Happy 8th Birthday Lily!

Today is my dog, Lily's birthday! She is 8 years old (or 56 in doggie years). She is really my firstborn as she is the first pet I have ever had on my own. I got her in 2001, when she was about 12 weeks old and she was the cutest little puppy! She is a PAWS pound puppy, a mut really, and the nice ladies at the pound assured me she would be about 30-40 pounds full-grown. 80 pounds later, she is my big, beautiful girl. Her favorite person - my Dad. Lily and my father bonded the first moment they met. He would come and get her some weekends and take her to run at the hunting camp over at Bunker Creek and she thought she had died and gone to doggie heaven. She loved it and she loves him. I hate that she hasn't been able to see him in over two years. He still asks about her every time I see him.
Since Landon came along, I haven't been very good at celebrating my dogs' birthdays. I actually used to go all out for her birthday (remember that, Miche???) Ok... so I recently saw Marley and Me and it got me thinking about Lily's mortality and I really don't know how many more birthdays I might have with her. As you can see from some of the later pictures, she is getting pretty grey. She can still act like a puppy from time to time. So, here is a tribute to my big girl on her 8th birthday. I love you, Lily. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life and loving me unconditionally (even when I won't get out of bed to let you go outside!) Enjoy the slideshow!

Cumulus vs. Cops for St. Jude's

On Saturday, I went to a charity basketball game benefiting St. Jude's Children's Hospital. It was Cumulus (our local radio station) vs. the Cops (OCSO). I didn't actually play as basketball isn't a sport I ever really got into (I actually don't even like watching it much) but this game was entertaining. There was also another VERY good reason to watch, one of the referees was Coach Lavin (the picture in the slide show says it all!!) And the cops also had a secret weapon on the roster in K-9 "Tyson". Who was going to mess with him??? Naturally, I was an aging cheerleader for the cops! It was so much fun and what a turnout. Nearly 1,000 people packed the FWB High School gym to watch the game and the total raised for St Jude Children's Research Hospital was $6681.60 which is awesome. And the Cops kicked butt with the final score 104-90, winning the "sprinkled donut" trophy. What a great community we live in that so many people will turn out for such a great cause! We already have the rematch scheduled for January 30 next year so hope to see you all there. Enjoy some of the pics!

One of those weeks...

Have you ever just had on of those weeks??? I will try not to go into too much detail because this could turn into a very long, rambling blog so I will just hit the high points...

MONDAY
-Got some troubling news from my best friend and my heart absolutely aches for her and she is a thousand miles away from me and I can't physically be there for her right now.

TUESDAY
-Work!!! Let's just say I was on-call and it was crazy!
-My mother locked her keys in her car and we had to be at a doctor's appointment in half an hour.
-Her doctor's appointment.
-When I picked Landon up from school, his teacher said "I need to talk to you." You know it isn't going to be good when the teacher says that instead of "I have something to tell you." Big difference! Apparently Landon refused to clean up his toys all day and would cry real tears anytime they tried to talk to him about it. He is so tender-hearted. Wonder where he gets that from? So, the whole way home he moped and wasn't himself at all.
-Got a call from the nursing home where my father is and he was not having a good day. He was hallucinating about some very disturbing things so I had to try to calm him down.
-Tuesday evening was more work!!! Ugghhhh!

WEDNESDAY
-Good news is that Landon was back to normal and his teachers said he was his normal wonderful self.
-Ok, so compared to the first part of the week, Wednesday wasn't all that bad really.

THURSDAY
-As I was about to fix Landon dinner, my brother called and three of his children were at a "spaghetti dnner" at school and he was stuck in traffic and they were waiting with teacher to be picked up. Would I mind getting out in the traffic and picking them up?? Well, it only took ten minutes to get across the Highway to get to the school and then then the teacher who was with the kids says, "I need to talk to you." Not again.... Anyway, they didn't get to eat and so we stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru on the way home... 5 happy meals!!! So much for a quiet evening at home with my Mom and Landon. But I also have to say that Landon enjoyed the excursion and is always happy to see his cousins and what kid doesn't like McDonalds.

Sprinkle throughout the week the fact that my dogs have been sick and decided to periodically throw up on my recently cleaned carpets. By the time Friday arrived I was ready for it. Friday went pretty well all around. I even got to see my Dad and he was doing much better. And I actually do have some fun plans for the weekend since Landon is staying with his Daddy.

So, next week has to be better, right??? That's what I keep telling myself.

On a positive note, K&B Toys has been having a "going out of business" sale and Landon's Gi Gi and I racked up some really cheap toys and games, including twister which is an absolute hoot to play with Landon.

Happy 30th Birthday Cathy!

Wow.... look who's turning 30 today! A very Happy Birthday to my good friend, Cathy! She is miles away in Honduras with her new little angel, Jenna (and her hottie hubby, Ken) so I won't be able to physically celebrate with her but I will be there in spirit, wiithout a doubt. She will also be home for a long visit next month and I can't wait!

So, Happy Birthday Cathy! In honor of your birthday I am posting one of my favorite photos (if you can call it that) of us from Downtown Disney a few years ago. Lookin' good!!!! As Samantha from SATC would say, "Welcome to my box!" Love you!

Jordan's Birthday Party

Don't beat your kids!!!

Landon and I were invited to the Niceville Children's Park in December to celebrate Jordan's birthday. It was a great time and, as usual, my friend Eva took some great photos. Including one that is a bit incriminating, but soooo funny!!!!

New Year's Day at The Zoo

Landon and I used our Christmas present from The Britts and went to The Zoo on New Year's Day. It was a bit chilly but I will take chilly over hot any day. Now, the Northwest Florida Zoo isn't the greatest. But Landon absolutely loves it! His favorite part - the petting zoo, hands down! We must have spent over an hour feeding the goats, cows and sheep. Let's just say they were fat and happy by the time we left. Landon just couldn't get enough. He loves animals! And he is so gentle and patient with them it is amazing! He also enjoyed the train ride and seeing the baby hippo! Can't wait for our next trip, which I'm guessing will be very soon and quite frequent since we have an annual pass.