miss gracie and friday night

it was a late friday night- we had the second edition of "family game night" with the hollinger family- chris and i learned how to play texas hold 'em and loved it-

but... the evening started out with a trip to the vet with gracie- i found a lump on her belly about 3 weeks ago- i was worried about her but didn't think that it was much to stress about.

then i started putting some other things together about gracie's recent behavior- she is sleeping SO much more and has been very lathargic whenever she was around us. she won't chase a ball, the steps on the deck are starting to become a slow climb, she wouldn't come downstairs at night to be with chris and i, she would just stay under the bed. honestly, she was sleeping more than she was awake- the more that i got to thinking about it the more i started to worry, stress, and get quite ill about the fact my first little girl wasn't feeling great.

so we tried a new vet (boone's creek animal hospital) and he was wonderful. he did a complete blood work-up for her, asked tons of questions, and gave me some really helpful advice. mainly that the lump is just a fatty benign tumor that isn't much to worry about. he wants us to watch it and if it gets bigger or bothers her then we can have it removed.

she weighed in at 59.2 pounds... uh what???? i have been walking her and feeding her soooo much less and she weighs a whopper and a half! she is half of bubba! so... she is going to start the run with me as well- and the vet seemed to think that she might have the early signs of arthritis- so getting weight off is cruicial!

but... there is hope for her and we get her test results back on monday.

then... family game night- texas hold 'em and spades were the games of the night. i made meatball subs for the crew and emmie got to have a true "tennessee bath" with ella and fisher again and spent the night here- the kids all went down well and stayed asleep so that we could party like rockstars!
(you know, adult rockstars that don't get too loud or crazy because we have three sleeping children within 15 feet of us, plus the rockstars that know that we have to get up in the morning and make some wonderful amazing breakfast with babies climbing up our legs and fussing b/c we can't do it fast enough- those rockstars)

we actually played these games till 3 AM it's amazing how time flies when you are playing cards. it was tons of fun and emmie got taken home and slept the rest of the night without too much interruption. thanks guys for a great night with great food and great company!

then, tonight jenn made an amazing dinner of ribs, broccoli salad and potato skins... amazing! thanks again!