Loss

My little buddy, Mika, passed away tonight. He had been struggling with a heart condition and bladder cancer. I hope he is happy where he is and no longer in pain.

I had Mika, my little papillon, since I was about 16. He's been quite the companion. He didn't have the easiest life... he started out in a puppy mill... and spent the last two years of his life being terrorized by a toddler... but he was a good dog to me, and I'm grateful that I could have such a loyal, attentive doggy.

I'll miss him a lot.

Even though he was old and has been sick for a while, it's still hard to think of him as being gone... So many times in the last few months, I would find Mika lying down and have to lean down close to him to make sure he was still breathing, and I would breathe a sigh of relief to feel his warm fur and see his head pop up to greet me.

But tonight he's cold, and I won't get anymore enthusiastic greetings from him.

We'll bury him tomorrow in my parent's backyard along with my two other dear pets, Feliz (our sweet Balinese Kitty) and Lucy (our spunky Schiperke dog).
Two other "life-long" friends, departed.

A Few Cute Eliza-isms

(It doesn't get much better than fresh from the oven, still warm, Oma cookies with Milk before bed! Eliza loves the dipping!)

Eliza occasionally coughs on something, and since I'm CPR certified, I know that as long as they're coughing, it means there's still air coming through. Sooo, I always tell Eliza to keep coughing. Usually this means that she keeps fake coughing even after she needs to and does a great job covering her mouth too.

But I'm probably overly paranoid about the possibility of her choking or something, and so I try to make sure she's alright. The other day I was coughing for some reason while I was driving in the car. When I was done, I heard a quiet little voice from the back seat say, "You ok, Mom? You ok?" Then she took a turn "coughing" too.

Mom did the Family Home Evening Lesson last week on appreciating our talents and what we like about each other and making a list for each person. We each took a turn saying one thing about Eliza too. I said Eliza was great at singing songs, so she started singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Grandpa said that Eliza gives great hugs and cuddles, so Eliza went around and gave every one a great big hug and cuddle. Oma said that Eliza was great at drawing, so Eliza "helped" by drawing on her list. Her favorite part of FHE, though, is still the Ring Around the Rosy with everyone at the end. I love seeing how big her grin can get!

Eliza cuddling with Grandpa.

Another one of Eliza's favorite things to do these days is to try on other people's shoes. But the funny thing is that she always chooses my fanciest shoes (there aren't many) my zebra flats, my black heels, or my colorful other ones... not so much the tennis shoes or daddies shoes.

The other day, Eliza and I were playing with the Duplos and were putting the people on the train, and Eliza called out, "All Aboard!" I didn't even know she'd ever heard that before! Steve and I never taught her that. So funny!

Eliza sitting in Reuben's Bumbo playin' the harmonica!

Yesterday during sacrament meeting, Eliza was playing with her legos and had a boy and a girl lego person, and the interaction between them that Steve and I observed was the boy and girl giving each other hugs and then the legos said to eachother, "Daddy wanna draw?! Ok! Oh! So cute! Thanks, daddy!" Love it. Eliza later was chasing after a toy under one of the pews and looked up at Steve and signed "Shoes." She's funny.

Eliza's also one of the most strict enforcer of the rules for the dogs. She knows where they are and aren't allowed to be in the house and polices them closely and has learned how to say "Orah! Zara, Off the carpet!" and she knows Mika's name, but she pronounces it, "Beekah." It's funny. She also can say naughty, bad dog, good dog, and LOVES taking walks with them and holding their leashes.

For some reason, she's HORRIFIED of Kate's cat, Battle, and every time she's in the same room with him, she gets really still, opens her mouth into a big O and says, "Mommy, I scared!" and balls her fists up and shakes (Sign for scared). We're not really sure why she's so afraid of him because she LOVES our kitty, Finnegan. Also, almost every time I ask Eliza what she wants to do or where she wants to go, she says, "Et Or!" translation: "Pet Store!" So we go to the pet store and she has a party trying to bang on every single fish, bird, rodent, or cat cage/tank and watch the dogs get groomed. "Gentle" is an ongoing concept we're trying to teach on a daily basis.

Eliza was very taken with the musical, animated movie, Thumbelina. Yesterday, after she got down from her booster seat at dinner, she went to each person at the dinner table, called their name and sung/shouted out, "Thumbelinnnaaaa! That's me!" She went to Aunt Katy last and sung to her, and Katy said, "So you're Thumbelina, Eliza?" and Eliza quickly responded, "No, I'm a BIG girl!" Oh. Got it.

Fourth of July! Catch Up

I'm trying to catch up on our blogging before I get too deep into my new semester of classes. Steve usually has the Mac where we load all the pictures because that's what he uses to do all his illustration work. I have one of those little Netbooks for school and stuff, which I've loved for its portability and convenience, but I've been falling behind in the blogging world! Maybe that's good, though, because I managed to bust out a 4.0 for last semester's classes. Yay!

We had a blast on the 4th of July, especially since Katy, Aaron and Reuben got to come down for the weekend too.

Eliza thought Reuben was a pretty cool couz! Reuben's still not sure what to think, though. Hehe.

Eliza and Grandpa! Play time!

We had fun watching fireworks, even though by the time we got to some of the big ones, Eliza said, "Mommy, I'm scared" and Reuben started to cry, so we saved the rest for after they went to bed.

Abby was quite handy with the lighter and great at exploding things!

The rest of us watched!

(Here's another example of Reuben's "Stare Glare.")

This is usually what happens when I try to take Eliza's picture...

Doesn't she look buff? She already has the makings of an awesome athlete!!

We also had some fun at our neighbor's pool party...

everyone's favorite part was Mom's DELICIOUS homemade Icecream... even Reuben!

On July 3rd, we all drove to Charleston and spent the day at Sullivan's Island at the beach. On the way up, Eliza was performing some great party tricks... chewing on toes??

Eliza lovvvvvved the water and the sand and waves and piggy back rides inside and out of the water!

Her cute suit was a bday gift from Aunt Joan! Eliza loves the bow on it.

Every hour or so, Eliza would get tired and take a "break" with her Ba-ba (pacifier). We're trying to slowly wean her off of her pacifier, so the rule is that she's only allowed to have it if she's lying down for a rest or in the car.

I was really proud of myself for being so (obsessively) vigilant about applying and reapplying sunscreen on Eliza so that she didn't get any sunburn. Steve and I were not so lucky. Steve forgot to put sunscreen on his back, but I managed to burn through all the layers of sunscreen I put on myself. Eliza has started to develop a little bit of a tan lately, which shows me that she must have Steve's coloring because I NEVER tan without burning first. I just burn and then freckle. Neat story, right? Oh, and I also got stung by a jelly fish... Robby, they said they've missed you.

Below are two cute videos of Eliza singing in the car on the way up to Charleston. Eliza sings like non-stop these days-- it's AWESOME. Her favorites? ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle.

However, we have a CD we keep in the car for her to listen to, and we've been amazed to find that Eliza has all 15 songs MEMORIZED and sings along with them. It's hilarious and sometimes tediously monotonous because we have to listen to "Baby's Songs!" over and over and over. She usually dances to them too and sometimes accompanies the music with toots from her recorder or harmonica. Such a fun, musical girl!

I wish the sound was better on these movies. Eliza was obsessed with Mom's travel pillow and she was attempting to obstruct her mouth with anything possible. Despite all that, these are pretty cute videos. (at least if you're related to us)

Morrison Twins!

Hyrum and Joshua Morrison were born on June 4th! We took a visit up to see them in NC, and while I went up to Viriginia to my friend's wedding, Steve and Eliza stayed with the twins, Grandma Morrison, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Matt, and Mr. T the dog. They had a great time getting to know the newest members of the Morrison family.

Joshua

Hyrum

Eliza loved her time there too and is still talking about the "baby BOYS! TWO baby BOYS!"

Reading with Grandma Morrison

Eliza and Hyrum (we think Hyrum looks a lot like the Morrison babies)

Amanda has her hands full (and is doing an amazing job)

Eliza also made some friends

We'll be headed back up to see them again at the end of this month for their blessing. I think that Matt & Amanda are considering putting up a blog soon, so hopefully we'll get to see some more cute pictures of the little guys soon.