Thank you to all of our veterans, young and old, male and female, present and past. Fallen and living, but especially fallen. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for fighting for freedoms myself and my family enjoy daily. You humble me, and this day is to remember you.

Happy Birthday My Little Squirt

Our youngest son just turned five, and he has a really good sense of humor. So the hubbie and I decided that we would wrap up a tiny little something and hand it to him for his gift and then hand him the big kahuna. It was fun, he laughed, and had a fun evening celebrating turning a big five years old. Tomorrow we are off to see extended family and enjoy the festivities some more.

"Ummm...Dad....is this my present, what is it?"
He really was trying to hide his disappointment.

Oh! This is my gift!!

A bat cave!!
Sorry Child of God, the loyalties in our home have shifted from Spiderman to Batman.

Didn't know a five year old could fit in the box did you? Neither did we.

A Good Reminder in Our Lives to Lighten Up and Enjoy Things that Squeak

Our newest pet, Charlette or Charlie.

Thanks for the squeaky toy!

Right here, scratch right here.....look away from the laptop and scratch here!

Who is this newest little critter? Well after our great Clementine was lost, the kids wanted to go to the Humane Society and look at dogs. I took them one afternoon so the hubbie could get some work done.

We found Charlie, but with some serious reservations. She was classified as a very timid dog, and easily frightened. When she was brought into the visiting room with myself and the kids, her tail was invisible under her belly. The volunteer who helped us was great. I was allowed to walk Charlie in laps, the kids were allowed to walk her, and we also walked outside. The entire time, you could see Charlie relax, not be startled by the kids, and in general, mellow out. We liked her, a lot. We put down the necessary paperwork on her, my hubbie came to see her, all is well. We were coming back the next day to get her.

Until I met the dog behaviorist at the Humane Society who pointed out two things about Charlie from her intake. She is possessive of food and toys to other dogs and hasn't been around kids. However, the house she just left, Charlie was the victim of the other household dog that was instigating some pretty violent fights. So of course, she was food and toy aggressive with this other dog. So they were discouraging me from getting her. She discounted the entire afternoon we spent with her the day before, and tried to sell me on a huge, goofy lab mix. Umm....no. She came as close as she could to saying "no" to the adoption as she could. I stood my ground, I see a great dog in her and our kids are not dog stupid.

I brought her home on the huge lookout for aggressiveness over food and toys. Not even an issue! Nothing about food or toys was an issue.

What caught us off guard that no one could see coming? My husband. When he first approached her, she growled. The next morning, she growled and lunged at my husband. Not good! She had taken possession of me, and was quickly becoming hyper protective of me. He was quite mad at the whole situation and I made the call to the behaviorist again asking for advice. I also felt good to be able to say all the concerns she has were unfounded. I also asked what would happen to take her back if this didn't improve and we steeled ourselves for that possibility.

New plan, based on her advice and my love for the show "The Dog Whisperer". Charlie had bonded with the kids and me, but not my hubbie. So I had my oldest son walk her that same day, a lot. Like every hour or so around the block, and each time she strained the leash to come back to me. Nope! You keep on going! She was relaxed about it by the late afternoon.

Here was the plan that worked. My husband called me right before he would drive up. I sent the son off to yet another spin around the block and armed my husband with a baggie full of cheese chunks. So my husband met my son and Charlie with treats, gave her a treat, grabbed the leash and walked her. No growling. It was right out of "The Dog Whisperer". My son did a great job of helping me to disengage her from me in terms of protectiveness. All yummy treats and toys come from others in the family besides me now.

Every day she gets more relaxed, more playful and more calm. New people and new situations get her timid, but as we show her that she is safe with us, she calms down. We take her on car rides a lot just to get her used to going into new scenarios all the time.

Also, we had a babysitter yesterday afternoon. Babysitter, kids and Charlie all went to the park together and all had a great time.

She is kinda fun. We so miss Clementine. She is ever present with us and it's hard not to compare the two very different dogs. Charlie is the beginning of another era of dog ownership for us, and so far it's been quite enjoyable.

I Might Be Pushing Some Deep Buttons

It has been yet another whirlwind week for our family. It hasn't been easy at all.

On Easter Day, six days ago, we noticed a slight limp on our dog. She is an older dog, and so I thought to myself, "She is showing her age. We should probably start looking at arthritis meds." I took her to the vet Monday afternoon and left her there so they could anesthetize her and take comprehensive xrays of her hips. My husband picked her up later and got the diagnosis that truly none of us expected. She has bone cancer in her hips and it's a progressive kind. I had him bring her home so the kids could have some time with her.

And it's been a hard week of saying goodbyes. Enjoying her. Crying. The kids have definitely grieved in their own way, and always at what seems like strange times to me. But I understand that deep down inside grieving is incredibly personal and intimate.

So last night, as a family we took our final heart-wrenching trip to the vet. Incredibly, she has responded to pain meds all week and of course was bubbly and jumpy when we got there. I hate it when pets don't seem sick but you know they are--and you have to sign that piece of paper.

So I am working on a photo album of our most wonderful dog. She has been a faithful companion, couch potato, cat toy, protector, and slobberer for five of her eleven years in our home. We are honored to have been able to walk with her in her golden years.

As I took the picture I just posted with her leash and collar I had the most strange thought process. It's all factual, and trust me, I know someone will get offended, but at this point in my process I don't care.

For some odd reason it reminded me of slavery. We have all seen pictures of the leashes, collars and shackles that slaves endured. We have all heard the stories of how slaves were documented and considered property just like pets and livestock. We all know there were good and bad slave owners just like there are good and bad dog owners. Did slave owners grieve when their "livestock" died? Did they grieve like their slaves were people or their slaves were livestock? I try to put myself into the shoes of slave proponents and I can't do it. Maybe it's because of my kids but I don't think so. I can't make myself think of someone as a pet when they can talk, follow orders, work, think, reason, etc. I can't do it.

I still miss my dog tremendously and we will move on. I would be suicidal if one of my kids were to perish.

Easter, Step by Step

Our Easter this year has been fun so far. We have done eggs, church, hunts and right now, working on the ham dinner. Hope your Easter has been blessed and reflective as we remember, the death and more importantly, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Went to the store, and no Easter egg dye kits! Ugh! Guess what, for pennies you can do eggs without a kit using food dye and vinegar. I know this is how it was done long before Paas kits, but I had forgotten.

The Easter bunny came and of course Tyrone had to check out the prizes.

Easter egg hunt spoils.

The beginnings of scalloped potatoes..

Literally, less than a minute later. I seriously still use my Salad Shooter that I have had since the first year I was married. It makes short order of thinly slicing potatoes.

It looks icky now. The potatoes with a butter white sauce on top, but give it an hour in the oven.

Honey glazed ham, waiting for its turn in the oven. This is the first time I have done a spiral cut, glazed ham. It's a little involved, so here's hoping!