Calla's last snow day: March 2017

Much to the kids' dismay, we had quite the mild winter this year. All winter they kept asking us "When is it going to snow?" By March, it just seemed like we were out of luck. In fact, I even returned the snow boots I had bought for Henry (who had yet to wear them), and the snowbibs I had bought for both of them. And then what happened on March 15? A snow day! School was closed, Evan and I both worked from home, and we all got to enjoy one snow day together.

And I say all because not only do the kids enjoy the snow, but it had always been one of Calla's favorite things as well. She patiently waited through the morning until we could all go outside that afternoon.

 It was COLD so it was time to bundle up!

 

As you can see in the video, the snow was pretty moderate - just a few inches. But again, since we hadn't gotten ANY snow at all, they were excited to have even that little bit to play in.

You can also see their put-together snow outfits. Natalie had no waterproof pants, so we doubled up on spandex exercise pants. Henry had big heavy sweatpants that we put thermal pants underneath. Natalie had her winter boots, and I had just bought Henry rain boots, so we made it work. As you hear in the video, they weren't exactly waterproof, but they worked better than sneakers would have! And since we had great winter coats, hats, and gloves, the kids did alright.

We walked outside of our neighborhood and up to the building next door. In their courtyard we found a snowman that the employees there had apparently made.

 And what about Calla - remember I said she likes the snow? We did take her out with us for a while, and she had a great time wandering about in the snow.

All of that fun in the snow wore the old girl out. She spent a good chunk of the afternoon curled up on the couch afterwards.

Calla died the next day. So I take comfort in the fact that she had one last time in the snow, which was always something she loved (since her first winter with us in NYC, in 2004).

Now excuse me while I go wipe these tears away. 

Saying goodbye to Calla

One week ago, on March 16, Evan and I made the difficult (but correct) decision to end Calla's time here on Earth. The end came suddenly for her, which I believe was a good thing, as it prevented her from being in pain for an extended period of time.

I'm sure I will share her final moments here on the blog at some point, but I'm not in a place to do that right now. It's still too raw. I'm sure I will also share photos of her as a pup (since I didn't have the blog when she was one), but I haven't been able to look at those photos yet either.

Calla: April 25, 2004 - March 16, 2017. Photo taken in 2014

Calla had a really good last few days: she got to go out in the snow one more time, which was one of her favorite things. And because of the snow day, we were all home together for a day and a half too, which doesn't happen much anymore.

On Wednesday night, her last night at home, she and I cuddled in my chair for a few hours - her curled up beside me, like she always does, while I cross stitch.

Tonight when I came home from my trip (I've been gone since Monday), she wasn't there to greet me at the door like normal, or to curl up in her bed in our room while I unpack my suitcase.

She's not there on the couch tonight where I always look for her, every time I walk into my living room.

She's not there for me to snuggle.

She's not there to be underfoot in the kitchen while Evan cooks, or to eat the food that falls on the floor.

She's not there in the way she has been for nearly 13 years. This is not a grief that Evan or I will get overs soon, although I had gone since Saturday without crying (I'm crying some as I write this, however). I know each day will get a little easier, and I believe that someday I will want another dog. Right now, though, all I want is more time with our first pup, who made us a family.

Despite that desire, I know that she's in peace, which means a lot after the rough year she had last year (health wise). There will never be another like her, and she will always be missed. 

Bicycling fun

At the end of April I took the kids over to their school one evening to ride bikes. I thought it would be a great place to let them ride around without me having to supervise too heavily...and I was right! Or, almost. I got Natalie set up on her bike, and was helping Henry onto his, when we heard Natalie start crying. Literally 10 seconds after she got on, going around her first turn, she fell off her bike and skinned up her knee, leg, and hand. After rinsing everything off and cleaning up the tears, she was good to keep riding.

I grabbed photos with my iPhone while they were riding around and had some fun editing them afterwards :) 

Henry, meanwhile, is still working on getting off of those training wheels. Not quite there yet, but we are getting closer! 

 

These kids are pretty darn cute together!

 Oh, and I didn't just bring the kids...we also brought Calla with us! I thought she could use some fun and outside air. She wandered around a bit, but not far from the van, and spent much of the time just hanging out in the back, watching everything. Good pup!

Fall Video Roundup

Every couple of months I realize that I have a random collection of (mostly short) videos that I've captured over that time period, when the mood strikes me. The vast majority are from my cell phone, and I don't always have reason to include them in a different post, so I though that for the fall I would put them all together in one post. Here that is: a collection of cuteness from the past few months!

Here are a couple from August. First up is Henry singing along, silly-style, to "All About That Bass"

I found this one from September, where Henry demonstrates his sai skills for me. The long tie around his waist is his sword belt, fyi :)

While at Disney, our friend Andrew watched Calla for us. On my birthday he emailed this video to me. Adorable!!

And one last one from November, of Henry putting on a "puppet show" for us at a friend's house

There it is - much cuteness from my family!

Evening playtime fun at the OBX

We took a trip to the dollar store one afternoon while at my parents' house (it's right next to the grocery store), and found some really great water squirters. I'd been holding off getting anything like this for the kids, but while at the pool in my aunt's condo complex, someone had left a water squirter and the kids (Henry in particular) went nuts for it. At $1 each I was ok with picking them up their own! Turns out that just letting them play with them in my parents' yard was sufficient to keep them entertained!

 

That pose on the right is KILLING me! 

Turns out that it was fun to "wash" my car. Please, do!

The doggies were also enjoying some time outside. I wanted to take some photos of them together, so I had Evan help me get them to "pose" by holding treats for them. 

And after they obtained their chewie treats, Calla was so beautiful in the sun I had to capture it!

Doggies!

Calla and my parents' dog Rizzo are great subjects for practicing with my new camera. They're both pretty photogenic, and are actually willing to sit still for some photos which is even better. Calla tends to be a difficult subject to take a good photo of, as she's SO dark, but I'm hoping to learn more tricks to take good photos of her, particularly indoors. However, I think the photo below is pretty darn cute!

Rizzo, however, makes a very good subject. Her coloring is very conducive to taking good photos, and she's a beautiful dog. I love this photo of her!

Henry does a chore

Henry has really taken to this walking thing. In fact, he's almost reached running - that was the phase I was most concerned about! Because he's such a good walker, we now trust him to start doing a chore for us.

Later that day (sunday), Evan was really great about taking the kids out for a bit as I was feeling really crappy for about 24 hours. I needed to exchange some tights for Natalie's dance class (I bought the wrong size!), so Evan took both kids to the mall with him to do that for me while I got some rest. The kids have lately realized how much fun the play area at the mall is, so it was a great place to let them run around for a bit. Evan took this fantastic video of them playing together (amidst the hordes of other children).

And, because this is just ridiculously adorable...here's Henry!

A little puppy love

Natalie snuggling with Calla earlier this week.

This photo is timely - tomorrow April 25 is Calla's birthday! I can't believe she'll be 7; I feel like she was a little 3 pound puppy just yesterday. We'll celebrate her birthday with some ground beef and a new ball we got for her.

Family play time

From last week: an evening of family fun! We found this ball for Calla in the bottom of her toy bin, and she has been having a blast chasing it around. Natalie particularly likes to throw it for Calla, and then they both chase it around the house.

While Calla was playing with her ball, Natalie and I were playing a game with Henry:

Henry & Calla

Last week, Henry started really noticing Calla. He loves watching her run around, and whenever she gets near him on the floor now he starts grabbing at her, particularly her ears. I remember when Natalie went through this phase too; I think that was also around 6 months old.

Last week I propped Henry up in the boppy pillow

and Calla ended up laying just in front of him.

He became so interested in her, I had to video it.

Saturday fun

This weekend was our first two full days of having both of our kids at home, all day, with no outside help. We decided the best way to stave off any possible tantrums or issues from Natalie were to keep her as busy as possible! We're lucky that she seems to love Henry so much. She's fascinated by everything about him (as I said in my previous post, she's especially interested in my feeding him), and absolutely LOVES holding him.

She loves giving him kisses, too!

Since the weather was so nice on Saturday morning, we bundled Henry up, put both kids and Calla in the car, and went to a local park. It was nice and early, so we had the park pretty much to ourselves! Here's Natalie after coming down one of the slides.

It was really windy out, so we had to keep Henry's stroller positioned out of the wind. He was super warm and comfy under his blankets. Calla really enjoyed herself as well. We played ball (fetch) for a while, and then she sat next to me and enjoyed the wind.

Playtime videos!

This first one is Natalie rocking out to her music table. Her favorite is the "ABC" song. In fact, she now asks for "acey" (meaning "abc song") all the time! So, she's slowly learning the alphabet...yay! And I have no idea why she suddenly backs away at the end of the video; who can understand the mind of a toddler? I also apologize for my singing along to the ABC song; I don't think it's too bad.

This one is her chasing Calla around, and specifically trying to get Calla's little stuffed giraffe. In case you can't understand her, she's saying "get it" as she crawls around.

Adorableness at home

I've got some cute pics and video from over the past week or so, with no real theme. So, why not throw them all into one post?

First, I feel I've neglected our first "child" a bit lately in terms of pics. Here's Calla one evening last week, completely worn out from playing ball. However, she has just enough energy to protect her chewie:

Here's Natalie relaxing on the floor under a blanket:

And here's Natalie looking adorable on our steps in her new shorts (sent to her by her great Aunt Jackie & cousin Ryann). I love the black & white; gotta love Old Navy!

Lastly, here's a great video of Natalie enjoying her new favorite pasttime: walking around in my shoes. This one made me a little nervous, as she's wearing a pair of my heals and I was worried about her falling and hurting an ankle, but she did amazingly well! I would say all told, she walked around in them for at least 5-10 minutes. We haven't done this again since; I let her walk around in my slippers now, which is safer and she seems just as happy.

Videos from NJ

We spent last weekend (over Mother's Day) at Evan's parents' house in NJ. We had a great time! I'm going to put pics up of our fun weekend as soon as I get time! It's faster to just upload a couple of fun videos first.

This is of Natalie playing on a kitchen chair with her uncle Scott. Yes, we're at the point where she can climb onto just about any chair/couch. That means a lot more to watch for...but also fun games like this!

Over the weekend, we discovered Natalie's newest favorite thing: walking Calla! She likes to hold onto Calla's leash and "walk" her around. In reality, Natalie ends up getting dragged around a bit by Calla. However, it does keep Natalie closer to us, as Calla readily comes when called, even if Natalie won't! And it's super cute.

I apologize for the inane commentary by Evan and I. You'll just have to put up with it.

Natalie and Calla

Here's more video of Natalie chasing Calla, this time in our living room!



We got the first real snow of the year yesterday, so here are Evan and I enjoying some time outside with Natalie. She wasn't a bit fan, especially when trying to walk in it, but it was fun anyway!

Happy New Year!

It's been a busy few week! Last weekend we got home from NJ, and then my sister visited overnight so that we could celebrate Christmas. She got Natalie this really cute outfit:

And one of Natalie's favorite Christmas presents: the Leap Frog music table. In fact, Natalie has almost the whole line of Leap Frog music & learn toys now; they're great!

We worked at the beginning of the week, but then I took off after Wed (Evan had off Wed & Thurs but had to go in on Friday). We had a fun new year's eve (as I hope all of you did as well). We celebrated here at home with some friends of ours (Kathy & Eric, Will & Jon, and Cody). It was very nice - Natalie got to hang out for a little while:

And then she went to sleep upstairs while we ate yummy food, watched a movie, ate some more, played some games, ate some more, and just hung out [Cody, Evan, and Eric on the couch].

Then on Jan 1, we hung out for a while before everyone had to go.

My parents arrived on Jan 1 to visit for a couple of days. It was nice to be off of work and spend some quality time with them! They got Evan and I one of the best new cleaning products: the Shark steam mop. It does a great job cleaning floors, and I love that it cleans with steam, not chemicals. Natalie also got more presents. :) Here she is hanging out with my mom:

As always when my parents come, we get cute photos of Calla and Rizzo together. They didn't play too much together, as Calla is kind of shy, but they did get friendly enough to sleep together on the couch, in different positions: