It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!

It's been an adventure already! We went to put the tree up (way later than I would normally put the tree up) and the cords to the lights had gotten caught in the attic ladder and were all frayed. I didn't want to worry all season about a tree fire, so we tossed it and David and I went to Garden Ridge to find a new tree. And here is where the fun begins. David likes big, huge, full trees with colored lights. I like smaller trees I can wrangle myself (since we disagree on when decorations should go up), and white lights! Well, we "compromised" and got a huge fluffy tree with no lights, cause it was a lot cheaper than the one with lights. David thinks after Christmas he can spend some time wrapping the tree with lights (that were much cheaper to buy separately) and then pack it away with the lights on.  The only lights they had though, are white lights, so yay for me!

Whatevs, it's up and done and it looks pretty. We had our annual tradition of watching White Christmas with Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby while we pulled out the ornaments and laughed at all the ones the kids made when they were little, and talked about all the ones they pick out every year. Riley has a little collection of Navy ones going, that he wants in a clump.  Regan has a bunch of horse ornaments that all have to have a very important spot on the tree!

Oh, and we had to keep all the "good" ones up high, just in case Hunter decides to eat them. (side note, the lollipop at the bottom didn't make it one day, and sadly, neither did Baby Jesus in a nutshell that Regan made when she was 3!)

And you know who comes once the tree is up...

Getting out of Town is Always the Hardest!

The "plan" was simple, when David got home from work, hopefully early, we head to Houston to spend the night with Benny and Christina so the kids can hang out at least for one night, and then we are closer to Galveston on Saturday morning so we can board the ship early.

Of course, nothing can be easy, or go as "planned".  We got an email late Thursday from the place where we have been boarding Hunter lately, to get him used to the place for this trip, since we were going to be gone for 6 nights, we didn't want to just leave him somewhere and have him think we ditched him. Well, they had an outbreak of mycoplasma and while they would still board the dogs, they would be kenneled most of the time. Only out for individual walks, no group play, no water time, no pond, it sounded sad. So I spent the morning scrambling, trying to find a place that would keep Hunter on short notice. Most boarders want them to come for a day of evaluation first, so it was rough, but I found a place right down the street that even gave us 2 free nights, and they had a web cam so I got to go home and watch him play with the other dogs for a while! He seemed to be having a good time, so then it was off to board dog number 2. Princess stays with a friend of mine who grooms her, because she breeds, and owns, very small dogs, so Princess fits right in.

Then, David wanted us to meet him for lunch at his favorite Friday lunch spot, Perry's Steakhouse, downtown. This was kind of a kick-off-vacation-right kind of lunch. They have a lunch special on Friday's only, the worlds largest pork chop for 11 bucks. Seriously, it is huge. The kids enjoyed their fancy lunch, although for the life of him, Riley couldn't figure out why the businessmen who eat there prefer listening to classical music instead of Daft Punk.

Thankfully, we had a late lunch and David didn't have to go back, so we went home so I could finish packing. I had started packing the day before and had the kids done, just had me and David to finish up. But with dealing with all the dog issues, I ended up in a rush and forgot a few key items, namely, my bathing suit! David and I went to the beach last month, and when we got home, our bathing suits were wet so I put them in a trash bag, with my nice Chaco water shoes. Well, Riley saw a trash bag and threw it away! So I had just gotten a brand new bathing suit, washed it, and left it hanging in the laundry room. Also forgot David's nice pants for our fancy dinner, and my razor, and David's water shoes.

Anyway, Riley had football practice late, and it was picture night, so David didn't want Riley to miss that, so we figured we would head out as soon as pictures were over, hoping they would do freshmen first and we could get out quick. Well, it was 7 before we were on the road. We got in to Benny and Tina's around 11 and stayed up visiting till super late (or early!) I don't think Riley and Jeremiah even went to sleep at all.

But it was fun to catch up, and I had 7 bags of clothes for Joy, Jeremiah and Tina's new grand baby Aubrey! We decided to tell the kids about the cruise the night before because Riley had a scrimmage game on Saturday morning that he didn't want to miss. He kept asking us why we couldn't just leave on Saturday morning instead of Friday night. We didn't want him to think we didn't care about his game, but we really had to be there by Saturday morning! And it was such a mad rush to get there, and so late when we got in, I didn't take any pictures! We did get to meet Josh's new wife Ashley too, since they had come in to town to surprise Tina for her birthday.

Baby Bird is IN the Nest!

Riley got home around midnight, and was all excited to tell us all about his trip and everything he did and how much fun he had. It was a great experience for him and he won 2 challenge coins that are very pretty, I will have to take pictures of them to post. Here is a picture of his breaching team:

And Hunter was very happy to see his boy!

Regan's Birthday Dinner

Regan has been wanting to go to a Hibachi type place for dinner for a while now. She wasn't sure what it was called, but kept saying one of those places where they cook in front of you with a lot of fire! So, I found a Groupon for a new place that just opened in Pflugerville, so we thought we would bring her for her birthday dinner. She loved it!

The chef we had was great, he was very entertaining, and Regan loved him. He tossed shrimp into everyone's mouth (Riley was great at this, and he even tossed one from across the table and Riley caught it, everyone was suitably impressed).

At one point, he lit the stove on fire, and it made a big whoosh, and Elise completely freaked out! It was the funniest thing we have ever seen! People across the restaurant were laughing at her. She just sat there and shook her hands back and forth and her face was priceless. I grabbed her and she held on to me like she would never let go! It sounds bad, but it was really cute. She never cried, but her lip kept curling down like she wanted to. She came around and later one when he lit some more things on fire, she was much better with it.

Regan has had 2 of her horseback riding lessons that were her birthday presents from us and her Mimi and Papa, and she is LOVING them! The horse farm where she is taking lessons does horse shows, so she can't wait to get into one of those. Not sure what that takes, but I guess we have something to work towards.

And then we have just some random update pictures. Elise is doing great, she's really enjoying trying to crawl and pull up and get around on her own. She's so cute!

Hunter and Elise

This is just a cute picture that David took. They love each other!

Lake Pflugerville

We decided to take Hunter to Lake Pflugerville to see if we could swim, and maybe, possibly, hopefully, wear him out a little bit. Well, he can swim, and quite well, and we didn't come close to wearing him out! That dog is like the Energizer Bunny, too bad I'm not.



He loved it. The water was a little cold (for Riley) but once Hunter got in, he was swimming back and forth and around and around. He had a great time. There were other dogs there too so he got to make some friends, and run around the lake and swim some more. I see a lot of lake trips in our future!

Puppy Post!

I know I haven't updated on the puppies in a while. Mostly because the new one just bugs the living daylights out of me! He's just SO MUCH work!! He is quite a handful, and I already have my hands full. But, he's sweet when he's tired. Which just isn't often enough. But, here's a picture that shows how much he's grown. He used to love to sleep in Princess's bed, and now he's outgrown it quite a bit. And Princess got her yearly shave cut to get ready for summer. She looks like a rat. Hunter literally did a double take when he saw her for the first time! I thought he would stop trying to grab her by the hair and drag her around, but now he just tries to grab her at the back of her neck like a mother dog, and drag her around. She does not appreciate it.

Fun Baby Times

I'm home all day with the kids at school, it's just me and Elise (and the dogs-but they aren't as fun) so of course I just take pictures and videos all day.

Elise loves, I mean LOVES the iPad. I downloaded some baby games and she will sit there and talk and laugh, it is so stinking cute! So here's a video of her laughing at an iPad game: (click here)



And she was taking a bath one night, she loves bath time, and I was looking for some of Regan's toys that she can play with, and found this black dragon toy from a Happy Meal from years ago. I tossed it in the tub and she freaked out! She does NOT like him. I don't know why, but anytime it gets close to her she freaks out, blinks her eyes and pouts, it's too funny, so of course, I took a picture.



And one of Hunter being a bad dog and trying to take off with a couch cushion. That boy is a handful I tell you! He needs/wants constant attention, and I don't have the time to give it to him. We are about to get him into some puppy training though, so that should help.





Anyway, enjoy the pictures, you know there will be more to come, many, many more!

We Have Lift-off!

Finally, 2 pokey-uppey ears! He's getting so big! He's such a sweet boy but man, is he a handful. Especially around 6 in the morning. He has a lot of energy after sleeping all night. Too bad I don't :(

Busy Busy Busy

It's been a crazy busy week! We had our first ever Women's Conference at church this weekend, and David and I were both volunteers. It was so much fun. On Friday night, we had a photo booth, with all kinds of fun props and hats and stuff, it was really cute. Charlotte Gambil was the guest speaker and she was amazing! What a great way to open the conference. Tammy came and spent the night with me, her church had a group of ladies come to the conference, so it was fun to have my BFF there. The after party was great, there was hot cocoa and coffee, chocolate dipped pretzels and popcorn, frozen yogurt, line dancing, it was fun.


Then we were back bright and early on Saturday for a full day of fun. I just love our church. There were so many fun skits and videos and the meetings were just awesome. Christine Caine and our pastor's wife, Lori Champion, spoke on Saturday, with Charlotte Gambil again. I just keep saying over and over, it was so good.

Anyway, that kept us busy the whole weekend. And on Sunday after church we took Riley and Hunter to the skate park, Riley rode his bike around while we walked Hunter around the hike and bike trail, and he loved it. It really wore him out and he slept great that night. We really need to do that again! He loves to smell EVERYTHING so walking is slow going, but he's learning. The skates and bikes kind of scared him, but he was getting better. He's also getting SO big. His other ear is finally starting to poke up too, so I think he might end up with 2 pokey-uppey ears after all!

 Hunter snuck a nap on the couch while mom and dad were gone! Bad boy!!

More Pictures!

Cause I know you all want to see how big he is getting!

  MOM! He stole my bed!

One ear is starting to stick up, makes him look crooked!

Belgian or German?

Guess which one is Hunter? David was reading one day about Navy SEALs and the dogs they use are called Belgian Malinois, so he googled it to see what they are, and wow, sure looks like our Hunter! We were just told he was a German Shepherd, possibly a mix, but now we're wondering if part of that mix is Belgian?! Of course, they are super high energy dogs that require a ton of attention and training and they want a job to do or they will become neurotic, so guess whose days just got a little bit busier?

One of our friends from church is a K9 police officer and he trains German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois, and we showed him the pictures of Hunter and he said he sure looks like a full blood Belgian. I kind of think he's a mixture of both, but now that I know how smart he is, I'm very disappointed in him for not being house trained yet! Riley has really been working with him on sit, stay, down, etc. and he's doing great on those, but he doesn't seem to want to be housebroken, OR sleep past 5:30am.

Good thing he's cute. That's all I can say.

The Super FUN Week

Can you detect my sarcasm? It HAS been a fun week. Well, it kind of started off fun, we had dinner with friends, and that was fun. Then I got the flu, and the puppy took about 3 giant leaps backwards in the whole potty-training business, and decided that 5am is just as good a time as any to be up for the day and eating shoes.

And there's a little matter of about 400 boxes of Girl Scout cookies with MY name on them staring at me from my living room. And me with no energy to do anything about it but whine.

But, in my near-delirious state on the couch, I would hear Hunter on the move and jump up and run to the back door to let him go potty outside, so although I haven't gotten the much needed rest to get over the flu, the house training is back on track.  Regan and I had a really good cookie booth last night where we sold 80 boxes, so I feel a little better about where we stand there. And right now, everyone is gone but me and the tired dogs. I think I am going to catch up on some DVR and enjoy the silence.

Regan was invited to a "Rock Star" birthday party tonight. She was so excited, wanted me to buy her a whole new outfit, with new high heel shoes and hoochie mama shorts and everything. She's in this awkward phase right now, the girl section is too "girly" and the women's section is too "womanly" or, hoochie. Not that it's stopping her, she would be fine with some hoochieness. But that's not leaving my house! Also, I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of buying a new outfit AND a birthday present, so we compromised and got a new shirt and a clearance scarf.

She came home so excited, but quickly got upset when she saw her friends looking "more glam" than her. We have no "hair crinklers" (yeah, left that back in the 80's) no spiky high heels, no funky jewelry. Sorry, I'm too plain Jane for my 10 year old I guess! Well, she was upset, ready to not even GO to the party, and I promised her I could glam her up like nobody's business. She wasn't convinced, she said all my stuff was too "old lady" and nothing, NOTHING would work for her. So, I found my mom's old jewelry stash, and boy, we hit jackpot. My stuff is too old lady, but not my MOM'S?! HELLO?! She was flabbergasted that I didn't wear her stuff all the time, but she felt super glam with her huge silver clunky earrings, double pearl necklace, silver hair clip, all kinds of jewelry goodness! She did wear my wedge heel boots, so I'm not a total fuddy-duddy I guess.  Then I brushed on some of my purple sparkly eye shadow (hello, only a super cool mom has purple sparkly eye shadow!) and she was good to go.

Anyway, drama queen has left the building so I think it's safe for me to relax! And the boys have tickets to see Top Gun at the IMAX. Boring. And here's a picture of Hunter, who likes to "help" me load the dishwasher.

The Cuteness

Prepare for an onslaught of cute...

Puppy and Cookies

That is the story of my life these days. Puppy puppy puppy cookies cookies cookies. I'm up half the night with the puppy, and out all day with cookies! Not really but it seems like it.

The good news, I started crate training Hunter and he's doing MUCH better. Last night he slept from 11-5:30 (which is the longest stretch of sleep I've had since we got him!) and then I took him out and put him back in his crate till 6:30 when we get up. He whines a little when I put him back but he goes back to sleep pretty quick. He's getting so big too!

As for cookies, we're almost to 600 sold. Which is pretty good because we're not quite to the halfway mark of selling, but we are over halfway done with OUR goal. I'm hoping we can sell another couple hundred this weekend, and be on the downhill slope from there.

I took a night off from booths last night to renew my CPR certification, and Riley came too. He's been wanting to take CPR and I think it helps him in Sea Cadets, for his Quartermaster or something! And here's a link to a recent article about his Recruit Training that he went to: http://www.thelighthousenews.com/news/2013/jan/23/sea-cadets-hold-10-day-training-at-nbvc/

Well, that's about all that's going on around this neck of the woods!

He's Growing!

We got Hunter a crate to sleep in, although he hasn't slept in it yet, he's been sleeping with me and David. But we put him in it when we leave and during the day he will go and take a nap in it with the door open. I think he likes the Tempurpedic bed, he's given up on sleeping with the kids and comes to our bed in the middle of the night. I get up and take him out once or twice, and he crawls back to the middle and falls asleep again. He just can't look at Princess, or she growls at him, she doesn't want to share her mom and dad!

Meet Hunter (maybe)

David and Regan, but mostly David, have been wanting a German Shepherd for so long. I've been looking at shelters and have found a few options, but one had heartworms, one was too old, etc. David really wanted a puppy, so every few days or so I would check on the websites and see if I could find anything. Well, this guy popped up, and we went and got him almost immediately! We didn't tell the kids, just in case, but you should have seen their face when we walked in the door with him! He's super cute, around 8-10 weeks old, and his name was Heath, but Regan has always wanted to name her German Shepherd "Hunter". So, we're seeing if that fits him. He's about the same size as Princess right now, and he wants to play, and sometimes she does too, but for the most part she's just wondering where in the world this young whipper-snapper came from! Monty is not impressed. He just stands his ground and fluffs out his tail and opens his eyes as wide as they go, going for that "don't mess with a crazy cat" look. He slept all night with Riley, so tonight Regan says it's her turn. He's a cuddle bug. And he's passed out now cause I took him for a walk. As a friend told me, a tired puppy is a well behaved puppy!