February 28

Elliott went to his first school dance last night. I managed to get one good picture of him… and a lot of silly ones.

His friend sent me this one.

February 27

While Elliott was at baseball practice, I took Lucy swimsuit shopping. 

Science experiment with yeast and different temperatures.

February 26

Wednesday night fun in the nursery.

Framed pawprint for Kat

Lucy picked this picture out of her and Gus.

I took advantage of the pretty weather today and got the monkey grass trimmed back and raked leaves out of the front landscaping. 

February 25

The vet called to let me know Gus’s paw prints were ready to be picked up. I hadn’t cried in a couple of days. This brought on the waterworks.

Elliott claimed Gus’s collar almost immediately. I thought this was a cute way to display it. He picked out the picture he wanted framed.

Julia made this bowl for Gus, so she wanted it. I added succulents (fake) to make it cute.

Lucy got an ink pawprint. We are going to frame it along with a picture of her and Gus. Kat claimed his leash, but doesn’t want it displayed. 

February 24

Kindergarten Sunday School is fun 

Washing the salt off my van. Yay for sunny skies and warmer temperatures.

February 23

Mamaw and Bapaw came over last night to eat homemade pizzas and watch the UK basketball game.

February 22

I found these in the fridge. I may have cried. I think for the rest of our lives, green beans will remind us of Gus. He sure loved them!

February 21

We kept busy. Elliott has a school dance coming up, so we went shopping for a dress shirt and new shoes. We also got some baseball cleats. For the first in a long time he went to the barber.

I think he looks handsome. Now we’ll see if he will actually dance at the dance. He says he will not. Ha! 

Kat suggested we all play Monopoly. It made my mama heart happy to have my family together for hours. 

There were tears over the dog, but not as much as yesterday. I have grieved him more than I expected. I miss that wet nose poking me throughout the day. 

February 20

This has been a day. Clay called last night when we were on our way home from church to say that when he got home from the gym, something was wrong with Gus. He couldn’t go down steps, could barely walk, and had thrown up a few times. I slept in the Family Room with him, hoping that by morning he would be improved. At that point I suspected maybe he ate something he shouldn’t have. At 5am, he managed to go outside and go potty (he wasn’t walking great, but better than last night), but didn’t eat. He LOVES his meals, so that let me know that something was wrong. As the morning progressed, he wasn’t improving, so I called the vet and made an appointment. Then he started improving (he could lick his food, but not chew it) and he drank a little water. By the time we got to the vet, his adrenaline must have been pumping because he was lively, panting, and pacing the room (albeit with a stagger). The vet examined him and said she suspected either kidney disease or a stroke. She said she would never euthanize an animal who has a chance for an improved quality of life, but she didn’t think Gus would improve. So we made the VERY hard choice to put him down. He went peacefully. It. Was. Sad. The kids were very torn up. They even had Clay crying. Julia didn’t want to see him in his declined state and had a full day of classes plus a Thermodynamics test tomorrow. I hate that for her. I wouldn’t be able to study. We did go to the vet that she used to work for, so she knew Gus was in good hands and her friend Victoria came and loved on him too. Poor Elliott and Lucy have no memories of life without Gus. I spent the afternoon working on photo books of Gus for each kid, which was therapeutic. We have a lot of good memories with him. He was a great dog.

February 19

Elliott has created a resume and applied for his first “real” job. Wish him luck!

February 18

Before we got ANOTHER round of snow, I ran to the grocery store and grabbed some milk and other odds and ends. I wanted chicken noodle soup with homemade egg noodles. Yum!

February 17

We went to bed Saturday night to a thunderstorm and torrential rain (we got between 3 and 4 inches). Some areas in the city are flooded. Then we woke up Sunday to this.

Since there was no time for the roads to be treated between the rain and snow, the roads were bad. We had 1 kid in kindergarten Sunday School. 

There was a lot of standing water next to the roads (under the trees) on our way home from church.

February 16

After dropping Lucy off at a birthday slumber party, Elliott and I grabbed dinner. Clay was refereeing a jiu jitsu tournament and Kat was hanging out with Mamaw and Bapaw. 

February 15

I subbed Kindergarten on Valentine’s Day yesterday. They were pretty wound up, but sweet. I definitely had to be more strict than I normally would have because they would have lost their ever-loving minds. 

February 14

This girl is now signed up for orientation, has accepted her scholarship, and has applied for housing at WKU. Prayers that she makes good choices for the next six months. 

February 13

Kat and I got the oil changed and tires rotated on our cars.

Worn out after school. Clay and Elliott didn’t get home until late Tuesday from the UK vs Tennessee basketball game.

February 11

Pamela loves broccoli! 

February 10

These two were greeters at church. The height difference keeps growing!

Clay, Kat, and I played Monopoly during the Superbowl. Clay whooped us.

Elliott and Lucy went to a Superbowl party with friends.

February 9

Clay, Elliott, Lucy, and I went to the UK basketball game yesterday. We found four seats that were for resale and hadn’t sold, so we sat in them-much closer than our season tickets. We got to spend a little time with Julia too.