Dear Dad,

It's your birthday.  A December 12 will never go by without many of your loved ones thinking about you and shedding tears.  You'd be 57 this year.  I was just thinking the other day about how you were only 43 when you received your diagnosis of ALS, a death sentence.  I was away at college and missed seeing first hand how everyone reacted to the news.  I can't imagine how I would deal with news like that, knowing that my life would be cut short and that I wouldn't be able to watch all of my kids grow into adulthood.  I know that you remained strong, that you fought to live, that you did everything you could to live each day as fully as you were able.  I can't even type this now, nine years after your death without feeling tears run down my face.  You were a man who loved people and were loved in return.  I'm so thankful for the time that I had with you, that you were able to wheel down the aisle next to me on my wedding day to "present" me to my husband (because you said you weren't "giving me away"), and that you reached and surpassed your goal of living until your 25th wedding anniversary.  I was able to tell you that you would be a grandpa, although it will always sadden me that you never met her or any of your grandsons.  You loved kids and I can imagine the kind of grandfather that you would have been.  My kids know all about you, and they love to visit the cemetery where you are buried.  Zeke has often said, "I can't wait to go to Heaven so that I can meet Grandpa Zeke."  I'm glad that you had the faith that you did and that we all know without a doubt that you are in Heaven right now and that we will be reunited with you someday.  People say that the pain of losing someone goes away with time, and others say that they're wrong, that it never lessens.  I would say that the pain becomes more dull, but that when you least expect it, it's as sharp as ever.  We've all moved on with our lives, but after losing you long before we were ready, we've been left with a gaping hole in our hearts.  God had bigger plans for you, and even though I may never understand why, your death was part of His perfect plan.  Thanks for being the best dad a girl could have.

                                                   Love ya Zeker,

                                                          "Lulubelle"

November is over (almost)

I have been a pathetic blogger-wannabe.

Things have been busy, and when I have a few moments to myself, I'd rather disappear into a book or shop online than think of something to write about.  I am not going to let November go without a single post though, so here it is, even though I may not have anything important to say.

Some randomness:

At the beginning of the month, JD and I went to Albany, NY, for a night away.  What was supposed to be a fun, kidless, overnight shopping trip ended up being sort of bittersweet.  We almost didn't make it there when one of our tires suddenly got four random holes in it.  Three hours and four new tires later we were on our way.  (Thank you emergency fund for paying for those tires.)  We got some shopping and a nice dinner in and settled into our hotel room when we got the news that the mom of our dear friends had suddenly passed away.  Their dad had passed away just a week before, and Zeke was spending the night at their house while we were away.  We got in touch with them, but I couldn't sleep after hearing the news, and the next day we really just wanted to get home.

"Friend Thanksgiving" happened.  I only wish I had a bigger house and could invite more friends!  I think there were 19 of us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our pre-Thanksgiving meal and lots of yummy desserts.

We finished our FPU class and officially "graduated"!  While I'm glad we have our Monday nights to ourselves again, I'll miss the weekly class.  We're in the middle of trying to refinance our house and roll our garage loan into the mortgage payment.  And we're praying for snow for the plow guy!

We had hoped to go to Ohio over Thanksgiving break to visit my brother and his family, but his house wasn't ready, and we didn't think sleeping in a camper would go well with the little guy, so we decided to wait until they're in their house.  We had a low-key weekend at home instead and it was just what we needed.

The countdown to Christmas vacation is on- 14.5 school days (only 10 until we pull off our Christmas musical).  We're almost done our shopping- I've never come even close to being done this early.  We've got big plans for December!

Okay, I've posted.  And I'm going to try to be better in December.

Making Strides

Our weekend included being a part of Rutland, Vermont's first ever Making Strides event.  I've walked with Christa the past two years in Burlington, VT, but we moved to Rutland this year since she was helping out with the organization of the event there.

Our team (I came up with this myself) was Tutus for Tatas (and apparently not everyone recognizes Tatas as another words for Boobies).  The first year I walked, Christa was part of another team.  The second year, we made our own team, but there were only 4 of us on it.  This year, we renamed ourselves, invited others to join, took our families along, wore tutus, and ended up with a pretty good crowd.  We were the second team for fundraising and Christa was the top individual fundraiser.  At last count, the event raised over $73,000!

Tutus for Tatas!

That's us with the stroller and the two kiddos beside it.

Ryley shared her pink shirts with her brothers, and Quin even brought a pink blankie instead of his usual blue or yellow.  We went down after church, so we barely made it on time, and I wasn't able to take many pictures.  By the time it was done, it was raining and Quin had soaked through his britches, so the camera stayed put away.  I was able to steal a couple pictures from the event photographer and from a friend who was there.

Quin enjoyed his pink ribbon cupcake!

Pics.

I temporarily figured out the picture thing by deleting a bunch of pictures that had been uploaded to picasa but were never actually included on the blog.  So here are some pics that go with my previous post.

Luke Bryan Concert

Meet Anakin Skywalker and Honey,

2 month old Nigerian Dwarfs 

The New Ladies

(They think this is their retirement home

and quit laying as soon as we got them)

Five.

One.  I've been told that I'm a terrible blogger.  Since I've taken an unplanned five week break from posting anything, I suppose that is true.  No excuses.  Part of the reason is that Blogger won't allow me to add any more photos without paying and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to get around that.

Two.  It was awhile ago now, but I never posted about the Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concert we went to with Travey and Christa.  I managed to stand for five hours in a packed crowd without having to leave to pee.  I loved the concert, especially the Luke Bryan portion.

Three.  Our Funny Farm is growing.  We have more chickens (total of ten) and two baby goats.  The kids are incredibly cute, but I can't post pictures (thanks, Blogger).  They are Nigerian Dwarfs, a wether named Anakin Skywalker and a doeling named Honey.

Four.  Next week I'm walking with Tutus for Tatas at the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in Rutland, VT.  I'm looking forward to sporting my hot pink tutu to support all those who have had breast cancer!

Five.  We are taking a real FPU class!  Although a lot of it has been review of what we had learned already doing the older home course, it's been a great  motivator to keep us focused on our goals.  We've got a realistic plan to become debt-free, including remortgaging our house at a lower rate.  Even if we have a year of no snow, I think we'll be okay!

The end of August

We celebrated Zeke's 7th birthday and remembered the 9th anniversary of my dad's death the same week that Tucker died.  It was an extremely emotional week.  Ryley is still having a hard time with Tuck's death.  His collar and leash are on her nightstand and sometimes on her pillow, and she often cries a little before going to sleep.  It's sad, but at the same time sweet because she just loves animals so much.

Ian gave Zeke an outfit matching his.

The Kit-Kat cake was a success!

JD and I took the bigger kids to their first real rodeo which we all enjoyed.  We did another horse show and even JD took the reins in the men's cart class.  Ryley was nervous about being in a halter class with ages up to 18, but she did well and placed 5th out of 12.  She placed 3rd out of 8 in her cart class.

We headed back to school a few days later and have adjusted fairly well to the early mornings.  Quin has the same babysitting set-up as last year, and other than being crabby on the mornings I have to wake him up, he's also gotten used to the new routine.

Now that I've caught up on August things, I need to start working on September :)

Tucker

We had been married for just a year and had just purchased our first home when we started searching for a puppy in August of '02.  We agreed that we wanted a chocolate lab.  By September we had found him, and in October we were able to take him home.  We named him Tucker.

On Sunday morning, we said good-bye to Tucker.  He died after being sick for the past month due to Lymes Disease.  JD buried him in the back yard, and even though he's gone, we'll never forget him.

He did all the typical dog things, like shedding all over the place, puking every once in a while, barking when it wasn't necessary, begging (and drooling) for food, killing the grass wherever he peed, and leaving dog poo all over the lawn.

He was such a great dog that we forgave him all that.  He was incredibly gentle with the kids, even when they climbed all over him and pulled on his ears and tail.  We could trust him in the house all day and he was super easy to train to stay within the invisible fence.

I never finished this post (that I started a week ago) as I really wanted to go back and find pics of Tuck as a puppy and with the kids when they were little.  It hasn't happened yet and with school starting today, I don't know when or if it will, so I'm just going to grab a few recent pics, even though they aren't great to give an idea of what Tuck was like.  We miss him.  Ryley misses him the most.  She fell asleep crying last night (It was his birthday), with his leash and collar on her pillow :(