Christmas Night

Chubuncle and Chubaunt, both looking like they're getting closer to being ready to deliver, lol.


Alice, all tuckered out after the day's excitement.

This year we did stockings Christmas night so Aunt Polly could participate and see her step-grandson open gifts in CA.



My stocking stash: popcorn, blockbuster card, two pairs of socks, keychain carbiner, two types of soap, jolly rancher lip balm, chocolate, pop candy, tootsie roll, Orlando Bloom Pirates notebook, heart necklace, and two pairs of shorts as my Christmas present from Aunt Polly.

my Christmas stash

gift card to theater, Mary Engelbreit desk calendar, ornament, blowpops, Christmas tin, lip gloss and nail polish, candle, the Secret Things of God, 3-D image generating mirror, Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, the Starfarers of Cataan, and a Christmas mug with cocoa and a mini-whisk.

Christmas Eve

Family is gathering and Christmas is around the corner!


Polly and Abby, Senko children #7 and 6 respectively


Chubaunt and Sammy (Senko child #4)

i'll be home for Christmas, part 3

Still driving, starting out in western Kansas. Alice decided to play with the diapers again, just like last trip.



Because of car troubles we took a little detour for gas and oil a few miles outside of Denver. i had never been to Red Rocks Amphitheater before, but it is beautiful in the snow (though the roads were slick). And as i said, the dogs went crazy when they saw the snow: it was quite a chore keeping them in line and on their collars

i'll be home for Christmas, part 2

Still too hilarious to pass up! i do not know if they intended to be so humerous or not, but it certainly cracks me up.









We spent the night in Paducah, KY, and there was some discussion as to whether we would run into bad weather. The roads were perfectly clear until about nightfall, though this rest area had obviously been visited by some freezing rain. The dogs loved it and went absolutely crazy, even more so when they actually saw snow for the first time. This is the rest area where Cleo got loose and it took us half an hour to get her rounded up (we all got our exercise, let me tell you). As you can see, Alice doesn't like it when the puppies lick her face, especially when she feels as if she's about to slip and fall down on ice. These pictures are taken in Missouri, somewhere west of St. Louis, which was looking especially picturesque this fine morning, but i neglected to take photos of from the car.

i'll be home for Christmas, part 1

Gromit got his head stuck in the water jug, trying to get the last of it out, before we had a chance to pour water in the bowl. He drank a lot of it, then freaked out, which was both hilarious and made you feel so bad for him at the same time. i guess curiosity killed the dog this time.


from left to right: white/golden boy, Laika, and a soaked Gromit

It's dinner time!

Alice apparently doesn't understand how big a puppy's appetite is, however.

more puppy photos (:

Megan, Joshua, Laika, and Gromit. And of course Joshua smiled half a second after i took the photo....


Cleo with five of her puppies (the ones that are up for adoption, ironically enough).






These three are of the same dog: Megan brought over the same black puppy twice when we were taking photos a couple of days ago, lol. This one has white on the face.


Tan boy, all tuckered out from roughhousing. He is getting to be quite the chewer, i'm starting to work on breaking him of it.


The white girl: on closer inspection of her and her white brother today we discovered that they do have Husky markings, just very pale tan ones. Who knew?

i've posted a Craigslist ad now and had one inquiry so far.

post-posted photos!

Yeah, i know its been a while, but here comes a set of old photos regarding spies, trips, nieces, nephews, and puppies. (: The fun starts in August, so make sure you go far enough back!

Horse and Puppy Roundup

Megan took this one: that's my foot at the bottom. i quickly confiscated my equipment. (:





On Saturday afternoon we all went to a fall festival at a horse farm (totally un-Halloween related, for families in the Army who have loved ones who are deployed) and Alice had a blast. She is afraid when i put her on my shoulders or hang her upside down, doesn't climb, holds onto the changing table, but she had so much fun on the pony and wasn't scared at all. Joshua had a lot of fun playing with the treat bag, then fell asleep. Then we went home and played with the puppies!


Andrew decided that the puppies needed to be outside and even insulated the kennel and covered it with a tarp in case of rain. The puppies love the kennel, and apparently so does Alice. Here she is shutting Gromit out (i've definitely decided to keep him).





Our two white puppies, they look like Yellow Labs with blue eyes. The one with the black nose is paler, and is a girl. The one with the pale nose is a little tanner and it looks like one eye is turning gold. He might actually have more of the light red coloring eventually, but i think that these two and the black ones make it look like daddy was a lab.





Our two black boys are mostly black, one with a white tipped tale, the other with white near his collar, both with some white on the paws and chest. The one with the tipped tale has one black eye, one blue. These ones are the quietest of the bunch and love to tug on pant legs. The second pic they're with Mommy and Gromit. Cleopatra doesn't let them eat very much anymore, so they're starting to eat more and more puppy chow.



White girl, a black boy, and Laika share the water dish, which we have to refill several times a day. Laika is the other girl, and i think i'm going to keep her, too (thus the name).





I save the best three for last: here's Laika and tan boy tussling and Gromit watching. These three have the most typical husky markings. The one alone, i call tan boy, has coloring like a coyote, a mix of wolf grey and light red, or maybe sable (to use husky terms). Laika is a darker gray and Gromit is a light chocolate color (not a husky color! another lab color). These three are smart, friendly, quiet, tough, and the best of the group in my opinion.

Our hope is to find homes for these five before we travel for Christmas. All three dogs should be fine outside and in the dog house at Colorado (they are Huskies after all!). Anyways, off to Craigslist to creat an ad....

Andrew's Home

i can't remember if Megan or i snapped this pic of Andrew reading to the kids: i think i took this one but there are two more from the day before that i think she took.

Ten Days Old

The puppies are ten days old but their eyes are still closed. We moved them all to the crate and into the dining room about a week ago. Even though the puppies are so small and still blind they're getting more adventurous. They mostly get out of the crate to find mommy when they're hungry. She is starting to leave them alone more and more but always comes back when they're want to eat. The two white ones (one is actually a very pale tan) are the loudest, and their whining wakes me repeatedly in the night. The black ones are quiet. The three in the middle, two tan and one brown, are the smart ones and the one i'll pick my puppy from. Cleopatra has never picked one up, she will only nudge them with her nose, but she'll leave the whole bunch alone waiting by the one that's lost for me to come put him back in the cage. She still doesn't like Alice to hold them but she'll come get me if i don't come help right away and doesn't mind me holding one as long as she's nearby to supervise.


tan boy and white girl

The Puppies are Here!

Eight puppies were born in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, September 30, 2007. One puppy was stillborn and all were born without human assistance (the last one emerging unexpectedly during church). A couple of nights before their birth the mother stopped insisting on sleeping near me and instead hid behind the rocker in Alice's room. This proves problematic because Cleopatra does not want Alice anywhere near her puppies and Alice is now afraid to go near them! Even when i decided to pick one up for the first time i could tell that Cleopatra was seriously considering biting me but she considers me to be the Alpha and didn't. This is because she tried to bite me once in the car (while i was eating on the moving trip) and i grabbed her lower jaw and held on for about two or three minutes. Right now Cleopatra doesn't like to leave her puppies. The stains on the carpet are from the stillborn's meconium and caused the room to stink really badly. The puppies smell divine and are so small and soft! There are five boys and two girls and at least one of them has my name on it, but i don't know which yet!

Tortilla Attack!

This is why you cannot leave food anywhere that a toddler can reach, nor leave said individual unattended for too long:

Bounce!

All Tuckered Out

Guess Who's Sitting Up?

Zombie Attack!

Another pit stop, this one dedicated to getting out the wiggles and feeding the dog dinner. We found a play area behind the local ballpark and football field (at which summer training was culminating with every player's parent watching from their pickup and/or lawnchair, i kid you not). Alice wanted to alternate between the horsee and elephant toys.

There was a large field directly behind the playground, which met some thick, dark trees that were growing menacing in the growing dark. Megan, being the nut she is, cracks some joke about us being vulnerable in the event of a zombie attack (i know that this is actually one of Megan's greatest fears). We hide out in the batting cage for a while to seek refuge, allowing the dog and Alice a space to run free in without running off and getting lost. Ironically enough, the only thing that ate of our flesh were the mosquitoes.

Still Traveling

Alice, at least, has found ways of amusing herself.

Everyone Needs a Rest Area

Well somewhere in our cross country trek we felt the urge to use the restroom. Actually we felt this urge at several places and times, this was just the only rest area i took photos at! Anyways, i digress, the real question is if anyone wants to venture a guess as to what this sign says??? Well guess no longer!

Polly on my PC

So at some point while i was sleeping in Sammy Jo's room but before moving to Savannah someone apparently decided to hijack my digital camera while Polly was hijacking my laptop. This is the best photo of the bunch, a bunch of blurry shots of the top of Polly's head or a screen filled with error messages not withstanding. i didn't take this photo, i'm guessing that it was Abby. i'm estimating both the date and time since they somehow got reset on my camera... it thinks it's 2005.

Moon Dawn

Now that i work overnight i see many a sunrise.