HALLELUJIAH! My repeat exam was this morning.... and BABY, it's COLD outside!

     AMEN!!!!! My repeat exam verifies that my new lump is only fibrocystic!!!!!!!   And the area below my previous lumpectomy scar is only scar tissue, as myself & my doctor suspected.
     Also, ALL the schools in our county are closed today due to extremely cold temperatures, frostbite alerts, blowing snow & near whiteout to whiteout conditions.  BRRR The temperature has been dropping since this morning, from 6.8 degrees to 0.2 degrees BEFORE the wind chill.  I pray that Michael is able to stay out of the wind & blowing snow as much as possible, because he had to unload a delivery at work today!  I told him to take a facemask, etc.....
  Thank you to anyone who has been praying for a clean bill of health for me, and any of you who have recently begun following my blog.
  Now that the health concerns are out the door, I can get back to other things in life: staying warm this winter, making an effort to keep up on my chores (with the ongoing help of my 'word of the year', BETTER), increasing family time, and SCRAPBOOKING! LOL

Catching up from the summer & fall, and GROWING UP.

  After spending most of the summer working on my studio renovation, and not being able to access this blog, I have been trying to make a dent in downloading & editing photos, printing my favorites, and beginning to plan scrapbook projects.
  Among the following photos you will find everything from funny to adorable pet & family interactions, images of our yard & the areas we take our walks, to heart-wrenching realizations of losing fur-family members.

Guy time has been including a little more racing & car themed television, whether Nascar races, a race themed animated movie, or car themed tv shows such as Top Gear.

                          Wesley has been GROWING UP, both physically & emotionally.

Check out his pajamas below: about 6 inches too short, and also displaying his fascination of the past 7 or 8 years, trains, and particularly Thomas.  This fall he decided that he was ready to set aside his train collection, to make room for new interests.  I asked him to sort through ALL things Thomas & train themed, including vcr & dvd movies, large train track sections, books, etc.



Train-Transformer Thomas/Wesley

 

Something clicked this summer:  Star Wars!!!!!  He has been raiding my shipping boxes, paper towel rolls (for arms) and tape, creating his own Star Wars characters, robots, ships, etc.

Now on to some of the other family members, namely those with lots of fur!

 



An example of the bond between Dakota and Oreo, as well as the mischievous characteristics of Oreo's personality.  I was combing Dakota and Oreo decided that her tail qualified as a kitty toy!  Note the pile of Dakota wool above her in the photo, while ignoring my pile of notebooks and books that still need a new home in my studio.

Oreo finally discovered what the other cats were observing out the front window.... birds!  Smoke has also been admiring them from the chair that she has been relaxing on nearest to the kitchen window.  Smoke has a large abdominal tumor, probably cancerous, as well as fluid around both lungs.  We expected to lose her before Christmas, but she is still blessing us with her presence and 'meal monger' personality daily.  I pray that she does not suffer.

Beautiful "Squirrel", whom Michael named after her large bushy squirrel-like tail.  She loves to sit beneath the tree.  Last year, she actually climbed inside it approximately half way up the trunk and it was a challenge to get her out without knocking down the tree or disrupting the decorations.

 

     Above, Oreo decided that he needed to help me with wrapping the gifts after midnight Christmas morning.  He definitely has a lot of the typical kitty personality traits, from helping with everything related to Christmas, to watching/playing with the images on the tv and video games, to attacking your ankles as you walk up the stairs.
     A letter, which Oreo needed to guard for Santa.  Wesley received several Star Wars items for Christmas, including wall decals with the memorable "Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."  which I took advantage of to title the photo below. LOL.

Now I have 2 shadows following me around the house.  I have had to ban Oreo from my studio because he thinks that EVERYTHING in my studio is a toy.

 "Come on, Mom!  Let's play in the beautiful Christmas morning snow!"  Dakota's other gift....

I pray that we have a safe, happy year ahead of us in 2014, with our family continuing to evolve in our hobbies & interests, talents & skills.

 

Pets help with my Christmas decorating, plus fun at the doggy park.

 


I got a particularly late start decorating for Christmas this year.  It's a good thing that I have so many HELPERS! LOL...  In typical kitty fashion, they supervised, held down wrapping paper and decorations, even making some of the place settings more special by sitting or laying on them while I worked on my table décor & where each person would sit.
  


                                                                               

Squirrel was particularly helpful, moving from project to project.

 

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"  Lots of fresh snow added to the exercise and fun today.

Because I was making extra trips into town for groceries, etc, & was feverishly cleaning and decorating for hosting Gleason Christmas, Dakota was not getting her usual daily one-on-one time  and walks.... so I began taking her to the doggy park after getting the groceries.  We haven't been here since the fall, and had a couple of bad experiences in the summer.  We were very lucky this day, as DARWIN came to visit shortly after we arrived.  Dakota and Darwin played tag for 15-20 minutes, until they were both tuckered out.  What a great treat for Dakota!