Countdown to Christmas

We are having the best time preparing for Christmas.  This year Christmas is extra exciting because well, for one we have a darling new baby, and secondly because Leila is really into it this year.  And because I still have my dog around to celebrate with us. 

Leila and Skylar-- so far they look nothing alike.  Time will tell.  Skylar's hair photographs red but it is a light brown--for now.

Leila at her school's Christmas program.  She was front and center, as usual.  Last year she was for her school program AND the church program and I missed recording it both times!  But this year I got it.

We made spiced sugar cookies and they were delicious.  We had a blast.  Little did I know dad does NOT like spiced sugar cookies, he likes regular.  Oops.

Decorating is the best part aside from eating them

We made gingerbread houses too. 

Had to get extra icing, I wonder where all of ours went??

Leila has been using my camera a lot, which means she is going to LOVE her big Christmas present from Santa (hmm, what do you think it is??)  She takes a lot of interesting photos, such as this one above and the one below.

Snow in Kemah!

Making a REAL snow angel

And a REAL snow man, with dad's help

Beautiful Baby Skylar @ 2 1/2 months.  She is such a little doll and a wonderful baby. 

Enjoying brunch with dear friends.  Sweet Gracie on the left (9 weeks) is crying while Skylar (12 weeks) is laughing, as Gray, Leila, Luke and Jamie look on.

Santa Pictures

We tried twice (twice!) to get good pictures of the girls with Santa. Now, even preparing for these pictures is no easy feat. A preschooler and an infant must be groomed from head-to-toe and dressed in their Christmas best, all the while praying there will be no spilled drinks or spit up in the time it takes to drive to Santa and get the picture. 

Leila was an absolute angel. And Skylar, well, she slept like one. Both times. So much for my perfect Christmas card picture. These pictures, however, are priceless all the same...

Posing with Santa at Leila's School

Brunch with Santa (and Mrs. Claus) at Sweetwater Country Club with my dad

Sadder News about Shrek (but he is still here!)

We got the devastating news last week Shrek had a tumor that had to be removed immediately. Even worse, it was on his cheek. He had surgery last Wednesday and came home that night. He had continued to lose weight and along with his other ailments was of grave concern to the vet. He is recovering slowly but his face looks 100x better. The surgeon did a great job. The good news is, being a shar pei, he had lots of extra skin around the tumor for the surgeon to use when sewing him up. The bad news (well, a small piece of all of the bad news) is that the tumor was on his face so he could not remove enough skin around it for a clean and total removal. This means it is a waiting game as it will most likely return. Luckily, the type of tumor Shrek has is not that kind that spreads.

Shrek means a lot to us, me especially, and I am so happy he will be home for Christmas. Last Tuesday I thought they were going to tell me his cancer had spread but for now he is hanging in there. He is currently on 6 (six!) prescriptions and 3 supplements. But you know what? He still loves life and is a fighter. The surgeon said if it was his dog, he would do the surgery and bring him home too.

I wanted our Christmas card to be special for Skylar but since this is probably Shrek's last Christmas, he is in the picture too. Anyway, Skylar slept through every single photo shoot for the card anyway! Wake up, sleepyhead!

He is such a funny dog. He sneaks on the couch when we are not home. He eats any grocery left on the floor--including flour (yuck!) He loves bread and has stolen hot dog buns and taken the bag outside twice (we didn't learn the first time.) He is always in the way, who knows how many times we have stepped on him or accidentally kicked him. He is extremely gentle with children and let Leila pull on him and hug him and even sit on him. He is basically a really great dog, despite all of his quirks.

We have a lot of funny stories about him. When we first got him, we took him to the beach. We were on a walk at dusk with Shrek on his leash. A couple with 2 bigger dogs not on leashes were coming towards us when their dogs ran up to Shrek, growling. He had one pinned to the ground by the throat in about 2 seconds. The woman ran up and said something about a "mean little dog" but our dog was the one on a leash and her 2 dogs charged him! Patrick likes that story because it shows what Shrek could do with that huge mouth of his. They were bred for fighting originally.

I have 2 favorite stories. After Hurrican Ike, my parent's fence blew down. When I went to stay with them because we had no power, Shrek got out of their backyard. I drove around looking for him in their unfamiliar neighborhood. When I found him, I got out of the car and called his name. He started running as fast he could in the other direction. I followed him back to my parent's house and when I pulled up, he was sitting by the back gate like he had been there all along waiting for me. Except he was panting!!

My other favorite story is about when Leila was a baby. We did not know how Shrek would do with a baby. He was great. He used to sit between me and the door when I was rocking her, protecting us. One time we took her and Shrek to a friend's house. She was in her car seat. A huge great dane-lab mix puppy walked up to her car seat to investigate what was inside. He jumped up and knocked that dog to the ground!

He is an amazing dog, and as anyone who has dogs know they are part of the family. He always knew when I was sad and would let me cuddle with him or pay me extra attention. He was around me all of the time during my pregnancies, like how they say dogs know something is different. Also, I am the one who feeds him too though...

This picture was taken in the middle of the night during Skylar's 1st month. Shrek could not find his bed in the dark and I woke up to find he had crawled into the laundry basket!! And yes, it was clean laundry. He loves to be on something soft.