Octagon Square

A trip to Paw-Paw and Lady's house isn't complete without a visit to Marietta Square. Nathan loves hanging out in the square. Or as he likes to call it, "Octagon Square." Gotta love 3-year-old humor. We eat pizza then we play on the playground and run around. You can see why Nathan has fun there.
As much fun as I'd like to think Paw-Paw and I are, Nathan ditched us when he found little boy to play with. When that little boy left, Nathan came up to us and said that he needed another friend to play with. Nathan was one of the youngest kids there, so Paw-Paw and I tried to fill in until another little kid came. Nathan informed us that he didn't want to play with us and that he needed a new friend. Apparently, we're only good enough at home.
As usual, Lady was stuck with Kathryn duty.

Octagon Square

A trip to Paw-Paw and Lady's house isn't complete without a visit to Marietta Square. Nathan loves hanging out in the square. Or as he likes to call it, "Octagon Square." Gotta love 3-year-old humor. We eat pizza then we play on the playground and run around. You can see why Nathan has fun there.
As much fun as I'd like to think Paw-Paw and I are, Nathan ditched us when he found little boy to play with. When that little boy left, Nathan came up to us and said that he needed another friend to play with. Nathan was one of the youngest kids there, so Paw-Paw and I tried to fill in until another little kid came. Nathan informed us that he didn't want to play with us and that he needed a new friend. Apparently, we're only good enough at home.
As usual, Lady was stuck with Kathryn duty.

The Potty Train

We have this train to thank for Nathan's successful potty training. We've spent a fortune in train rides, but it's still less than the cost of diapers. When Steve was in town, Nathan thought that it would be nice let Steve see for himself how exciting the train rides around the mall can be. Lucky for Steve, we went on "Two for Tuesday," so he actually got to ride around the mall four times.

The Potty Train

We have this train to thank for Nathan's successful potty training. We've spent a fortune in train rides, but it's still less than the cost of diapers. When Steve was in town, Nathan thought that it would be nice let Steve see for himself how exciting the train rides around the mall can be. Lucky for Steve, we went on "Two for Tuesday," so he actually got to ride around the mall four times.

Flower Children

I'm finally going to try and catch up on everything that's been going on here. I've gotten so behind on the blog lately. I'm guessing it's probably because Paw-Paw and Lady aren't harassing me to post pictures of the kids. They'll go back to bugging me once they aren't living with the kids.

Paw-Paw mentioned that he was going to go to the botanical garden and invited Nathan to go along with him. Nathan said he wanted to go, but he was too busy to leave at that moment. He needed to finish watching Olivia. Paw-Paw agreed to that and waited 20 minutes for it to get over. Paw-Paw is becoming quite the push-over.

Paw-Paw was probably going into photography overload. His two favorite things to take pictures of, Nathan and flowers.




Kathryn wasn't completely left out of the floral experience.

This is my favorite Kathryn picture of all time.

Flower Children

I'm finally going to try and catch up on everything that's been going on here. I've gotten so behind on the blog lately. I'm guessing it's probably because Paw-Paw and Lady aren't harassing me to post pictures of the kids. They'll go back to bugging me once they aren't living with the kids.

Paw-Paw mentioned that he was going to go to the botanical garden and invited Nathan to go along with him. Nathan said he wanted to go, but he was too busy to leave at that moment. He needed to finish watching Olivia. Paw-Paw agreed to that and waited 20 minutes for it to get over. Paw-Paw is becoming quite the push-over.

Paw-Paw was probably going into photography overload. His two favorite things to take pictures of, Nathan and flowers.




Kathryn wasn't completely left out of the floral experience.

This is my favorite Kathryn picture of all time.

Bathtime Buffoons

Bathtime is a riot now that Nathan and Kathryn started sharing a bath. Nathan gets a kick out of splashing Kathryn and Kathryn gets a kick out of getting splashed. He doesn't think it's near as funny when she splashes him, though. She belly laughs the entire time.

Bathtime Buffoons

Bathtime is a riot now that Nathan and Kathryn started sharing a bath. Nathan gets a kick out of splashing Kathryn and Kathryn gets a kick out of getting splashed. He doesn't think it's near as funny when she splashes him, though. She belly laughs the entire time.

Good-bye Hank

While living in Germany in 2006, I decided that I needed a dog. The only problem with that was that Germans wouldn't allow Americans to adopt pets from their animals shelters. They figured the dogs were better off living in shelters than living with American military families. I can't blame them for feeling that way. I had a choice between two dogs at a military vet, a little dog and Shadow, an 8-year-old golden retriever/chow mix with an abused past. I prefer big dogs, so I chose Shadow. I renamed him Hank and made him my own.
We took our morning walks around Gumbsheim.
After work and on weekends, we went for long walks through the vineyards.
It wasn't recommended to have Hank around children, so when Nathan was born, he went to live with Paw-Paw and Lady. After several attempts, he finally found his forever home with them. It was sad to have to give him up, but knowing how Paw-Paw and Lady treat their pets, I knew he would be happier there.

Nathan gets a kick out of seeing dogs riding in cars, so he thought it would be fun to take "his" dogs for a ride too.

We made the most of his "good" days.

Hank had been silently suffering for a couple of weeks. He tried his best to hide the fact that he didn't feel well, but we knew better. He had an obstruction in his stomach (possibly a tumor) that wasn't allowing him to digest any food. Despite him not feeling well, he tried his best to continue to keep up with the fun. It just wasn't the same though. Hank passed away today at the age of 12. The joy that he brought to our lives is well worth the sadness in the end. We miss you, Hanky.

Hank Haggerty

October 17, 1997 - June 24, 2010

Good-bye Hank

While living in Germany in 2006, I decided that I needed a dog. The only problem with that was that Germans wouldn't allow Americans to adopt pets from their animals shelters. They figured the dogs were better off living in shelters than living with American military families. I can't blame them for feeling that way. I had a choice between two dogs at a military vet, a little dog and Shadow, an 8-year-old golden retriever/chow mix with an abused past. I prefer big dogs, so I chose Shadow. I renamed him Hank and made him my own.
We took our morning walks around Gumbsheim.
After work and on weekends, we went for long walks through the vineyards.
It wasn't recommended to have Hank around children, so when Nathan was born, he went to live with Paw-Paw and Lady. After several attempts, he finally found his forever home with them. It was sad to have to give him up, but knowing how Paw-Paw and Lady treat their pets, I knew he would be happier there.

Nathan gets a kick out of seeing dogs riding in cars, so he thought it would be fun to take "his" dogs for a ride too.

We made the most of his "good" days.

Hank had been silently suffering for a couple of weeks. He tried his best to hide the fact that he didn't feel well, but we knew better. He had an obstruction in his stomach (possibly a tumor) that wasn't allowing him to digest any food. Despite him not feeling well, he tried his best to continue to keep up with the fun. It just wasn't the same though. Hank passed away today at the age of 12. The joy that he brought to our lives is well worth the sadness in the end. We miss you, Hanky.

Hank Haggerty

October 17, 1997 - June 24, 2010

Krazy Kids

I just have to share this little glimpse into what I get to deal with on a daily basis.

This is what Kathryn looks like in the morning after she goes to bed with wet hair.
She looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid with her chubby cheeks and closed mouth smile.
She must have learned this from hanging out with two dogs everyday. She must be hot and thirsty too.
This victory has been a long time coming, but we only use pull-ups at night now. Woo-hoo!
It's just plain mean of me to put this picture up, but it's too funny not to share. Lady bought Nathan some size 3-T pajamas at Walmart. I guess Faded Glory brand 3-T is equivalent to 18 months in every other brand. Poor kid. Does anyone watch Reno 911?

Krazy Kids

I just have to share this little glimpse into what I get to deal with on a daily basis.

This is what Kathryn looks like in the morning after she goes to bed with wet hair.
She looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid with her chubby cheeks and closed mouth smile.
She must have learned this from hanging out with two dogs everyday. She must be hot and thirsty too.
This victory has been a long time coming, but we only use pull-ups at night now. Woo-hoo!
It's just plain mean of me to put this picture up, but it's too funny not to share. Lady bought Nathan some size 3-T pajamas at Walmart. I guess Faded Glory brand 3-T is equivalent to 18 months in every other brand. Poor kid. Does anyone watch Reno 911?

Worth the Wait

After a slow start, Nathan, Paw-Paw and I finally arrived at Turner Field just in time to wait two more hours due to a rain delay for the Braves game. That was after sitting in traffic for two hours on the way there. I don't know how Nathan does it, but he manages to have a good time in any situation. We discussed lots of things during those two hours in the car, but my particular favorite topic discussed with Nathan was homeless people living under bridges.

The game didn't start until almost 10 p.m., but that didn't matter to Nathan. He said he wanted to leave as soon as it started raining, but we went to the concessions area and he ate a Chick-fil-a sandwich and ice cream and sipped his giant Coke and things started looking up. We had really good seats, which made it more fun for Nathan. Paw-Paw made the joke that maybe Nathan could go out there and help the Braves out because Nathan is pretty good at playing catch. Nathan thought that sounded like a pretty good idea and asked me when it was going to be his turn to go out there and play.On the way out, after only 4 innings, Nathan stopped for one last photo op. He wasn't really ready to leave at 11:30 p.m., we made him. As we were walking back to the car Nathan said, "We can come back tomorrow." That's when you know he had fun. He talked to Steve on the phone on the way home and told him every detail from the night. He talked about doing the wave and how those people just dropped their peanut shells on the ground and made a big mess and everything in between. He informed Lady this morning that she needed to get us some more tickets. This was Lily's reaction when she heard the Braves lost.
Actually, that was her reaction when she realized that little boy was still living at her house. She hates being in Nathan's presence.This is for the Kathryn fans out there.
These pictures are Kathryn's tribute to Great Uncle Larry.