Christmas Vacation

Kentucky Greetings and Happy Holidays, WoodyWatchers! Whew! I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since I last wrote in my Diary. Christmas vacation has kept me busy, well, vacationing. Our semester was so packed with school visits, book signings, and other exciting events that by the time Christmas vacation arrived, Chloe and I were ready for some Christmas cheer.

We loved our Christmas tree this year. It was covered with nothing but dog ornaments. It had candy canes, but they were all rawhide candy canes. The first day we decorated the tree, Chloe and I tried to eat it. Mom and Dad explained real quick that the tree was not to be eaten!!! The best part of the tree were special ornaments, a few of them given to us by some of our best friends - and the presents. It was fun to look at the pretty packages and try to guess what they were. When Santa Claus came and left our surprises, Chloe and I were beside ourselves! I included a picture of me with my new squeak toy!

We weren't the only ones to receive special gifts this year - Mom and Dad received some special presents too. The third photo is of our new friends Ms. Pat and Ms. Donna. We met Ms. Pat this past fall at a Book Signing. We quickly became special friends. Ms. Pat gave Mom and Dad this beautiful portrait of our family. In fact, it is the picture that is on the back of our book, Woody, The Kentucky Wiener: A New Home. The painted portrait is far more beautiful than the picture itself. Even though Ms. Pat and Ms. Donna gave it to Mom and Dad, Chloe and I get to enjoy it every day. We look at it all the time. As you can imagine, Mom won't let me hold it. She says I might accidentally get it dirty. I can be pretty clumsy as all of you know!

As you can see, Christmas was the best ever at our house. We hope your Christmas was the best ever too! We are looking forward to the last few days of 2007. 2007 was a PAWS-atively terrific year, so it will be bit hard to say goodbye. We will finish 2007 in Nashville at the Music City Bowl. We will be watching our Kentucky Wildcats play football against the Florida State Seminoles. A Bowl Game Win would be a great way to end 2007! Go CATS!

I better say ARFF! It is breakfast time and I smell bacon!

Have a great day! Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

WOODY

Westside Dresses Me Up - Part 2

Hi WoodyWatchers! It is Saturday and it is raining, sleeting, and even snowing a bit! It is a perfect day to stay inside! Here are a few more pictures from Westside! I have lots to show you, so I will keep posting over the next few days! Also, I can't wait to tell you about Waynesburg, so stay tuned!

More later! Arff! Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

WOODY

Westside Dresses Me Up!

Kentucky Greetings, WoodyWatchers! Chloe and I had the most PAWS-atively perfect day yesterday! We spent the day and evening at Westside Elementary in Cynthiana, KY. When we walked in the school, we couldn't believe our eyes! We saw ourselves everywhere! Mrs. Allie Dale, the librarian at Westside, held different contests to help get the students excited about our visit. One of the contests was Dress Up Woody. The walls were lined with different pictures of me dressed up in different outfits. There was Santa Woody, Elf Woody, UK Wildcat Woody, Scuba Diving Woody, the list goes on and on! My diary would only let me post a few of the pictures we took yesterday, but I am going to post several on our diary over the next few days. In addition, you can see all the photos we took on the Photo Page of our online doghouse at the end of the month.

Another contest had the students building a doghouse. One of our favorites was The White House. Isn't this cool?

If all of that wasn't exciting enough, Mrs. Dale had painted us on the wall of her library. It was a beautiful picture! This is the first time that someone has painted our picture on their wall!!! WOW! You can tell by the snapshot that Mrs. Dale is super talented!

We will be barking about this visit for a long time! Again, stay tuned to the blog and I will post other pictures of me dressed up soon!

I better say ARFF! We are loading up the Woody Bus again, this time headed to Waynesburg Elementary!

Have a great day! Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

Signed,

Santa Woody

GEAR UP!

Kentucky Greetings, WoodyWatchers! Two blogs in one day! How cool is that? It just seems that Chloe and I have had so much to bark about lately. Our schedule has been filled with one exciting event after another and it is so much fun to write about it!

Today was spent at The Lexington Herald-Leader in, well, Lexington, KY. Chloe, Mom, Dad, and I were able to be with 60 students and teachers from Clinton County Middle School. The students are part of a program that is called GEAR UP! I asked Mom what the program was all about. She explained that it helped prepare students for college and life in general. The students were faithful followers of Mr. Dogwood Goes to Washington. Chloe and I presented my Five Ways to Be Successful, we answered questions, and posed for lots of photos. The students also took at tour of the newspaper office. It was such an exciting day!

I had to share a few of the photos. The third photo is my favorite. My sister is relaxing with Dad while so many of the students take pictures with their cell phones. Leave it Chloe to be so laid back!

After our event, we crawled back in the Woody Bus and drove home. We are in our jammies ready for bed. Tomorrow we will be at Book Notes in Pikeville from 1-3. If you are in the area, come and see us!

Sweet Dreams! Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

WOODY

Mr. Dogwood Goes to Greenville

Kentucky Greetings, WoodyWatchers! It is Friday morning and Chloe and I are up and moving! Today we will be at The Lexington Herald-Leader Newspaper with students from Clinton County. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Before we hop in the Woody Bus again, I wanted to show you a few photos from our visit to Greenville yesterday. It was a PAWS-atively perfect day! It was our very first time in Muhlenberg County. Everyone treated us like family!

Greenville was a really pretty town. Chloe and I loved driving down Main Street on our way to the school. All of the houses were decorated for Christmas. Even though it was pretty early in the morning, Chloe and I sang some of our favorite Christmas carols like Deck the Halls! Speaking of Christmas, I have finally saved enough money for Mom, Dad, and Chloe's present. I would tell you what I am going to get them, but they might read my diary!!!

I better run as we are off to Lexington! Have a great day! Stay warm, sing lots of carols, and Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

WOODY

Mr. Dogwood Goes to Southside

Kentucky Greetings, WoodyWatchers! It is Wednesday morning and Chloe and I have been up for hours. The weatherman said we might have light snow, so Chloe and I couldn't wait to wake up and build a snowman. Mom and Dad kept telling us that even if is snowed, there wouldn't be enough to build a snowman, but we kept our hopes up. Unfortunately, it didn't snow at all. Oh well, we will wait until next time! Since we were up early, we ate our breakfast and went for a long morning walk.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Southside Elementary in Shelbyville. It was definitely a day we will never forget. When the Woody Bus pulled into the parking lot, four students came out to greet us with gifts. They were our "Welcoming Committee." They had a basket with lots of cool treats - including squeak toys and rawhide candy canes. Those candy canes are dee-lish! Since Mom isn't all that fond of eating rawhide candy canes, she received a beautiful Christmas ornament. In fact, it felt like Christmas yesterday.

Everyone at Southside made us feel like family. A great big thanks to Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Caldwell, and all the staff and students for making our day so special!

We are packing up the bus once again, this time headed in the other direction. Tomorrow we will be at Greenville. This will be our very first time in Greenville! I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Have a great day! Stay warm, don't eat too many candy canes, and Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

WOODY

From Cumberland County to Jefferson County

Kentucky Greetings, WoodyWatchers! It is Sunday evening and Chloe and I have been inside all day. It has been raining kitty cats and wiener dogs. It is tough when Dad has to carry an umbrella over us when we go out to - you know... I bet our geese and duck friends are loving this rain! It was a perfect day to stay inside, read books, take naps, and play checkers!

This week was another week on the road for us. This past Tuesday, we spent the day in Burkesville, KY. Burkesville is in Cumberland County and is at the very bottom of our state. Mom, Dad, Chloe, and I hadn't been to Cumberland County in years. It was so much fun to spend a day and evening at the school. We were treated like kings and queens. In fact, on Monday night when we arrived, someone knocked on the door of the Woody Bus. It was Molly. Molly is the daughter of the librarian at the school. Molly brought us cookies. They were dee-lish! We took a photo of Molly on Tuesday. (See the second photo with the paw on her face. Stepping on Molly's cheek was my way of saying, "Thanks for the cookies!!!")

We left Cumberland County on Tuesday night headed for home. It was late when we left, so Mom made us put on our jammies and sleep on the way home. Dad drove late into the night. In fact, we got home at 1:00 on Wednesday morning. Thankfully, we were off on Wednesday. Chloe and I were able to catch up on our beauty rest!!!

Thursday found us about 20 miles from our house. We were at Tully Elementary in Jeffersontown, KY. Like Cumberland County, everyone at Tully made us feel like family. Speaking of, Aunt Sue - the lady who puts together our computer presentations came to the school with her dad. I was so excited to see Aunt Sue. (In fact, Aunt Sue, if you are reading this, sorry about the accident I had on your coat. I just hadn't seen you in ages!!!) The second two photos are of our visit at Tully. (By the way, I loved that Christmas tree! It made me want to sing Christmas carols!!!)

I better say Arff. It is 7:30 and will be bedtime before I know it. I can't believe December is here. Where has the time gone??? I have to finish up my list for Santa Claus. Chloe has her list all ready, but I am still working on mine.

Have a great night! Work and Dream like a BIG DOG!

WOODY