Our Dear Sweet Minnie (aka "Mimmi")

My heart is heavy today as we have lost a very dear family friend. Chris and I have been married for 13 years and we have had Minnie as our dog for 9 1/2 of those years. She passed away this Sunday afternoon. She was roughly 14 years old.

This little dog showed up at my sister's farm back in 2002. She was a very badly abused little thing with a broken tail and several other wounds. My sister took her in and had her treated and fixed. The problem was that this dog was little and new and the other dogs treated her TERRIBLY! So my sister felt horrible for this little dog and did all she could to make sure she at least got to eat. Well, we went down to NM for our annual fireworks visit in July 2002. We saw the dog and thought she would be the perfect fit for our little house and our little kids--we only had Carlie who was 2 and Ethan who was 5 months at the time. So we took her home with us. We had no idea that we were taking home THE BEST DOG EVER!!!

She was always such an appreciative dog. She LOVED the kids and was very protective of them. There were times when Chris would be wrestling with the kids and she would get involved if she thought he was being too rough with them:) She NEVER bit the kids even though they deserved it many times. She was mixed-breed dog and had some sheep-herding dog in her mix and when the kids would get too rough with her, she would herd them into a corner and pin them there with her hip. Whenever I saw this, I knew it was time to get the kids away and give her a break. Here she is after she and Ethan had been "stickered" by Carlie (this is a scan off a scrapbook page)


She and Ethan had a special bond. I lovingly referred to Ethan as my "Man Cub" because he spent hours with Minnie--especially right after Max was born. I was busy with my newborn but Ethan was happy as could be with his best friend.


Minnie did have one flaw....she was RACIST! I am NOT kidding! I believe that she was abused by Mexican men and so if anyone came to our house with darker skin, we needed to put her in a room because she was going to nip their heels.

She lived a long happy life with us eating all of the table scraps dropped--she was better than any vacuum we've ever owned. And she passed away this Sunday afternoon here at home. My husband says she was just waiting for me to leave. I had a scout meeting at 1 pm today. She passed away about 10 minutes after I left. But the kids were all around her. So I'm still bawling right now but I take comfort in knowing that she passed from this life peacefully and with the kids she loved the most right by her. Our home already feels strangely empty. So farewell to our dearest family friend and protector. You will be sorely missed.

This was Minnie after a trip to the groomers--LOVED those bows in her ears that never lasted more than 10 minutes:)

My little Entrepreneur!!!

Tatum's preschool held their little "Lemonade Stand" this week! As I have had 4 kids go through this same preschool program, I have been to 3 other "Lemonade Stands" too:) Just LOVE this event! Tatum was in charge of the money this year!!! She took her job VERY seriously. Her partner, Chance, had to go to the bathroom and was gone for about 10 minutes so she had to man this station alone for a short time:) It was stressful but she made it through!!! The stand ended up making $59.00!!! It helps when the workers are all as cute as this:

Maxwell's 7th Birthday!!!

A BIG happy birthday to my little guy Max! We gave him the choice this year of a birthday party with friends OR a family trip to a fun place called "Amazing Jake's." He chose the family trip! I was actually both relieved but a little sad. I didn't save any money going to Amazing Jake's BUT I didn't have to entertain 6/7 year olds for a couple of hours:)

We headed out to Amazing Jake's right after school on Friday--anyone wondering, Friday RIGHT after school is an EXCELLENT time to go because the crowds don't hit until about 6:30ish. So we had the whole place practically to ourselves. The kids did EVERYTHING--Lazer tag, race cars, rock wall, and all the other rides. Then they stuffed themselves with lots of yummy pizza and ice cream.







We then headed home for presents:) Max FINALLY got his Ninetendo DS. He was a wee bit excited:)


We did cake and ice cream the next day--Saturday, Jan. 21st--which was his REAL birthday. Afterwards Max found me folding laundry in my room and he came in and said, "Mom, this was my BEST birthday EVER!" Totally melted my heart! Love this little guy! Here he is in the traditional "Birthday Crown:"


And while I was a little sad about not having our traditional Halloween party in January--because I LOVED making the invitations--I did head on over to Smilebox and created this little slide show for my Monster Max:)

Personalize a slideshow design

Max's 1st tooth GONE!!!

MAJOR drama in the Meeker household this morning! Blood and lots of tears and ALL before 8 a.m.:)


Yahoo!!! Max lost his first tooth this morning before school!!! Of course I had to pull it out!!! As I said, lots of drama leading up to it and blood and tears afterwards:) All in a day's work:) This is actually a record for the Meeker family as Carlie and Ethan didn't loose any teeth until 2nd grade. Teeth grow slow and fall out late here:)

I swear, Chris and I pulled out ALL of our OWN teeth growing up. Our kids are kinda wimpy when it comes to teeth-pulling. Are we doing them a huge disservice by pulling out their teeth for them??? Truth be told I'm trying to avoid braces if at all possible:)

And she does it AGAIN:)

Okay! So another mommy brag moment for me:) Sorry! But where else am I suppose to shout out my excitement???

We just found out on Sunday night that Carlie was cast in an "Actor's Youth Theater" production--Aladdin Jr. WOO-HOO!!! She gets to be a harem girl/assistant to Jasmine:) This is "Aladdin Jr." so all the actors in this play will be ages 8-13.

As this has been our first year involved in music theater, it has been a MAJOR learning year for me. She has performed in 3 community theaters--Queen Creek, Phoenix, and Gilbert--all extremely competitive and notable. Carlie was determined to take this a step further by auditioning for an actual theater company (a step above community theater). This girl is taking YEARS off my life with all this stress she's causing me:)

Actor's Youth Theater (AYT) is the award-winning top theater of the east valley and we knew this going into the audition. We just wanted to get our foot in the door somewhere if possible. Once again, there were over 200 kids trying out for 20 spots and I sat there as she went into this closed-door/COLD audition. COLD meant that she had NO idea what to expect and there was nothing I could do to prepare her. She once again had to dance (apparently the choreography is INTENSE), read lines, and then sing "A Whole New World." This was on Friday night. The results were to be posted on Sunday by 9 pm. I was checking my email ALL day. Well finally, my phone started blinking about 8:45 pm, I grabbed my phone, opened the email and read the most beautiful words..."Welcome to the cast of Aladdin." LOTS of shouts and laughter going on here:)

We have an intense 8 weeks ahead of us. There will be 8 performances the last week of March--3 performances on one day when they will do 2 school matinee shows (Yes! Carlie will have to miss school for a day:) and then an evening performance! One of the best parts of this show is that Carlie will get to be with 2 of her best theater friends--Savvy and Kayleah. Savvy landed the role of Jasmine!!! We are SOOO excited for her. She has an AMAZING resume and is completely deserving of this part. Congrats to Savvy and Carlie!!!! I am soo proud of both of you!!!

Jill!!! I am SOOO SORRY!!!

This post is for my dearest college roommate--Jill. Jill...I know I have wronged you in many ways recently--not inviting you to Hawaii and eating green chili in Silver City without you. So I am hoping that you can find it in your heart to forgive me on this:)

MY DOG ATE YOUR CHAIR!!!


I know!!! I was SUPPOSE to mail this old chair to you as it was the same one that sat in our dorm room and apartment and it was short enough for your cute little feet to touch the ground. Honestly, my husband is to blame:) He moved it outside for the carpet cleaners and PURPOSELY never moved it back in. He's hated that chair for years! (And truth be told...it was sitting super lop-sided)

So Jill...please think about all the good times we had and how I SAVED you from your first roommate:) I am sorry but just look at this face: (I think that MAYBE Ringo feels a LITTLE bit bad too:)

Sledding!!!

We headed out to New Mexico for a quick visit this past Thursday-Saturday. We of course enjoy visiting with family but NM got a TON of snow this year so we headed over for some serious sledding!!! We didn't have to travel far--just to Silver City--and snow was everywhere!!! My dad borrowed a four-wheeler from a good family friend and that made sledding 100 TIMES more fun!!! Holy cow!!! It has been YEARS since I've done any serious four-wheeling and boy have I missed it!!! That is my one complaint about living in the city. Growing up I would walk out in to my front yard, jump on my four-wheeler and be gone for hours! I have been riding since I was Tatum's age (not kidding...I don't know WHY my parents allowed me to do this or HOW I survived childhood:) Chris (city boy) has never really been four-wheeling but he had SOO much fun! He said, "We've GOT to get one of these!!!" I've been telling him this for years!!! So Santa...if you're reading this...you know what the Meekers want next year:)


There were 7 of us--me, Chris, 4 kids, and my dad. Chris would drive the 4-wheeler, my dad and I sat on the back rack to keep an eye on the kids and we tied 2 inter tubes onto the 4-wheeler with rope and put 2 kids on each tube. WAY TOO MUCH fun!!!






We of course did some "traditional" sledding as well:)



My little "Snow Angel"


The kids made a snowman last year so they made an igloo this year:




We had a FANTASTIC time. It was the best play day coupled with the best New Mexican food--Blake's Lottaburger for lunch and Si Señor for dinner:) Best snow coupled with the BEST green chili! Does it get any better than that?!

Christmas 2011

Well...Christmas came ready or NOT!!! Being gone a whole week in December really threw me off this year but it all came out just fine. This is the first year in our whole marriage (13 years) that we were all by ourselves--no extended family--and you know what? It was kinda nice:) No big clean-ups for me:) However my family always knows that they are ALWAYS invited. It is just our tradition to have our Christmases in our own home for our own kids. We're always up for traveling but not at Christmas:)


We did the traditional Christmas Eve PJs that my kids look forwards to every year:


Then we headed off to our favorite Christmas lights neighborhoods. We have added Sonic drinks/slushes to our Christmas Eve night as well (for 3 years now)--every Christmas and New Year's Eve evenings are Happy Hours at Sonic:) Then headed home to watch "A Christmas Story" and get the kids to bed:) The kids all had a slumber party in the boy's room because Chris and I had things to do in the girls room:) This year we have been re-deorating the girl's bedroom which has proven to be quite tricky as I have an 11 year old who wants NOTHING pink and a 4 year old who wants EVERYTHING pink:) We compromised with purple and started with the painting and new bedding this summer. For Christmas, the girls got their furniture!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE their new furniture (that I ordered at Cortate). We have been storing the boxes in our garage for weeks now and no one seemed to notice:) The room looks fantastic! Next up will be the wall decor:



The kids have never woken up earlier than 6-6:30ish on Christmas morning and so we had planned to not open anything until after church BUT the kids woke up at 5 A.M.!!! UGHHH!!!! Didn't they know we were up LATE putting together a bedroom?!?! So not to squash their excitement, we let them open all their presents then mom and dad went back to sleep until it was time to go to church:)

Here are they are WIDE-awake opening presents:


Ethan's favorite gift was a huge Ninjago kit:


Max loved his new "skull/death" bike:


Tatum is our resident artist and went right to work on her new easel:



Max keeps stealing our gift from Chris' boss--a Brookstone foot massager. Yes! It is THAT good and Max keeps sneaking it away for his own use:


Of course church was AMAZING today. The talks were fantastic and the music was beautiful. I really enjoyed being there for the reminder of what this whole day is all about.

Christmas afternoon was terrific. We had a wonderful turkey dinner for ourselves and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with new toys, going to the park, and taking more naps:) It was PERFECT! My kind of day:)