Saying Goodbye

We said goodbye to our four-legged pal, Gracie, on Saturday.  It was a sad day.  Gracie has been a part of our family for 16 years.  She is almost exactly one year younger than Jess.  Neither one of my kids know life without her.

Choosing to put her to sleep was dramatic and sad.  I didn't think it was fair for me to choose to end her life.  I felt that she needed to die naturally.  In the end, Gracie just didn't have any plans to die naturally and was suffering.  Thursday night was very rough and Fred said that we needed to let her go.  And, I angrily explained to him that he would be doing it by himself.  However, my heart softened.  I knew he was right and I certainly knew that I owed it to Gracie to be with her during her last moments.  She has been dependent on me for everything these last couple of years.  How could I leave her when she really needed me?

We didn't take her to our regular vet.  We took her to a friend's vet in East Plano.  Gracie is petrified of riding in the car.  She didn't make a sound the entire drive. The vet was so sweet and compassionate.  She made sure that I knew that we made the right decision and that I didn't feel guilty.  The act of euthanizing her was so sad and awful.  I will remember it forever.  When it was finally over, the sweet vet led us out the back door and told us we could call on Monday and let them know what arrangements we wanted made for Gracie.

It feels so different not having Gracie.  We miss her so much and there are reminders of her everywhere.  Having a senior dog is hard.  I wish we hadn't had to experience the last two years, but they were also really sweet years.

Mostly, I want to remember the crazy dog that drove us all nuts.  The dog that slept at the foot of our bed for way too many years.  The dog that stayed close to the kids waiting for food to fall.  The dog that loved to eat crayons.  The dog that stayed ever vigilant when Fred was out of town.  The dog that sat on my lap at all times.

We love and miss you, Gracie.  Our home will never be the same.

U Make Me Smile

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas celebrations.  We finished up last night and we are pooped, but happy!  I will sort through the pictures and post this weekend.  Until then, here is my favorite.

The Christmas Card Debacle of 2013

For some reason, this has just been an off year for me.  If you know me, then you know that I truly LOVE Christmas cards. There has only been one year that we didn't send out Christmas cards and that was the Christmas that Jess was at Meridell.  I took the pictures before she left and ordered the cards.  However, I ended up not sending them, because she looked so sad.  

That being said, I don't know what happened this year.  I had it on my mind that I needed to have pictures done.  Then before I knew it November was upon us.  Do you know what November is?  No shave November!  The mustache is not a good look for my husband.  Last year, we went forward with family pictures and it was bad!  From there we started planning for our sealing and it just started snowballing after that.

Long story short,  I threw my kids in front of the tree and took their pictures.  My camera broke the day of our sealing.  I have to send it off to get it fixed.  (Sad story, I know).  A couple of years ago, I thought it was a good idea to paint my living room a soft green, because it was tranquil.  However, when you take a picture, it makes everyone look like death.  So, my pictures had a less-than-desired-effect.  I picked out a super cute card and made the pictures black and white hoping that would help make up for bad photography.  I ordered the cards.  My gut told me to pay the extra for expedited shipping.  After all, this girl has only gone one Christmas without cards.  But, no!  I went with the free shipping offer that said I would have it well before Christmas.  

Everyday, I anxiously tracked my cards.  Everyday they were in Frisco, but didn't deliver.  Turns out it was a FedEx package that had been handed over to USPS.  Friday night I tracked my package.  It said that they attempted delivery at 6:47 p.m. but there was no one home and that they left a notice.  First of all, I was home and second, I couldn't find a notice.  I called and entered in my tracking number and it said that the post office had my package.  

On Saturday, I headed out to the post office.  I got there too late for package retrieval.  However, while I was at the post office the mailman was delivering my package.  So, my theory is that he didn't get all of his packages delivered the night before and put it in his system that he attempted delivery.

I had address labels already printed out, so I quickly put labels and stamps on them.  We dropped them off at the post office.  They went out some time Monday and you will all get them after Christmas.  

One would hope that I learned my lesson!  Don't procrastinate and don't forget Movember.

The Unfortunate Sunday Picture

I asked my two favorite guys to pose with me for a picture on Sunday.  They look like they are in immense pain.  One might look at these pictures and think they only go to church on Christmas.  Nope.  Here was the problem.  Fred is a last minute dresser.  He showers about 15 minutes before we need to leave, so I couldn't take a Christmas picture before church.  My boys are literally throwing off their clothes as they walk in the back door on Sunday.  I asked them to wait for about 5 minutes while we took a couple of pictures.  Judging from their faces, it was torture!  To add insult to injury, I offended them when I said we looked cute in our Christmas attire.  Apparently, cute is a bad thing!

Blessings

I love this time of year!  I really do, even if I let the hustle and bustle stress me out a little.  It is a great time to reflect on the birth and life of our Savior.  It is also a great time to think about our many blessings.  Although, we can and should do those things all year long.

Two of my greatest blessings are Jessica Taylor and Jonathan Andrew!  They bring us such joy.  I love them to pieces.

Jessica is a senior at The Saint Anthony School in Carrollton (a therapeutic private school).  She loves working with special needs kids. She is given the opportunity to work with kids in the lower school most days and those kids adore her.  She also loves serving in any capacity.  The seniors recently went to the Salvation Army and helped them get the packages ready for Christmas and she was extremely touched by her experience there.   And, let's not forget that she loves all things Doctor Who!

Jonathan is in 8th grade at Wester Middle School.  He plays the  tuba and is excited to play a song for us on Christmas morning.  It is a compilation of Christmas hymns; he has been talking about it for weeks.   Jonathan has been working very hard in Scouts and is a project and a few partial merit badges away from being an Eagle Scout.  He will finish all of those partials except for one before Christmas break is over (do you feel Mom cracking the whip)!  Jonathan loves video games and could play them for hours.  We are working on helping him to develop a few more interests!

If you are reading this, then we count you as one of our many blessings, too!

Merry Christmas

The Fortenberry's were slow to get ready for Christmas this year.  It seems we get slower and slower every year.  I should be getting more on the ball now that my kids are older, right?  It seems like there is more to do now that they are older.  More activities and more places to be.  I am feeling more settled now that all the presents are wrapped - except for the kids' presents.  I always wrap those at the last minute.  I like to spread them out and make sure they are even.  We number the presents.  The kids draw numbers.  So if we draw #3.  Then they have to dig through and open present #3.  It makes Christmas last just a little longer.  Especially now that they don't have as many presents.  We also hide their Santa present and make them look for it.  I'll do all that Monday or Tuesday night.  At least the other stuff is wrapped, so that I can relax and enjoy time with my family.

We will celebrate Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve.  That is so much fun now that we have a 3-year old in the mix.  There is nothing better than a 3-year old.  They are sweet, sassy and crazy all at the same time.  What better time to spend with a little one than at Christmas.  And, of course, we love to spend time with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, too!

Christmas Day will bring our little family celebration and then we will go to my parents' home to celebrate with my mom's side of the family.  With Christmas falling in the middle of the week, I think we might only have my Auntie Jan, Uncle Joe and Grandma.  But, we will make the best of it and have a blast.  We always have a great time playing games.  We were told to bring a $20 white elephant gift and something that we already had that we want to 'regift.'

We had the opportunity to have Fred's parents spend Thanksgiving week with us, so we won't get to see them.  And, we hope to see Fred's sister some time over the holidays.  They have four kids, so they are always running.

In between the family celebrations, we are getting together with friends.  We are truly blessed!  

In just a little while I am going to teach the sweet young women that I work with at church.  Our lesson is called 'How can I prepare to establish a Christ-centered home.'  Such an appropriate lesson on the Sunday before Christmas.

We wish all of our friends and family a very happy, safe and blessed Christmas!

Mall Time!

Jonathan has been participating in a great little social skills group.  They have been meeting once a month. This month, they met at the mall to eat dinner, participate in a scavenger hunt, do a little shopping and work on their social skills.  First of all, I love that two of the boys have their drink shoved in their mouth!  Second, Jonathan insisted that I give him money for dinner, because he was NOT going to be spending his own money for dinner.  I gave him $10 to eat on.  He was concerned that was not going to be enough.  I informed him that if he spend more than $10 then he needed to use his own money, because that was all Mom was covering.  Lastly, Jonathan brought his own money to shop with.  He bought two presents - one for his sister and one for himself.  You gotta love that kid!

Sweet Memories

Jessie and her classmates are putting together their yearbook.  They asked for old pictures of each Senior.  Jess and I went digging through the pictures.  We didn't always agree on our favorites, so we had to compromise!  What is for sure is that I dearly love that sweet curly hair and big brown eyes!