Banks videos...

This first video is just hilarious. This was Banks' signature move when he'd want to play ball with you. He'd drop his tennis ball at your feet and keep backing away from it until you'd prove to be a worthy opponent and try to pick up the ball and chuck it for him...Actually in the video, though, I try to trick him a little bit and I keep backing up too!

This video is just funny, and nothing too exciting, but again it is something that was so characteristic of B. We still have a table in our house that has been scratched up so bad from his little game of nudging a ball or bone under a piece of furniture and then barking and scratching at it until someone would get it for him. My favorite part of this video, though, is not about the game he's playing. I love to just look at his eyes, and the wonderful faces he makes...

I love how this video shows just how much of a gentle dog Banksy was. How many dogs do you know will let you snatch a bone right from their mouth? He ALWAYS showed such patience and understanding with the kids. (Plus it's a little added bonus to see just how darn CUTE Ty is!)

This is one of my favorite videos for so many reasons. Marlo was only several weeks old and it was an early morning when everyone was awake. Ty's crazy utterances crack me up "hammer his head", "what Banksy does". Does anything sound any cuter than those teeny baby noises Marlo makes? And just seeing the video of Banks laying in that usual spot of his and realizing that I'm sitting right near this very spot now brings a deep longing just to see him there right now.

And, okay, I said I'd spare you this boring video of Banks sleeping, but I just had to dig it out of the archives and include it in here. First, you can tell I had PLENTY of time on my hands before I had children-and you can also tell I was READY to have children based on the way I talked to Banks in that motherese talk that mommies do to babies! This was not an uncommon occurrence for B to be sprawled out on the furniture, totally asleep, and paying little attention to what was going on around him! We always joked that we could have a burglar bust into our house and Banks would sleep through the whole ordeal!

I already warned you! This is a nearly 2 minute slice of videographic boredom, but it has Banks so it makes me smile inside and out...

And one last snippet, it's more focussed on Marlo but you can see through this video just what Banks was in our lives-a quiet, (mostly!) calm, gentle and affectionate companion. What more could we have asked for? What makes this video even more special is that it was the last video we ever took of him...