Kirsten's Achievement

Operation Baghdad Pups was a HUGE success. As most of you know Kirsten has rescued a mom dog and her puppies from her base in Iraq. She helped raise the required $5,000 which included a pick-up from the base by a bunch of Private Security Forces. Unfortunately, five of the seven puppies died while they were in a shelter in Iraq awaiting transport to the US. On Sunday, Fatoon (mom dog), Moussad (male puppy) and Ellis (female puppy) arrived in Washington DC. Moussad headed out to California and Fatoon and Ellis headed to Atlanta.

11Alive has decided to pick up the story and came to my parents house at noon yesterday and interviewed Mom and Dad, talked to Kirsten via Skype, and then went across the street to Interview Vicki and see where Fatoon would be living. Then we all headed over to Peachtree Dekalb Airport to meet the pooches arrival on Pet Airways. Yes, there an airline dedicated to transporting peoples pets. It's a lot safer (and more expensive) then regular airlines. Kirsten was able to pull her military card and got a GREAT discount from them.

It was very emotional watching them arrive. Just the fact that it was a link to Kirsten, that she had touched and played with them and now they were here. The Blue Ridge Rescue Group is fostering Ellis and Vicki and Casey are adopting the mom. It was so much fun and totally chaotic. There were so many people there and we were even abel to Skype with Kirsten on Vicki's iPhone, so she got to participate some. She cried too (go figure). I am so proud of Kirsten and her accomplishment.

Tessa's Week

Today is Tessa's 1st day in her new classroom. It's the pre-cursor class to Pre-K, and is even more structured than the last class. Although she doesn't really have books and stuff yet, I still thought it would cute to get her a bag-pack to mark the occasion. In the fall she will start wearing a uniform. I thought this little Zebra was so cute. They did have an Owl one and I am totally obsessed with Owls right now (hence Tessa's room, her PJ's, etc) but I didn't want her to grow up hating them, so I went for the Zebra. She LOVED it. She has been showing it to everyone.

This week is kind of a crazy week for Tessa (and the rest of us). Tomorrow will be her only non-event day. Wednesday is her 3rd Birthday! I can't beleive she's going to be three! I'm taking cup-cakes and balloons to school after nap-time. Then we are going over to Omi and Opa's. The dogs that my sister rescued from Iraq are scheduled to arrive Wednesday afternoon also, so we will get to meet the momma dog, Fatoon, and have cake and ice-cream with Omi, Opa and Vicki and Casey (and whoever else is coming). Thursday is Water-Park day at school for Tessa. They have a little water play area at her day-care and for the Summer they get to play out there on Thursday mornings. Then on Friday we all leave for Jekyll Island. I am attending the GAPPA conference there for Turner so it's a free vacation at a REALLY nice club. I am so excited and we SOOOO need this little vacation. The other fun thing is that my dad goes to the same conference, so my parents will be there also. While Dad and I are working at the conference, Mom, Mike and the kids get to hang out at the pool or go to the beach.

What a crazy week.

Good Job

This is what I always say when one of the kids does something good or right. I make sure I praise them and usually will clap also to emphasize that I appreciate the good behavior or action. Ellis was walking along the hearth on Sunday morning, clapping his hands and saying "Good Job". It was too cute. He's really working on his speech and he loves to imitate sounds, especially animal sounds. He mimics the dogs barking, or any noise Tessa's makes.

He's just growing into a handsome, cute little boy. He walks everywhere now. He loves opening cabinet doors, but hasn't been too bad about taking everything OUT of the cabinets. We have those magnetic locks on some of them, but not all. His favrotie activity though is to chase Tessa around the house or have Tessa chase him. He tries to imitate what she's doing. It's so sweet.

I love you so much Ellis.

The WINNER is.......

........TESSA! She won Tacky Day with this lovely ensemble.



This was Tessa's outfit on Monday and thankfully I had the right day, because as we walked out of the house I had a moments trepidation that it was NOT Tacky Day and Tessa was just going to look silly.

What's that?

I have been teaching Tessa all about Back-hoes, dump trucks, bulldozers, etc. We see some every day on our way too and from school. She always identifies the tractor-trailers and dump trucks on the Interstates. My mom picked her (and Ellis) up from school yesterday and Tessa was telling her all about the back-hoe and how it picks up dirt and puts it in the dump truck. Apparently this was all she talked about the entire car ride home.

When my dad finally got home he had a suit on and Tessa pointed to his tie and said "What's That?" We laughed so hard. Of course she doesn't know what a tie is, since Mike (for obvious reasons) never wears one and my dad rarely wears a suit to work himself. But she can identify 90% of the construction equipment on a job site. I might shed a tear, I'm so proud.

Ellis and Opa



Loving his new wagon (check out that SUPER cute smile)



Chillin' in his new chair that Opa built.



FINALLY - the first picture of all four of us together since THANKSGIVING!



Tessa showing Ellis how to do it, she's such a great big sister.




Yummy cake! Where have you been all my life?

History

Yesterday, US Forces found and killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. I am so glad the man behind the 9.11.01 attacks has been dealt with, but I'm also saddened to think of all of the people that have lost their lives to get to this point. So many people have been affected by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While we celebrate the fact that the leader of al Qaeda is no more, let's not forget all of the men and women who lost their lives to find him, and also the men and women who are still there right now and may even face a greater threat right now as retaliations increase.

Thank you to all of our Troops, both past and present. You truly do make the greatest sacrifice of all.