Thursday, December 25, 2008

Aloha and Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas family and friends! Wow, there are really no words to say how spectacular Hawaii is! We have been here for 3 days now and have seen some spectacular sights. Last night, for Christmas Eve, we attended a Luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The dinner was nice and the show was great. It was a nice way to spend Christmas Eve together.
We've been to the beach every day, at least for a little while. Unfortunately our first day at the beach while Amber was body surfing, she got caught by a fierce wave and it flipped her over and she re-injured her neck. She managed to find a Chiropractor who was open yesterday morning and got an adjustment but she's still in pain and not able to do all the things she wants to. Hopefully today with a little rest she will get better.
It's so nice having the whole family together again. I hear we are missing the snowy, cold weather back home but let me tell you, we don't miss it at all!!
Aloha and Mele Kalikimaka (that means goodbye/hello and Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happy First Day of Winter

We really got dumped on! I bet we had a foot of snow on Friday and here are my poor guys digging us out of it so we could get the cars out of the driveway. The roads were still pretty snow-covered that evening when we had to go bowling. It takes a while to get a foot of snow off the roads. The good thing was I had a snow day because of the snow so that was nice. Howard stayed home too as his boss told everyone to take their laptops home because if school was closed they could work from home. Yesterday we just worked on getting packed and trying to finish up last minute things because it looks like we might have to leave for the airport this afternoon, get a hotel close to the airport so that we can leave on time Monday morning (if the planes are leaving on time) because we are getting more snow tonight. It might be a difficult drive at 2:30 a.m., more difficult than at 4:00 p.m. We'll see how it goes. We just don't want to miss our plane! Hundreds of flights were cancelled Friday night but we aren't getting that much snow tonight so I don't thinnk we will have the same problems. It is supposed to be really cold though with a high of only 19 on Monday. Good thing we are heading for warmer climates!! Look at our little house! Sometimes I really wonder why we live here. It's so nasty and cold during the winter. Even the animals struggle. The poor birds were all huddled up while the snow was coming down. It was a good thing I filled the feeders the day before because they really were flocking around it yesterday during the storm. The pups were enjoying it though, at least Charlie. It was a little deep for Zoe. She was hopping around like a bunny. And while some of you might find this next part annoying, I found it very entertaining, though a bit loud! I was just trying to get their heads twisting but they really got into it and took over!!


This will probably be my last post for a while, unless "someone" lets me use their laptop while we are away.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas and a healthy, Happy New Year too!
We'll be at the beach!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

So Far, So Good...

The good news is that Charlie seems to be ok. After getting the results of the bloodwork, the Vet feels that Charlie's organs are ok, no parasites and the only test where the results haven't come back yet are the urine test which we should get tomorrow. The Vet said to keep him on a bland diet for another couple days, keep giving him Prilosec (for the stomach upset) and in a few days I can add back the commercial dog food, a small amount, and he should be fine!



As for Zoe, the Vet said she should come in for a dental check-up when we get back as her teeth could get infected. They will probably have to be removed at some point. I'm sure that won't be cheap so hopefully we can wait for a little while. She doesn't seem to be bothered by them right now so we'll just see how it goes.


Tonight's after-work work party was fun. It didn't last long and I was home before 6:00. Right after I got home the snow started coming down. They are predicting 3-5 inches for tonight. Girls at work were hoping for a Snow Day but I doubt that will happen. It seems when you think there will be a Snow Day they don't come and when you least expect them, they do! We had about an inch last time I checked!

Only 3 more days of school. The kids are NUTS!

6 days and counting!!!

Monday, December 15, 2008

7 Days and Counting...

Wow, just 7 days, one short week from today, and we'll be on our way to Hawaii! It seems impossible to imagine right now. It's 17 degrees here tonight. This morning (and last night) it was in the high 40's. I was actually hot in my flannel pajamas last night! Even when I left for work this morning I only had to wear a sweatshirt! Then when I came home at lunch I grabbed my heavy coat as the temperature had dropped more than 20 degrees! Most of the snow melted yesterday but the ground is frozen!
In other news, I've had some disturbing news about the pups. First Charlie was sick this weekend. He threw up Saturday and Sunday nights and hasn't had much of an appetite. Luckily I was taking him to the vet today for his yearly check-up anyway. Instead of that though the vet wanted to run some blood tests, check his stool and urine. He wants to rule out kidney and pancreas problems. I'm hoping and praying it's all my fault for changing his diet to try to fatten him up. The vet wanted me to put him on Prilosec (an antacid) and an anti-nausea pill. He's still running around playing and stuff so hopefully the test will all come back ok and his problems won't be serious.

Also this weekend I just happened to lift up Zoe's lip and discovered this!

How my little baby broke off two of her teeth (!) I don't know! They are pretty much broken down to the gum line. The vet suggested I get her in when we get back as they might have to be pulled or they could get infected! Of all the times to have these problems, a week before we leave for Hawaii! I will be leaving my favorite pup/house sitter permission/directions what to do if things get worse, so don't worry!

The rest of the weekend was spent baking these beauties.

I wasn't going to participate in the cookie exchange this year but then 4 of us decided we really liked each other's cookies and we would have a mini-exchange instead. I still had to bake two batches in order to get 3 dozen of these big cookies and then spend time icing them so I worked on them for about 8 hours while also making dog food and making dinner! Talk about your multi-tasking! So in exchange for these cookies I got a dozen peanut butter kisses (the ones with the Hershey kisses in them) and a dozen Buck-Eyes and some type of bar cookies that's just ok. I should have stuck with my first instinct and just passed on the exchange altogether!

Tomorrow night is our LRC party at a local sports bar. I will go for a little while but don't plan to stay long. Things will be crazy at school this week. The kids are already super hyped up, naturally. Thursday afternoon is the classroom parties and then Friday afternoon we will have our all-school sing-a-long. Then we will be out of that place for 2 weeks!! yeeeehawwwwww!!

You might have heard that Hawaii has had some terrible weather the past week or so. Something called a "Kona" has swept through there bring almost 12 inches of rain, flooding, etc. According to their weather reports it's supposed to clear up in the next couple days and be in the 80's when we are there next week! Next week!! I can't believe it's NEXT WEEK!!! That's so close!! Can you tell I'm excited? Not only is it wonderful to be going to some place like Hawaii, it's also going to be wonderful to see Tyler (who we haven't seen in almost a year) and spend time with Amber and Andy who we haven't seen (and that was only for a day) since September. Plus spending some quality time with Scott, who won't be attached to his computer 24/7 will be nice too!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

It's Still Fall, Really It Is...

But you would never know it from the weather we've had this past week and weekend. We hadn't seen the sun in days and even though it was under 20 degrees for a high today, we finally saw the sun! Obviously it was freezing but seeing the sun makes it feel, if only in the mind, so much warmer! These pictures were taken yesterday when it was snowy and oh so cold! And this is what things look like when the sun finally comes back out! These are also the first pictures that I took with my brand new camera!! That's right, it arrived last week. My old camera (which I loved dearly and hated to part with) just wasn't working right and I wanted to be sure we had a good camera to capture all those Christmas memories we are about to make, so I got us a new camera. So far it's pretty nice. It has some tricks that my old one didn't. This trick I find particularly amazing. Notice this picture of Howard, quite serious. Then you just view the picture in the "smile" setting and it automatically makes the person appear to be smiling! Amazing! I'm still learning but I snapped a few good pictures. Of course this blog wouldn't be complete without some pup pics. It was so cold this weekend that once when Zoe went outside to do her business, she just layed down. Her feet were so cold she didn't want to walk. Most of the time they were inside, doing this. Charlie was watching squirrels. So was Zoe. We bowled Friday night and even though we only had 3 bowlers, we took 3 points, 2 games and totals. It felt good! On Saturday, since the weather was so nasty, I spent the day working on the annual Christmas letter and then getting the Christmas cards ready to go. I also did a little internet shopping for the few, and I mean very few, gifts we are actually buying this year. I have to say, it feels good not to worry about decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking, etc.! It's very liberating and so stress free! I had thought I might put up one of our smaller trees but now I'm thinking I won't. Why bother really? No one is going to see it except us so why go through the hassle? The only real shopping I have had to go out and do, I did today. I have talked 3 other girls at work into going in on a gift with me for a needy family at school. The Mom of the family really wanted a vacuum cleaner and even said she would forgo all her other gifts if she could just get a vacuum. I admire someone who wants to have a clean house so we bought her a beautiful Bissell vacuum. Not only was it on sale, I also had a 15% off coupon! Only two more weeks of work until Christmas vacation. The time has really flown by! Here's a fun little movie for your viewing enjoyment (it's only 2 minutes long, and cute!)