Family Photos

So...

it's been a while.

A long while.

But here are some of the fun photos that my brother took during his stay with us this summer.

They're awesome.

He's awesome.

And I love them.

I hope you do too :)

Sick and Happy

Izzy is sick.

Like, really sick. Like, 102 degree temperature and can't keep anything down kind of sick.

When I was growing up, this kind of sick called for a few things of necessity:

ginger ale

saltine crackers

and

lots of Disney movies.

Well, thanks to my neighbor Michelle and her large Netflix like collection of children's movies, I'm covered in the Disney area.

But I awoke this morning, burning fleshed toddler on my hip begging for "food," to discover that I had neither ginger ale nor saltine crackers.

I smacked my hand to my forehead and scolded myself for not being better prepared for these kinds of things and prayed that she'd be able to hold down a little bit of Gatorade.

Then, I updated my Facebook status to this:

"Ugh, Izzy is still feeling pretty bad this morning 101.8 and another "episode." poor baby:( anyone wanna run out and grab some gingerale and saltiness for me?!?!"

(Yes, I'm aware that I misspelled saltines)

I was joking...but I guess only half way, if I'm being completely honest. But, a mere 5 minutes later, I got this response from my neighbor Randy:

"Miss Annie I'd be happy to help. I'll be there shortly if you are still in need."

And in that moment, though I had a pukey baby, and my hair was a mess and my face hadn't been washed and my teeth weren't brushed and I was wearing my husband's oversized Redskins t-shirt, I felt like the most blessed woman on the entire earth!

Randy showed up 15 minutes later with a 6 pack of Seagram's Ginger Ale and a box of saltine's and it was all I could do not to hug the life out of him.

But I refrained...ya know, cuz of the whole unbrushed teeth, unwashed face, pukey baby thing.

Have I mentioned how much I love my neighbors? Well, I do.

They make my life so blessed.

House Guest

We have a special guest at our house this week.

We love having her. Although, I'm not sure she's loving being here quite as much as we love having her here...

Still, it's good for her.

And good for us.

This, is Morgan.

Morgan is my brother's family's dog.

We have her for a few weeks while my brother is in training and my sister-in-law and the kiddos are visiting some friends.

I'm being reminded slowly of the joys and trials that come with dog ownership.

For example, she left me quite the surprise yesterday in my living room floor while I was at church with the girls.

She felt really bad about it as she curled up and cowered as close to the ground as possible as soon as I entered the house. I already knew she was in trouble before I even found the "surprise."

My girls don't quite understand the digestive systems of dogs and therefore proceeded to feed her about 30 mini marshmallows out of their Lucky Charms and I was then up at 4:30 this morning cleaning up dog vomit from the carpet in my bedroom.

Not to mention, up again at 6:30 to let her out to go potty. Poor thing stood at my bedroom door and whimpered frantically until I woke up and ran her down the stairs into the front yard.

She does well with the girls constant pestering. They don't mean to be bothersome, they just love her so and she's resorted to hiding in various places throughout the house.

But she's quite the cuddler and she follows me around like...well, like a puppy.

It's sweet.

This is good practice for us.

Our puppy will be here around Christmas time and Morgan is quickly reminding me of what I'm in for.

And as much as this might deter many a woman,

it only makes me more excited!

Because the joys of dog ownership, most assuredly outweigh the trials...

at least they do in my book ;)