Better Late Than Never

Ok, It's finally time to start posting some of our Christmas stuff! It has been so busy and/or tiring here, but we have had fun holidays so far.

Here is our tree. We love all of the ornaments, and tell the stories behind them each year as they are put on the tree. The tree itself is just a small, cheap, fake one that we got for the apartment we had a couple of years ago. We were considering getting a new one in the post-holiday sales, but then when it snowed, Nutmeg started chewing on the branches (as a substitute for eating grass?). So, as long as we have a strange dog who eats artificial trees, no need to spend money on a new one!

Blake thought it would be great to make our gingerbread house from scratch this year. So, when I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving, I bought a kit, because making it from scratch seemed like a lot of work, and difficult, too. We finally completed it on December 23, and the final results show that we are not ready to make one from scratch. Here is what it looked like on the box:

We have named ours "The Gingerbread House of Horrors". Blake thought that the icing I made was too thick (it was). So I told him to make the next batch. Too thin. Way too thin. Everything just dripped off. Blake added the final touch by putting the disembodied gingerbread man's head by the only semi-cute part.

We celebrated Christmas at our house on the 24th. Santa was so great to make a special trip a day early to fill our stockings and bring James a new tricycle!

Then on the 25th, we drove to KC (and back in the evening) to celebrate with Blake's family. First with everyone at his grandparent's house, then at his parent's house. I am still trying to figure out where to put all of James' new toys (I'm not even going to try to post pictures of them all). He LOVES his new train set from Granddad Larry and Grandma Debbie. And we love the DVD player from Grandma Janice, which made our trip much more pleasant!

Our holidays aren't over yet: my mom comes up on Sunday for a few days, and I'm looking forward to her visit.

We really have had a good season, even though we haven't done a lot of the fun things we'd planned. Blake has had a sinus infection for the past week, and James and I were sick before. So that has been frustrating. BUT, I really enjoyed going to Columbia to see my friends, Blake went to his work party, and we all had a good time in Kansas City. And the lights at the zoo, the Santas in St. Charles, etc. will all be there for us next year!

Catching Up (a little)

Things are finally starting to get a little back to normal here. It has been so busy. But, now the things like grocery shopping, last minute Christmas shopping, and another trip to the post office are done.

Some fun things that we (mostly me) did recently . . . I went to 7 hours of the 12 hour crop that I won from my local scrapbook store. Only 4 of us made it, since it snowed all day, but it was fun and a good chance to talk and get a few pages done. At the rate I'm going, I'll get the Italy album done sometime in 2009. While I was gone, James and Blake played at home. Blake took a cute picture of James tucked in with his friends to watch Mickey Mouse.

On Monday, we waited in line for a looooong time to see Santa. I have been coaching James for a while to ask Santa for a tricycle, because I think that's what Santa would like to bring him. Plus, we want for him to be excited for Santa, as he cried last year and earlier this year at a party. So, every time I asked him what he wanted for Santa to bring him, he said "a cookie". Just before we turned the corner to see Santa, I reminded him to ask Santa for a cookie or a tricycle. And, as soon as he saw him, he started crying and crying and wouldn't stop until we were gone. It's a pretty funny picture. I'm having problems getting the photo from my computer, but hope to post it soon.

Then on Tuesday I went to Columbia for a party with some of my former co-workers. It is a fun party each year, and it always ends with a white elephant gift exchange. Sometimes the gifts are pretty good, but I usually get something pretty awful. This year was the jackpot! A dancing Christmas penguin that sings Ice, Ice Baby. I recognize that this is silly, but it is also fun, and James has really had fun with it. He plays with it A LOT, and takes it around to kiss all of his other toys. He also dances with it. He doesn't, however, really dance with it when I try to take a video, so this one at breakfast is the best I could get. After the first 15 to 20 seconds it's not really very interesting, but I was unable to edit it. Of course, reading my camera manual was one of my goals for this year . . . and I recognize a theme in this post: Heather is not tech savvy.

Joey March ?, 1996 - December 13, 2007

OK, this is about the saddest thing we've experienced. And we would like to take a little time to talk about Joey, the sweetest, most loyal, devoted dog. In 1996, my friends Tracy and Jen had a stray wander to them, but they already had 2 dogs, who were not welcoming of an intruder. So, they asked if I would like another dog. I said no, because Nutmeg was plenty, but that I'd take a look at him, anyway. Sucker. As soon as I saw him, I was a goner. He was too sweet and adorable to resist. I don't know what kind of dog Joey is, but my favorite guess that anyone ever made was "lab/chihuahua".


Joey was a smart dog, and very devoted. We were so impressed with how he was always right next to me throughout my difficult pregnancy. For the 3 months that I didn't sleep well at home, neither did Joey. In pretty much every picture we have of him, he is either looking at the person taking the camera, or at one of us in the room. He lived for attention from us. He also lived for food that was accidentally dropped. He wasn't a big fan of James, once James got big enough to move around and chase him, but he sure liked that kid at mealtimes, when James would feed him.


Joey was very easy-going. Blake liked to dress him up -- for holidays, in t-shirts, towels, whatever. I considered this a great indignity. But, Joey loved it.


If Joey were bred or cloned, he would be extremely popular. He was popular with us, and we will miss him so much. We love you, Joey.

For those of you whom have never had an indoor dog having a dog like Joey will change your life. Joey was so loving and we will miss him.

(If you knew Joey and are reading this, we'd love it if you'd leave a comment. Or even if you didn't know him. He was a very special dog.)

Home and looking pathetic

Joey is home, lying on his bed. Nutmeg isn't a very good friend, because she's basically ignoring him. Don't really know what was wrong, except that he probably ate something he shouldn't have, so we can't let him run around in the back yard anymore, and have to make sure James doesn't feed him. And, the vet bill was kinda scary -- almost as much as Nutmeg's surgery was. It is frustrating. I know if he were a human, the cost would have been outrageous, but for a dog, this was a lot. It would help if dogs could talk. So we'd know if hospitalization, IV, injections, tests, etc. were necessary.

But, I'm glad he's getting better. He is a very sweet, loyal dog. And we love him.

Is this some sort of bad karma thing?

First James gets sick, and Nutmeg has to have surgery. Then I get sick. (The three of us are much better, just a little slower than usual). Now Joey (the tan dog) has been at the vet overnight, with an IV and meds, as he keeps vomiting and has become very dehydrated, with a fever. We're still waiting to hear when he can come home. And waiting to hear how much this is going to cost. And now, Blake is coming down with the cold. Arrrggh!

Good news, sort of, though: Despite the ice storm, we really weren't hit very hard this time, and never lost power. And, I really think that the ice is so beautiful, as long as services aren't disrupted and I don't have to drive anywhere!

That's all of the news for now. Keep your fingers crossed for Joey. He's almost 12 years old, and these things start getting a little more concerning.

It was inevitable, I suppose

I got James' cold. I hope Blake stays healthy. And James is starting to feel better. I feel like this blog is looking very boring, with no pictures, and not much exciting to post, so here's are a couple of old pictures of the dogs. The photos are old, from our apartment, but, as Nutmeg and Joey are also old, all of their photos are starting to look similar -- them just lying there, occasionally with a 2-year-old hanging off of Nutmeg.

Doctors and Doors

James' cold has become worse, so we spent a couple of hours at the doctor's office yesterday. He's been sick for 2 weeks, and it has only gotten worse. He's on medicine now, but at least it hasn't made it to his chest, so he didn't need antibiotics. He still has a nasty cough, which kept pretty much everyone awake a couple of days ago, but it is getting a little less frequent. Poor kid. So, we missed going to Santa's House with playgroup, and Blake will be on his own for his work Christmas party tomorrow.

The good news is that we finally have our new doors (which we have been trying to get since August!). Blake now has a door on his office, the bathroom door now swings out so I can get all the way in AND turn around, and James' bathroom doorknob works! So everybody is happy!

On another note, Lori sent me this link quite a while ago, and it is a GREAT site. You answer a few questions on your opinions on political issues, as well as how strongly you hold these beliefs, and it tells you which candidate is the best match. What I found as interesting as who was my best match, was looking at who were the candidates that are definitely NOT for me! http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

We Lost

Bad. On to basketball.

Toddlers Don't Really Follow Rules

James and I went to the Christmas party/activity put on by our Parents as Teachers. It was a lot of fun for James, but I will have to say EXHAUSTING for me! Fortunately, I ran into some friends from playgroup who all felt the same way. Kerry actually warned me as soon as I got there. She and Carson were on their way out. There were so many activities there, and about 5o kids under age 5 at any one time. Running. All over. One thing that struck me is how young the kids really do divide up -- the shoveling "snow" activity was full of boys, and the dress the snowman activity was all girls! We patiently waited while a couple of little girls and ther moms were taking pictures here. Then it was James' turn, and almost as soon as he sat down, a couple of other boys came in and started taking the chair. One example of toddlers not following accepted rules.
For more examples, here is James sitting ON, not next to, the coloring area. He then proceeded to take all of the crayons out of the basket, then put all the crayons in the basket. Then take all of the crayons out of the basket . . . No coloring took place. At home, we really only have 4 crayons at any one time.
He enjoyed the throwing "snowballs" activity, too, which actually kept him occupied long enough for me to get a rest.

Not pictured: James with Santa. We waited in the line. Well, I waited and he ran around while one of the Parent Educators chased him. We got to the front of the line. He saw Santa. He did not like Santa. Screams, cries, grabbing Mommy. Oh, well. Maybe at the mall . . .

After that tiring morning, it is a good time to say how much I appreciate Blake working from home most days. I am SO lucky to be able to run errands while James naps!

This weekend we are all planning to relax. We're going to make our gingerbread house and tonight is the Mizzou football game! We play for the national championship if we can beat Oklahoma today. Go, Tigers!!!