buzzing by portland

If she stopped by my house, I would give her my entire bowl of candy.

in love with a wookie

I don't know how to talk about Ella's passing. If you notice I tried to squeeze it in (very inappropriately) to JT's bday post. We are sad about Ella. It is so baffling that a dog should be able to get cancer. Does St. Francis know about this? Ella was an awesome dog. When we picked her up from the shelter, they told us (after I signed all the paperwork) that she had lived there for 3 years. It was all she knew. We really struggled at first with potty training but eventually she got the swing of things and fit in with the family. She was an awesome second mom. She tracked the boys constantly and was very protective of us all.

I have to admit that learning of Ella's diagnosis and having 3 weeks with her was comforting (in a selfish way). It gave all us time to digest the news and enjoy our time with her. It was easier than when Ethyl passed suddenly without warning. I know it was easier for us than it was for our friends who at the same time that we were getting Ella's news got news about their dog Jasper and sadly they had a shorter amount of time to make their decisions.  The two families lamented our losses together. But with every sad story, there is a happy ending because Jasper's parents also have a dog named Ollie and Ollie has a brother named Jet. Call it lucky, fate, power of the gods, or serendipity but Jet was looking for a new home. He is a much loved dog who recently moved to an apartment and his mom realized he needed a little more room than what they had. Rick and I were hesitant to say yes to a new dog so soon but when you see Jet you just can't say no and I don't think either of us realized how much we would miss having a dog in our house.

And so today, we find ourselves on our first official day with Jet. He came over last night to watch the World Series and we all agreed to let him stay and see if he likes us as much as we like him. So far he has discovered cat food and due to his height he easily discovered people food on the table. I am sure we can come to a mutual understanding on both of these. I tried to take a few quick shots between calls this morning; Jet wasn't too thrilled b/c he is waiting patiently for a walk and doesn't want to mess with this camera nonsense.

Here is what we know about this little guy:

He is two years old. His name is Jet (although Griffin told us that his full name is Jet Horn). He likes his toys, he likes cat food, and he looks like a wookie (he is actually a laberdoodle).

Eight is Great!

I started thinking about this blog earlier today. I wanted to talk about JT turning 8 and about having to put Ella to sleep last week. Two heart-breaking topics although one is happier than the other (far  happier). All of this was pushed aside as I found myself starting at day 1 of this blog and walking through all that has happened in our lives during the past 2.5 years of this blogs existence. There is so much that I have forgotten (train track to the head, winter baseball in 90 degree weather) and so many cute photos of the boys. I can't believe how much they have grown. Which is the perfect transition in to the Great Eight.

As with every birthday, JT is planning months in advance and he has BIG ideas many of which I just didn't have the time to bring to life but despite his mom's crazy work schedule we were able to pull off a fairly decent event. Brief overview - somehow this party grew to me having 11 boys at my house for a slumber party (note: 2 had early departures - 1 because of Sunday commitments and the other for puking). The theme was set as Halloween/baseball/football/scary movie night. We ended up with a mix of costumed/uncostumed children, pizza, cupcakes, wildness, Goosebumps movies, and a baseball game in the morning. Here are the best photos to complete the overview:

The Invitations

The Cupcakes

The party hit - Apple Bobbing

I think we spent over 30 minutes bobbing. 

Zach in action

And then all hell broke loose. This started as the sweet game of wrapping your teammate in toilet paper to be a mummy and once we had the mummies a TP fight ensued. The good news, they all cleaned it up afterwards.

Hurting the World

First everyone needs to take a moment to say "poor Meghan" because yesterday Rick and JT got to go to ACL fest (thanks to a fabulous friend who has the power to "get us in") while I took Zach and Griffin to a birthday party. Zach and Griffin are great company; the party was so-so.

After dropping Griffin off, Zach and I were heading home at which point Zach tells me this:

Zach: Mom you are mean.
Me: Excuse me?
Zach: You are hurting the world's feelings.
Me: What do you mean?
Zach: When you say that you are the greatest mom in the world, you hurt the world's feelings because there are other moms.

I had to apologize to the world and promise that I wouldn't say I was the greatest mom in the world ever.