When you need a good laugh...

There are times in life when you need a good laugh...like today while I was sitting in an hour long teleconference that was running 15 minutes past...everyone was virtually bored stiff and suddenly a random participant forgot they didn't have their phone on hold and started chit chatting very loudly for all 100 plus of us to hear. I believe her conversation ended with "oh my gosh today has been such a bad day....oh no, I hit myself in the face with this door!"

The entire room of 50 or so burst out into immediate laughter...and we all definitely needed it.

Well, this picture does that for me as well...no matter what mood I may be in at the time, I can't help but laugh at this picture...perhaps it's the look of absolute terror in Leah's eyes...or perhaps its the serene bliss of Kendall's...whatever it is, I can't help but laugh, so I thought I'd share in case you needed a laugh today as well...

Update on Jolie

After a couple costly visits to a regular vet and also a specialist, we now know that Jolie suffers from congestive heart failure...she has a very oversized heart for her miniature size and is now on a number of different medications to help the rest of her time with us be as pleasant as possible.

I feel like I was blessed with a warning - to be thankful for her doggie pugnacity - because she won't be around forever. So now I am more patient when she has little accidents on the floor - after all, she is almost 12 years old - and to laugh it off when she is again digging in the trash, because at least she feels well enough to, well, be her normal crazy self.

"It rained and poured for 40 daisy, daisies..."

Okay, so not exactly 40 days did it rain, but it sure did pour this past week and the whole family realized the 'devastation' of it all this morning. Daddy was mowing the grass so I decided to take the two girls to their favorite park...or what was left it!

Kendall kept asking me "what happened Mommy?" and "oh my goodness, somebody messed up the park!"

Loving and Precocious Jolie

My best friend is very sick. My history with my miniature schnauzer goes back a long way - almost 12 years. I was a freshman at A&M - the start of my spring semester. I had just moved into an apartment alone after my dorm mate decided to pursue interests in other places and was in need of a pal. There was a pet store next to the coffee shop I used to frequent and one day I stumbled upon the cutest puppies ever. They were so dignified with their gray beards and white bellies - even their puppy barks were aristocratic.

That was the day that Jolie became my first baby girl. We have had a rocky history to say the least. Jolie can be the sweetest dog - she seems to sense when you are ill or sad and runs immediately to your side. If nothing else, she is perhaps too loving, and very jealous. She wants to be in your lap at all times and does not share attention well at all. We have had our down moments...the make-up experience, the poop mine field, the scratches on our brand-new-still-being-financed kitchen table....but she will always be my first baby.

We used to race through my 5 mile run across Research Park while I was still in college, then through Wolf Pen Creek the year after. It just seems like yesterday that we were running at a local park when we saw a coyote - thankfully she didn't pick a fight with that one.

But today when we tried to go for a walk, something very different happened. Instead of racing ahead and pulling with excitement, Jolie fell limp and lifeless to the sidewalk. For minutes her eyes were rolled back into her head and she didn't seem to be breathing. She has struggled with a cough recently, but I didn't realize it had gotten quite that progressed.

Now I feel horrible to have not caught her heart trouble earlier...each time I pushed her away, angry that she was again under my feet or shushed her for panting almost ceaselessly...she was very very sick and I didn't even notice. It was almost too much to sit and pet her this evening, not wanting her to leave us, but painfully aware of how labored her breathing has become.

We love you Jolie...hope you sleep peacefully this evening...

You Know You're A Mom When...

...trying to get into the bathroom can be a seriously frustrating experience...no handles...ever since your toddler became tall enough to open the french door handles.

...maxi pads have become your children's impromptu band-aids and stickers...they are all over the walls, your arms, legs, feet, etc.

...you forget your wallet, but you have plenty of diapers, wet-ones, pull-ups, clothes, big girl panties, fruit snacks, apple juice boxes, pacifiers...

...going to the market without children is a luxury worth lingering over...at least an hour or two...

Best Buds

Kendall loves her cousin Ella. Not that she doesn't love her other cousins, but she seems to have a special bond with Ella. Many times the only way I can get her to put on a certain pair of shoes or a particular outfit is to tell her they were Ella's, or that Ella has a pair just like them. I thought after our full week away in Colorado she might have forgotten a bit, but as soon as we said we were going home she said "Going to Ella's home?"

She missed her best friend dearly.

It's hilarious to watch them in their toddler conversations. My sister caught them in such a moment on Saturday during Leah's birthday party. The rest of the crowd was outside in the pool, but not Ella and Kendall. They were playing dress-up in Ella's room. It was just too precious to listen to Kendall putting a necklace on Ella and vice versa, than the other stating how 'coot' they looked.

Kendall and Ella through the years...

Leah's First Year

Sweet Leah, who can believe you are already a year old today? It seems like just yesterday I was going in for a routine prenatal visit and was told that you were to be born the next day! How could we ever forget how our air conditioner broke on your birth day and your daddy had to run home to meet the repair man so the dogs wouldn't burn up.


You've come a long way from dipping under 6 pounds to your cuddly, chunky self today. You crawl when you want to, but find that most things are delivered to you by Ma and big sister Kendall, so why would you need to? You pull up on anything that sits still - and sometimes some things (aka people) that don't!


We get so many comments and compliments on your fabulously spiky auburn hair. You have so many nicknames that you may not even know your real first name. Big sister likes to call you 'sissy wendy' - a combination of what I call you both sometimes 'kendy wendy' and 'sissy wissy.' I've tried to correct her, but she adamantly tells me you are 'sissy wendy' not 'sissy wissy.'


No one makes you laugh or cry harder than your big sister and I love watching you two grow up together.


Love you, Love you, Love you