"The Boys"

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Happy Halloween everyone! We, at the Albrecht household, had a wonderful holiday! Josh and I discussed it and both agreed neither of us are big into pumpkin-carving so I decided it would be fun to do a Halloween craft instead. It was fun and JJ loved it!

Then we had chili and scones for dinner and then it was off to trick-or-treat.

JJ LOVED trick-or-treating! He just kept saying, "go another house?!"
he was so cute walking up the stairs and knocking on
the door all by himself. When they opened the door he'd say,
"trick or treat! Thank you!"

sometimes not in that order, it was so adorable! After

trick-or-treating we had pumpkin pie (I made it myself, can you believe it?!)

and it was delicious. I had such a fun night with my boys! :)

JJ believes pumpkins are more fun when they're multi-colored, not just orange and green.

Ignore the hole in the middle, that was how I checked if it was done. I'm really proud of it!

Look at that concentration!

He was so proud of his painting!

Family photo! JJ asked Josh where his costume was, clearly he wasn't dressed up enough! :) haha

Hot Stuff!!!

Josh came home to be there for trick-or-treaters and this is what he did with his time! haha

Checking out his loot!

HOORAY FOR HALLOWEEN!! FUNNEST NIGHT OF JJ'S LIFE! :)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

R.I.P. Hurley

I can't put into words the love and appreciation I have for my beloved dog Hurley. He always looked out for me, took care of me and made it his personal mission to make sure I was always happy. Hurley was extremely loved by me, Josh and especially JJ. They were the best of friends! JJ would play with Hurley for hours through the gate. Well, last Wednesday it was my turn to look out for him and take care of him in his time of need. He lived a very miserable life, the last little while especially, so Josh and I had to make the hard to decision whether he had a quality of life anymore. When we, and our vet, decided the answer to that question was no, it was time to put him down. He had severe chronic allergies that we couldn't do anything for. He would scratch and chew himself to death. He had a major anxiety problem and was too scared to even eat unless we were sitting there with him. But finally, the last straw was when my super social dog started spending a lot of his time in our dark stairwell instead of with his family. That was very unlike him and we knew he was depressed. It broke my heart to see him live that way. Josh was my hero and took him to the vet by himself. I couldn't bring myself to go with him. I have never felt such pain as I did leading up to that dreaded day and now that he's gone. I have a major hole my in heart for my first baby. We got Hurley 10 months after we were married, we can't even remember a time since we've been married without him as part of our family! He was our baby and he did everything with us! Once JJ came a long Hurley didn't get as much attention, but he was still just as important to me! While I was pregnant and sick, he was always right by my side day and night. I would even wake up in the night and he'd be laying his head on my bed just checking on me. He didn't like the nights when I was sick and throwing up! He would burrow his body under mine, stand me up and lead me back to bed. The first few days he was gone, I didn't want to see or talk to anyone. I didn't want anyone to find out what happened because the pain was too great and I just wanted to pretend it never happened. But now I feel it's important to talk about it because Hurley deserves to be talked about. He deserves a public "obituary" if you will. If I could afford it, I'd have an official funeral for him. He deserves the best. Even people that aren't dog people will tell you Hurley was the exception. I don't care who you are, if you've ever met Hurley, you know he was the greatest dog and loved by all. Thank you Hurley for all the love and joy you brought to our lives. I will love and miss you forever!

Just a few fun pictures to help remember his life by (not in any order).

Hurley LOVED to swim!

Hurley had to wear his mussel when swimming because he didn't care for other dogs so if one would have joined him in the Lake, we would have had a problem on our hands!

Hurley had to wear a mussel once JJ got big and would try and jump on him. I feared Hurley would have no choice but to defend himself it JJ hurt him. But Hurley never had anything but love for his baby JJ. He loved JJ so much and would always lick him any chance he got!

Nothing made JJ happier than feeding his dog! Before JJ came along, Hurley had a very strict diet and was never allowed people food. Once JJ was eating finger foods, that diet went out the window! JJ fed him EVERYTHING!