Out to Lunch

We recently had some changes at work and two of our team members will be reporting into another area of the business.  To show them our thanks and appreciation we took them out to lunch at the Melting Pot.  We are going to miss them on the team but we are glad that we will still see them around the brewery.

Michelle, Rob, Joanne, Carrie, Ci, Cindy and Carol

Our team loves the Melting Pot.

My personal favorite is the cheese and...

CHOCOLATE!!!

Movie Mania

These are a bunch of movie clips that I took of the boys one evening.  I get many comments from family and friends who don't live nearby that they enjoy the videos so that they can stay connected with our family.  These clips are with you in mind.

I can only upload 20 second videos to the blog, so I take short, 20 second videos.  One of these days I'll find some time to sit down and learn how to edit videos so that I can upload longer ones.  Until then, I'll capture our life 20 seconds at a time.

Super Stryder Rider

The evening of Madalyn's passing was a tough one.  We opted to spend it together as a family and I stayed home from my Monday night Zumba class.  Oliver and I took advantage of the nice evening and we went for a walk / ride while Keith put Kellan to bed.  Here are a couple of videos of Oliver displaying his Super Stryder Rider skills.

(Don't mind the shadow of the girl running.  Yes, I'm a girl, and apparently I run like one too.)

Oliver showing his tiger growl smile.

When we came home we enjoyed a popsicle before heading inside for bedtime.

For a tough evening, we made the most of it and spent it with our amazing boys who are always up for making us smile.

Sweet Madalyn Cat

We recently said good bye to our dear sweet cat Madalyn.  She had been with me for sixteen years.  She loved to cuddle and lay in the sun.  She was also siamese and let her presence be known with a persistant meow.  She lived in three states with me and within those states, six homes with three temporary homes during moves.  She was an amazing cat full of personality and we miss her dearly.  With a heavy heart and eyes swollen with tears, I sent this email to those who knew her well on the evening of her passing.

On Aug 15, 2011, at 10:10 PM, Carrie Hamilton <carriehamilton@comcast.net> wrote:

There is really no easy way to share our news and because it is difficult, I'll apologize in advance for the mass email.  

Sixteen years ago, I found Madalyn in a pet shop in Spokane.  She looked just like my cat Snowball that I had when I was in the fourth grade.  Unlike Snowball, who didn't last the winter, she was a survivor.  She was sickly when I took her home but after a few weeks she was a healthy kitty.  She moved with me to Seattle where she was tortured by my roomates cat, Latte.  I think it may have been a love / hate relationship for those two.  From there we moved to Nevada where we lived with my brother Jerry.  He discovered she did not enjoy a ride in his truck like a dog but she did enjoy a good stretch which he called "kitty chiropractor".  She also picked up a nasty cough which I discovered after we moved to Colorado was asthma.  She was by my side with friends, roomates, boyfriends and then Keith.  She may not have liked sharing space with Keith at first, but the two of them grew to accept the fact that neither one was leaving.  I think they had a secret fondness for one another but would never admit it.  The cat who never cared for children also grew a fondness for those who loved her most, Oliver and Kellan.  One year ago, Madalyn had her first and only outdoor adventure that lasted 48 hours.  She survived an attack by a stray cat and no food or water for two days in the heat of August.  This past winter, we noticed a dramatic decline in her health.  In early July, we took her to the vet and she had dropped from 8-9 lbs to 4.5 lbs.  After blood work and an ultra sound, all tests came back negative.  The only thing that had changed was we had quit giving her prednisone (for her asthma) because she had not had an asthma attack in weeks.  The conclusion was the prednisone was helping with an ailment that was not detectable.  This was seven weeks ago and she was quickly back on the prednisone in hopes she would stabilize.  For the next several weeks she seemed to perk up.  She had been having trouble with her back legs and even though they were not in as good of shape as they once were, we believed they were getting better.  The constant meowing that we had been experiencing had even stopped or greatly declined.  In the past week, the meowing started back up again.  This past weekend she meowed non-stop, all day long.  We put her on our bathroom scale and she weighed in at 3.6 lbs.  We also noticed that her back legs appeared to be getting worse again.  It may be that we were just hoping she was improving and it took some time for us to see the reality that she was still not doing well.  Keith and I took her to the vet this evening and the vet still did not have a reason for her weight loss.  She did notice the almost complete loss of use in her back end.  She concluded that she probably had arthritis in her back legs and spine with nerve damage.  She also said that she had muscle atrophy in her back end with no existing muscle.  She confirmed what we suspected that she was probably in a lot of pain.  Even if she could have treated her weight loss, she would never regain use of her back legs like she once had.  We came to the difficult conclusion that it was OK for Madlayn to go.  She went out in style, just as you would expect her to.  She was very calm and almost seemed relieved.  It has been very difficult to watch her deteriorate like she did over this past year but we know that she had a great life.  Once of the hardest parts was telling Oliver.  He took it very well and I think he knew what was coming.  Last night, he helped me change her bed cover.  Her aching bones had the pleasure of resting in a heated bed these past several months with a baby blanket on top for comfort.  Occasionally, I would give her a fresh and clean blanket.  Oliver placed the new blanket on her bed and invited her to lay on it.  When she did, he looked at her for a long time and said "she's OK now." She didn't leave her bed for the rest of the night.  Tonight, when we told him, Keith started by saying "Oliver, do you know how Madalyn was really sick and old?"  He responded with "Did she die?"  I was a bit surprised with his immediate conclusion, but he is a young boy with a great amount of insight.  After we told him that she had passed, he said "I will miss her.  We will all miss her."  We then talked about kitty heaven and who she is probably playing with.  If your're wondering, she is playing with an orange cat and a rainbow cat.  Oliver said the rainbow cat is the best because they have all of the colors.  I'm sure he is right.    

Madalyn

August 10, 1995 - 

August 15, 2011

Sunday Fun Day

Sunday we laid low and enjoyed the day with each other.

Kellan found some time to enjoy the roll of toilet paper.

Fortunately, there wasn't much left on the roll before he started to unravel it.

Having fun while his brother and Dad wrestle behind him.

Sunday evening we went to Nella's for frozen yogurt.  Oliver was fired up about his creation.

Block Party 2011

Saturday was the annual block party but first, Kellan had to have a snack.  

Banana's Foster Forehead anyone?

Hooray for Yummy Snacks!

As I was sitting at the block party, Theresa brought me a beverage in one of her famous glasses that she had made drinks for the boys in the previous weekend.  It was SO SO SO Yummy!

My boys having a bite to eat.

Marcie and Jon bringing over their side dish to share.  Marci had so much fun preparing that she filled up an entire table!

Marci's loot, including her famous jello-shots.

Marci even makes jello-shots for the kids.  Jello in tiny cups, what could be better?

I think I slowed Oliver down after four or five.

Oliver, Kellan and Keith chillin' on the trampoline.

We blocked off the street and the kids had a great time riding their bikes.  Oliver asked if we could block off the street every day.

Kellan having a pretzel roll snack.

Keith and Oliver playing a game with the guys.

Kellan watching the guys and having one of many pieces of watermelon.

As night fell, we broke out the fire pit.

This is what we saw most of the night, a blur of Oliver racing by.

Oliver strapped on a head lamp for added visibility.  

With a fire pit comes smores. 

Oliver trying out his smore.

It was OK, but he only ate about half.  Too much sweetness, I'm thinking.

The block party was a ton of fun, like always.  We're already looking forward to 2012!

Work with Daddy

On Friday, Primrose was closed for teacher training day so we had the kids with us.  I took Kellan for his one year photos and Oliver spent the morning with Keith at work.  Keith forgot the camera so we don't have many photos to share. This is the two boys playing with a few of Daddy's gadget's after Kellan and I arrived.

Oliver pushing the balm ball across the floor.

Racing for the balm balls.

Oliver showing off a piece of work he was coloring.

Oliver and Keith getting a bit of work done.

There is serious concentration needed for this work.

Kellan's First Boo Boo

On Thursday night when I picked up Kellan, I was informed that he had a run-in with a chair and the chair may have won.  Of course, there was a great amount of drama involved but we'll keep it simple for the sake of a public blog.  Let me just say, there is a reason that you don't come between a mama bear and her cub.  I'm sure that it hurt AND Kellan had an appointment for his one year photos the next day.  I took some photos to send the photographer for her seal of approval and I thought these two were actually cute enough to share.  He may have a boo boo, but he's still darling.

The scratch on his nose is from his finger nail.  The kids is destined to be rough and tumble.

Pearly Whites and So Much More

Kellan was giving me a good shot of his new teeth and I tried to get them in a photo.  He now has six teeth and very well could have more on the way.  He doesn't let us in very often or very easily, so it may be a surprise if any others are on their way.  He handles teething fairly well but it has been waking him up lately.  He gets up, drinks a bottle with and takes a shot of advil and back to bed he goes.  As long as the advil kicks in before the bottle is complete, he is a happy camper.  If not, we have a few minutes of fussy time.  We can handle a few minutes.  We have lived through hours of fussy time so we know how easy we have it right now.

Look closely, he's starting to show a small glimpse of the bottom teeth.

Hey, look!  Two bottom teeth showing.  The neighboring two bottom teeth are quite a bit smaller and tougher to see in a photo.

Oliver showing off his chompers too.

 Going in for another shot.

Maybe being a bit shy on showing off his pearly whites.

Peek-a-boo, we can see your Teeth!

This one is a bit harder to notice, but you can see his top two teeth coming in.  His right tooth is not quite in for this photo but his left one definitely is.

After dinner the boys headed to the bath tub to clean off the daily grime.

The disadvantage of being the little brother is that you are the entertainment for the big brother, even if the big brother is the only one who is entertained.

Oliver thought it was hilarious that Kellan had the wash cloth on his head.

After Kellan got out, Oliver demonstrated some of his new floating skills that he learned in swim lessons.

After bath time the boys chased each other around the top floor of our house.  This is a regular event in the evening.

Here is a glimpse into our crazy evening life.

The previous evening I got home late.  Keith was putting Kellan to bed when Oliver whispered a question and Keith said "OK".  He later found that he agreed that it was a great idea to put stickers on Oliver's wall.  Oliver was SO proud that he had to show me his work and add a few more.  Oh-well, a few stickers never hurt a bedroom wall but they sure do make Oliver happy.

Just a tiny glimpse into our crazy evenings full of two crazy boys and lots of laughter and love.