Poor McCoy...so stressed out!

My GAWD, being allowed to lounge on the furniture in the air conditioning MUST be an extremely stressfull episode in McCoy's short life. The poor thing just looks like he can't take much more! ;-)

I know these are all snapshots, sorry. I just wanted to show you how great Mr. Chesterman really is doing. This last picture he decided to join in the action of the frenzy that is 2 boxers playing. Don't mind the horrible and torn up back area of our yard...we are trying to decide how we are going to add onto/redo the playhouse for the kids. Really just Peyton because the big ones don't use it much anymore.

All that rough-housing took out every single one of McCoy's stitches from his neuter. EEEK. He also has a pretty serious upper respiratory/traceal infection that could either be from the intubation at the neuter surgery or just the shelter scene got to him. But he was only there 2 days but I guess it happens. Poor little dude is on heavy DUTY antibiotics.

Unfortunately you will NOT see a picture of ME lounging on the couch. I have SO much to do to be ready for Thursday and the start of the Harford County Farm Fair. I've gotten a lot accomplished and a lot more to go. Unfortunately with the back issue's I'm having, some of it isn't going to get done. But so far, so good. What is done, I'm loving! AND 4 more canvases came in today...I'm SO MADLY IN LOVE WITH THEM! I want to marry these CANVASES! People, they are so worth the money! Gorgeous works of art for sure, I look at them and can't believe that I took that picture...kinda crazy! Please please please, come by the FARM fair and visit me. My booth is by the petting zoo and it starts on the 31st. Say Hi! Say Hey! Just COME

Meet McCoy...

I believe most things happen for a reason and this (McCoy) did to, I'm sure. First let me say, Chesterman is still doing fine 9 weeks and 3 days post diagnosis. My father and I worked on my farm-fair display all day in the side yard and Chester layed under the display table in the shade and supervised. Macy and McCoy watched closely from the fence in the back yard, just a few feet away. On to McCoy...

We had contacted our rescue group(http://www.boxerrescue.com/) immediately after Chester's diagnosis to let Jane know of his unfortune and also to be on the look out for a new member of our family. Macy is HIGH stress and has never been an only dog, even when she was with her previous family. We wanted as little lag time between whenever Chest made his heavenly departure and adding the new member. We knew that would have been extrememly emotionally troubling for Macy.

Well, 2 days ago, in the late afternoon, I recieved a call from a great volunteer from our local shelter. She had helped me when I transported one of their boxers to a foster home up north. She had us on the list as a contact and she told me that a 6month old pup had been surrendered the day before. Within moments the kids and I packed up and headed to the shelter to check him out. Well, you see what happened don't ya? We now have three boxers in the household.

This little lovebug has stolen our hearts already. I've had a boxer since the summer of my 18 birthday...almost 20 years. Yeah, yeah, I'm old. Whatever. There was Mugzy, then
Buzz, then Cooper, Chester, Macy and now McCoy. I have to tell you, my family is not sold on
the name. So If I come here in a day or two and call him something else, you know I was defeated. We' ve never had a puppy this young, Cooper and Chester were both 8 months when we got them. He definately has boxer puppy spirit~! I love this shot of him zipping past the crepe myrtle...his front legs barely keeping up with the back!

This little guy apparently spent 8-10 hours a day outside kenneled and was crated in the house. We have no kennels here and never will, although we will crate him when we are not home. A 6 month old unsupervised boxer can be a very dangerous thing...heck a 7 year old boxer on steriods can do a lot of damage...look at the bread drawer post from a few days ago! And for never haveing been allowed on the furniture before, he's adjusted to that swimmingly as well. Speaking of swimming, he thought he was Jesus for a few moments today and attempted to walk across the garden pond (although those lily pads are deceivingly sturdy LOOKING).

Nothing but love...

First of all Happy Birthday to this beautiful JET-BLACK boy here...Rudy is 10! Can you believe it? He's such a cool big boy who enjoyed the session almost as much as I did and that's saying something! This family happens to be neighbors from a few houses down...we all feel like they've lived on our street forever! Talk about fitting like a glove! When I was doing some quick looks at these photos from the session to decide what I was going to send for their "sneak peek", Peyton looked at this second photo and said..."Awwww, they really love each other, MOM!" It was cute! And with their daughter....look OUT AMERICA'S next top model...She was sugesting poses for me! LOL I love that! And the love on little C's mom's face when he's scurrying along the bridge toward her is just PRICELESS!

Thank you M family for a GREAT time even if the beginning of the session was a bit like "Survivor" according to Ally!

It feels like a pardon from the president...

Friday, Mr. Chester had a VERY bad day. It started with the night before where he was restless and panted constantly. I really don't think he slept at all. The next morning continued with his respirations being way up and he was continually restless and his eyes were really saggy. Although I'm sure mine didn't look a whole lot better.

We decided to make the appt. for the vet the next day at 1:00. We all went through Friday with heavy hearts. I gave Chester a benedryl before bed just to chill him out some. Benedryl is the same ingredient in a sleeping pill and I knew it should be fine because we were instructed to give Cooper one before his Chemo every time. Chester had a rest filled night and I woke him once to go out and potty about 3 am.

Saturday morning, he bounded down the steps with a sparkle in his eye. He acted very VERY normal, breathing normally and resting on the cool tile of the kitchen. We cancelled the appointment with the vet and headed to the
park! The dogs had so much fun and at one point Chester went flying down one of the hiking trails trying to catch up with Cole. Matt and I just stood in the stream with big smiles and happy hearts watching him go!

He does not wear a colar anymore because of the extreme size of his lymph nodes. We did harness him as we hiked through the park to the stream but then took it off. Believe me there is NO chance Chester would have left so don't be alarmed that he was tagless. We've always teased that a stranger couldn't lure him away with a piece of filet mignon. We are Chesters entire world and he is just a huge member of our family.

I know that yesterday was a temporary reprieve from his illness. A true gift. Thank you God for such a wonderful day. It really meant a lot to all of us. More than I can say.

1 loaf of wheat+1 pack of wheat pitas+1 bag of potato rolls= a lot of carbs for Chester

I went to the grocery store today after the chiropractor (crack, crack) and bought too much stuff but I haven't really been since we've been back from the beach. My dad came by and I wanted to run him by my friend Tina and Curt's to check out some of their pergolas. I GUESS the bread drawer was a tinsy bit open so when we came home the furry guilty parties had bread crumbs on their chins and a bit of a chagrin in their grins! I'm sure Chester was the master planner of the carb overload but Macy was happy to join in the feast. PLEASE don't tell Dr. Atkins...I'm sure he wouldn't approve of the Carb-a-thon.

I love this picture of Chester from yesterday with his mostly empty Jiff Peanut butter container...he LOVES to do that!

OMG, this is SOOOOO FUNNY. It's a Callieism not a Peytonism but it's GREAT...you'll love it! Callie had a friend over today named Allie. She bursts through the door and says to Matt, "Daddy, show Allie your double UVULA!" He declined, much to Callie and Allie's disappointment. Okay, so I'm gonna make you look that up on wikipedia or whatever and see what kind of freak my husband is. I'm gonna expect a COMMENT from you since there are like sometimes 75 of you a day who read this and nobody comments. Show Matt's uvula the love people! Comment, Comment!

Here are some fun beach pics from our beach vaca and the fun and cool family we stayed with!

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried...

UPDATE!!!!! "Mr. Hobbins" Dad emailed us this morning from our craigslist posting. They were ecstatic to have him back! They teased him about his mini vaca-spa treatment. They sure were a nice family and I'm SO glad that this story had a happy ending!

Yet another chapter in the saga that is Robyn's life unfolds...

First you have to listen to one of my ailments because it will provide a visual for you later in the delightful little story that is about to unfold. While at the beach last week, I stepped out of bed and put some weird little kink in my lower back. This kind of thing is not unusual for me and my friends in real life will know that I probably have a stiff neck more often or not (or they just think I'm REALLY snobby and turn my body that way when I'm speaking on purpose). It sort of remained the same for a few days, nothing advil wasn't really taking care of. These things usually take a week and go away. Well...on Friday I noticed that my back was feeling better (YEAH!) but now my big toe was numb on the left foot. HMMMM. As the day progressed the numbness worked it's way up my leg eventually resulting in a mild Quasimodoesque movement of my leg since it didnt' really seem to want to work they way I wanted it too. So, needless to say, I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow. Never been to one so that should be fun but hey, I would like to walk again with relative normalcy if that is possible with the clumsy gene that I seem to have.

Here's the good part... Matt's band played at a relatively local place called The Barn so I said to myself, "Self, let's send the kids to G-Mom's and go watch the handsome drummer play!" So that's what we did. Luckily there was no dancing involved ( minus the embarrasing shuffle like movement Matt dragged me around in a circle during some slow song-ummmm yes the band did have several people buy them shots of something or that NEVER would have happened)BTW, I drove so don't go up in arms about the driving after shots thing people.

The band plays till almost 2ish, so that's late for this hobble legged, can't party like a rockstar anymore mom. It takes FOREVER for the band to pack up...Matt especially with all the gear and schtuff. So we are just kinda hanging out shooting the breeze (the band and I 'cause I'm cool like that)for a moment outside the club before we all get in our cars and head home. The club/bar is located on a MAJOR road toward Baltimore. Shannon(the singer) says, "Hey, look at that little dog!" Our story's heroine (that's me, of course) throws her FABULOUS and FAKE D & G green and white purse down to the side walk and DASHES like the speed of light across the busy road to rescue the poor lost little white dog. (okay, so I actually dragged my left leg in a quick, drag hobble drag movement but that didn't sound as good). The lovely little man leaps into my arms and I carry him safely back to the group. He doesn't have tags on and other than big brown eyes and a matted white coat the only other remarkable feature past his huge ears is his rapiddly beating heart.

So about 4:45 in the morning, the little guy has a bath in the kitchen sink (I'm sorry...I don't need fleas to go with the bum leg). Matt, Me and Chester, Macy and little white dog head up to bed. Little white dog decides to make himself comfy ON the bed with the four of us. Hey, what's one more? At 7:30 Chester gets me up to go potty (he's on prednisone so we get up several times a night now for potty breaks) I anap these pics of Barney (and just because he has a name doesn't mean, DOES NOT MEAN he's staying~ hey locals...can you guess which club Matt played? THE BARN, maybe?)

Yes, we have already listed him on Craigslist, checked Petfinder and all that Jazz. I think he's a purebreed Westhighland White Terrier although you can't tell from my crappy pictures. We laughed ourselves silly all the way home how this stuff only happens to us. We contemplated plopping him in our friend Curt and Tina's back yard or putting him on Lisa's back porch (she has a white dog and we thought maybe she wouldn't notice another) He's also had yet ANOTHER bath because the little squirt fell in the pond right after that one picture was taken.

If this story is weird, long winded and just nonsensical remember I've had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep. :-)

Little Miss R.

 
 
 

I love this little ladies name! Little Miss R was tooo cute. THOSE curls...kill me! She was just too pretty! Unfortunately just when she was warming up, the sky opened UP and poured BUCKETS ON US! Luckily I got lots of cute shots in before that!

Chester is laying here next to me and his feet are just flying...he must be dreaming of chasing bunnies and squirrels and other little furry critters that he'd have no intention of harming. It's just the chase he's always been in for! He's doing well. Monday marked the day that he was diagnosed 6 weeks ago. He was given about 4-6 weeks to live. Everyday now with my sweet brown boy is a blessing (as it always has been). Let me give you some background on Chester...maybe you too will see how truly SPECIAL this lanky brown furboy is. We were initially just going to foster him, we already had Cooper and the twins were 5, we were a busy young family. When my friend Stephanie and I went to pick him up (we met the people bringing him to us-NOT his owners, at IKEA of all places). He was S K I N N Y, like kate moss after the stomach flu skinny. He looked like a moth had eaten his coat in a million places because he had very bad Demodex mange and he was so scared. The poor thing was just 8 months old and obviously lived some very STRESSFUL months. We got him home and he was petrified of my husband. Like so petrified he could not be in the same room as him. Let me tell you, Matt is a NICE guy and there is no reason to be scared of him. A few days later, and Chester still couldn't be in the same room without cowering. I KNEW he had to stay with us, he needed stability and LoVE and I KNEW we could give it to him. Fast forward to now, he's a complete LOVE bug and thinks he belongs in everyones lap: man, woman and child! He's no longer afraid of his own shadow and has become a sweet and self confident handsome gentleman that will break our hearts when he leaves to join his friend Cooper at the Rainbow bridge in Heaven. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers and love...Chester and our whole family feel them and I know they are keeping him feeling good as long as possible. xoxo from all of us.

party all the time...party all the time...

 
 
 
 

First let me start with the sweetness...Little Miss C was just an ABSOLUTE DELIGHT! Her mommy contacted me about me being at the beach sometime this summer and luckily it worked out that I could do her first birthday pics there! Isn't she just the CUTEST! LOOOOOOOK at those blue eyes...AND she's a total hambone too. The camera just LOVED her!

Okay, about the party girls in the next pictures....let me just say that the world is PROBABLY a calmer place because Peyton is my daughter and not my friend Tina's. Because those two together would just be a DANGEROUS package! The world couldn't handle them if they spent more time together...we'd all have tatoos and PINK hair! Speaking of, Callie gave Tina a pink streak to match Peyton's and she did a FABULOUS job!

This last picture is Peyton in one of the Matilda Jane art fair pieces I purchased....It's the Ellie SWAN halter...I LOVE it on her!

Yes, I do have 2 other kids...they just don't like their pictures taken!

sorry I'm a cornball

 

Okay, I think this is funny.... maybe no one else does! LOL

I wanted to give a Chester update: He's still his happy self although I definately see a marked size difference in his lymph nodes since we've gotten back from the beach. Before we left the ones in his shoulders and hocks were not palpable (although they DEFINATELY were before he started on the prednisone) and now I can easily feel them. He's slowing down now considerably. My father took great care of him while we were gone and if we had not promised the kids that little beach trip before he was diagnosed, I probably would not have gone. He's still happy and not in pain but I feel like his clock is ticking faster now. Can't really say much else about it.

This beautiful boxer butt is actually of my friend Tina's boxer, Lucy. Lucy is having surgery today to remove 2 tumors so please send little boxer health prayers for her if you have a moment. Lucy had a photo shoot at the beach with me while we were there...I'll share some of her more ELEGANT and regal model shots later tonight.

Happy Independence Day!

 
 
 
 

I'm a bit late because we were away for the Holiday! I MUST say we had SO much fun and stayed with friends that could NOT have been better hosts! I could blog about a zillion things but I won't...I'm tired and there is a load of towels I need to fold. I wanted to share a few pics of the beach party they had...FABULOUS and MAGAZINE worthy doesn't even BEGIN to explain how awesome it was! The four sisters who put on the party every year (one is the mom of the friends we stayed with) own an awesome store in South Bethany Beach called The shop of the Four Sisters. I did some photo shoos while at the beach so I'll share them in a day or so.

Importantly, my friend Tina's sweet Boxer Lucy is having surgery tomororw to remove a tumor. Please send doggie prayers to her too, if you have a moment! Lucy ALSO had a beach babe photo session and she was total model DIVA! LOVE IT!

I'm leaving...call me if you need me!

 

We are outta here! Call me if you need me! Happy 4th everyone!

Snips and Snails and Puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of!

 
 
 
 

Of had some of the cutest little men the past couple days! Little Mr. C you may remember from the fall, he's gotten a lot taller somehow! His B-day was yesterday, so nice for his family to come up from N.C. to celebrate with everyone in their family here and lucky for ME to take his 2nd B-day pics!

Mr. F just turned (guess how many?) a couple days ago? Look at his CUTE IMPISH grin! And that hair and blue eyes...AWESOME! He's the ONLY kid that I've had take a COMPLETE and utter DUNK in the creek, but he just rolled with the punches! LOL! I love that about kids!

Well, I'm off to the beach for a few days with the family and some family friends. My Dad will be here taking care of my household menagerie including sweet Mr. CHESTER! Speaking of Mr. C...the prednisone is making him HUNGRY like the HULK...he stole a HOT cheeseburger we just took off the grill! MAN, he'd never do something like that before...but heck it's not like he's gonna get in trouble and he KNOWS it too! LOL ...more packing to do! Remember, if you need me, I can't get email but most of you know where to find my number...it's on whimages.