My Best Birthday Gift Ever!

If you are a serious follower of my blog you might enjoy this story!

Today is my birthday. My kids invited us over for Sunday dinner...they all got together and planned it, did all the cooking, cleanup, etc. Believe me, that was a wonderful treat all by itself.
(By the way, when i say kids, i include my niece Kari in the group.)

They seemed especially eager for me to open my presents. I reminded the grandkids that the usual sequence is: dinner, then cake/ice cream, then presents. However, the adult kids said no, that we were going to do things differently this time. I was to open the presents first. I could tell my kids and grandkids were very excited about whatever it was that they had gotten me.

I got a wonderful, cuddly new bathrobe, a beautiful grandmother necklace with all the grandkids' names on it custom made from The Vintage Pearl, a box of chocolates, and a Willow Tree statue of an angel holding a kitten. That was tender for me, after having just given Myron's kittens away about 10 days ago.

I thought the presents were over, when in came a large black plastic tote. "OPEN IT, OPEN IT!!" everyone was saying. I am one who likes to take my time shaking, guessing, etc., but they insisted that i just hurry up and open it. In fact when i acted like i was going to shake it, they all about had a fit. So, i opened it.

What was inside, but one of Myron's kittens, the black striped one that i was so fond of and had been missing so badly. In fact, i had just told my mother this morning that i was going to call the vet tomorrow and see if they had found him a home because i really missed that one. It turns out that my kids knew that i was missing that one and they called the vet and found out that the vet's family had taken it home. The vet's wife, Sandy Francis, when she found out who wanted it and that it would be a surprise for me for my birthday, said we could have it back. What a huge surprise! I admit, it made me cry to see that little face again and know that this time i can really keep him. I had tried so hard not to get attached, before. Now i can and i am!!! The kids video taped it, i guess, and are thinking of putting it on youtube. If they do, i will post a link.

The kids didn't ask Scott, but he is secretly pleased to have him back as well. Sandy said the only condition is that we keep his new name as a middle name. So Rascal Reese as a new, permanent member of the family.

By the way, Myron was so excited...they had not forgotten each other in 10 days time. She has licked and licked and licked him. How sweet!

Thanks, kids. You did it right!!!! I love you all so much!!!!

TEAM KALE

On Saturday, most of the family put on our "TEAM KALE" jerseys and headed to St. Joe for the 2nd annual Austism Awareness Walk. There were snowflakes in the air, and we nearly froze, but we were able to raise and donate several hundred dollars to help with autism awareness.

Kale, the man of the day, had fun jumping in the inflatable jumping cage, throwing bean bags at the targets, and just running around.

We love you Kale, and we pray every day that you will be able to learn and develop and someday be able to talk.

Front: Kaden, Kale, Brylie Back: Kelli, Trey, Taylor, Jake, Nicole, Heather, Kari (Curtis was out of town and Scott was on call and not able to leave Maryville)

Huge thanks to the Bates Family, Patty, and Jenny, for also braving the cold and walking with us. We appreciate it more than you know.

Goodbye Kittens...

After much deliberation and pondering, we decided to give the kittens to the vet, who will find new homes for them. We will miss the entertainment of watching them roll around on the floor, running and jumping all over the place, and mostly seeing them grow and learn.

This decision has not set well with the younger female family members who think we are so mean for not keeping them. However, kittens like to shred draperies, leather furniture, shoes, stratch my bare skin, and we still feel like 2 cats at the house is more than enough.

I cried after i dropped them off at the vet's. It was hard to let them go. Myron has been looking for them ever since. I'm glad she can't talk, or she would be yelling at me too.

The Importance of Walking

Walking can add minutes to your life.
This enables you at 85 years old
to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
home at $7000 per month.

My grandpa started walking
five miles a day when he was 60..
Now he's 97 years old
and we don't know where he is..

I like long walks,
especially when they are taken
by people who annoy me.

I have to walk early in the morning,
before my brain figures out what I'm doing..

I joined a health club last year,
spent about 400 bucks.
Haven't lost a pound.
Apparently you have to go there.

Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise',
I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

I do have flabby thighs,
but fortunately my stomach covers them.

The advantage of exercising every day
is so when you die, they'll say,
'Well, she looks good doesn't she.'

I know I got a lot of exercise
the last few years,......
just getting over the hill.

We all get heavier as we get older,
because there's a lot more information in our heads.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

(thanks to my friend Tammy Ras for this one!)

Hooray Freshman Spoofhounds!

This is a true story and i couldn't be prouder of our freshman football team.

The Maryville Spoofhounds (our team) are in green. Watch the video and then read the newspaper story, and you'll see why our town is SO PROUD!

You'll have to copy and paste these into your browser....sorry. But it's worth it! You might even get tears in your eyes. I did!

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylwXOxKb7I
KC Star newspaper story: http://www.kansascity.com/703/story/1452971-p1.html

Does Lola have 9 lives?

Daughter Heather found our cat Lola dead on the street today. Lola was about 2 1/2 blocks away from our house (i always wondered how far our cats roam at night). Anyway, this morning Lola who is normally kinda skittish, let me pick her up and scratch her back, which she loved, and she purred and purred. I fed her outside on the front porch as usual, and that was the last i saw of her.

Heather called this evening and said she had seen a dead cat on Munn, and sent me a picture mail of it because she thought it looked like our cat. We went to see, and sure enough, it was our little Lola.

Lola was Scott's favorite cat. He rescued her from the bottom of a 6ft pipe at the farm when she was a small kitten. She lived inside our house until the recent incident with Myron and the kittens. (see previous posts about that story!)

She got the name Lola from Kaden, our granddaughter, who was learning how to write letters at the time, and accidentally spelled LOLA one day, and the name stuck. Our Lola-kitty was definitely a diva. It was the perfect name for her.

Today is Sept 14. It was almost exactly 2 years ago that we found her. Our beloved dog Shelby passed away on Sept 13, 5 years ago. I hope they meet each other in heaven and remember us fondly to each other.

I will be curious to see if Lola shows up in the morning for her breakfast as usual, or whether she already spent all nine lives.

Lola as a kitten:

Honey Bears

A quick picture of some of my bears filled with honey! Didn't get our professional labels yet but nevertheless...look how cute!

Above is my rough draft for our labels.