed up there for the day on Friday to visit with them (and take home a ton of toys and hand me downs). Josie came too, of course, and Brett had a great time telling every adult that Josie stole a mini hot dog off of the table. She is so naughty! Besides that, it was a beautiful day so we got to go out side and play on Brett's play scape, which is new to us since we hadn't seen it before. Hayley loved the slide and went up and down and up and down, over and over and over again. Hayley hates sleeping in the car, so we tried a nap before we left, which didn't happen, so therefore she hadn't napped all day. At about 3:30 she had had enough and started falling apart. I took her into Brett's room and played some lullaby music and lied her on his bed. I rubbed her back and her head for about 10 minutes and out she went. She looked so adorable lying there! I went to the door to check on her after about 45 minutes and she was standing up, off the bed, at the door, getting ready to come on out. She is so smart, and getting so big! It just shocks me every time she does a "big girl" thing. She got along great with Brett and Deb, but still is a bit shy with Nana. We're hoping when we go to California she'll warm to her since we'll all be together for 5 days in a row.

Here is a video of Hayley going down the slide: