Wednesday, August 18, 2010

All Dogs Go To Heaven

This past Saturday, August 14, 2010, our family had to say goodbye to a special friend. My parents had to put down our toy poodle, Desi. I say "our" because she was technically my dog.

The summer when I was 15, I baby-sat for the son of one of Mom's co-workers. He was an only child too, and I think we just fell in love with each other. He was about 8 years old and was like the little brother I never had. Even after that summer, I would keep up with him, since our moms worked together. The next summer, as I was turning 16, they gave me the coolest present....first pick from a litter of toy poodle puppies. They had a female and had decided to breed her. Instead of keeping the first pick, they gave it to me for my birthday. I still remember going to their house when the puppies were just 2 weeks old and making my "pick". How I told them apart, I'll never know, since they were such tiny balls of black fluff. But I managed to choose one and we tied a red ribbon around her neck so we would know which one she was. A few weeks later I brought her home.

Desi was instantly part of the family! And in keeping with the true, girly poodle impression, when she got her hair cut, she came home with ribbons on her ears and painted toe nails to match! She and I were best pals! When the time came for me to go to college, she of course stayed at home but was ever so happy to see me when I would come home for the weekend or holidays. Momma always teased me that when I finally moved out, I was taking Desi too. However, when I got married and was moving out, Desi stayed with my parents. They became so attached to her that they were not willing to give her up too! So while she was "mine", she ended up being my parents' dog.

As she got older, her health got bad, as happens to most of us. We learned about a year or two ago that she had developed a heart murmur, so I knew that the time was coming closer. She had several times in the past year when we all thought this was the end for her, but she would bounce back. However, this past week was just too much suffering for her, so Mom and Dad had to make the tough decision to have her put to sleep. I had already told them that whatever decision they made, I was agreeable with. So while I was expecting to get a phone call one day soon, I was still shocked on Saturday morning when Mom called to tell me that Desi was no longer here. My dad stayed with her until she fell asleep, and then he buried her out at the edge of our yard, where he had buried my cat.


Desi was the sweetest dog and she was part of our lives for 15 wonderful years. We will miss her dearly, but she will always be in our hearts.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Quinn's visit to Nana and Papa's

Hi everybody....it's Quinn again! This time I'm going to tell you about my trip to visit Nana and Papa. They are Daddy's parents. They came to see us last Saturday because Daddy's birthday was soon. When they went back home, I went with them, and Nana brought me home after a few days. I got to go to their new church and visit some of my family.



Nana knows how much I love my Magna Doodle so she made sure that Mommy packed it.



This is my cousin David. He is only 3 months older than me. He's a lot of fun. He has a big brother named Trey and a big sister named Rebecca. He only lives a few minutes from Nana and Papa. Sometimes he stays with Nana and Papa for the whole day. When he goes to school, Nana gets to pick him up too.


On Monday, it was just me and Nana and Trey. Nana took us to a park so I could play. We tried to go see some animals at the nature center but the doors were locked. Nana said they were closed on Mondays but she didn't know it. It was ok because I love playgrounds. There is one right behind Nana's house too, but this one is much bigger. Look how big the slides are!




I really liked playing with Trey. He is a big boy. He just had a birthday and he was 12! Not many 12 year olds would want to play with a little guy like me, but Trey is used to it because of David. Nana thought it was funny that I tried to do everything Trey was doing. It was like having a big brother of my own!







There was this big pile of little rocks and shells and stuff. Nana said you could sift through it and find cool rocks or shells. I preferred to run to the top of the pile and then jump down! Maybe next time we can bring a shovel or sifter and try to find treasures.



We also found some dinosaur bones. Nana told me that this was another kind of animal that God made but they aren't alive anymore. She also said that someone found his bones in the ground and laid them out so we could see what it probably looked like. I don't know much more about dinosaurs, but I know they can ROAR!




On Tuesday, Nana was really brave and let me and David play together at her house all day! Trey came over too and he helped Nana watch us. When David got to Nana's, we shared a waffle breakfast!


Nana has a little park behind her house. There is a playground and a place to walk around a track and also this water place. It is so cool because the water comes out of the ground and splashes you. When we went to Nana's house in June, they water park was being built, but now you can play. It was so much fun!




Dear Nana and Papa,

Thank you for letting me come to your house for a few days. It was my first time staying with you without Mommy and Daddy. I had so much fun at your house and I want to come every summer too! I love you!

Love, Quinn

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Quinn's trip to SC

Hi everyone....it's Quinn. Mommy said I could tell you all about my trip to SC. Remember when Mommy told you about Great-Grandma's birthday? She is 90! That's a lot of birthdays. Anyways Mommy and Daddy went home after the party and I got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa and Great-Grandma. Grandma and Grandpa had to do a lot of things in the garden, but we still had a lot of fun.

This is me and my Great-Grandma. I wasn't really in the mood to take pictures with her at her party, but when we got home, I was happy to sit in her lap and cuddle with her.


The next day, I showed her how to draw on my MagnaDoodle. She thought it was really cool and she said they didn't have that when she was a little girl! I like this toy a lot. I can draw and when I fill up the screen, I can erase and start over! I like to use this to draw the clues when I watch Blues Clues.



After awhile I got tired of drawing and just wanted to sit with her. I think she just wanted to sit with me too.



Mommy doesn't like this picture. She thinks its proof that I got spoiled while I was at Grandma's house. Mommy says she would never have been allowed to make such a mess and then sit in the basket. Mommy forgets that Great-Grandma didn't have this basket when she was a little girl, so who knows. But, I probably shouldn't have pulled all the books off the shelf. (Don't tell Mommy but everyone laughed when I did it, so it must have been ok!)



Later in the day, we had to have a watermelon break. Watermelon is sooooo yummy, but kind of messy. Don't worry about that little butter knife I have. I would never cut my hand like Mommy did!



I love my Great-Grandma. She is so special!


Grandma was so surprised when she walked in the living room and saw me and Grandpa wrestling on the floor. See, Mommy doesn't have any brothers or sisters, so Grandpa never had any little boys to rough-house with. He can't play as rough as me and Daddy do, cause Grandpa's heart has a special part in it, but we still had fun!


See, I even turned him into my very own Grandpa-Horse!


When I got done wrestling Grandpa, I found his hat and his shoes. I put them on and everyone thought I was so cute. And I guess I am kind of cute!


Then I had to take a break to color some pictures. I love to color in my coloring book. Mommy is proud of me! She says I have never colored on the walls like some kids do. Why is she knocking on the wooden table? She's so silly!


One day I was standing near the window and I heard a knock on it. When I looked outside, it looked like a monster was outside......


But it was just my Grandpa. Isn't he silly too?!? I guess that's where Mommy gets it.


Dear Grandma and Grandpa and Great-Grandma,

Thank you so much for letting me come to your house for a few days! I had so much fun with you. I hope we can do this every summer! I love you.

Love, Quinn