A FUN DAY!

Not only was today the 100th day of school, but we were lucky enough to have an author visit our school. And the author is my cousin!

Not long after x-mas break, our district received an e-mail from my cousin, Ryan Sloth. He was wanting to set up visits to the schools in our district. I, of course, told my principal right away that he should come visit! We got it set up and he was here today! And...since Lee is out of town right now, my mom was home today watching the kids, so she was able to bring them to see Ryan and to buy a book and get it signed.

Ryan did a great job with the kids and we all had such a fun day!

Here's Tyler getting his and Brady's book signed by Ryan.

OUR LITTLE BAILEY

BAILEY

8/4/97 - 1/28/11

Lee and I had a hard decision to make yesterday morning. Our 13 year old dog and friend, Bailey, had hit rock bottom on Thursday night. Something that I really needed to see in order for me to really take into account what needed to happen next. Bailey had been going downhill in the past few months. Thursday night was the worst. He wasn't living a great life anymore and Lee and I spoke Friday morning and decided that it was time.

As soon as the boys were dropped off at daycare, my tears started flowing and pretty much didn't stop for the entire day. I did work, but was able to leave while my class was at P.E. to go home for a bit. I gave Bailey one last hug, told him how much I loved him and was going to miss him, and told him good-bye. I went back to work as a complete mess, even worse than what I was the entire morning.

Lee had to take Bailey for his appt. Lee said that he talked to Bailey and held him the entire drive to the vet. Lee said to me later last night, "That was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do."

Through tears, Lee and I had a drink and gave a cheers to our great dog, Bailey. We told stories of how he used to be when he was feeling better. We couldn't have asked for a better dog to have around for our boys while they were growing up.

Yesterday was an extremely hard day for Lee and I. We will miss Bailey very much and will remember him always!

Today was a strange day without him. It was strange to not see him in his bed in our bedroom, strange to not see his food and water dish in the corner of the kitchen, strange to not hear his nails hit the hardwood when he comes down the stairs, sad to not see Brady's face light up with excitement because his dog just came down the stairs, sad to not see Brady's excitement while Bailey is outside and Brady gets to stand at the door smiling at him, sad to not have Tyler's excitement to help me put more food in his dish.

These days will get easier without him and it will get more "normal." I have had a dog for as long as I can remember. I'm sure once school starts coming to an end this year, Lee will actively start looking for a new family dog for us. Until then, we will all miss Bailey.

Tyler knows that Bailey is up in Dog Heaven and God is taking care of him. Brady doesn't know much, but brought us a framed picture of Bailey today and smiled. He then went to the stairs as if he was exctitedly waiting for Bailey to come down.

Thank you, Bailey for the last 13 years. We love you and will never forget the joy that you brought to this family!

Tyler and Bailey loving on each other. (2009)

Tyler really loved Bailey. (2010)

Best Buds. (2010)

Tyler and Brady giving Bailey a hard time. (2010)

Tyler, Bailey, and myself. (2008)

Brady and Bailey. (2010)

Lee and his little Buddy. (2006)

Tyler taking Bailey for a walk. (2008)

Bailey in the yard at our house in TN. (2007)

Bailey and Tyler. (2010)

WE LOVE YOU, BAILEY! (2009)

BYE, BYE HIGH CHAIR!

We reached a big milestone today....

NO MORE HIGH CHAIR!!!

I feel that we have so much more room in our kitchen now! It's wonderful!

Brady was so excited to sit in his booster tonight at dinner. We could tell that he felt like such a big boy! He ate great as usual and we are so excited to be done with the high chair.

Here's the big boy after his dinner with his dessert in front of him.
Such a big boy and so proud!

McCABE VISIT

We had our friends, the McCabes, come to visit us this past weekend and spend the weekend with us. We really didn't do much of anything except, play with the kids, watch the kids play, eat, and drink, but we had a great time doing it! We usually get to see the McCabes twice a year. Usually about every 6 months we see eachother, so it's alway so amazing to see how much the boys have grown up since the last time that they were together. Can't wait to be with them again this summer. Dylan will have turned 2 by then and Brady will be so close to turning 2 by then! And Tyler will just talk our ears off as always! Here's some pictures of our fun and entertaining weekend with the McCabes!

Sunday morning before they left, this was the boys playing on the couch, all in their Bears gear.
This is just a glimpse of what most of the weekend looked like. Toys all over the place and three little boys running wild!

Tyler really enjoyed Luke's company over the weekend and wanted Luke to do everything with him and even sit by him at the dinner table. Thank you, Luke, for being a trooper!

Brady was having a blast with Jessica, as she was bouncing him on her knee.

We are so glad that they get to come visit us each winter. Now that we have kids, our visits are much different than what they used to be. Now we have three beautiful, I mean handsome, little boys to interact and play with each other. So much fun! Thank you, McCabes, for such a great weekend! Too bad those Bears couldn't have won on Sunday! :(

A DAY HOME WITH BRADY

Well, I was supposed to have today off of school, however, because we had a snow day last Tuesday, we used today as a make-up day. BUT, I ended up getting the day off anyway! Brady got sick in the middle of the night last night and the whole situation couldn't have happened at a better time. Lee was actually home last night because he started his new job today, which is normal hours!!! :) (yes, we have a normal life again!) Brady woke up at 2 and had thrown-up and then again at 3. I gotta say that it was extremely nice to have Lee home for Brady's first experience with throwing up! It was nice that while he was putting new pj's on Brady and cleaning up his face, that I could be changing the bedding. If this had happened just a week or even a few days before, I would have been juggling it all by myself. It was also nice that since Lee was home, I left at 5:00 to go to school to get plans ready for a substitute. Brady and I dropped Tyler off at daycare and then Brady was in desperate need of a bath! He started out slow this morning, but came back to his normal self late morning. We had a nice, quiet day at home full of play and a long nap for both of us! He will be ready to get out of the house tomorrow to go play with his friends at daycare. It was such a nice day to have spent with my little Brady. I'm thankful that he was healthy throughout the day and we could enjoy our time together!

ANOTHER WINTER WEDDING

A family friend of ours got married over the weekend. He, like Lee's brother, is also a baseball player, so the months that they can get married are very limited. Kids were not invited to the wedding, so Lee stayed home with Tyler and Brady and I enjoyed 24 hours away from home. I really enjoyed the time that I got to spend with my mom, my mom's friends, and my cousins. It was a great night and we had a good time catching up. Thanks to you ladies for making it a great, fun night!
This is a picture of my cousins and I.

CONGRATULATIONS, LEE!

I feel like I should have written this post a couple weeks ago, but I just hadn't gotten around to it. Just thought you should know that Congratulations need to be given to Lee!

He has been offered a new management position at work! Yeah, for Lee! He will no longer be in charge of a group of guys out in the plant. He will be mostly in the office area and will be working only 1st shift!!! I am very proud of him, as him and I both know that being on 3rd shift every so often is a bit hard. I am also proud of him because his boss chose Lee for this position! Lee is an extremely hard worker and knows everything there is to know about Jeld-Wen Doors. He has been wanting something "new" for awhile and now he gets it!

Just one more week on the 'old' job, training the guy who's going to be taking over for him and then he will be starting his new position!

Congratulations, Lee! I'm proud of you!