WINTER FORMAL 25

 This year's winter formal was in February at David's Country Inn.

Done by herself::

Surprise Cousin visit for formal!!

How fun!  Bonus was help with hairstyling.

They all had a great time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY LITTLE RICE PADDY!

 Toward the end of January, Koda celebrated his first birthday.

He has grown tremendously from our little teddy bear and at last weigh in was 83lbs.

New dog?

Nah, just a trip to the groomer.

Pretty crazy, right?

He had a major haircut.

Unfortunately, we are having some issues with him, but I will save that for a later date.

JOYEUX NOEL

 

Joyeux Noel:

A Festival of French Choral Christmas Music

This was back in December and it was a beautiful concert with the Water Gap Singers.

Some of the French was tough, I said I would take Latin any day..

and guess what? 

The upcoming spring concert (a celebration of Mozart) is entirely in Latin!!

GOT ONE!

 It was small, but still meat in the freezer

Congrats!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know it's February.

I'm not sad to say goodbye to 2024, though unfortunately 2025 is not off to the greatest start either.

This was from our NYE celebration..

BRINGING HOME THE BACON

Well, not bacon..but pheasant.

He got one!  

Brought it home and cooked it up himself! 

Doesn't get much better than that.

Congrats, kiddo.

NEXT!

 

Our final birthday for the year!

This guy, still a "Boogie," turned 14.

Instead of traveling, he was able to stay home and get his complete birthday menu.

He has shot up several inches this year and so now I am dwarfed by four.

I wasn't sure if I was going to share or not, but we also made a discovery.

 

This kid has always been quiet/shy/reserved around people.

We've been trying to "get him out of his shell" for years now with no success.

In the course of this year I came across the term "selective mutism" and/or "situational mutism."

Wouldn't you know, it describes our Boogie to a T.  Literally every aspect of it.

We followed up with our general practitioner who agrees and though we don't have an official diagnosis, (that would come from a psychologist) we have answers!

It is not just shyness..nor is it rudeness or defiance.  This is anxiety-based and literally shuts him down. Now most of the research on this deals with very young children, as a teen we obviously need different strategies.  We have the contact info for some therapies, but for the time being we are working on it. It is absolutely something that can be overcome, with hard work.  I may share some more about this at another time, but for the time being, to those who know him--Patience and Prayers.

We hope you had a wonderful birthday!!