Our Foster Dog Emma did find a new home

This is the couple that adopted Emma this weekend.
We were very sad to see Emma go. Of all the dogs we have fostered she was by far the best, and if we didn't already have 3 dogs we would have for sure kept her.
Unfortunately this couple changed her name to Zia, they had her no more than a hour and said she wasn't answering to her name so they changed it to Zia. Well I promise you Emma knew her name, she is 4 years old and came to us with that name and she knew it very well. We didn't care for her name but we wouldn't have changed it because of the fact it was the name Emma knew.
But whatever people do the strangest things, and as long as they are a good loving family to Emma I guess it doesn't matter what they call her.
Emma we miss you very much and it feels like our home is empty without you. If you ever need to come back to us we will gladly take you whether it is today, tomorrow, or 10 years from now we will gladly take you back.
Good luck Emma! and much love to you!

My Valentine's Day Gift

This is my AWESOME gift from my Daughter.

When I was younger like in my Teens and 20's I always wanted some one to buy me a heart shaped box of chocolates and I never got one. Well that was until this Valentine's Day when my beautiful loving Daughter Megan go me the above box of chocolates and the beautiful home made card, which by the way are the only kind of cards I like to get from her.

So I just had to share with everyone my wonderful Valentine's gift!


Thank you Megan and I love you with all my heart!

Megan's First Band Performance

Megan had her first Band performance recently and I was shocked at how well the kids played for them only beginning to play their instruments in September of this year. It was a little hard at times to tell what song they were playing but I was so incredibly proud of the job they did.
The Band Instructor told us to watch for them bouncing their feet to the beat of the music, if they kept their eyes on her, and if they held their instruments in the correct resting position. Megan did everything perfect (of course, but I am not prejudice) and did an amazing job.
Here is a picture of her before the concert

I played the flute when I was her age too and I was never as good as she is. She pays attention and is eager to learn and really know her stuff. She can read the music very well, and that was the part I never paid enough attention to.
She is now going to be in Honor's Band which means she will be attending band twice the amount every week that she is currently doing it now. I really hope she keeps this up and continues to play threw High School and beyond. I can see her playing in High School Band and Orchestra.

I was shocked to see so many boys playing flute, I just for some reason didn't think that boys would want to play flute.

It was so funny before the concert began there was so many parent clamoring to get pictures of their kids that the Band Director finally said "okay if you want to get pictures now is the time to do it, for the next 5 minutes take all the pictures you can." Let me tell you the parents went nuts. It was really quite funny to watch. I wasn't able to get the pictures from the right angle I wanted because there was so many relatives taking pictures, I at one point had to even get on a chair to get a shot of Megan.
After her concert we took her out to celebrate her awesome job and we went to her favorite place Yogurtland. She loves that place, she gets about 3 flavors of frozen yogurt, and about 6 toppings, I am surprised she can eat all the stuff she puts in her yogurt, but it makes her happy so I do not care.
When I was a kid my Mom always took us out after any performance at church or school to celebrate and so I wanted to have the same tradition with Megan.

Yesterday I was looking at a picture I found of Megan last year, and I was just overwhelmed and had to sit and stare at the picture for 10 minutes. I can not believe that God blessed me with this awesome loving, beautiful child. I just can not figure out what I did in my life to be blessed with her.
Now I know all parents think their kids are the best, and they should, but I am just awe struck by what an amazing gift from God she is.
She is beautiful, smart (way beyond me at that age), she has a heart of gold, she never wants to hurt anyone in any way, and would be crushed to find out if she has hurt some one's feelings. She loves animals of all shapes, sizes, and breeds. I literally thank God every day for blessing me with her.

So anyways I digress, I look forward to hopefully many more band concert with my Daughter.
and just because I love her and think she is so amazing here is another picture of her from that night.

I probably shouldn't brag about my daughter, but I am so very proud of her and everything she does, so please forgive me.

Gotta Love Goodwill!

I love Goodwill, heck I love second hand stores. My husband and I went this weekend because Saturday was 50% off day. He needed work clothes and I like to go there any chance I can. I love looking for clothes, household items, items to use on photo shoots, items to make craft projects with, and you name it and I like to buy it at Goodwill or any other second hand store I can find.

Saturday my Husband got 5 dress shirts and about 3 pairs of dress pants for work and I think it came to some where near $25.
I bought like 5 pairs of shorts, one pair of khaki pants, and 3 tops for my daughter and it came to around $25.
I am not saying which Goodwill we went to or which ones I frequent because I love them and want all the good things I find for myself.

I currently have a list of items I am on the hunt for at second hand stores, I need wood decorative picture frames of all sizes and shapes, an decorative stand that may have been for a candle or something like that, that is about 4 to 6 inches high, don't care about the color or anything because it will be getting painted. glass, wood, or metal material for the stand all would be okay I need it to make a cake stand. I am also looking for little cabinets, little tables, book cases, or end tables made of wood that have potential to be re-purposed.
And then I am always looking for clothing items for my self, my family or for the household things.

I just wish I had more time and money to go to more second hand stores. Money is the biggest reason I do not get to go more second hand shopping. I seriously get up Saturday morning at 7 am, not shower or do my hair and shop the entire day and not care how far I have to drive. That would be a dream OR not to have a budget either. I would love to be able to go to second hand stores all over the entire State of Arizona. I am not under an illusions I totally understand and know that one time you can go to your favorite store and find a ton of great items only to come back a week or so later and not find anything good for a month, but I am okay with that. Sometimes that is the fun because you never know what you are going to find IF you find anything at all.
In fact the weekend my Husband and Daughter are going out of town for the entire weekend is 50% off Saturday, but now I am torn between sleeping in super late and then crawling to the couch to spend the ENTIRE day watching HGTV, or getting up early and spending the entire day shopping at Goodwill stores.....
I guess that will eventually be determined by my wallet that weekend. :)
Hope to see you at a second hand store near you!

Soon to lose another Foster Dog from ABCR

My Husband and I have had 16 foster dogs at our house for ABCR, and we are about to lose our latest dog to her new forever home.
Our all the dogs we have had in our house, including the one Border Collie we kept, Emma is by far the best dog we have had with us. She absolutely do not have ANY bad habits.
The only thing Emma is guilty of is occasionally being a little possessive but that is easily corrected.
She is a little bit of a picky eater and thinks she has to have wet food mixed in with her dry, but other than that all she wants to do is be petted by anyone that is willing to pet her.
I also have never seen a dog that likes to be brushed more that her.
It took us forever to get her to use our dog door but she is completely potty trained so it really isn't an issue.
She came to us a owner turn in, because her former owners said they didn't have enough time for her.
Everything her former owners told us about her was completely off base. They said Emma didn't like women or kids, and that she only liked men. Totally NOT true, she loves me, my Daughter, and all her Friends, and my Husband.
They said Emma didn't like to go for walks, NOT true, she LOVES going for walks.
Emma is just an awesome loving dog. When we first got her she acted like she didn't know what a pet was, but now she will come up and beg for pets, and if you start to pet her and then start she will hit you with her paw to try and get you to pet her more.
Every morning when I get up she wants me to scratch her bum in her lower back nearest her tail, and then she will lie on the floor and show me her belly and wants to be scratched there as well.
I would say 90% of the time when a foster dog we have goes to their new forever home it is very sad, but Emma is one of those that will stay in our hearts forever. We have had her 2 months yesterday. I am sure Emma thinks we are her forever home, and we would love nothing more than to keep her forever, except for two things. One we have 3 dogs currently that are our children and 4 dogs forever would just be too much. Secondly, if we were to keep Emma then that would mean we have no more room in our home to save any more dogs, and we would like to continue to save dogs lives. Plus we are always very careful in picking out our dogs new forever homes and make sure they go to the very best new homes.
So even though it will break out hearts to let Emma go, we will know in our hearts that she is going to a very special new home with people that will love her and treat her the way she should and deserves to be treated.
So here is our pretty girl....

So Emma we wish you well when you leave our home to go live with your forever home, and we hope you never forget the love we showed you, but we hope you will live out your life being petted and brushed like no other dog out there.
We will miss you and you will remain in our hearts forever!
Good luck Emma!

Megan's 10th Birthday Party-Sleepover

This year for Megan's 10th Birthday party we had the party at our house with a sleepover.
We had 7 girls plus Megan. We had a lot of activities planned because I learned long ago when you have this many girls you need to keep them very busy.
The theme Megan choose was Egyptian. So one of the activities we planned was a Mummy wrapping contest

We also had a very successful Scavenger hunt in the back and front yards combined. They had to find a list of items from something that doesn't belong in nature, to something that starts with the letter M, to things we planted like a compass and snakes to go along with the Egyptian theme and exploring.
We then had a egg toss just because they are fun. This activity was one of the girls favorites.
In fact one of the girls had another sleep over at our house after the Birthday Party and asked if they could have an egg toss. So it was a very simple game that the kids loved very much.

Then through out the night we made cupcakes and decorated them, we decorated pillow slips for the girls to take home. We made melt beads, played Twister, and the girls had their own whacky talent show and here are a couple of pictures from those activities.

Then we made virgin Shirley Temple's because Megan wanted drinks in "fancy" glasses with umbrellas.

I heard a lot of the girls saying that this was the funnest party they had been too, and that it was even funner than their own Birthday party.
I was thrilled because I just wanted Megan to have a good time and I think she did.
And here is a group shoot of all the girls at the Party.

I know that the girls talked about her party for a while at school.
I would not mind having a party like this again simply because it was so much fun.

Megan's Art Exhibit 2011

So Megan was attending the Boys and Girls club every day after school and all summer. Now she will just be attending in the summer. Well during this last summer Megan made an Owl Collage with her Art group. They have contest every year for each age category, well Megan's owl received 2nd place out of her age group for the entire Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale. And the Art Director for her branch Jen Hughes (whom I love) was able to have all the winners Art pieces shown at the Phoenix Art Museum for the entire month of January. Well of course we had to go check it out and below are some pictures from the Exhibit.
She wasn't in the best mood this day but you can't really tell from the pictures.
Lloyd and I are very proud of her for doing so well, of course.
I am thankful to God EVERY day that he blessed us with such a wonderful, warm, big hearted, loving, bright daughter. She is the apple of my eye!

                         The Family

                  Megan's beautiful Art Work

This is Megan's Art Instructor Jen and Megan with her beautiful art work!