Go, Go, Goers!

This is a post that I'm not very excited to write.  As you probably know, our oldest dog, Spanky, had struggled with health issues (ear infections, seizures) his whole life, and recently, his health had severely deteriorated.  He hadn't been eating, his ear infection was so severe his face was swollen, he had a hard time getting up the stairs, and he very rarely wanted to play.  Last week we got a few tail wags from him, and he ate a few bowls of food, but it was a 50-50 chance that he would actually keep the food down. On Thursday, we made the decision that if he wasn't any better by this weekend, we were going to put him down.  I know Scott didn't want to make that decision as Spanky was a very special dog to him - he truly was his little buddy, following him around everywhere, wanting to be wherever Scott was, and howling his sadness whenever Scott would leave him. Throughout Friday night, it became clear that Spanky wasn't going to have a miraculous recovery

The good news: The house will be listed this Friday, 2/22 - hoping that the third time is a charm for this listing! The house projects leading up to the listing are winding down, and now it's just time for a good cleaning and some de-cluttering.  The fireplace renovation looks great - way to go, Scott! We survived a one-hour wait for dinner on Valentine's Day, even though we had reservations.  We made friends at the bar, so it wasn't all bad... Ava and I managed not to kill each other while signing her name to her Valentine's Day cards for pre-school.  You'd think that with a super short name like hers, it wouldn't be a big deal.  But, it was painful.  Another reminder that I would not make a good teacher...lack o'patience! At the same time we were signing her name to the cards, she was reading the list of classmates to me.  And I mean reading !  She read the names to me in order that they were on the sheet!  And we've been working on sounding out

I have to say...our new TV is pretty awesome.  Normally I wouldn't say that, as I don't want to encourage excessive TV watching, but this TV deserves those accolades. We hadn't bought a new TV for seven years or so (nothing was broken, so why would we?) but a few months ago, we decided to start looking for something bigger, brighter and shinier.  And we found it!  I love, love, love how easy it is to stream from Netflix, Skype with my parents, and watch movies in 3D.  I even found an app that helps teach reading!  I am constantly amazed at how technology evolves and changes our lives.  It'll be interesting to see what the differences will be in seven more years... Even with this fabulous new addition, I still cherish the rare silence that I sometimes find in our house.  Yesterday afternoon, Scott took Ava on some errands, all three dogs were sitting quietly, the TV was off, the washer wasn't running, and it was QUIET.  I sat in a patch of sun on the living room ca