"A Wink and a Smile"

It is with a heavy heart that I share my sad news ... Our beloved Great Dane/Aussie named "Auggie" passed away on Saturday, September 18th. A little background ... Born 2/8/09 Adopted 4/1/09 Started to limp 7/6/10 Back and forth to vet in July Diagnosed with bone cancer (left shoulder) in 8/10 Started daily pain meds in August- September Fell on shoulder on 9/17/10 Peacefully went to sleep on 9/18/10 There is so much I could say about this dog, but it is still so hard for me to think about and write. Someday I hope to articulate my thoughts a little better. Some thoughts on Auggie ... Beautiful to look at (absolutely striking and unique) Soulful eyes that were amazingly blue photogenic difficult to train needed to be near people completely DEAF (I think this is why he looked at people the way he did) loved to chew big bones ... especially filled with peanut butter shedded a TON (ugh) loved to lay under tables (my chairs were never neatly arranged due to his big body movi...

In early August 3 of my 5 girls participated in a kid's triathlon. The two older ones in the picture below participated last year, so this was TRI #2 for them! It was actually a really GOOD year for Miss {m} who placed 1st in the girls 10 year age group. This was a big improvement from last year when she had some troubles with transitions. This year ... she nailed that part of it. {k}, the 12.5 year old also placed 4th in the 13 year age group ... another improvement from last year. {b}, my just turned 8 year old did really well considering she biked and (partially) ran with her shoes NOT on in the back. I guess those no tie laces that we thought would help were too tight for her to get her feet in fast enough for her liking. I think it was halfway through her run that she decided she needed to really have her shoes on correctly. She placed 6th for her group. 350 participants ... MY GIRLS DID AWESOME! Just a few weeks ago we also came upon some bad news with our 17 month old ...

April Fool's Day was just a little bit busy in my house Still That's no excuse to forget the pretty pup who had an interesting way of coming into our life on April Fool's Day 2009. Remember this face? It didn't take long for us to just love those eyes and pink nose ... He was so cute, cuddly, and able to be carried around ... for about a minute. Then his size started to become evident. That little 12 pound puppy was certainly displaying some of the Great Dane in him ... He has really had a lot of ups and downs. If you ask my husband he will say more downs than ups . He's probably right on this .. . Fast forward many months later you will note he went from 12 pounds to nearly 105 pounds. This picture actually makes him look small. He still can't believe he is the size he is. TRUST ME ! We've half joked that we still have him because he is so unique and beautiful looking. Truth is, he is quite the gentle giant. He also doesn't mind playing dre...

Poor male puppy doesn't understand that 5 sisters do not know any better .

Looks good, eh? I'm cheating a little with a ready chicken from SAMS. Instead I cooked my spaghetti in chicken stock. This big guy loves to lay on my vent in the winter and the summer months ... hogging any sort of air to make the family room comfortable. This is the "I was sleeping look". I've said it before, but this puppy is work. I'm sure you couldn't tell at all from this photo. He looks all innocent and sweet. You almost want to kiss those pink dog lips. Slightly out of focus picture of Comet. Here he is enjoying a quiet moment chewing the bone that he almost never gets to eat in peace. I'm cooking one of Pioneer Woman's dishes tonight and couldn't help but to share some doggies as well. They go hand in hand, don't they?

I'm grabbing a few minutes to UPDATE ... Making some MEATBALLS , Spaghetti, and yummy garlic bread. Mommy's little swimmers will certainly be happy when their daddy brings them home from practice tonight! Auggie the Doggie is getting a tad bit BETTER. His newest FAULT includes a $12 a week dog bone habit. I would intervene, but I much prefer the bones over other items ... like furniture, clothing, pillows, wood ;) I feel like I should have mentioned this YESTERDAY (blushing), but my 2nd dear daughter turned "12". I can hardly belief it! I'd write 12 things that I love about her, but honestly that list far EXCEEDS 12! You can check out my 11 from last year . Apparently I was a day late on posting it then ... oops! {k} is so special and surely you can tell from the number of posts I have about HER! Happy 12th Birthday to my talented, loving, silly, smart, and BEAUTIFUL daughter!!!!! Feeling some love tonight ... y A Y!!!

Thankfully he doesn't STAND in the dishwasher anymore .. .

Of course I started off Monday saying I would be busy ... and I have .  I really need a good weather weekend with my husband to get some of our home jobs done.  Right now I have a a huge pile of dirt and rocks sitting on my driveway that need to be properly placed into the backyard.  Rain would greatly interfere with that. This is one of two raised vegetable planters made by my husband and 2nd daughter.  We are hoping to put them into this sunny spot where we seem to have trouble keeping grass (partly a dog issue and partly a water run off issue).  We'll add the dirt and pea gravel to help out with all of that.   This is another eyesore in our house.  The front door is wood/glass and the wood is fading and splintering.  This weekend we are hoping to sand, use some wood putty, paint (dark charcoal), and replace the hardware (and kick plates).  No more brass ... YAY! See ... bad splintering. This is my front bench which needs a little TLC.  It has partially been power washed, but ne...

One Dog ... named COMET (the Border Collie) but by the end of the day we had ANOTHER DOG ... St. Augustine "Auggie" Great Dane/Australian Shepherd pup Children love him Mommy was really weak and is now really tired Daddy needs to "get used" to the idea