This post brings many updates on our crazy lives! Christmas 2011 brought news of Jeremy's engagement to Grace and their upcoming wedding in January of 2013. We also received news that Laurence (my step-son) and his girlfriend Brittany are expecting a baby in June of 2012. Such exciting news for our family! Since Christmas we have learned our grandchild will be a little girl named Emmalise Rose Brannon. Troy and I are excited about being grandparents this summer.
Over Christmas break all of our boys were home. Christopher came home for two weeks and his girlfriend Renee visited from New York for part of the time. We really enjoyed getting to know her. I loved the girl-time with Grace and Renee. One day I took the girls to breakfast and them for pedicures. I'm enjoying this new time in my life with the boys and the wonderful ladies they have in their lives.
I am sad that Christopher is headed to Afghanistan in the next few months, but that's part of the Army life. I just hope he's home in time for Jeremy's wedding. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
Harris (our adopted Army kids) has moved to Houston since he returned from Iraq but he also came home for a few days over the Christmas holiday. He will be coming home to visit each month for drill so I'll still get to see him once in a while.
Jeremy and Grace moved out on their own this month. It's been strange the house with just Troy and me puttering around. Jeremy took his and Harris' dogs with him when he moved. Since my last post (what seems like a million years ago) a lot has happened with our pets. We still have our two cats. Bat, who is about 16 years old and almost decrepit, is still hanging around and Christopher's cat Ceyboo (say-boo) is still here and shredding my furniture. Late July we had to put our Lab-mix Robin to sleep because she'd become very ill and the vet wasn't able to help her get well. It was a very tough time for us here in the Brannon house after losing Robin. We still had Quimmy and Tater, but they were Jeremy and Harris' dogs. Troy and I were at a loss but pretty sure we weren't going to be having any more dogs for a very long time.
As is often said, "Never say never!" Early August our neighbors came home with a beautiful chocolate lab puppy and showed her to us. We were impressed with how cute she was and they told us she was an AKC registered puppy that they got from their niece and nephew who raised and sold them. They also mentioned the puppies had sold for $500 but the last few had sold for $200. The niece and nephew had given them their puppy for free because Molly was already four months old and she was one of the last two puppies they couldn't get rid of. Troy looked at me and I knew what he was thinking before he could say it! Our neighbors said there was only one puppy left and it was a female (and the runt of the litter.) Troy expressed interest and so they called the niece and nephew and we went to see the puppy within the hour. It was LOVE at first sight for me! I haven't felt that way about a dog in many years. Troy wasn't so sure because the puppy was uninterested and very shy. I named her Izzy on the spot and had to do some convincing for her to come home with us. We got her for free! Troy looked up an "official" name for her because he names all of the animals that come into the house. He came up with Esidor which means 'gift of god' but we still call her Izzy! Her paperwork name is Esidor, Princess of Troy. I came up with that, too.
Izzy is the love of our lives! She even goes camping and hiking with us. She is incredibly smart and Troy has been training her since she arrived at the house that first day. She knows lots of commands and is an avid watchdog. When we were camping a hiker came so close to our campsite we could hear him moving through the brush. Izzy moved between me and the hiker, her hackles were raised and she began barking in a very defensive manner. I was shocked and proud of her. During one of the nights a pack of coyotes came into our campsite: she jumped up, hackles raised and she positioned herself defensively. She didn't bark because she was listening to their baying and barking but she did growl. She loves water and is definitely a lab! Troy bought me a new car in September but I think he bought it for her because the back seats stay down so she can ride with us so much of the time. My 2012 VW Tiguan is wonderful and I love it too! I'm not sure which of us is more spoiled; Izzy or me!
I know I'm a little late but my goal is to keep up my blog this year. Hang in there with me and I'll do my best to share our family adventures as our family grows and changes in 2012.
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