Nap Time

Sunny has been in our family now for 15 months. You would think that everyone would be used to having her around.

This is not the case.

Our dogs simply cannot relax when she is in our home.

Except for Daisy. She's old and can sleep regardless of what's going on. But even she is on high alert when there's a toddler in the house.

This is what it looks like around my house after Sunny goes home.

It's nap time...

Daisy

Duke

Rascal

Birthday Photo; Summer and Duke

Summer has a front row seat to watch Dan open his presents

Yesterday after Sunny went home I grabbed my cross-stitch and

was joined on the couch by Summer (cat) and Duke.

Do Ya Wanna See Some Pictures?

I am so so far behind posting pictures of my granddaughter, that I thought I'd try to catch up today.

A few weeks ago, I started playing with puzzles with her. She loves to take the pieces and place them on Daisy and Rascal. One day I went to let Rascal out and he had three puzzles pieces laid out on his back. I have no idea how long he'd been walking around with them! This is a photo of her placing pieces on Daisy while she was sleeping.

One of the fun parts of our day together is walking around looking at the framed photos and identifying who's in the picture. I don't have a good framed photo of Gabe & Sunny, so last time they were over for dinner I took these photos. Didn't they come out good?

I found tons of bath toys on clearance at Target. Sunny loves them and I have to say this is the best 48 cents per toy that I've ever spent!

Below is a photo of the exceptionally nutritional lunch being served at Grammy's house.

Cheese sandwich, pineapple chunks, pumpkin pie, yum yum!

Stay tuned... more photos tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Rascal!

Happy 4th Birthday, Rascal!

Rascal is Zach's dog. But, he's slowly become our dog. Zach got Rascal his senior year in high school, but hasn't lived anywhere since then that would allow him to have the dog. Rascal is very sweet, and loves all the attention he gets at our house. Sunny is particularly enamored of Rascal, and screams her version of "doggie" whenever she sees him. She follows him around the house, patting him enthusiastically, pushing him away when his kisses become too much, and shoving her face in his when he's not kissing her enough.

My advice: Don't buy your kids a pet unless you're willing to have the animal forever,

even if your kid is 17 years old!

Happy Birthday, Daisy!

Today is Daisy's Official Unofficial Birthday. We adopted her in October 2005 and have no idea how old she is. When we took her to the vet for her first check-up, he told us she was probably somewhere north of 7 years old.

The next vet we took her to told us she was 10 years old or older.

That was five years ago and she's still going strong. So, I think maybe they miscalculated based on her poor condition.

We went to Petsmart one day to buy supplies for Duke, the dog we adopted in April 2005. Daisy was in the adoption pen, but I passed her by because she only had one eye. I wasn't sure how Dan would feel about a one-eyed dog.

He called me over to her and commented that she was just what I wanted and why wasn't I considering her? So, we went in and held her, heard her story, and decided to take a chance.

The story was that she had been found in a field and turned in to the Humane Society with a badly infected eye. So they removed it.

As I was filling out the paperwork, a lady handing out dog treats came by. She paused at Daisy and began to give her commands. "Sit". Daisy sat. "Dance". Daisy danced. "Roll over, speak, beg, shake". Daisy responded to all commands correctly. We were thrilled!

Daisy came home with us that day... one-eyed, very overweight, recovering from the spay surgery, but a very sweet little dog. Obviously abused, she yelped every time we touched her for months. It broke our hearts. She settled into our household, and today she rules the roost.

What Happens at Grammy's...

My friend Francesca gave me this bib last year before the baby was born. I just love it, and had great plans for the photo I was going to take and the post I was going to write. Of course, my granddaughter grabbed it and stuffed it in her mouth as I was feeding her cereal BEFORE I could take the photo. I decided to take it anyway, mixed cereal stains and all.

What happens at Grammy's house doesn't really stay at Grammy's house... I have too big of a mouth for that! I love to tell Katie (and all the rest of my kids) every little thing that we do when the baby is over here.

Since she's getting older and can do more things, I made a list of fun stuff for us to do for the two days she was here. ( I know, I know, another list!) I included playtime, story time, music time, outdoor time, taking a walk, and finger play time. We accomplished some of these items during the two days. My thinking was that I just don't want her to be bored, but now I'm kind of wondering if it's that I get bored!

I tried to take photos of our activites, but failed. One picture I really tried to get was of her kissing. I say "can I have a kiss?" and she leans in for a really sloppy kiss. It's very cute! Oh well, there's always next time. I did get a couple of cute shots of her and Rascal. It looks like she's doing "This Little Piggy" with his paws. He didn't growl this time when she touched his feet. He waits patiently for her to let go of a paw and then tucks it under himself so she can't get it. Of course, she just moves on to the next paw she can see!

This little piggy had roast beef...

This little piggy had none!

She also played with "Brownie" quite a bit. She likes to ride on him, but she doesn't like the sound effects that occur when you squeeze his ears! She kept squeezing them anyway, but would back away when the clippity-clop started. At least she didn't cry this time. I think when I lift her off of him she tries to figure out how to get back on.

"maybe I can vault onto his back"

"maybe a side mount?"

Guess I'll just smile pretty for Grammy