Christmas Morning...Finally!

All of the waiting is over! Anthony was up at 1:00 a.m. quietly knocking on Reagan's door to try to wake him up. We sent Anthony back to bed only to have Carson wake up at 3:30 a.m. so being the mean mom that I am I made them wait until 5:30 a.m. to wake everyone else up. This brings back so many memories of growing up with my brothers. Wally was the worst he would go to bed as early as my mom would let him. I remember snooping with Chris, but all we ever found were "other people's presents" it's funny how they looked exactly the same as ours on Christmas morning. Hmm......My mom is so clever! I have caught my boys snooping before so I took extra measures this year. Everything that was under the tree before Christmas was disguised in a cereal box, cracker box etc. So the tradition that we have always done when I was growing up that we now do with our boys is to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve. They start asking which one they can open about Dec. 20th so it is a big deal to them when it is finally time for that one present. This Christmas Eve I was looking at the presents trying to pick one they will have fun with because it cannot be clothes or they will be bummed out. While I am looking at the presents I notice one of Anthony's looked like it had been opened and re-wrapped. He was standing right there and I asked if he did it and he said no. I started looking closer at all of the gifts and every single one of Anthony's had been partially opened and re-wrapped. He knew he was busted! I told him he could not open one on Christmas Eve. That lasted about 2 hours and then I felt bad so he got to anyway. I could not believe that he would do EXACTLY the same thing we did when we were his age!
Thanks to my Mom I have a plan for next year. When my brother's and I got caught snooping the following year my Mom did not put our names on the presents she actually numbered them. We did not know which number was ours so we could not snoop and figure it all out. At the time we just thought it was funny, but now I know she is very very WISE! Starting next year on December first you will need to address my boys as #1, #2 and #3!
We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Just a Little LOVE

As many of you know I love animals. If you come to our house you are fully aware of our extra family members. Where we live we get drop offs all of the time. Over the course of about 10 years we have probably had a dog or cat show up every 2-3 months. We always bring them in and give them food and let them hang out to see if someone claims them or if they will fit in with our family. If they are aggressive with our other animals or us we have to try to get them a new home or call the dog catcher to come and get them. It is heart breaking every time. There has only been once that we actually found one a home. So we know what the odds are that they are in a good home somewhere if they leave here with the dog catcher. Not once has anyone ever came and claimed one of them. Our oldest dog Bandi was a dropped off about 6 years ago. Since the first day she showed up we have wondered why someone would do that, she is such a great dog. We have cats come and go all of the time. I actually got into an argument with a man over shooting a cat in our gravel pit. I tried to make him give me the cat instead and he wouldn't. I am still mad at myself for not forcing him to give me the cat. I know this sounds crazy but I am sure my sister in law Megan has my back on this! We had a little black lab show up a day before Thanksgiving. She is going to stay and join the rest of the Lavery crew. It is always nice to think maybe someone just lost her and is looking for her but we all know that she is another drop off. All of the Ray family was here on Thanksgiving and the kids fell in love with her. She started out being named BUD until we told them all that she was a female. So Mylee and Baylee changed her name to LILY. We are keeping that one and her name is LILY. Every time we walk out the door she is there to greet us and so sweet. She doesn't expect much just a pat on the head. She is great with the kids and other animals too.

For those of you who have dogs you know that if you give them love and attention they will do anything for you. A dogs sole purpose is to love and serve their owners. They are loyal and all they want in return is a pat on the head and to be played with.

We all know they can be a pain and chew up your entire couch but they would still love you if you chewed up their dog house!