The "North Carolina Pole"

Hello All - Dan and I had the pleasure of going to the "North Carolina Pole" this weekend! We're not kidding! We went to Anita and Tommy's home to bring them there new little pups (the 2 girls from our last litter) and you would NEVER believe how beutiful their home was! It was AMAZING! Christmas like I have never seen in a home. And ofcourse Chloe (their little girl pup from our last littler) had her red boe on to match! Here is a photo of Anita, Tommy, Nancy (Anita's Mom) and Pappy (Anita's Dad) and ofcourse the three pups (Lovie Ann, Chloe and ??) We're not sure what Anita and Tommy's new little one will be named, but they are the sweetest! We're so pleased to know all of them :)

We stopped by their home on our way down to Charlotte for the Neil Diamond Concert. And what do you know ... 3hrs into VA .... Heidi got a speeding ticket! Havent had a ticket in almost 9 yrs .... and its manditory that I go to Raleigh to court :( Not a very good start to the trip, but we did have a GREAT time at the concert. Neil Diamond was amazing and we had incredible seats!

Best wishes to everyone for a fantastic holiday!

Caitlyn's Chorus Program

Caitlyn had a performance last night at her school. It was really great. Dan and I really enjoy going to them. I video taped a portion of their song .... its from my phone so please bare with us on the quality :)

Caitlyn, also, got her progress report where she had 6 A's and 2 B's :) We're very proud of her :)!! She has signed up for her classes next year (seems early doesnt it???) and she'll be in statistics, chemistry, AP government, honors english, criminal justice, study block, PE and spanish 4 ....... scary isnt it!!

Happy Holidays!

Dan, Heidi and Caitlyn

Lance ... Going Bald :)

Hello!

Lance, Dan's Brother, went to a get together for a friends wife's cancer. In the spirit of supporting her in her struggle with cancer over 70 people (including Lance) shaved their heads. Here's Lance ... freshly shaven :)

We are wishing the very best of health to his friend and wife. Way to go Lance :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!!
Dan, Caitlyn and I had a wonderful holiday. It was quiet, but yummy! We fixed a ham and turkey ... the ham was on Heidi's behalf because shes not a turkey fan :) We enjoyed our day together. On Saturday we were fortunate enough to get to visit friends of our family - Anita and Tommy and their family in Nags Head, NC. Anita and Tommy have one of our puppies from our last litter ... Chloe and they will be the proud parents of another little girl puppy from this litter. They are, also, getting one of the girls for Anita's parents. Anita and Tommy are both very special people and we just love them! We took a photo of Anita and Chloe and it was too blurry (I'm sorry Anita :() to post. We met so many of their family we wish that we had written their names down so we could caption these photos. Darnit! We'll post them anyway with a note that we had a great visit and truly appreciated their hospitality.

The beautiful Maltese/LhasoApso is Bella ... she is as sweet in person as she is in the photo! She is the baby of Anita/Tommy's little boy Scotty. He was a Maltese and they mated him with a LhasoApso. The same day that little Scotty passed away was the day that little Bella was born! What a sweetheart!

As you can see in the photos we had the pleasure of meeting Anita's Mom and Dad (Pappy). Pappy was quite fond of one of the little boys and we thought that Pappy would appreciate the photo we took of Hewey this afternoon (the top photo of the santa outfit and the one right below).....

This is the other little boy :) Isnt he sweet!

And a trip to the Outerbanks wouldnt be complete without a hoodie sweatshirt and Caitlyn's "I'm Cool" face :) You might be surprised to know that she picked out this sweatshirt ... Dan and I had to walk around the store with her today wearing this .... its a little scary :)

The last photo is a photo that Dan and Heidi took from outside the front of the house. When Dan's mother passed away his neighbor and long time friend of the family told him that every time he see's a rainbow to think of his Momma. Its always a special reminder when we see one and in this particular case it was running through clouds.

Happy Holidays to everyone! Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes to all of you!

Dan, Heidi and Caitlyn!

Its SNOWING!!

Yep ... Caitlyn woke Dan and I up this morning (at 5:55am :() to tell us that it was snowing out! Actually, she woke us up to tell us it was snowing and she wanted a ride to the bus stop :) Dan was a winner and took her. I slept an extra 5 minutes :)

I dont have any pictures of the snow yet, but Ill post those later. I suppose all of our leaves will drop from the trees now. Its actually not that cold. I think it was colder yesterday, but I think the market scared the snow out of the sky!! I am having a hard time not obsessing on the market changes .... its taking its toll. Its quite painful to see $$ dissappear :( Dan and I are choosing to look at the bright side (when we remember to or remind each other to) that our continued investment during this down time will mean more $$ in the future for us. Sometimes that helps heal the pain ... sometimes it doesnt. I found myself saying a prayer in the car on the way to work this morning "please God .... let the markets do better today and let the people we elected take better care of their constituents". So, far the market is up from yesterday :) I think I will make a point of having these discussions with God more often (yes ... even if the market goes down I wont give up).

Speaking of prayers ... Dan/Caitlyn/I are sending our love and prayers out to my family in CO. My Papa isnt doing very well right now. My Mom is out there to help. We're sending our love and prayers.

I think that Grandpa got his final cast off yesterday. He seemed very excited for his Dr appointment and the opportunity for freedom :)

Have a great day and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Caitlyn's Report Card!

Hello!

Caitlyn brought home her first high school report card .... 7 A's and 1 B! Exceptional! We are so proud of her! The workload she has is tremendous on top of being in the advanced academy. She is really doing exceptional. She tries out for the swim team this week ... so we'll have photos to post of that. We're not sure what to expect with regards to competitions so we'll see, but we do know that Cat is a phenomenal swimmer. We havent figured out how well manage the driving to/from practice since they dont have an activity bus, but we'll figure it out.

Did I mention that our gas is below $2 here? It was 1.75/gallon the other day! Amazing ... almost as amazing as Cat's grades!

Cat's last two soccer games are this weekend .... so we'll have a busy Saturday. Pray for good weather for us :)

Latest Photos of the Pups!

Puppies and more puppies!! 6 weeks old today :)

Caitlyn :)

Caitlyn had a very busy weekend ... three soccer games, her best friends bd party, halloween and a sleepover at her friends tonight! Here is Caitlyn's idea of getting ready for winter ... nice hat, but notice the flip flops??? I seem to remember a LOT of arguments between she and Dan on this very subject :)

here is another one with a little more character :) Yes ... that is my daughter :)

Cat's Soccer Game ... they WON!!

Last weekend Cat's soccer games were cancelled due to rain and we thought the same would happen today, but they actually played in the rain! The game was in Moyock, NC ... getting there was an adventure all in itself, but all troubles were ok when the kids won :) I belive the score was 5 to 1.

We had a wonderful visit from Mark (Dans brother) and Shelley last night. They were on their way back from Hilton Head. They had Annabelle with them ... she is one of our puppies from 3.5yrs ago. She is adoreable!! It was great to see all three of them. I should have a photo to post here ... but I dont :( I'll remember next time.

Well .. I am off to pick Cat up from the Haunted House/Pumpkin Patch. She went with her friend Travis from Middle School. Hes a great kid!

Suburban Off In The Sunset .... More puppies

The Burb has found a new family. Its sad, but true. The family that bought it are a young couple with two kids and the husband is just in love with the Suburban. We know that they will take great care of it and they appreciated how much Dan took care of it. I took a photo of the Burb driving off into the sunset and Dan in the KMart shopping center where we met the buyers :( We have now sold the Camry and the Suburban ... down to one vehicle until we buy a replacement. Actually, we're down to 0 cars right now, because we brought the TBird into the shop to get the air conditioning etc. fixed. We have had three cars for the past 10 years so this will take some adjustment. The good news is that we do most everything together anyway ... driving to/from work together ... Cats soccer and Dan does all the grocery shopping before I can even think about waking up on Saturday morning. Has anyone else noticed that men can buy a lot more for less at the grocery store? I am amazed at how much Dan buys for $100 ... when I go and think "ok I can do this" I walk out with a $300 bill! How can that be! I have come to the conclusion that its just better for Dan to do the grocery store! I never miss anything when he goes so what the heck am I buying?? Its insane!

Caitlyn is doing great in school and is now part of two clubs (yes ... soccer, two clubs and ....) the Young Democrats and The Green Team. I'm afraid to say that we're not always a very good example of being the "green family" but I feel better since my Dad installed the new thermostats :) I can officially say we're saving energy :) Does that count? Probably it would go over better if we recycled our soda/soup cans. We'll get there. My biggest issue is that recycling lends itself to a lot of empty food cans sitting around. Inevitably they stink and attract bugs. Its not a good excuse, but if there was an answer (without washing every bottle and can) I would probably be better about it.

The puppies are growing by leaps and bounds! They are starting to eat some regular food (slowly but we'll get there) and their teeth will come in shortly. Here is a video of the pups playing. I wish I could get the video to really show how darn cute they are! The littlest girl (I secretly call her Zoe :) is so small! She is about half the size of the others. The other little girl is small, too, but not nearly as small as Zoe. Enjoy!

I took a few photos of the pups this evening that were pretty cute. Zoe is the little one on the far right. The little boy on the far left (the biggest one) has the most personality so far. Hes very active and fun! Until another day best wishes from Dan, Heidi, Cat, Gunner, Liberty, Stanely and the Pups!

Puppies ... 3 weeks old