Memorial Day Weekend

Was very pleasantly spent. With not many pictures taken and lots of enjoyable relaxing. I always forget to take pictures when I am really enjoying my relaxing. I do have a few posts planned to share with you, but for now, here is how we spent our five day weekend.

P.S. There are lots of details about what we did with Lucy, mostly because I am trying to keep an accurate idea of how much socialization she is getting. I think she passed this weekend.)

Thursday:
Baby shower for Rachelle, Taylor, and Levi. There were lots of friends and family who came a long ways to be there to celebrate with them. Not enough time spent with each person, but nice just to have a chance to give them a hug. It was a very enjoyable shower, low key and happy, just how it should be. During the shower, Andrew and Taylor took Lucy on the trails in my parent's neighborhood to wear her out.

Track meet for Alec and Emma. It was fun for us all to go and watch those athletes compete. They make it seem so easy to do so well. Lucy came with us and got to meet lots of middle schoolers. She was a little sad that she couldn't run races with them, but quickly learned that it was much nicer to sleep in their laps.

The boys (My dad, Andrew, Taylor, and Alec) played raquetball for a bit while us girls chatted and looked over all the baby shower gifts.

Friday:
Walk on the trails in the rain with the dogs. Have to have some way to wear out a puppy!

Costco, REI, Target, and Petco. All for nothing in particular, just because it was pouring rain and we enjoy those stores! And yes, Lucy rode in the car and came to Petco with us.

BBQ at my Uncle Rick and Aunt Muriel's house to celebrate my Aunt Debbie's birthday and meet my cousin Bj's fiance, Alisha. She seems great and they both seem very happy together, a welcome addition to the family! Lucy got to meet Rick and Muriel's goats and didn't destroy any furniture, we will call that a success.

Watched Invictus on the lovely big screen at my parent's house, always a nice way to end the evening.

Saturday:
Walked on the trails in the rain with the dogs again.

Played card games as a family and spent our last few hours visiting together.

Andrew and I left and came back to Bellingham.

We spent the evening at his Uncle Dirk and Aunt Lisa's house letting Lucy play with their dog Sasha while we sat in the hot tub.

Sunday:
Costco, Office Depot, The Country Store, and Haggen. Lucy got to ride in the car again so that she could come in the Country Store while we picked a brand of dog food for her.

We took Lucy over to the home one of Andrew's coworkers where she played with a 6 month old Labradoodle puppy.

We walked around the Ski to Sea celebration and got some food while Lucy experienced the crowd. She met a full size Great Dane, lots of dogs, and lots of people. She did great.

Lucy stayed home (crashed hard) while Andrew and I went and spent the evening with some friends.

Monday:
We enjoyed being lazy while idling figuring out what is left to get done before summer officially starts.

We went to Hovander Park with Lucy. Here she met the same full size Great Dane from Ski to Sea, Alice, as well as 5 or 6 other dogs. She also ran along the river beach and followed us around off leash for a while.

Plan for the rest of the evening...nothing. Perfect! What a lovely weekend, only 2 weeks until this is our life for the summer. I can't wait!

I'm excited...

...for my 5 day weekend that starts tonight. So nice to think of 5 days straight with Andrew.

...to see Rachelle/Levi & and Taylor.

...that I only have 11 days of work left when I get back.

...that we are going to Priest Lake for a week in July with my family. Best vacation in the world! Oh and Utah, Idaho people, we may finally work in that trip down to see you all.

...to drink the Diet Dr. Pepper on my desk.

...to go to Folklife festival on Sunday.

...more salads straight from the garden.

...time.

Lucy's Friend Delilah

Lucy has been coming to work with me and sleeping in her crate in the car. Every day at lunch and after school I get her out and run her around and she meets people. She has a lot of friends. Last week, one of my coworkers got a new dog, Delilah, and brought her to work with her. We left them visit a little. I think they made good friends.

Day at the Park

A week ago today, we met my parents and Alec and Emma at a park in Marysville. We ate a picnic dinner, walked around, visited, and played with Lucy. They wanted a chance to see her before she got too big! So keep in mind these pictures are a week old...new ones coming soon!

Dog Crate?

We got Lucy's full size crate and are working on getting her used to it. Look how much growing she has left to do!

Last Weekend

I know this is a little late...but better than never!

Last weekend Tyler and Lynne came up for the day to hang out with us, and we put them to work. Aren't we nice? They helped us (meaning Andrew) build a more permanent pen for our duckies. During the day the ducks are fine hiding in the long grass, but at night they need somewhere safe to sleep.

Andrew had this picture in his head, and he put us to work making it happen.

He used a lot of scrap wood to cut back on expenses.

The finished product turned out quite nice!

Lucy spent a lot of time doing this. Yes, that is a bag of potting soil she is sleeping on.

Oh, and Andrew put up a drip watering system for our peppers and tomatoes! Great, isn't he?

Puppy Preschool

Our first day of puppy preschool was last night. I don't have any adorable pictures to show, maybe next time. But here is the run down.

• Lucy turned 10 weeks old on Wednesday, and she can attend puppy preschool every Thursday night until she turns 14 weeks.
• It is free! Yay for Tails a Wagging!
  
• We spent an hour with about 15 puppies, letting them play off leash, getting used to each other and other adults. We also did handling with other people's puppies. Picking them up, laying them on their back, playing with their feet and ears and mouth, and working on bite inhibition.
• Lucy did pretty well, she was a little shy at first, but not too much. She wandered around and watched lots of puppies play, only getting involved a few times. She was warming up quite a bit by the time we had to go.
• We will miss next Thursday, so we are going to try and attend a Doggie Social for dogs under 20 lbs (probably the only time she can go!) on Sunday. That way it won't be so long before she gets to play with a bunch of other dogs again.
• As soon as puppy preschool is over, we are going to start puppy kindergarten!
• Maybe some pictures next time, it was ridiculously cute to have so many little fuzz balls running around!

Need me some of this...

Don't you wish you felt this positive every morning?

Warm Animals

These are the last of the pictures from last weekend. Here's to another one just the same starting this afternoon!  Oh I am so ready for sun and no plans!

Whose picnic blanket is this anyways?

Warm enough for a swim!

Sometimes you need a break from the sun!

This is why it's hard to get pictures of her in action.

It's much easier when she is all tuckered out!

The chickens seem to be enjoying their safe outdoor space.  Now for some new bedding and good feed for them this weekend.  Maybe then they will start laying again!

Andrew Random

While I was uploading and sorting through all the pictures and video we took of our lovely weekend (last weekend), I found these in and amongst the pretty flowers and animals.

Andrew's fish shirt, old shoes, and tatoo

What's left of one of our landlords ducks after the unknown animal ate him a few weeks ago. 

Garden

Note:  I uploaded these pictures on Monday and have been trying to organize and finish this post ever since then.  There is no particular order.  Just go with the growing chaos happening around our house :).

The row of different tomato and pepper plants along with the old BBQ full of strawberries.

The long view down the front row of garden boxes.  What you see is:  Carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots, radishes, lettuce, spinach, beans, basil, cucumber.

First two sections of peas and their bamboo staking system that Andrew rigged up for them.  There is a third section planted later under the protection to the right.

Close up of some of those same peas from above.  Yes there are grass clippings...the lawn also got mowed this weekend!

Lilacs.  I have decided this year that they are added to my must have flower list.  There aren't many on that list, but these are one of them.  Love them, their color and smell are amazing!

One of the many squashes in tires around the yard.  We have 4 zucchinis, 4 yellow squash, and 4 acorn squash.  We have started 4 spaghetti squash and 4 huge pumpkins inside that will go out in a few weeks.

Our first bowl of salad greens straight from the garden.  Delicious!  This was just a thinning of our first planting, but we should have greens from here on out as we did several spaced out plantings.

In the boxes on the left from the front to the back there is kale, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.  In the boxes on the left from the front to the back there is radishes, spinach, swiss chard, carrots, and sweet onions.

More of those same boxes.

Sweet onions...so excited to eat these.

Some of our lettuce still growing.

Our first picking of radishes...this was supposed to be just a thinning, but I think these guys were ready.  They are tasty and we should have enough multiple plantings to keep us going for a while!

This is all corn.  You can't see it super well because of the lighting...but there are around 40 stalks growing.

So after seeing a lot of what is growing around the house...what more do you suggest? We have quite a bit more space.  And water for the rest of the boxes and tires won't be any different than what we are watering now.  So basically it would be a waste not to plant more.  We just needs some ideas.....

Lucy & the Ducklings

Lucy sure knows how to enjoy a lazy Saturday!

9 Weeks

Lucy had her 9 week vet appointment today and got a booster shot. She did great and the vet said she is picture perfect! Perfect growth,two pounds since last week. Perfect teeth and nails, and perfect personality. She has been doing great with crate training and sleeping during the times we are at work. Here are a few pictures from around our house the last week to prove it.

Weekend

Happy Late Mother's Day weekend! Andrew and I have been blessed with wonderful mothers, and we love you both very much. Thank you for everything that you do for us, we hope we can show you how much you mean to us throughout the whole year!

As for Andrew and I...we really had the perfect weekend, which we desperately needed. We had no commitments on either Saturday or Sunday (wow crazy!). So we stayed home, enjoyed the beautiful weather, played with Lucy and the cats and the ducklings, worked in the garden, worked on some projects, and laid around. We were bad children and didn't spend time with our moms, but we desperately need the time to be home together and relax. Thank you for understanding moms! We took lots of pictures, so you will get some posts this week!

P.S. Happy Birthday Alec! We love you!

Hangin' Around

So this video is nothing exciting. Just 9 minutes of me hanging around outside with Lucy. Lots of me calling her and her just looking at me. But you if you have the patience to watch the whole thing, you will also see the chickens in their new pen, the cantankerous pestered turkey do his dance, cats being catty, ducklings growing, and some backyard scenery.


P.S. I'm pretty sure that whatever website told me that the yellow ducklings grow up to be white ducks is wrong.

Quick Takes

...because I don't have the energy for any more.  I have a plan for this weekend to get some things done, so expect more exciting posts coming soon.  But for now, here is life.

1. Today kicked my butt at work. The only above and beyond "normal" was that my computer crashed. Like dead forever, erased hard drive. Including the 3 IEP's that I had just finished but had not printed. That are due next week so I have to rewrite them ASAP. Throw that on top of the usual Friday monkey business, assembly schedule, 3 paraeducators out, discipline issues, and WASL scheduling. It really almost pushed me over the edge.  Thank goodness for a supportive team, I couldn't have done it without help today.

2. I found out some exciting news that I can't share yet! I don't want to ruin their surprise. Keep checking Taylor and Rachelle's blog if you want to know, I'm sure they will post about it soon!  They are coming to visit over Memorial Day weekend and I can't wait to see them!

3.  My Poppy is in the hospital with heart troubles.  The doctor's have some ideas about how to help that they are going to try next Monday and Tuesday.  We are worried but are busy sending good thoughts and love his way!

4.  Lucy is so good at work.  No accidents, no crying.  Just lots of playing and visiting people on her breaks out of her crate.  Being forced to take my lunch break and play with her is good for me.  It's also nice to be forced to take a break at the end of the day and play for a bit and go talk to people about happy puppy instead of just work stuff.

5.  Radishes are ready to eat, peas need to be staked, garden weeded, and more squashes need to be put in the ground.  Our garden is going well, and we have plans to work outside this weekend.  Expect pictures.

6.  Andrew and Norm (the landlord's maintenance plus guy) added an outdoor portion to the chicken coop last weekend so that the chickens can go outside and not get munched.  So far they are still pissed and not laying but I'm hopeful.  We ran out of eggs and I had to buy more.  Yes, seriously.  After giving away eggs for weeks.  Ironic.

7.  I have 24 days left of work until summer.  Andrew has less.  Oh summer, I love you :)

Lucy News

Sorry if you hate hearing puppy news!

We are now on our third full day with Lucy, and we are doing pretty well.  So far the schedule juggling seems to be working.  She slept through the night last night in her crate with no accident, we weren't planning on trying that so early, but my alarm didn't go off.  Oops.  When I took her out this morning there was a big possum sitting in our grass right where we are trying to teach her to go.  We chose to move.  

Lucy spent the day at work with me yesterday sleeping in her crate in the car and me getting her out every couple of hours.  No accidents there either.  And she goes as soon as we take her out and then sits and looks up at us.  

I took her to the vet yesterday who gave her a clean bill of health!  Woohoo!  Andrew is spending the day with her today, trying to follow a pretty similar routine to what I did yesterday.  Wish him luck!  

She is definitely getting more comfortable at home and exploring more.  She has tried to play with the cats a few times and has been turned down.  But we have one that keeps trying to take over Lucy's dog bed.  More pictures of that soon.  For now here are a few pictures that Lynne took for me while we were at the breeders.  I was too busy playing with puppies and talking.  Enjoy!

Lucy sitting on the couch playing with the kids there.

Andrew holding Lucy.

Look at that face!

 Lucy amongst the other puppies we were trying to decide between.

 Two of Lucy's littermates

Tyler and Jagger, one of the breeders males dogs.  He's about a year old.

Lucy

You could say we were successful yesterday as we ended up bringing home this adorable little lady. Wish us luck the next few weeks as we juggle our schedules, crate training, and house breaking. But for today, we are definitely enjoying this new addition to our family.

She rode on a lap the entire way home.

Until we get her full size crate, she is sleeping in our large cat crate. And it is too big, so we added a box in the back. She is already getting adjusted to it and goes in there to sleep on her own.

She isn't too rambunctious, just short little spurts and then crashes quickly. This is one of those spurts.

And the crash.

For the most part, she just wants to be right with us: following us around, sitting on our lap, being picked up. We are hoping that we can train her to be a little bit more independent, she won't be able to fit on our laps for too long!