Today was a sad day in our home. Dixie, our Pomeranian, had been slowly declining for about the last nine months.  Last summer, as I do each summer, I cut her hair, but this time, it never grew back.  Over time, her weight went from 20 lbs, to a mere 9 lbs. Last week, Phil found her lying on her side, completely unresponsive.  Apparently, she had choked.  Fortunately, he was able to revive her.  This happened again yesterday, only the girls and I were present.  She was dead, truly dead, but between Phil and I, we were again able to revive her. A phone call to the on-call-but-not-even-our-vet vet made us face the fact that we had a 15 year old dog that was declining.  You can't fix old age. We knew that today a decision would have to be made, so last night, we tried to prepare the girls as best as we could.  But, really, how can you prepare a child to face this kind of thing?  You can't, really.  You can only hold their hand, pat their back, and hug them tight, as … [Read more...]

Yesterday, officially my baby turned 8.  Today, for the first time ever, we were able to have a "real" birthday party.  With balloons and friends and, yummy cake.  And, more friends.  Did I mention there were friends? We planned this birthday to be special.  And, was it.  We had seven of her girlfriends from school join us at the local bowling alley.  Amanda, Kaitlyn, and Ethan (my Godson :-) ) plus the adults, and we had a great showing!  We were there for three hours, and the kids got to play about two rounds of bowling, have a bunch of pizza, pop and cake. Amanda received lots of wonderful presents - there was a tie dye kit, a bead making set (with TONS of beads), a couple barbies... but you know what the best one was, in my opinion?  The handmade card from a little girl. We've tried to teach our kids that its the small things that matter.  That, even when the chips are down, you still go beyond yourself to show someone you care.  It doesn't matter if a toy is … [Read more...]