Chester

Sadly, after 8 years with us, we had to put Chester down on Tuesday.
He was a rescue dog who overcame heartworms (trip to the ICU from that surgery) and was gentle to every person and child he met.

Rusty and the kids went to Kelley's on Tuesday to bring him back home (he had been living with them the past 2 months) The kids had a lot of fun playing with Chester Tuesday afternoon. Chester was loving every minute of it in this picture. I took a lot of pictures of the kids with him. Rusty must have feed him half a pork loin . He had a good day for sure.

The kids seem to be taking it far better than Rusty and I. Reese even got out the shovel and helped rusty bury him in the back yard.

Nathan, Micah and Kelley did such a great job taking care of him these last two months. Micah was just disappointed that he didn't want to play with the dog toys they bought him ( which was a nice thing when we had baby toys because he never touched them). They took him for walks every day and showed him a lot of love.

2 weeks ago he was shaking and having issues breathing so I brought him up here to my vet. We were going to put him down but then he peped up when he was here and we thought we were past it all. He was at Kelleys for a week and was doing great when he had another spell. We had an ultrasound done and nothing was found (looking for tumors, heart issues etc). On paper he was the picture of health- just had all his shots, teeth cleaned, ultrasound and blood work. The dr thinks it must have arthritis of the spine. He was having these spells of tremendous pain where he had difficulty laying down, walking etc.

Easter

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We were thrown a loop for Easter when I came down with the shingles last week. I had to miss the church Easter eggstravanza and lay low last week, but I was cleared to go to church on Sunday! The kids loved hunting eggs, dying eggs and making resurrection cookies. The Easter bunny came while we were at church and left Reese pencils, a plate, and a puppet. The bunny left Caleigh a shirt, plate and sunglasses. They loved their baskets and the inside egg hunt. I didnt manage to get any pictures of Caleigh with her bow and all dressed for church, but taking a family picture these days is always a challenge! Our family came for Easter lunch and to hunt over 250 eggs. My mom works for a solid month filling eggs!

snow day fun

snow day fun
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Sonshine School

Reese and Caleigh started their new school last week. It is called Sonshine School. It was hard to leave Wee School after 3 years, but it has actually been our best week yet on the potty training and behavior. I am really happy with the school and I think he loves it and is really learning a lot already. Its an adjustment to get them their earlier and pick them up earlier since it chops my work day up into 3 pieces now, but its going well.

Reese just came up to me and told me the trash can was all full and he needed to take it out. I wondered where he got this from (definitely not from my wonderful and loving husband whose strong suit is not the trash). He said- I learned at Sonshine School that boys take out the trash and I am a boy! That's what I call training them right and money well spent on school! He insisted on taking the kitchen trash out to the garage garbage can.

Yesterday they had Grandparents Day tea. I went as the "grandparent"

Caleighs 12 month pictures

These are the pictures from Caleighs 12 month professional pictures. She did her first photo session and once I told the photographer how she tore into her cake at her party, we decided to meet again for a cake session. It made for great pictures- cant say the same for my newly cleaned grout and tile. We threw her in the tub to clean off after the cake and that turned into another photo session. I had collages made from each session to hang on the wall of her room- those are at the end of the show. Rusty cant complain anymore about the lack of Caleigh pictures in the house with 5 collages:)

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Caleigh had her 15 month checkup on Fri. She is now 39 inches and 22 lbs. She continues to be like her brother at 90% height.

Dentist Visit

Where has the time gone! Summer is over and school is back in session. Its a busy time at our house as Rusty returns to his last year of teaching and our kids leave their beloved school of 3 years to start a new one.

Caleigh got her first hair cut last week- cried the entire time. Post to come on that.

Yesterday, both children had their first dental visit. Reese was nervous about going (he kept saying the dentist was going to drill into his teeth) but did a fantastic job. We were told Reese will need extensive orthodontic work when he is older (takes after his mother) since he has an over bite and a small mouth. Thank goodness my mother in law came with me because 2 kids at the dentist was a crazy sight

Pictures from Chicago

We had a great time in Chicago. The trip got off to a bumpy start due to our plane being delayed 4 hrs and us getting to town alot later than planned. We were able to do almost everything we had planned to do in Chicago. We were walking from sun up to sun down every day. I think I wore my family out. My mom and I took Nathan and Micah on the trip. We stayed in a condo we rented on the 41st floor of a high rise. It was a lot of fun to stay in the heart of downtown. We visited alot of museums, attended a Cubs game, took a walking tour and went out to the suburbs to Frank Lloyd Wrights house- all in a few short days. I had a great time there. If it wasn't for the cold weather, I would move there!

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