Sad Day!

Before Kylie, Ally and the kids, we found Kopa. I was house and dog sitting and we took the dog on a walk to Kopachuck state park. We heard the loud obnoxious meowing from the bushes and when we looked it a skinny little kitty about 5 months old can out to greet us. She obviously did not have a home but after taking her home we watched for signs and news that someone was looking for a lost kitty. She became our first child and even though she did things that tried our patience we loved her. Scott and Kopa had a very special relationship and she loved him very much. Most people never got to see her and we knew she was getting sick when she let the kids actually pet her without freaking out.

This is a picture of Kopa and Kylie about 2 hours before she finally went to kitty heaven. Kylie knew something wasn't quite right and went to lay with her pal. It was quite sweet. Kopa couldn't move very well but Kylie's paw in her face didn't last long.

This was about a week before she passed. She was snuggling with Scott and allowed the kids to come over and pet her. I think they were able to pet her more in the 2 1/2 weeks before she died then they were during the time they knew her. We have her buried in our back yard so we can visit her when we want to!

Too Funny!

This is one for the girlfriend!!! This was how we found him after riding his scooter!

Basketball

Emma's first run at basketball has been a great learning experience. As you can see from the picture, Scott is the coach but not by choice as there wasn't anyone stepping up to coach the team. We are a pretty scrappy team and the kids have a lot of fun playing, which is obvious as most of them smile the entire game. We have lost one game so far but have played all really well! Emma is doing great and seems to be having fun (although I don't think it's her passion =))

Scooters from Santa

Santa brought the kids scooters this year. Owen's was stolen off our front porch last fall and, while Emma has a bike with no training wheels she doesn't have the strength or the balance to hold it up, so she got a scooter also. She loves this scooter and while she fell a couple times she loved racing Owen and so did he; he's quite quick with his.

Kylie the Wonder Dog!

Even though she is almost 10, has an arthritic hip and a titanium hip she is quite the playful do still. She loves this toy, which Santa brought and shortly after this great display of athleticism she was so mad at the Piggy she ripped out his insides! It is fun to watch her play since we had to go through so much to get her back to where she is now.

Brownies!

This is Emma's Brownie troop. It is our first year with the Girl Scouts and it is making life a little crazy but Emma is enjoying it. She is working hard right now trying to sell cookies for her troop so that they can do something fun like horse back riding camp or Great Wolf Lodge at the end of the year. She made cookies, seen below, and was very proud of them (I wished we had made a couple extra because they were quite tasty!).

This picture was taken at the Cookie Rally which they nicely scheduled for a Friday even so everyone was on their A game and not snotty or anything...can you sense my sarcasm? They learned a lot about the cookies and had fun making crafts so I guess it was worth it!

Happy New Year!

While we didn't actually bring in the New Year, we celebrated the end of a crazy year the way we do every New Year's Eve. We each picked an appetizer and watched a the last Shrek, which was really fun and we went an did poppers outside around 8. It's an early night but a fun tradition and it keeps us safe from all those crazy drivers! We wish you all a very great New Year with lots of safe and fun adventures!