Jane Colette

Jane Colette

born Sept 4th, 9.15 am

6 lbs 15 oz



She's a perfectly beautiful bundle of love!!

God is good!!

more cuteness

Girl's Night - nothin like chocolate, strawberries, and some crazy teenagers :D

Kasia and Moira playing in the water. seriously cute!!

These 3 guys- Geno, David, Anthony- came to a softball game and spent the entire 2.5 hours on the empty field playing baseball together, having a blast and getting oh so dirty.

More fun at softball - some of our faithful fans

The happily engaged couple

the mundane things in life (aka things to bore you)

I should really post some pictures of Suzie, my poor pathetic puppy suffering from seasonal allergies. Thank God I just get a stuffy nose and runny eyes with my allergies, and not the full body itching like Suzie gets. Anyway, so she was definitely scratching some before I headed out of town and had 2 specific patches (her neck and thigh) that she’d scratched some fur off of, but I figured it was allergies (we had the same problem last year) and thought she’d be okay while I was gone. Yeah, I took one look at her when I walked in the door on Weds 1.30 am and felt awful. She’d scratched half the fur off all her legs, her eyes are practically bald above them, she’s covered with scabs and looks altogether awful. I feel like a bad caretaker for leaving and letting it get so bad… sigh.

So, yesterday morning Suzie and I headed for the vet. A woman waiting in the vet lobby for her cat seeing Suzie and says what a beautiful dog she is, and so happy (tail wagging wildly). I’m thinking, "um, lady, she looks horrible and is missing half of her fur," but I smile and comment that she is one happy dog, even if she is itching like crazy. The lady responds, “and what beautiful coloring over her eyes!” I explained that the coloring over her eyes is the scabs and lack of fur (and thought, “beautiful???? Are you kidding me?”). She laughed and said she thought it was just her coloring… thankfully, her cat arrived from the back and our conversation ended. Suzie has gained some weight in the past year since our last visit, up to 42 lbs from 35. She’s still a sleek and slim dog, but has a bit more muscle and less ribs showing. The vet did a skin scraping just to rule out any mites or other issues, gave her a topical treatment, and prescribed her some good drugs to take home. Sure enough, she’s on a 3 week regiment of prednisone and will be on antibiotics for a week to keep the scabs from getting infected.

Dogs are funny. Maggie, who is a sassy brat most of the time, takes pills like a trooper. All I do is tell her to “sit” and she thinks it’s a treat. Suzie, Miss Compliant and Always Wants to Please, does not take pills well. She doesn’t fall for the treat thing and spits them back out. So I have resorted to sticking them on the back of her tongue and holding her mouth closed until she has to swallow. Even then, she often manages to spit it back out. My favorite pill dispenser for Suzie? Cherry tomato, baby. All I have to do is stuff the pills into a cherry tomato and she gobbles it down. Excellent. I never realized how convenient getting her hooked on tomatoes would be! As of last night (after only 2 doses of prednisone), the scratching was already less than before, although she still looks terrible. At least we’re on the road to recovery.

Tomato overload

So, canning season is in full swing now. The other night i went out to check on my neglected garden (its been so wet i hadn't been out there in a few days) and i came in with a big bowl filled with jalepeno peppers, sweet peppers, and cukes. and then filled 2 big bowls overflowing with ripe tomatoes. Time to do something with them, especially since i leave town tomorrow for a week and will have more than that when i get home. So, last night I made and canned a big batch of salsa... I don't know what it is, but there is something immensely satisfying about growing and canning your own food! Certainly its a lot of work, but definitely worth it, especially for the taste of garden fresh salsa any day of the year! Another thing I particularly like about canning tomatoes is my two tomato loving dogs. they sit next to me in the kitchen and wait patiently for me to peel the tomatoes and give them the tomato skins and the cores. so I don't waste anything.

While the last load was in the canner, i added up the costs...
Lime juice $1.25
Salt $.05
Apple cider vinegar $1.20
Onions $1.50
Cilantro $2.00
Jalepenos - garden
tomatoes - garden
jars - already own
lids - $3.00
labor - free
Total Cost: $9.00 for 20 pints of salsa

Eating garden fresh salsa all year- priceless!

vacation pictures

what a swimsuit! especially on such a skinny boy- way cute!


This year's Oreo stacking contest winners


contemplative Gina


Aunt Nona and Ellie


The happy couple


Wow... hotness... (jk they are my cousins)


more cousin buddies


a whole stack o' cousins (and siblings and a few extras)


sunbathing... or should i say shadebathing girlies



the Cousino brothers


Ben's "happy face" and trying to make the beer bottle sound


Snuggling after the cold water


The new baby- just hanging out with momma, papa, and Lu

playing in the sand in some styling hats ;)


uncle D and Lucy Lu


amazing sand castle creators


what a line up!


Aunt Reenie taking the nephews kayaking


more cousins

Vacation

Last week's vacation with the Cousino extended family was awesome, as usual. The week flew by and it felt like I barely had time for relaxing with all the socializing going on :D I really love my extended family and am so thankful to get a week to spend with all of them every year. A few funny tidbits for all of you:

-One night at dinner, Ben (almost 3) and Geno (almost 4) were sitting next to each other. Ben can hardly contain his excitement at sitting next to his buddy Geno and spends half the meal leaning over to give him exuberant hugs. Then he starts playing with Geno's baseball helmet, which is ever present on the redhead next to him. Uh oh. Geno gets upset and Mark says to Ben, "Ben, don't touch Geno's helmet. There are just certain things we don't do to certain people." Ben immediately turns to Geno and says "Geno, are you certain people?"

-After dinner in the evenings, the kids (Ben, Ellie, Geno, Lucy) would get baths in a couple big rubbermaid tubs outside the cabin. One night, Ben had just been taken inside by his parents and about 6 of us were out in front of their cabin entertaining Geno during his bath. All the sudden Geno says loudly, "Hey, why's uncle Mark all naked??" Immediately all six of us turn to look... i swear it was instinct, but we all just about died laughing when we realized that we'd all turned to look. In Mark's defense, he was getting Ben ready for bed and had taken off his own shirt, though from Geno's vantage point in the tub, it was an understandable mistake and the whole incident provided a lot of laughter for days to come.

-Lucy is finally talking. Its so much fun hearing what she's thinking and wanting. And its fun teaching her new words and things to say. A few weeks before vacation, I was teaching her to say "I love Reen" (naturally). At first she would repeat each word after me, but now it goes something like this:
Reen: Lucy, say "I"
Lu: "I" (grinning, knowing what comes next)
Reen: "Love"
Lu: "Reen!!"

It was hilarious watching all the other family members try to get her to say their names instead of mine...
Owen: Lucy, say I
Lu: I
Owen: Love
Lu: Reen!!
Owen: no no no, say "love Owen!"
Owen: I
Lu: I
Owen: Love
Lu: Reen!!
Owen: ahhhhhh

This scene repeats over and over again with Grandma, Aunt Kathleen, Aunt Fiona, numerous cousins... and each time as soon as you say "love" she finishes with "Reen!" I love that kid!!

-Ellie is now 14 months old and has become very independent. She's such a fun kid, and so happy to be walking and able to transport her independent self all over the place. She was happy to just wander up the road in front of the cabins, sometimes pushing Geno's bear Teddy in the doll stroller, other times just wandering and observing all the kids running around. Its so fun to see more and more of her delightful personality coming out the older she gets.

Other highlights for me:
-Sleeping in
-Lots of Hand and Foot with Naomi, Donal, Lindsey
-Scrapbooking last year's vacation pictures, and watching all the kids pour over my scrapbooks of the last 14 years of Long Lake vacations together, ooh-ing and ahh-ing and laughing about past tales and skits and games and tubing runs, etc.
-Good reflective prayer times
-Family family family

I'll post some pictures in the next few days.