Poor Ems

Emma is our Australian Shepherd. We've had her since December 28th 2005. She's part of the family. John and the girls love her dearly. But lately she's been really showing her age. She whimpers when she stands, doesn't eat as much and has become really needy like wanting to ride with me every time I leave the house. She was due for her annual vet visit, so I was sure to ask about her changes in behavior and movement. The vet found a cancerous lump on her leg. We scheduled her for a lumpectomy and had it sent away for a pathology report. Poor girl.

Tuesday was rough for her. The vet took much more of the lump and muscle than we initially thought he would.

We should know how bad it is in 5-7 days when the report comes back. Meanwhile Emma is being spoiled and pampered by the whole family. :)

Loving Spring

The spring weather the past few weeks has been absolutely amazing! We've had mild temperatures and rain which has turned the drab and dreary winter yards into amazing green landscapes blooming with beauty. We have been busy enjoying all this loveliness. 

We've been to the zoo a few times. Evie loves it there. During the summer we'll end up going 2 or 3 times a week. 

We have a brave little friend living in our backyard trees. He comes right up on the porch, sometimes right up to the door and peeks inside. We also have a wild bunny that Evie has befriended and feeds spinach and carrots. He's become so comfortable with the family and Emma that he/she built their home right by our deck. Evie named him/her "Bugs".

And believe it or not- Evie has already played in the sprinklers! Crazy little bugger! After about an hour, she came in and told John "Dad, next time you turn on the sprinklers- use the hot water! It was cold!" I bet dear! 

I can't believe it's just about May! Summer will be here before we know it! 

Crazy kid

Evie is reaching the age where her personality is starting to develop and she's becoming a little person, rather than just a toddler. It's been so much fun watching her grow up. She is full of sass and can have a meltdown that rivals Chernobyl, but she's so much fun! We love her to pieces!

She loves visiting John at work and "helping" him cut purchase orders

Her fashion sense is second to none! This little number is something she threw together for quick visit to Dairy Queen. 

When she is tired- she is tired. She will fall asleep anywhere (attributed to the Kelly genes). She was playing a game on the iPad. I left the room for less than minute and ZONK... she was OUT! 

She will be starting preschool in the fall. There are days I think how lonely it will be with out my partner in crime. But most days I'm pretty sure I'll survive just fine! :)

Building a foundation

We officially broke ground on our new home March 19th. It's kind of crazy and surreal. John and I have been wanting to build our own home out on the family acreage since we bought the place 13 years ago. It was always a dream, a goal we were ultimately working towards. John and I realize how incredibly fortunate we are to be able to do this.

We designed our new home, which was an exciting task. We poured over floor plans for months, literally thousands of them. We never found the perfect one to fit our needs and long term plans for the home. Then one day we found a plan was very very close, but not quite. So we took that plan, eliminated the second floor, add a master to the main floor, reconfigured the other bedrooms and moved a few walls. Finally we were at a point where this was the house we wanted. We took our crazy drawings to a few builders, who liked our vision but had floor plans that were similar and tried to push us that way. Then by chance we found James. We had worked with James on a previous project and experience was great. So we met with him and showed him our sketches. He immediately saw what we were going for and fully embraced it. We knew he was our guy.

James is a super great guy and has high expectations for the standard of work on his builds. He's great to work with and has been super accommodating with our requests. It has been so much fun picking out flooring, cabinets, tile and granite. I pretty much have a vision in my head of what I want, so picking out the actual material has been pretty easy.

Of course there has been stress, mostly because we have our current home on the market and we want it to sell. The waiting game is stressful. So is living in a home while trying to sell it, especially when there is 6 of us here. But it will all be worth it! I know the right buyer is out there. :)

Here are the first pix of Casa de Kelly:

Easter 2015

Evie has been talking about Easter since before Christmas. One would think it was better than Christmas in her mind. She has been chattering about what her eggs should be filled with, what candy to get, how to color the eggs, wanting to make a bunny cake with Gma Ski, where to hide the eggs etc etc etc.

Thank goodness Easter finally arrived! We headed to GI town to celebrate with my mom and grandparents. My mom hosted it at her home- which was fun and nostalgic, bringing up memories of all my past Easters from growing up there.

  


We colored eggs, made bunny cakes, hunted Easter eggs and feasted on wonderfully yummy food. We also celebrated Corynn's birthday (7 years ago her birthday fell on Easter too, she didn't mind sharing her special day). She turned 12, but according to her- she still wasn't too old to participate in the egg hunt. Silly kid. :)

  

It was a fun day and lived up to everything Evie had expected it to be. In fact it was so great, she asked if she could have an Easter themed birthday party this year! I'll have to think on that one, dear!