Her name was Jats.

She was our first baby.

A little girl.

We adopted her when she was 7 weeks, weighing in at 8.6lbs.

When we decided to go get a dog, we had only been together for about 6 mnths.

Some people did not think it was the best idea.

But we did it anyways.

When we were at the breeders house, Hubs had this big boy pup in his lap.

And we were pretty much set on him.

When I picked up his little sister.

And held her up to my face and she let out a little burp.

We both laughed and knew she was ours!

Her name was something we did as a silly newly in love couple.

Jats, is our first and middle initials, corny I know.

She was a handful. As any puppy can be.

We loved her beyond words. She was our furbaby.

Over the past almost eleven years that she graced our lives, she grew into the most gentle soul.

One that welcomed a little sister and then a little brother. She was protective but sweet. She never once ate a toy of theirs, well except one little penguin did loss a limb, but honestly not even sure it was her.

Over the past month, she stopped eating her dog food. I had taken to the vet and the blood work was normal. So we thought maybe it was she getting old, she had just turned 10, and we needed to adjust her diet.

But last saturday, she just stopped eating. So we got her into the vet right away. Where more tests were done and it was determined she had a large tumor on her spleen. They were not sure whether it was cancer or not.

On Tuesday, Hubs took her to a vet specialist, where she had an ultrasound. And based on that they still could not tell if it was cancer. Hubs and I had talked different scenarios thru before he had taken her. But until you are faced with them, you really can't figure out the magnitude of them. So over the phone we had to make an extremely hard decision. Now some of you may think, "wow its just a dog." , but when that dog has become a family member, she is not just "A" dog, she is our dog. One that we love deeply.

We talked about if we did the surgery and it was cancer, then what, chemo?! And is that fair to her, just for her to give US another year with her? Or if it was not cancer, what kind of life would she have after it? There was no "no surgery" option, if she came home she would be coming home to die. And I would not do that to her and I would not do that to my children.

So we made the heart wrenching decision to let her go.

{this print my uncle made for us years ago of her and it hangs in our stairway}

Hubs got to take her for one last walk. Then he and the vet sat in a little room where he got to hold her, well she fell asleep. I am not going to lie, crying typing this right now, I did not think this was going to effect me as bad as it has. I knew I would be upset, but I did not think the uncontrollable crying would have lasted this long.

Its the little things that get me. Coming in the door and her not greeting me with her tail wagging a toy hanging in her mouth. Or hanging with me in the kitchen vacuuming up my dropping when I cook. Or like the other day when Bean was napping and the mail lady rang the doorbell, I went to catch her before she started barking, and there was silence. Hubs has been having a hard time at night. He has had the same night time routine with her over the 10 years, and its gone, she is gone. Buggie has taken it well, but I think she just does not get it. She has said things that make my heart hurt, "Momma Jatsy is not going to be able to check on me at night." Or "Momma Jatsy lives in my whole heart."

I am sure our home will feel complete again, but right now there is a huge hole.

I love you sweet baby girl.

Pie, its what for dinner {what we ate Wednesday, with a mini giveaway}

Ever wanted to test a theory.

Not one of those silly science fair ones you had to do as a kid, cause lets be honest has knowing wether a brick would reach the ground faster then an egg ever come in handy?!

No this theory is MUCH more important.

The hypothesis:

"If I stick ____ in a pie crust, then will it make it taste better?"

For todays test we are using shepherds pie. I mean come on PIE is in the name.

What you will need:

- 1 lb ground sirloin

- 1 cup chicken broth

- 1 cup onion diced small

- 2 to 3 carrots peeled and diced small

- 2 garlic cloves diced

- 1 tsp worcestershire

- 1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped

- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped

- 1/2 cup frozen corn

- 1/2 cup frozen peas

- pie crust

- salt and pepper

- 2 tbsp all purpose flour

- olive oil

Over medium high heat add 2 tbsp of olive oil to large sauce pan. Once heated add carrots and onion. Cook for about 3 to 4 mins until brown.

Add meat, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until meat is cooked through. Then add the flour and mix well. Add chicken broth, herbs, worcestershire. Cook over low heat until thickened, about 2 to 3 mins.

Add corn and peas and cook for another minute.

Then take you mini pie maker, wait you do not have a mini pie maker?! Ha, not sure why I have one, other then it was in my stocking last year! But you can totally do this by hand. Now some of you "Martha's" out there will scoff at my pre-made pie crust, but if those generous people over at Pillsbury want to make pie crust, then the only nice thing to do is use it!

Ok back to the recipe.

Cut the premade stuff into 4 quarters.

Lay on side down and add filing.

And top with another piece, and press. Or if you are hand making, crimp the side and trim...

Bake pre your box of pie crust. Make sure to slit the top. And if you are feeling sassy, brush some melted butter and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Makes about 8 individual pies.

So what did we learn today kids? Putting things in pie form, DOES make it taste better.

Hypothesis, PROVEN.

And not to be left out our dessert had to come in the shape of a pie.

Peach Pie to be exact.

What you will need:

- 4 peaches {peeled and cut into bite size pieces}

- sugar {1/4 cup}

- lemon

- 2 tbsp butter {with a little more melted for brushing the pies}

- dash of cinnamon

In a non stick pan over medium high heat, melt butter and sugar. Add peaches, about a tbsp of lemon juice and cinnamon. Cook for around 5-6 mins or until peaches soften but are still a smidge firm.

Oh and I forgot to tell you, my little pie maker, has a lattice on one side!

Fill and press.

Bake pre pie package instructions. Brush a little melted butter on top and sprinkle with a little bit more sugar.

Then serve warm with some vanilla ice cream...

Want to know something REALLY crazy. Somehow I have TWO, count them TWO, mini pie makers. Cause really I totally need two right?!

NOT.

So I would love for this unopened one to come live with one of you!

I will randomly pick a winner from all the comments left on this post.

You have until Friday!

Look Mom I blogged!

I feel very strongly about kids learning to swim.

Swimming is not just about having fun in the pool or at the beach, but in some

unforeseen incidents its about survival.

Buggie is not a swimmer, and at 5 I am mad at myself for not pushing it harder.

She has a BIG fear that has prevented her from taking the swimmies off and taking control.

She starts MORE lessons next week. I am hoping these will be the ones.

But Bean is a whole other story.

We put him ISR, another thing I am mad at myself for not doing with Buggie.

He is just finishing week 5.

Next week he graduates.

I could not be more proud of what my little dude has done over the past 5 weeks.

{excuse my super annoying Momma voice}

I guess I am on a bloggie break?!

So it seems I fallen into a bloggie break without really knowing it.

Not really sure how this happened other then, summer brain has kicked into full effect.

Most days I walk about with this look on my face...

Wondering what to do now?

And lets be honest that does not create for the best blogging posts.

But do not worry about me, cause see, I have consumed plenty of these...

And done a lot of this...

With enough of this in-between to keep our toes nice and pruned...

So when I will be back into the swing of things, I am not really sure. But I hope soon.

Until then...

Catch on the flip side lovies!

What we ate Wednesday. {Lemon Piccata Chicken with Tomato Mozzarella}

We are trying to watch what we eat.

And as in "we" I really mean, Hubs.

But "we" need to think about dinners that are low in calories but still really filling.

Here is my version of Lemon Piccata Chicken with Tomato Mozzarella Salad.

{apologize in advance for the lack of photos, I am having a lazy summer}

What you will need.

- Chicken cutlets {1 per person}

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- salt & pepper

- 2 lemons

- 4 tablespoons cooking sherry

- Olive oil

1. Season both sides of your cutlets with salt and pepper, and squeeze lemon over both sides.

2. With your flour in a bowl, lightly dust the cutlets in it.

3. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over med heat in a pan. Cook chicken batches, about 3 to 4 mins per side. Once you flip over add 2 tbsp of sherry and a good squeeze of the lemon to the pan , and repeat per batch of chicken.

For the side I just cut thick slices of tomato, some fresh mozzarella, and a basil leaf. Topped with a little kosher salt and balsamic glaze {which you can make, but I have store bought, again lazy is my word of the summer}.

Thats it, super easy, super light, and super yummy. And if you care,the calorie count per serving is 271 for the serving size in the picture.

Enjoy!

Our weekend and a NEW winner picked...

Saturday came and we hit the ground running.

First up Buggie and Daddy had a daddy daughter date at Lowes Build and Grow Workshop.

They made tow trucks, she was super of proud of herself, as we were of her.

They get patches to go on their aprons showing what activities they have completed, she

can not wait to go back and get more. Plus this was on our summer fun list, so she got to mark it off...

Then Hubs and I went on a day date.

And I had some big hair for our day date.

Ikea, Babies R Us, Toys R Us, and the golf store.

I came home with a $9 lampshade and about $100 worth of stuff for everyone else, just the way I like it...

Sunday we tackled some home projects. One of which was to change a few things in Buggies room. First thing was to hang a print on her door that my girlfriend Leonora from Yellow Heart Art made custom for her. I asked her to make my favorite saying of Buggies in a print. The part I love the most is at the bottom where she put -Avery age 5.

Then we hung some sheer flower curtains I had gotten at Ikea on Saturday and a new rug from Target. And she could not be more happy with her "new" room.

Then off to dinner, at a Teeppnyaki restaurant. Where McQueen got front row seats to the volcano show. Teeppnyaki can be stimulation overload for me, a self professed people watcher.

Then is was baths to get the aroma of dinner out of our skin and hair.

I love this kid...

And before I leave to get back to this guy...

I need to pick a NEW winner for my blog anniversary giveaway...

Christina, you know where to find me to claim your prizes!

Did you really just say that?!

My kids love each other something fierce.

Yes they fight and yes they yell at each other.

But they love each other most of all...

He says "look." Then shoves two binkies in his mouth...

This was his Dad's idea. But some how I had the aftermath of it...

My Buggies imagination makes me smile EVERYDAY. This was all her idea and she giggled the whole time...

Then there is this kid...

So you may or may not know but I had to go to the mini ER to get iv fluids last week for dehydration from the stomach bug. My Hubs had a flight that morning at 7 am, he was standing at the gate about to hand over his ticket when he decided to come home, and boy was I glad he did. Cause then around 4 that afternoon I said " I need to go to the ER." So we called my MIL and she came straight from work to watch the kiddies and off we went. When we got there it was empty to my relief. I went and sat down while Hubs checked me in. And when he came back over to the chairs he had this little smirk on his face. And if you know my husband smirks are pretty frequent but they usually are followed by something pretty darn funny.

Me "What?" {knowing I might regret asking}

Hubs "Nothing." {smirk a little bigger}

Me "Come on, just tell me." {talking about setting myself up}

Hubs "Can you please tell the dr when he asks what wrong..."

{OH what the hell is he about to say...}

Hubs "that you have the squirts?!"

{at the mere utter of the word squirts he is now about to giggle like a 5 yr old school boy}

Me "Um NO!!!" {I could have thrown something at him if I had the strength.}

Hubs "OH come on, I dare you. $100 bucks to tell him you have the hersey squirts"

Then my name was called.

For the record I did not tell the dr I had any form of the squirts. And I look back at the conversation now and snort laugh. Honestly I mean did he really dare me to say that?! I love him.

Oh and take my advice GO read this blog post. I LAUGHED SO HARD!!!

NYC in my heart...

New York.

It lived up to all its glory.

Before you read on there is a few * to mention.

*If you follow me on Instagram this will be all a repeat of pictures for you.

**This post is filled with iphone pics, since I pretty much used my phone to take pics the whole trip. But I lost 50% of them, read ****.

***These pics are very small.

****Like a fool I was backing up over 1500 photos from my phone, when my son decided to unplug it and I LOST EVERYTHING. Which turned me into a pubescent teen who just got dumped by her first "love" only after one week of "dating" and cried uncontrollably for a good hour.

And GO.

Leaving on the jet plane...

I have been lucky enough to go to NYC a few times in the past. But never on my own, always with my family. Which means it was always taxi's and car services. But this trip was different. We bought metro cards and rode the rails the whole time, which I LOVED every second of...

{Mandy and Tiffany aka Snookie, check out that hair bump!}

I see you taking a random picture of me...

Our first night had a minor hiccup. We had our name on the list for tickets to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, BUT getting there 30 mins before we were suppose to, was not enough for all the tweens girls that had been camping out all day to go to the show to see Selema Gomez, with the hopes that her teen bopper boyfriend the Beibs would make an appearance, so we were DENIED. But thats the best part of the city, there is ALWAYS something else to do a subway ride away. We ended in Little Italy for VERY tasty dinner.

{INSERT LOST PIC OF MY PLATE OF PENNE ALLA VODKA}.

Morning view...

The building across from our hotel had this little secret garden on the roof top...

Steppin out...

By far the best breakfast we had was at Penelopes. Crazy cute little restaurant, that made us all feel like were home with its southern charm. Church pews as benches, mason jars, and really tasty food...

After our bellies were full we tracked down to Canal St. Not sure if you are familiar with Canal St. or not, but it pretty much is knock off heaven. As you weave through the hoards of tourist, locals, and the little old asian women whispering, Fendi, Gucci, Chanel, Ladies, it can be very overwhelming. But we did it, we found our little lady and followed her to a back room where we made our purchases, heart racing and sweat pouring I made my decision.

Here I am right after, TRIUMPHANT...

And here she is, my beloved "Chanel"

Brooklyn Bridge, we did not walk on it but under it, which I think totally counts...

What I later found out is called "Yarn Bombing or "Yarn Graffiti", who knew there was such a thing?

Wall Street.

So in prep for our trip Tiffany had been scooping out NYC Groupon, and came across one for The Big Gay Ice Cream truck. After a quick check on Twitter we found out that they would be in Union Square between 2-9pm and we headed that way...

I got the Salty Pimp, check it.

Taxi ridin to dinner at Buddakan.

{INSERT CUTE PICTURES AT THE BAR & OUR AMAZING MEAL HERE}

We saved room after dinner for a special, touristy treat at Serendipity. And yes it was that packed at 11.

Apple Pie Sundae.

The famous Hot Chocolate frozen drink. And this picture most likely documents where three out of the four us contracted the deadly stomach bug that had us in the bathroom and ER's when we got home...But we are cute right?!

Times Square.

Ray's Pizza.

Pre show drinks at Carmines.

I love when the bartender makes you a concoction that is not on the menu, it was YUMMY.

Then it was time to rock.

A show that encourages drinking, love it.

If you EVER have the chance to see this show, DO IT! We sang the WHOLE time. Best show I have ever seen.

CELEB sighting. We love Big Bang in this house, so I was a little giddy to see Sheldon!!

Our last night we spent on the roof top bar of our hotel, meeting people and living the life...

Last morning we had breakfast at a local joint in Chelsea {well not really as local to our hotel as we thought 18 blocks later} called Cook Shop.

Then a quick walk up to the High Line.

Empire State of mind.

My last mission before we jumped on a plane home was to spoil my baby girl. I had dreamed of taking her to American Girl one day, but after going myself that dream maybe busted. HOLY crap was that place overwhelming. 5 floors of WALL TO WALL dolls and accessories. There is no way she could ever pick anything.

Then we hopped on the subway to Greenwich Village to catch the Gay Pride Parade. Considering the day before NY governor had signed Gay marriage into law it was pretty special experience.

I love NYC.

Sunset ride home.

Then I perched on the couch and watched Bean play with his new NYFD truck.

And Buggie use her new baby carrier from American Girl.

Then the next day my belly took a turn for the worst and it took me 5 days to recoup. But I am back Baby!!!

Ok so that was New York. We will go back and we will do it all over, it was a perfect trip.

Now for a winner...

Miss Cheryl Davis you have the next 48 hr to get back to me to claim your winnings or I will have to pick a new winner...

---------

And I just want to thank everyone that left such sweet comments on my blog anniversary post, they meant the world to me. And all those who sent me well wishes and prayers, I needed them and they worked!