Just Because

Sometimes, a gal just has to share a picture of her kids in front of the Christmas tree.

Ellie Ellie Smelly Belly!

Losing Bubbles was a blow to our family. We've never been the same, and we never will be.

Piggy has had almost a year and a half as an only dog, and she's been spoiled rotten.

Up until a few months ago, it hurt too much to think about "replacing" our eldest kid. Then, one day The Hubbs and I looked at each other and both admitted we couldn't stop thinking about getting Pig a new companion. 

On July 4th, we adopted a sweet little seven-month-old American Staffordshire terrier. We named her Liberty Louise - Libby Lou for short. We fell hard and fast. And then, about two days after the adoption, there was an incident. My heart cracked in two and I sobbed uncontrollably when Grumma and I returned her to the shelter. 

Fast forward to Halloween. I had been browsing the shelter's web site periodically, and there was a pup who had caught my interest a couple of weeks before. She would be available on Halloween, and she was on my mind. They called her Ingrid, and her brother was named Bogart. 

After planning to sleep in and have a lazy morning, The Hubbs and I both happened to wake up at 7:00. I asked if he wanted to meet her. After just a little bit of hemming and hawing, we decided we'd try. 

We carted the whole family down to the shelter again and entered with the bar set low. Our name was the first to be called, and we were the only ones on the list who were there to see Ingrid when the shelter opened. 

We walked into the puppy room and locked eyes with the cutest little thing in the place. I picked her up. She snuggled in and kissed me. I asked The Hubbs if he wanted to hold her, and she reached for him as I handed her over. 

The first time they went nose to nose, she and Piggy trembled together. It was loud and chaotic, and these two immediately seemed to be kindred spirits. 

All five of us went outside to get better acquainted in the light rain. The Princess regarded this tiny little thing and gave almost no reaction one way or the other. It's always so hard to tell with her. She's always had big dogs in her life, and she tends to ignore them for the most part. We figured it was a good sign that she was not showing any signs of agitation. 

We were hooked. 

The shelter is forty-five minutes from home. Two hours after leaving the house as a four-person family, we returned home with our newly added fifth member. 

She is about eleven weeks old, and the consensus is that she's probably a Jack Russell terrier mix of some sort. 

But Ingrid just didn't strike us as a fitting name for this sweet little thing. 

World, meet Eleanor, also affectionately known as Ellie Ellie Smelly Belly. 

We took her trick-or-treating with her human sister who dressed up as a puppy. We walked, we played, we met lots of new people, smelled lots of new smells, and melted lots of hearts.

We dressed up as Piggy. 

We bonded. 

We proved that The Princess is not always indifferent to dogs, and we bonded some more. 

We became the little spoon. 

And we took a picture that tugs the heartstrings. If you know us in real life, you'll understand why immediately. This is amazingly similar to one of our favorite pictures of Bubbles and Piggy when Piggy was about this age. 

We've played and slept and melted hearts. We've shown how easy and right it can be. 

We've become family. 

Dimmer

Yesterday, the world got dimmer.

Ron Payton, a dear family friend, passed away unexpectedly, and for once I find myself at a loss for words. 

A man so full of light and life, he instantly lit up a room the moment he entered. It was impossible to be grumpy around that smile. 

He had a voice that could make me bounce with glee and eyes that twinkled like the stars. Watching him sing and perform was an absolute joy. 

Story time is over, and I just can't believe I'll never see him again. 

His charm, his grace and his kindness were unparalleled, and he will be sorely missed. 

Ron, we love you. Always will. 

Mommen!

Me: Princess, what do you want?

She opens the food cabinet and deliberately grabs the bright orange package of chicken ramen. 

Me: Ooh, ramen?

The Princess: MOMMEN!

Is there anyone cuter on the planet?  I think not. 

Thank you, Mrs. G.

We found out near the beginning of this school year that our local special education district center and programs would be shutting down, effective this summer.  Months of uncertainty and up-in-the-air-ness were followed by the final responsibility of finding another program for The Princess and finding out that her beloved teacher, The Fabulous Mrs. G., would be out of a job as of the end of the school year.

Scary, heartbreaking stuff.

Long story short: we found a great program for The Princess, a program that's been in place for eleven years and is located 20 minutes from home.  New school, new staff, new classmates.  Third grade is gonna be a whole new world.

I've been trying to figure out how to thank The Fabulous Mrs. G. for everything she's done for our girl.  Five years, these two have been together.  I had all these grand plans of making a heartfelt handmade end-of-year gift with a handwritten letter, and then the school year was over.

Here's an excerpt from the email I just sent.  It's not much, but I hope it brings a smile to her face.

***

I am very sorry that we didn't get a chance to see you this spring at the music program or another time before the school year ended.  I wanted to tell you this in person, but email will just have to do, I suppose.

Thank you.

Thank you for being such a huge part of The Princess's life for the past five years.  When we met you, we were all lost and scared.  You have helped our entire family grow into more mature people in so many ways, and there just aren't words to describe how significantly you have impacted our lives.

Thank you for always having her - and our - best interests at heart.  I've heard horror stories from other moms across the country about their special education experiences, and I'm grateful that this was never an issue for us.  Whenever the road got bumpy, you took our hands and led the way.

Thank you for helping to mold our cute little toddler into the gorgeous, confident girl she's growing up to be.  Though I'd like to take all the credit for how awesome she is, I'm under no illusions that we did this all on our own.

Thank you for loving our girl.  One of my favorite parts of every new school year so far has been the open house.  Watching her see you for the first time at the end of summer has always warmed my heart.  For someone who had a very hard time opening up to people for a very long time, I just can't say how much it meant to me when she'd see you across the room and run up with a big grin and hug for her favorite teacher.

Thank you, most of all, for dedicating your life to helping kids like The Princess.  I can't begin to fathom how many little lives you've touched, and I am so grateful that our girl is among those ranks.  It takes a very special kind of person to do what you do, and you do it all with such grace.

We hope you'll keep in touch and let us know how you're doing down the road.  The Hubbs and I would love to hear from you any time, as long as you're up for it.

Good luck, and we wish you all the happiness in the world.  After all, you've helped us find ours.

Love,
Daisy Mae and the Little Yellow House family

Go Go Red. Again.

So, Bumma's been trying to convince me to take Go Go Red for a spin. Every time she's said it, it's been too late, I've been to lazy, or something else kept me from it.

Until today. 

During one of many laps around the block, I stopped at the bottom of a hill to see what she'd do. Her little body flapped and she wiggled her butt to and fro. 

"What?" I asked. 

Wait for it...

"GO!" shouted the happiest girl I know. 

So we went. 

Now, I have a feeling The Princess is convinced that she's in the process of training her very own staff of chauffeurs. 

As you can plainly see, this is a great hardship for all of us. 

Go Go Red

Yeah, it's been a while!  We're still here, havin' a ball as usual.

Bumpa got a toy for Christmas, and The Princess has decided it's pretty much the best thing ever. She got her first ride last week. 

Bumpa came back three times, thinking he was done. The Princess...well, she had other ideas.  Every time he stopped, she put his hands back on the handlebars and rocked back and forth, asking him to GO. 

I asked her what color it was, to which she immediately replied, "Ruh." 

And now every time we pull up in the driveway, she races from the car right to Go Go Red. 

It's gonna be a good summer, y'all.