Happy Birthday Dawg!

That's right, happy birthday to a dog. Ivan's his name and spoiled like a child is his game.



This is a time where I REALLY wish I could speak the tongue of dog. If I could, I would tell that dog how he went from rags (the pound) to riches (MJ's House) and that he's got it made for the rest of his life. In fact, I would tell him he is no longer a dog, he's a child and he won't have to lift a paw unless he's getting a dogicure.

I got assigned to make his cake. Once I overcame the smell of ground up chicken parts, I could finally get to work on this doggone masterpiece.



Mary Jo has a variety of friends that I have come to adore and so have my kids. This is our Mormon Godmother I used to teach Kindergarten with in Harrisburg. The story? When my kids were born she asked who the godmother was going to be and gasped when I said "No godmother here!" So, that is when I pronounced her my "Mormon Godmother."



Here are some of Mary Jo's nun friends from the time she worked in convent in Brooklyn. Also in the picture is 80yr old Reseigne from France. She speaks so romantically and precise. Reseigne tells me how special Becket is every time I see her and that always makes a mother feel good.



Gretchen was made Party Manager when we started to plan the party. When she talked to Mary Jo on the phone, she would often pace the rug waving her hands in the air telling MJ exactly what needed to take place at a dog party. Thus, giving her the title "PM." A girl walking in the footsteps of her mother, not for party planning, but for giving herself titles. This also makes a mother proud.



What did the Mat Mouse do while the McCat was away?
Conversation:
McCat: "Do you want to go with us to the dog party?"
Mouse gets his whiskers in a bunch.
McCat: "I didn't think so. What do you have to do?"
Mouse: "Catch up on a few research papers and build a book scanner.
McCat: "Say what?"
Mouse: "A book scanner." Squeak.
McCat: "But don't we already have a scanner by the computer?"
Mouse: "This is a scanner that let's you scan an entire book in a matter of minutes. I mount two cameras onto an adjustable platform, then I create a movable track, and two halogen bulbs, and...."



Kind of looks like guillotine for Henry the 8th, but it's a bonafide working scanner. Last year, it was a surgical headlamp, this year an elite scanner, next year a..... well, whatever it is, it makes a WIFE proud.