Things I am Thankful For:

This has been a great year with so many things to be grateful for. Some of the things at the top of the list are: my health and the good health of our friends and family. That we are still doing well in this crazy economy. That we have been blessed with wonderful friends and family to lean on and celebrate with. That I have John as my partner in this life. I couldn't love him more. For the wonderful opportunity to be a mother to the amazing children (all four!) that we have together and the lessons they teach me everyday. (good and bad!). I am so grateful for all the blessings I have been given and I love you all!

Blogs Finally!

My kids have been nagging me to help them set up their own blogs. (ha-ha since I am such a pro!) I could barely post on mine much less spend time on theirs. Well, I finally did it. The Henderson Girls officially are blogging. Nothing earth changing but you never know. I tried to give them more security than I have here so it's private but just let me know if you or your kids want to visit and we will invite you.

Glittery Mormon Vampires and Fat Chicks!

First I would like to say that I do enjoy reading and I did enjoy the Twilight series. That being said, I have a life and I did not custom make my own t-shirt identifying my favorite character, nor did I dress up or do my make up weirdly. I did, however, go to the midnight showing at Jordan Landing. I had a blast! Amber and I were with about 8 other people and it was so fun. We mostly people watched while we waited for the movie to start. What a freak show! It was hysterical. We were actually asked what "our Twilight story" was. Uh, what? Uh, I read the books and I liked them so we are seeing the movie? Please do not tell me yours!

I had pretty low expectations of the movie because the books are always better but I thought the movie was good. I didn't cry or anything but I found it entertaining if you can over look the teen sappiness of the whole thing. No Oscars here folks but I will see it again with my girls and they will love it. So, all in all money well spent. But I know something very important about myself now...I am too old for that kind of thing!

Last night, we went and had the kids' pictures taken with Santa. When I say "kids" I mean, the Hendersons, The Landers, The Joostens, and the Dastrups. That was one fun group picture. I will post it when I get it. For now here is the pic of just Lauren and Emily.

After the picture we went to Olive Garden and had dinner. Needless to say we kept our waiter BUSY. I hope the tip was worth it! We all had a blast. Thanks everyone!

O.K. so the amputation is over and he is doing well! It was a rough couple of days for us. I took the kids to visit him at the hospital and that was probably a mistake. He was completely out of it and the incision was pretty gruesome. It was shocking to say the least. I assumed that he would have a bandage over the incision but if i had thought about it i would have realized the near impossibility of bandaging that area. Once we got him home the next day and the heavy drugs wore off; he started to be our Bosco again and it was easier for the kids. Did I mention that he isn't supposed to go up or down stairs? Yeah, that's fun. I should say that this picture looks like he has no back legs at all. The other one is under his body.

Both girls have told all of their friends about Bosco and yesterday when we came there was a raw hide bone with a big bow and a get well card from Avery and Taylor Pizzuto-Ward. Thanks guys! That was the sweetest thing ever and Bosco loves the bone!

Bosco Update

So, I took Bosco in last week to have his staples removed and the tumor has grown back in just two weeks. It's already almost as big as it was right before we had it removed. Proof enough for us that the Vet was unable to get it all. So we really feel that we have no other options. So...tomorrow morning we take him in to have his leg amputated. Keep a good thought for me. I know the dog is in good hands. I will be a wreck! I really don't know if we are doing the right thing. I hope so. They will do another ultrasound right before surgery to make sure that it hasn't gone any further than the leg so at least will be reasonably sure that this will be the last of it. But as with everything, there are no promises. This dog will be my Christmas present that's for sure.

O.K. so this weekend was full of nothing but Science Fair stuff for Lauren. Noble Prize here we come...for our (I mean MY) ground breaking work in TOILET PAPER! Yes. That's right. We spent the weekend researching toilet paper and testing the absorbency of various brands. I am sure I will soon regret this topic choice as 5th graders really don't need another excuse to talk about these types of bodily functions. Ooh well.

Another Sweet Puppy!

So, Check out this blog! Julianne is a friend of ours who used to work with John. I blog stalk her from time to time. Sometimes I oppose her politically (O.K. a lot of the time!), but I find her writing really funny and smart. I read her blog a few days ago and saw a letter that she sent to President Elect-Obama about her dog. I thought it was cute and now she has gotten national news attention! How crazy is that? Her dog really is quite cute! http://www.julianneiam.com/

My sweet puppy

Thanks so much for all the good wishes for Bosco. Unfortunately we found our yesterday that his tumor was malignant. He has a particularly aggressive form of cancer in dogs. Hemangiosarcoma. It's a cancer that attacks the blood vessels. I don't mind telling you that I spent the better part of the day yesterday crying or on the verge of crying. It's been such a long time since I have lost a pet, I forget how they really become such a huge part of your life. We are now faced with the prospect of amputating his leg to make sure that we got all of the cancer or praying that we did and letting nature take it's course. John and I am both struggling with this decision. How much is too much? When do you stop? What will his quality of life be? We don't have the answers. All I know is that for now, he sleeps on the bed whenever he wants to.

Poor Bosco

For those of you who haven't met him. Bosco is our dog. He is the sweetest guy. (Kijah may disagree!) We rescued him so we really don't know anything about his pedigree or even how old he is but we love him. Over the summer he developed a tumor or his front leg. (Kinda where he would have a wrist.) We were relieved to find out it was benign. So in the last few weeks he has developed another tumor. This time it was on his hind leg by his "knee" joint. We had this one removed last Thursday. So far, we have been through one chewed off bandage and two replaced staples and we are anxiously awaiting the news on the biopsy. I know this may seem ridiculous but we are on pins and needles. So, keep a good thought for the dog.

Halloween

So I 'm not sure when it happened but at some point my daughters decided that being princesses and things with fairy wings and sparklie gowns was definitely not cool! Apparently their friends feel the same. Here is a picture of Lauren and two of her BFFs. How scary is this?

They really are the sweetest girls!

Here is a pic of Emily. She was a 60's Go-go dancer. Very cute!

John made the Henderson Chili and we had a full house. The Nelson's, Lander's, Joosten's, Drake's, Alice Ann and anyone else I have forgotten. Thanks for spending the night with us! We had a blast.