I went running when I heard the terrified cries of my husband to come quick. It was quite difficult to keep a straight face when I found out the situation he needed me to handle was Maggie asking the name of part of her anatomy.

Maggie got a little talking bird toy with some of her Christmas money. We just heard her telling it in the back seat, "Pet bird, attack the city!"

So our sweet Nissi dog died last week after 14+ years with our family. Dalton has been emotional about it, but Maggie has been our realist and hasn't had that much of an emotional reaction. That is, until tonight when they showed Homeward Bound at Parent's Night Out. We picked up a ball of blubbers and they could not understand what was bothering our usually happy Maggie. They understood when we told them about our recent loss.


Every family could use a dachshund. She was the sweetest dog I've known in a very long time.

Jessie with her cousin Noah at his birthday party.

Maggie: Mom, will you help me fasten my pants.

Me: Yuck, don't put play dough in your belly button!

Maggie: Why?

Jessie just asked my sister if she ate the baby that is growing in her belly.

Maggie was so excited to tell us what she learned about the groundhog last night. She exclaimed, "He told us that there was gonna be 6 more months of Christmas!"