5 minutes or less...

In college, I took an athletic training class - the main thing I remember learning is how to tape ankles, knees, wrists, etc. I'm sure there was more to it, but it wasn't as fun as taping up my classmates! For the final, I had to be able to tape an ankle in 5 minutes or less, and Dave and I have joked about that many times over the years. I never thought I'd need that knowledge, and I have considered it a useless skill of mine ... until Saturday. Erica sprained her ankle last week and wanted to play in her soccer game even though it was a bit sore, so I brought out that piece of "useless" info, and did this:
It doesn't look very pretty, but this is what it looked like after the game. I doubt it was done in 5 minutes, and I'm pretty sure I used too much tape, but Erica said it felt great and wants me to do it for her again!

Our Ballerina

It's official - we have a ballerina in our house again! Jenna just started ballet a few weeks ago, and is really enjoying it. We love watching her and the other little girls - it is so cute to watch them try to move the way their teacher does! It seems like just yesterday it was Erica that I was watching - how time flies!!

Hokie Football

Dave and I try to spend one on one time with each of the kids as often as we can. A few months ago, Dave asked Liam what he wanted to do on their next "date" - Liam usually asks for ice cream, or a trip to the soccer field to kick the ball around, so that's what Dave was expecting. To his great surprise, Liam asked to go to a Hokie football game - and Dave was all too happy to oblige. After 5 years of living far away, he was thrilled to get to go to a game again - and to share it with his son. No one else wanted to go (except me!), so Dave and LJ went to the game, and I hung out with the other kids on the Tech campus. It was so much fun to be back there, and to see how much Blacksburg has grown! We had a chance to tailgate with my best buddy from junior high/high school/ college - and I enjoyed outfitting my crew with new Hokie shirts.:-) Liam LOVED the game - he said he wants to be a Hokie football player when he grows up!!

Sweet dreams...

I woke up at 4:15 this morning to the sound of Jenna yelling my name. It sounded like an emergency, so I jumped out of bed, stepped on the dog, and stumbled to her room ... expecting to find something wrong. When I got to her bed, she looked fine, she sounded fine, and she said she felt fine. So I asked her, "Why did you call Mommy?" She said, "I want another cookie!" I mumbled something like "I'll make cookies tomorrow", to which she said, "I just had one now and I want another one." I told her OK, that I loved her and that she needed to go back to sleep - which she promptly did. Eating cookies in your sleep ... that brings new meaning to the term "sweet dreams"!

Farewell, sweet B.J.!

It has taken me a few days to summons up the courage, but the time has come for me to post about sweet B.J. On Monday, we took him to the vet and found out that he had a large mass on his spleen; by Tuesday, we knew that it was cancer that had spread to his heart and lungs. We had prayed for God to make it very obvious to us what we should do, and we are thankful for the very clear (but very sad) answer He gave us - the vet said he was suffering and suggested that we put him to sleep. Our hearts were broken, but we loved that big guy and knew we couldn't let him suffer, so we said our good byes and have become a family with just one pup.

While I still have tears in my eyes thinking about it, we are starting to be able to laugh about some of his antics. We still wonder how a dog that weighed 100+ pounds could squeeze under a chain-link fence - he never dug a hole, just squeezed right under when he wanted to visit a friend or go swimming in the pond. We still laugh that while he could barely go up and down stairs, he could still climb up and get food off the kitchen table. I smile thinking of all the times he went swimming, and how Kadie would climb on his back when she got tired. How when he got lost in the woods he'd just run faster and faster - usually in the wrong direction. When he drank, more water dripped on the floor than landed in his mouth. And we'll always laugh when we remember him falling in the toilet as a puppy!

B.J. (aka Bubba) lived for 2 things - food and attention! He was a sweet, gentle giant - a real companion to Dave, me and the kids (and Papa). It is with sad hearts that we wish B.J. farewell ... but we feel very blessed to have had 12 1/2 years of his companionship!

Nags Head Family Vacation 2008

Whether it was attacking Pop, painting Aunt Tirzah's finger nails, swimming, or simply looking beautiful, everybody had a great time at Nags Head.

The Deck is Finished!