Pictures of Grandma and two Grandpas!

Thanksgiving Day. We had a blast. Dani played cards all day with Grandma Lu. Steph went from person to person. We had family friends over, our parents and the Santa Clarita Ardos. We played basketball, cooked, cleaned and played with all the kids - 14 in all! God is good. We thank Him most of all for our salvation and the gift of His son.

Steph and "Me"

A lady over the weekend asked Steph her name:

Steph replied, "I'm me!"
The lady said, "You're me?"
Steph said, "Yah, Me!"

FYI - Steph used to be "you." She has now switched to being "me."

She says her name as Deffi Dawson - but only if I say, "Say Stephy Dodson!"

Steph asleep on the couch at Grandma Ardo's!

Palm Desert

We went to Palm Desert this week for a meeting for Robert's work. Beth and I just hung out with all the kids and saw Robert and Rod some of the time! One day Robert took Steph swimming - when it was time to go - she swam to the middle and would not come - knowing full well, he couldn't get her!

The kids had a blast - there was a basketball court and a nice pool. We had a great time with the shacks. It was fun to do meals together and hang out! We were supposed to do school but...somehow that didn't happen! We had Steph's birthday while we were there - kind of uneventful as she doesn't know what's going on. We got her an ironing board and cleaning things - figuring that when the other kids move out, she'll still be home to do all the chores.

Jessy's Room

We had a friend paint a mural on Jessy's wall today. Jessy's loves it!

Dani as a Grandma

We were going to go to Disneyland for halloween but Dani and Andrew really wanted to go trick-or-treating. We went around Big Range in Canyon Lake. At first it seemed like no one was out but then it was crazy. There were kids everywhere. It reminded me of how it was when I was a kid - a looooonnnnggg time ago.

We are still so sad about Jake. If you didn't know he had to be put to sleep, read the one under this one. He was the best dog!

Jake

Jake had to be put to sleep today. He was fine on Monday and Tuesday morning. By last night, he looked awful. This morning we couldn't get him up. The vet said we had to put him to sleep - He did an autopsy on him and said he had a perforated bowel . He also said that it was unrelated to the last thing because he couldn't have lived that long (as it was 5 weeks ago). It must have happened three weeks ago or so and because Jake showed no difference in behavior, we had no idea. The only way he could have been saved was had we known when it happened. Poor Jake! He must have been in so much pain and never whimpered or looked sick at all. Jessy, Dani and I have cried all day. He was the best dog. Jessy is trying to talk Robert into a puppy. Poor Robert - today cost a lot of money! I don't think we will be getting a new dog any time soon :O(