my new *furry* niece!

sue d. rescued a black lab/german shep mix from a kill shelter. this is storm. isn't she a cutie?!

... she likes to be snuggled like a baby

...and give kisses!

meet molly...

hello...

i'm molly...

this little boy is really excited...i'm not sure how i feel just yet...

let me check things out here...

ok...this might not be so bad...

i might be able to get used to this...

snoozing soundly...check out those ears!!

speaking of snoozing...and check out those eyelashes!!

the meeting of abby and molly went really well. abby is going to have to get used to not being "in charge" any more (like she ever was - we just let her thinks she was). at this moment (2 hours after molly arrived), abby (by the coffee table), molly (in her bed) and tony (in his bed) are all sleeping...and speaking of that...i'm off to bed too.

we fully expect that we might have a night of little sleep not unlike those most parents of newborns go through...unfortunately tony d spoiled us first time parents rotten and has slept through the night beginning at birth in the hospital and i can count on one hand the times we got up for middle of the night feedings, so this could be new to us. wish us luck!

oh, and stephen...i hope you're reading this and seeing that molly is doing fine...she definitely misses you (and was very vocal in letting us know that). know that you are welcome to visit us anytime you're home and in the area!! we can't thank you enough for allowing us the opportunity to provide a (new) loving home for her! we promise to take excellent care of her!

new addition...

so it looks like the brumbaugh's aren't the only ones that will be getting a new addition to their family...

the d'angelo's will be welcoming a new addition as well!! ok, back off..nope i'm not preggers (ha! less than 3% chance...if i had luck like that, i'd be in vegas not berks county!)...

nope, we'll be welcoming a new furry baby on tuesday 11/18...an adorable 2 year old female bassett hound named molly. she's coming from a (related by marriage) family member who is in the service, needs to find a home for her (and her 2 siblings, a rottweiler and a beagle - unfortunately, we aren't in a position - or the right house - to take in 3 new dogs plus the one we have)...but, please let me know if you know of someone who can take in 1 or 2 dogs. i can give you specifics about each.

here's a quick picture although i'm sure you'll be bored to death with more pictures of her after she gets settled in with her soon to be big furry sister abby and new "real boy" brother tony!

he saw the light...

gilbert "gil" g. fish, 3 months, of the blue goldfish tank in anthony's room, passed away in his sleep last night august 30, 2008 of natural causes with his domestic partner by his side.

adopted into our family on may 17, 2008, we only knew gil for 3 short months, however we learned a lot from him in that short amount of time. he enjoyed hanging out near the bubbles the filter created...he loved 'treats' and expected them anytime someone would walk into anthony's room and would come around to the front of the tank and up to the water level to wait for them, and he enjoyed hiding behind the ceramic "gone fishing frog" sharing his tank when he was feeling playful.

gil is survived by his partner finnius "fin" who will miss his young, spunky attitude.

p.s. special "props" to my friend luci who is gaining notariety as becoming quite the "pet obiturarian" - is that even a word? you can view her work here and here. i only hope i made her proud with my entry above.

sea 20/20

today we enjoyed a fun day with my aunt and uncle and cousins on their boat, the sea 20/20 (my uncle is an optician...get it, "sea (see) 20/20") we also got to meet their newest family member, sanibel b. mulligan, (a yorkichon) or sandi for short. i would have never expected my aunt cath and uncle jim to have ever got a dog, but they finally broke down (or should i say were finally worn down by jack and sam) and the got sandi last week. she is a sweet little girl and even has her own lifejacket for use when on the boat. tony just adored her and just giggled at her little kisses, although he wasn't quite sure what to think of her tiny little sharp as nails puppy teeth (she's only 3 months old).

we had a lot of fun on the boat and enjoyed some time in the water too. it was a gorgeous day...shining sun, nice breeze, and not too hot...what more could you ask for? jack and sam start school on monday, so it was a nice way to unofficially "end the summer".

here are a few pictures of the day. you can click here to view the entire album.

introducing sandi...

getting ready for our afternoon on the water...

the pup contract the boys had to sign before they got her look at that adorable face
the world's smallest lifejacket

tony of course loved the boat (he's had an obsession with them since our vacation with john's side of the family last july), so this little day trip had been all he talked about the past two days. he really did have a great time (given the fact that he looks totally unamused in many of the pictures)...he just wasn't in a "get your picture taken" kind of mood today!

everyone had fun playing in the water too...especially uncle jim who not only apparently is ridiculous on snow skis, but is a heck of a water skiier too!! sorry in advance for the quality of the video (still playing around with the camera settings, plus it was a little hard given the choppy water to stay still - people prone to motion sickness should probably not watch).

we had a super day and are all beat from the fresh air and sunshine. tony d fell asleep on the way home and i just flipped him from the car seat to his bed...glad i remembered to pack his jammies for him to ride home in!!

a special thanks to the mulligan's for inviting us to spend the day with you!!!

ready for the weekend

why oh why do the last few hours of tonight seem to be ticking away as slowly as can be? why can't it just be friday already? ok, friday at 4:30 p.m. after work is finished would be oh so much better, but at this point 12 a.m. friday would be ok too! after the week i had, i'd take friday anytime, anywhere. i'm just sooo ready for the weekend!

just a few things before i head off to bed. were these things so important i couldn't wait to post tomorrow? nope, but i'm way too excited about the one to not post it tonight. the other one is just along for the ride but is really funny and worth the extra 5 minutes it will take to post it.

first let me start my saying...woo hoo!!

abc announced the new bachelor for the next season. it will be jason mesnick (divorced estate planner, 32, single dad to Ty, 3) from last season's the bachelorette! in case you don't follow, don't recall, or plain just don't care, he was one of the final two vying to win the heart of deanna pappas. unfortunately she chose that joker jesse csincsack leaving jason heartbroken and confused. i was a fan of jason's following the very first episode last season and rooted him on to the end. i actually cried (you can verify that with my husband who was a bit weepy himself) when told jason she loved him, but loved someone else more.

so, as much as i swore i would never, ever watch another episode of the bachelor/bachelorette franchise, it looks like i've signed on for yet another season as i am eager to watch jason call the shots this time around in his quest for love!!

ok, now for a funny video clip. i received this this afternoon via email from a friend and it was just too funny not to post and share as i know many of you are animal lovers yourself. i laughed and i'm sure many of you will get a chuckle out of this too (whether you like animals or not).

i also want to wish bobbi and chris high a happy anniversary! they were married 4 years ago today...best wishes for many more!! i think this calls for a date night. let me know if you need a babysitter!

chip 'n dale...or are they?

so here is a conversation that was held this morning between anthony and i while he was watching mickey mouse clubhouse. let me preface this by mentioning he asked earlier in the week who these two "new" characters were on the show. i explained they were chipmunks named chip 'n dale and i reminded him he had his picture taken with the two of them while in disney last february.

this brings us to this morning...

t: hey mom, ya know who those guys are?

mama: yeah, t i do. do you remember who i told you they were?

t: yep i do...them are chick 'n nugget! (said with the utmost of seriousness)

mama: really, are you sure? (holding back all laughter, kind of not sure that's what he said)

t: yep...chick 'n nugget! (said with even more seriousness, but now questioning himself slightly)

mama: sorry to break it to you bud, but they are chip 'n dale (still trying not to crack up)

t: oh

then we both lost it...hmmm, i thought my kid realized by now my knowledge of disney, yet there he was questioning me on who's who in the wonderful world of disney!

oh the things that come out of a 2.5-year old's mouth!

odds & ends

my man jason is still in the running towards being the one deanna chooses on the bachelorette! i predicted it back during the first episode and there is some definite chemistry going on there! he fessed up last night during their one-on-one date about having a son and deanna was so ok with it...so much so that she presented jason with a scroll stating that a star had been named for his son ty. it brought jason and deanna (ok, and me) to tears! keep being yourself jason...that's who she'll fall in love with!

and last but certainly not least...

introducing...the newest member of the d'angelo family...the sue d'angelo family that is...zoey! zoey joins wolf, sue, luis and dominic and is the sweetest dog you'll ever meet (ok, aside from all the current d'angelo dogs).


she' s a greyhound/dobie mix that sue rescued from the animal rescue league (i don't even know why pet stores exist - they should be outlawed)! congratulations and have fun with the new pupp!

one fish, two fish, happy birthday to you fish!

happy birthday to our golden pet fin who will celebrate his 1st birthday this weekend...who would have thought that a goldfish won at may day last year would be around to celebrate it's first birthday and another may day...we're going to try to win him a girlfriend this year!

to celebrate fin's birthday, this evening he moved out of his cramped and dingy 1 gallon dorm room (my original fish tank i used all through college -- it was on it's last leg...i wouldn't have thought the fish would have outlasted the tank) and into his very large and spacious 2.5 gallon luxury apartment home! tony had fun helping me set the new tank up and talking to fin as i tried to scoop him in the net to transfer him to the new tank.

hopefully we'll introduce you to his new friend this weekend...daddy better warm up his ping pong tossing arm and aim...did he really think he'd get away without having to do it again this year?!

dog days...

as many of you know, we are down to one dog now in the d'angelo family. it's been a month now since we took cody to the humane society (on a happy note, we've since been notified that he was adopted, rather quickly i might add) and is hopefully a happy dog once again (we miss you buddy!). tony and abby have been best buds since the day he came home from the hospital, but ever since cody "went to live with his puppy friends" (this is what we told tony), anthony has been very protective of abby, almost like he's afraid she's going to leave too. poor thing. he faithfully says good-bye to her every morning when we leave the house and kisses her goodnight before turning in every night. abby is in return a great admirer of anthony and returns the lovin' every chance she gets with snuggles and kisses (i know...gross!). here is a pic i got of the two of them snuggling before bed the other night...and another after abby had stolen anthony's stuffed rudolph to snuggle with after he had gone to bed.