Saying Goodbye, and Saying Hello

Last month our fourteen year old dachshund-beagle mix Tonka passed away in his sleep. We know it was coming because he was not acting right in the week leading up to his passing. His health was also failing him. Being a long bodied dog he injured his back several years ago swimming in a pond of all things, and had health issues ever since. The vet anticipated him needing a high cost surgery that we could never afford and we never expected to have him as long as we did.

Tonka was definitely a rascal, and we have so many stories of him, mostly good, but some that would make you wonder why we kept him as long as we did. Ornery or not he was still part of our family and has been missed. Sometimes on a sunny day when I come in the yard I expect to see him all sprawled out with his legs in the air enjoying the sunshine. Silly dog.

Saying good bye to him opened a door for us to say hello to this little ball of energy!

Say hello to Diamond! She was seven weeks old when we got her and yes, that's how big she is at seven weeks! She is now twelve weeks old and keeps us on our toes. She has also gained six pounds and grown about four inches since we got her. She's mastered "sit" and is mostly house broken. 

(Hmmm... Not sure why the edited picture is not showing up. Please ignore the background and the things on the couch... okay?)

Diamond is a black lab mix, a dog Yohn has dreamed of having since he was a kid. She's fit right in and although our lives have become that much crazier with her in it. She's definitely brightened our days.

Catching Up... Sort of...

Okay, so leaving off with the last post I'm going to cover fall and kinda, sorta be caught up. There's still Thanksgiving to cover and another event, if you could call it an "event" that I'll post about soon too.

On a side note has anyone else ran out of space on their blog so they couldn't post any more pictures? Yeah, I have. Which is part of the reason it has taken me so long to post this one, cuz I wasn't sure I want to pay a monthly fee for pictures when I haven't been blogging all that often. All these pictures are links from my photobucket account to keep from having to pay here. Although I have heard I can fill that one up too and then have to pay there as well, so this isn't a win all situation, but it works for now.

Elisha had a report to do on Cougars. He got an A+ on his written, an A on his oral and an A- on his poster. He was super exicted!

We took our annual field trip to the pumpkin farm with the kid's school. This was Elisha's last official year, although he's asked to go next year anyway. We'll see.

Pumpking carving that weekend and we toasted the seeds too. It's funny the kids don't really eat the seeds, but they still insist we toast them. Go figure.

All of the pumpkins together. Clockwise from the bottom: mine, Bethany's, Yohn's and Elisha's. The kids carved their own this year with just a little bit of help. I'm still slightly nervous of turning them loose with a knife. 

We made caramel apples this year for the first time. They were good, but I'll try a different reciped next time.

Crazy hair day at school during sprirt week...

Bethany's idea was to have Mickey surfing the waves on her head. It didn't work out quite as she envisioned, cuz I really don't have the "hair-do skills", ya know. But fun nevertheless.

Costume Day! Elisha was Hulk Hogan this year and Bethany was a girl Ninja Turtle. Elisha's costume came with Hogan's mustache too, but we saved it for Halloween Night.

The kids earned their first Book It pizza prize for the month of October by reading their required minutes. Bethany had to read a minimum of 200 and Elisha had to read 300 minutes. Bethany read for an actual total of 353 minutes and Elisha squeaked in with his 300 minutes exactly. Can you tell which one of my children likes to read more?

We went mini golfing on a groupon I got for a slammin' deal!

There is nothing wrong with Bethany's arm, she just loves to dress up with that sling!

Friendship Stew at school, another annual tradition that Elisha will be outgrowing next year. Good thing he'll still be on campus and can "pop in" if he really wants to come.

Operation Christmas Child boxes to be taken to the drop off center. We saved and bought things all year for the items inside. The kids definitely love this way of giving to other children and are trying to figure out how they can do more boxes next year.

Like I said, I still have Thanksgiving and "other news" to share hopefully later on this week! Hope to catch ya then!