70 years beautiful!

Happy birthday to the sweetest, most kind, loving and awesome Athens Jammy we could have ever asked for! We hope your day is filled with birthday awesomeness and can't wait to share it with you tomorrow!! We love you very, very, very, very much!!

1st post surgery walk

Yesterday, Nekoh was feeling uppity and energetic so I took him and Polly on a short walk to the Martin's house to pick up the boys. Since I couldn't find his leash, a make-shift jump rope would have to do. He did great, even pooped, AND caught sight of a cat across the street. I'm pretty sure that if he wasn't attached, he would have tried to go after it. It's amazing what a week's rest after the removal of a diseased vital organ can do! Way to go, Stinky!!

Snowmageddon 2014

Crazy snow days call for crazy measures! I don't even non where to start. They said it was going to start snowing around noon. Todd called me at work just after noon-ish and told me to get a hotel room for the night because I was in sandy springs and the weather was already looking bleak.  I thought he was crazy! I set out to head home around 1pm, drove 1/2 mile in ONE hour, so I turned around an and went back to my office. My boss came back (with 2 bottles of wine) and the food we ordered earlier in the day. So, we watched Netflix, drank wine, and had salads and popcorn at the office. Todd's friend's wife, Jaime, was stuck in the area so she came over as well. People, such as poor Lorin, were stuck on the highways overnight and were forced to either sleep in their cars or abandon their cars and walk. I was more than thrilled to be in a warm office. 

The boys, on the other hand, had a great day off from school sledding all over the neighborhood. It's been a wild snowpocalypse 2014, and now people will have stories to share for years! For now, stay warm and dry, Atlanta!!

Head Bangin'

"Mommie, I want to play tackle football". 

These are the words I've been dreading to hear since my baby boys were born. Sure I love watching college football and I understand the fascination of rooting for a professional team. However, with all the recent discoveries of head injuries incurred on the football field and the affects it has on the players later in life, I prefer MY boys not play a sport where they are constantly running their heads into brick walls. Call me crazy!

Nonetheless, today marks the 5th, yes, 5th time this year I've gotten a call from Nurse Betty saying that Reed has some how or another smashed his head into some flagrant object on the playground, in the hallway, etc. I'm beginning to think he'd be safer ON the football field, at least he would be wearing a helmet!!!

Well, Lookie Me

Thanks to all of Nekoh's family, friends, fans, and, well, people that are truly scared of him, he's on the mend! Thankfully he is eating, using the bathroom without too much trouble, and getting up and down with ease. He's been eating like a king (ham, bacon, eggs, chicken, and a little bit of dogfood), and watched like a hawk. We even heard him howling at the dogs that live behind us! Yay, Neekers!!!

And bingo was the game-o

Last night the boys's school put on a BINGO extravaganzaa. They played 10 games over 2 hours and there were 10 winners per game. We got so close so many times, but ultimately Nolan pulled out the only McLure win on the 'picture frame' game! He got to choose from prizes on the stage and decided on a plastic jump rope. Check that one off the bucket list!

Poor pup

When a dog is sick, it's probably the saddest, most pitiful thing in the world. This past week, Nekoh hasn't been feeling 100%. He turned down offerings of chicken, couldn't make it on a walk further than 2 houses up the street, and was overall sad and lethargic. Reed and I took him to the vet where we found his blood levels were way out of whack and the only option was surgery. Thankfully, the dr Polly normally sees just happened to be at Nekoh's vet (2 dogs, 2 different vets...don't ask). He told me to take Nekoh to his other office and he could do the surgery there, right now. It was the end of the working day and if we would have been any later we would have had to take him to the emergency vet which would have cost us triple what it did at our vet. Whoa. 

The expected that it was a tumor on the spleen and would need to remove it. It turned out to be a tumor on one of the kidneys that erupted and they removed it and the kidney. The drs seemed to be hesitantly optimistic that they got it all, but after reading about kidney tumors, I understand their hesitancy. It's usually a pretty aggressive cancer and seems that more than likely will come back. Hopefully, we bought him several more years of a regular 'husky' life and fingers crossed that his 'cancer' is going to be a slow progressing one. Keep him on your thoughts!! We love our scary-faced baby!

Hamper monkies

Never a dull moment

Todd took the boys to Athens this weekend to hang out with JnG, go watch the UGA basketball dawgs, hit up "Shrek the Musical", and party with the big fellas watching football. Looks like they're having a great time! 

I, on the other hand, had a lovely lunch date with my most favorite mom, sis and sister in law! Then, I just couldn't sit still after that or today before and after tennis. I decided to do a few little things around the house...

And repainted the kitchen table and chairs. Why can't I just enjoy the quiet?!? 

Roller-Rama

Last night, Kathy and I took the boys and 2 of her kids to Hot Wheels skate center. 

Reed has been asking, begging, to go for the past several weeks. So, I set my sights on a groupon and off we went. 

Ryan and Julia (Kathy's kids) took off skating as fast as their Yankee feet would carry them. (They're from Connecticut). Reed and Nolan, on the other hand, were anxious to get their skates on but then cried for the first 20 minutes at how hard it was!! Needless to say, they sat clinging to me until they saw some other friends from school skating around like monkies. Finally, they ventured out into crowd but they didn't feel quite that comfortable so I got them some of those granny walkers with wheels to help them stay up. After that, I didn't see them for a few hours! Now they want to go back every day. So funny how a little boost in confidence can really make them soar!  

Next time, I'm either going to buy a pair of skates for myself or bag my feet 100x so I don't get athletes foot because it looked like fun. And, by the way, they don't serve alcohol so what else is there to do? Skate away, skate away, skate away!

Yea, braugh! I'm a skater dude!

You go first! No YOU go first! 

Old man river!

Old man river #2...

Speed demons!

Arctic blast 2014

Too bad there wasn't enough snow to play in, just enough to scare the southerners to see who can buy up the bread, eggs and milk first! It's a ploy by the dairy farmers! I knew it ;0)

Ok, so it's supposed to get down to 7 degrees tonight. A little chilly but nothing people above the Mason-Dixon Line can't handle, and are laughing at us hysterically!

The boys are happy to have a few more days of break...like they need it. Pfft!

Gladiators WIN

That was the chant of the day as we prepared to go to the Gwinette Gladiators hockey game last night. The boys wore their jerseys they got 2 years ago and were still huge on them. We participated in the chuck-a-puck and Todd's throw rolled right thru the center of the target! The Gladiators made it quite an exciting game winning 8-1. Gladiators WIN!

Dinner is served

Since Reed was sick with the flu over Xmas, we cooked the traditional turkey dinner at home. After many calls to my mom asking 'how do I use cheesecloth', 'do I stuff stuff in the bird if I don't have stuffing', 'what the heck is this plastic thing around its legs', and 'what the heck is this paper sack coming out of its neck?' That last question was asked AFTER I cooked the damn thing. Oh well, everything turned out great and we've had turkey for days!! 

I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture after the turkey was cooked, but just imagine the most perfectly browned turkey Martha Stewart would have been envious of, and, well, it looked good, but not THAT good!

Santa came to town

So, maybe I forgot to post pictures from Xmas. Maybe it was because Reed had the flu and we had to stay away from the rest of our family (sorry Jammy and Grandÿ). Maybe I forgot because we've had a busy winter break. Maybe I forgot because my adoring fans didn't remind me! LoL. The boys had a great Xmas and I cooked ALL the food from Xmas eve thru Xmas day and I'm sure spent! Merry Xmas to all and to all a good night :0)

And then, the aftermath...