Author: veronica

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Our loyal friend

We’ve shed quite a few tears in the Sheck house today.  Maverick, our poodle/shih-tzu had some sort of altercation with our neighbors’ dogs last evening.  (We’ve yet to find out the details of just what happened.)  Jake and I took him to the ER vet last night, he was checked out and given the ok to go home with pain meds.  However, his little body was unable to handle whatever trauma it endured.  I checked on him during the night and he was resting, however three hours later, things were dramatically different.  I sensed he wasn’t going to be with us much longer.  Thankfully, the kids slept in this morning, so I was able to spend quiet time by his side, stroke his head and back, and tell him how much we love him.  For as crazy as he made me at times, he was such a loving and loyal dog.  He just wanted to be near us and loved us unconditionally.

As sad as today has been, it has been a gentle lesson for the kids in the matter of death.  Little Miss doesn’t understand what took place this morning, but the boys do.  They’ve asked plenty of questions and we’ve had several good, short conversations about what death means and how we are to treat all of God’s creation with kindness and respect.

We love you, Mav.  You’re a great dog!  I sure am going to miss your puppy dog eyes.

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6 years old

Our six year old’s responses to his birthday questions:

  1. What is your favorite color?  red
  2. What is your favorite toy?  Marble run
  3. What is your favorite fruit?  blueberries
  4. What is your favorite TV show?  Word World
  5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
  6. What is your favorite outfit?  “This outfit.” (The tshirt with Goldy Gopher playing hockey.)
  7. What is your favorite game?  Connect4
  8. What is your favorite snack? Animal crackers
  9. What is your favorite animal? dog
  10. What is your favorite song? Jingle Bells
  11. What is your favorite book? The Nursery Rhyme book (From Great Aunt Alice)
  12. Who is your best friend? Ingrid
  13. What is your favorite cereal? Oatmeal
  14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Practice doing cartwheels
  15. What is your favorite drink? Water
  16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
  17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? blanket
  18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Oatmeal and Life cereal (Those cinnamon things.)
  19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Tacos
  20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A person who can do cartwheels
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Muddin’

The roads in our neighborhood are being replaced this summer so we have had fun watching the workers and machines from our front window.  Tonight we took a family walk to see the big diggers up close.  On the walk back, I told the boys they could go splash in the mud puddles.  (I know, I’m a great mom!)  Lincoln ended up getting stuck in a deep puddle and leaned a bit too far to his left.  He was a tad scared at first, but when we told him he won the “mud award” for the night, he perked right up.

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New hire

The EB said he needed some extra cash after working his tail off this past Easter.  I put him to work tonight.

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Ready, set, pack!

I bought boxes this past week.  Lots of boxes.  In an attempt to get our house ready to put on the market, we need to purge or pack a lot of stuff and store it elsewhere.  I won’t even attempt to put it in to a percentage because honestly, that might be a little too depressing for me.  Anyway, I’d like to think I’m off to a good start.  Jake has been back to the big orange store a couple of times to re-stock my box pile.  He has also taken two truckloads of our possessions to his sister’s house for storage.  We are so thankful she is letting us pack our house into her basement.

5/30/13: Edited one year and about a month later to say that we (and family & friends) packed A LOT of boxes in order to move us out of our old house and into a new one.  I should have counted the trips he took to his sister’s house to store things there.  It’s amazing what you collect over the course of living in one place for 9 years…

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The Easter Bunny

We’ve had the Easter Bunny living in our attic for several years.  The boys have seen him a couple of times, but I always forget to bring him out on Easter.  While purging a bunch of stuff from the attic this afternoon, I decided to pull ‘ol Mr. EB out from the corner and place him in the rocker in the boys’ room.

Backing up a bit, my in-laws took the kids for the day so Jake and I could get a few things done around the house.  Jake worked in the yard, I went in to the office for a couple of hours and then did some purging of things we don’t use/don’t need any longer.  We took advantage of being kid-free and went to get something to eat.  When we returned, the kids were back, bathed, and reading with Grandma Patti.  Mr. EB was also snugly tucked in on the floor of the boys’ room.

Mr. EB was a gift from Sammy, my adopted grandma.  We grew up living away from our other grandparents.  Sammy over-flowed the grandparent void that Tony and I had with love, attention, & simple everyday experiences that left a life-long impression on both of us.  Knowing I can share some of her with my own kids makes my heart smile.  I’m sure she’s smiling down on all of us from Heaven, too.

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Easter 2012

We roused the crew at a very unusual time this morning.  We had breakfast and were out the door in time to start greeting people at 7am for Easter morning mass.  The kids did a great job saying “Happy Easter” and handing out mass leaflets.  I was really impressed with the way Nolan took ownership of  his “job.”  And Lincoln was a super “leaflet restocker” for us.

After mass, we went home and treated the kids to orange rolls for breakfast.  After a failed attempt at getting Ingrid to nap earlier than usual, we headed to my parents’ house for an early Easter dinner.  We dined on ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole (a favorite of mine), cranberry relish & cabbage slaw (also a fave and recipe of my Great Aunt Frances’.)

Later in the afternoon, Tony & Kristin joined us and were so sweet to our kids, as usual. They have such a knack for entertaining them.  They “decorated” the sun room and dining room, which seems to have become somewhat of a tradition when they’re together at my parents’ house.  The kids also smothered icing all over enhanced and then ate the rice krispy bunny that Tony made them.  Kristin put together the cutest Easter gift bag for them, complete with stickers, fruit strips, and grow your own grass & flower kits.

Thank you Lord, for giving us the opportunity again this year to be together as a family and celebrate the ultimate sacrifice Christ made on the cross.  He is risen!  Happy Easter!