Thursday, January 25, 2007

OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!!


Yesterday I bought a pair of ice skates. I haven't had a pair of skates in so long I can't remember. We were having a skating night for youth group at the outdoor oval at the park downtown and I wanted to skate. So, off Chris and went to look for a used pair - no luck! Our friend who owns Play It Again Sports showed me a pair of these new Jackson skates that look almost like sneakers and fit a bit like a pair of ski boots. The are so very comfortable on your feet. I did pretty good last night for not being on the ice in a LOOOOOOOng time!

Tonight Chris, Molly and I headed out with our skates to the oval. It was a beautiful, crisp, clear night. Not many people at the oval. We skated together for about 30 minutes. The quiet of the night and most noise was made by our skates on the ice and our breathing! It was awesome. We would join hands and skate, talk and skate, go fast and fling Molly forward and sometimes just skate together but not talking and enjoying just being out! We are blessed with great health, a great place to live and an incredible family! What could be better. Oh what a night!
ANOTHER LINCOLN STORY
Our family has a most beloved family member with LOTS of fur, 4 paws, a cold nose, a most loving dispostion but also a nack for giving us lots of Lincoln stories. Lincoln is now 11 1/2. We've had Lincoln longer than Molly!!!! Our girls don't know life without Lincoln. Last Thursday Lincoln became quit sick. He has been sick before but by Friday night we realized that this was different and he was going to need a visit to the vet. So, on my weekend off (finally) Chris and I headed over to the vet college to have him checked out. Well, Lincoln had to be admitted to ICU because he was so sick. They quoted us a price of $600 for 2 nights in ICU, meds, an x-ray, and ultrasound. The vet called on Sunday morning and told us he wasn't better. Chris and I finally had to the conversation about when is enough for a almost 12 year old dog. We decided that we wouldn't be able to pay more than the estimate. Monday morning Lincoln still wasn't better and they wanted to keep him and our bill was now way over the estimate. We told them we couldn't pay anymore than the $600 and if they couldn't help him because of that we were going to have to bring him home. Get this - The vet asked us if we were on welfare!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!! Because we couldn't pay more than that they assumed we were on welfare. I think if we had let them keep going with tests etc... we would be on welfare. They came back and graciously kept him another day and didn't charge us more than the original quote. Chris and I were emotional wrecks all weekend. This was our dog that we loved dearly, and we were made to feel so bad for not being able to put out this endless supply of money. On Sunday when we weren't sure what was going to happen to the dog we took the girls up to see him after church. They did well but were very emotional. Lincoln looked very pitiful and still was sick but seemed to enjoy having us there. The vet tech. said he whined a lot after we left.

On Tuesday morning Chris went up to the vets - we were not sure what the outcome was going to be. After the girls left for school Chris finally came home WITH Lincoln. He looked so much better and was even hungary. We got to feed him his first meal since last Wed. 1/4 cup of boiled white rice and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese! After he ate it he looked at us like "come on, where is the rest." If you know any of Lincolns other stories involving food, you know he wouldn't be satisfied with that. Lincoln had pancreatitis and for now is doing well. We were unable to find out what was causing it but he is home and doing really well. Not totally out of the woods because if it should reoccur he'll probably have to be put down. When the girls came home from school they were so surprised and excited. They have made over him and spoiled him. I think he will glad when Sun. comes when we can introduce some of his own food back in his rice and cottage cheese diet. That will be the real test. So for now we have pup back and we will enjoy every day!

For those of you who have lost a pet my heart goes out to you - your house is never the same.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

CHRISTMAS 2006
Christmas Eve I had to work. I left a list of 'things to do' for everyone else at home and when I got home everything was ready and looked great. We had done all of our cooking on Saturday. Ashleigh and Hannah even learned how to make Adirondack Salad and Pimento Salad (old - I mean really old - family tradition that I won't let my family break). We all dressed up for church and had a great time at the Christmas Eve service. It is always the familys favorite service. After the service we had the Austin grandparents, Vances, and other family friends in for lots of eats, conversation and laughs. It was a great night. In the picture the girls are showing off their Christmas Sleep Shorts that they got to open. They all slept in the same room - another tradition they love. They were kinda noisey at first but soon had vision of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

Christmas morning everyone got up at 6 a.m. We got our Santa gifts and opened our stockings. You can see that Lauryn got a personal DVD player, Ashleigh got an IPOD, Molly got Webkins and Hannah got a sewing machine. It was lots of fun. I had to head off to work for 7 a.m. and the presents had to wait until I got home. The girls had packed me breakfast to take to work - it way what we always have for breakfast and that way I didn't miss out. It was nice to be at work with the residents - some who were heading out for the day and others who had no family. Around 2 pm. the girls and Chris came in to the Lodge and visited the residents that were there and gave them handmade ornaments. The residents were thrilled to have the company and it was great for the girls to do something for someone else on that day. It was fun. Then it was time to head home and open the gifts - WOO HOO!!!!!!! We opened gifts for a couple of hours and then headed off to the Vances for a yummy turkey dinner. I was very hungary and could hardly wait. After dinner we opened a few more gifts and then had a loud, exciting game of Catch Phrase. If you've never played it, I highly recommend it for a good laugh or two or three. It was an awesome time and full of tradition which I think is so important for our family. No matter where we are the girls can count on Christmas always being the same - and we even try a new thing now and again. Christmas' were always that way in our home growing up - I can hear the music, smell the food and hot cider, taste the red onion dip and know I would be sleeping in new p.j.'s on Christmas Eve. It's magical!