My Name is Mommy

I haz Miz Mooooooooooz!

Okay, just made my day- I about threw the DHL guy to the ground and pounced upon him as he was delivering my Miz Mooz shoes which are da freaking bomb.  I LOVE them.

Just tell me these are not the yummiest of yummy shoes and key- KEY- they are sooo comfortable while being absolutely amazingly cute.

Hmm.  Did you know I could gush over shoes like this?  Betcha did.  Yes, I am lost, a pathetic slave to fashion and lemming-like supporter of the murdering of innocenct cows to turn their hides into these fabulous frocks for my feet.

Always put your best foot forward.

Never get between a woman and her children.  Or her shoes.

Today's ride has been cancelled.  Vi is going to be ticked at me but I am going to make it up to her on Friday.  They are coming to rewire the house phone which hasn't worked in weeks and I've been having to do all my work calls from my cell phone which has resulted in a ridiculous, RIDICULOUS bill- however, AT&T kicked ass for me the other day and actually gave me a new rate plan and post-dated it back several months so now I have like an $2K credit.  Who does that?  I mean who gets lucky with the phone company, ever?  That never happens to me.  Geez.  A friend said I should go buy a lottery ticket- I oughta while I've got the midas touch. :) 

I have a Coldstone gift card sitting here next to my computer.  Ice cream anyone? :)

Quick, before I fall asleep.

I swear, I have sleeping sickness.  Or, uh, hmm, maybe I'm anemic.  That just now occurred to me.  WTF?

Tonight was FANTASTIC!  I managed to coax one of my coworkers into giving up her ticket to this year's Pink Out! which is a celebration and tasting of all wines pink.  No, it wasn't a giant White Zin tasting- it was more about the Roses which are supposedly a little more upscale. 

Dean and I drove down to Pier 33 to Butterfly, the restaurant where the event was being held.  They checked us in at the door and we collected our glasses and wine list.  We tried a few wines and almost immediately ran into a few of my coworkers. We stayed for a bit.  The appetizers were good but lots of seafood.  Eventually, Dean and I decided to take advantage of our babysitting and go get some dinner.  I called Aziza to see if we could get in, only to find they were closed on Tuesdays.  So we decided to do what we used to do- just drive until we found something that struck our fancy.  Sure enough, we ended up in a little place we'd never been before- Eritrean Food served family atyle and eaten with our hands.  It was a nice dinner.

I especially enjoyed driving home in the car an jut talking until I got too sleepy and Dean took over.  I ended up dozing off, waking as we pulled into the driveway with our two little kidlets peeping out from behind the curtains.

Dean and I had fun tonight,  You know, we've been working hard and everything, which is good and all... but this was even better because it wasn't hard work.  It was just easy and fun.  The city was beautiful tonight after a beautiful, sunny day.  And it was nice to remember how it is to be happy and have it be easy...  Tomorrow, Vi and I ride since we are starting a new tradirion of Wednesday afternoon rides.  Looking forward to that but now it is time to sleep )

Where the heart is.

Coming home this afternoon was wonderful.  It was wonderful to find Dean waiting for me as I came through the gate into baggage claim and the girls running up to me.  Dean drove me home and I put a few things away, gave the girls their gifts and almost immediately snuggled up with Dean for a nap that turned into a marathon sleep session.  I was up late last night making a horse charm bracelet for Maggie and a sterling flower necklace for Milli as their First Communion gifts.  I am also crafting them rosaries out of pearls and swarovski crystals but that is going to take me like a million years as I have to wire each pearl and bead.

The Communion went off fabulously- the girls looked like angels.  (Milli is the younger and Maggie is the older one).  I was so proud to be Milli's godmother- she and Maggie are both daughters of my heart and I would snatch them up in a moment if anything ever happened to Marg and Gordon. 

I don't go to Mass very often, but when I do, it is always the strangest thing- today the priest spoke of vocations and how being the best for the world was to follow your bliss.  Yes, follow your bliss.  This is what I want to do.  So, there was a reason for me to be there and hear those words today. I don't care what anyone says.   Those words just resonated in me, ten-fold, a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold.  Follow your bliss.

There were some ups and downs this week.  It isn't easy- no, never terribly easy.  What I have come to realize, though, is that we must just try our hardest to hold onto the happiness, see the good, feel the joy- everywhere and all the time.  To not do that is to waste precious moments that cannot be won back.  We must stop giving our whole selves away and asking "Where's mine?"- instead, understand that "mine" is in the giving- that is what gives us joy... if it is.  If it doesn't give you joy then you shouldn't do it.  Give what you are willing to give.  And only that.

I came away from this weekend feeling quite rich in love- both in what I left behind me in Seattle- good, dear friends to the end, family of my heart and soul- and what I came home to here in California- family, my sweet little girls who I love more than life and my cute, sweet, funny husband who squeezed me tight and kissed me hard and told me how much he missed me and loved me and then let me fall asleep against his shoulder.

I love it.  How I love my life... back to it now.

Girls again.

I flew up to Seattle on Wednesday evening.  Fantastic.  For once going without a work agenda- really just to enjoy myself and my friends.  My goddaughter is having her First Communion on Sunday and her sister is the star of the play/musical Suessical and I absolutely had to see it because Maggie is a super-fab girl.  I've never met a 13 year old that I liked, let alone wanted to hang with and ride horses with.

Feeling a little guilt at having left my own girls behind but sometimes moms need to recharge their batteries and remember what life was like before they had to put on their mommy-face all the time.  If that applies to anyone, that's me right now.  The fantastic thing is I've been missing Dean like crazy.  We had goodbye-for-now sex in the shower the other morning and I felt like something cold and hard just melted away inside me.  I think it is good for me to be away now so I can examine that a bit.  But we've been calling every few hours to check in, even just to say "hi" and "I love you" when before I could have gone a whole business trip without hearing from him.  He said, "I'm trying really hard."  And you know what? God. I believe it, I really do, and it matters and it makes a difference.

Just know that if it falls through, my dear friends, you're going to have to come and rescue me from the bottom of a margarita pitcher. 

I took Vi riding on Wednesday afternoon.  She wore her new pink cowgirl boots with silver toes and her cowgirl hat and she was the bomb.  She rode Power like she'd been riding forever.  Thanks Lizzie for giving me the opportunity to take some special mommy-daughter time and bond with my girl who is struggling in some other ways.  Dean says that since she has been completely together- no breakdowns, no frustration tantrums.  We all need to feel special and amen if the horse isn't the way to a little girl's heart and soul.  Pictures next week as it will be a regular program for us. Kicking myself I didn't do this sooner.

Arrived here to the open arms of Margaret, one of the best of my besties.  The air was crackling around us with our combined energy.  We spent our first night at the Sahalish Lodge overlooking Snoqualmie Falls- like sisters in our giant kind sized bed and the cute bell hop made us a huge crackling fire and we snuggled down in our jammies.  I had the first night of real sleep I've had in 8 years.

Yesterday was an adventure.  We had a fantastic room service breakfast and then headed for Seattle to go to the doctor.  I'm going to fess up now- I had botox to get rid of the frown line between my eyes that has driven me crazy for ages.  Then... yes! there's more! I got that filler stuff to get rid of the deep wrinkle lines next to my mouth- left my smile lines because I love my smile lines- just those permanent ones that run from the corner of my nose down.  Then I got my face zapped with the laser to get rid of my acne scars from that freaking mirena IUD.  Did I mention that I pulled my IUD out myself? TMI? Anyhow, since it has been out, the horrible cystic acne I've been battling on both cheeks and forehead has healed almost entirely but left some pretty dark scarring.  I was very self-conscious of this because even as a teenager I never had acne and to suddenly get it in my early thirties? WTF?  Yeah, so I'll be popping up here to Seattle to get a couple more laser treatments.  You can say what you will about the whole cosmetic enhancement stuff, but I work in sales and it makes a difference.  I feel better, too, so if they can do something that has relatively little risk and actually didn't cost me all that much... why the hell not?  But I digress.  Marg and I then hit the mall and did a little retail therapy.  I got a gorgeous London Times dress in my favorites of favorite blues, a fabulous Juicy Couture black sweater that is classic and was 75% off(and I have no qualms about spending money on a long black sweater because everyone who knows me knows I am always cold and almost always wearing one of my long black sweaters- it is the new coat).  Then I found a beautiful purple, fuchsia and black printed skirt- Kenneth Cole. Sweeeet.  Fits like a dream and will go great with my demure little black cardigan from Banana.

After shopping and Starbucks, we headed out for dinner at a mexican place that used to be my fav when we lived up here so many years ago.Got my usual fajitas burrito- half is still in my mini fridge.  Then we checked into the Downtown Bellevue Hyatt which is fabulous-fabulous.  Got dressed in ur pretty new party clothes because Joey's was hopping downstairs.  Got a little wild because it wouldn't be a girl's night without a little wild mischief to get up to.  Marg snapped a couple of pics because I rarely get to put on my dancing shoes except whenever I feel like it. I just had to show off my cute little blue dress and I couldn't get over how pretty the lights in the courtyard outside our room were.  The view from the room was great.  The company was great.  We had a great time.  This has been an amazing week for me- reconnecting with a friend who is so very close to my heart who I thought might be slipping away, having a setback with my fabulous hunny and working through it to come out better on the other side, discovering a whole new side to my daughter and watching her blossom before my very eyes, finally being able to see Margaret again and pampering ourselves with fun and laughter, missing home- feeling so alive and happy I could just burst.  Love it all. Life is a sweet ride.

 

Is it midnight yet?

I need this day to be OVER.  F--- Cinco de Mayo.  I'm sorry, this has rapidly become my least favorite holiday. 

Look, I need to tell you all, this mothering thing is hard on a good day but on a bad day?  I'm just glad there wasn't a thermos of Jonestown Koolaid in my fridge tonight or I would have been sugaring the rim of my favorite margarita glass and pouring me up a cool one.

Kendyl picked the girls up for me as I was trying to finish a project for work.  She comes in and tells me that on the way home the girls had been saying some bad words in the back seat.  And the thing is, when they get going, they wind each other up, egg each other on and think it is funny as all get out.  What were they saying? Oh, you don't even want to know.  Let's say the "shit" portion sounds sweet compared to the other half. Yeah.  My sweet little 5 and 8 year old babies talking like truck drivers. (Do as I say girls, don't say as I say)

So, I start in on them because that's my job.  I say to Vi and Ave, "What do I have to do? Wash your mouths out with soap? You know you aren't supposed to talk like that. You know."  I rant, I rave.  I am outside my body watching my mother possess me and say all the things my mother would have said to me.  Only my mom didn't just threaten the bar of soap, oh no.  But here I was, being her to my girls.  No, I was being me. ME.  UGH.  Then I tell them to go clean their room without a peep- no talking to each other.  So, seems like things are going okay and I lift the no talking rule and put Vi in charge of the effort.  In my head I'm thinking it will be a good chance for her to see wat it is like for me trying to get them to do things like clean their room.  Well, she ends up trying to coerce Ave into doing what she wants by threatening to throw the rose I gave Ave(which she so carefully put in a vase on her windowsill in the sun with water and said "I'll take very, very good care of it Mommy")out the window.  Well, Vi finally threw the rose out the window. Ave comes out crying.  I make Ave and Vi go retrieve the rose at which point all 5 dogs come gallumping through the kitchen into the dining room and Boo freaks out, rolls over on his back and sprays pee all over me and the other dogs.  Did I mention he has a submissive peeing problem?  Vi is laughing hysterically which just proceeds to piss me off, so she gets stuck with clean up duty while I herd the dogs out.

Dean comes in and somehow he and Vi end up in the middle of it again over why she threw he rose out the window.  He starts threatening her that he's going to take her on a walk... he loves to have a little death march around the block, in the dark, as means of punishment.  Gee, where does she learn the whole threat tactic as a way to get Ave to do her bidding?  See, I like to go for a walk, so I resent this because I think it makes the girls associate the physical activity of walking with punishment whereas tv is a reward.  Doesn't seem right to me.  I find myself defending Viola and challenging Dean on his whole walk-as-a-way-to-torture-the-children program.  Anyhow.  Vi goes in to Ave and tells her loudly so I can hear, "Maybe I would rather go on a walk with Papa than get my mouth washed out with soap by Mama."  Real snarky-like.  I'm done, I can't take it.  I ask Dean to get my suitcases down.  I'm in the middle of what Marg and I call a "shower curtain moment".  Dean is just acting like nothing is happening, gives me a couple of sentences about his basketball game at work and turns his back on me to do the dishes.  Invisible.  I realize, this is what I feel like.  It is that drowning feeling where everyone is on shore smiling and laughing and I'm going under and no one is noticing.  Not no one, one person in particular.  Yes.

Finally, I go in to Vi- ask her if I can come in her room.  She lets me in and I go lay on the bottom bunk.  I tell her I'm sorry for being a shitty mother.  Then I completely break down and cry and tell her I'm sorry again, that I didn't want to be my mother, that it wasn't supposed to be like this.  I told her that when I was her age I thought it was going to be great, that I would be great, that I would do everything differently.  But I haven't, and I'm sorry. 

Then Dean went out and brought me back an iced tea lemonade.  That was nice but I really could have used someone to talk to, maybe even a hug.  And here I am, on the computer because I have to have some comfort right now, some way to feel better. 

And now I think, if this was a horse I would have just fallen off.  And what would I do?  I would brush myself off, and get back on and walk.  So, I guess that's what I have to do now.  First, walk. Walk.  That's all I have to do.

Okay. I'm going to go walk now. (Did I mention this is hard and it sucks? And I'd get bucked off a horse any day rather than this?)  Probably left some details out but you get it, rough night here for me.

At least there's this:

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

--Rainer Maria Rilke

In Memoriam

I never had much opportunity to get to know my dear friend Margaret's mother terribly well.  Despite that, shortly after Viola was born- a little pink sweater, hand-knit, arrived in the mail from Marg's mom.  Viola will finger the yarn of that tiny sweater someday when she goes through the box of memories I've saved from her baby years and know that someone made that for her. 

My grandmother, when she was in the hospital in her 80's said "I miss my mother.  No matter how old I get, I still miss her." 

Yes, I wish that people didn't have to miss their mothers, ever.

A letter from my friend today:

Dear Amigos,

Today is a muy muy (mal) importante day for me and mine....Today is the cinco anniversary of my mother's death.  The fifth anniversary of the worst day of my life...so far...

My mother was a great woman.  She was great before she was my mother and will always be the Great Kathleen Margaret.  She was 80 when she passed, but she was/will always be forever 35 to me.  She was 35 when she gave birth to me, relatively old for the 1960's, but she was always ahead of her time.

Gramma Kay had hooked up her new(new to her, from her daughter-in-law, Steph) computer and gone to her senior stretch class and played on the floor with my girls, just the month before her death.  She was witty, she was limber(tied her shoes bending over at the waist with one hand), she was smart as a whip(was 2 credits away from her doctorate{but she was at the top of her pay scale, so who needs a paper saying blah blah blah just to put another diploma in her underwear drawer), she was so many things...

Cinco De Mayo is so fitting of day for her to pass, as we all know she loved the Southwest, and she loved a Margarita...' Ma'am are you finished?  Oh, I'm not from Phoenix, my cousin, here, is from Scottsdale, but I am from Las Vegas.'  To this day, if anyone asks a member of our family if we are:  'finished,' we reply, no we're not from Phoenix, we're from Las Vegas...' tehetehe...The Irish in her made her laugh and cry easily, (and just a little hopping mad..)...

My mother was the 'consummate' teacher, everything and everywhere she took the opportunity to teach, she loved words and the English language and she loved the proper use of any, no wait...she appreciated the proper use of the English language.(period)  The 'English' in her made her appreciate things and words done properly,(if she was alive, she would own a Dyson vacuum, no doubt, it would join her 1950's Singer sewing machine and her Rowenta iron, she loved a well operating appliance, but never ever never ever ever a crock-pot)...

Unfortunately, it was the teacher in her, how I mostly broke her heart...When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I said, 'why can't you just be my mom first instead of always my teacher..?'  Well, she sent my sassy butt to a tutor guy friend of hers for a year after that statement.  He was a nice guy, a great teacher, and as my dad said, 'a bit light in the loafers,' but I swear he tutored me not so much in reading, writing and arithmetic, as in what a FABulous mother I had.  Be careful what you wish for, I mean really how can a mother not be a teacher?  My mother has been dead for five years and she teaches me something new everyday.

I love you, mom.  I love you, my teacher! 'I can't do me own self,'
Hail all teachers,
Hail all earthly mothers,
Hail all heavenly mothers,
Hail Mary! Pray for us!

Love,
Margaret Elsie
(Elsie, my mother's aunt, who at 18 paid for my mother(who was 8 and had lost her mother) to have dance lessons and other goodies, I mean who helps a motherless 8 year old at 18?  A great woman, a great aunt, a great aunt Elsie, a great TEACHER!

I has a pretty flower.

Good monday morning.  The weekend flew by and since I spent a good portion of it yacking up my guts, I got very little accomplished.  Yes, I managed to get well enough for my Sunday ride but not well enough to do more than a couple of load of laundry.  Funny how that works. Geez.

Chocolate.  Yep.  He's a cutie.  He has big ears, but he does cute things with them.  It's not what ya got, it's what ya do with whatcha got, right?  Anyhow, I tried to get some pictures of Chocolate with Chip but they are always on the move which makes photographing them difficult to say the least.  Yes, Chip is still here. Liz thinks it is a conspiracy to keep him from her.  Really, though, like we need another dog?  We still need to find a home for Jenny(the mama) and a home for Boo because we've decided we just can't give him enough attention.  Boo is always up in everyone's business.    Anyhow, did get a few pics of Chocolate and Chip fighting over an old grape.  Yeah, spoils to the victor go and all that.  Chocolate has the funniest expressions.  Here he is apparently wondering if his food dish is going to get up and walk away while he's "sitting" for me.   

Today is the first day of Teacher Appreciation Week at Viola's school.  These are the roses that went with Vi to school today- fresh from the garden.   The peachy clored ones are Evelyns while the darker, purple-y ones are Sterling(gone slightly awry with my shitty gardening skills) and the crimson one is a William Shakespeare.  Of course, the Evelyns are my favorite.  They all smell heavenly, exactly how a rose should smell.  Do love David Austen roses- simply cannot compare.  I have also ordered Vi's teacher a Tiffany necklace because she is the most fantastic teacher Vi has had to date and I think good teachers should be rewarded.  And hey, it isn't much but who doesn't like to get a little blue box, right?  The roses I cut to put on our counter are making the place smell absolutely heady.  Do love the roses.  Speaking of which, my little hybrid tea out front that I was going to rip out because it "wasn't anything special" has just gone absolutely gangbusters blooming- hundreds of blooms and buds- all variegated deep orange and yellow.  So, I guess he stays.  He's earned his keep.

True love in the park.

Today was another FABULOUS ride out at Sycamore Grove.  We had a big group today- enough that we had to enlist two trailers to get everyone there.  I woke up this morning and it was gray and overcast so I was thinking maybe we wouldn't have good weather.  I threw on my riding clothes, though, and headed out.

Liz rode Farley today, her young'un that just got back on Friday from the trainer's.  He's so cute!  Did miss our buddy Power who is rock steady but maybe Vi will start riding with us and Power will have a new pal.  Yes, Farley is even shorter than Power!  He's darling, though, isn't he?  I always did have a soft spot for bay's with black manes and tails.  He's got cute little white ringlets around his ankles.

Here are Haylie and Savannah.  I used to teach lessons on Savannah.  Pretty little palomino- it is nice to see she has been getting some tlc from Haylie and looks so well cared for.

There is something about being out in nature that helps me reconnect the pieces of me that seem to get jostled apart during the frenetic weekdays.  The park is a magical place.  Of course the riding is fun but it is also amazing to see other people have the experience of bonding with a horse.  A horse can put a spark in someone's eye not unlike the spark of those giddy first stages of love- when the world is just a perfect place and nothing bad can touch you.  I see it again and again.

Apollo was an absolute lug on the way out.  I couldn't believe it.  After all this, he's practically dawdling.  I rode him on the buckle most of the time.  He finally perked up when we turned around to head back.  I was like, "Geez, insult me much" he was in such a hurry to get back.  We took a few good jumps over some logs- well, our jumping log specifically, which is a big log in the middle of a really nice, soft grassy area.  Cantered back around and jumped it again.  Then he was ALL ready to go- harkening back to his brief stint doing cross-country trials or something.  Do love my boy, whether he is lazy and plodding or crazy and bolting- always my boy.  Anyone who doesn't believe in love at first sight- well, I'm sorry but it exists.  The first time I laid eyes on this guy, I knew.  I just knew- even though at the time I never thought I'd own a horse again, never thought I'd be back in the midst of the riding life so fully.  Yet here we are.  His eyes were what got me.  He doesn't have much flash but he has the softest eyes, and once he trusts you, he'll give you his whole, great big heart I've found.  So yes, Virginia, true love does exist.

Were they ever that little?

I found some old files from our old webpage.  Pictures abound.

This is Vi from a camping trip to Mt. Diablo.  Vi LOVED that purple flashlight, my god, did she ever.

Wow. This is me at Viola's preschool for the end-of-the-year picnic.  That would have been 2003- beginning of June.  That's Ave and she would have been about 3-4 months old.  Yes, yes, look at that hair... how fabulous is that.  Yes, that was back in the day when I wore my hair exactly the same way I'd had it since... high school? Heh.  Lord.

One of my all-time favorite pictures of Ave.  Man, was she a cutie or what?  So funny because she never had half as much hair as Vi and even now, hers is so much lighter and finer than Vi's.

And, of course the best picture ever of Vi and Lila the pig who she used to follow around constantly at the ranch.  Yes, it was a luxurious life.

Vi on a hike up Mission Peak.  There is real photographic evidence that I schlepped that baby Avery all the way up there in the front pack.  That was a fabulous day even if it did take us forever to get up there.  Pretty fantastic.

Mundane days.

Sometimes when things are going well, I get quiet.  I suppose it is that part of me that doesn't quite have faith that the good will stay.  I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I fear attracting the attention of the fates lest they notice that I am happy and mete out some additional suffering that is my lot.

I suppose I'll chance it, though.  Things have been going well.  To look at our lives, all might seem a bit mundane but I suppose that is where the real test of things come.  It is never surprising when things are going either splendidly(as in, we're going on vacation splendidly) or horribly(someone is on the brink of death or disaster).  We've always oulled ourselves together for the best and worst of things.  It is in the day-to-day living that we begin to drift- when we don't have circumstances to pull us together and force us to meet.  But yes, for now, ever so tenuously, we are doing well and are happy.

It is funny, too, as things started to go better with Dean, I felt a significant pull to make amends with things in other areas of my life.  The result is that I have a huge amount of energy and I begin to see that for so many years, I pulled us along by my sheer will. 

Someone told me that it is funny how when you stop battling your spouse, you stop battling your children.  That is about the most profound aspect of my experience of late, not just envisioning the recovery of my marriage- which is a proces and we're certainly not anywhere close to being there yet, but at least I can imagine getting there which was not so before- but also seeing all of us as a family again, not as individual components or cogs.  The kids sense that something is different and everything is just a bit easier, a bit more palatable, knowing someone has your back, knowing you have someone to share the difficulties and the happy/funny/good times with.

Finally, it strikes me that my happiness and energy of late is saturating everything I touch.  Work is better and easier, classes are a breeze, relationships outside of my immediate family are easier... Life is difficult when home isn't a good place to be.  Everyone needs a home.

As an entirely unrelated aside- just who uses itunes? Is it a bunch of 13-year-olds?  How in the world do they come up with their top songs?  Huh?

Dean is torturing Chocolate.  First, he put a giant stuffed tiger by Chocolate's dish which Choc barked and growled at but wouldn't go near no matter how hungry he was.  Then Dean dressed up the bathroom step-stool with a snarly face and put that by the food.  Of course, he added some string and some motion to make them really scary.  Poor Choc, can't even eat in peace.

Ave is loving her music class. I'm looking for something additional, though. Vi has decided, since her trip to the symphony, she must play the viola.  Funny, huh? Yeah, we'll see.  Ave's going to play the violin and I'm going to learn the cello.  Dean can play the second violin.

We got this fabulous setup(yes, despite the fact it is from Pottery Barn), hopefully it will help with organization although, I'll never be one of those calendar-tending/list-making moms.  Nope, doomed to be late and miss appointments forever.  Oh well.

I just really needed something to fill up the wall as the hallway turns into the kitchen. Heh.   

I have a new plan, too.  I'm going to start work early on Wednesdays or maybe work a little extra the other days, or uh, not... Vi gets out of school early on Wednesdays and I am going to pick her up right wen she gets out and take her out to the ranch and we'll go riding.  It'll be a great chance to get in a ride and a good time for some mom-daughter bonding.  Of course I'll document with photos.

Boo is huge.  Chip is tiny.  I wish they would sit still long enough for me to take a picture.  It is so bizarre they came from the same litter.

Ave and Dean are both singing the music from the Little Mermaid.  Please, save me, someone.