Ornery Puppy!

So I posted about Rei liking to sit on the couch.

Each morning we have our routine we usually follow. Hubby gets AC up and ready for school on his own. Then Hubby comes in and wakes me up- if Rei hasn't done so already. I will unhook her off the tie down from beside my side of the bed and call her up on the bed. She jumps up and we'll spend a good 20 mins or so cuddled up together and usually rubbing her belly.

I'll then ask her if she's ready and she starts to spin circles on the bed, hopping all around in excitement, knowing that she's about to be fed. I get up and when I get my hearing aids and glasses on, she takes a flying leap off the bed and runs for the playroom. I'm usually greeted there with a nose to the floor and butt up in the air, tail wagging fiercely- or rather I should say nearly her whole rear end wagging and as I get closer she starts to hop around on all fours straight up in the air in excitement.

We then go into the laundry room, where she assumes her position of sitting by the back door and I'll scoop out the food and meds she gets each day, as she sits there waiting for the command to come eat- drooling from both sides of her mouth. LOL!

Now on days that one of the kids are home- she follows them and I around as I'm not usually able to settle down to the computer or crawl back in bed for a few more Z's before starting my day. However, on the days that it's just the two of us, the morning is usually started with an Ornery Puppy!

The Ornery Puppy comes out as I sit down to the computer to check email and the puppy wants to play. Rei invariably tears down the hallway to AC's room and will grab one of the several stuffed animals that he has. Each night he will choose one animal to sleep with and the rest go under his bed, leaving quite an array of critters for Rei's choosing.

Rei has shown a particular liking for this white bunny that he really likes as well. So we have this ongoing battle of making sure she doesn't tear a hole in it, in her antics to get my attention to play with her... which is after she has acquired the bunny/bear/monster (usually the bunny) she RUNS back to the playroom and is tossing it up in the air, rolling over on her back, butt in the air some more just taunting me to try to come get it from her. STINKER!

So on this particular morning that I took these pictures, she didn't get too much response out of me and she wasn't too aggressive about it, so she quickly moved to the couch and in her usual position to look out the window. I turned around to see if she'd finished with the bunny and if I'd be able to get it w/o rewarding her antics with my attention and thought this site was too cute so took some pics of her.

Rei looking out the window, bunny laying on the top of the couch right beside her:


A close up of the same shot:


On the couch:
And here is a video from a few days later of her with another of one of AC's toys:

Fall School Pictures 2009

The girls school pictures came EARLY this year! Seriously, the 2nd week of school they came home with the forms to have their pictures taken and pictures were mid September. I was shocked!

Both girls did take good pictures though and here they are:

KT Grade 3:



and MD Grade Kindergarten:


AC's pictures were not until the first of October, so we are waiting for those to come in.

Halloween is coming!!!

With the end of September comes the talk about Halloween, Halloween costumes, and the annual party we have here at our house- always the Saturday before Halloween.

This year the kids were pretty set on their costumes already so they must have been thinking about it already. KT wanted to be Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, which didn't surprise me as she read completely through 4 of the HP books this summer and is working her way through the 5th one right now. So I found the Gryfindor robe on eBay for a lot less than most places were asking for it and ordered the tie for her as well. Luckily one of our small group friends has a wand she'll be able to use with it and she'll fill out the rest of the costume with clothes she already has.

MD is our girly girl so she wanted to be a mermaid this year. I found her a mermaid costume and went ahead and splurged for it since I'd bought KT a whole new costume last year. So ordered the costume and boa for MD and of course as soon as it came in she had to try it on:


It's a little long on her so I've pinned up the middle section, bringing the tail of the dress up just under the chest piece easily, thus shortening it for this year.

AC- Man he's our easy one. Last year he insisted on being a Ladybug, for whatever reason. Actually, he's always had and still has this fascination with ladybugs, especially real ones, which are abundant outdoors right now. So we were able to easily fit him with black pants, a red shirt, and some red wings with black spots last year. Super easy!

Then this year he said he wanted to be Scooby Doo! Low and behold- KT had worn a Scooby Doo costume at this same size and we still have it, which he is absolutely beside himself with the garage sale bought Scooby doo costume we have! Man if all three were this easy! LOL!

For Rei and I, I've found an angel costume for me and a cute devil costume for Rei. the hat for it is sooo cute on her! Cannot wait to get pictures of her in it! LOL!

http://www.costumeexpress.com/Devil-Dog-Costume/33524/ProductDetail.aspx

We'll see you all at the Halloween Party on the 24th!

MMMMMMMM Apple Pie! :)

With fall brings apples in season. :)

Great Banquet weekends were in full force and for the Men's weekend the head of Kitchen had requested of the community if they would bake some homemade apple pies for desert for one of the meals to be served.

I emailed asking if they still needed pies, but because it was very close to the weekend itself, I had Hubby go ahead and buy the stuff I needed to make multiple pies and at worst I put them in the freezer for us to use later on.

Sooo, I started off with a recipe for the crust from a good friend of mine. She linked me to this and goodness it was easy to make and soooooooo good! Definitely one to go in the recipe book for me!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/

Then I used the filling recipe from another good friend which was:

Filling:
7 medium apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt


And here is what we wound up with:



The process:

All of the apples peeled and cut up:


Pie crusts ready to go:


Filled Pies:


Pie with it's lattice topping:


Covered the others with foil and put in the freezer for later:


We baked one that day for Grandma's Birthday:


The aftermath of baking.... I think this is the messiest I've EVER been! LOL!



Rei even got in on the pie stuff- trying to help with cleaning up the flour that seemed to be EVERYWHERE!

Flour on Rei's nose and head (there's some on her rump too) from being there to "help" LOL!:



Also- Hubby asked me to bake the Carmel pie that was with the crust recipe so we made that one for him. While it was good, the pie itself was very soupy:



So all in all, I made a total of 6 pies in 2 days and we have 2 left in the freezer. Hubby ate the caramel one, kids and I ate the first one we baked, then Grandma got one, and then we took one to a get together with friends a couple of weeks later. The pie thawed very nicely and was GOOOOOOOOD!

Guide dog on the furniture or no....

Ok so I know the rules that you shouldn't let the dogs on the furniture, however I'll be honest. Rei only gets up on 2 pieces of furniture in our house- one being the leather couch in front of the big picture window in the playroom and the second being our bed.

I won't complain on this since she knows she's not to get up on any of the furniture and hasn't ever really tried to. She also doesn't try to get up on other people's furniture when we go places so I'll let her continue with this.

With the couch though- she makes me laugh often as she gets up on the couch and sits much like a person would sit, but facing backwards and then places her head on the back of the couch and will spend hours sitting there watching things going by, birds fluttering around and so forth! She's quite a dormant dog throughout most of the day when the kids are at school but good golly, watch out when they get home! :D

Here's some snapshots of Rei on the couch and some with MD too. :)

Rei sitting on the couch but looking at the camera:



MD with her arms around Rei- who is looking out the window at something going by:

Sept. 10th- MD loses her first tooth!

MD has been completely different than KT in this regard- as her new permanent teeth have been coming in behind the baby tooth and almost pointing inward. After a trip to the dentist in worries that the baby one wasn't working it's way out properly and because the new one was pointing inward, we received the reassurance needed that the baby tooth would indeed make it's way out like it should and that the new tooth would move forward into place.

So we'd been wiggling and tugging and trying to work the baby tooth loose without much ado, as MD was NOT receptive to having it messed with. So Hubby had tried to see it and it had finally came loose to the point that the back of the tooth was out but it was still attached in the front. MD was home and as we were eating lunch she began to cry that it was hurting after biting into her PB & J sandwich. I told her to come to me and let me take a look. As I took a hold of the tooth, she jerked her head back and out came the tooth! LOL!

The tooth in MD's hand:


The not-so-toothless grin since the other one was mostly in by this point:



The tooth fairy came for a visit that night, leaving two shiny new quarters in place of the tooth. :)

Now a month later- in late October, the tooth right beside the first one to come out is in the same situation- the permanent one coming in behind and the baby one working its way loose, so here we go again!

Comfy stuff!

While Hubby was out in the garage working on the table on Labor Day, I was inside with the kids going through all the new clothes and toys to take tags off and put them away.


And here is where I found Miss Rei after a short break from pulling off tags and hangers:

Labor Day weekend- Familiy birthday party

Every year since we have multiple members of the family with August birthdays- including my kids, we have one big birthday bash with dinner to celebrate. :)

This year Dan brought Honey with him since they were calling for thunderstorms so he didn't want to leave her at home alone. It was great to get to see her and the kids were all over her too. :)

Here's my kiddos (L-R: AC, MD, and KT)



Honey sitting at Dan's feet:


KT opening gifts:


Ms. Honey quietly laying on the floor:


KT with a new school dress:


AC's turn to open gifts:


Grandma helping AC read a card:


MD reading the book that she got while the others are opening presents:


AC LOVES dinos and was grinning ear to ear with his new dino book:


Grandma's turn to open presents!


Grandpa's turn:


AC giving Honey a big ole hug!


MD giving her a hug too!


Honey is enjoying the attention!


KT chilling out:


Family watching the gifts being opened:


A sweet picture of AC hugging Honey and she's just soaking it all up laying on the floor. :)


One last present for KT- a new bike from Grandma and Grandpa:


KT trying out the new bike after changing:


Dan and Honey watching the action:


The Guys all talking:


The dogs and all waiting for KT to come back on the bike: