January 5 Smiles, 1 Frown

+1. Matthew graduated to a bigger bike and had no problem navigating our block with his training wheels.  

+2.  We received our political shirts for the upcoming election. This is as political as we get! (Yes, we are big Star Wars geeks.)

+3.  At least a dozen years ago, I fell in love with and bought a Mickey Mouse poster and then spent way too much money to have it framed. It has hung in my house ever since, and I smile every time I look at it now hanging in Matthew's room. It was worth it.

+4.  Alyssa loves her room, more than she loves any room in the house. I think (hope) it is because we have made it to fit her, not that she's becoming a tween.  (No, not yet!)

+5.  I took a 'mommy photography' class to improve my pictures of the kids.  They aren't always willing subjects, but our dog Padme loves attention.  I caught this picture last weekend, 

just before...

-1.  Padme had an emergency spleenectomy for internal bleeding caused by a tumor on her spleen. She was at the emergency vet for 4 days and has been home now for 24 hours. She seems to slowly be on the mend.  We are hoping the tumor was benign, as the surgery would be curative.  We hope.