The "boys" weekend!

Here are the "boys" in my life (from left to right).....Tyler, Troy, and Deonte (making the goofy face). This was taken last weekend at our apartment. Tyler and Deonte came up for the weekend. I'm pretty sure Tyler enjoyed himself....and Deonte always likes coming over to the house to hang out with his dad. Tyler likes to make cookies, so we made sugar cookies. He thought it was pretty neat that he was making cookies with somebody other than his mom or grandmother! Troy made a really good dinner that night (well, he always makes good dinners!) He made pork chops and I made stuffing and mashed potatoes to go with the pork chops. After we ate, the "boys" carved a pumpkin for Halloween! Too bad I wasn't smart enough to take a picture of it! What was I thinking?? (I was probably thinking I wanted to go to bed because they were carving it around midnight!!)

A picture of the boys without the funny faces!!

Tyler with Maxie. He sure does love the doggies! :)

Troy always looks so mad.....

I think he was having a lot of fun with the dogs (below)

The Greatest Gift....

August 2007 - my nephew Sammy! What a cool little guy!

August 2007 - Danny, me, Alina, and Sammy.

August 2007 - Alina (only a few days old), Danny, and Sammy.

March 3, 2008..... the newest addition to my nieces and nephews.... CJ.

March 2008 - Me, CJ, and Emily

I have the greatest and cutest nieces and nephews in the world! These children are the greatest gifts! They are all warm hearted, caring, loving, and peaceful. I know that when they grow up, they will be successful in whatever they choose to do! I love them all equally! I don't see them often, but cherish when I do get to see them. I hope they know that although Aunt "Zee" isn't always able to send them tangible things, that there is one thing I am always sending to them....my unconditional love! (uncle Troy too)

The In-Laws

The 3 Muskateers.... also known as brothers. Troy and his two brothers Carlos (in white) and Dammion (in black). Troy is the youngest of the brothers. Being the youngest is tough! You get picked on, told on, lied on, and often times left out! As adults, they do still tease each other every once in a while.... but they also have one of the strongest bonds I've ever seen!

More of Troy's "crazy" family (lol!). From left to right, Destinee (Dammion's daughter), Troy, Carlos, Dammion, Katrice (Dammion's daughter), and Michael.... my father in law! What a crazy bunch of people! :)

Maxie Turns 2!!

So Maxie turned 2 in February of this year (08). Every birthday is special.... even those of man's best friend! And of course it's not a birthday without a cake, guests, and presents!

Maxie is thoroughly enjoying her cake and ice cream. Well.... what's left of it! Emily I believe is picking the sprinkles out of her cake!

My parents dogs, Otto, Tessa, and Archie all got cake and ice cream too!

The presents.... Maxie was actually opening them once she realized there were toys for her. And those little hands that are helping Maxie open her presents are those of Emily! She thought having a birthday party for Maxie was the neatest thing especially since she helped wrap the presents!

Our Growing Doggies!

This picture was taken July 10th, 2008. It is of course of our two doggies, Jeminye (left) and Maxie (right). As you can see, at this point in time, Jeminye is nearly the same height as Maxie. When we got Jeminye, she was just over 2 months old, and weighed only 13 pounds. As of August 28, 2008, Jeminye weighed in at 41 pounds at 5 1/2 months, while Maxie is fully grown and has maxed out at 47 pounds at 2 1/2 years of age. Our vet (whom we think is the greatest vet in the world because he always explains things to us so we don't have any "surprises), says Jeminye will be at least 75 pounds!



This picture was taken in January of 2008. This was one of Maxie's favorite spots while being over at my mom and dad's house. It was her "safe haven" from Tessa! Maxie thought she was untouchable in this laundry basket. We often found her just taking naps in it!

This of course is Troy and Jeminye....when we first got her and were able to pick her up with ease!

Troy and I went to Pet Smart the other day to get Jeminye a new kennel. She had grown out of the one she had, and desperately needed a bigger one. Once there, we saw Halloween costumes for dogs. Our attention immediately drew to the devil and angel costumes and we just had to get them.... there really is no better way to describe Maxie and Jeminye! Yes, I know it's not Halloween yet, but I had to try them on the dogs to see how they looked!

The Montgomery County Fair

So we (Me, Troy, his two youngest Talia and Demari, and their mom) went to the Montgomery County Fair on August 10, 2008. The weather was PERFECT for a fair! Talia actually enjoyed the "Tower" ride.... it took her a little while though. In this picture she's trying to hide the fact that she really is enjoying it. There's another picture a little ways down of her and Demari on the same ride..... but the expression on her face is priceless in that picture (before she started liking the ride)!

Ahhhh...... the teacups! Who doesn't love the teacups? Especially after being in the sun for a
few hours! Thankfully we hadn't eaten yet when the kids got on this ride! :)

To be young again..... this slide looked like a lot of fun! The kids had to climb a cargo net, some stairs, so through tunnels etc., before the got to the slide. I wish they had things like this when we were their age. Talk about some serious static electricity though! I had to catch them at the bottom and they both shocked me!
















Here's Talia and Demari driving a dump truck. They thought this was pretty cool because they could honk the horn on the truck and the horn was super loud! For some reason, whenever we got on riders where there was a "driver", Talia always took the drivers seat!





Here she is about to race on her jet ski!

And here it is.... the priceless picture of the kids on the "tower" ride. Do you think she looks scared enough? She was about to cry here.... but we were able to yell up to her that it would be ok. Of course she liked it after that.... which you can see by her smug look in the picture up top.





The carousel was the very first ride the kids got on. Talia LOVES horses and she wouldn't budge until she was able to get on the carousel! Daddy is showing them where to hold on to be safe.

A future career maybe? Demari loved the firetruck! He thought it was the neatest thing to be able to sit inside a real firetruck and be able to "drive" it. He was a little shy around the fireman, but he did use his manners and thanked the fireman for helping him up! I still think he has his heart set on being a train conductor! This boy seriously LOVES trains!
Here's talia in the Firetruck. She just wanted to pose for the camera. She couldn't care less that she was sitting in a real firetruck!

And of course the ponies! What would a fair be without the pony ride! She didn't want to get off the pony. Unfortunately, the pony rides weren't part of the ticket package, and were a cash only ride..... so the kids only got to ride them once. They were on them for about 5 minutes though!



Demari liked the pony ride too. However, he heard a train towards the end of the pony ride, so he was in a rush to get off so he could go see the train!


All in all, we had a wonderful time.... with the exception of "The Spider" ride. Let's just say, that was our last ride of the day! Imagine spinning around, and around really fast, going up and down, being jerked left and right, forwards and backwards.... while trying to keep the contents of your stomach and purse from flying out.... and hearing a very scared 6 year old little girl saying "my tummy hurts." As if that wasn't bad enough, poor Talia was slipping out of her seat, making the ride even that more terrifying for her (and me). She was holding onto me because she was scared.... and I was holding onto her so she wouldn't fall out! After "The Spider" ride, several small stuffed animals, only one potty trip, a caramel apple, a candy apple, one italian sausage with peppers, two giant cheeseburgers, one corndog, a slice of pizza, sprite, a box of popcorn, no boo-boo's, a queasy stomach, and 6 hours later....we were ALL tired and were more than ready to call it a day! :)

The New Addition.....

This is our new puppy, Jeminye (pronounced like the birth sign, Gemini). She was born March 11, 2008. She is a purebread boxer. We got her on Saturday, May 17, 2008. She has adapted well to our apartment...and to Maxie. Jeminye is a quick learner, and has the "potty outside" or on the "training pad" thing down pretty well. She's energetic, crazy, and very persistent. Troy and I learned that we can't gate the kitchen and leave her in there during the day. We did a "trial run" the other night. We put up baby gates at each entrance to the kitchen, and put her in there. We left to get some dinner, and when we came back (maybe 15 minutes later), she was out. The gates were still up....and there wasn't room for her to crawl underneath. We found out that she used her huge paws, and climbed up and over the baby gate. She hurt her paw a little bit doing that....but she's ok....and maybe, just maybe, she learned a lesson! So now we have to leave her in the hallway during the day (while Troy and I are at work), with the gates double high! If she gets out of this one.....then she definitely got some help from Maxie! She is a lot of work, but we both love her....and Maxie loves having a playmate and a "little sister."


Here they are together.... Jeminye on the left, and Maxie on the right. They both pose for pictures quite nicely! :) We think Maxie has some boxer in her.....the white belly, white paws, same color. Do you see a resemblence? They play well together, and are pretty good at sharing the dog toys. Of course they both snarf down their food, and love treats, walks, and lots and lots of attention! :)