More of Khaki

I have lots to post, but I am feeling sad about our pup. So I wanted to post these pictures I took of her over the last week. She's a great companion to our family, and the first thing Jon and I shared taking care of....

She's got these great ears and when you hold a treat up they go flying out like bat wings!

I taught Caed to pet her and say good girl after he gave her a treat, here they are the other morning (excuse my legs in the photo, I was trying to be quick because these poses never last!):

Also I have been letting Caed hold her leash on our walks for short amounts of time. He loves to watch her while he does that..

Our girl, scoping out a squirrel (her ears always go up like that when she's heard or seen one!)

Lunar Eclipse

Last Night's Lunar Eclipse:

(my first ever attempt at a shot of the moon, pretty cool)

A little further away, but thought it was fun with the perspective of the stars...maybe not.. (willow tree in foreground)

I Drive!

Caed has been wanting to open and shut his car door, particularly when Auntie April is in the seat next to him. Today after our mom's group met he wanted to shut his door but I needed to buckle him in his seatbelt so it wasn't going to be possible. I thought about it a second and thought I've been saying no to him so much lately, I would let him shut his car door, and then walk around and buckle him afterwards. So I did that, and no sooner did I clasp the last buckle, did he declare "I Drive!"

More love...

Here is a group photo of most of the kids that are in the Mom's group that I attend through our church. (Thank you Grace!) They all did considerably well for the photo...an improvement to past photo sessions which is an indication of their ages...How much they have grown over the past year since we've been involved. We are so blessed!

Lots of Love

Happy Birthday Jon!

Today is not only Valentine's Day, but yesterday was Jon's birthday too. So it's an especially fun week for me, because I get to celebrate a day for Jon, and we get to celebrate a day together. I am in love with Jon more then ever before. The more I realize he loves me right where I am at every day, the more I am thankful for having him in my life. I am a lucky girl.


I made his birthday cake from scratch for him, and it turned out better then it did two years ago when it looked horrible. Every year before this year I've also mixed up the kind of cake he likes. I always think it's German Chocolate Cake, but it's really Black Forest Cake that he likes. You think after being married for over 5 years I could get it straight, but only this year did I finally get it.

I was trying to find the picture from the other birthday where my layer cake turned out horribly, but I couldn't find it quickly- so you won't know how I went up from this birthday.

And for the second year I get to think of all the love I have for our son and how blessed we are to have him in our life. What good men I have in my life!

And the face I got when I asked him to smile:

First Real Haircut

Caed had his first real haircut this weekend with dad. He did so well!

Dad went first! Look at all that hair!

Then the big boy with the apron thing around his neck, what a cutie!

He was still a little sleepy because he had fallen asleep in the car.

Not afraid of the scissors at all!

Ah! The promised lollipop may have been the best idea! And look at him in that chair!

All his little curls are gone!

Father and son, new haircuts and both with their own lollipop!

Political Giving

I don't like that I can't get spell check to work!

Jon and I have been watching politics since George was up for election the first time. Jon used to work for NBC Network news here in DC, so it's been his interest for awhile. He loves to watch news- not just for content I think, but the style, the shots, the editing....I know he wraps the whole experince up in his brain and digests it all. He was working for NBC news when George got elected. He had to work the inauguration so he saw lots of people up close and personal. He even was the stand-in "George" when they were setting up the microphones and other podium materials. (Although i am not sure how this worked, seeing as how Jon is 6'6" and I am pretty sure George is on the short side. Hmmm. Anyway, it obviously went off without a hitch!) He has done a stake out at Hillary Clinton's DC home, and other very cool things newsworthy- regardless of our political standing.

Jon recently has been interested in the news reports from the elections...I have been so-so. Unimpressed with who I think are the front runners and feeling like the quality people won't make it to DC anyway, and wondering how to find my voice in all things political.

This weekend we gave finacially for the first time ever to a candidate. I am so excited! It wasn't much, but feeling like we are some small part of the process excites me. And I'll try to stay involved so that I won't be making a "lesser of two evils" choice. I do feel like it's a priveledge to have a voice in our leadership, and I'll try to remember that it's the small choices that we need to stay involved in to get the most impact.

Khaki

On Monday I had a vet appointment for Khaki. She has been coughing more and more since we had the diagnosis of possible cancer back in August. She still seems to be happy-go-lucky Khaki, but two obvious lumps have grown in addition to the coughing.

They x-rayed her and indeed she has metastasic (?) cancer, and it had grown and spread since August. She shouldn't be as happy or comfortable as she seems to be. She should be loosing weight and energy. But she hasn't. And there are some days I think she wants three bowls of food instead of the normal two. She pulls Caed in the stroller and I further then we want to walk almost every time. She still gets excited and not because we force her too.

She's on prednisone and an antibiotic. So she's gotten good about going tinkle in our backyard finally! But our amazing pup most likely doesn't have longer then 6 months. This is a shock to us because Khaki has been the best dog ever. I know that there are lots of great dogs- but one that came with no known background and then had a baby brought into the mix she's been extremely wonderful. I plan to take a bunch of pictures in the next week, but I wanted to post this little video of Khaki's mood today (jumping up on me!) and a little of Caed performing a new trick. (one that I don't ask him to perform, but for demonstration sake I did this time)

Also this week Caed has been faithfully calling Khaki "Khaki-Girl" from his crib after I've gone into his room. He wants to see her. Last night he randomly decided to pet her when she was laying down on her side. He was petting her stomach and I tried to video that but he stopped before I could. This little boy will be asking for Khaki long after she's gone, even though he won't remember her when he's older....

We will miss our first girl!

(I apologize for the weird sound static thing going on, it wasn't in the original video...I can't fix it..)

Superbowl Champs!

They did it! The Superbowl is so much more interesting when the team you love plays, and then wins! YAY! A good night here in the Peterson household! More later!

weekend

This weekend is kind of crazy for us. We had guests over tonight for dinner then tomorrow we have swimming lessons and then a drive out to VA to visit friends of ours that we met in our marriage class 6 years ago. They have a daughter and another little one on the way! Caed and Natalie should have a lot of fun together tomorrow. We don't get out to see them enough, so we are lucky to get this visit in.

I'll be posting more, just is a little overwhelming with pictures and video to post so I'll probably get to it tomorrow night...hoping to get to bed here now, and wake up to get us over to the pool!

Two new phrases from Caed this week which came out by complete surprise:

Mom: "Caed stop crawling on top of the coffee table " Caed: "In a minute, in a minute!"

Mom yelling at Khaki running out into the street: "Dumb dog get back here, now go pee over here" Caed upon my entering back into the house: "dumb dog, dumb dog, dumb dog"

Great. what else is going to come back at me?! :)

Favorite words from Caed: "love you" (not half as clear as aforementioned phrases, more like 'loll lou')

Just thought I would jot it down for those days that don't seem to have any progress, or smiles to bring to my face...