Another family moves away

In the past year, it seems as if we've had so many close friends and family move away. We spent this past Sunday saying goodbye to yet another family. Chad's older sister and her family are moving out of state later in the week. We will miss them, but sure are glad the kids got some good "cousin play time" in before they left. And little did we know when the evening began that the adults were going to get their fair share of play time too. The adults took turns racing on our plasma car and it got quite competitive! 

We also took some time to celebrate Grandpa's upcoming birthday. Grandpa's four children and six grandchildren are all pictured here. 

Preparing to say goodbye

After spending the better part of two weeks gravely ill, it is becoming more apparent that we need to say our "goodbyes" and our "we'll miss you"s to our Kitten. Kitten wasn't looking too good at the start of last week and so I felt like I needed to take him to the vet. He had had diarrhea for a few days, became lethargic, and seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight. When I took him in, the vet said he was very dehydrated, underweight, severely anemic and had the body of a 14 year old cat. Being that Kitten is only 13 months old, this wasn't a good sign.  The vet also felt a large mass in his stomach. I can't remember if I was surprised by all the findings, but needless to say the vet saw only a small chance for recovery. I loaded up on prescriptions for the cat and wondered how I was going to get all these pills down a cat's throat by myself. Chad was out of town and would be for the next two weeks. 

I ended up making three trips to the vet over the course of a week and emptied the wallet about as much as I can allow for a pet. Anyway, after all this, the vet seems to think Kitten has two things wrong with him. One being a foreign object in his gut. I can't imagine what the cat got into, but despite our best efforts, it doesn't seem to want to come out. The other problem is some type of blood parasite. It's unclear when the cat became infected, but this is what's causing the severe anemia. Even with all the medication, special food and some extra TLC, little Kitten is just not getting better. He stopped eating and drinking two days ago so it's just a matter of time now. Through it all I was most worried about how Sarah and our other cat, Patti would react. Both seem surprisingly unaffected though. I spoke with Sarah this morning about the possibility of her beloved Kitten passing away. She turned to me and said, "It's okay if Kitten dies. We'll just go and buy a new cat!" Kitten has also been such a good companion for our other cat, Patti. I thought Patti would sense that Kitten was sick and want to stay by him throughout it all. Instead she obsessively paces by the food dish waiting for the wet prescription food that's meant for Kitten. This could mean one of two things. Either Patti's appetite is bigger than her heart or she does what all other women do when they're feeling sad or stressed.........she eats!  

Drooping ears due to dehydration and malnutrition

I Spy .... a great bargain!

I spy a zebra,

A fish that's a clown.

A green swimming frog

and a mermaid upside down.

I spy a lion,

A long lost shoe.

A pair of goggles for your face

And a duckie just for you!

Sorry for the lame poem, but this picture reminded me so much of an I Spy book my children had as toddlers. What's pictured here is just about a third of my newest loot of pool toys. However, before I could get my hands on these I had to face this ...

That's right people. I am now apparently what they call a "dumpster diver". I think this may be the lowest I've ever sunk to get something cheap. I'll go back and explain. A few weeks ago I got tipped off about our pool throwing away everything in its Lost and Found bin. I had seen this bin. It was overflowing with stuff. And some really nice stuff too! Since we seem to lose so many of our own pool toys, I could stand to pick up a few more items. I inquired a bit about when those things had been thrown in the dumpster and found out they had been tossed only the day before. That meant the trash bag of toys should have been right there at the opening right? Later that evening I had Chad drive me back over to the dumpster so I could start my "diving". I wasn't sure what I was about to get into, but now that everything is said and done (and clean), it was totally worth it. I estimate I collected about 75 to 100 dollars worth of stuff. I soaked everything in bleach and now we have a mountain of new pool toys that we can lose all over again. I guarantee it won't take long!

Capturing the moment

Sarah Meredith comes up to me and wants to put on this costume dress. She wants to be Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. She wants desperately to have a real Aurora dress, but decides this will do because it's pink. I love this dress! I have visions of taking her picture in it while she twirls around in front of a dark gray backdrop. Knowing by the time I get around to doing that she will have outgrown the dress, I decide to grab my camera and capture the moment while it's happening. Bangs in her face. Hair that hasn't been brushed in days. Still wearing pajamas at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Yes, this is my true daughter.

Sit back and relax

It turns out a big ol' garden tub is the perfect place to catch up on a good book. What? Where do you all read? In bed? 

Our Fourth

Yesterday was July 4th. No fireworks for us, but we did manage to get down to my parents for some hot dogs, hamburgers, and vintage toy play! My kids always ask to play with "the house" when visiting Grammie and Papa's. It's the Fisher Price Little People house from late 70's/early 80's ish. Remember the bright blue house with the yellow roof? Although probably not safer, I do think think this era of Little People toys are so much better than the big, chunky plastic ones of today.

I think this "Little Snoopy" pull toy is probably for a toddler, but it kept Layton entertained for a few moments.

As children, I can remember my sister and I playing Barbie for hours. These particular ones were before my time, but it was still fun to remember.   

An outfit for Skipper. I think this one was dated 1963. We love the detail!

Skipper!

It was so strange to see something that wasn't made in China.

This could have been Barbie's Fourth of July outfit!

My mom couldn't remember who Francie was, but evidently she had her own faux leather jacket with fur trim.

Anyone up for lunch with Barbie and Midge?