We miss you Poof

My sweet kitty, Poof, died the Monday after we moved, two weeks ago tomorrow. She was old, 15, and hasn't been doing well for a while. I was concerned the move would kill her, and I proved to be right.

The girls found her while I was at work. I had to come home and take care of the situation. We cried, pet her, put her in a box, and we each put an article of clothing in the box to cushion her. We put her little stuffed bear in the box, and I put the box in the fridge! I had to go back to work, I had to do something with her!

Luckily, my new landlord wasn't squimish with my burying a dead cat in his yard, so after work we set to digging a hole.

That is hard work, let me tell you. Plus I was sick. And worn out.

But, with the help of Payden and Michaela, we got a hole dug. We had a little kitty funeral, then we filled it, and I grabbed a tree stump that was back there to put on top. I figured it would make a nice seat, and also discourage any digging from any critters. Then we put an angel cat statue there as well.

Our cats are like our family; losing them is difficult. But this was easier than I imagined, she was old and hurt and I am sure she is happier now. Plus, I am too busy and have too many other things to think about than my poor Poofy.

We will miss her she was a good cat!

Your input, please...

So I got a new job, one I will be working in addition to LDSFS. One of the aspects of this job is that you are promoted online, which is both awesome and scary. So, I need a picture to put on the website, therapytribe.com. Look for me there soon! Anyway, this is the one I chose:

But I thought maybe this one would work as well...

Does one say "I am a professional who knows how to help you" more than the other does? Smile or no smile? What do you think? And a big THANK YOU to my awesome daughter, Michaela, for taking the pics!
And also, my nose is just. huge. Just sayin'.

First Day of School 2011

First off, I have to apologize for the sideways pictures. I have a new computer, and even when I rotate them in my file, when I upload them to blogger they are still sideways. I can't figure it out. Anyway, we had a good start to the school year today. Somehow, I managed to get everyone where they were supposed to be on time and still get pictures. This involved me getting up early and getting ready for work, getting breakfast on the table, ( I made lunches the night before), getting the girls up and hair done. Then I took Michaela to school, dropped Ninny off at day care, and came back to get Payden and Ava to take them to their school.


That is a sharp looking bunch of girlies!

It seems that the older my girls get, the less chances I get for pictures. I didn't get into Payden's classroom, this is outside her door. Sixth grade will be great this year, Payden is excited. She likes her teacher and has already made friends. I happened to see them sitting in the hall as the teacher talked to them. Payden didn't know I was there, and I observed her raise her hand and tell her class how her class in Idaho did things. I was amazed. I never would have put myself out there like that in a new school on the first day; Payden has amazing confidence.


Here is a sideways picture. This is Ava and her teacher. I asked her if she liked her teacher, and she said no, she is a little bossy. I said that teachers have to be a little bossy, and this seemed to improve her outlook.

In front of the door. First grade! All day school! Getting so big.

Here she is in front of her desk. Ava was a little apprehensive about me leaving her. She was kind of clingy and scared, but she was brave and did well.

Here is Payden and Ava outside their new school. They think their mascot, the husky, is a great improvement over their last school's mascot, the buffaloe. I tend to agree.

And the biggest first of the day, Corrine's first day of day care. I have enrolled her in a Montessori preschool and day care, and she really likes it. I hate having to leave her, but since I do, this seems to be the best place. She had a great day. She was a bit clingy too, but I think that was because she was the first one there and it must have been scary being the only kid. But as soon as I got her interested in something, she didn't even look at me when I said goodbye. She is very social and loves being with other kids, so this will actually be good for her. When I picked her up, she was laying on a cot with a blanket trying to take a nap. So cute!

This is what got her attention; little beads in cups and sugar that you can pour from one container to another.

How I wish I didn't have to leave this sweet one. It doesn't really seem fair to her, the only one of her sisters to have to go to daycare, but when is life fair? I have really been talking it up to her and she is thrilled about the idea. And I was SO happy to see her when I picked her up. That is one thing about being away from your kids all day; you really eat them up when you get them home.

And last but certainly not least, Michaela's first day of 8th grade. As I said, the older they get, the less picture I get. Here you have the back of Michaela as she walks up the steps. She wouldn't even turn around!

Michaela got lost on the way home today. She was supposed to get a ride home with some ward members, so I didn't go pick her up. I actually didn't even know what time school got out, so I didn't start to worry until about 3:30. Then I went up the the school to look for her, and asked some students what time school got out. They said 2:55. I went home and asked some neighbors if they knew if she had gotten a ride ( I didn't even know who she was riding home with). None of them knew where she was, and the person she was supposed to ride home with saw her walking away from the school.

Well, after driving around looking for her, and having the neigbors do the same, I was starting to get worried. You might remember this happened last year on her first day, and she was just at the school. After calling the police, they found her quickly at the school. So I went back to her school for the second time, had her paged, and she wasn't there.

I called the police and was starting to get worried. The officer took her info, and asked for a picture. I just moved and couldn't find one, so I logged onto facebook in the police officer's car and got her picture from there.

The neighbors went back out again to look, and after about 1 hour, the next door neighbor found her. She had been walking for about 2 hours, trying to find her way home. She has a cell phone, but the minutes are out on it. She was so tired and thirsty and scared. I felt so bad for her. Our ward is so great, all that help and the bishop's wife brought us pizza's for dinner. Even with that horrible afternoon, we still had a great day. I am grateful for all the ward help, but also feel like we are making a spectacle of ourselves. I don't want to be THAT family who is always needing help.

I told Michaela that no matter what she says, I am picking her up from her first day next year. We don't want a third episode!