:(

Do you remember your favorite blanket, teddy bear or something that you held close to you when you were young? Now do you remember when you had to give it up because you were a "big girl/boy"? Well....this is how I feel about giving up my smokes :(
To be honest I haven't been doing to well. I have cut back greatly but haven't "kicked" the habit completely. I have been having 2 or 3 cigarettes a day. It has worked well because it is just enough to take the edge off. The part that is making this the hardest is my husband is still smoking. Every so often he will forget and light up in the house and it totally screws me up. It isn't all his fault tho...it just takes so much will power and I just don't have it right now...not with Christmas coming and getting ready for it. I know, I know, just another excuse not to totally stop and to be honest maybe it is but it is just so hard!! My hubby says that since he has the week during Christmas and New Years off it will be a good time for him to quit too....we'll see. I believe it will be easier for him then me, but I am the one who has no choice but to quit. Last Monday I finally asked the doctor for a chest Xray because my chest hurt so bad and I thought at one point I was having a heart attack but come to find out when your lungs are inflamed they can spasm and make your chest hurt. The good news is that the chest xray showed nothing out of the norm and the doctor is thinking that I either have a nasty virus that just doesn't want to leave me or I am in the beginning stages of a chronic lung disease...great!!!! They put me on antibiotics AGAIN and also 2 types of inhalers which seems to be working. This is not fun and pretty scary too. To think that I am only 33 and starting a lung disease already is really scary.
Now to why I haven't just stopped? I have no idea!!!! I wish I could answer that. I know it is bad. I know every time I smoke a cigarette it is making my lungs worse and I am slowly killing myself....still no answer. I have read that stopping smoking is harder then quitting street drugs....if that is true I am not sure. I know what you are thinking, if your not a smoker, "dumbass". Come on admit it you think that I am stupid and should have gotten rid of all of the smokes when the dr told me what was going on...and you are totally right!!! If you are a smoker or an ex smoker then you probably totally understand what I am saying. This is the hardest thing that I have done and I am praying for the strength to stop completely. I just wish I knew if there was a trick or something. This time around I have figured out it is not so much the nicotine that keeps me coming back, it is the habit. The habit is the worst to break. I try not to talk on the phone much because there is something about smoking and being on the phone...don't ask. The morning smoke isn't bad for me. I can get up and go a little bit without having that morning cigarette (unlike my hubby). The after you eat smoke is getting easier. Now after dinner I just go straight to washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen before I really want that after dinner smoke. I now have a bottle of water I carry with me all the time so when I want that smoke I just keep taking small sips. There is a down side to the bottle tho....way too much time spent in the bathroom..Hahaha! But it does take that edge away for a little bit and it gives my hands and mouth something to do...that is the key I believe, keeping things busy. I can't chew gum as it always gives me a headache so I have stuff to suck on which works only for a little bit, but it does help.
I am hoping that I can figure this out soon and be smoke free by the new year! For all of those people out there that have quit smoking cold turkey...I am on my hands and knees bowing to you for your strength and commitment and asking for your help on how to just give it up! I am open for suggestions of any kind. For all you non smokers out there I am willing to hear the nasty comments you may wish to say....as long as they are not so mean you make me want to smoke...hahaha!!
Hope you all are doing great out there and are ready for the holidays. I am on my way slowly but I am one of those people that wait til last minute anyways...guess I like the stress.
Have a wonderful and blessed day :)

Sweet Dreams Week

This is my entry for the I Heart Faces Photo Challenge called Sweet Dreams.
This is Emily at the end of the yr preschool picnic on the beach. The older kids were playing so nicely together and having fun on the beach, poor Emi couldn't keep up and just ended up falling asleep in the swing.
Too Cute!!



This picture below is just a shot a little further away so you can see her hanging there and she kept moving her head trying to get a more comfy spot.

Today is Day 1

I have quit smoking today....for the 3rd time!!! I have tried to do it before but I really have to do it now. Doctors orders and also my body is saying enough is enough!

Hello everyone! I know I have been gone for quite sometime now and to be honest I didn't know if I was ever going to come back to writing. I started blogging for my stores on Etsy and Artfire. I had eventually grown to not like blogging for the fact of I was bored talking about selling. I enjoyed it more when I would talk about what I liked and loved but then I said "who cares how you feel about certain things" I know some of you do....if my old blogging buddies are still out there. So I have decided to do this for myself. I need to vent the frustration of stopping smoking and I thought what a better place then here due to the fact of there are millions of you out there that have overcome some sort of an addiction. I hope you all will be able to give me some hints, ideas and encouragement to do this so then I may be able to help the next person in line to quit smoking or whatever their addiction may be.

I have been having some medical issues and to be honest I am getting really nervous now. I am the type of person that doesn't like to talk about very personal things. My thoughts are that somewhere out there someone has it worse then you. I didn't want people to think that I was whining or anything. I have decided to try writing about my issues going on and about quitting smoking. I thought that it may help me to just put my thoughts and feelings down and if anyone wants to read or if anyone can offer some advice I would love it so. I have heard that quitting street drugs is easier then quitting smoking...don't know if that is totally true or not but I can say it is the hardest thing I have had to do. I haven't figured out how to constantly find things for my fingers to do or my mouth for that fact. I have lost some weight (45 lbs to be exact..in 2 yrs) and I am soooo scared I am going to put it back on and I can't do that since I am already pre diabetic or I should say was pre diabetic:) If I have to put some of that back on I am good with that but I have seen and read horror stories on how much weight people put on due to stopping smoking and I am not good with that!

Right now I need to take this one day at a time and see what happens. Right now I have a patch on and I have a cut down straw to hold in my fingers or in my mouth. I have also heard to put a little bit of cotton in one end of the straw so if you decide to suck on it is gives you a little resistance like a cigarette does (think I may have to try that). It is still early here and I haven't been up long enough to really start craving. I was never the one to get up and the first thing I had to do is light up. I was always about to hold off on that and also after eating I could do the same. I will probably have to post something later when I am cranky and really could use a smoke.

On another note. I thought I would show you a few pictures that I have been taking with my Christmas toy from last yr and a pictures of how big the boys have gotten :) I really would love to hear from you guys and let me know how you all are doing. I have popped in from time to time but I never really commented to much on the blogs but I always was wondering how everyone was.

48 for Larry!!

Please stop by and try to help a great person in our handmade world who is in desperate need of everyones help! Please stop by Block Head Radio and show your support even if you can't afford to donate or participate in the silent auction! This all starts at 6:00 P.M. tonight. One of our Handmade friends needs our help....help show your support by posting this video every where you can :) Thank you!!

I Heart Faces "Pets" and "Sports"

This is not a "real" sport, but ask any 1 year old and she will tell you it is one of the best sports out there....swinging!!!!

This is my entry into the I Love Faces Photo Challenge for this weeks "Pets"

This is Marsala! She is a Silver Wyandotte Hen. She is no longer with us as I have downsized my flock but non the less she is a beautiful bird and is greatly missed. She went to a wonderful girl who is in our local 4-H and will be showing her this yr in the upcoming fairs. We are hoping to see her at our big county fair this yr! How could she not win :)

Bob Bull Goes into Retirement

For all of you that have been following my husbands adventure with having a partnership in a race horse, I have some bad and good news.

I will start with the bad news first. Bob Bull will no longer be running on the track. He proved to Tom that he no longer wanted to be out there but gave it a shot. So Tom made the decision to put him into retirement for the rest of his life. Tom listens to his horses and lets them make the choice if they are going to run or not. Bob Bull has had a hard life and Tom gave him a chance out there on the track again but Bob wanted nothing to do with it. Tom says that he loved going out in the morning and running but when it came to race time he just didn't put his heart into it.

So now for the good news!!

This is a picture of Bob with one of his new owners!

Bob is currently living on a 40 acre farm in Wellington FL with a couple who really wanted to take him in. Tom told us Bob also has a girlfriend to hang out with!! How cool is that. Bob is now going to live out his life being happy and running but not for competition.

Also the best news of all.....Tom has had a "No Slaughter" Bill signed for Bob. This means that Bob will never have to see the inside of a slaughter house again. He made it out and will never go back. How lucky is this horse?! I think he is one of the luckiest animals out there. If it wasn't for Racefund.org finding him in the slaughter house and calling Tom, and for Tom taking him back in...and now knowing that he will die an old horse, happy and loved! He is one of the few that get a second chance at life, so please just remember all of those that aren't that lucky.

I hope to try to get some more pictures of Bob at his new home but no promises. We will still be in contact with Tom and hopefully when another partnership comes around we will be ready and be able to afford it. Even if another partnership doesn't come around we have made a good friend and I have had the honor of knowing someone who is a horse trainer and also a man who cares so much for his and all animals alike. You don't meet people like Tom everyday and I am glad that I have met him. He gave us a chance at one of my husbands dreams and I will always respect him for that! It was a great ride for Mark... and me too! It was a lot of fun and a time that we will never forget. I love you Tom! You are a nice, wonderful, warm hearted person and it has been an absolute pleasure to have gotten to know you! Thank you!!!

I am hoping to keep updated with other horses that Tom is running. You can always catch Toms horses at Calder race track in Miami FL. Just look for Mcschell Racing and Tom Schell!

Thanks for sharing in our adventure. It wasn't as long as we would have liked but it has turned out better then we ever thought it could.

Hello to all my blogging friends. I have been MIA for a few. I have had some personal things to take care of and it has not been fun for me. The weather here has not helped with motivation to do anything either. It has been raining or cloudy for the past 3 weeks and it has got me very down. My personal things have gotten better but I have one more hump to get over on Friday. I am sure everything will be fine but it doesn't make my mind any calmer. It has been really crazy around here with all the stuff going on and the boys graduating from school and all the money we have had to dish out this month for all of Marks end of the yr activities for school. It would be so nice if the school would give a heads up about mid year on what will be going on at the end of the year so you can financially plan for everything. I am also currently looking for a job to help with some added expenses that have come up. It hasn't been easy to find anything around here. I know it is rough all over but for some reason no store chains are hiring around here. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find something soon.

So one day this past week the sun came out for a few hours and Thomas and I sat on the deck enjoying the sunshine and listening to the birds sing and feed the babies in the birdhouses. It was so nice to see the sun and feel the warmth. The only good thing about the rain is my gardens are wonderful!! I decided to get my camera out and take a few pictures of some of the beautiful colors in some of my gardens. I hope you enjoy them.

I hope you all are doing good and that things are going well for all of you. I have missed you all and missed blogging. I am hoping that my time of stress is over and I can get back to life the way I know it. I have missed you all tremendously and it feels really nice to write again and be back into this!

I heart faces week 24 "Let's Hear It for the Boys"

I had such a hard time picking out a picture to use for this weeks challenge.

I have a million pictures of this blonde haired, blue eyed cutie and I picked this one because I thought it fit into the "Let's Hear it for the Boys" category just perfect. What is better then a boy playing in a mud puddle for this weeks challenge.

Thomas was just over 2 in this picture, he found a mud puddle and went crazy!!

Nothing wrong with a little bit of dirt right? This may be to the extreme but this is probably one of my favorite photos of him. He still has no problem finding dirt and getting dirty.

We Were at Belmont Park!

On Saturday, Mark and I took a ride down to the Belmont in NY to watch the races. We had been to tracks before but never been for a big stakes race like "The Belmont". Can I just say what a blast we had! I got wonderful pictures, met some wonderful people and had a great time just the 2 of us. I really didn't think I was going to like being there all day since we got there at 10 and the main race wasn't until 6:30 but time went by fast and we had great seats right on the rail. We were near the finish line and had a great view of everything. The people were mainly friendly,but there were plenty of rude people too, a lot were drunk and so funny to watch and the people that were so over dressed for the cheap seats...they must have thought they were at the Kentucky Derby but sitting in the cheap seats! That was interesting to see. It was a great time and it was wonderful to have some "adult time" just me and Mark. We came home tired and really sunburned but it was well worth it!

I am so proud of some of the pictures I got. I owe it all to my wonderful husband who got me the Canon Rebel XSI for Christmas. These pictures would not be possible without it. I have started a new Flickr page that has more photos on it if you would like to see more. I did this because I was so surprised when a man came over my shoulder when I was looking at some of the pictures I had taken (200+!!) and he saw some he liked and asked if I sell them and wanted to know if he can purchase a few. Can you say EXCITED!! So I hope I can figure this out and any and all advice on selling pictures would be greatly appreciated!! Please!!

This is "mine that bird" getting ready for the gate
This is Summer Bird taking the lead

Just a photo of one of the turf races

Busy, Busy and More Busy

It has been a very busy 2 weeks here. We have had all sorts of end of the school year activities going on, graduation, band competition, field trips, play dates and yard work! Emily sums it up in this first picture!

We had a great picnic with the preschool at our town beach. It was cold and windy that day but the kids had fun. Emily is the younger sister of Jamie who is in Thomas's class and the poor thing just couldn't keep up.

This is part of our beach overlooking Long Island Sound. As you can see we don't have much activity when it comes to waves. Long Island protects us and the only time it gets choppy and we have any types of waves is when a storm comes in. Not as nice as some beaches but it is nice since it is only 3 minutes from my house.

Thomas and some of his classmates and parents enjoying the beach

This is the graduating class! I can't believe my baby has graduated from his first year of preschool. I did ok since I know there is 1 more year of preschool before he is off to Kindergarten. Now talk to me in a few weeks when my oldest graduates from 8th grade...I don't think I will do well with that one.

This is Thomas and Jamie. They will be married some day(we joke all the time)! They absolutely love one another. Jamie asks Thomas to walk her to her car everyday after preschool and they walk hand in hand to her car. It is the cutest sight ever!!! I do have to say that Thomas is a gentleman and just does as he is told to do....LOL!

Thomas getting his diploma!

After Disney this is no fun at all for him...can you tell? Look at the look on his face. I can see him saying to himself "this is boring"

Thomas was big enough to drive the car on his own. He told Dad that he was a big boy and can do it all by himself. So Dad and I sat and watched as he "bumped" his way down the track. He looks like he has been driving for years the way he is sitting in the car with his hand like that on the wheel.

Mark had a band competition at Lake Compounce which is a amusement park here in CT. After they played a few songs we got to enjoy the park for the day. It was so cold and only finished raining shortly after they performed. It wasn't that fun. Last year it was about 85 and sunny and we all went home sunburned and the kids were able to use the water park...not this year! Sweatshirts never came off :(

I couldn't really get good pics of the band concert. The place that they performed in was big. They all did a great job and it was very enjoyable. Most of them have been playing since they were in 4th grade and I can't believe how much they have grown in the last 4 yrs.

Now that Thomas is done with school we just have to get through Marks last 2 or 3 weeks left and much more to do. We are also trying to get Mark into the "little explorers" program at our local firehouse. It is nice since we know the chief! Hopefully he can get in and it will keep him busy for the summer. If summer ever gets here!! We have had a few nice and really warm days then it drops back down again. Like today it is only supposed to be 60-65 degrees. Isn't it supposed to be warmer now!!

I hope you all are doing good and are having much better weather then we are.

I will also be posting on Bob Bull later today.

Take Care

I Heat Faces Photo Challenge Week 21

I know most of you have seen this darling face already but I have decided to enter Reese's wonderful smile into a photo challenge. If you haven't seen the I Heart Faces blog then you really need to stop by and take a look. Every week they have new challenges going on and I love looking at all the entries. So now I am taking the next step and entering!

If you missed the shirt that Reese won for the best smile and to learn a little more about him you can go here to read more on this wonderful part of our family.

Bob is running in his second race today at Calder in Miami. He will be running at 2:14 this afternoon in race #4. I wish him and Tom luck and hopefully he will show us what a great runner he is this time. Keep your fingers crossed!

Good luck Bob Bull and Tom!!!

Today is Memorial Day, A day to remember all of those in our armed forces that have died, been injured or are still out there fighting for all of us here. We should all take a moment to remember those from past and present wars. Say a prayer from them and their wonderful families, if you don't pray put out a flag, when you see someone in uniform say thank you!It doesn't take much. Even if you don't believe in war these men and women are doing there job and doing what they believe in. They all deserve our support and love.
Just a little story for you.
My father who served in Vietnam for 16 months and came home safe had not to long ago took all of the grandchildren together and showed them all how to properly salute the uniform and flag. Now you would never think that it would stick in a 3 yr olds head. Well, I was wrong. We were in McDonald's just a few weeks ago and there were 2 men in uniform. They were in the Army. We were waiting in line behind them and my son turned to me and said "Mommy, what did Dziadziu (grandfather in Polish) say to do?" I had no idea what he was asking. He took his hand a put it up to his head all funny and then I caught on. So I gave him a fresher coarse. The 2 men were walking out and Thomas says "bye bye" and puts his hand up and saluted them. The older of the 2 turned around and saw him and went into a full salute himself! The younger of the 2 had a HUGE smile on his face and you could just see the joy in his eyes. Everyone in McDonald's that day that caught it started clapping and cheering. It was such a touching and wonderful moment. I really wish I had my camera for that one. But after seeing the mens faces, full of joy, I knew that it only took a small act to show these men that we appreciate them being out there doing what they are doing. It was also a very proud moment for me. My father always taught me to salute or at least say thank you. Now that I am older and have seen this war go on, I know how much they risk their lives for us and truly believe in what they are doing. Please just say thank you next time you see a man or woman in uniform. I guarantee it will make their day.

I also would like to ask for your prayers and thoughts for my cousin Philip. He is a Navy pilot and is being sent to Afghanistan on June 1st. He is in training in North or South Carolina right now and will ship out in June. He only found out 4 weeks ago that he will be serving a 12 month tour. Didn't give him a lot of time to get his wife and life situated. He says he is in some ways excited about going since this is what he has spent all this time training for. He will hopefully be sending emails home and sending pictures. I pray for his safe return and pray that his wife has the strength to get through everyday. She is a very strong person and probably one of the sweetest people I know. I know she will do fine but it will probably take a toll on her. She will be moving back home for the year he is away. At least she will be with her close friends and family to help her. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers!

This is a picture of Phil and his brother Doug in the cockpit. The below picture is of one of Phils fly overs at a Nascar race in Miami. Don't know which one is him :)

Bob Bull's Race

Sorry for the delay in this post! My son has a double ear infection AGAIN and a upper respiratory infection. They think the ear infection didn't clear from almost 4 weeks ago. He is doing better now! But lets move on to Bob Bull.

Bob did race this weekend at Calder Race Course. Unfortunately I don't have any good news. He came in last place:( We contacted Tom after the race and asked what he thought happened. Tom told us that he worked out in the morning and looked great! He just didn't run. As Tom put it he didn't look like he wanted to be there. It is very hard to judge with animals what is going on. Tom is going to run him again hopefully in 2 weeks. Tom told us his heart has to be there. He needs to want to be out there on that track and run. If he chooses not to have his heart in it then Tom will make a decision and take him off the track and find him a good home. That is one of the things I love about Tom, he will never just throw a horse away. He will find a home for his horses that will be good for them, where they can be loved and cared for like they should. We hope that it was just a bad day for him and that maybe he will show us he wants to be there. After the life that Bob has gone through, I wouldn't want to see him get unhappy again. He seems as though he is a good horse with a good heart. If he wants to be a stable pony then I know he will make someone very happy and he will be able to live out his life in happiness.

Thank you for all your support for Bob. By no means is this over. I will NOT give up on him until he shows us that he doesn't want to be on the track anymore. Bob will run again and will hopefully show everyone what he has. I just wish I had better news to tell but I do have to say that this has been such a fun ride for Mark and I. I can't tell you how excited he was to see Bob out on that track. When he loaded into the gate my hubby was super excited! I'm not going to lie and say he wasn't disappointed that he didn't do better but he just happy that Bob was not hurt and that he got to say that that horse out there was part his. It was so nice to see Mark glowing with excitement on Saturday. This has been a long time dream for him and it was great to see it come true!

Here is the race from this Saturday. He is #6 and if you watched the video I put up last week you will see the difference. He looked like a different horse to me but that is just my opinion.

Bob Bull is Going to Run this Saturday!

Bob Bull is supposed to run at Calder Race Track, in Miami, this coming Saturday the 16th at 1:46p.m. EST. This is ONLY if Tom can get his papers in time! He has had some trouble with the Jockey Club with getting his papers sent to him. IF he gets his papers in time Bob is going to run! This has been the day my husband has been waiting for. Right now Bob is entered into a $10,000 claimer with a $10,000 purse. So if all goes well, Bob will be looking at the finish line once again!

Bob has been doing great!! He just did a practice run out of the gate last week. He broke with 3 other horses and came in 2nd out of 50! How awesome is that! I think Bob Bull is happy to be home and has a slight understanding of what could have been (If you are new to reading about Bob Bull then please read this and you will understand his story).
He has also been knocking time off of each of his breezes, not a lot, but they still haven't had to push him to take time off. Imagine what will happen when they do push him....he is going to fly!!
I hope you all will join us for this great day and celebrate Bobs first run in about 2 yrs! I will let you all know if there are any changes. Keep your fingers crossed that the papers will come in in time and Bob will run on Saturday!

I have included this race for you all to see Bob Bull at his best. This is the race in which he won on November 25, 2007. If you watch closely you will see that the jockey barely pushes him to run. What I mean by "pushes" is, that he doesn't really use the whip on him. I think he used it 2 or 3 times. When it comes to horse racing, that is great! He is also very beautiful and runs his heart out. I hope you enjoy this glimpse at Bob in action and hope you all will send good vibes to our friends Tom of McSchell Racing, Lisa, his wife, our jockey, and of coarse Bob Bull! Good vibes, mojo, wishes or whatever you want to call it, is greatly appreciated!

Happy Mothers Day to everyone!

Sending warm wishes for a wonderful Mothers Day.

Enjoy your special day!

I would like to send out a very special Happy Mothers Day to my Mom, Sandy. She is a great Mom and Grandmother and we appreciate everything she has done for me (us) over the years!

Nothing beats a Mom!!

LaDeDaCreations

If you like fun shops then you have to check out LaDeDaCreations!

This shop is full of such fun items that I had a hard time choosing just a few to display. Not only is the shop wonderful so is Laura who runs LaDeDaCreations!

I have secretly been admiring this soap dish :) I need one for my kitchen and it would go great with my new counter. Hopefully one day!

I Finally Won Something!

Well, not really me. This cutie face won "The Cutest Pet Contest" on a great blog called Furrytwang! He won his own T Shirt. We picked out the one that says Spoiled Rotten. Which he is of coarse! They also have a website with some great southern based T shirts. Stop by if you have a chance, it is a really cute site with many different types of shirts and sayings. You can also follow Furrytwang on Twitter. Thank you Jodi for the great prize and a picture of Reese in his shirt will be on the way when his shirt gets here!

This is Reese. He is a 10 yrs old Border Collie/Dalmatian mix who acts like he is about 2. We picked him up at the local pound when he was about 1. He was jumping so high in the pen and was a crazy man but there was good reason for it. He was so full of love but no one wanted to love him. He was found wondering the street and brought to the pound when he was a few months old. He was then adopted 2 times and brought back to the pound both times. He was taken in the 1st time and returned after a week because he was to hyper and the second time he was returned for the same reason but after about 3 weeks. Yes, he was hyper!! Jumping all over, running like a mad man but I think if I was locked up for that long I would have been doing the same.

While at the pound I took him out to the pen to see what he was like. He was a doll. You could see in his face that all he wanted was to be loved and to love you. He was jumping all over me and was trying to lick me to death. You really need to watch that tongue...it always wants to lick! There was no way I could walk away without him! He has turned out to be such a great dog! He was and is trained very easily and quickly. He is so smart (must be the Border Collie in him) I trained him to lay down near the table when we eat. He won't even lift his head until we are done. He will not lay under the table (I HATE that). He can sit, stay, roll over, paw, lay down, speak and best of all smile! Yes he really does smile. He lifts up his upper lip and shows his teeth but if you can see him do it his whole face gets into it just like when we do a real big smile. I am trying to get a picture of it but it happens so quick I can't get a good pic. Reese is also a great dog with kids. He doesn't care what is done to him. This dog has a heart of gold! I remember when Thomas was a few months old and he was lying on the floor and Reese can into the room and tried to step over Thomas. Well, at that moment Thomas decided he was going to roll and Reese caught Thomas's arm with his back foot. Thomas started crying and Reese took off and went and crouched by the door with his head down and wouldn't look at me. I saw the whole thing so I know he was being gentle and trying to step over Thomas, he never meant to hurt him. I felt so bad for Reese that I went over to him and spoke to him like he was human. I told him I know he was trying to be careful and that he didn't do anything wrong. He then gave me a kiss and was much better. Can you tell how much I love this dog?

He is the best dog you could ever ask for and there will never be a replacement for him.

The one flaw about Reese....NEVER let him off his run!!! We can't fence in our yard due to all the rock in our yard so we have him on a 100ft run. If he gets off his run....we get in the car to go fetch him. He is a white streak running down the road...LOL! I swear he has some greyhound in him. He is super fast. He hasn't calmed or slowed down at all since we got him. He still loves his long walks by the water, but hates to swim. We take him to my neighbors who has a large fenced in yard and he plays with their 2 black labs.

So to those families that let this love of a dog go....Eat your hearts out!! You missed out on the best dog you could have ever owned!

This is Reese playing with his grouchy sister, Sasha. As you can see she puts Reese in his place when needed and she will go after any dog that doesn't belong in our yard. Can we say Ornery. She is about 14 and we rescued her too. She was about to be put down when she was about 5 because her owner didn't want her anymore so we took her in. She is a typical female dog...no pun intended..LOL! She is an old girl set in her ways and has gotten bitchier the older she has gotten. We love her no less but she does need an attitude adjustment...LOL!!!

Reese with his Christmas bandanna on.

We love all our animals just the same and we couldn't ask for a happier household of 2 dogs and 3 cats, a bird, a 50 gallon fish tank and our chickens and of coarse my boys!