Happy Birthday Willie

My beloved pup, Willie, had his 15th birthday this past week. I used to joke around that in my house we have a 14 year minimum agreement, but now I've had a full year of bonus time.

He's really starting to slow down and more often than not, I have to carry him downstairs in the morning until he can get all his joints working. He still has to be in the middle of the action, although now he's more content to watch the activity. He can't hear and his sight is starting to go, but the nose is still fully functional along with the ever-present Springer appetite.

Willie, you are a great dog. Happy 15!

Do I get points for effort?

This was the best of the bunch of attempts at a Christmas family picture. Mandu is somewhere under the tree, but we at least got everyone in the picture. I didn't get a Christmas letter out this year...I did pictures printed so that Grandma and Grandpa could split them with me...Grandma accidently took the whole batch home and threw them out...oops.

The holidays were a whirlwind. We had six events in a week and are just now settling back into some sort of a routine. We also had a couple visits to the vet...I had prepared myself that this was it for Willie and I would have to say goodbye but the vet figured out what was causing his pain and we decided to try a new medication. He's doing much better. I am anticipating "the decision" to be in the summer. He'll be 15 in a few weeks and has been an amazing dog. Mama also made a trip and is now on fluid treatments - think IV hanging from the kitchen light fixture. Since she has such a deep rib cage, the fluids which are administered under the skin, follow gravity and make their way to bottom of her chest...I refer to it as her temporary saline implants, about a 1/2 hour later her body absorbs everything and we're back to normal, but much happier.



On Christmas day, Matthew, Berna, Claudia (Jayden's teacher), and two of her sons came for the dinner. It was absolutely wonderful...games, puzzles and great conversation.



For New Year's I decided to throw a toddler New Year...that would be a count down to 7:30. We made a string mache ball (ran out of time to cover in glitter), got plastic stem ware and sparkling grape juice for the toast, and noise makers. It ended up being a lot of fun.