At least Otis is healthy

While Bill and I have been suffering through colds this week, poor Georgieboy had to go to the vet not once but twice today. We awoke this morning to find him not being his cheery self and once we saw that he was shaking his head in slow-motion and not chewing his carrots (see him waiting for one? we can't even go in the kitchen without him putting on the pathetic look while staring at the fridge), we realized that something was wrong--that's exactly how he acted when his ears hurt before he had the ablation surgery last year. Anyway, the vet determined that the problem probably isn't his ears but his neck--either he sustained some sort of trauma that caused it to be sore or something else (what that something is, I don't want to know just yet). Six hours later, we were back at the vet because he magically developed a lump under his ear. We still don't know what's wrong with him, but hopefully the cortisone shot along with his meds and some rest (don't dogs rest all day anyway) will make him all better. My poor baby!

Maybe we should just go to Toys-R-Us

So we're thinking about taking our nephews to Six Flags for their birthdays--is that crazy? Jarrid is 9, the twins 7, and baby Joey is 3 (I think that's right).....I don't know about this! Seriously, I love those boys but man, it's enough to make us put off having people babies for many years to come (George and Otis will just have to do). They have so much energy! I really do think it'll be fun, but since I STILL can't tell the twins apart (which is absolutely ridiculous since Bill and I just had our 6-year kissiversary), well, I'm a little nervous. I just want to go to the water park and coast on the lazy river the whole day--Bill won't mind, right?



This past weekend was Mother's Day, so the pups and I loaded up Georgejetta and went to Quincy. Mom and I got pedis on Saturday and a woman at the salon actually asked if living in St. Louis is scary.....There is a new organic restaurant in town, so we had to go check that out....the food was good (my goat-milk latte was surprisingly yummy), but the kicker was that the place didn't have a liquor license! Granny was a little shocked but she survived somehow--what a trooper. Sunday was brunch and in between coordinating plans for the upcoming Holtapalooza, I had the chance to congratulate the bistro's owner on his fantastic accomplishment. See, he's my age (we were in Stage Kids together) and he's already doing great stuff....sometimes I feel like my life is on hold and I'm not doing everything I could be doing. Oh well. My dad looked great, by the way--his heart attack has really made him focus on taking care of himself and I couldn't be happier. We'll be heading back to Quincy for the family festival in a few weeks--apparently Mom has hired a photographer to take a family picture so I see some shopping in my future.


Bill was in Denver through the weekend and is back to being super busy. He has a pager for the heart transplant team at WUMS--whenever a transplant happens, Bill is given the harvested heart to do his research on. It's totally cool but obviously he never knows when it will happen, like today. Oh, big news: he's going to be published as first author!

Their Modeling Contracts are in Negotiations

So Otis' tongue....yep, it's real!
And so is George's cuteness!!

St. Elmo's Fire Hucker Style

What a fun weekend! Bill's Uncle Tom and Auntie Amy were kind enough to host us and give us a fantastic time around DC. Bill presented/taught some stuff at the NIH during the week so I flew out on Friday for some Tom and Amy time--and it was great! We went out to a yummy Cuban place just down the street from their apartment and of course dining with a local celebrity couple has its perks...and we enjoyed the free drinks immensely! Saturday started off at the aptly-named Tastee Diner and then off to Annapolis to see the honorable Delegate Hucker's stomping grounds. It was pretty cool to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the capitol (interestingly, my dad was also in DC that week and he got to meet Barak, which is just as cool, right??). We went into DC and went to the National Cathedral, but it was closed. The exterior architecture is pretty impressive--it's hard to believe that it exists in the US and not Europe. Next stop was the Jefferson Memorial (his quotes about slavery are, uh, interesting) and then the FDR Memorial, which was just amazing. Bill and I both really enjoyed the use of water and the quotes throughout (of course, I cried). We had some YUMMY Indian food for dinner in Bethesda and then saw a movie at the local arthouse theater (much better than seeing Spiderman3, don't you think?). Sunday we went house hunting (my favorite activity) which was good not just for Tom and Amy but also for us in case we end up moving there. It will be quite a sticker shock compare to St. Louis--we're so spoiled with our house here. We finished our visit by going to Georgetown and eating crabcakes and drinking some bloody mary's along the waterfront--aahhh. Our walk around the neighborhood made me love DC even more....and then out of nowhere we came along the Public Policy school.....isn't that a sign?? The only thing missing was Rob Lowe playing his saxophone on the street.

So kudos to Tom and Amy---now you just have to name your fish George and Otis and we'll sign a contract!