Serious issue....

Hey everybody,

So sorry that I haven't updated in a long time, my computer started acting weird a couple weeks ago and wouldn't let me upload pictures anywhere. Four days ago it completely crashed and I lost everything I have on my hard drive :( A new one isn't terribly expensive, but with Deacon's birthday and Christmas coming up it's going to have to take a back-seat to some other things we need to spend money on. If anyone needs any ideas of what to get me for Christmas...! Haha totally kidding :)

Gemma was adopted last week :) A wonderful family has renamed her Laila (like Laila Ali!) and is spoiling her rotten. I didn't realize it until we got to their house, but they bring their dogs to the same dog park that we take ours too, we have known them for months! Laila now has a lab/heeler/pitbull mix brother named Beckham(2), a dachshund brother named Booker(16), and a kitty sister named Garfield(7). She also has two skin sisters named Blake(11) and McKenzie(7) who absolutely squealed with delight when I brought Laila to them the night they adopted her. I miss her terribly and think of her often, but because she was too busy having fun to tell me goodbye the night she was adopted I rest assured that she is in her perfect forever home :)

Deacon turns ONE this weekend! His first birthday is this Sunday, November 21st and we absolutely canNOT believe it. Deac is not walking, but RUNNING around like a wild-man and is into absolutely everything. He can open cabinets, the refrigerator, the shower door, any container you put in front of him, and he pushes things up to the couch and table so that he can climb on top of them. I have a monkey for a child. He knows to turn around and go backwards down the stairs and off the couch, I am amazed every day with all of the new things he picks up! Deac tries to talk all the time, he mimics sounds and reads books to you, it's precious! When anyone walks in the room he throws his hands up in the air and yells "HEY!" :) I LOVE THIS AGE! :)

We fly to Raleigh, NC this Saturday afternoon after Deacon's birthday party with our friends here, we can't wait to get home to see family. The birthday party here will be Saturday morning at a park by our house, we are going to cook out for lunch and then have cake and play on the playground, it should be a ton of fun! Sunday on his actual birthday we will have a small party with my parents and siblings, and then Monday evening we will have a party with our NC friends. My mom and I have tried to send emails and facebook messages to everyone, but if you didn't get it and would like to join us please let us know! hensley.maggie@gmail.com or rpatton@embarqmail.com will work for an RSVP :)

Please forgive me if I'm not as up to date with my posts as I had been, I really do think about updating every day but I feel like I'm jipping everyone with the lack of pictures. I can't hook up my iphone to Scott's computer because it will mess everything up, and since my hard drive crashed and I lost ALL of my music, I don't want to risk losing everything on my ipod. I'll try to sit down with my sister next week and upload some pictures that I'm sure she will take :)

I hope everyone has a great week, weekend, and Thanksgiving holiday!

Gemma's Profile on the Legacy Boxer Rescue site :)

Hey there, my name is Gemini! Or at least that’s what my Mama tells me, but she calls me Gemma or Gem-inem like that yummy candy most of the time. I think that means I’m her favorite puppy! I was born August 15th and am the only girl of my litter, so I can be sweet and dainty or roll around with the boys. Mama tells me all the time how cute I am and something about how she loves my floppy ears (maybe that’s why she’s always kissing me all over).

At my Mama’s house there is a baby boy (I’m told he’s not a puppy, but I still think he is!) and we like to play together. He thinks it’s funny that I’m small like he is, but doesn’t really like it when I nibble on his ears. They’re my favorite! I listen when Mama tells me “nuh-uh, not for puppies” because I like to be a good girl, it’s no fun to be in trouble. Mama tells me I’m very smart and that she can always see my wheels turning, but I have no idea what she’s talking about because I thought I had paws. Silly Mama! I learn things very quickly, especially when a treat is involved, and always know to sit when I want something and that we potty outside. Sometimes I get so busy playing that I forget, but I’m getting better every day with this potty training business.

I have a Boston Terrier sister named Willow and a Boxer brother named Spruce, they are teaching me all about being a good puppy and what it means to be part of the pack. Willow is the boss around here, but she’s small like I am so we like to wrestle and chase toys together. Spruce is more of the rough and tumble kinda boy, and we like to mouth joust and play tug-of-war with just about anything we can find. He’s a pretty good snuggler too, I love a good cuddle while I snooze.

I would really like to have a house with a backyard, you see I’m very independent and refuse to go potty while on a leash. Mama has this thing called a ‘partment and she says I’m very good about staying by her side while we are in the grass, but when I get bigger I will be too fast to not have a leash on me. I also like to whine and cry for the first few minutes in my crate, but even though after a little bit I settle into my bed and go ni-night, on of these ‘partment things probably isn’t the best place for me to spend my happily-ever after. Mama says all princesses like me deserve one of those! I sleep all night long in my crate right next to Mama and wake her up with a squeak when I need to get up and go potty. (Shh…Don’t tell her because it might hurt her feelings, but I would really like to sleep curled up next to her in her big bed!)

If you want me to be your baby girl forever, call my Mama and she will bring me over for a play date!

Kisses and lots of wags and wiggles,
Gemini


**Gemini is a boxer mix, so her adoption fee is only $175. Legacy Boxer Rescue provides her spay and her first two sets of puppy shots with the adoption fee.
Gemini can’t wait to meet you!

Gemini's Montage :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

10.4.T--Gemma baby!

This week's 10.4.T is my 10 favorite pictures of my sweet Gemini. I call her Gemma, along with the other 37 nicknames I have for her ;) I absolutely adore this sweet baby and will be so sad when she leaves. Gemma is doing great with her potty training as long as I stay on top of her and pick up on her signals, and she's surprisingly gentle with Deacon even though she has a serious ear fetish! Sunday Gemma had a meet and greet with a family that is looking to adopt a puppy, and they adored her! I can't say I was surprised, she's an absolute doll baby :) They are meeting some other puppies this week, but I will be so sad if they choose any other puppies than her, I would love to see her happily ever after be with them, they're a wonderful family. The best part would be keeping in touch with my Gemma, they are going to volunteer and foster with us so I would get to see her and get updates on my baby gir! Please say a little prayer for my Gemma, I know God has the perfect family out there for her, I'm just really hoping it is them! :)

Pumpkins and Ice Cream.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins for Deacon's first Halloween. I can't wait to carve them, I'm dying to show off my surprise designs ;) Deacon was fascinated by the pumpkins, and while I'm glad he enjoyed it I wish he would have acted that way last week when we went to have his pictures taken. Oh well. After we picked our pumpkins Scott took us out for ice cream and Deacon had a ball licking the cone and playing with the ice cream. Enjoy the pictures! :)












*The video wouldn't upload, I'll try again tomorrow!

Gemini's first day at the Hensleys! :)

Sweet little Gemini is still working on getting settled here at our house, it's her first night away from her Mama and siblings so we expected it to be a little rocky at times. So far she is not a fan of the crate, I put all the dogs in their respective "houses" this evening to feed and she barked and whined the whole time. Looks like we're going to have to work on that :/ Thankfully all my neighbors in my building have either moved out or are in the process of moving out this weekend, so hopefully it won't be too bad. Tonight I will bring her crate into our bedroom and have her sleep in there with us, I expect her to whine and cry for a little bit but hopefully it won't take her too long to settle down. She's a great sleeper! First thing she did when we got home was crawl up in Scott's lap and take a power nap. Don't tell him I told you, but he's super smitten already ;) Spruce is quite fond of Gemini, he things she's pretty and tries to kiss her and follow her around as much as he can. Spruce keeps trying to curl up next to Gemini while she naps, but she wakes up, growls, and snaps at him so he hasn't gotten too close during ni-night times yet. We're working on that too, so far I've had to take a toy away and separate them once, sweet little Gemini wants to be alpha around here and she's been a little snippy at times with my two. Willow is incredibly submissive and waves the white flag when Gemini starts growling, but Spruce is fearless and doesn't understand that she is trying to tell him to leave her alone. He's had a couple time-outs today for barking at her and getting in her face when she warns him, but I'm also trying to get Gemini to be a little less testy with the big dogs. There are a lot more of them at Kim's house than mine, so she's going to have to get used to it, haha! I'm fondly calling her "Gemee-nemee-ni" and think this precious little girl is just sweet as can be. She gives great kisses and wants to curl up in your lap and bury her head in your elbow. She's been pretty good with Deacon, but she can't resist nibbling on his ears every once in a while when he least expects it. I expected her to be more jumpy with him, but she's actually very gentle and responds well to "off" when she tries to climb up his back and lick his ears. The only thing that I'm having a bit of trouble with is getting Gemini to go tee-tee outside. I'm not sure if it's the leash or what the deal is, but we can spend 30 minutes outside walking around and sniffing, but she waits until we get inside and runs back to my bathroom to do her business. When we're outside in the grass she just shakes the whole time and whines, fighting the leash the whole time. I'm in an apartment so a leash is a must, and so does well when I have a treat in my hand that I can let her smell so she will follow me, but as far as walking on her own we haven't quite mastered that yet. We've been outside over a dozen times today, so it's not that she hasn't had an opportunity to go outside, I think she's just scared to. I've both taken Willow with me and taken Gemini on her own, neither way got her to go. She has sniffed the places where the other dogs have gone potty and that doesn't help her either. Any advice? All in all it's been a good day, but I promised Kim I would work with her on tee-teeing and it's not going so well! Haha! Here are some pictures and a video from this afternoon--and yes, that is Deacon trying out Gemini's crate :)

Sneaky little boys!

This afternoon Deacon decided he wanted to play with his tractor that Grandpa sent him to borrow. He all of the sudden squealed and took off down the hallway, so I waited around the corner to see what he was going to do. All of the sudden he comes tearing out of his room pushing his tractor, giggling the whole time because he was so proud of himself. But the tractor wasnt enough, as soon as he dropped it off in the middle of the living room he crawled back to my bathroom where he opened the cabinet, pulled out a towel, stood on top of it, and grabbed my bag of cotton balls off the shelf. Just like he did with the tractor, he came giggling down the hallway dragging his bag of cotton balls, prouder than I've ever seen him before. Little stinker! He sat in the middle of the living room for probably 20 minutes pulling the cotton balls out of the bag, pushing the tractor over the pile, tasting each one, and sharing them with Spruce. Deacon never gets into anything alone, somehow his best buddy Spruce ends up in the middle of it too :)

**No baby or boxer was harmed in the filming of the adventures of the forbidden cotton balls :)**

Deacon says... Let's Go Rangers!

Deacon picked out his trick-or-treat basket today at Target, but he wasn't quite sure how it's supposed to work. So Spruce and Willow decided to show him how it's done.


Then I was in the mood to try on the puppy's Halloween costumes, so here's a little preview! :)

Willow the Piglet


Spruce the Shark

10.4.T.

10 exciting things going on at the Hensley house...!

1. THE RANGERS MADE THE PLAYOFFS! WOO HOO! It's a big deal around here, the Rangers have never EVER made the playoffs before and they're doing great. Right now Scott and I are watching the 4th game of the ALCS against the Yankees, and it's so exciting to watch. If the Rangers woop some serious Yankee butt and make the World Series, Scott and I are going to spend an arm and a leg trying to get tickets to one of the games, regardless of where the seats are! I mean hey, when will this ever happen again? Based on their track record up to this point it could be a LONG time, haha! I hate watching the Yankees play, I feel like I'm watching a bunch of slime-ball, sleeze-bag, Guidos play baseball and it makes me feel like I need to take a bath. YUCK! Everyone pray the rangers continue to do well... LET'S GO RANGERS! IT'S TIME! :)


2. I'm still very involved with Legacy Boxer Rescue, and spend a lot of my free time volunteering here and there. Many of my friends are part of the group, I've met a lot of really great people with gentle souls and kind spirits that make my life incredibly enjoyable. They all love Deacon and ask about him all the time. He's become "the Facebook baby" because he's always making the LBR Facebook page doing something cute with Spruce. Today Deacon and I helped transport a sweet boy named Butch (pictured) from the vet's office to his new foster home. I always like to include Deacon in my rescue adventures because I think it's incredibly important to teach him compassion for others and that there aren't enough people that care about those that cannot help themselves, especially animals. I hope that my efforts and that of those that surround us can somehow rub off on him and teach him to be passionate about something like I am about rescuing these Boxer babies.


3. Speaking of Boxer babies... We are going to be temporarily fostering this little cutie for a week starting this Saturday! Her name is Gemini, she is one of 4 Boxer mix puppies that came to LBR as a surprise litter 8 weeks ago. Her mom, Celestial, was found roaming around outside a tractor supply shop in the country and a nice family took her in. The next morning, they found 7 puppies in the dog house with Celest! Holy moly! The family called LBR and we came to the rescue, but now the pups need to find their own foster home so Celest and her foster parents can have a break. We had a pull freeze the last couple of days until we could place these puppies in new foster homes, meaning that until they are spoken for we are unable to pull any Boxers from shelters. Yikes! Unfortunately, we lost one in the process of finding suitable puppy homes, so to keep that from happening again my friend Kim stepped up for Gemini. LBR has a rule that puppies cannot come in contact with shelter dogs until their 10-14 day hold is up, and Kim just pulled a dog named Popcorn this past weekend so she needed a temporary home for Gemini. I got permission from our apartment complex and Scott to keep her for a week, so YAY we're going to have a puppy soon! I'm excited, can you tell?! You would be too, look at that FACE! You can see Celestial, Gemini, Leo, Taurus, and Scorpio at www.savetheboxers.com :)


4. Yesterday our crazy neighbor lady downstairs FINALLY moved out! Oy, I'm so ready to not have to worry about anyone below us banging on the ceiling or calling the police because we are being too loud. Her last morning here she actually apologized to Scott for taking her frustration out on us, so at least she tried to mend things even if it was a little late :) Our lease is up December 31st, and after that we will be renting a home around here unless Scott finds a job elsewhere. Part of me really wants to move because I feel like we are WAY too close to certain family, but at the same time I'm going to be so sad to leave the great friends I've made here recently. What am I going to do without LBR? What is Deacon going to do without Braxton? I know it will all work out whether we stay or go, but if we stay here at least we will be in a HOUSE. Then Deacon will be able to walk, crawl, fall, bang toys on the walls, and play as loud as he wants to. As you can see, he's a wild man!


5. Everyone meet Braxton! This sweet boy comes to play 3 or 4 mornings a week for a few hours, and we love every minute that he is here. Brax is an absolute joy and is one of the sweetest babies I've ever met. Deacon is very affectionate with me and gives me hugs and kisses all the time, but other than Scott nobody else really gets that kind of love from him. Not Braxton though, he gives me all kinds of smooches and always wants to cuddle, he's such a love bug! He was born in February so he's only 8 months old and a little younger than Deacon, but it only took a few days for Deac to teach him how to crawl and play like the "big boys". I feel like Deacon looks like such a little boy next to Braxton, even though they're about the same size. Deacon is more slender and longer than Brax, and chunky little Braxton is more stout. They get along SO well, it's precious to see their faces light up when they see each other because they truly enjoy each other's company. Sweet baby boys!


6. Speaking of babies, I'm having a terrible case of baby fever. Deacon will be 1 in 4 1/2 weeks and I feel like I'm losing my baby boy. He has gotten so big and so independent, and even though he's still little I feel like he grows more every day. Scott and I want to have another baby soon, so I guess you can say we're "trying" even though I don't exactly know what all that entails, haha. We definitely didn't try for Deacon so we're kind of doing this "wait and see" thing at the moment. When it's supposed to happen it will, but I'd preferrably like that to be soon! Haha. I miss being pregnant and feeling like I'm "needed". I know Deac will still need me for a very long time, but he's not breastfeeding anymore and my snuggly baby boy has all of the sudden become very wiggly and independent. It's exciting to see him developing, but very bittersweet for Mama.


7. Y'all probably remember when Deacon first started eating food and how messy he was... Well, not much has changed! As you saw yesterday from the videos he thinks it's hilarious to feed the dogs and throws them a bite every chance he gets. Bite for me, bite for my buddy! Deac even throws food on the ground at restaurants, other people's houses, and when the dogs are in their crate and not there to catch every crumb. Silly baby. He eats everything in sight, the only things I don't allow him to eat are peanut butter, strawberries, honey, and chocolate. Okay... if there is a chocolate chip in a cookie I let it slide, but no Oreos or chocolate bars or anything like that. The boy LOVES pudding, chef boyar-dee, macaroni and cheese, peas, mandarin oranges, and just about anything that's on someone else's plate. He eats at 530-6 every night, and then when Mommy and Daddy eat later he walks along the table or couches between us and takes bites. Sweet silly man :) I love that Deacon is a good eater, it will make it easier when he's older to make dinner because he won't be picky. I really haven't found anything he doesn't like, but his absolute favorite thing to do with food is paint his body with it... Needless to say we take a lot of baths around here!


8. I made this soup last night, it was DE-lish! I put everything together in the crock pot around 1:00 on low, and we ate around 7:00, but I'm sure the times could be adjusted to fit your day. The original recipe says to just heat it all over the stove, but I like things to simmer in the crock for a while :)
2 cans stewed italian style tomatoes (14oz each)
2 cups frozen corn
2 cups fresh green beans
3 cups fresh baby carrots
12 oz frozen turkey meatballs
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp basil leaves
2 tsp oregano leaves
salt and pepper to taste

9. Spruce and Willow are doing really well, we still love them to pieces. They're such sweet dogs :) They both enjoy going on playdates at Kathy's house to play with all her dogs (she usually has about 8 at a time!) and of course the dog park is still a big hit. Spruce is getting better on a leash, and Willow has become what we call a "Boston terrorist" because she can be a little bratt to her brother at times. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, I absolutely ADORE my babies!

10. Deacon's birthday is in about 4 1/2 weeks, November 21st is rapidly approaching! I still remember the day I had him like it was yesterday, it was absolutely the best day of my life! We have decided to go to North Carolina for a week starting November 20th, so Deacon's birthday and Thanksgiving will fall during our visit. Yay! I can't wait to see my family and spend those two special days with them, but no worries to all of our friends here we will still have a birthday party for Deacon here the morning before we leave. Mark it on your calendars everyone, November 20th will be Deacon's first birthday party in Texas! We haven't decided what day we will have it in North Carolina, but stay tuned and I'll keep y'all updated ;) Holy moly, I can't believe my baby will be ONE YEAR OLD soon! I hope he's walking by then :)