So, the kids were playing outside on Tuesday - Josh had been over to a neighbor's house and was back and Dima was goofing around  and Chris comes home and brings me over to his truck and says "what do you see?" and after getting at the right angle I could see   Josh  Josh etched into the paint!!!
 His first explanation was that Dima did it and I was like, with YOUR name? and then he was saying: well, he told me to do it, ok  whatever, .. now he's grounded for a week  - and  2 weeks  with no games - one for each time he wrote his name.  We've heard varying stories in the past few days  and I'm not sure if Dima was uninvolved or not and Josh has said he's sorry to Chris but then also said  - but you made me mad!  I think he's sorry for getting punished, not for actually doing it.  Chris is glad that Dima didn't tattle but in this case I think he should have privately come to us to tell us.  OY!

We put our 13.5 year old dog to sleep last evening and today  has been tough - coming home to no dogs to greet me, with both of their places on the floor  empty  and remembering Honey's last hours and minutes... I need to get that out of my mind and think of the good...
My sister Andie gave me Proof of Heaven a book about a "life after life experience" and I'm about half way through it and that idea of her going there, to the greater energy /  heaven was reassuring as  I was making the final decision to end  Honey's  pain...
 I  went to the library tonight and got a book for the kids  Heaven is for Real, on the advise of one of the doctors I work with, about a kid who has  had a life after life experience.  My boys are are  at hockey practice tonight but I think Chris and I should read it with them soon.  Chris, Josh and Dima were right there for both of our dogs at the end... on their own terms  - and Josh has given me many hugs today and I'm sure we'll talk about it further as time goes on.
 I often  remember my previous dogs Chrissie and the first Honey as well as Keisha  and of course Guinness and how hard  it  was to lose each of them
 - they're all a  part of all of us / heaven/  what we will be when we get there  Amen

Ugly people

We have a small icon from Russia on our mantle and it fell off earlier today and Dima goes - "this thing with the ugly people just fell down".   a link to  The people:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan

Hockey camp

As the boys ate breakfast this morning they were talking about their first day of hockey camp yesterday.  Dima complaining of sore muscles from the team workout on Saturday and calling the coaches "mean" and saying they make them run and do exercises "for no reason" and as I tried to explain that everything they do is to work certain muscles and that in the end they'll be better hockey players because of this camp in the back of my mind I'm thinking " thanks coaches for making this a real challenge for them, really working them out and for dealing with what I'm sure is a lot of whining from the kids".  Then as Josh wheeled his bag (that's bigger than he is) into the rink he was saying " I think this is good for my muscles!"   Hopefully, there'll be a little less whining today, but it's going to be a long one cause they have camp from 8:30-4:30 then, both teams have practice tonight so they'll be going until 8:45!

Andie Update

If you happen to be at the TGI Fridays in Allentown and your waitress can’t exactly get words out quickly, back off and have some patience - that’s my sister Andie. Once she was well enough she went back to waitressing. Since the place was familiar to her it wasn’t bad since she works the slower shifts but there were days that she felt overwhelmed and like she couldn’t keep up and that she should quit. Seems like the rest of the staff thought she was doing fine but she wasn’t confident in herself. Weird that when she first went back she could remember an old list of salad dressings but the new one she’d have trouble with. Her short term memory is still not so good, but she’s learned to make a little notebook of things she wants to remember.

So… now it’s been just over 2 years since she survived a brain aneurysm and things are about to get a little closer to what they had been before she was hospitalized. Since she came out of rehab at Good Shepherd Allentown she’s been living with our parents, and she’s now 53 years old! She just found out that an apartment is available in a building that we applied for on her behalf back when we had no idea how she’d do once she was released from rehab.
Now she’s doing well enough to be independent, though she realizes that she’ll never be quite the same as before her brain injury. She struggles with expressive aphasia (the same thing Gabrielle Giffords has from her gunshot wound) every day… she knows what she wants to say but can’t think of the words to use to get ideas across. She calls herself a window-licker when she’s having difficulty and there are lots of times she gets frustrated in a conversation and just stops talking cause the effort isn’t worth it. When she struggles for words we’re not supposed to fill in the blanks for her – to help her mind do the work but it’s hard not to help when you get the gist of what she’s telling you
My husband Chris says it’s obvious that her sarcastic wit is still there…just lots harder for her to express herself. Once in a while she still feels a “breakthrough” like something gets little easier, and she knows what other people are saying but communication will always be a struggle for her. Now I find myself having more patience with people because you never know what they’ve gone through. I think this new apartment will be a good thing for her.

migrating people?

Dima and I were out for a walk to check out the neighbors' holiday nights and I mentioned that some people have homes in warmer climates to get away from the cold at this time of year, he was like: "so, they migrate?" ... I thought that was a great way to describe it.

No chihuahuas at the zoo?

Our dance group was dancing at fundraiser at the Elmwood Park Zoo for their Oktoberfest on Saturday night and as I was getting ready Josh had his bundhosen on and as we were talking about the zoo I reminded him that was where Dima and I did the Zoo Snooze a while ago and he was disappointed that we werent' going to be sleeping over this weekend... then he mentioned that they have chihuahuas at the zoo, he said that Dima told him they did, near the lions! ( I think Dima just wanted him out of the house for the evening) So once I assured Josh that there are no dogs at the zoo he didn't want to go along... disappointed again, he took off the outfit and he stayed home. His loss cause it was a fun event, lots of other animals, but no chihuahuas.