Grieving

Saturday night we, unexpectedly, had to say goodbye to our handsome boy, Decatur. When we returned home in the afternoon from taking my sister and niece to the airport, Decatur was lying in his bed, awake, but unresponsive to us. After about an hour of pleading and coaxing, trying to get him to sit up or show any sort of normal behavior, Jon finally took him to the emergency vet where, after a lots of tests, learned that Decatur had blood vessel cancer. In the short span of the afternoon, his spleen has ruptured and he was bleeding internally, absolutely draining him of any of the life that he was so full of. Our last moments with him were absolutely excruciating as we tried to reassure him with lots of love and comforting phrases he knows so well, while feeling like our own hearts were breaking. As I took the kids out of the room, I said to him the words that I've used every single time I've left him to run errands, or whatever, during the day: "You wait, Decatur, Mommy will come back."

We bought Decatur as a 2 month old puppy in 1998, having wanted a Weimaraner since falling in love with the breed having seen one on Decatur Island in the San Juans. Our hope was that he would be good with the children we planned for our future, and he was. Oh, sure, in his 100 lb dog way, he occasionally bumped into one of the kids, but he had a very gentle disposition and tolerated whatever they threw his way. He tolerated us too. We thank God for you, Decatur.

He loved this little girl from the moment he laid eyes on her. The day we brought her home from the hospital, he trotted right over to her infant car seat and placed his beloved stuffed animal right in her lap and sat waiting, wagging his tail. As if to say, "it's about time you got here!"

We made him put up with several other pets along the way, and he rolled with all of the punches. He was our Decatur, Mr. Handsome, and Sweet K.

Havalah loved to sit and read the Bible to him.

He was the boy who literally wore his (white) heart, right on his chest. How we are going to miss this velvety soft chest and sweet soft face.

In our last moments, he couldn't even lift his head, but oh, did he try. Such a loyal and strong boy.

saying goodbye...

Decatur

March 4 1998- April 3 2010

You have filled up our hearts, all these years and we will love you forever Sweet K.

***I'm planning on uploading more photos of Decatur on my Flickr account, as well, as things comes to mind that I'd like to record about Decatur, I will be updating this post.***

Decatur's big day

We celebrated Decatur's 10th birthday this week. I know, we're nerds, but any excuse for a party, right? When I mentioned to my kids that Decatur was turning 1o years old their first response was: "let's have a party for him!" So...their planning began. H & H made a cake (for us) and then after singing happy birthday they gave Decatur, first a spoonful of peanut butter (their idea), then a new toy (also their idea and much less gooey). Mission accomplished.
What? Are we boring you, Nora? Your day is coming. I think I've heard mention of a cat sized party hat...

Decatur

I had a request from some friends to post a picture of our blue Weimaraner, Decatur. So, here he is, with his cool, calm stare and 95 lbs of never-ending energy. We love him.

Bella 2008-2021

Before I begin I just want to say that most of you all have already heard about the loss our our pup, Bella, but I haven't been ready to document it here until now. Thank you so much for all your love as I was/am grieving her.  Sending you a million hugs.

Bella came to us quite by surprise in August of 2009.  When we lived in Wenatchee one of the things that my kids and I did on a regular basis was visit the Humane Society.  It was a win win, really.  They needed people to come in and handle and love on the kitties, and well, we just happen to be really good at that. One day when we happened in there she was, a stray, mop of a dog that the employees told me was a Scottish Terrier.  We fell in absolute love with this bouncy, affectionate, sweet girl and adopted her pretty much on the spot. I'll never forget picking her up from the vet after her initial check up; he asked me if I knew what I was in for with a terrier and two young children. Uhhhhh, no? Yes?  Queue the deer in the headlights look.  However, Isabella or Bella or Bellie, as she quickly became known, was a sweet as sweet could be, and we were ecstatic to have found her. 

Back in November when we started noticing some strange skin lesions we figured she had an allergy or something along those lines.  Our vet couldn't pinpoint it either but gave us some cortisone pills and cream that kept it calm while we waited (six weeks!) to get into a dermatologist.  We finally saw the derm who told us what we really didn't want to hear; advanced Lymphoma. Because she wasn't showing any signs of slowing down or sickness at this point, we kept her on the meds to keep her comfortable, which ended up slowing the spread a bit as well.  The weeks ticked on until finally Jon convinced me it was time to let her go.  She had gotten to the point where she seemed uncomfortable, would occasionally cry out when she was asleep, didn't want to do much of anything, and for the first time ever, didn't constantly follow me around.  We lost our first pup, Decatur very suddenly in 2010, but because H&H were so little I wasn't present when we euthanized him. All this to say I had no idea of the trauma I was in for when we took her for her appointment.  I won't go into it because honestly, it still feels so raw, but I will say it was horrible.  I'm not exaggerating when I say I was hysterical.  Even though we had all those months to prepare ourselves for our goodbyes, I wasn't ready. It felt so very wrong to end her precious life, and I don't know if I'll ever recover from that experience.  If it's possible to be kindred spirits with a dog, she was without a doubt mine.  I miss her so very much.

Sweet Bella.  Thank you for being in our lives. Thank you for protecting our children and our home.  Thank you for making us laugh and giving me that soulful Scottie stare. Thank you for "playing piggie" with Jon, and hide and seek with us. Thank you for never turning down an opportunity to play fetch.  Thank you for keeping Chip kitty from being too big for his britches. Thank you for being ours.  You were our best friend and we'll always love you.

sweet thing

garden walk

The previous owners of our home were, according to our neighbors, quite the gardeners. To be quite honest, the task of maintaining all the shrubs and bushes and everything else that was perfectly trimmed when we moved in, completely frightens me. As in, it's probably not gonna happen. Fortunately, this week all the lovely perennials have burst into bloom. How fun to see what we have in our new yard! Raspberries! Yay!

Forget Me Nots. Are these only a Pacific Northwest flower? Probably not. However, tried as I may I couldn't get them to bloom when we lived in a warmer part of the state, but in Seattle, they are everywhere. My favorite.

I have no idea what these are, but I love the pale green color.

Violets? Not sure. But these are in little clumps everywhere too.

Does anyone know what these are? So delicate.

I'm pretty sure I squealed when I saw this flower. I only know them as a purple Bleeding Heart, but maybe someone can correct me on that. I planted one of these bushes right after Havalah was born, but sweet old Decatur, may he rest in peace, promptly dug them up. Such a good old dog. Ahem. Of course, that's not what I said at the time.

On another note, we started some seeds in our kitchen window sill today. Watermelons! Should be interesting...

Summer Vibes

With less than two weeks to go before we start school, it's safe to say that summer vacation has been one for the books!  We've soaked up every second, with fun activities mixed in with just hanging out. Ahhh, summer, you know?!

All magic tricks, all the time, for Henry.

Henry has also had a major obsession with Hot Wheels (and Camaros) lately.  It's been pretty fun, because he has always been a Legos boy.  

Two peas in a pod :-)

He's my favorite.

Chocolate camp for Havah! And, major YUM.

You guys.  There was a big snake stuck in our garage. 

In May we started playing pickleball three days a week.  This is an answer to prayer for me, because ya'll know how much I love tennis (and this is kinda sorta like tennis). The kids will start a tennis class in the fall but we'll hopefully keep up with pickle ball as well.

We call these little toads Chocolate Frogs.  They are everywhere this time of year.

Are you officially a Texan when your husband starts slow BBQing pork and it takes all-the-live-long-day? #Worthit.

Summer t-shirt tie dye 

Jon bought Mexican Cokes for the kids to enjoy after they mow the lawn every week.  Henry mows the front yard and Havah mows the back.

Opening night for Finding Dory in 3-D!

Pretty cut Mangoes at the Mexican fruit market

Coffee date 

 Love this darling girl...

...and her photo bomber brother is pretty sweet too :)

We celebrated 20 years from when Jon proposed to me on Decatur Island in the San Juans. He set up these shells just like he did on the beach so many years ago. I love him!

Trying our hands at mini apple pies. We made a bunch of these and shared them with the neighbors.  Have I mentioned how blessed we are with good neighbors?  Southern hospitality is alive and well.

This summer we continued our tradition of having what we call "an outing day" once a week.  The kids and I explored all over the place every Tuesday afternoon.  Unfortunately I wasn't always the best about pulling out my camera, but here are a few shots from Galveston.

Tiger's Blood for her... (she chose wisely)

...and Sour Patch Kids for him.  Ha!

I can't remember if I blogged about this already, but at the beginning of summer Havah and I went on a trail ride as part of her birthday gifts. We was in the hill country, about 45 minutes out of San Antonio. It was both fun and terrifying, since they basically put us on the horses, slapped their rear ends and said, "giddy up." Insert scared face.  However, a couple of hours later we felt like seasoned riders...more or less.  Ha!  ;)

Back at the barn, safe and sound.

 Just because San Antonio is just so darn pretty.

Havah and I attended a vintage fair at the fairgrounds a few weeks ago.  It was a SWELTERING day. We managed to track down the Mama's Sweet Tea truck, which probably saved us from heat stroke.  It was a lot of fun to browse all the booths and bring home a few treasures. (and then hop into the air conditioned car and turn it on full blast!!)  Wrought iron owl bookends for her and an old ship in a bottle for me (Henry). :)

Feed trays from chicken coops turned into lighting.  All the heart eyes from me!

 A park day with some friends. Our good buddies just moved up to New Brunswick, Canada, so we had a send off picnic for them.  They'll be gone for two years. Sniff. We are already looking forward to when they'll be back.

 I don't know if you can see it or not, but the kids were chasing a water snake.  Ugh.  I felt so sorry for the poor thing, and that's saying A LOT.

For most of the summer we had 8 or 9 friends come over once a week to make handiwork projects.  We had both boys and girls, and it was a ton of fun.

So, there you have it!  A peek at our summer days.  There was plenty of mosquito scratching, card playing, kitten wrangling, pool splashing, staying up waaaay too late watching movies, and eating too much ice cream. So thankful all of it and for a few months to relax, recharge and get ready for a new school year.  The school room is almost ready, the supplies are purchased and we've already started orientation with our homeschool group, so the ball is definitely rolling.  We are looking forward to a visit from my sis, Mary Beth, and her family next week, then we'll jump in and start school.  

"Within me there lies an invincible summer."  -Albert Camus