Goodbye Butch

Today we have to put our cat, Butch, to rest.

He has been steadily loosing weight for a few weeks, his eyes are cloudy, he has been listless, recently he has been drooling a lot and after finding blood in the drool last week, we noticed a large lump under his jaw.  After a visit to the vet we discover that he has a Salivary Mucocele.  The doctor said he would need surgery, but after a family meeting we all agreed that it wasn't in his best interest to put him through that. There is no need to prolong his suffering and put him through all the trauma of the surgery when we all -- including our vet -- know that he doesn't have much longer with us.

Butch has been a part of our family for 16 years!  He and Kitty are older than the kids on my brother's soccer team!!  These cats have lived in 3 countries, 4 states and 15 homes.  They have traveled from the East coast to the West coast and back, all in an RV with 4 people and a bird.  They have flown overseas 3 times.  They have stayed with family while we lived in a country where they could not join us.  They have reluctantly welcomed several other animals into their home, but have always been our family members.  Kitty and Butch are brother and sister from the same litter, and they have never spent more than a few hours apart from each other their entire lives.  Doesn't that blow you mind a bit????  They take care of each other.  They communicate with each other.  They fight.  They are family!  It breaks my heart to think what it will be like for Kitty girl after today.  To no longer have that communication and companionship... after 16 years of knowing nothing different.  She will be taken care of, for sure.  Daddy is determined to give her extra loving and attention so she won't be lonely.  I'm so worried about her flying back to TX with us... she will be all alone in the cargo area.  :(  My poor babies.

So, today at 3:30 p.m. my mom and brother are taking Butch to be put to rest. We are going to have him cremated, bring him home to Texas and bury his ashes with a new plant in the corner of our yard where he would always go hang out.   He loved it out there.

We love you, Butchy, and we will miss you very much. 

A Quick Naptime Update

I'm starting to prepare for our move!  I'm selling and giving away old clothes and toys, separating items we need to send to Texas ASAP (like the awesome zebra print wallpaper for the bathroom cabinets, and adorable vinyl wall art mom and I got for our rooms), and already arranging furniture in my head! Haha!

Today the weather is cloudy and cold... bummer.  I was hoping to take Bobby hiking again today.  At least we have the rest of the week to look forward to!  Tomorrow is our playgroup, Friday is Craft Hour and running around on base, and Saturday is our big photo shoot!!!  Last year a friend of ours gave us a very generous gift certificate to a local photo studio, and we are finally cashing it in!  We have a 2-hour appointment and I'm hoping Bobby is up for the whole thing.  He is going to be the main model and we will get a large family portrait as well.  I'm excited!!!!!

As you can tell, Bobby is subject of maaannnyy photos lately.  Even more so now than when he was smaller... its just so much fun to follow him around and snap picture after picture.  Love it!  Here are some pictures from this week that I've edited with Picnik  (I upgraded to pro, lol!).

Uncle and Papa taught him that!

These crack me up!!  He was having trouble with his Helper Chair, haha!

 Look at those dimples!

 He loooves to play with hats!

 I love the collage feature... I get to show many more pictures with less space! :D

My beautiful boy!!!

Happy Fall, y'all!! :D

More Photo Fun

Yesterday we had a little photo shoot with another mama who is a photographer here.  She set up a little pumpkin patch and had several mini-sessions for kids, and I am so glad we got to do it!  She got pictures of Bobby in his adorable Yoda costume and in cute Fall clothes we got from our cousins, The Snyders.  We had fun during the shoot and I can't wait to get the CD of edited photos!!

After that was done we stuck around to play in the field and on the playgrounds.  Ohmygosh, we had so much fun!  It was a beeaauuutiful day and after a 2-hour nap, Bobby had lots of energy. :)  We really enjoyed our time and I had just about as much fun going through and editing the pictures I took.

Later in the evening we went for a walk with Uncle Tripp down the local market store.  I carried the sleepy Bobby in my cool wrap a friend gave me, and he was just about as cute as can be!  I wonder how much longer I can carry him in that thing... its nice!

Anyway, its about time to get ready to head out (I'm getting a MUCH needed pedicure!).  I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend, too!  Here are some of my pictures from the last few days. :)

 

 

What A Day

Life is so awesome.

This morning I was planning to attend Parent & Tot Craft Hour again, but Bobby was ready for nap right when we were about to leave, so that was a no-go.  I was bummed at first but was kinda glad to be able to do some much needed cleaning instead of running around town.  Added bonus was that Mom & Dad came home for lunch, which is always fun!

After they split back to school, Tripp and I had so much fun cleaning and dancing with Bobby.  I got a few great videos I will post later... SO cute!!!  This baby boy loves to dance!  Even when you just start singing a random song, he'll start dancing... I love it.  Can't wait to put him in dance classes!!  (And sports and piano and tumbling and art... lol).  After Tripp left for work my little BFF and I continued to clean and dance and love on each other.  Such fun.  He is such a great little helper, I swear.  He totally understands how to help with simple shores and LOVES to do it!  He even claps with us when he does a good job, lol.  I love it!!!  (Did I mention that already??) 

After his second nap of the day we got ready to go visit the family at work.  They had both volleyball and football games tonight in addition to an ROTC Lock-In!  With Cadets participating in the games for Color Guard and working on projects for ROTC, they are busy busy busy!  Tripp Kid is there, too, as he is running an ROTC program and chaperoning. We picked up some yummy Chinese food and came by to visit and check out the excitement.  Bobby got to see his first volleyball and football games (and he promised he won't play football! haha! :D), and see some of the Cadets that love lovin' on him, and even visit with a doggie (he is all about dogs, any and every where).  It was pretty active and exciting, and I must admit I was glad he was tired and ready to head home after an hour.

So since they are all at the lock-in, that means Bobby and I have the house to ourselves tonight!  Not much different than having the house all day, only now when he goes down for the night the house stays quiet. ;)  This is like practice for when we move back and it'll be just us!  Since he was born Bobby and I have had a night alone only 3 times!!!  Crazy, right?  It is going to be quite an adjustment, especially back in such a big house.  Hope I don't have too many freak-outs! Lol!  Good thing we live in a great neighborhood and have an awesome support network. :D

Tomorrow morning we have a Halloween photo shoot I am really looking forward to!  Can you believe his Yoda costume still fits!?  Just had to add a little elastic for the head piece.  So adorable!!!!!  Can't wait to post the pics when I get them! :D  As for now, I need to go do the laundry and dishes so the house is nice when the family gets home tomorrow.  

Life is awesome. :)

EXTRA! EXTRA!

I am so excited to make this announcement…

We are moving back to Texas!!  

Seriously.

We no longer have any renters in our home, and we (Mom, Bobby & I) are ready to be stateside again, so we are coming back to our beautiful home!

This December our whole family will be back to move all our stuff back into the house, get it set up and spend Christmas together.  Come the first days of 2011, however, everyone but Bobby and I will be heading back to Korea for the start of school.  

It is going to STINK to be away from the family – bad.  My dad is the greatest teacher for Bobby.  They work together allll the time and Bobby learns so much from him… they are buddies!  And of course Bobby & Tripp have a sweet relationship that will be missed as well.  The good thing is that it will not be for such long stretches of time as it was when I was in TX alone.  Mom will be back as often and as long as possible so that she may see her awesome doctor here (and be with her baby boy… and me, lol), and Dad will be back every few months.  Time will go by fast, per usual, and we will Skype often so things won’t be too bad.

The thought of being back in San Antonio is soo exciting for me!!  Of course, being back in the house I love and where my son was born is exciting in itself!  We have plans for making it an even more wonderful place to live and I’m anxious to get to work on those projects.  But the familiarity and conveniences of living in the States is what I’m really looking forward to.  The 24-hour stores and restaurants, REAL Starbucks (the one on base doesn’t even have the Pumpkin Spice Latte!! WHAT THE HECK!?), Orange Cup frozen yogurt, Mexican food, good radio, access to Pandora.com, American road trips… woo hoo!!!   

What I am most looking forward to is being back at Christian Family Church and being able to see all my friends!  I can’t wait to bring Bobby to Sunday school and to get really involved in the church I love so much.  Introducing Bobby to everyone is going to be great, and I’m really looking forward to making some new friends, too.  

I know it is not going to be the same as it was last time I lived there, and I don’t want it to be.  This is an exciting new chapter in our lives and I am so excited to raise my son there.  Lord only knows how long we will be there this time, and I am thankful for all the opportunities He has blessed me with.  Living in Korea has been fun and there are things I will miss for sure, such as the cute & cheap clothes, yummy & addictive food like cold noodle soup and white kimchi, and especially walking!  I attribute getting back in shape to having to/being able to walk everywhere, and I love it.

I am soo very thankful for this opportunity and pray it all goes off without a hitch.  The house is still on the market, so there IS a possibility that it may sell before we get there… so we shall see what happens!

Can’t wait to see you all again!! And those of you outside of the great state of Texas, I hope we get to see you soon, too! <3

Picnik Rocks

Just having some fun editing pictures with Picnik!

All is well here!  We're already enjoying our 3-day weekend with the family.  Hope you all have a great Columbus Day weekend and give thanks for the beauty in your lives.  

*hugs!*

E-mail Bobby!

I often write letters to Bobby. His baby book has a dozen little notes in them, a few even have a picture I took of him next to the letter, so he can see what he looked like when I wrote it.   Sometimes I want to "send" him a message but don't have the time time to sit down and write it neatly, or don't have pen and paper handy, so I'll write it on the computer to print out.  This got me to thinking about how cool it would be to e-mail him!  That way I could pop out a quick little note, or a long message, and it will be sent with time, date and neatly organized (I love neat and organized, lol).

So I just created an e-mail account for my little Robert! I wanted to share it with you all so that if ever you happen to think about him, or want him to know something, you can e-mail it to him to have when he gets older.  You can send him pictures, words of wisdom, special memories... anything.  (You all know how e-mail works, lol!)

RobertCarlisleGF@gmail.com

Add him to your contact list!

Love you all!!