So we got a dog

                                         

So you know how I said one of my goals for 2013 was to get a dog, well get a dog we did. After a lot of searching, endless phone calls to my mother-in-law (who is pretty much the world's most knowledgeable dog person) we settled on this sweet little dog who was rescued from an attic in East St. Louis where she was locked up with her puppies. She had mange, heart worm and was otherwise not taken care of. The rescue organization got her, and she went pretty much immediately into a foster home (probably the number one reason we chose this organization- they are home based and so you can kinda get an idea of what the dog is actually like). She went through some crazy heart worm treatments, got lots of love from them, and then was delivered to us this past Friday. She already has us all smitten! Tripp has declared that she loves him the best, which is totally fine by me!

Her details:

Name: Padme (pronouced Pad-may) It's from Star Wars- one of the princesses

Size: about 40/45 lbs, her back is about at my mid calf and her head comes up to my knee.

Breed: Rottweiler/Hound mix- her body is more Rottweiler and her tail is docked, her face/ears remind me more of a hound

Temperament: Sweetest ever! She just hangs out with us all day. And that's about all! We take her for good, long walks to wear her out and then she just kinda chills all day!

Obedience: So far, she knows sit, stay, and down. She is house trained, doesn't really bark, does well on a leash. Could probably use a little more work on that though. Once she gets cleared of heart worms, she will hopefully become my running partner!!

So basically, she is the best ever. If you live in St. Louis, she has a brother up for adoption- he seems pretty awesome as well!

What a Weekend!

Last weekend we had an awesome (although admittedly sometimes crazy) trip to Birmingham. It involved meeting my best friend's boyfriend, dinner with our families to celebrate her 30th birthday, a half marathon, a surprise birthday party for my friend and then regular just hanging out time with my brother and sister-in-law. Both kids decided to not do the best job sleeping so we had some occasional extra crankiness on our hands. But the fun sure outweighed that! 

Great dinner Saturday night, complete with a totally tacky fake singing birthday cake and then followed by a real one with trick candles.

A little Sunday morning jog through Birmingham

I am still a little bitter that Courtney beat me- but hey, that's the story of our childhood- she is pretty much better at everything!

Second party for her (this time a surprise one with all her friends). I must say, I did a pretty great job getting her out of her own house and back to her own house for the party. It only involved a few lies (like "oh my goodness, we gotta go- Lily is throwing up all over the place!")

Sweet Lily and Uncle James. Tripp has a hard time sharing his Uncle with anyone else, but Lily was able to sneak a few snuggles in with him.

Can't wait to be back- hopefully sometime soon!!

15 month old Lily

Lily Billy (as her cousin and brother call her) is 15 months old! She is super fun to be with, babbles all the time and is constantly trying to figure all of life out! She does happen to have a scream that is unparalleled so that can make for some stressful moments. But thankfully, the older she gets and the more she can do, that screaming happens a little less frequently. We had a great visit with the doctor and got her updated stats:

Length: 32 1/4 inches (92%)
Weight: 25 lbs, 3.4 ozs (89%)
Head Circ: 19 in (97%)

We love you Lily and love watching you grow up!

Life is Funny

I realize that this may not be funny to anyone else except Nelson and probably my brother, but I'll post it anyway in case it provides a laugh for someone else too.

Lately Tripp has been wearing his helmet around just for fun. The same day that he started wearing it for seemingly no reason, the following comic strip ran in the Post Dispatch (St. Louis's newspaper). 

And then to top it all off, notice the kid's name, as seen in the next day's strip:

My mom was the one to send these pics to me, and I have been laughing about it ever since!

Surprise Snow

 

I had no idea it was supposed to snow last night, but it did and it actually was enough to play in! The kiddies had a great time. Well, Tripp had a great time, Lily was outside for 2 minutes and then face planted in the snow and decided she would rather be inside snuggling with Daddy. So Tripp helped clean off our cars, made snow angels, two snowmen (or snow Batman and Robin) and just some general good snow play.  You can't beat a good weekend snow!

                                                  

                                                  

Just wanting to be big

In my very non-scientfically based opinion, I am pretty sure Lily just didn't like being a baby. Now she is walking, doing things with purpose, and interacting more with all of us, she is so much happier. Of course all four molars are coming so that has put a damper in her happiness, but overall, she just loves being big. She will sit and read books (her favorite are Goodnight Gorilla and Hug) get her shoes when it is time to go somewhere, bring a snack to Tripp, throw trash away, help me put away the dishes- basically give her a task, she will do it. I would want to be included in things too, so who can blame her?

  

                                                  

                                                  

Homemade Donuts!

It's no secret that I like to bake and I love it when Tripp (and now sometimes Lily) accompany me in the kitchen. It's also no secret that the majority of our family members love breakfast for dinner, so we often find ourselves baking new breakfast recipes. And lastly, I have tried to let Tripp plan and help me cook at least one dinner a week (which is usually Saturday night). So combine all those things and our Saturday night dinner this week was eggs, homemade donuts and fruit. We got our donut pan, found some recipes on Pinterest, and went to work. Lily decided to join us for the icing part and Tripp was kind enough to share some with her. 

                                                    

                                    

Even though they are heavy on the sprinkles, our donuts were quite tasty! Here's to many more meals planned by Tripp!