What a Day

It's a sad day for the Case family... This morning we put Allie, our sweet, beautiful Wheaton Terrier, to sleep. We believe she had bladder cancer; she had been showing signs for nearly a year. Throughout this past year she got worse and worse, which was difficult to watch. We finally just reached the point where we had to put her down. I cried and cried this morning as Jeff and the kids took her to the vet. I still can't believe she's gone! She's been such a sweet, loving dog, and we will miss her!

So the day began with saying goodbye to Allie, and it continued with saying goodbye to Phil! We didn't put him to sleep, though. :) We packed him up and moved him down to Fairfax this afternoon. He starts engineering classes tomorrow at George Mason University! It's been so neat for me to watch him mature over the past couple of years, and now he's taking this step of independence, and... it's just a little bittersweet for me.

Then, tomorrow, I drive to West Virginia to get Leah & Kallie, who are going to live with us for a while! For those of you who may not know, Sarah and Leah are my two oldest nieces (Jenny's daughters), and Kallie is Leah's baby. Jenny & Don and their other seven kids are in Texas now, although they're planning to move back east soon. But since they're so far away, and since Leah has been in a tough situation lately, Jeff and I have offered for her to stay with us. We're trying to keep this on the down-low; we don't want to make it easy for Kallie's father to know where they are. (I'm only saying it freely here because this is a private blog.) I'm excited to have them here. It will be so fun to have an adorable little baby girl around the house! And I'm so happy to be able to help Leah get a fresh start. I'm so proud of her. :)

Backtracking a bit, August 20 marked five years that Maureen (Jeff's first wife) went home to be with the Lord. (Above is one of the blooms on a rose bush planted in her memory; Jeff and the kids plant rose bushes for her every Mother's Day.) Then, August 25 would have been her 54th birthday. Phil, being the tender-hearted guy that he is, baked her a red velvet birthday cake -- from scratch! Even though he did mix up the teaspoon and tablespoon measures for a few of the ingredients, it still came out tasting pretty good! It looked a little messy, but hey, it was his first attempt at baking a cake from scratch! I think he did great. :)
Finally, look how far the shelves have come!! Since I took this picture, the mantle has gone up, and it is looking soooooo beautiful. I can't believe it's almost finished!!