Watch Otis watch puppies....

Five Little Pumpkins...read by Amanda

Amanda read this book....all by herself!!

Puppy love

I decided to take some movies with my camera after watching Baby Edwin on Diana's blog. Here's one of Otis loved giving his love to Emily and Amanda. He was so excited when they arrived.

I can't wait to see Emily and Amanda!

This is what Amanda said to Becky when she woke up this morning...

"I love you. I can't wait to see Otis!!"

Amanda and Emily are going to sleepover at our house tonight. Otis can't wait to see his favorite nieces!

Otis is a big brother!!!

Otis' biological mom and dad (not me and Dave) had three baby girls!! They are so cute! One looks just like Otis.

They are for sale too! If anyone is thinking of getting a dog, these are the puppies to get! Check out the cuteness:

http://www.s-dstables.com/puppiesforsale28.html

(I was going to post the photos directly, but according to what I learned in my class that week, I would be violating copyright law....so I just posted the link.) :)

Tonya's cancer is gone!!!!

Tonya's cancer is gone. Wow. It is awesome to write that.

Tonya's cancer is gone!!!!

She had her PET scan yesterday morning and her doctor called with the results yesterday afternoon. All that is left is a little scar tissue, and the cancer is gone!!!

She has an appointment next week to figure out what the next steps are....to either do some more chemo treatments and then radiation, or go directly to radiation.

It's such a huge relief to know that the tumor is gone. It's really the "best case scenario" everyone has been praying for.

Hurray!!! The cancer is gone!

Otis' world not so wonderful day...

For me, Dave and Otis, Wednesday is the worst day of our week. We don't get to see each other at all! It's bad for me and Dave, because we both have work and school and are gone all day long. But it's probably the worst of all for poor little O-bear. Here's how he spent his day...

First he woke up to the loud noise of my alarm at 5:45 a.m. Then he watched very patiently while I got ready to go to run before work. To his dismay, I left without taking him outside. So he had to wait for Dave to wake up to the loud noise of his alarm and wait very patiently while he got showered and dressed. Finally, he got to go outside and has a chance to do his "business." Then the unavoidable happens -- the mischievous puppy gets put in his kennel, so Dave can go to school and work around 8:15 a.m. or so...then Otis has to wait...and wait...and wait inside his kennel all day long to be rescued. Luckily, he has such a great grandpa. The Colonel came and rescued Otis around dinnertime and took the poor little guy outside. Unfortunately, he got put back inside the house (somehow he escaped the kennel...must have been really good to the Colonel) and he waits again...and waits and waits to be rescued. The next time he hears the garage open, he's so excited because his momma came home! Even though it's 9:45 p.m. and he's been alone all day long, he's so happy to see me, get to go outside again and be hyper boy. He knows that his dad will be home soon, and then he'll be the happiest boy in the world!

The Very Busy Puppy-dog

Otis is so tired from all the festivities surrounding his Grandma's trip to Minnesota. First, we had a long car ride down to Rochester. When we got there, there was so many people to sniff -- aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and great grandma. Cousin Jana and Uncle Joe -- they have their own dogs. I can tell because I'm such a good sniffer. All the people kept me really busy, because I had to keep going around the room so everyone could pet me. It's so nice to get so much attention from so many people!

I was a really good watch dog at Great-Grandma's house. I looked out the front door and made sure that the family was safe. My favorite thing to do a Great Grandma's is running around the park that is right next door. I was being a good boy, so I even got to run without my leash.

We were only there for one day and then we had to come back home. Then I had to watch mom and dad make lasagna. I was hoping they'd drop some ground beef on the ground, so I could eat it....but they didn't do it. Then to my surprise, we had house guests! The Dobosenski's came and I had another room full of people to give me attention. Awesome! By the time they were leaving, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. My momma says that it's rude to fall asleep when guests are visiting. I tried my hardest to stay awake.

Today was a nice day. I got to recuperate and relax from my very busy weekend. I hung out in the kennel when I didn't have to be in there. Tonight we had pot roast and I was hoping I'd get some scraps. I must have been good because dad snuck me some meat under the table. Momma poured some leftover juice over my dog food. Hurray!

I had a really great time this weekend with Grandma visiting Minnesota. I love my family and friends and am glad I get to visit them!! Here's some photos we took!

Otis is his name and keeping busy is his game!

Otis is ready to go see Grandma and Great-Grandma

Otis is ready to go see his Grandma and the rest of the family down in Rochester!! His bags are packed (okay, we haven't packed yet). He has gotten rid of all his excess energy by going to the dog park (okay, he always has excess energy). He helped his momma clean up the house (okay, his momma hasn't really cleaned yet).

But Otis is still ready to go! He's so excited and can't wait for tomorrow! See you soon, Grandma!!

Otis is his name and visiting his Grandmas is his game!!

Pink Perfection

Katie asked me to elaborate on my pink pants...

I got these during girls' weekend from Victoria's Secret. They are the most comfortable pants ever! Sweatshirt material, but not heavy. Just perfect. Pink perfection!

Good Day!

Today was a pretty good day. Here's why:

1) It's Rachel's birthday!

2) Tomorrow is Friday!!

3) I had a job interview today and it went well!!!

4) I got a call to schedule an interview for a different job next week!!!!

5) Dave's mom came to Minnesota today and we get to see her Saturday!!!!!

6) Ugly Betty is on TV right now!!!!!!

7) Dave is on his way home from work right now!!!!!!!

8) I'm wearing my pink pants!!!!!!!!

The grand-dog, his momma and a creepy-looking guy...

I thought I'd update the blog with a couple of photos we've taken recently. Here's one of me and Otis. And one of Dave. There really isn't anything to explain in the photo of Otis and I. It's just a cute mother-son photo. But the one of Dave...he said I could only post it if I clarified the fact that he doesn't run around town with this creepy 'stache. He was just trying out a new look while he was shaving off his beard. I just had to take a picture, because it was so funny. I was on the computer and all of a sudden my husband comes out of the bathroom looking like some -- well, uh, pervert, I guess. I thought I'd post the photo tonight, since Katie posted one of Anthony having fun with his hair in the bathtub. Well, Katie, if Anthony takes after his Uncle DAVE -- here's what you have to look forward to in 20 years.


Enjoy! And feel free to laugh out loud!

Fall is coming...

It is getting dark so early! I hate short days. That's probably one of the worst parts of winter -- going to work before the sun rises and leaving work after the sunset, and never being outside during the day light. By 8:00 tonight, it was dark outside. It just reminds me that fall (and winter) are coming.

Actually, the freezing temperatures during winter aren't so great either. I could definitely do without that. Ironically, it's warm and humid tonight, and we're supposed to get thunderstorms. This last weekend was perfect fall weather. Nice and cool, so I could wear sweatshirts. But bright and sunny, so I still wanted to be outside and enjoy the days. You have to enjoy those days when you get them...because they don't happen often. We gave Otis some good walks, ran, and I played fetch with Nels and Otis.

The leaves are already changing. I notice it everyday when I am driving home from work. The trees on Southbridge Parkway are turning red. Soon they will be falling off the trees. That's one thing I don't miss about my parents' old house. We don't have to do any raking this year!!!

School, of course has already started...so in most ways fall is already here. School, the leaves are changing, the temperature is cooling, the days are shorter....yep fall is here. I guess I should change the title of this blog...but I'm too lazy.

What's your favorite part of fall?

Good weekend...

This weekend was pretty enjoyable. Dave and I had a day off together...without one of us requesting the time off of work. So that was awesome! My parents took Dave, Rachel and I to breakfast at Panekoken. We spent the day doing some housework and errands...and we ran 5 miles!

For dinner, we went to the Black Forest Inn, a German restaurant in Minneapolis, to celebrate my dad's and Rachel's birthday. German food is one of my dad's favorites, and he only gets to eat it about once a year -- typically when we go out for his birthday. The whole family went, so it was fun spending time with them. Emily sat next to me on one side, Amanda sat next to me on the other side, so I was pretty busy talking and coloring with them. My mom took some pictures, so hopefully I will be able to get them on the blog in the next couple of days.

After dinner Dave and I met up with our friends Angela and Matt. We had lots of fun hanging out with them and some of their other friends. Hung out at their house for a while, went downtown and then went back for a little bonfire.

This morning Rachel and I were ushers at church. It was our first time, but it went pretty well. I guess it's not really that hard to hand out the hymnals and collect the offering. After church I went home for a quick (3 hour) nap. Gracie and Otis slept with me, so that was so cute. Rachel invited Otis and I over for an Ugly Betty marathon, so that's were I spent most of the day today. Okay, Otis wasn't invited, but I hate leaving home alone on the weekends. Since I have to do that all week long, I feel guilty doing that on days off. Dave is just about done with work, so I gonna find something to make for dinner...

Well, that's how I spent my weekend. Did you do anything fun?

I can't believe it's almost Monday morning and time to go back to work...so much fun. ;)

Surprise

Dave surprised me at work one day this week and brought me these beautiful flowers. I finally got a chance to take a picture to put on my blog!

Thanks, husband!

Lunch

Lunch was the highlight of my day. (Of course, because I got to eat!). No seriously, me and most of my department went to see Tonya during her chemo treatment. We all got sandwiches from Jimmy John's and hung out with Tonya for almost two hours! (oops....guess lunch went a little long!)

I can't tell you who benefited the most -- Tonya or us. All I know, is that I had a great time bonding with all of my co-workers today. I think we're all going through so much together right now -- a co-worker being sick with cancer and a lot of job insecurity. It just did us all really good to just leave our building and go hang out somewhere and talk...about work and all the uncertainty, but also fun stuff, like poop. (Adults with toddlers like to talk a lot about poop.) Of course, there are probably better places to go to hang out than the Cancer Center at Park Nicollet. But then again, it was great to see Tonya and support her and to see that she is doing great with her treatments and to know that she still has the same laugh and sense of humor...even while she's receiving her chemo treatments.

This was her third chemo treatment. Next will be a PET scan (on Sept. 27), which will determine how effective the chemo has been. If the tumor is gone, she'll get to start radiation. If it's still there, then she'll have several more rounds of chemo. We'll just have to keep praying and hope that it'll be a good diagnosis.

Another busy day..

Today was just another busy Monday. I left work early to meet with a career counselor at UST. They offer free counseling services to their students, so I thought it'd be worth it to have a professional review my resume and give me some resume writing advice. I think it was pretty useful. I'm actually excited to make some of the changes she suggested, but it won't be tonight. Just too tired to do anything but write my oh-so-important blog and check Facebook.

I ran 3 miles tonight with Dave. We continue to get ready for our 10-mile race. It's less than a month away now. Dave and I are really getting about running and training now. Hopefully, our hard work pays off.

I guess those are really the highlights of my day. Nothing really exciting...no big news from work....so it was a good day and now I'm ready to say, "good night."

total blogging slacker

I've been a total blogging slacker this week. I have good excuses. I have the worst allergies. Well, I guess, I had the worst allergies ever is more appropriate. On Tuesday, I went to the doctor and she gave me some prescriptions. So the allergies are under control now, but it took a solid 24-hours for the prescriptions to do their magic.

I had my first night of my new class Wednesday night, Communication Law. I think it will be a good one. I know a couple of people in my class and my professor is pretty cool.

Work was super busy this week. Two of my co-workers were out, so I had to manage their responsibilities on top of my own. I managed all of it pretty successfully, only got stuck at work late one day, and only for a half-hour.

Sometimes life is busy, it's hard to find time to slow down and write it all down. But here you go, I did it! Enjoy!

I'm so proud...

My little sister is officially a celebrity...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2756050/

Girls' Weekend!

This weekend was the best! Hanging out with my girlfriends for an entire 4-day weekend is something I never do, so this was just a great time with great friends. On top of it, the weather was awesome, the food was spectacular and the itinerary was perfect. When people say Chicago has great food, they aren't kidding. I had some of the best, if not the best desserts ever! Here's a couple of photos of our trip. The photos don't really do justice of the great time we had, but it's the best I can provide!