Ho Ho Hum

I am having a hard time getting into the whole Holiday thing. Only four days left to find it! Maybe, as soon as the presents are wrapped and I have marked off the last to do on my list...

In the meantime, I will back track and maybe find some...

Here is the start of the Holidays, otherwise known as Thanksgiving. We spent a very quite evening with my sister and my niece and nephew. If you look closely, you may even see a glimpse of the otherwise, elusive and rarely photographed...me! (between my niece/nephew).

The following day was our traditional outing to the Christmas Parade with a stop at Spaghetti Warehouse. It just happened to be the coldest day, yet of the season.

The gang is bundled up and having fun (not sure why it is yellow?)

Here is our attempt at a holiday portrait prior to the kid's singing in the choir at church.

Some people strive to post the oh-ah pics of their kids on their blogs.

Instead this is what I get trying to get a portrait, as a photographing Queen...

We did not quite hit the Christmas card mark, we were aiming for!

In fact, this is as close to a Christmas card as we are going to get! Joy, Peace and Love All!

While the boys spent the weekend with a friend, mom snuck out and carefully raided the aisles of Toys R Us, Walmart, and all in search of the last parcels of loot.

Dad in the meantime took our Snow Princess to see a very, very tall tree, and a glimpse of the big man and the misses!

((Go ahead you may ohh and aww over the cuteness!))

Finally, I was informed yesterday when the boys returned from the weekend that Nikolai had the nerve to tell me that Santa is not REAL! Excuse me? Did I hear right?

To that I answered, wellI guess then you won't get the things you asked the Big Guy for because Dad and I don't know what they were!

Which in turn, he started to chant..."I believe, I believe, I believe..." You better young man, or at least, until I decide when I retire as Ms. Claus!

Skye

Sunday was not a good day for my dog Skye. Our old rescued dog that doesn’t like strangers, has been to a dog psychologist and is a hard-working Border Collie. We think she is 12 but we are not for sure.

On Saturday, she had gone for a walk and was her old annoying self- barking at any perceived threat, jumping on the table in hopes of grabbing the kid’s food, stealing “treats”, scratching at the carpet, etc…

Then on Sunday, she seemed a bit lethargic. Limping a little the way she does when her old hips hurt. So, Larry took Stormy for a walk and Skye stayed behind with me.
Suddenly, she went right down hill. She vomited, walked into the furniture, got completely confused, fell over and her eyes started to twitch.

I held her and cried and called out for anyone to help (like the kids) but everyone was outside. Finally, Larry showed up and I said she needs to go to the Emergency Vet right now! So he carried her to the car, I cried and said good-bye thinking this was the end.

Then he called and said he was bringing her home and she had a degenerative vestibular disease and yes it can come on that fast. The last few days have passed and she has slowly getting better. Her head tilts to the left and she doesn’t like to stand, but she is alive and even oversees Stormy’s behavior with the occasional bark and growl.

Now, only time will tell what her future holds; and if she can improve enough to lead an old dog’s slow life.

Three Favorite Words

Oksana loves learning how to spell.

Lately, she has a new favorite.

She loves to spell- I LOVE YOU!

What could be better than hearing: Mommy guess what? I L-o-v-e Y-o-u!

What is THAT?

So Nik and Oksana were chasing each other, falling on the ground and wrestling, yesterday in the backyard.

Yes, we have two dogs so it is not uncommon for the occassional run-in with some doggie doo doo on a shoe.

They came running inside and Nik ran into the wall. I looked at the wall and saw something that should not be there!
I said what is that?
Then, I said turn around...and yes it was just like I thought- Dog doo doo in his hair! GROSS!

So I told him, NOW we can officially call him a "poopyhead" when he gets pouty!

December 15

Nineteen years ago, on this date, Larry and I got married. We were so young!

Nine years ago, on this date, we arrived on US soil with our first son- Vitaly. I remember crying, as I heard Christmas music and English! What an amazing ten year anniversary present!

One year ago tomorrow, Larry had his heart attack but is thankfully, now healthy.

Tonight we will celebrate the milestones of love, family and the gift of life, that seem to occur on December 15th.

Phase One...

Phase One: Becoming a pre-teen, a trip to the Orthodontist

Vitaly was referred to the Orthodontist by our Dentist for a severe overbite.

Now,he needs a spacer to do this and that to his bite, for about nine months.

Total cost for such an appliance such as this:

that goes in the roof of your mouth.....

a little over $3500!

And that doesn't even cover the costs of the braces to follow. (don't even want to know what they will cost, but 5K seems @ average)

YIKES!

Then the Orthodontist looked around at my other two cuties, checked their teeth and agreed they too would be seeing him in the future. Big sigh.

Oh and looking at supplemental insurance plans to our own plan, they do not help when it comes to the Orthodontist.

Luckily for Vitaly it came in many colors, glitters and swirls. His pick...

Orange and Black.

The same colors as his two favorite football teams: His Black Attack team and the Bengals