Happy 2009!

So this is officially my Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, here's what has been going on post!

Things around the Church house have been good, busy, but good. Since my last post in November I have decked our halls, spent a fun-filled weekend with Riley, celebrated my birthday, undergone major surgery, enjoyed Christmas at home with the family, and watched my puppies grow into miniature horses!

We had a great time this year putting up Christmas lights outside and discovering the homes for our Christmas decor inside our new house. It's always fun to figure out where the Christmas decorations will go. I think next year will be even better...but this year the house turned out pretty nice. We only got to enjoy our outdoor lights for a week or so due to the discovery of an electrical problem, but hey, at least we got to see the pretty lights for a little bit!

Brian and Erika went out of town the first weekend of December to celebrate Erika's birthday and that meant an amazing four days with Riley for me! It was tons of fun spending that much quality time with her...she really is amazing and cute and just a joy to be with. She's a talking machine these days and fires off question after question...she's a curious little thing and way too smart for her own good! The picture here is one of our many play times with all of her stuffed animal friends. I wish you could hear the giggle that came with this picture...

The addition of two more furry friends at our house has things pretty bouncy. Avry and Eli are just over four months old right now and they weigh in at about 35 pounds! I learned last week that they have about 6 months more to grow as far as height goes and another 18 months of filling out growth. Looks like we will be investing in a stable before things are all done with these monsters! They are still so sweet and puppy-ish though, so despite their bouncing and biting we love the little guys and really enjoy having the 16 paws pitter patting through the house. As you can see by the pictures, they are rotten and enjoy all the comforts of our king sized bed!

In other puppy news, Amos graduated from school last week and we are proud parents of a matriculated pup! He passed his Beginner class with flying colors and will be moving on to Click-a-Trick as soon as I can walk! He learned basic commands and the process of training him really trained us a bit more! All of the pups have benefited from the training, but Amos enjoyed the one-on-one time and the spotlight at Petsmart when he completed his course!

Last but not least, I had a Right Achilles Tendon Exostectomy on December 19th and so, here I go down the long road of recovery once more. I have some really gnarly pictures of the surgery that I will post on here as soon as I figure out how to make it optional to view the pictures so those of you with queasy tummies won't be subjected to the medical wonder that was my surgery! I'm doing remarkably better this year than last year and am hoping that means the recovery will be a lot faster. Ironically I was at physical therapy for the left foot just two days before having the right foot operated on! I guess they aren't kidding when they tell me that the recovery time per foot is one year!!! At least I get to have some cool art during recovery...check out this cast!!!

Well, we have some good goals in place for 2009 and are looking forward to all that a fresh new year has in store for us.

I hope that the new year finds you all refreshed and looking forward to all the good things and reflecting back on fond memories of 2008.

Cheers,

Church Lady

Avry & Eli

The puppies are growing so fast!! They are more like toddlers now than babies for sure...into everything, they have learned to "talk" and they love to play rough! Eli loves to play in the water bowl which has prompted a lot of mopping at our house! They are so cute...but don't take my word for it...see for yourself!

Avry resting in the yard.

Eli relaxing in the yard.

"Hey Avry! Let's eat this tree!"

Catch me if you can!

Here's to puppy fun...
Church Lady

Halloween Fun!

Like zoinks! Jinkies! Ruh-roh Raggy!

For the Vocabulary Parade (our word was onomatopoeia) at school I convinced my staff to play along and dress up as the Scooby Doo Gang, complete with the Mystery Machine!!! It was super fun and I am pretty sure we were the best dressed of all the faculty and staff!

As many of you may know, I have an affinity for carving "punkins" (that was for you Meg)...and this year I had the annual Fall Festival and we carved a grand total of 17 pumpkins! There were kids and puppies running all over the backyard playing games, grown ups and toddlers playing as well, cupcakes and cookies had by all and fantastic Jack-o-Lanterns too!

Take a look at my art from this year (and a few of my fake pumpkins that I carved year before last)....

As always, thanks for dropping by to share in my fun. I plan on posting a few more pics of the puppies (who are quite large these days) soon. Oh...and one last shot: I can't resist posting a picture of my big brother dressed as The Hungry Caterpillar!!! Not to mention how cute Riley looks as the Ladybug and Erika as the butterfly...the Cooper Bugs!

Cheers,

Church Lady

Puppies Puppies Everywhere!

Well things are definitely fun around our house these days! Avry came to live with us a few weeks ago and her brother Eli went to live at mom's house....for two days. Yup...you guessed it...Eli lives with us now! It seems that Jake wasn't up for a new pup and Eli wasn't up for life without litter mates. So, welcome to the Church Family Zoo!!!

Here's a few pics of all the pups playing and livin' the high life!

Sweet little Andi running laps in her big backyard!

Avry & Eli playing a friendly game of tug in the kitchen....

Squirrels beware~Amos and Andi are on the prowl!!!

Here's Eli's favorite past time....napping!

It's a tough life these pups are living...

Life is fun around here these days, indeed there is never a dull moment! Cory and I are busy as usual and things seem to be bouncing along pretty well. He's beginning to wrap up another semester of school and I'm busy with early preparation for Relay for Life '09. We are loving our little house and the beautiful Fall weather that we've had the past few days.

Stop by and enjoy the fun at the Church Zoo!

Cheers,

Church Lady

:-)

Meet Avry!

As you all know, I am a sucker for puppies and when I learned that there were 10 adorable babies to pick from a litter that one of my families from school had....well, it was a done deal!! I brought Miss Avry (pronounced "Avery" but spelled silly to keep in line with the other two four letter A name puppies!) home last Thursday evening and it's been a fun filled first weekend with her.

Amos and Andi are adjusting better than I expected and Avry is a little rock star really. The accidents are minimal and the cuteness is at a max! We're not really sure what kind of pup she is...dad is a hound and mom is a mix, so she's a mutt which is perfect. It seems that she will be in the 45-50 pound range, so just a tad bigger than Amos.

Stop by and see the newest addition to the Church house....she'll nibble your toes and lick your nose for sure! Oh, and if you can't resist the cuteness, let me know because there are 9 more where she came from and they need homes too!

Cheers,

Church Lady

Finally...A Post!!

Well folks it has been one crazy summer! After 11 weeks of 11 hour days with 130 kiddos I can check off another successful year of Summer Camp. Whew!! School is back in swing now and my classroom has almost recovered from its summer beating. I took a few days off between Summer Camp ending and school starting to head up North to visit the fam and just chill out and recenter so I could be ready for the next chapter. Enjoy the pics of my trip....

The Thousand Islands Bridge....it turned 75 this summer!

Ethan chilling in the tube...love that hair!!!

Kelli and I enjoying the boat ride.

Sarah proves that she's an excellent captain of "The Seament"

Postcard perfect! I love the views on the St Lawrence River....

Beautiful sunset as we headed back to Pier 65...

This is the house that Kyle & Lori rented this summer. Wow!!!!

It was so great to get to see them and spend time on their amazing boat too!

Cousin Lori doing the boat thing....one hot mama looking amazing on her 50th birthday!

Kyle & "Sweet Thunder" having a good time on the boat!

Lori takes on Big Mable!!!!

Cousin picture: Kathryn, Traci & Lori riding on the hull!

Cheers! Cousins Kathryn, Lee, and Traci have a toast to a wonderful day on the River...

Lee and I at the end of our amazing day.

There were some crazy things about this trip...for example, it was much like the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" at the beginning because I flew stand by and got stranded in Boston for a night! Oh well...it makes for good memories and laughs now and the trip turned out to be an amazing time of relaxation and family fun.

Cheers....

Church Lady

All Grown Up...

Well tonight was an amazing night. Loren got married and it's hard to believe that this amazing gal who I met when she was 3 is now married to a great guy and they are off on the fun journey of marriage and future. So cool. The wedding was nice and the reception was fun.


So, after surviving my first week of summer camp and enjoying Loren's big day, the rest of the weekend should be pretty chill...which is good!


Here are a few pictures from the wedding, proof that I do clean up nice!!!

Here's to fairy tales...

Church Lady

Swim Lessons & Baseball

The title pretty much sums up this post. I hung out with Riley and Erika last week and got to go to one of Ri's swimming lessons. She does survivor swimming which essentially teaches little munchkins what to do in the water. She swims and flips over and floats on her back, then flips back over and swims some more. It's way cool and amazing to watch. The day I went it was pretty chilly outside so Riley was not so thrilled with the lesson for the day, but she was a champ and did great! Pictures to prove my little niece is quite a fish...

Along with some quality Riley time, I had some quality Boys of Summer time!!! I mentioned that I took in a few games, and here are some pictures. No actual baseball shots, just some cool pre-game stuff. Last Saturday's game was Military Day at the Ballpark, so all four branches were represented as the National Anthem was played live from Iraq. It was very cool...and to top it off, the Rangers won!

Lovin' Life...

Church Lady