Eric, Carlee, Tim and myself gave Mom and Dad their Christmas present early this year.
We were visiting with mom and he came down the stairs to join us. Mom was quite surprised and happy. Then Dad came out of the shower and saw him and looked quite surprised himself, but he was super excited. I think when Mom saw how excited Dad was, she was much more excited for her present.
Dad told us that he had been missing Sir Walter a lot recently and has been thinking about how great it would be to have a dog again. I'm glad we took care of that.
So everyone should come on over to Nana and Grandpa's house and see the newest member of our family.
His name is Doctor Watson.
I think he's a keeper. What do you think?
He even got a bath...
And a haircut today...
And for those of you wanting to know: Dr. Watson is a pure bred Miniature Schnauzer (papers and everything). He is 10 weeks old.
Monday, October 12, 2009
2009 Christmas Eve Gift Giving List (Gifts $10-15) Giver: Receiver Dad: Tim Mom: Marcus Teresa: Dad Dell: Maren Brooklyn: Erica Savannah: Kate Jordan: Eric Troy: Lily C. Bryce: Mom Sara: Tami Hunter: Cedric Marcus: Dell Talmage: Savannah Kate: Jefferson Tom: Brooklyn Tami: Teresa Lily: Hunter Jefferson: Troy Cedric: Jordan Kurtis: Sara Erica: C. Bryce Maren: Talmage Tim: Kurtis Eric: Tom Alan's Family: Surprise
Today was our Father's Birthday. He turned 59! Some of us went in on some luggage for him (to use especially for our upcoming cruise!).
As he was reading his card, one of us had written, "...you are the greatest dad!..." and our dear little, 6 year old Lily, interrupted, "nuh uh! My dad is the greatest dad!" Oh, it was delightful...there were laughs all around!
We hope you had a great birthday Dad! We all love you so, and know that we, your seven children, have The Greatest Dad!
For Mother's Day this year (I know, I know...its SEPTEMBER...Mother's Day was CLEAR back in May). However, as I was documenting a few other of this year's events, I came across some photos from Mother's Day and realized that we really needed to display them for all to see.
As I was saying....For Mother's Day this year, all of us children decided to go in with our father and get her something she would absolutely love. For all of my memorable life, my mother has never worn her wedding ring. I don't know if it was when she was pregnant with me or my younger brother, but, while she was prego with one of her last children, they had to cut her ring off her over swollen fingers. And after that, she lost the main stone and a few of the accents.
My father had been speaking of getting it repaired for years, and because I have become quite the wedding ring expert this last year, I went ahead and took it in to get it fixed. So then, on Mother's Day, we all gathered around our mother, when father got down on his knee, and gave her our gift. There was hardly a dry eye present.
Ever since I can remember, my family has tried to do something fun on a numerical significant date, for example, 8-8-88. On that date, I don't remember it too well as I was but 6 years old, however I know we poured cement at house and documented the date in it. And especially since the new century began where we have significant dates, 01-01-01, etc.
This year we all got together and made banana splits....I think our family just likes to have excuses to get together.
Here are a few of the many photos we have of Sir Walter with our family:
Our beloved dog, Sir Walter, left us last Saturday, February 21, at about 10:15 PM. He's been a vital piece in our family puzzle (yes, we are a puzzling family) for the past 11 1/2 years and will leave a space in our hearts forever.
Sir Walter (also called Walter) was originally my sister Maren's dog. Through the years as she has grown and moved out of my parent's house to serve a mission to Brazil and recently to get married to Tim, Sir Walter has stayed with my parents (the Larsen's) and has been primarily cared for by Nana (our mom, Maxine).
He was once so small he would nearly fit in your pocket. Many of us remember him sitting by the living room window watching for family to come visit. He sat there so often the couch has a permanent imprint from his little body (Kurtis mentioned this). He loved to bark and let the family know that someone was outside & would even race to the fence barking at those walking by (just being a good watchdog, never hurting anyone).
Brooklyn remembers sleeping over at Nana and Grampa's house one time and Nana was making waffles for breakfast. Nana accidentally called Walter "Sir Waffles" and Brooklyn has enjoyed calling him "Sir Waffles" ever since. One Halloween, Brooklyn dressed up as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" (Nana sewed her costume) and Sir Walter was Toto.
Everyone seems to remember throwing stuffed toys for him so he could fetch them and bring them back. He loved to growl and wrestle with you with the stuffed animal when he retrieved it and brought it to you.
Savannah remembers Walter sitting on her lap when she would watch TV and movies at the Larsen's (Nana's) house. Walter loved to sleep in your lap or have people hold him and pet him. Savannah also remembers him sleeping by her when she would have sleepovers at Nana & Grampa's.
My parents were out of town last weekend and returning Saturday night when Eric called them and said Walter didn't seem to be acting like himself. When they arrived home, they could tell he had been waiting for them to say goodbye (he was after all very old). They took turns petting him and laying by him and my mom even sang to him. He returned to heaven surrounded by love and attention just as he had been all his life. We look forward to being with him again someday.
Eric, who lives with my parents currently, feels privileged to have been the last person to have Walter sleep near him and spend time with him at home (since my parents were gone his last couple of days).
Teresa, Tom and Maren headed off to Walt Disney World to run in the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. This consisted of running a half marathon on January 10th and a full marathon on January 11th. For those who are counting, the half is 13.1 miles and the full is 26.2. All in all that was a total of 39.3 miles in about a 30 hour time period. We had been running for months and training hard so that we could make sure it was accomplished. The half marathon was relatively easy and we tried to take it easy. About halfway through, due to some miscomunication, Teresa took off running after a bathroom break and we didn't see her until the end. Teresa finished in about 2 1/2 hours and Maren and I finished in 2:44. We all stayed together during the full marathon and helped to motivate each other. We successfully completed it in 6:04. Despite the difficulty of all the running, the marathons were fun. It takes the runners through the different parks, sometimes in a back way that you don't get to see as a regular park attender. They even had Disney Characters along the way to cheer you on and let you get picures with them.
The Donald Duck medal is for finishing the half marathon and the Mickey Mouse Medal is for finishing the full marathon. But only the truly Goofy get the Goofy medal for finishing both.
We spent some of the other days at the parks and even after the runs were able to hobble around and do lots of fun stuff. It was a great time to spend as siblings. It is rare to be able to get this type of an opportunity. There is always joy being together and even more joy when you all accomplish a goal together. I am grateful to have such a wonderful family and look forward to doing many more things together.
