Sophie...We're Home

The very best part of being home from vacation, is having our Sophie pup back with us! We missed her so much, she is the sweetest fur baby ever!! This time, while we were gone, she barely ate, lost at least 10 pounds...poor sweetheart. Her tail was fine, until the very last minute when they brought her to see us in the lobby of the kennel, she was so excited and shook her tail and bam...it started bleeding. I'm not sure I can board her again....love this big baby.

An Easter to Remember, Easter Sunday 2013

At church, we have been following along with "The BIBLE Series" on the History Channel. It has been an amazing 4 week journey that has really brought us together as a family. We look forward to watching the 2 hour event each Sunday night. It concluded on Easter Sunday, so we had really been looking forward to it.

I was slow to decorate, even though, friends from church gave us the most adorable decorations. I usually make a week-long celebration out of most holidays by spreading out crafts and fun stuff for days prior, I slacked on that this year too. The day before Easter, we colored the eggs and did some fun crafts. Then we got out the traditional Easter Bunny Baskets, along with some beautifully colored eggs, for the Easter Bunny.

sticking his tongue out...just like his snakey basket!

The kids woke on Easter morning to a dining table full of goodies. Blake got a speed cup stacking set, candy, Pokemon Cards, and the Lego New Testament Brick Bible. Taylor got a diary that locks with a key, two "kissing" puppies, Pokemon Cards, and candy. They got to go out and search for their eggs in the front yard...they were filled with tiny candies and dollar bills!

Aww...the Easter Bunny even brought Sophie
a carrot and a baby hedgehog!

First one outta bed and she can hardly wait
to get "her" Easter goodies...silly dog!

He has been wanting cup stacks for months

YAY! She finally got it!! Happy Day!!!

We got ready for church and headed out. They ran to find Aunt Sissy and hugged her in the parking lot! Today was Family Service Day, so the kids stayed upstairs for the message. They got paint shirts put on over their clothes and sat on stage near Eric, who painted a masterpiece, as Pastor Kevin spoke. The message was perfect, reassuring us that God really did send his own son to die, just to save US! The pain that Jesus went through, to save us, is unimaginable, and the fact that he is RISEN... we are ever so thankful. At the end of the message, Eric showed the painting he, and the children, had been working on...amazing!

Love that this pic shows Blake's half-tucked shirt...
so so so typical, he hates tucking!

The kids ran outside to do an Easter Egg Hunt at church, they got a ton of candy! Then we headed home to eat a yummy dinner with the family.  Then we got lazy and just hung out, then went for a walk and got geared up for the conclusion of THE BIBLE.  As we were watching Paul get changed from Christian killer to missionary for Jesus, Blake told us that he really wanted to be water baptized at church, he was ready to do it.  He wants to declare that he is Christian and spread the word to help people. I cried...what a happy happy day, that your child decides, on his own, that he is ready and "wants" to do this! I am loving the fact that we have not pushed him, not even a little, to make this descision. I will schedule him for his baptism!  Also, after watching Jesus die for us and then rise, Blake let me know that the anxiety that he has been having a night has changed into a happy feeling, now that he understands what exactly Jesus did for him. This was the best Easter I have ever had!

2012 Christmas Pictures

 

 

Camping at the Huzzah

It's Billy's Vacation week at home and the record-breaking heat has stopped us from doing several things that we had planned....but it WILL NOT keep us from camping!!!  We decided to brave the heat and disregard the storm chances to head for the Huzzah.  We have a favorite spot at Huzzah Valley that we love to go to, but since we were making this trip "on the fly", we were willing to settle for any site near the river with some privacy...but WE GOT OUR SPOT!  (At least for the first night)

all this riverfront was OURS and private...not another human in sight!!

We were especially brave this year, because we brought Sophie along.  This dog loves to be anywhere near us, on us, with us, so we knew she would be happy to just go along.  We arrived and immediately took her out into the river.  We found out that she "can" swim, if she has to!!  She tried to climb a bolder that was partially out of the water, rather than swim back to the shallow part.  She probably thought we were trying to drown her as we pulled on her leash to get her back to the side of the river...she made it and at least got nice and cooled off!  All I can say about bringing Sophie along is that she is a CITY DOG, not a country dog, like we are used to!! 

This is her, devastated that an ant was near her...her paws got sore from the
rock on the creek bank, and bugs buzzed around her occasionally just
to mess with her!

The kids spent the entire time in the river!  They were geared with goggles, nets and a creature keeper cage.  They captured tadpoles, little fish, crawdads, and snails.  Taylor was thrilled to watch them in her little tank, and a bit less thrilled to return them to the river. Both kids spent most of their time, face down, snorkeling up and down the river.  We love this particular spot because the river is super clear, cool and refreshing, and most importantly...starts out really shallow and goes down to about 5' deep...perfect for all of us to enjoy! 

Billy was in the river the whole time too...he brought along his fishing gear and actually caught fish the whole time!  He fished til almost dark and then was out fishing first thing the next morning...it is his favorite thing to do.

We set up camp, we are professionals now!  Billy and I have always loved to camp and float on the rivers, we are so happy that the kids love it as much as we do!

I spent much of my time, walking the river, hanging out at the site with this city dog, and organizing and preparing meals....I do alot of that, I guess because I am not used to having "nothing" to do...kinda creepy to just sit there...

Blake tried to comfort Sophie too

Taylor was so excited to get to sleep in the tent.  When it came time to actually go to sleep, she changed her mind and decided that maybe she couldn't sleep in a tent and that we should "just go home".  By the time we all crawled in (including Sophie) she was passed out snoring!  Me, on the other hand...didn't sleep at all.  I was up when the screech owls started sounding like young girls, screaming for their lives in the far away distance, I was awake when the coons came and raided our site.  They scraped and cried as they dug around in our, still hot, campfire.  Raccoons will burn their paws for a leftover crumb from a hot dog bun or marshmallow!  Poor things, anyways, this is normal for me, the only difference this time, was that as I jumped at the sounds in the night, Sophie was on the other side of the tent, with worry in her eye, jumping with me.  This poor dog was up all night too.  By morning, she had had enough....we opening our eyes and the first thing we saw was her looking at us with a look of disgust and anxiety...staring at us and although they say dogs can't talk human talk...she was asking if WE WERE CRAZY for camping!!  She was asking if WE WERE SERIOUSLY OKAY WITH ALL THESE BUGS!  She was whipping her head around to chase bugs that we didn't even see where there, the whipping was so fast and neurotic that her lips were making this slapping sounds with each swing!  She noticed the bugs that had clung to the top outer part of the tent and flipped her top!!  She was DONE and pretty much just waited by the truck to go HOME!  So...we won't be torturing her by bringing her along, ever again!

Before heading home, we checked out tons of other parks along the Huzzah and the Meremec Rivers and we still loved our site the best!  We will probably go back again after Labor Day and for sure, next summer!

Christmas Portraits

Silly Sophie in May 2011

 

Christmas after Christmas...

Every year we do a picture of the kids with our Great Dane for our Christmas cards.

Blake's 1st Christmas  2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Believe it or not...the dog AND the kids were happy to do the photos this year!!  We finally have them trained!  Sophie the dane might look abused, but she refuses to stay out of a family photo...she is always right there, wanting to be in the middle!  LOL!

Sad Sophie

For those of you who have been to my house, you know that there is a HUGE dog crate in the corner of my front sitting room.  It has been home and refuge to my great dane, Sophie, for around a year and a half.  She is hardly ever "crated" anymore, she basically runs and hides in there when she has done something wrong (steals  food off counter/table)....which totally gives it away, b/c we go there and always find the wrapper or remains of what she stole!  LOL!  Silly dog!  BUT, she has really taken to automatically crating herself when we leave the house.  She "crates up" and then the kids run and give her treats as we go out the door.  We figured since she is almost 2 years old, she can just stay out and be a good watch dog for us!  (even though she would never hurt anyone, she would definately scare someone to pieces with her bark and hugeness!)

As I was polishing the wood floors, I looked into "that corner" and knew I needed to polish under the crate, plus I want to put a Christmas tree up in front of my window, so...good-bye puppy crate.  But not without some huge begging on Sophie's part!!  The dog, literally starts, howling, moaning, and groaning at me while nudging my armpit...to leave her cage alone...poor dog...but not really, I mean, she does have a huge comfy dog bed in our bedroom right by our bed.  She has a blankie that she drags everywhere, she is totally spoiled!  She threw a total fit!  Some of my friends and family think I'm being mean to take away her "spot", but I want my room back!  Should I move it to the guest room upstairs, just to make sure she has a place to call her own?  It's the only spot left in the house that I'm willing to give up to her crate?!?!?  I'm going to try this over the holidays, and give her lots of extra treats when she lays down on her doggy bed instead of the crate and see how she does.  I talk tough, but if she is THAT miserable without it, I suppose we'll put it back :)

Just look how pretty it looks WITHOUT the crate...

POUTING PUP

Hugs will make it better!