Happy family!

Well the Manning family is now happier since we just got Chloe a 2 year old female lab/husky mix. The only thing that appears to be husky is the one blue eye and one brown eye :)

We rescued her from Friends for Life. They had found her roaming the streets. She must have lived with a family before because she knows alot. The brought her over yesterday afternoon to meet Kayla. The instantly got along but also wanted to be with people at the same time. Shawn is thrilled that she is going to the bathroom in the rocks like Kayla! She knows sit, shake and lay down. She knew how to go up and down stairs and last night I had her lay on a dog bed and she stayed all night until I let her out in the morning. The girls are so excited and she seems to be a dog that instantly loves everyone. The funniest part is that she makes snoring noises when you hug and love on her.

Kayla is also much happier, she had stopped eating and playing and last night when we got Chloe was the first time she had eaten in 3 days.

**Earlier Friday the girls and I fell in love with a dog at the aawl but when we brought Kayla to meet her the other dog dominated Kayla so bad that Kayla was hiding under chairs. So we left sad but knew she wouldn't be a good match for us. So Saturday afternoon Lauren and I went to Friends for Life and when we saw Bacardi now Chloe she fell into the gate trying to get to Lauren. When they let her out she fell at Lauren's feet and rolled over to be pet. Where ever Lauren went that is what she did. So she basically picked us. I didn't what Kayla stressed out again so they agreed to bring her to us. She made herself right at home but cracks us up because she is scared of the cat. If she walks past him she looks the other way so she doesn't have to make eye contact. She got a little braver and sniffed him but that was it.

One of the hardest days of my life

I have been dreading this day for months. We finally decided it was time to put Pepe down. He has suffered enough. He quit eating and taking his meds and his breathing was so hard that it seemed painful. So last night we explained to the girls that we would take him to the vet and the vet would give him medicine that would not let him wake up. We were all up late last night crying and Lauren finally fell asleep on our floor with Pepe.

This morning Lauren stayed home from school and Shawn stayed home from work. The vet couldn't get us in until 2:30p so it was a LONG day of cuddling time and crying with him. All of us went to the vet and stayed with him. The vet (who I love) came in and explained to the girls what was happening and why. He started crying as well because of his history with Pepe. When he put the medicine in the IV the girls and I stepped out while Shawn stayed with him, then we all went back in to say good-bye.

I am so glad we all went as I think we might have regretted not going later on. The hardest part for me was leaving him there.

I am at the point where I really wish that I had no tears left as I can barely see my eyes are so swollen. Our pets are truly a very important part of our family that will never be forgotten.

So now Kayla is here sad without her friend and the rest of us can't stop crying. Shawn did make her a steak bone tonight because he felt so bad for her. It hit him harder than he ever expected.

Watch for a post of our newest member of our family, probably fairly soon! We don't know what to do without a bunch of animals running around :)

Busy but fun weekend...

We started off Friday night with Girl Scout Astronomy night at Mesa Community College. What a great time! The girls and families went to 4 different stations, the planetarium (for an amazing show), making comets and craters, snack and craft, and looking through the telescopes at the moon and jupiter.

Saturday (early) morning was the Gilbert Days Parade with our Girl Scout Troop. I was so proud of Lauren for walking more than 1/2 the 2 mile parade carrying our troop banner.

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Saturday afternoon we went to our friends Adoption party for the 4 kids that they adopted. I can't believe it's been a year already since they have had the kids. The girls have a ton of fun playing with the kids so it's a fun time for us all.

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Sunday morning Lauren and I went to church with Moriah and her girls. The girls had fun and Lauren even got up to sing with them.

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Sunday afternoon was a birthday party Hailey and I went to for a little boy she knows. They had Jungle Jill come with exotic animals. At the end they were taking pictures with a Boa Constructor and all the boys were scared so I asked Hailey to help out the boys and hold it's tail for them since they were scared. So the picture is 6 year old boys and 4 year old Hailey, (the only one not scared)!

What a fun but busy weekend! I think it's the time of year :)

Raise your hand if you are overloaded :)

This time of year is such a love/hate relationship. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially the radio christmas music. I am one that can't wait for the music to start Nov 1st and I have it on until New Years. I love that family comes to town, kids have christmas shows and so many traditions happen. I hate all the stress that comes with it.

I think part of it is all the birthdays, girl scout events, school parties, kids shows, present buying, decorating, taking care of sick pets, kids getting sick in winter, finishing up year end stuff at work and everything else all combined.

So, I am hoping to spend the time a little less stressed this year. For one I have enlisted my awesome helper Lauren :) She has taken on the job of christmas cards this year. She has said she is writing all of our cards, so I guess you will see when you get it in the mail if she held true to her word. Second we have scaled way back on present buying. Third I am going to try and breath this year, I might take it up as a hobby :) Anyone else want to join me?

Poor Pepe's

Poor Pepe, his tumor is getting so big, I don't even think this picture shows how big it really is because it goes around the back of his leg as well. We are having such a hard time deciding when to put him down. Some days he seems so sad and just lays around but then days like yesterday he was out playing frisbee and fighting Kayla over it. So I can't imagine bringing him in to the vet and him licking everyone and us asking them to put him down. I feel bad that he is walking on 3 legs but I need him to give me some sort of sign that he is done.

Presidential Election

So Lauren and I discovered today that she will get to vote in the 2020 presidential election :) I took both girls with me to vote. As much as I wanted to do a mail in ballot I want the kids to be in the habit of going plus it always lends itself to conversations about elections. We talked about how women didn't always get to vote and how it is a priviledge for all of us and that everyone needs to vote.

I really hope that in within the next presidential election we as a country can figure out how to truly make everyones vote count. As I sit here tonight listening to Obama's victory speech and see that Nevada, Montana and a few other states haven't even decided who they are voting for that it doesn't matter because there votes aren't enough to change anything. I really hope we can get away from electorial votes and get to individual votes, especially since we have the technology for it.

I am also relieved that it is over, the topics at school are getting a little tough for me and as a parent I am getting angry that other parents are telling their children inappropriate things. Lauren actually came home and told me one of the girls at school told her that her mom said Obama kills babies. I can't believe someone would say that to their child. I understand opinions, I understand beliefs but Lauren actually thought the man becoming president was going to kill babies. I feel that age 7 is a little young to be explaining abortion and being pro-choice let alone how someone gets pregnant that doesn't want to be.

Well, I guess that is our freedom of speech! Now I know why the school is having the kids vote between characters in a book.

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! The girls had a fun night trick or treating but their favorite part is still passing out candy. Lauren asked if we could hurry up with trick or treating so she could hurry home to pass out the candy. Hmm, I wonder how many more years that will last. I assumed by 7 she would be more interested in getting the candy than giving it away :)

I think the funniest part of the night was when I was putting Hailey's mermaid costume on her and was using a safety pin to pin up her tail, she said "Mom, don't pork me", we laughed so hard that I couldn't tell her it was don't pin me not don't pork me.

My favorite picture

My friend Robin recently did our family photos, I am so thankful she moved back to Arizona :) I think this photo is one of my absolute favorites of the girls. It's so hard to choose but I just love this one.