9 Years 9 Months 12 Days

Our sweet Georgia girl was born by c-section on February 17th, 2005 at Community Pet Hospital in Bartlett.  She was the runt of a litter of six pups to Dixie and Dallas. I found information about this litter of pups in the Commercial Appeal and went to see them out in Tipton County when they were 3 weeks old.  I fell in love with the biggest pup and the smallest pup. When Nick came by to see the pups, he fell in love with the male pup and the little runt as well. So we decided on Yankee and Georgia. We got a buy one get one free deal. :) When we went to pick the pups up to take them home at 9 weeks, the owner tried to talk us into taking another litter mate, Maggie. This was very tempting, but we declined. Georgia and Yankee were our children and ruled the roost until Sam came along. They loved us through good times as well as bad. They slept in our bed and chewed up the house. They traveled with us to Louisiana and back. They were the best snuggle buddies. They loved our kids and endured their fair share of pokes and pulls.

Nick took Georgia in 3 weeks ago for a rash that started on her neck and spread down her torso within days. She was tested fer everything and sent home with medication and special shampoo to knock out the rash. The medicine did it's job and we thought she was getting better. Georgia started having lots of accidents in the house and her appetite changed. This past week, she started throwing up and refused to eat. She was very weak and would collapse after throwing up.  On Saturday she started passing blood. When I called the vet, they said death was imminent. Within the hour, her breathing became labored. We made the choice to let her go to sleep. After looking her over, the vet suspected Georgia had a condition called Cushings disease. She suspected that the medication she was given caused her adrenal gland to go into overdrive. Once this happens there is no reversing it. Georgia has had very sensitive skin her whole life, but we're still not sure what caused the initial rash. Only God knows. What we do know is that that sweet lazy dog had lots of snuggley soft places in our home. She always had plenty to eat and a few scraps from the table that made their way to the floor. She was the daughter we never had. Our pretty, pretty girl.

Our sweet Georgia died peacefully at Eads Animal Hospital at 12:15pm yesterday. She was wrapped in a soft blanket and surrounded by love. She leaves behind a big brother, Yankee, and four humans who will miss her forever.

Merry and Bright

Turkey Day

Chief Levin

Sam had a feast with his class yesterday. He was so excited about his costume.

Sweet Buddy!

Rock Band?

Drew at School

Drew has been getting a few bites here and there at school over the past few weeks.  :( They are not leaving marks and he seems to be taking it in stride. The school and the child's parents are working hard to stop the biting. Thank goodness Drew has not turned to biting back. He merely says "no bite" to the biter. Drew is getting more verbal with each passing day. It's amazing!  I don't think the biting child is as verbal yet...might be part of the problem. We'll see....hopefully we are facing a bite free week. :)

Dinner with Friends

Movie Night

The boys had a good time watching a movie this past week. The night was complete with popcorn and other snacks.

Pit Stop

Had to run to Bartlett to pick up Drew's hat. Snuck in some playtime while we were there. :)

Fort Levin

Oh the days of fort building. So much fun. :)

Our Little Scholar

Sam is doing great in kindergarten! He knows all his sight words and is already reading. Crazy...reading in kindergarten! That boy amazes us each day. Instead of working on sight words like the rest of the class, we are working on building his vocabulary and fluency by reading higher level books and asking comprehension questions.

Cute Project

Sam brought a fun project home to be completed this weekend. We had to disguise his turkey so it won't get eaten for Thanksgiving. We brainstormed a lot of possibilities, but he settled on a ninja turtle turkey. Nick took charge of this project since I had the last one. :) Didn't they do a great job! Sam will turn it in tomorrow and complete a writing assignment about his turkey. Can't wait to see what he comes up with.