Christmas Cookies

I was supposed to keep Kaylee and Taylor today but Kaylee was sick so Taylor and I had fun together making Christmas cookies!

 

 

Aiden Thomas Robertson

My precious sister Anna Vaughan blessed me with a nephew today.  He is adorable!

Aiden Thomas Robertson

December 14, 2010

7 lbs 15.7 ounces (really...8 lbs!)

20.5 inches

Isn't he the cutest thing ever!?!?

Christmas Surprise

On Thursday night I was home alone when the doorbell rang.  When I opened the door nobody was there but I found this: 

Someone from my church has been delivering gifts to church members with a card attached "Park Place Crusaders".   So....just in case you are reading, thanks Crusaders for brightening my day!

Dogpile

I couldn't have composed this shot if I tried!  Silly boys.

Mutt Hut Christmas Pictures

Reese's Christmas Shirt

Not too happy about wearing clothes.

Isn't she pretty?

"More clothes?  I thought you'd get the idea when I ate the last Christmas shirt."

Buddies

They don't make shirts big enough so Zeke got a Christmas collar.

For some reason I decided to take pictures of each dog under the Christmas tree .  It was definitely an adventure!  

Here's the outcome:

Reflecting

I'm sitting in my living room with my great friend Amanda, surrounded by puppies with a fire in the fireplace.  For me this is a recipe for deep thought...

I've been thinking a lot today about the last year and the things I'm thankful for.  They are too numerous to mention here, but as today winds down I have begun to think about tomorrow.  For most people tomorrow is a day filled with the hustle and bustle of shopping, leftovers and the love of family.  My day is also likely to be filled with all of those things. 

Tomorrow also brings some sadness for me.  On the day after Thanksgiving last year my sweet friend Becky went to Heaven.  While tomorrow isn't technically the anniversary of her death in my mind and heart it feels like it because it's the "day after Thanksgiving". 

We are planning to do some shopping tomorrow but I know in the back of everyone's mind will be our sweet Becky.  So, at the end of this day filled with thankfulness I am most thankful that Becky spent THIS Thanksgiving at the banquet table of our Lord. 

Baking with Kaylee

I love to bake and this afternoon I got to share that with one of my favorite people.  Kaylee is the three year old daughter of my friend Kari.  Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.:

"Crissa, this is yummy!"

A Good Laugh

A friend of mine introduced me to this blog:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

I've only read one post so far but it's hilarious!  I had to share.

Spoiler alert: I'll be baking yummy Thanksgiving goodies with my favorite 3 year old (Kaylee) this afternoon.  I'm sure that fun pictures and stories will follow...

Random

*  We had a chimney sweep come to the house yesterday.  I was very disappointed when he didn't sing and dance.

*  I sure wish my nephew Aiden would decide to come see me soon.

*  I really wish I had the foresight to get tickets for Oprah...she just gave out thousands of dollars in gifts to every audience member.

*  The week before Thanksgiving was probably not the best time to start counting weight watchers points.

* Speaking of Oprah, Garth Brooks is going to be on her show today.  Such memories...

*  At 4:00 yesterday afternoon I got an email saying that the children I was supposed to teach today weren't going to electives.  Score!

*  Reese and Tucker had a fight last night...poor Tuck is a lover, not a fighter so it was pretty one sided.

*  My siblings and I had come up with the best idea for my step-mom for Christmas...until she sold her way cool Jeep Rubicon yesterday!  Gift ideas anyone?

*  I love to bake!  Tomorrow I'm making my grandma Whittenberg's special chocolate sheet cake and sopapilla cheesecake.  Did I mention I'm counting WW points?  HA

*  I'm addicted to La Madeline's tomato soup.   I want it for lunch every day.

* I have two Thanksgiving celebrations to go to on Thursday.  Unfortunately, they are both at the same time.

Baby Jesus is MISSING

Many years ago my Mom made a ceramic nativity scene.  I have always loved it, and can remember playing with it (moving the animals around) when I was little.  When I had my own house for the first time, Mom let me take the beloved nativity scene with me.  I was so excited!

That Christmas I proudly displayed the nativity on my hutch and showed it off to anyone who visited.  After the holiday season ended my boyfriend at the time helped me carefully pack up my Christmas decorations.

The next Christmas rolled around and I began to unpack my nativity scene.  The baby Jesus was MISSING!  You can only imagine my horror!  I immediately blamed it on the (then) ex-boyfriend (Kyle...if you ever read this, I'm sorry).

I began describing the missing Jesus figurine to everyone in hopes that someone would stumble up on a replacement that looked something like this: 

For four years now I have looked sadly in the box on decorating day at my incomplete nativity scene...until today.


This afternoon the great Andrea Loder was looking in a box of seldom used Christmas decorations and she pulled out a tiny ceramic figurine and says "What's this?"   It was the missing Baby Jesus!!!

All is right with the world!  Thanks Andrea!

Family Members or Facebook Stalkers

Slowly over the last few years, the generation preceding me has joined the world of social media. I should have seen it coming, but just today realized what's going on....I'm being stalked.

Here's a list of just a few family members on Facebook who rarely post but always seem to know what is going on in their children, grandchildren, niece, nephew's lives:

Mom
Step-Mom
Aunt (times 3)
Uncle ( times 3)
...and Granddaddy (who I suspect to be the biggest stalker of all).

If you think about it, you are probably being stalked too.  How many relatives do you have out there who are always ON Facebook but never actually DOING anything on Facebook.

Both my Dad and Step-Dad have refrained from joining the social media world. My hat is off to the both of them.   Dale is oddly silent about it (which ALWAYS leads me to believe there's something up his sleeve).  Dad on the other hand has much to say about the wonderful world of Facebook.  I believe the direct quote would be "If I wanted the world to know my business I would tell them myself."

Sometimes I wonder why the FB stalkers out there don't say more, and just occasionally I'm tempted to force talk (although Granddaddy can't be forced...he just ignores). 

So...next time you see that your Mom, Dad, Grandma or Great Uncle twice removed is on Facebook remember...you may be being stalked!

Random Facts

* Honey has started licking the floor.  The vet says she's not missing any minerals or anything.  It makes us crazy!

* Zeke is on a new diet that involves feeding him carrots.  He's not a fan.

* Tucker is the most laid back dog on the planet...unless someone tries to get his food.  Then all bets are off.

* Reese tries really hard to be a guard dog...so much that he barks at the wind in the middle of the night.  Not fun.

*I'm currently have bronchitis.  The last time I had bronchitis was the day Reese came to live with us.  He was much quieter then.

* I stole the idea of a "Random" post from my Aunt Kim.

*Tonight is "bring a friend to choir" night for our church choir.  It kind of detracts from the friend bringing when I can't sing!

* I've been thinking about getting a picture of the puppies together.  Would it be worth the hassle?

* I'm glad that my siblings are giving me nephews! Blair's little boy is Gabriel was born August 5th.  Anna will bless me with Aiden any time now...I can't wait to meet him.

Wordless Wednesday

New Backyard 'Digs'

No, we have not hired a landscaper for our backyard....


To start at the beginning (because you know, it's the very best place to start), about three weeks ago we came home from work to find our fence line adorned with tiny red and orange flags on metal sticks.  If you have met Reese you are probably already laughing.  Imagine putting red waving flags in front of a nine month old puppy...yeah right!  We had no notice from anyone that they would be putting flags in our yard so we weren't overly concerned by the fact that Reese (and I suspect a friend or two) promptly obliterate all of the flags.

Fastforward two weeks and while the roomies are in the Grand Canyon I hear a knock at the door.  It is a very nice man from Atmos Energy.  He has just discovered that all of his pretty flags have disappeard.  Oops.  We proceed to formulate a plan where he will give me a day's notice and I will take Reese outside on a leash so the flags stay in place and they don't blow up our neighborhood when they dig.  Yea...

We got the phone call that the digging was about to start on Monday so I wasn't surprised to find some pretty flags when I got home from work today.  Let the leash potty-ing commence.

There is currently a large hole in our backyard along with all the pretty flags.  I'm not sure how long it's going to be there.  This should be fun!

I Saw the Sign

As many of you know I was fortunate enough to attend Saturday's World Series game.  It was incredible!  I can't begin to explain how crazy it was at the stadium.  Just looking at the sign that said "Welcome to the World Series" gave me chills!

If you want to see all of my pictures from the game you can go here (warning...there are a lot of pictures):

  http://picasaweb.google.com/carissa325/WorldSeries?authkey=Gv1sRgCJHboMe-8vmSMQ#

On Friday night I made a sign that I thought had a pretty good chance of making it on TV.  I spent a lot of time on this sign and was fairly proud of it. Most of the original sign can be seen in the following picture:

 

On Saturday, right before we left I decided to write on the other side "Who needs Cowboys when we have Rangers?"  I spent about 2 minutes working on it.  Who knew it would be such a hit (pun totally intended)!  Here's the prize winning sign:

As soon as we got to the park people kept asking to take a picture of the sign.  We were videoed by MLB Network, the Dallas NBC affiliate and about.com.  The sign was on the jumbo-tron and at least 500 people asked if they could take a picture of my sign.  On the way home a writer for the New York Times had quoted it in an article! 

Overall I have to say it was probably the coolest one day event of my life.  I'm a HUGE Ranger fan and never dreamed I would get to see MY team in the World Series!  It was a wonderful experience to share with my Dad!

If you see me eating Peanut Butter sandwiches all month don't be alarmed...I spent a small fortune at the gift shop...but it was worth every penny!

Taken after the last out, right as they set off the fireworks!

Becky

Today the roomies embark on a much awaited journey.  They will be travelling to the Grand Canyon to scatter their Mom's ashes.  While this is a huge physical journey, in many ways I think that it has (and will continue to be) an emotional journey. 

Becky Loder passed away eleven months ago today (the day after Thanksgiving).  While she had been sick for many years her passing was sudden.  More important than Becky's death, I want to tell you about Becky's life.  Becky was one of those people everyone wanted to befriend.  She was funny, loyal, caring and loving.  She loved her Lord and she loved her family.  While her illness caused her much pain, she was never one to complain to other people.  Even when she was feeling pretty bad, Becky could usually crack a joke and lighten up the mood in a room instantly.  Because I have been friends with her daughters for more than twenty years in many ways, losing Becky felt much like losing a member of my own family.

Over the last eleven months I have watched my best friends go through the hardest time in their lives and I think they have emerged stronger women for it.  On Saturday they will begin their hike down into the canyon.  This isn't a hike for the faint of heart...they are carrying their belongings, food and tent on their backs.  They will have to walk several miles just to get water! They have trained hard and are ready for this trip.  They will be in the canyon for three nights.   If you think about them over the next week please say a prayer for them.

Andrea has a blog about her mom: www.andrealoder.blogspot.com.  She is a great writer and her posts are inspiring!

Romans 12:12 says "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."  I think this verse describes Becky's life perfectly.  I sure do miss her!

Just one example...

of why life with my roommates is never boring!

 

They are leaving tomorrow for the Grand Canyon.  They will be hiking down into the canyon to scatter their Mom's ashes (I'll have to tell you about sweet Becky sometime).  I sure will miss them while they are gone!  

I'm In A Hurry...

Today reminds me of a song by Alabama that I loved as a kid called "In A Hurry To Get Things Done".  That seems to describe my life lately.  Last Wednesday I locked my keys in my car at McNiel.  My good friend Belinda bailed me out and took me home to get my spare key.  WHEW...

This morning at Ben Milam I shut my car door and immediately knew that my keys were in the car.

Guess where my spare key was........................


You got it; Still in the car from last week.  Sigh... 

Two hours, one locksmith and $30 later I was in my car and on my way to McNiel.  I happened to call my step-dad and he said "You're just in too big of a hurry."  So true!   Let my misfortune remind you to SLOW DOWN and enjoy life. 

In the spirit of enjoying life I thought I'd share this picture with you.  Tucker is definitely a dog who enjoys life!

Puppy Agility (or how to distract Reese in ten seconds or less).

You may or may not know that Reese has been going to puppy school since he was about four months old.  I decided early on that if I was going to have a big dog he was going to be well behaved (hopefully).  So far we have done Puppy Kindergarten and Beginning Obedience.  He has done fairly well...but he IS still a puppy...some things still need a lot of work! 

Last week we went to orientation for Puppy Agility.  At first, I was very excited about this class.  Because Reese has so much energy I figured it would be perfect for him! 

Excitement...well...that was before I took into account that Reese will spend most of the time in this class "off leash"....

The roomies will be the first people to tell you that he is MUCH better behaved ON leash than off. 

The class consists of five dogs, all under a year old.  Some of the dogs behaved better than others while they had to wait their turn (Reese was very good for this part). However when it was Reese's turn to try the obstacles he would rather have played with his four new best friend dogs.  This was especially frustrating for me!

Tonight we got to try three obstacles:

Ladder:  Dogs have to walk inside the rungs of an extension ladder.  Sounds easy, right???  It was...once Reese figured out that his BACK legs had to go over the rungs too!

Starter Weave Poles:  Imagine the weave poles you know and love but put them off center.  They start this way and gradually move them together as the dog progresses.  This was by far Reese's best performance of the night!

Table:  About six inches high.  Dogs have to sit on it for five seconds.  Again...easy right???  Well...not our strong suit.  My silly dog was afraid to get on it.  He wasn't the only one who had trouble but it was a little embarrassing since the three pound miniature dachshund did it easily!

All of this was apparently exhausting!

Oh well...there's always next week.  Time to practice!

Priorities

Reese joined our house in April and at that time he was a small, fairly quiet dog.  In the last six months he has become a huge, fairly LOUD dog.  Normally this is a problem we can deal with.

We ran into a problem two weeks ago tonight.  You see, in our house the one show we ALWAYS watch the same night that it comes on is Grey's Anatomy. There are no phone calls, other shows, trips to the store, etc...  The "Grey's Hour" is sacred. 


Reese didn't understand...

On season premier night, instead of the desired hour of  Grey's Anatomy wonderfulness what we got was an hour full of dog barking, growling, playing, whining and generally NOT being quiet. 

If you, like Reese, fail to see the importance of quiet during the coveted hours of 8:00 and 9:00 on Thursday evening please call me.  I will fix you.

In the last two weeks Reese and I seem to have come to an agreement. 

Such a good boy!  Let the Grey's hour begin...

Wordless Wednesday

The Characters

For several months now a couple of people have commented that I should start a blog about the crazy things that go on in my life. The majority of the craziness revolves around my dogs (hence the title "The Mutt Hut").

The Cast

Honey

Honey is a 16 year old Chihuahua and Fox Terrier mix. We adopted her from the humane society when I was fifteen. She is a sweet old girl and we've been through a lot together!

Reese

Reese is a 7 1/2 month old mutt. My roommates brought him home for me one day. I didn't realize I was in the market for a dog but there he was. Most of the craziness in our house revolves around Mr. Reese.

The Supporting Cast:


The roommates, Amanda and Andrea.

We have been friends since we were in first grade. Even without the dogs the three of us are capable of plenty of mischief.

Zeke

Zeke belongs to Andrea. He is 11 years old and probably the #2 cause of craziness in our house.

Tucker

Amanda's sweet dog is named Tucker. He is 4 years old and everyone's best friend. Don't get me wrong...he can cause mischief too!


It won't take you long to learn to love these crazy guys as much as I do!