Girls' Weekend

I had an awesome weekend with Julia and Christine. We stayed in a cabin in the mountains about 40 minutes from Chattanooga. We didn't do much of anything but relax and shop a little. It was a much needed trip! We did stop at the University of the South and WOW what a beautiful campus. They had this amazing chapel. I wish I would have taken my tripod in so I could have gotten my exposure better. It was dark in the chapel so I wasn't able to get my shutter speed low enough without my shaking hands ruining the picture. I'm going to try and fix it in Photoshop but haven't had time to play around with it. Here are some of my favorite shots

I can't believe they actually consider this a "chapel"

I loved the choir loft/altar area. The seats were like a church pew but they were for individual people. The backs went high up the wall

This is a view of all the seats on one side. The wood carving was beautiful.

These were at the end of every seat

A rose window with part of the pipes from the pipe organ. I wish we could have heard it being played!

The beautiful ceiling

Some fun shots of Julia and Christine

We had fun playing Mexican Train dominos. After we finished I looked down at our "train" and thought it was really funny. Can you figure out whose train was the school teacher's and whose was the accountant?

Our New Addition

Let me introduce you to our new addition to the family. His name is Cullen “Cullie” and he is named after Edward Cullen from the Twilight books. A big thank you to Christine for the suggestion!!

We got him from some random cab driver, LOL. David and I really loved his solid gray brother but Reese insisted on having Cullie. I think she was dead on too. Cullie allows her to carry him everywhere! He is so good with her and I know that we made a good choice in getting him. He and Rammie took a few days to get acclimated but they are now best buds. Rammie even bathes him now. They do chase each other around and we’re hoping Rammie will shed a few pounds. Those who have seen him know that it’s more than a few!!!

This was his very first bath and he did really well. Reese wanted to get IN the tub with him. He was filthy because he was living in a garage.

He has gorgeous gold eyes!

See how good he is!

She loves to hold him like a baby

He really does love her too!

I hope he becomes the companion to Reese that Toby was for me.

Use caution when speaking to a toddler…

This post may be a little delicate for some, so proceed with caution! :)

Yesterday my mom graciously picked Reese up from daycare for me. I run by their house to pick her up and then we had to go pick up the new kitty from the vet (more about Cullen later). Well, mom brought Reese out to my car because she knew that I was in a hurry. I pick Reese up and set her down in her car seat. She pops back up and says “My boody (aka booty) hurts!” So, I of course ask her if she has to go to the bathroom. She says “no” and then I do the next thing to check to make sure her bottom is clean. Mom runs in to get a wipe for me and we check in the driveway :). All clean. I tell Reese everything looks good and she actually goes back into her seat. She is very excited that we’re picking Cullie up from the doctor.

Fast forward to the vet’s office and I’m chatting with the woman up front. Reese feels left out so she asks me to pick her up so she can see the lady too. Reese then pipes up and says “I don’t need to see the doctor anymore. It doesn’t hurt.” The woman then asks the dreaded question “Really sweetie, what hurt?” I actually was going to try and stop her because I knew what was going to happen. But, she said it too fast. Reese looks her straight in the eye, crinkles up her nose, cocks her head to the side and said very matter-of-factly “My boody. It was hurting.” The woman cracks up and responded “Really, that’s good it doesn’t hurt anymore.” I apologized and the woman told me that she is the one that asked and that she has a 5-year old. I thought for sure Reese was going to say “It was all clean” but she didn’t. I guess I really should consider myself lucky because it could have been much worse! :)

My Sweet Toby

For most of you that know me you know that Toby has always meant the world to me. I was there the day he was born at my Nanny’s house. He instantly became my “first” baby and it was love at first sight. I was so surprised when mom said that I could keep him!! His full name was Tobias Napoleon Silver Hall (crazy, I know). Ryan wanted to name him Napoleon so badly that I agreed to have it as his middle name. He was such a little thing and he would nurse on my ear (and dad too!) any chance that he could get. A lot of you would enjoy my stories about how he was quite the “randy” cat and would hump his Pound Puppy (remember those???) at least once a day. When he was a baby it was this small Pound Kitty. There were years that we were apart in college but as soon as I set up my own house with David he settled right in.

My baby boy some how got out last Friday. Every other time he got out he would always come back waiting at the door…this time he didn’t. I can only assume that he went away to pass on in peace. He always LOVED the outdoors and he would constantly try and bolt out the door. The original plan was for him to be an outdoor cat but when he was a kitten cats would approach him and he would be so scared he’d poo all over himself. So, we made the decision to keep him inside, LOL. I got tired of giving him a bath!

Reese was very concerned at first when we told her that he was lost. Toby was her “buddy” and she immediately started crying and we went outside looking for him. We always said “Toby-Tobe” anytime we would look for him. Reese was sure to correct mom when they went looking for him as well. When it became clear that Toby wasn’t coming back we told her that Toby was up in heaven. She told me not to be sad because the doctor was in heaven and he was going to make him better and send him back. Oh how I wish it worked that way!!

I am going to miss his rough and stinky kisses and how he always wanted to cuddle with me. My house (and bed!) seems so empty with out him. I could go on and on with stories about my Toby and how much I loved him. We recently got a scanner so I’m going to try and find some old pictures of him to post. He was so beautiful!

We recently added to our furry family so look for some new posts about him. Reese has found herself a new best friend!

Rest in peace my sweet Toby. I’m going to miss you so much!!

Tobias “Toby” Napoleon Silver Hall
April 11, 1992-January 23, 2009