Busy weekend (as told by Jasmine)

Wow, what a busy weekend Mommy and Daddy had! Us pugs mostly just hung out at home. I took advantage of the air mattress before it got deflated and put away... On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy and Sam went downtown to the Murat Theatre to see The Lion King. They went with Mommy's whole family! I don't know why they wanted to see something about cats, but I guess there were no dog musicals going on...

After the play, they all went to the Columbia Club for dinner. Bubba (Mommy's dad) has been a member of the club for a long time and Mommy and Daddy's wedding reception was there. This is Aunt Sharon and cousin Audrey talking to Namie. Aunt Sharon is married to Mommy's brother, James. They have 3 girls, Grace, Audrey, and Stephanie. They live in Chicago now, but they are probably going to be moving to Arizona next year. Namie is Mommy's grandmother. She turned 93 this year!

This is Mommy and Bubba sitting in front of the fireplace talking about football...

Here is Namie...

Sam and Audrey were playing with the train set while cousin Alex posed for Mommy. Alex and Emma are Aunt Debbie and Uncle Chuck's kids. Aunt Debbie is Mommy's sister and they live in Lafayette, IN.

This is a picture of the world's largest Christmas tree. Well, that's what they call it, but it's really the Soldiers and Sailors monument in the middle of downtown Indy and they decorate it with lights every year.

Here's Daddy in front of the monument waiting for the valet service to bring the car back...

Well, Mommy and Daddy's busy Saturday sure wore us out! Being pugs, we go sooooo exhausted just waiting for them to get back home. So we just wanted to sleep in this morning...

Then Mommy made us get up and go outside. And guess what we found out...that it had snowed overnight!!! And Mommy STILL made us go outside! Can you believe it?

It wasn't even a nice fluffy snow. It was a crunchy kind of frozen rain mixed with snow :-b

Then we came back in the house and snuggled together under Mommy while she was on the computer. She had to print out some KPR stuff because it was another Petco Sunday. This time she took me with Eli because Ernie barked too much last week.

Mommy and Daddy both went with us to Petco and we each got to walk around the store. I helped Mommy pick out a new toy for Eli since everyone tore up the toy he got last week (Mommy found a leg on the floor this morning that had been separated from the rest of the toy). And Eli got this cool Colts hat! I tried it on, but I don't like things on my head, so it didn't last very long on me. But Eli seemed to like it! And it looked really cute on him. He's an ok little pug. He sure seems to be happy! We also got a bunch of new treats...Yum!

When we got home, Mommy and Daddy watched the Colts on tv. They won again! And now we are soooooooo pooped. I think we'll probably be sleeping all day tomorrow while Mommy and Daddy are at work and Sam is at school! We hope everyone has a good week!

Pug hugs and kisses,

Jasmine and the Pug Posse

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We wanted to share some cute pictures with you and tell you what we're thankful for... Eli, Ernie and Bernice are thankful that they now have a home where they can feel safe and be loved and give love.

Jasmine is thankful for that little bit of sunshine that warms her up...

Pippin is thankful for having new friends to play with because he is losing weight and feels like a puppy again...
Bernice is thankful to be able to sit at Mommy's feet while Mommy is on the computer...

Mommy is thankful for having a wonderful husband to share life with. She is thankful that she and Daddy were able to adopt Sam and give him a chance at a decent life. She is thankful to have such great pugs who offer nothing but love. And she is thankful for her wonderful new friends who feel the same way about pugs...

All of the pugs are thanful for having a big backyard to run around in!

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope everyone has a joyous day filled with peace and love! Thank you for letting us share our lives with you!

Pug hugs and kisses!

The Pug Posse

Busy Sunday

Hi! I iz Eli an I iz gunna tell you bout my day. It wuz bizzy. We woke up dis mornin an wanted to go outside. Us pugz wuz so eggcited to go outside.Den we went out an it wuz so cold! Momma took dis picher of da cold meter ting... But da sun was making everting shiny and warmed it up a bit. Momma saw dis ting on da tree in da backyard. It wuz hitting da tree wit itz face. Momma sed it wuz a woodpecker. An peeple tink pugz are silly. Why wud anyone hit a tree wit der face like dat? Da picher iznt too gud cuz Momma cudnt zoom in too close...

Den later Momma took me an Ernie to Petco. We wuz at da front of da store greeting everone dat walked in. Momma sed we wuz der fur KPR. Dey iz da groop dat rescooed me! So it wuz ok dat we did dat. Lotz of peeple stopped to pet us and sum peeple put money in da bowl. Ernie wuz very nice but he barked at all da udder dogz dat came in. He wuz so noizy! Den Momma let me pick out a fuzzy toy! Itz a big wite fuzzy ting wit long legs. I took da tag off befor Momma cud even pay for it! We wuz soooo tired wen we left. We iz all sleepy now.

Wen we got home, I let Neecy play wit my new toy. I wuz tired of playing wit it anyway...

I tink Momma shud haz got one for Neecy too but it wuz da last one der. So I guess I let Neecy play wit mine...

I iz gunna sleep now. I talk to youz later.

Eli

Happy Friday!

Woo hoo! It's Friday and Mommy is home! We're not going to let her post for a while after yesterday's tearjerker...she's sorry for bringing everyone down, but she really appreciates the nice comments that were left. Daddy went to bed early last night so he wouldn't have to think about things any more and he feels much better today.

Well, we don't have any snow on the ground yet, but we did see some flakes falling down yesterday. If it's going to be so cold and NOT snow, then we like seeing the pretty blue sky like we did today... It looked like we were going to get to have fun and play outside, but it is still too cold. We wanted to get back in the house right after Mommy let us out, but she made us stay out a little longer so she could take pictures of us. But we didn't want to cooperate too much...we ARE pugs after all...Crazy Bernice stood there for a minute wagging that crazy tail all over the place!

Doesn't Eli look great? It's hard to believe that just a few months ago his ribs were showing. He's plumping up nice living here!

Oooo...is there something good to sniff there?

Crazy Bernice with her crazy ears trying to distract Pippin...

It's the Moooosssseeee!

Well, we're going to make Mommy go sit on the couch so we can snuggle. Mommy wants to try to get the Christmas decorations put up this weekend. They usually do that right after Thanksgiving, but they're going to see The Lion King with Mommy's family next Saturday and won't have a lot of time at home. And Mommy volunteered to go to Petco this Sunday to represent KPR. She's going to take Eli, Ernie, and Bernice. All 5 of us was a bit too much to handle last weekend when we just went to buy food!

Pug hugs and kisses!

The Pug Posse

Sad Thursday

Hi everyone! I'm taking over for the pugs today....The picture below is Denny's parents, Denny Sr. and Paula Smith. It was taken at a wedding in July 2007. The following week, Paula was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiforme, a stage 4 brain tumor. She had a tremor for a while that had been increasing and her behavior had started changing a bit in the preceding months. We were thinking she had Parkinson's, but it never crossed our minds that it could be a tumor.
The tumor was located on her right temporal lobe and it was fingered out in the area that controlled her motor skills, so surgery was not an option. The doctors tried to be as optimistic as possible, but we all did the research and knew that there is only a 25% survival rate beyond a year. And who knows how long this had been growing? So they decided on an aggressive treatment of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Unfortunately the treatments were just as hard on her as the illness. She lost the taste for food so she lost weight. She started losing her hair. Her energy level decreased. We took this family picture after the diagnosis but before the treatment started...

The whole thing was so frustrating. One of the doctors actually said before the treatments even began that she should be in really good shape by February. I was horrified that he said that. It's one thing to be optimistic, but to give false hope is just as bad as giving no hope. We watched her deteriorate over the next few months (Denny and I from a distance since the family is in Louisville, KY). We went there pretty much every other weekend. When it was clear that she was not getting better and in fact getting worse, the family tried to get information and answers from that same doctor that told them she'd be fine by February and he actually avoided them. They finally got the results of the newest MRI and it confirmed the worst...the tumor had spread and she didn't have much time left. That was November 20, 2007. Paula wasn't herself by that point, but it was as if she knew what the family had been told. That evening we got a phone call from Denny's sister-in-law who said Paula fell and they were rushing her in an ambulance to the hospital. She'd keep us posted. Within an hour she called back and said Paula was gone. I don't think she wanted to go on fighting this thing that had robbed her of her personality, so she let go. That was 2 days before Thanksgiving. I'm thankful this year that Thanksgiving is a week later than it was last year, other wise we would be trying to be thankful on the anniversary of her death.

This was the last picture Denny took with his mom, 10 days before her passing...

Ok, thank you for letting me get that out. Denny has been getting increasingly more sad the past few days. He's been trying to be strong today, but I know he's upset. I can't imagine how he feels. All the pugs and Sam and I can do is offer him lots of hugs and kisses...

So, I'm leaving work today and I see this truck turned over. I had noted to myself recently that I hadn't seen a truck turned over in that spot in a while. It's usually at least once a month. So this idiot took the curve too fast. This is where one interstate intersects with another and this guy was trying to get from one to the other. This is the view I have as I'm pulling out of the street my office is on...

On a much lighter note, I recently was given a link to a blog which really inspired me (http://eclecticmk.blogspot.com/). Not only is Margie owned by 3 pugs, but she is a cross-stitch whiz! Looking through her blog at some of her work really motivated me to get working on my own project. I have some software that will convert a photograph into a cross-stitch pattern, so, as a gift for my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary next August, I am stitching their wedding picture. This was all I had done 2 days ago, but I have made quite a bit of progress this week. I know the colors look funny and you can't really tell what the heck it is, but this is the center section and the picture was black and white. I hope it doesn't totally suck by the time I finish it. I thought maybe posting my progress on here would help keep me motivated...

Ok, I've taken up enough space today. Hopefully the pugs will have something enlightening to say tomorrow.

Pug love,

Vikki

Cold Monday

Pug greetings from a chilly Indy! We spent most of the weekend snuggling with our humans. This is me, Jasmine, snuggling with Daddy's arm. That was a nice warm snuggly spot! Ernie was trying to act like he wasn't sleepy, but he is a pug after all...

Little spazzo Bernice couldn't hide her sleepiness either. I guess being such a spaz can be pretty tiring...

Eli always looks sleepy when Mommy takes his picture. He had the best spot...right next to Mommy...

Even Pippin was sleepy...

Spazzo did take some time to play a little bit. She just recently started playing with the toys we have. I'm not sure she knew what to do with them before she saw Pippin and Eli playing with them!

The best part of the weekend was our trip to Petco! We were almost out of pug food, so Mommy thought it would be fun if we ALL went to Petco...
We met this really big bulldog named Leroy...He was a pretty cool dog. That's Eli getting to know him better...

Then we all got in the car with our big bag of dog food. I got to sit up front on Mommy's lap, but everyone else had to go in the back. That was fine with me because Mommy turned the seat warmer on and the heater was nice and warm...

Oh no...the back door is closing! They're all trapped!!!

That was all the excitement here from this weekend. Oh, and Mommy wants me to say yay for the Colts. They won yesterday. I don't mind football so much because it means Mommy and Daddy will sit in front of the tv and we get to snuggle with them. We can't snuggle when they're at the computer...

Pug love,

Jasmine and the Pug Posse