RIP Pete Penrod 1998-2009

A picture I took on New Years Eve....


Today is a VERY sad day for the family. My mom's poodle Pete has been sick most of his life and passed away this morning. He started having MAJOR problems about two months ago and could no longer walk. They didn't know if it was an infection or a nerve problem. With out thousands of dollars in test they might know, but mom didn't want to go that route. He lived a full life and it was just his time. She tried to keep him comfortable till then. We went over to her house for dinner last night and he just looked horrible. Mom knew that is was just a matter of time. This morning she called and said he looked worse, she made up her mind to just go somewhere and put him to sleep. She called me to see if I would go with her, so I got dressed and headed over to her house. As I walked in the door she said to Pete, we are gonna go bye bye in just a few minutes. Mom and I stopped to talk for about 3-4 minutes and I said, I better go say Hi to Pete or I'm gonna be in trouble. As I was walking he didn't look good. I stop and kept looking at him and he was not breathing. I knelled down in front of him and felt his side and sure enough...nothing. I called out to mom that he is not breathing and she came over and felt his chest and nothing. We knew he was gone. Mom called a few pet places to find out what she can do with him and most places were closed for the day. We called the Vet Hospital up the street and they take them for a local business and you can drop them off for $51 or you can cremate them and get a temporary urn for $116. We drove him up and mom is gonna have him cremated and bury his ashes this spring when the ground defrost. So needless to say she is VERY upset and trying to take her mind off of everything. It will take time but I told the boys over breakfast with Mom and they were sad, but understood it was meant to be. Now the tough part is telling Caleb Monday.Pete or as I call him Re Pete will be dearly missed and loved......

How my Christmas week went.....

Well, We got all the presents wrapped and ready for Christmas morning. I was busy the 2 days before Christmas. I volunteered with Marshall's Bi-polar Support group and worked at the booth to pass on the goodness of the support group. I tell you, I am glad Marshall heard about it. It is a nice outlet for him to meet others going thru the same ordeal has he is. He gets excited every Monday night to go. Christmas Eve was busy too. Rushing around to finish up all the small details of Christmas, I was talked into taking pictures of a wedding. My Mom worked with a lady named Wendy and she was getting married and had everything set up but no photographer.My mother donated my services for the day...THANKS MOM!!! But I graciously went and enjoyed taking all the pictures. I set them up a Photobucket account and uploaded them so they could send the link to family and friends that couldn't make it. Here is a taste of my handy work.....




I just loved changing around some of the photos. I blurred a few of the edges and also made them black and white. She LOVED the pictures. I am meeting up with her tomorrow to pick out the pictures she wants so we can go print them.It will be LOT'S of fun.....

Christmas morning was crazy.... Chris was suppose to met Sarah at 7am to get Caleb and he forgot to email her and just decided to head to her house. WRONG!!! He got lost in the middle of no where and got his car stuck in a snow bank trying to turn around. I finally got his on the phone and gave him step by step instructions to Sarah's. He called on his way bad and he was pissed!!! She decided to go behind Chris' back about the fact there is no Santa. So Caleb kept saying that there is no Santa.I was then pissed also. The boy is only 4...give him a few more years. So when they got to my house, Uncle Marshall walked him around all the wonderful gifts that Santa left for him and boy did that ever change his mind. He was in heaven...




Well, that's how crazy my week was....Hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas and Enjoy the New Years!!!!

It's that time of year again....

Christmas....What can I say besides I LOVE IT. I could deal better without the cold and snow but I will just have to deal with it. We finally got our tree up a few weeks ago and just got around to decorating it last night. The boys made me proud and did such a GREAT job. Friday Caleb came over and we decorated gingerbread houses and they look cute with the exception of one. Then Caleb, Nanny and Chris are coming over today to bake COOKIES!!!!! I am going to attempt Buckeyes for the 1st time ever. I know how much Marshall loves Peanut Butter and Chocolate, so I don't expect them to last long at all. I will post more pictures later of the Cookie baking party.

This December has already hit a sad note for us. Mom found out a week ago that they were laying off 249 people and she happened to be one. She is glad to be out of there after all the grief they give her and all the long hours she put in for crappy pay. She is still teaching at Colorado tech University and just picked up another class in February. I hope she finds a job soon or the teaching will be enough to cover her bills till she can find a full time job. Mom's girlfriend and her might open an Accounting business of there own, that would be nice. They might start the beginning of the year for Tax season. I will keep everyone updated as things progress.

The kids are doing great ans just started there 2 week winter break today. So it will be nice to have daddy home this year for Christmas with us. I can't go thru another one like last year. I better get the kitchen cleaned up so we have room to bake cookies today.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Years from my family to yours......

It's a Girl!!!!!

Ok, first off....NO I am not Pregnant but we have a new family member in our house. She is only 10 weeks old and is quite cute I might add. We went to Petco Sunday to look at the animals that were up for adoption and fell in love with her. Actually AJ the one who is afraid of any animal or bug wanted to pet her. He said, "Can we get her, so is so sweet and cute". I said I will have the final say since I will be the one taking care of her, since no one else seems to like the potty training, potty clean up, feeding responsiblity in this house. I've learned that from years past with pets. Sofar, she is healthy with the exception of have worms. She had her first vet visit Monday and she id on medicine to clear her problem right up. She is a Black Lab/Blue Heeler Mix and weights all of 10 lbs right now. The vet thinks she will be medium sized and will top around the 60 lbs mark when all said in done. Here is a few pictures.......

Andrews 1st fall party at school....

I helped with Andrews School Fall Party Friday and we had a blast. Mom and I made suckers for his class and they turned out VERY cute.....

Halloween....what fun...

We had a great Halloween this year. The boys had a blast with Caleb walking the neighborhood that night, but only had it 1/4 of the way then Andrew said he had to go potty, so Mom took him back to her house then met up with us a little bit later. Then after 3/4 the way around they started to fizzle out. We made it around in almost 2 hours. Man did they get ALOT of candy. I had to carry 2 bags of overflow candy so there buckets wouldn't be overly heavy. We had to finish by 8pm so we could take Caleb back to him mom so Chris could sleep some for work. AJ was death with a bloody sword, Andrew was Batman and Caleb was Iron Man!!! They looked 2 cute in there outfits. I carved there pumpkins thursday since we had a crazy week and didn't have time to get them done earlier. Which was a good thing cause they started to get very funky when I was carving them....YUCK!!

Anthony and his newest Chess Trophy!!!

Our Coach holds small tournaments every month for the kids in order to get them ready for outside tournaments. Last month AJ got a ribbon and only the top 5 got trophys....same as this time. Anthony and his friends kick butt last night and I am SO very proud of them. Anthony finished 4th, Philip finished 2nd and Blake finished 1st!!! They have 2 tournaments in November on the 8th and 22nd. And they are getting excited for them. Here are a few pictures of the fun last night.....