My Hope

Our family is growing

(Don't get too excited, grandparents)

We have a new addition to our family: Idle z Weberhaus

Meeting our newest family member

He is 9 weeks old, working lines (Czech & DDR), a dark sable, and absolutely perfect. Hailing from Kansas and the amazing Malinda Weber of Weberhaus GSDS, he is impeccably bred and and cute as can be.  

 V- Miky z Treasnaku Zvv3 IPO3, Sch3 KKL1*

SG- Erra Buranos Lobos Zvv3 BH

His parents are quite impressive and he has all of the genetic foundation to be exactly what we are looking for: rock solid nerve, fantastic temperament, great & SAFE around kids and animals, fun, happy, trainable, and go-anywhere. Now we just have to hope that we don't mess him up.

This puppy has Trouble written all over him

I will be the first to admit: I forgot just how much work a puppy is. He has absolutely no clue about anything, from his name to where to potty. His manners are atrocious: he jumps and bites and chews and doesn't listen and is basically your typical 9 week old puppy. Poor Nora has a new sentence that she repeats regularly: "He bite me! Baby dog bite me!"  

They have a love-hate relationship

Run and you will be chased

Which, to her credit, is accurate. He has tiny little needle teeth and loves to attack your ankles as you walk by. Poor thing (Nora....and me). I wish his (deliberately indifferent) big sis Miss Beyla would accept him and start to play with him so he would use those tiny teeth on her instead of on us. I think she knows something we don't....

The Grande Dame puts puppy in his place

But he is everything we hoped for and while I know it will take some work to get there, I am certain that he will fulfill what we were hoping to find in our next dog. 

Who doesn't love this sweet face?

Eternal ear scratches and belly rubs

We are so sad to have said goodbye to our sweet Tito. 

He was a scaredy-cat whose curiosity often got the best of him. He was the ultimate snuggler and spent every night of his life curled up in the crook of my neck. He lived for ear scratches and tummy rubs, but only from his approved list of "people" which was very short....the rest of the world was lucky if they saw his tail as he ran away out of the room from them. Once he decided you were on his VIP list though....he could be annoying in his pursuit of attention. 

He was always waiting for me to come to bed.

Cutest. Kitten. Ever. 

EJ tried for years to get close enough to touch him and I will always remember the day she did - he was such a good cat that he immediately froze and allowed her to carry him around the house for several minutes. He was the same way about taking medicine and having his nails clipped - would sit quietly and allow it, all while giving us the stink eye. And yet, without fail, he would always coming running to us with the simple click of our tongue. 

Most tolerant cat ever

Our last picture of Tito. He loved sunbathing.

We loved him from the moment we saw him in that cage at the Humane Society (seriously the world's cutest kitten) through 15 wonderful years of cuddles. We miss him every day. But I am hopeful he is happy up in kitty-cat heaven, reunited with his brother Jermaine, and enjoying eternal ear scratches and belly rubs. 

Rest in peace, sweet boys

Dance like no one is watching

I'll just leave this here for your enjoyment...

1st day of Pre-K!

Hard to believe my baby is going into pre-K!  

She is returning to Roswell First Baptist for her third year and was so excited to get back to school and see all her friends. This year they are starting to be a bit more academically focused and will lay the foundation for learning to read: sight words, Bob books, etc. She definitely seems ready for this as she is always asking us how to spell things so she can write them down and has started to try to sound out words herself. 

We are looking forward to a great year!

Beach week 2015

We spent a week at the beach this summer with my dad, Jan, sisters, and their families. It was a lot of fun to get to know my neice & nephews better and watch my girls get to know their cousins.  They had a blast playing together, fighting over toys, running amok, and generally having a great time. And I had a wonderful time catching up with my family and getting some sun!

First, let me be clear that both my girls are water babies. As in, can't-keep-them-out-of-it water babies. They would happily spend all day playing in the sand & surf.

As usual, the girls got some good time in with Mama-J - everything from building sandcastles to reading books.

We spent a lot of great time playing with cousins.

EJs first baseball game.

Fun with Uncle Greg

Stories with Aunt Sarah

Hugs for baby Blake

Stories with Uncle Greg

Cousin toy politics

It was great getting to know the tiniest member of the family. 

Lots of good daddy-daughter time as well!

My beautiful girl. She is growing up way too fast. 

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again soon!

Nora with her Pop-E

Days of Summer

The summer has flown by and we have had all kinds of happenings that have kept us busy....so busy that it has been a while since I updated the blog!  Here is just a quick snapshot of some of the fun things we have done this summer.

We had picnics in the park

We made funny faces

We blew dandelions

We put the kids in jail

We played with friends

We rode bulls

We went swimming

We played with more friends

We ate watermelon

And popsicles

We worked hard

We played in the rain

And splashed in puddles

We went to the beach

And to the pool

We went to a baseball game

We rode bikes

We rocked pigtails

We colored

We celebrated the 4th of July

We went to Disney Hip Hop dance camp

We cleaned up pretty

We rocked more pigtails

We got stuck in a bounce house

We rode a choo-choo train

We ate more popsicles and channeled our inner vampire

We leaped into pools

And off diving boards

And off the back of boats

We rode in wagons

And in shopping carts

And also on daddy

We relaxed

We made secret potions

And became robots

We took bubble baths

And went to birthday parties

We giggled and played and snuggled and cried a little but mostly laughed a lot. It has been a great summer and we have made lots of wonderful memories. But I'm not entirely sad to be heading into fall and school again - mama needs a break!