***WARNING: THIS POST ABOUT THE POOR POST-SURGERY JAKE IS NOT FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS!***

Well Jake is home from his surgery and doing his best to rest and recover! He DOES NOT like the collar and keeps bumping into things, hasn't figured out how to eat or drink and can barely make it up and down the stairs with it...sadly he will be wearing it for the next 10-14 days! This will be a challenge for both Jake and us!

They were able to remove 3 of the 4 masses...the one on his leg was too big and in an ackward place....they did a biopsy of that one, and depending on the results we will decide how to proceed....I think at this point Jake votes that we "leave the hell alone!"

I have included some pictures of the poor Jakey man....hope no one has a weak stomach! I have to say that I was MORE than a little suprised at how large the sutures are......The one on his head makes him look like Franken-dog (which for those who don't know, is the canine version of Frankenstien....)

We will keep you updated as we work on healing the Jake dog and await the lab results for the masses they removed...

Shopvacs don't belong in the dining room...

Well... if you have ever been to our house, you know it's a work in progress! We have been working over the past two years we have lived here to remove the many hideous signs of 80's decor that ran rampant throughout this house...We have done a bunch of the work so far, but we still have a long way to go...Today our house became a disaster zone once again..Today "officially" marks the first day of our kitchen renovation! This one is gonna get real ugly before it gets better....

For those of you who have never been to our humble abode, I will offer you a before shot of the kitchen: Opps! Sorry...I should have warned you about the overwhelming Ivy themed decor and the hunter green countertops....This picture was actually taken a few years ago, we have since purchased a new fridge that is stainless and much larger than the white one in this picture....

There are many things on the agenda for the kitchen renovation:

• Build alcove to house fridge
• Install some new cabinets where fridge used to be (1 upper cabinet, 1 base cabinet and 1 pantry- a VERY much needed pantry!)
• Install tile floor
• Paint custom finish on cabinets (antiqued cream finish)
• Install cabinet hardware
• Granite Countertops
• Paint
• Tile Backsplash

At the moment my kitchen looks like this:

Above you can see our new fridge and to the left of it, the new fridge alcove that was built for it today (we removed a closet to make the space )And behold, my new pantry! There is going to be some serious organizing going on in here once this project is done! And here is my mess of a dining room - note the big mirror resting on the floor- that is for our hallway bathroom which is almost totally remodeled....I got this new vanity mirror last weekend, but it hasn't made it 1)upstairs and 2) hung up ... soon or later it will make it to where it ought to be (I hope!)
And last, but not least, there is a shopvac in my dining room! AH! This place is a mess....but I guess thats the price I pay for an updated kitchen.....Mitch's brother-in-law will be back Monday to finish installing the pantry and finishing his work...then it's up to Mitch and I to bust out the elbow grease and get the kitchen looking pretty! (And maybe, just maybe, I can twist my Mom's arm when she visits next week to help us out!!!!!!!! We have pulled that trick on her before, it's a wonder she still comes to visit since we always put her to work!)

Our (Seemingly) Annual Christmas Travel Extravaganza!

We seem to be at a stage in our lives where each Christmas we are going to be doing some extensive traveling in attempt to 1)see as much family as possible and 2)take part in as many of our families holiday traditions as possible. This results in us traveling almost 2200 miles each holiday season. We load up the Element with ourselves, the Jake Dog, video games (SO not mine!) and gifts and off we go...10 days later we return home exhausted and tempted to have children ASAP just to throw a kink into this crazy holiday routine (we figure once we have children we will use them to bribe family to come to us...yes, sad that we are already plotting how to use our unborn children as pawns for our own personal gain...but people this traveling is just exhausting! So sorry future children...we hope you can understand!)

Here are some pictures from our travels:

Christmas morning at my parents...

a holiday wish from one of my mom's mini trees...

my parent's dog, Coal...

we got him as a puppy many X-Mas's ago...I think I was in 5th grade....

Ava and Unkie Mitch playing with one of her new toys...

Ava and Gram on Christmas

Oh Internet...I have been such a poor blogger!

Well folks, I apologize that my blogging has been sporadic (at best.) Life has been crazy and it has taken a toll on my blogging- so please forgive me!

So much has been going on-I am not even sure where to start.... but I will do my best to update you in these next few posts!

Enjoy...and I will try to be a better blogger!

think good thoughts for the jake dog :)

jake dog and i visited the vet today about his many bumps and lumps (some new, some old) and the vet and I decided that at this point the best thing we can do for jake is to go ahead and remove them...here is the reasoning: according to the vet, boxers and golden retrievers are the two dog breeds most likely to develop cancer - and although we don't know jake's entire breed makeup- there is no doubt he is part boxer! when boxers develop cancer it is most often skin cancer...none of jake's lumps appear to be internal tumors, all are located on or within the skin which could be consistent with skin cancer....we could biopsy and then make a decision about removal, but the vet said often times biopsy results are inconclusive, and we decided to just to go ahead and remove them and then have them tested by the lab...hopefully they will turn out to be nothing and we will gain peace of mind...worse case scenario if it turns out to be cancer the lab will be able to diagnose the stage of the cancer and the vet and i can then develop a plan of action...hopefully that will not be the case, but with a dog as sweet as jake i would rather be safe than sorry!

jake's surgery date is scheduled for january 16th...he will return home that day once he has come out of the anesthesia...my mom will be in town at that time to help jake recover at home while mitch and i are at work....he will have the sutures removed two weeks later...he is not allowed to lick or itch the sutures, which I anticipate is going to be a real struggle for the jake man, so he will most likely need to wear one of those crazy head guards to keep him away from the sutures! surely this will be an adventure for us all! i just wanted to let you all know this since you all care so very much for the jake dog! wish him good doggie karma!

much love,

becki, mitch and the jake dog