Christmas Lights 2009

We got all of our decorations up this past weekend... which is always a chore but fun to see the finished produt! :)... here are a few pictures!

Entryway...

Here is our living room...

This is our balcony area... this is our "FAMILY" tree! The boys get to help with this one every year and LOVE it!! We had lots of fun this year putting it up! :)

Lastly... here is the outside lights! We were just heading out to go look at lights ourselves! :)

and... the backyard! The boys got snowmen lights from Nina and Papa Hamann the year before last and this year they wanted to put them up out back so Tucker could see at night to go potty! hehehe! :) So thoughtful!! Here is their fancy work!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving this year was not our favorite holiday... we had grumpy boys!! :( Even though they were not so good... it was still fun to get together with family! :) And to top it all off... it was Nick's birthday - - poor Nick!!!! We went back to Ida Grove Thursday morning and spent some time at my Mom's and then headed to the Hamann's for a YUMMY Thanksgiving dinner! Each year Nina and Papa get us ornaments for our "FAMILY" tree and this year the boys were SOO excited... so excited in fact they BROKE their ornaments... both of them! ughh! Thank God for super glue! :) Here are a few pictures of our day at the Hamann's! :)

Some fun ones... (loved the girls' outfits!!! - - so cute!! :))

Here are the boys with their ornaments!!! - before they were broke! :)

The only one we got of Nick was taken by one of the boys... it was of him digging into his dinner! :) I had to include him though! :)

Then on Friday we celebrated with my Mom and brother. My Mom made a delicious meal... and just like the day before - - we were STUFFED! :) We even got to take home the leftovers... THANKS Mom!! :) Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures on Friday... but the boys (even Nick) were wearing their hawkeye clothes... so there was no need to take more photos of that!! :) hehehe! :)

Hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving... we are hoping for a better one with the boys next year (no fighting hopefully)!! :)

Happy BIRTHDAY Nicker... we love you!!! :)

One More Present...

Although we had originally planned to wait until summer to get another puppy... our sad little boy (Parker) made us change our mind! We went and picked up this new little guy in Altoona... for Parker's birthday! :) Parker and Owen had the final choice in his name... and they picked TUCKER!

Tucker is 9 weeks old and is a cock-a-poo! He will be about 18-25 lbs when he is full-grown but is only 7lbs right now! Other than some accidents (that are already driving me crazy but at least not on the carpet)... we are already falling in love with this little guy! :) Welcome to our crazy family Tucker... good luck to you! :)

Parker tells me 2 secrets everyday........... "Mom, I miss Ralph so much" and "Mom, I love Tucker"... so hopefully Tucker will be Parker's new best bud... cause we know how much he misses Ralph and it breaks my heart that he is hurting so bad!!

Here he is with Uncle Dan, Aunt Kim and Caroline at Parker's party!
















Just a few other photos... I will be sure to post some with the boys when I have more time! :)

Happy 6th Birthday PARKER!!!

Our little Parker turned 6 YEARS OLD on Friday! I am still in denial that this all can be happening... it seems like yesterday we brought this beautiful baby boy home from the hospital and here we are 6 years later... time has sure flown by! We are so proud of the little boy he has become... he makes us so proud!

He asked for a Hawkeye birthday (no surprises here) so we started the festivities on Friday morning before school and gave him his new Hawkeye (white) jersey so of course he had to change!! :)

Then on Saturday instead of having a big party this year (with all of our drama with H1N1 and Ralph) we decided to just invite 1 friend and go to Incredible Pizza for an afternoon of fun! - - and we had a GREAT time!! :) Parker picked his friend Nathan from school and the boys all had a great time as so did we! :) Here are a few pictures of our day!

Later that night we had our "FAMILY" celebration at our house! Nina & Papa Hamann, Nina Wilson, Uncle Dan, Aunt Kim, Grace and Caroline, Uncle Bubba (Matt) and our family were all there to celebrate with Parker! He got some GREAT gifts... he was so excited! THANK YOU everyone!! :) Here are some pictures from the night.

The Cake...
I made the cake... and chose to do the jersey in yellow (since it is Parker's favorite color and I thought it would look nicer than ALL black or white) and I got in trouble... Parker and Nick informed me that their jersey's are NOT yellow (like I don't know that!) - - Oh well, it looked cuter being yellow! :)

We had a great day celebrating Parker's 6th birthday!

Happy Birthday Parker Matthew... we LOVE you so much!!

Let's Go Bucs!

We took the boys out to the Bucs game last weekend... our first this season! As usual we had a great time! The Bucs played the Sioux City Musketeers and unfortantely the Bucs lost in O.T.! - - what an exciting game it was!! :)

We just snapped a quick picture of each of the boys in their jersies! (Parker looks happy, huh?)

Parker's Drawing

Parker has been missing Ralph... we got him a stuffed basset hound for him to hug whenever he thinks of Ralph and he loves it... he takes it everywhere and sleeps with it too! The other day at school he decided to draw a picture of Ralph and he asked me to put it on the blog! :)

One last day

Today was the last day we would ever get to hug, cuddle and kiss our Ralphy. He has been in so much pain and we had to make that horrible, dreaded choice to end his suffering. We hated to do it... but it is so hard to watch your dog (who has been so loyal, loving, gentle and kind) suffering. The medication wasn't working... he wasn't eating.... and was vomitting, crying, sleeping all day, having trouble walking and shaking.

This has been such a hard decision... Parker is so attached to Ralph and my heart aches even more watching his little heart break into pieces. The first thing he said this morning is "Mom, is Ralph going to die today?" Unfortunately I had to tell him yes and the tears just poured out for both of us. He cried and cried and told me he doesn't want another puppy... he just wants Ralph! - - I wish that it were that easy.... I would rather have Ralph too! I stopped into school today to check on Parker at lunch and he was holding up... I had sent his teacher and email about everything... and she said that it was the first thing that Parker said to her this morning! :( - - she asked Parker if he wanted to talk to the guidance counsler about his dog today and he did... I am sure talking about it will make it a little easier for him.

Owen doesn't really understand... he knows Ralph went to "Doggie Heaven" today, but not sure he understands that he won't be coming back! :(

Nick and I have been a wreck since this whole pancreatitis started (I more than him with the increased hormones)! We have talked and talked... and cried and cried about what to do and when today came.... it ripped our hearts apart! Ralph has been a part of our lives for 8-1/2 years... and never... NEVER had any issues... he wasn't obese (like many bassets), he had no health concerns (other than his arthritis in his leg - but not severe), and even our vet thought he would live a long life since he was so fit and healthy.

We are sad...... our hearts ache! This is a new experience for me... and one I definitely was not prepared for.

Here are a photos from Ralph's last day with us. We love you Ralphy!!!

Ralph (a.k.a. Ralphy/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) Hamann
May 14, 2001-November 16, 2009

Ralph Update

Our Ralphy isn't doing better... he is getting worse. We took him to the vet last week and they confirmed he had pancreatitis and put him on antibiotics, stomach calming pills and pain killers. We have had a terrible time getting him to not only take the medicine but keeping it down too. His symptoms are getting worse and he is getting weaker everyday. He was down 3lbs when we went in.

We took him back into the vet yesterday (one week later) and he had lost 5 more lbs, so a total of 8lbs. and was still experiencing all of the symptoms. They did x-rays, a rectal exam and gave him injections of medicine to help calm his stomach. They were able to get him to eat a little at the clinic and he didn't vomit so they said he could come home and we should watch him over the weekend and try to get him to eat.

Friday night he ate a 1/2 of a can of dog food (for stomach and digestive health) and then shortly after vomited. Again today we were able to get him to eat a little and he vomited again. :(

He sleeps all day and moans and cries... it is so heartbreaking to watch him in so much pain. It breaks our hearts.

We talked with the boys today about what might happen if Ralph continues to not improve and Parker is pretty upset.

Ralph has been a part of our family for 8-1/2 years... and although I am biased, he is the best dog ever. He is so good with the kids... even when they beat up on him and he is a great listener... Nick and I say better than the boys! :) We just hope that Ralph can come through this... it is hard watching your animal suffer.

We will finish out the weekend and then talk with the vet again on Monday about the next step for Ralph.

Happy Halloween

This Halloween was not a happy one for us... with all the sickness, I had to miss out on the festivities and Parker was only allowed to go out for a bit sonce he was feeling a little better. Parker was a Hawkeye football player and Owen was black spiderman.

Nina and Papa Hamann, the Edsen's and Nick and the boys all went to Valley West Mall since the weather was rainy and chilly... they had a good time and got a few pictures for me to post!

Out in our neighborhood... this didn't last long tho!

A few shots of Parker getting ready to go out! He was so excited to be a Hawkeye!! :) THANK YOU Candi for the decals for his helmet too!! - he was on cloud nine! :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!! :)