Children Grieving For a Pet

We are getting used to life without Bentley, but it has been difficult at times.  Lass and Laddie sometimes forget he's gone and ask for him and then we have a few tears.  Overall, this process hasn't been too bad.  I think it helped that we let them see the cat (he wasn't mangled at all - he just looked like he was asleep) and they helped bury him.  This is their first time of really having to deal with death.  I was unsure about letting the children see their dead pet (there would not have been any question if Bentley had been badly injured), but Robbie and I decided that it would be for the best if they did.  As we were carrying the cat to the back of the property to bury him, Laddie said, "Look, Mum, he's waking up!"  Poor little fellow - he just couldn't understand.

On a lighter note, Robbie asked me if we should play The Flowers of the Forest as we walked up the hill.  I just looked at him.

How do you help your children deal with loss?

This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop today.  Thanks for visiting.

A Sad Time

Bentley 

A beloved member of our family from 23 March 2011 to 19 August 2011

We miss him so much.

Floral Cards

Just a couple of cards I made recently.  They are are pretty simple, but they came out quite well.  The base is an ivory card blank (5" x 6.5" folded).  The layers are cream cardstock ($ store!) and shabby floral patterned paper (not positive where this is from, but I know it is a download - I will keep trying to find out where I got it).  The tags were cut on my Cricut using the George and Basic Shapes cartridge.  The geranium stickers are some more from my stash of old Rebecca Sower stickers.  The ribbon is just narrow Spool O' Ribbon from Michael's (I think that's where I got mine - it's seems to be available at quite a few different stores and it's inexpensive) in burgundy and sage.  I inked the edges of the tags with burgundy and pink ink (Anna Griffin Rose Collection by All Night Media).  I also used the burgundy ink with the "Happy Birthday" stamp ($ store again).  The ecru lace trim is from the sewing section of the dollar store.

By the way, I stuck these cards into my lupins to take the photos.  They are almost ready to come out in bloom (another 1-2 weeks maybe).

And, just for fun, here is Bentley relaxing in the kids' sand box.  I think he looks pretty comfortable.

Thanks for visiting!

Garden Tour

I just went out for a wander around my yard.  Not many flowers blooming, but there are a few.

Violets

Lucky Strike Tulips

Queen of the Night Tulips

Bentley, our orange tabby, inspecting the tulips.

Going to explore somewhere more exciting.

I'm off to do some weeding if the bugs don't carry me away first.  Thanks for visiting!