Bye Bye Baby Tooth

Trace lost his first tooth!! (On July 16th... I'm way behind)

 I'll admit, it was a very bittersweet day.  I had JUST gotten off the phone with Lucia, who told me the class roster for Kindergarten had been posted on the Parent's Web for CCS.  No sooner had I fired up the computer and found his name, officially verifying in writing that he is starting school in just a few days (sniff, sniff, I was still in denial) than he appeared at my door with his tooth literally laying on it's side in his mouth. 

Jimmy sprung into action.  He found some dental floss and began tying it to Trace's bottom front tooth.

Really???  Are we seriously going to tie his tooth to the door and slam it, like the cave men did?

Yes, apparently we are.

** Please disregard the fact that Trace is in his underwear.  I'm not sure why he's naked.  He's begun a new ritual of taking off ALL of his clothes when he uses the bathroom (#2)  I'm assuming he had just come from the potty but then again I've found him on more than one occasion lounging in the nude while watching TV in the middle of the day.  I'm hoping this phase wears itself out quickly...

I grabbed the video camera and said a silent prayer that this wouldn't forever traumatize our little lad. 

 

It totally worked!!  That little tooth just popped right out, and then the search began to find it in the carpet.I wish I could upload the video, because you should have heard some obnoxious parents in the background screaming and hooting.  I don't know what's happened to us.

This is the next morning, showing his loot from the tooth fairy and the pillow Sisty made him to put it in.  A debate broke out on Facebook about how much the tooth fairy leaves for the first tooth these days and although our nation is in an economic crisis, the overwhelming majority agreed silver change is no longer sufficient.  5 bucks...really?!?!  We've come a long way since the day I got multiple teeth knocked out by my brother and his plastic golf club.  (He claims he has no memory of said event, but he remembers...)

So the sucker that I am, took him the next night to spend his tooth fairy money (plus the few extra dollars that the grands gave him) at Kohls.  I had to return some shoes and had a 30% coupon, plus they were having a huge sale.  Needless to say, there was no sale on the toys that week, so I put an extra $5 with it to buy him a Cyclone Kick Batman, which stopped cyclone kicking before we even got out of the Chick-Fil-A drive thru and home.  Sigh.

His new tooth has started to grow in already and the one beside it is already loose.  He will probably start Kindergarten snaggle-toothed, which is adorable. This boy is growing up SO fast!!

Summer So Far...

Summer has hardly begun, but since it's been 100 degrees since March, it feels like we should be breaking out the sweaters and jeans.  Although I'm ready for some cooler temps, I'm not ready to turn my boy loose in four short weeks to the wild world of Kindergarten. :(   I'm trying to savor this time.

A quick summer recap in pictures...

We started off the summer by celebrating the "pending" arrival of precious Harper, at where else...Fuji.
I mean, what else screams "Welcome Baby"  like flying knives and oil fueled fire???  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the GG's together.  Sorry ladies!

Countdown to Disney!!

 Jimmy chased down (literally) the ice cream truck to fetch an enormously over-inflated popsicle for these rascals.  Knowing where we live, you know that was no easy task.  But they sure were happy!  Thanks daddy!

We did VBS in late June and it was a huge success!  I was in charge of snacks again (THE best job to have) and aside from all of  the terrifying allergies, it was a really fun week.

Trace was in the preschool group, and they technically don't get to help make the snacks.  But since Mama's in charge, he got to hang with the big boys one day and make barbells out of pretzels, grapes and cheese. (And most importantly, wear the hat)  It pays to have connections.

We took a ride on the pontoon over to the rope swings we found at the end of last summer. Somehow after this manly dismount (hee hee), Jimmy ended up lounging in the water while I did all the heavy lifting...

 

Ohhh, those thighs!

A fun filled night of dancing in the living room (to Poison's Unskinny Bop) hit a sour note when Trace fell on his elbow.  The X-Rays were totally worth it, though the fascination with the sling lasted only about 5 hours.

Ginger's last squirrel.

Making Great Frank's 93rd birthday flag cake.

I love you daddy.

I'm gonna gently pat your face...

and hug your neck...

and then kiss you FULL on the mouth, tongue and all. :)

She has started giving the SWEETEST hugs.  Sometimes when I'm putting her down at night, she'll wrap her arms around me, lay her head on my shoulder and I can feel her little eyelashes tickling my neck. Butterfly kisses.

(I have no idea why my words are now blue and underlined.  I REALLY need to take a computer class.)

And now it's stopped??  

Our dear friend Sherry turned 60 and had a b-day bash at her church. 

 

 (Someone needs to tell my children, there is no dancing at the Church of Christ ;)  Uhhh, us Methodists.

Minnow catching in the creek...

This is what happens when you send your husband to Publix for coffee.

Learning (and loving) to eat corn on the cob.

Her favorite toy is my mascara.  She grabs it off my vanity and takes off running.
We didn't catch her in time.  You should have seen her tongue.

We're looking forward to a lot more summer fun before school begins!!

All Dogs Go To Heaven

I know not all will agree with the title, but I have to believe I will see this sweet face again someday. 

That her and Chase will be running to greet us at heaven's pearly gates, just like they did everyday when we walked through the back door. 

As wonderful as the 4th of July was, July 5th was equally as horrible.  We knew we were on borrowed time.  We thought we had lost Ginger on Christmas night but God granted us 7 more months with her and for that we are so thankful.  Chase (her doggy husband and daddy of their 6 puppies) died when Trace was 15 months old.  They were Jimmy's family long before we were.  They watched him become a husband and a father.  He spent nearly half of his life loving them.  Losing Ginger was like the end of an era.

For people that don't have dogs or whose dogs aren't their "family," this may sound ridiculous.  But to us, they were our first children.  Jimmy wasn't known on the water by what boat he drove, but as the guy with the 2 white dogs.  He was rarely on the lake without them.  They vacationed with us, we went on "field trips" just for them, they rode in the car on dates with us. He had a connection to those 2 like I've never seen between a human and a pet.  I could watch him with Ginger and Chase and know exactly what kind of daddy he would be.

I met Chase and Ginger in October 2001, around our 3rd date.  I knew he had dogs, but I had NO idea at the time just what a test our first meeting really was.  Some relationship deal breakers are where you live, what religion you chose, how many kids you want to have.  Ours was, "Can you love my dogs too?"  And love I did.  It was the easiest thing to do, to fall in love with those dogs at the same time I was falling in love with him.    Kinda like, buy 1 get 2 free.

One of our first "dates."

Wherever we were on New Years Eve or the 4th of July we always got back before dark because Ginger was terrified of fireworks and thunder.   I can't tell you how many times we sped across town rushing to get home before it stormed to be there with her. She would lay there trembling in Jimmy's lap. They were both happiest that way.

New Years Eve 2002

Those dogs saw the beach more than some adults ever do.  We've made so many memories with them.

Building the deck, after we moved into the house.

Destin, summer of 2006, right after I found out I was pregnant.

Waiting on Trace...

Ginger was here to welcome both of our babies home...

and then proudly watched over them like the mamadog she was...

was occasionally tortured by them...

Do you want my apple???  Just try and get it.

Keatyn giving her a mani/pedi.

They often shared breakfast together.

But she never doubted how very much    

she was loved...

Her 14th birthday

Any given Sunday.

I'm sorry for being so obnoxious with all of these pictures.  Once I started, I couldn't stop. 
This blog is the story of our family, and she was such a huge part of our story.

Her favorite fishing hole in Destin.

 It wasn't a complete family photo without her in it...

She wasn't always to blame for messing up our photo ops.

Daddy's spic-n-span new boat... plus a few thousand white dog hairs.

One of my all time favorites.  A boy and his dog.

She always knew just who to sit beside.

Christmas 2008

I wish I had more pictures of Ginger and Keatyn.  They were quite a pair.  Ginger wasn't too fond of the whole "baby learning to walk" phase and was a little gun shy after being the landing pad through 2 toddlers.  They say, the second child always gets slided on the pictures, well, the same is true for the dog after the second child comes along.  :(

When I picked Trace up from school on Thursday, I knew Ginger didn't have long and I tried to prepare him.  He came in the house and went to where she was lying in the living room.  We told him we were taking her to the vet and that she probably wasn't coming home.  He kissed her and told her it was OK, that she was going to heaven to live with Jesus.  He believes she is in heaven with Chase and that her body is young and healed again and that together they are chasing squirrels like they did when they were young.  She outlived several of her puppies, so I like to imagine a sweet reunion across the Rainbow Bridge.

 We knew we wouldn't have them forever and we are blessed we had them for as long as we did.  It's just the longer they are here, the longer you love them, the more apart of your heart they become and the harder it is to remember your life without them.  We are dog-less for the first time in our marriage.  Jimmy is dog-less for the first time in 18+ years.  Honestly, maybe for the first time in 42 years.  Just this morning, he was googling "Brittany puppies."  No puppy can ever replace them, and the next dog we have will certainly be the "kid's" dog.  I think it's so important for kids to grow up with pets.  They learn so many life lessons from them. 

Thank you Ginger for giving us more love and loyalty in your 15 years than we ever deserved!  Thank you for sharing your daddy with me and for loving (and tolerating) our babies.  You were the best package deal I ever got!