It’s been a sentimental evening for me.  Just in my head.  Nothing has really happened to make me feel this way, except a trip to Home Goods… I miss my mom.  She would love our 2 new puppies.  And she would be getting excited about school starting and getting all her teaching supplies ready and waiting for her 1st graders.  I think seeing pumpkin decorations and leaf wreaths reminds me of her… kind of subconsciously… and that’s what I saw at Home Goods this evening… makes me think of the beginning of the school year and all the crisp autumns I spent in central Illinois with my family.  Autumn is my favorite.  And the sights and smells bring back many memories.

Here is a photo of my niece and nephew and my kids at Lake Tahoe when my sister’s family was here just a couple of weeks ago, just because I like it.  And because I miss my sister and her family already.

Sweet Reggie is home!  It was so hilarious to watch the 3 puppies (we will have my sister’s puppy for a few days before we send her on a plane home on Friday) play together when they first met!  The 2 littlest were so full of energy, and Reggie just kind of chased them around whenever he got the chance.  But I was so happy to see them get along so well!!  You never know… Poor Reggie was pretty tired, and we actually learned today he is a bit sick.  We got lots of meds and super nutritious puppy food for him and I’m sure we will be seeing even more of his personality unfold the better he feels… It is quite strange to have indoor dogs again, and such young ones, but we are adjusting to the potty training and keeping all little plastic things off the floor… and the giggles, snuggling, and love that fills the house is refreshing .

I said no dogs.  I said it has only been a few weeks since we lost Gretchen, and I didn’t want any more right now.  That’s how the story begins, anyway… My sister was visiting from Alabama and happened to walk by the animal shelter that was set up at the mall where we were shopping.  A little puppy put her paws up on her cage and stretched right as she walked by, and she was smitten.  As we were filling out all the paperwork and figuring out how to get the puppy to their house in Alabama (since they were leaving the next day and the puppy hadn’t been fixed yet — California law — has to be done before they go home), my husband proceeded to fall in love with, his words, the ugliest dog there.  “That’s nice,” I said.  I felt no connection to the dog, and stood my ground as wanting a no-dog-house for awhile longer.  But I watched him go over and take the dog out of his cage 3 times, and just grin as he petted him and the dog nuzzled up right into his chest.  But we went home and that was that.  Or so I thought.  The next morning, after we took my sister and her family to the airport, my husband said, “Let’s just go look and see if “Sparky” (he named him already??) is still there.  If he’s not, fine.  But let’s just see… “  He offered to just take one of the kids and go check it out, but I disagreed.  “I have to go to make sure you don’t bring anything home with you!!”  So we all went.  When we got there, the salt and peppere shih tzu was nowhere to be found, and I immediately found myself feeling sorry for my sweet hubby.  He went to find out if he had been adopted, and the kids and I looked around.  Soon I saw my daughter holding this tiny little black and brown dog.  I immediately thought about how I was given my first little Yorkie when I was about her age, and how much I loved the little guy his whole life, all the way up until after I was married.  My husband found out the shih tzu was still at the shelter, they had just forgotten to bring him in that morning.  So I asked him how serious he was about this dog… were we going to go all the way across town to the shelter and really take him home??  What are you going to say to your daughter?  See how she is completely in love with this little chihuahua??  Then he said it, and I was not expecting this at all… “I think we should get both dogs.”  Are you kidding me??  I said I am not ready for ANY dogs, let alone TWO!!  But, seeing as how no one seemed to be hearing me, the papers were filled out to bring home the tiny, quiet chihuahua, and then we drove across town to the shelter to fill out papers for the shih tzu, who still needed to get his surgery and will be able to come home next week.  And as I watch my kids run in the backyard as little Aubie tries to jump and follow along, and as I nuzzle her silky head under my neck, I know this is one of those times I’m glad no one listened to me.  These dogs will be as much a part of their lives as my little Yorkie was, maybe even all the way until after they are married.  So that is the story.  And here is little Aubie.

Seems like she was dancing around on my parents deck singing songs from “Beauty and the Beast” in her little Snow White costume just the other day… now she is getting ready to register for junior high… *sigh*… But she is still as sweet as ever and we couldn’t be any prouder of our Princess.  Happy Birthday, sweetheart!! 

My daughter and I saw this cake on Bobbi+Mike ’s blog and we knew we had to try it.  I used to make all sorts of crazy, amazing cakes for the kids’ birthdays, especially my daughter’s since she’s the oldest… But it had been awhile since I have done a fun cake, so we decided it was time for a fun one!  It really wasn’t very hard and the results were so worth the time it took to cook the 6 layers (3 shifts in the oven with my 2 cake pans)!  This one was vanilla, but next time, we thought it might be fun to flavor the cake with some kind of fruitiness…

I had some great help in getting our masterpiece underway…

Cutting into the cake was SO exciting!!

1st birthday to 12th birthday… passes so quickly… Love you much, birthday girl!!

She loved to chase squirrels with her big “sister,” Belle.  She swam after Belle in the lake, lagging just a little behind, but as fast as her three legs would take her.  She loved to bury her head under your leg if you sat next to her to pet her.  She hated baths.  With a passion.  She never bothered the cats when we lived on the farm, and she always stayed near the house.  She was sad when we had to leave for awhile to move to California (tore up my father-in-law’s garage — totally out of character for her), and then was an excellent passenger in the back of a stranger’s truck for over 1800 miles to join her family.  She let our children crawl all over her, pulling on her ears, “petting” her with toddler hands that were a little rough.  She occasionally was a good watch dog, but didn’t bark much.  She, in one word, was sweet.  She had the best personality… so loyal… so loving.  We miss you, Gretchen, and will always love you.