A Doubly Nice Day

Mother's Day 2013.  When I awoke I lay in bed and remembered my own mother who passed away almost exactly 6 years ago.   She was my role model for motherhood.  Here I am at a young age learning how to be a mother to my doll.

   Mother's Day 2013 happened to coincide with my 54th birthday, so today was doubly special.  I asked my daughter, Annie, to document this day for me and handed over my camera to her.

I got online during breakfast to check emails and look at Facebook.

 

 The first thing I saw was a note from my sister, Lori along with an old picture of the two of us.

My eyes flooded with tears.

As I got dressed for church, I wore one of my mother's bracelets to remind me of her.

Then I went downstairs to go through old photo albums to find a picture of me and my mom for Facebook.  It made me sad to realize that I don't have very many pictures of the two of us. I made a mental note to take more pictures with my kids.

Off to church.  On Mother's Day in our church, it is tradition for all children to give a flower to their moms, and Annie picked a yellow carnation for me.  During a quiet moment of the service, I heard a familiar sound that again reminded me of my mom - the sound of someone breathing with an oxygen machine.

  When we got home, Vance took pictures of Annie and me on the front step.

 When we went inside, Kerry was awake and she gave me a big hug!  

 I put my flower in water.

Then I was wished a Happy Mother's Day by the dogs...

 and one of the cats. (Momo doesn't get friendly until the evening)

 My good friend and neighbor, Linda stopped by to chat for a few minutes.

 My neighbor, Cindy, gave Kerry a bunch of her old scrubs and Kerry tried them on for us!

Then we went outside to take some pictures on my new red bench that Vance got me for Mother's Day. 

Then we were off in the car to DSW to look for prom shoes for Annie.

Before we left, Kerry posed for this lovely photo with her face pressed against the car window!

At DSW, she had to try on a pair of sandals she would never buy and pretend to model them.

If you want to see the entire show, you can watch this short clip:

As Vance was getting dinner ready, Adam called and asked us to Skype.

His exams begin this week and he couldn't make it home.

I opened my cards and gifts so he could be there with us.

My mother-in-law came over for dinner (lasagna) and we had my favorite cake for dessert - angel food cake with whipped cream and raspberries.

Alice's birthday is two days after mine, so we celebrated it all!

After dinner, my sister, Lori called and I settled on the couch for what I knew would be a long phone call.  (Kerry likes to imitate her mother!)

I put the phone on speaker so everyone could join in the conversation. 

Then Momo got into her nightly position on my lap and wished me a Happy Mother's Day too!

It was a really nice day!

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

I only do it a few times every year - spring, fall, and once in between.  It's not something I look forward to because it takes to long, but I am very happy when it's done.

It's giving Sami and Halle a bath!

Spanning two days, the process goes like this.

Because their fur is so thick, the first step is to brush them really well to remove any of the loose fur.  If I don't do this, it will come loose during the bath and then it tends to cause mats afterward.

Yesterday I got TONS of fur off Sami and Halle - mostly Sami.  It took me about 3 hours to comb and trim them, with Sami huffing and puffing and whining in protest.  Halle doesn't mind - I think she sees it as getting one-on-one time with me!

Today was bath day.  I managed to get it all done in 2 hours!

Sami was first. If I do Halle first, he stresses too much.  He actually doesn't mind the warm water in the shower and the shampoo/rub down.  This is followed by a conditioner which helps prevent their fur from tangling.  Then I dry him as much as possible with towels.

He looks so pitiful, doesn't he?  We think he looks like Eeyore.

Halle was up next.

She really doesn't mind it at all!

Isn't she adorable?

This is what I couldn't live without - my Metro Doggie Blow Dryer!

Rather than blowing hot air to dry their fur, it blows cool - but really forceful - air.

 You can actually see the water blowing off in the air.

Halle is pretending her head is in the wind riding in the car!

Just to show you how powerful it is, here is a picture of my nice, toned, muscular thigh  :)

 And here is my nice, toned muscular thigh with the air blowing on it!

OK, so bath time is done!

The first thing Sami does is go lay down in the dirt.

Halle doesn't take any chances that I will do anything else to her today.  She hides under the rhododendron!

They are all set for our visitors on Saturday.  A couple from Westchester County in New York is coming up to meet them.  They are thinking about getting a Finnish Lapphund from Shadagrace Finnish Lapphunds in Winnipeg, Canada and that's kind of a long trip for just a visit.  So instead they will meet a Lappy from Shadagrace - Halle.  If you look at the dogs on their website, you can see Halle's mother, Skyla, and her father, Oakley.

My Vision

I have a vision for my back yard.  You see, last year I began a photography business, specializing in high school Senior portraits.  I traveled to different locations in the area for portrait sessions.  So many of the seniors last year wanted their portraits done in a natural setting.  We would meet at a local park and do their photo shoot.  They would change their clothes behind screens.  Moms would lug around bags with clothing, shoes, hairbrush, etc.  There were no mirrors available to check how they looked.
And no bathroom.

So I have a vision.

I've been planning and working on this vision for months.  I am making an outdoor studio in my back yard.  For those that want to go on location for their photo shoot, I will gladly do that.  But for those that just want a natural setting with more flexibility - a bathroom, an air-conditioned place to change and get out of the heat, many more options to personalize their portraits, and the ability to preview the images if they wish - I believe this will be a fantastic location option.

But first, there is a lot of work left to do.  And I needed help.
Today, that help came.  A Bobcat and Vance.

During summers as a teenager Vance worked for a company that put in swimming pools,  and he had a lot of experience operating a Bobcat.  He seemed happy to get back in the seat once again!

Years of dumping leaves and brush, in addition to trees that were taken down and cut up after the snowstorm last October made the area behind the fence a mess.

I loaded up the bucket with the logs...

(Even though the logs were rotting and full of bugs, my garden gloves protected me!)

Then Vance carried them away!

After removing the logs and piles of brush, he leveled out the ground.

The dogs were watching through the fence.

Maddie should have stayed behind the fence, but she didn't!

We even discovered remnants of years long past - Adam's Thomas the Tank Engine bowl was in the dirt in the area of the "Indian Fort" where the kids once played.

By the end of the day, the yard looked so much bigger and cleaner!

I built this stone wall last week.  It will be a beautiful place for pictures!

I also built this natural stone wall out of boulders I dug up from the ground.

And these stone steps.  I can't wait to plant some woodland flowers here!

I so appreciate the power of the Bobcat.  We couldn't have done all this without it!
And I am so thankful for my wonderful husband too!

And Halle  (Sami is camera shy).

And Maddie.

I will continue to build my "studio" over the coming weeks.
I'm having so much fun designing it.

My vision.