Spooky!

Last year, Logan did not carve a Jack-o-Lantern.  It was too much of a mess and I figured that he really wouldn't enjoy it all that much at his age.  Instead, we did cute little glitter pumpkins which was a lot of fun for him!  This year, I felt it was Jack-o-Lantern time!  Being a very smart mother, I suggested we do the Jack-o-Lantern carving at my parents house (less mess here, more mess there!)  Dad was more than happy to help out.  Logan loved everything about the Jack-o-Lantern except putting his hand inside the pumpkin.  He was cool with the pumpkin guts outside of the pumpkin, but would not put his hand in the pumpkin to pull it out.

Pulling the top off

Scooping the seeds out.  Logan really enjoyed scooping the seeds off the paper plate and dropping them on the table...

Logan picked out the sticker templates he wanted to put on the pumpkin.

Helping Pappy pull out the carved pumpkin.

This is fun!



The finished product.  The eyes are a little freaky...

Logan and Mr. Jack-o-Lantern!  He loved having it lit up and then blowing out the candle!

ROARRRRRRRRR!!!!

I am in charge of a local play group and one activity we do each year is to have  a Halloween party at our local library.  Last year, most of the kiddos were babies and barely toddlers.  This year, they are almost all toddlers so the party was really fun!  I didn't want to post pictures of the other children on my blog as I hadn't asked for permission, but I wanted to share a few cute photos of Logan having fun a the party. 

On a mild side note/rant.  I just want to discuss my difficulty in finding Logan a Halloween costume this year!  The past two years his costumes have been from Old Navy and I loved them because they are jacket/pant combos.  I had a sneaking suspicion Logan would not dig the bodysuit type costumes, so I had planned on going with Old Navy again.  Unfortunately, they only had about 6 choices for toddler boys and we had already worn 2 of them.  I wasn't a fan of the remaining 4 options, so I decided to look elsewhere.  I was hoping for a dinosaur, lion, or elephant costume.  I went to the local party store and they had about 14 toddler costumes to choose from.  Not too bad until I saw that there were about 150 adult costumes to choose from!  Really?!?!  I thought Halloween was a children's holiday!!  Apparently, I am mistaken because the next Halloween store I went to had a total of 10 toddler costumes available.  I found a lion and purchased it, but wasn't pleased with the price tag on it especially since the quality was bad.  I stopped at a couple other Halloween stores with no luck and finally ended up at Target where there was a cute lion costume that was much better quality and cheaper than my original buy.  Here's a pic of his costume.  It's pretty cute.

http://www.target.com/p/Infant/Toddlers-Lion-Jumpsuit/-/A-13480058#?lnk=Other_Halwn_082811_HEADEROPENCONTAINTER|HEADEROPENCONTAINTER

Logan has learned to say a new word.  Cookie.  It is so cute when he says it!  When he woke up from his nap before the party, I told him "Logan, we are going to a party!"  To which he responds "Cookie?"  Smart kid, huh?  He knows what parties are good for! 

On one other side note.  Logan's speech is improving very slowly and the words he picks up are very random.  Or so we think.  Jeff has a theory that he is saying words of the things he wants more of.  For example, he started saying "horse" and he got to ride horses, starts saying "cookie" and he gets more cookies.  Jeff is teaching him to say "iPad"....

Logan at the party enjoying his favorite part!  The food!

Smiling from all the fun!

My suspicions were correct.  Logan did not dig wearing the bodysuit and apparently he can unzip zippers now because this is what I see when I turn around approximately 2 minutes after dressing him in his costume...

Little stinker!

Missing Jake

I know there will be people who will read this and think I am a fool and say "It's just a dog", but to me, Jake is not just a dog.  He was a part of my family and very much like a child to me.  Some of you may remember a few of my postings about Jake, specifically this one about sending Jake on an extended vacay at my parents' house for a while since he and Logan were not getting along too well. 
On Saturday, Jake was hit by a car and killed.  I have been a wreck.  I'm not sleeping.  I've been crying since I found out.  I'm a total hot mess.  Our whole family is upset including my parents who loved Jake just as much as Jeff and I did.  It is truly a tragedy that will take a lot of time for me to get over.  I'm grieving the loss of Jake the same as I would a family member.  I really wanted to post this yesterday as a Memory Monday post, but was unable to get myself together to look at the pictures and blog about him (not that I'm doing a whole lot better right now.  I'm a snotty, blubbery mess!) 

This is Jake's story.

I have always grown up with dogs and when I finally bought my first home in 2004, I immediately went into search mode for the perfect dog.  I wanted to get a shelter dog as I have always felt I shouldn't pay for a dog when there are so many that don't have a home.  I went to the Humane Society to check out a dachshund.  On the way into the cage area, I noticed these two cute little puppies, but I had decided I did not want a puppy.  Too much work.  I was looking for a young adult dog that had already been house trained.  Well, the dachshund I looked at was not very personable and I figured on my way out I was just gonna cuddle with the puppies a little.  I opened the cage and this little tiny thing reaches out with his little paws and gives me a big ol' hug.  I knew right then, I couldn't leave him.  He had a sister, but I knew I couldn't handle the responsibility of two puppies, so I left her.  (I did follow up a few days later to make sure she had been adopted-and she had).  He and his sister had been found roaming the streets alone.  (Jeff and I always joke about Jake's days as the leader of a street gang!)  As I had not planned on getting a puppy, I was not ready to bring him home.  I had nothing for him.  Our first stop was Petco for puppy supplies!  On the way home I ended up picking the name Jake.  No idea where it came from, but it seemed to fit.  Ironically, I was on call for work that day and was called in to see a patient, so when I got home, I had to put the poor little guy in the bathroom and leave him all alone.  I made it back quickly and he was ready to play.

This was the first day I brought him home.  He was just a little 3 pound cutie!

Look how tiny.

The beginning of his signature "smile"

He had the cutest puppy tail

He played hard...

And slept harder!

This poor little guy had a rough start.  During his first few weeks with me, we went through kennel cough (which I think had me up all night more than Logan did when he was a newborn!), tapeworms (I am not even going to go into that nasty story...), and demodectic mange.

See his forehead?  That was from the mange...poor little guy.

This was Jake's first St. Louis Cardinal's World Series experience in 2004.  He wore his Cardinal visor proudly.

Jeff and I started dating shortly after I got Jake and Jeff was not really a dog person, but Jake quickly weaseled his way into Jeff's heart too.  (Really-look at Jake, how could you not love him?!?)

Buddies

Jake and Jeff share a favorite past time...

Jake was a crazy puppy.  He played so hard and chewed on everything... I had to replace a cell phone, glasses, and retainer amongst other things!

One of my favorite photos

Sitting pretty

"Are you talking to me?"

Jake had his own room in my house for when I was gone during the day.  His favorite past time was tearing stuffing out of things.  This is one of Jeff's favorite photos of him.

Jake's first snow!

On Jake's first Easter, he decided to run into a car.  Really, he hit the car.  I watched the whole thing happen as Jake had just slipped out of my reach when we were getting out of the car.  Jeff immediately came and took us up to St. Louis to the emergency vet.  Luckily Jake was ok with just some pain in his leg and some minor scrapes and bruises.  They drugged him up and sent us on our way.

Jake was so drugged he wouldn't move out of his kennel (which he normally hated!)

Jake showing off his sore leg...

One of my favorite things to do was to dress Jake up for the holidays.  He HATED it.  I'm pretty sure he is up in doggy heaven today thanking his lucky stars that he doesn't have to dress up this Halloween.

Jake's first Halloween

Jake, K-9 cop

Merry Christmas!

My all time favorite Halloween costume! Yoda!  He has also been a pumpkin and Dracula (but I couldn't find photos)

Best part, his girlfriend Maggie dressed as Princess Leia

Jake, Santa's little helper

And who could forget this?!?  Logan and Jake-Cheeseburger and Hot Dog

Hilarious!

Now I am only so crazy and although Jake was not IN our wedding, he did make an appearance-tuxedo and all- in our wedding photos after our ceremony.

There's that "smile" again

We were all so happy that day!

Jake has just been with me through it all.  I thought sending him to my parents was hard, but it doesn't even compare to knowing that I will never get to hug and cuddle with that little dog again.  He was the best cuddler.  All he wanted was love from everyone.  He was part of our family.  We almost always included him in the family photos.

Jakey giving Logan a little lick

All smiles!

I even took Jake with me to hotels sometimes.  He really liked the elevators...NOT!

I love him!

Chillin' in the hotel room

And who could forget Jake testing out baby products for us?!?

We are all gonna be a little lost without Jake.  Logan misses him too.  He tells me that Jake is sleeping when he sees pictures of him. (Logan was at my parents this weekend so he was there when they buried him.  He thinks Jake is just taking a long rest.)  Jeff just keeps talking about how he "misses his little buddy" and I'm just a crying fool.  Logan has been cuddling with me which really helps make me feel better and Jeff is just awesome all around.

There are so many stories and pictures I would love to post, but then this blog post would never end.  So I am going to stop now. 

Jake-you are the best dog a girl could ever have.  I will miss you so much.  I know that you are up there in doggie heaven having a blast.  And this Halloween, you're the perfect angel-no costume required.

Another of my favorite photos.  He was like a little model.  There's a lot of photos and recent stories in this post if you are interested and didn't click on the link to it earlier on.

Jake was a #1 Cardinals fan.  I bet he'll be cheering them on the next two nights!

A recent photo of Jake.  I am so going to miss him!

Oh how life changes...

In college, you would most likely find my friends Sam, Pam, and I at a local bar enjoying a drink and visiting.  These days where is it you will find the three of us when Sam comes from San Francisco for a visit?  A trendy downtown bar, a sidewalk care enjoying lattes, girl talk at one of our houses?  Nope, a visit to the local children's museum!!  How different our lives are now!  Pam has a little girl who is about 6 months older than Logan and Sam always likes to see the kiddos when she is in town.  She was a little disappointed that we didn't bring Logan out for a visit when we visited San Francisco earlier this year.  We all had a really good time!  It was so nice seeing Sam and Pam and letting the kids play together.  Sam also brought Jeff and I some Philz coffee for us which is almost as good at home as it is in the actual shop.

We finally got the bubble above Logan's head!

Yes, that is my child climbing on the table to get the ball...

Logan and Lexi playing in the sand

One of Logan's favorites!  The water table.

Logan talking on the phone...not sure who he was talking to.

A future mechanic?

Logan was hilarious with this baby.  He really wanted to feed the baby the bottle but was scared!  He finally worked up some courage and then I couldn't get him away from the baby!

Getting to go down the 3 story slide for the first time!  The last time we visited they wouldn't let him go down.  The lady this time was much nicer.  He was signing "more" before his feet even hit the ground after the first slide down!