Introducing Eldie and Petie Dwyer

The kids have been begging for kittens for what seems like forever.  We had kittens once a few years ago, and quickly discovered just how protective Rocky was.  She hissed at them and chased them every time they came close, so we decided the arrangement just wouldn't work.  Since the passing of Rocky, we decided there was really no reason to deny the children their wish for kittens any longer.  Uncle Dave always seems to have kittens available, so we headed to his house to pick out a couple to bring home.  While we were there, Violet was calling ALL of the kittens "Dave" and she wanted them all.  We finally decided on two really sweet and friendly ones and the kids were pleased as punch.  Because Violet wanted to name them both Dave, we compromised.  Introducing Petie (P.D., short for "Pretty Dave"). . .  

 . . . and Eldie (L.D., short for "Little Dave").

Violet is obsessed with these kittens, and thankfully, they've been very tolerant (so far).

 Just like the Lion King!

 The boys have laid claim to "their" cats: Oliver's is Eldie and Calvin's is Petie.

 Although Evelyn claims them both.

The kids love playing with them, and just watching them play!  They are SO playful with each other!

 Russ says these kittens will remain outside barn cats, and I think that's a good plan for now.  Maybe someday we'll get another indoor cat, but Rocky will be a very tough act to follow.  For now, we will have fun with our new kittens -- Welcome to the family, Eldie and Petie!

Uncle Kyle's Basketball Camp

My boys just finished up a great week of basketball camp with Uncle Kyle and Grandpa Kermit.  They always have so much fun at this camp!  This year, Calvin moved up with the middle-schoolers (still trying to get used to the fact that I have a middle schooler in the house!), and his camp was in the morning.

 I love it that my kids get to be coached by one of the all-time greats, Grandpa Kermit!

 At the end of the week, they got their t-shirts, balls, and awards.  Calvin really cleaned up and came home with lots of hardware (actually, they were certificates, not trophies -- paperware?)

 

The middle school crew with Calvin front and almost center.  These boys worked hard all week!

 Little Miss found some little sisters to play with, and one of them had rhinestone stickers.  They decided to "pierce" each others' ears with them.  Doesn't she look so pretty with her purple earrings?

 

 The afternoon was spent with Oliver in camp, and he, too had a great time dribbling, passing, shooting, and playing defense.

Oliver, too, won a contest at camp.  My boys are quite the ballers! 

Here's the 3rd-5th grade crew after a great week of camp!

 I'm so thankful that Uncle Kyle invites my kiddos to camp each year!  It is a great way to kick off summer doing what they love.  And it's even sweeter because they get to spend the week with cousins!  Thanks, Uncle Kyle and Grandpa!!

R.I.P. Rocky Cat Dwyer

Almost exactly 6 years ago, Russ and I sat on our deck with his high school classmates celebrating their 15th class reunion.  Having just moved into our home, we were discussing country living and how we needed to get a cat to help control the inevitable mice that would become an issue.  Just as we were saying this, a cat meandered up the steps and proceeded to climb into Russ' lap.  We all got a good laugh out of the crazy luck and this is a story I've loved to tell over the years.  Rocky, as we later named her, became a part of our family over the past 6 years and Russ and I went from being NOT "cat people" at all, to actually allowing Rocky in our house and even on our bed (I can't believe I just admitted to that!).  She was certainly a special cat and we were very sad to lose her this week.

This is a picture of the first night when Rocky adopted us as her family 6 years ago. 

The primary reason Rocky was ever allowed in the house at all was this adorable 20 month old we had crawling around at the time.  She was completely smitten and her first word was "Cat."

All these years later, Violet never lost her affection for our furry friend.  And thankfully, Rocky never lost her patience with our sweet Violet.  From day one until the the end, Violet not-so-gently loved on Rocky, and this good-natured feline never once scratched or bit or did anything other than walk away from the 'love.'  We always joked that Rocky knew her ticket inside the house was Violet, and so she was willing to deal with whatever Violet gave her.

Rocky was so loving with ALL children, not just our Violet.  And kids who entered our house were immediately drawn to her calming spirit.  One of our recent bonus kiddos watched out the window with Rocky in this picture.  We've had 5 bonus kids so far, and ALL of them have loved our cat.

KayLeigh, Brycen's sister never left Rocky's side when they would come over to visit.

And Rocky definitely loved the attention when there were kids around.  Ella and Calvin at Halloween 2011 gave her plenty of lovin'.

 But hands-down, Rocky Cat got most of her attention from our Violet girl.  I just love the special bond that they had.

You may remember, Violet even had a Cat-themed birthday party because she loved Rocky so much!  When Evelyn came along, Rocky had one more Dwyer child to love and the feeling was mutual.  Rocky was often asked to join in tea parties and other games Evie was playing.

 Rocky was a very low-maintenance cat because she loved the outdoors as much as the indoors. When she was healthy, she loved chasing things outside and jumping into trees -- she was so athletic!  And oftentimes you would find her just sunning herself on the deck.

 She seemed to be quite the "watch cat" too.  Oftentimes, I would wake up at night to check on kids and find her wide awake, just keeping a watch on the house.  She had LOTS of kids to keep a watch on during one of our cousin sleepovers.

 And one Christmas, I found her trying out Santa's gifts in the early morning hours before the kids woke up!  It seemed she was always awake at night.

Rocky did a great job of catching mice (while she was healthy) and we loved having her around.

 When Rocky joined our family back in 2011, we had no idea the impact she would make on our family.  We never did find out where she came from, but I'm very thankful that she came.  I'd say Russ and I still aren't cat-people, but we were definitely Rocky-people.  She will certainly be missed.  Rest in peace, Rocky Cat.

Run for Little Hearts 2017

Every year since 2009, our family has participated in the Kansas City Heart Walk sponsored by the American Heart Association.  This year, the AHA Heart Walk happened to fall on the same weekend as the "Run for Little Hearts", which is an event dedicated to children born with CHDs.  All proceeds from this run go to the CHD families, which we have been a part of since Oliver's birth.  Well, our friends, the Carpenters (Brycen's family), have participated in this run in the past and really encouraged us to join them this year.  So, after much deliberation, we decided to break tradition and do this new heart walk, and we had SO much fun!

Once again, we read about how 1 in 100 babies are born with a CHD.  And once again, I think how the number seems a little closer to 1 in 2 in our family.

The shirts were really cute for this run, and I loved how the survivors had their own special shirts with the highlighted words, "Warrior. . . Fighter. . . Survivor."

The only negative to the whole day was the COLD temperatures.  It never made it out of the 40s, and there was a frigid wind to boot!  Certainly didn't feel like the end of May.  My girls stayed bundled up in the stroller most of the morning, and we couldn't get Violet and her heart buddy Brycen out of their blankets for a picture. Oh well, Kara and I can improvise.

One of the awesome things about this run was all of the food included!  We got our Chris Cakes to start the morning, because everyone needs to fill up on pancakes before a 5K.

Before the 'real' run,they had a Kids Dash.  There were SO many kids!  Calvin and Oliver were definitely toward the front of their age group.  Evelyn was definitely toward the back of hers.  And we still couldn't pull Violet out of the warm stroller.

There was some cool entertainment to check out, like this mobile game truck.  We didn't spend much time in here, but it was fun to see all of the video games that kids could play inside.

They also had some Mad Scientists doing all sorts of fun science experiments.  Violet loved the bubbles.

And the boys loved trying to hold a dry ice bubble, which is very difficult to do!

I love Oliver's face as yet another bubble bursts into steam of dry ice.

Similar to our usual heart walk, they had awesome face painters.  Evie made a beautiful butterfly!

Did I mention this walk was held at Arrowhead Stadium?  The kids were excited to see KC Wolf and Chief's running back Charcandrick West!

Before we knew it, it was time to find the starting line!  Ready, set, GO!

A beautiful, crisp morning at Arrowhead!

Once we'd finished the walk, we hit up some more of the food vendors.  The kids had warmed up enough to want some snow cones.  And the cool part was that they got to add their own flavors!

They also had a barbeque truck and a loaded fries truck -- lots of yummy food!

After finishing our run, we got these really awesome medals.  Seriously, I think these are the coolest medals I've ever seen.  Good work, Hasty.

I'm glad I let Kara convince us to do the Run for Little Hearts this year!  There was so much to do, and we thoroughly enjoyed this event.  In the future, I'd love to do BOTH walks if they could fall on different weekends, as I really love raising money for CHD research.  And I really love celebrating my two favorite CHD warriors.  I thank God for them every day.