spoiled rotten dogs

it's official, we spoil Lily.  I can't deny it.  Not that we let her get away with everything, not at all, it's just that she's so dang cute we baby her!

Lily got balloons for her birthday in the end of November.  They are her favorite toy!  Through trial and error, she has learned how to carry them around by the knotted end so that she doesn't pop them.  It's funny to see her wander around the house with a balloon hanging out of her mouth.

 

She's also a very good napper... she'll nap just about anywhere...

Tonight she was cuddled up with Dave on the couch, sound asleep.  When Dave got up she barely batted an eyelash... he felt obliged to tuck her in...

 

 

Yeah... we don't love our dog at all... do we?  ;-)

Amerah: ouside of the box

Amerah is either the worst colorer ever or a creative genius.  I can't decide.  She's ten and finds it difficult to color inside the lines.  She also leaves gaping white holes in her coloring which make my inner perfectionist cringe.  Amerah is, however, incredibly gifted at making something out of nothing.  Her ability to think outside of the box is enviable and I think will be an asset to her later in life.

 

I offer the following examples...

My mother sent her some pipe cleaners (most everything begins with the words "my mother sent her..."  She made a hat (has a bit of a tiara look to it).

My mother sent her fleece... I showed her how to make a tie quilt... she tied it first into a baby hat... then a doll dress... finally a purse.  All without a single stitch.

I don't have any examples of her duct tape creations off hand but suffice to say the sky is the limit when it comes to duct tape!  In some ways I envy her.  A piece of tape is not simply a piece of tape.  A scrap of paper is not simply a scrap of paper.  She has vision and sees possibilities in the most unlikely places.

Amerah Baderah the Karate Queen

As many of you already know, Amerah studies martial arts... specifically Mu Duk Kwan Soo Bahk Do.  It's been neat to watch her progress, her instructor tells us that she has the best memory of any of the kids in her class... she just needs to focus a bit :-). 

As you can see, if you look at her belt, in Soo Bahk Do they go from a white belt to a white belt with one blue stripe.  The next step up is an orange belt.  So in the end of October Amerah went to test for her orange belt. 

 That's Amerah, third from left, in the back.  It was a much smaller test group than when she tested for her stripe (thank goodness!).

 

Amerah is again third from the left. It took just over a month for the paperwork to come back from headquarters.  When it did we had one happy little orange belt!

The following photos are of Amerah receiving her certificate and her belt... they're a bit fuzzy because I wasn't there and Dave was taking the pictures ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was so excited and put her all into that first class as an orange belt!  Dave got some pretty good action shots... Amerah is the blur in motion :-)

 

 

 Look at those jumps!  I'm so glad we got her into this!

Lily's First Birthday

My baby turned ONE on November 18th! 

 My how she's grown!  Weighing in at 80 pounds, miss Lily Bug Jones is one hefty one year old!  On her birthday, Lily got the biggest bone we could find... which she promptly demolished...

 

She also got a toy... supposedly for "strong chewers"... well, I'll let the picture speak for itself...

Amerah was desperate to have a birthday party for Lily.  She insisted that we have a huge party and invite every dog that we know.  I love my dog.  Not that much though.  We compromised by agreeing to have Uncle Rick and Aunt Donna over for dinner, with their dog Gracie.

It went very well!  I admit I was a bit nervous.  Last time Gracie and Lily met, they were the same size and Lily overwhelmed Gracie with her exuberance while Gracie taught Lily to respect her elders.  This time they got along well and played nicely.

I know... I know... I spoil her...

 

 

 

And no... they didn't get any cupcakes... :-)

It was really nice to have Uncle Rick and Aunt Donna over...

They brought Lily a new toy, which she absolutely LOVED!  She couldn't wait for Aunt Donna to get it out of its packaging!

We sang Happy Birthday... and Amerah was tickled to be able to make Lily's wish for her and blow out the candle...

Lily had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Rick and her new toy... I might add that, tough as the toy was, she's already separated it into three pieces: the head (which she uses as a ball), the middle (a ball that no longer has any fabric around it), and the many legged bottom that she uses as a tug o' war toy... sigh...

 

 

Aunt Donna and Gracie were all smiles!

By the end of the birthday celebration, Gracie was still ready to go but Lily was all tuckered out!

Happy birthday Lily, Mama loves you! :-)

First snow... November 10, 2011

On November 10, 2011, it snowed.  Big, white, fluffy flakes that promptly melted, as soon as their frosty tips touched the ground.

Amerah was over the moon!  She quickly donned her winter apparel and ran outside to frolick in in the white stuff...

 

 

If you squint... and cock your head to one side... you might, just might, see the snowflakes haha!  She was quickly joined by Christian, our very excited, four year old neighbor...

 

 

 

 

We haven't seen a single snowflake since.  In fact, today it was somewhere around 50 degrees or so!  I'm sure that winter will hit us soon, but for right now we are enjoying the warmer weather!