apache

our 12 1/2 year old best friend, apache, was diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma at the beginning of january.

man, what a good looking dog! i got apache in august of 1999, while we were renovating the house in oxford. i wish i had some digital pictures of when he was a puppy. he was the cutest, fattest, furriest little butterball! he was THE man in my life til pat rayner showed up 5 years later! he quickly went from my dog to our dog.

he was a sweet big brother - he and laurel became BEST buds when we moved to colorado.

pat and i agree that 2010 had to be the best year of his adult life. laurel always wanted to be with him.

i often heard her in the backyard belly laughing - with her dog!

he loved the snow!

and all of our adventures. (i love the bottom left photo - apache is keeping lookout while laurel does her business in the woods. ha!)


sweet boy.

then along came little brother! a family of 5.

always a part of it.

it was a shock to learn how sick he was.

we thought we would have 2 or 3 months to say goodbye. instead, we had 12 days.

i miss you everyday, bud. thanks for loving us so well. we love you!!

january 4th birthday boy

it's gonna be tough having a birthday right after christmas! we'll do better next year, buddy.

happiest baby ever. can't believe he's already a year old!

homemade party hats and daddy's pancakes. pretty good celebration if you ask me!

sweet big sister

freddy got a chair just like laurel's. now she has to teach him how to get out of it safely. he likes to just dive out of it. i remember laurel doing the same thing!

big boy at his doctor appointment that morning. i'm so very thankful for this precious, happy, HEALTHY, wonderful little one year old!!!

happy new year!

we went to keystone with pops and abbi. what a blast - thank you mom and dad!!!

can you tell how much laurel likes her new helmet and ski boots?

freddy had lots of abbi-dates, and laurel got some good pops-dates. check out Belle hitching a ride in pops' pocket. so funny.

p and i got to ski together all day!

we loved hanging out (mostly eating) in the condo

pops went with us to A-basin and got to watch laurel ski!


look at her go!

we celebrate new years eve at lunch on top of the mountain. so cool!
thanks again pops and abbi. come back soon!!!

joy to the world!

we got some snow the week before Christmas.

this little guy loves to watch it! how cute are those carharts?!? thanks, kissy!

buddy and kissy got into town on Christmas eve eve. we love having our grands here!

we had an incredible new orleans breakfast on Christmas eve. eggs hussard. absolutely worth the work (and calories). delicious!!!

kissy helped laurel make some Christmas cookies :-)

this big boy always just goes with the flow

after the Christmas eve service at church, laurel got to open one present from kissy. and then proceeded to wear it for the next 3 days. i think she likes it, kissy!

she also got a special grand to grand princess necklace from kissy. so sweet. i love the kissy hug and i love her showing her daddy her new necklace. :-)

the night before Christmas -- all set!


no, they weren't trick candles. we just haven't mastered that skill yet...


freddy's feet!


she doesn't quite know what to do with herself!

super excited about her helmet and the Lion King dvd...

thanks for the matching pjs, B! they were perfect.

the fredster. so many new toys (and mama's new mixing bowls) to play with!

all boy

family shot

she's blurry in the picture on the right bc she's jumping up and down. that's what she does when she gets excited. like a jack russell terrier. i love it!


note the jumping...

in princess heaven

abbi and pops flew in that day. yay!! yes we realize it is a blessing that are parents love to hang out and that we actually want them all here at once. the only problem is that it's never long enough! we had another outstanding meal that night - pot roast, mashed potatoes, creamed collard greens, cornbread, and dark chocolate caramel sea salt tart for dessert. YUM!!

pops got a tour of the castle, with his martini :-)


our cups runneth over. what a very merry Christmas. thank you, Jesus.

parties

the kids and i got to go to the Christmas party at pat's office

some of our friends were there!

a jolly old man even showed up. freddy wanted no part of him.

a family photo!

then we had a party at our house for the ladies in my bible study.

and their husbands...

and all the kids...
we had a great night. it's the most wonderful time of the year!

some Christmas prep

on the way home from the airport after the trip to mississippi, on facetime with grandparents, sharing her highlights magazine with little brother, into the toy box, and happy happy boy!

laurel's preschool Christmas program was awesome. and by awesome i mean entertaining ;-) listen closely - i think we may have a performer on our hands... (p.s. i forgot the video camera that morning, so these are taken with my canon. not the greatest quality, but you get the gist.)



a bunch of gifts from GOD to us



mary did HAVE a baby BOY



there was a cow



Jesus is God's promise of peace



Jesus loves us, we will jingle for joy!

laurel's good friend, marley, and her mom christine

happy birthday to Jesus! laurel was the "line leader" that day, so she got to blow out the candle

thank you, B, for the outfit!