eight years ago today.

Eight years ago today, the bell rang after first period in my small high school in rural North Carolina. I grabbed my books and my purple Jansport backpack and started moving down the hallway shoulder to shoulder with my classmates. I laughed at something my friend next to me said...and then I heard it: "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center." Mid smile, I stood there in disbelief.

We all hurried to our next class. For me, it was Biology. Our teacher turned on the TV and we all stared at the screen not completely understanding what we were seeing. And then, we saw the second plane hit.

It took a while for the reality of the situation to fully sink in. It was so hard to believe that something like this would happen in our country that we felt so safe in.

Remembering that day, my heart goes out to those who were affected by the tragedy of 9/11.

max and his first year with us.

Our dear puppy Thelonious Maximus Zajas has been with us exactly one year today. And what a year it has been! I seriously never knew that I could love a dog this much, but he really has become a part of our family. :)

Here are some photographs of Max and his first year with us...

Max and the day we picked him out.
{it was a very easy decision...we fell in love with him right away!}

Max and his ride home with us.
{blurry, but memorable.}



Max and his discovery that he is destined to be a puppy model.



Max and his favorite toy - the Chick-fil-a cow.
{it's still his favorite toy, to this day. he won't chew it up...it's special to him.}



Max and his water dish that was larger than him.



Max and me.



Max and his bed.



Max and his first walk.
{it took us forever to get anywhere on our walks,
because everyone and their mother would stop to oooh and awww
over him. he loved the attention...still does.}



Max and his first picnic.



Max and his nap.



Max and his first summer.



Max and his first swim.



Max and the rain.
{he really doesn't like the rain.}



Max and his first card game.



Max and his first Halloween.
{he's thinking "Aw, c'mon Mom...really?" hehe}



Max and his first Christmas.



Max and his looking cute for the camera.



Max and his favorite place on earth.
{his absolute favorite is to sit in between me and Jonathan on the couch.}



Max and Jonathan.

It has been a great first year! :)

the bunny, the bunny, oh i love the bunny.

This past Saturday at the Eggs Benefit we had a live bunny there for the kids {and...eh hem, me} to pet. He was the cutest little thing ever! Oh, I definitely wanted to take him home with me...but then husband quickly reminded me that we have a little dachshund who keeps our hands full as it is.

Seeing the bunny, however, did bring back many memories from childhood. When I was about 10 years old we bred and raised mini lop bunnies. It was a great experience as a kid, and it helped me learn a lot by running my own bunny business.

In addition to it being a good business learning experience for me as a kid, I just fell in love with this breed of rabbit. When one of our mommy bunnies had a litter, one of the babies was sick and was kicked out of the nest. We ended up reviving him, fed him by bottle, trained him to walk on a bunny harness, and he became the sweetest bunny ever. We named him Blessing, because it was a blessing he survived.

Aren't bunnies the cutest? I'm determined that we'll own one again someday {later down the road, maybe after we have kids}...I just have to convince a certain someone of the same.

when i was a little girl...

my little sister moriah reminds me so much of me when i was her age. whenever i'm with her, i can't help but be reminded of memories from my own childhood.

click on image to see larger size.
{photos of moriah-my lil' sis- by me}

when i was a little girl...

• i raced down the dirt driveway on my bike imagining i was riding a horse bareback through a golden meadow.
• i played with tonka trucks and wasn't ashamed of it {but i also played with barbies.}
  
• i wanted to be a farmer when i grew up and raise lots of animals and have a huge vegetable garden.
• i wore dresses that would twirl when i spun in circles.
• i looked forward to bedtime stories every night: the stories made up by my dad, and the stories read in books by my mom {little house on the prairie, and anne of green gables were favorites.}
• i acted out 101 dalmatians and the rescuers down under with my sister every time we watched it.
• i lost my first tooth one day after swimming lessons while looking at books on our bookshelf and eating cheez-its all while a herd of cows were in our front yard.
• i sang loud and wasn't self-conscious about it.
• i danced and jumped on beds and had adventures.
• i made forts in the forest and pretended i was laura ingalls wilder.
• i would sleep at the foot of my parent's bed when i had a bad dream.
• i sat and watched jeopardy with my mom on saturday nights while she put my hair in rollers {and i was so excited when i was old enough to stay up and watch star trek with my parents too!}
  
• i dreamed of the day i would marry my prince charming and have a home and kids of our own.

life is so good. it was good yesterday. it is good today. and it will be good tomorrow.