Sweet Summertime

There's something about a clear blue sky, and a bright beaming sun, that makes it impossible to just sit inside and watch the day go by. Everything is green, my flowers are planted and blooming, and at ten o'clock at night, then sun is just setting. If I haven't said it before, I love Alaskan summers.

The temperatures have climbed to the mid 80's everyday this week. But between sticky melting popsicles, the cool murky river, and a sprinkler that rains ice cold water over our heads, we have managed to enjoy every minute of it.

And I'm looking forward to hopefully taking the canoe out next week, since Justin has to work all weekend. That is one of my favorite summer pastimes, spending a few hours on the river, my shoulders turning a nice golden brown, letting my cares just float away.

I've been avoiding my weekly tasks that take away from my outdoor time, and so far my shopping list for the week only reads:

More popsicles

Maybe this means that Justin will go do the shopping for me? =) I can dream, right!?

Unexpected Love

Sometimes fate knows just what to drop in your lap to heal your heart...

Justin and I said we wouldn't get another dog until next summer, but we knew we wanted a playmate for Macie. We also weren't sure if we could do another Great Dane since Maggie broke our hearts and this can be typical of the breed. But yesterday, fate decided to intervene.

In our small town it is rare to see Great Danes, even more rare is it to see them for sale, or needing homes. While Saturday night I was browsing craigslist and happened to see a lady that had a puppy that needed to be rehomed due to an unexpected surgery that she needed to have and not being able to take care of her....and it just so happened to be an 8 week old Great Dane puppy.

She said there was a "rehoming fee" but didn't specify. Out of sheer curiosity I emailed her to ask what the fee was. Let's just say that it was way more then Justin and I could think about spending right now on a new dog. So I was honest and told her so. She asked me a few more questions, and we wrote several emails back and forth. She said she had quite a few people interested in here but mainly due to the allure of the breed and no home seemed right so far, yet after talking to me, ours did.

She offered to meet us, so we could see her and see how she did with Wyatt and Macie. Justin and I talked things over, but still we couldn't justify paying that, even though we had paid it for Maggie, we just have more on our plate right now. So once again I told her this, and she said she wanted her to be with us, it felt right, for us to be her forever home, and said if we could pay X(which was a very small fraction of the original price), since she had put a lot into her, that she could be ours and she would give us all of her food, toys, ect.

I felt a little guilty as we drove over to do the meet and greet, like I was letting Maggie down, and it has been such a short time since we lost her. But this just seemed to be fate, and I have a feeling that Maggie had something to do with it.

So without further ado, I present to you the newest member of our family, Lucy.

She is 8 weeks old and full of fire and love.

Heaven Is A Truck

Saturday started out with a petting zoo and pony rides, since naturally, that's how a Saturday should start. Wyatt has a natural affinity for animals, he has the gentlest touch, yet a voice full of excitement when he is near them. I love watching the curiosity in his eyes in new situations. He walked slowly towards the roosters and ducks, then crouched down so he was eye level with them, and gave a nice little wave, to him, they are friends. After saying hello to each of the animals in that stall, and giving the bunnies some cuddles, he greeted one of his favorite animals, the goats.

He entered the stall and stuck his little pointer finger straight out, turned to me with a giant smile and said "goats! baaaaa!" Each goat received a hug and a few pats on the back. I'm pretty sure I could have left him there and he wouldn't have noticed. On the way out he decided to take something with him, in the form of some goat poop on his shoe. Even though I cleaned it off, the rest of the time we were out he kept checking his shoe and asking me about it!

Then it was time for Truck Touch! I had been waiting for this all week and was looking forward to Wyatt's reaction. A perk of being a parent that I love is seeing how the simplest of things can be so fun and entertaining. I think I can confidentially say that today was one of the most exciting days of Wyatt's life! At least that's how it came across on his face and by his reaction to all of the cars and trucks.

He ran full force, then stopped in his tracks when he saw the police cars, and better yet, he could actually climb in and drive and push as many buttons as he wanted to!! Heaven!! Police cars, city bus, fire truck, ambulance, helicopter, the excitement just kept coming and coming. He was so well behaved too, holding my hand, and waiting in line, and not getting upset when three older kids cut in front of him in the helicopter line that he had been so patiently waiting in.

I wish Justin could have been there to see Wyatt today, his happiness was contagious. The sun was beating down on us with no shade in sight, and he was still certain that there was poop somewhere on his shoe, but nothing could put a damper on his happiness today.

We stopped off on the way home at the Farmer's Market to pick up a homemade cinnamon roll for Daddy to take to work, since he is working night shifts right now and had to miss the fun, then home again home again, where Wyatt took a three hour nap. Happiness for Mama!

I love summer Saturday's, packed full to the brim, followed by wonderfully mellow summer Sunday's to recuperate.

And Then, Life Goes On...

It's been awfully quiet around here lately without our big doggy, and at times my eyes still feel with tears, but luckily I have had some busy summer days lately to keep my mind off of it.

Macie definitely moped around a bit, yet she seems to have found a new cuddle buddy...

I'm done with school for the semester, which is a huge sigh of relief. It's funny how fall semester is always so easy for me to get through, and I stay focused. Yet spring semester seems to drag and I always find my mind in other places besides in my books. So yet another semester down, 5 million to go.

No school means long warm days for Wyatt and I. Yet so far we have found plenty of things to occupy our time. We have spent hours upon hours playing outside, letting the sun beat down on our pale Alaskan skin. We've taken long walks in the evening, and seen plenty of action at the park as well.

Today it was 70 degrees by 10am, so we spent the morning relaxing on the back deck, followed by getting nice and dirty planting my flowers. And now my feet are stained with the summer dirt, and Wyatt's hands are perpetually dirty - to me, this is the sure sign of a good time.

And one last picture of Maggie, I love this one, it really shows just how sweet she was =)

Goodbye My Friend

I've sat to write this, and I've stared at the blinking cursor on the empty page, as tears filled my eyes. Yet it is near impossible for me to put into words how I feel.

On Thursday we lost one of our best friends. She was our running partner, our bed warmer, our floor sweeper, our protector, she was a member of our family.

Justin and I got Maggie the summer before we got married. We decided we wanted a Great Dane, and found someone who had a litter. I went to pick one out and she was not the one I wanted. I held all of the other females, yet every time I turned around, there she was sitting at my feet wagging her tail. So finally I picked her up in my arms, and that's where she stayed. She was only 7 weeks old and barely over 6 pounds. It's hard to remember her ever being that small. Yet that small little black and white ball instantly made a big impact on our lives.

She was our baby before Wyatt, and never stopped being our baby. When we first got her, Justin and I were about to move from our apartment, which didn't allow pets, into our current home. So she stayed at my parent's house for the first month. But she was too cute and too sweet to stay away from, and I would wrap up that little puppy like a baby, and sneak her into our apartment day after day, then bring her back to my parent's at night. As she got bigger that swaddled baby started to whimper and squirm, and sometimes even had a little black tail with white tip that would hang out of the end of the blanket, yet no one ever said a word.

Every camping trip, car ride, and walk, she was right by our side. And when we were sitting on the couch and there was only six inches of room left, up she came, squeezed herself in, because after all, despite her size, she was a lapdog.

And the day we brought Wyatt home from the hospital, I knew we had a special dog. He was instantly hers, and she was his

They became best friends. Sharing toys, snacks, and sticks. Wyatt's newest trick was holding on tight to her tail and yelling "go go go!" And Maggie would lumber around the living room, pulling Wyatt, who was giggling with delight, behind her.

She left us so unexpectedly after four very short, but wonderful years of life. I would give just about anything for one more day with her. One more night curled up in bed with her. One more sloppy kiss. One more chance to see her and Wyatt play in the yard, neither of them with a care in the world.

We miss her more then words can begin to say. But we are forever grateful for what she gave to our lives. She was never our dog, and always our baby.

This is from a poem I wrote when I was 12 years old, it seems to fit:

"Nothing can hold you, or help your heart to mend, for nothing can ease the loss of a friend."

We love you Maggie, Rest In Peace.

April 11, 2006 - May 13, 2010

Motherhood

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
- Elizabeth Stone

These words would have not had the same impact on me, just a very short time ago, but the moment I first held my son in my arms, and he fit so perfectly there, wrapped in the crook of my arm, and tears of joy silently slid down my cheeks, I gave a piece of my heart away.



I put that piece of my heart in him, just as every mother has done before me. And it's a piece that can never be returned. No matter where he travels on the road of life, through the hills and valleys, I will be there with him. My heart gave life to his heart, and it's a bond that can be tested and strained, but is in the end, unbreakable.

And as I hold another growing miracle deep within, I am overwhelmed by the feelings of love that are already present, how someone who I have not yet met, already has another piece of my heart. Yet amazingly, my heart feels more whole then it ever has before.



When I was a young girl, I dreamed about the day I would be a Mother. About how I would raise my kids, and what we would do. Simple things, like grocery shopping or picnics at the park, sounded just magical. I dreamed to mother my children, just as my Mom had mothered us. My Mom was an ever constant loving figure in my childhood, and is every bit as much now that I'm grown. She was always there, always busy, and always, making it look so easy to balance four kids, a husband and a household. It's so easy to forget simple things when you are somewhere in the middle of a whirlwind life, yet she never did.



My Mom is my parenting book. My go to resource for all things children related. I am so thankful for her, and for everything she has done for me. She set the tone of motherhood for me, that it wasn't a job, yet a gift. And even though it has far more responsibilities and demands than a 9-5 job, it is far more rewarding, and the pay is a lifetime of love in return...

..Love that no money can buy, but the love that is returned to you, when you give your heart away to your children.

Happy Mother's Day

Cartoon Character Eyes

I've always been told that I have big round cartoon character-ish eyes...looks like someone else inherited that trait: