Sandy Bottoms

Last weekend we made a trip to Ohio for a day with family. While our schedules have been crammed full lately, I'm SO glad we made the time to get there. We had a great time!

It was the first time we had traveled with both dogs (other than to the vet). It was also the first time either of the dogs had had a chance to play in water. While Weimaraners are water dogs, apparently Dublin did NOT get the memo. He's not such a fan of water. Translation....hates it.... so much so that when we go running, he will run around rain puddles so he doesn't get his feet wet. Seriously. He's not a fan. So we weren't sure how this pond playtime was going to go. As it turned out, it wasn't so bad after all (although I'd say he's still not a big fan of water).

First things first... right away he and Arya sniffed out a dead crayfish under the dock. Dublin snagged it, tossed it up on the beach, and proceeded to roll all over the dead fish like it was his long lost friend (see its claws sticking out under his cheek here? Ewww). Weird. And gross. But apparently it made him happy (just look at his goofy smiley face in the 2nd picture)

For the longest time he watched safely from the dock as the kids splashed and played. He wanted so badly to play with them, but he just wasn't willing to get wet in order to do it. So he looked on longingly, wishing he could be part of the action.

This is my niece, C.

And goofy Meagan, of course!

 

And C's little sister, D. The girls had a great time playing together all afternoon! 

Finally, at some point, Dublin decided that  he would test the waters. There was a football that he wanted, so he very cautiously tiptoed in. He never dared to go out far enough to where he couldn't reach and was required to swim.... that is until I scooped him up and plopped him out into the deeper waters. He swam just fine, but wasn't too happy about the whole thing.

Let's face it... this is NOT a look of joy on his face. But hey, at least he retrieved his football!

Arya seemed to have less of an opinion on the water in either direction. I think she was okay with it, but she didn't go in because Dublin wasn't going in. Plus, she had quite an affinity for the sand and was perfectly content to dig down into the sand and make a cozy little spot for herself.

Cracks me up!!! She looks like a cartoon character!

So, that, in a nutshell was our day with family. We went to the park and did family photos. We cooked out. We went swimming. The kids played on a big giant water slide. And the dogs ran around outside all day in a cloud of happy puppiness. It was a great day! So worth making the time to get there!

Of course, I had to get the memories into my 2013 album. Here's my 1st page... Dublin and his crayfish.

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The 1225

These are OLD photos - I pulled them out of the 2009 archives (and I can't beleive it's been that long since we took this trip)! I was prompted to go digging for these pictures based on the fabulous train doodle (see it there in the photo strip?) that Mirjam of Pink Reptile Designs released this week! I saw it, and instantly this fall colors tour came to mind. What a great day! I will never forget how awe-inspiring those 2 steam engines were as they rolled into the station rainy darkness of early morning. Indescribable really. So anyway, I dug out a few of my favorite photos from that trip and put together a quick layout. I think I need to go back and properly document that trip. Perhaps this is the first page of that. (If only I had infinite free time *sigh*)

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Life with 2 Weims

It's been 3 weeks since we picked Arya up from the airport, so I though I'd give an update.  Adjusting to the new puppy has been going pretty well so far. For the first few days, Dublin did lots of fly-by sniffing, trying to figure out why she wasn't leaving. I guess after he figured out she was planning to stay for a while, he decided to give her a chance.

Right away we saw him take her under his wing, so to speak. He taught her how to play - very important to a Weimy. He was super gentle with her, while letting her be as rough and tumble as she dared. It was great! She also learned to walk on the leash much more quickly than he did when he was a puppy, and we think it has had a lot to do with walking them together. She watches EVERYTHING he does, and she tries to emulate him. Other than zigzagging back and forth when she's not walking right next to him, she does a great job on leash!

She's also sleeping through the night, and she is kennel trained!!  They "go in" every morning around 8:30 or 9:00, and they nap until about 1:30. That's in line with my work hours, so we intentionally chose to get them on that cycle. It has worked wonderfully! Now she willing trots into her kennel when it's time to go in. Anything for a little peanut butter treat!!

Andy potty training.... she is doing GREAT! She has gotten the concept of going to the door, ringing the bell, and going potty outside. The only issues come when we aren't paying attention. If we miss her attempt at going to the door, she will go in the floor. We are confident that as she grows and gains more control, this will dissipate. She's super smart, and has trained easily!

All in all, now they're BUDDIES! Two peas in a pod. Mutt and Jeff. Beavis and Butthead. Whatever you want to call them. Playtime is funny stuff. There's lots of this....

Hey, what does she have? 

Let me see if I might want that....

Yep, I wanted that.

 And there's LOTS of tug of war... sometimes Arya even wins!

And there's lots of hanging out together once they've worked out their crazies...

All in all, we're so glad we made the crazy decision to get a second Weimy!!  How could you not love this baby face??

Our Happy Place

Here it is, the beginning of August, and I have FINALLY finished my album for the 1st 3 months of 2013. That's not really all that great of a time table, but hey! Done is done, right?! I decided this year to to a combination of Project Life pages and regular scrapbook layouts. I just merged them all together in one book and printed the book. The benefit of doing it this way is that everything is in one book, all nice and neat. There's no need for a separate album for Project Life and other layouts, is there? ???
The downside to taking this approach is simply this: EVERYTHING has to be done before you can print anything. I had to go through all of my photos for the 1st 3 months and make sure I had everything done that I wanted to do. Every weekly spread. Every individual layout. Everything. That takes time. More time than I anticipated... although maybe that has something to do with not having a lot of free time anyway??  Maybe.

So, here's the last layout I did for my 1st 3 months of 2013:
I have a whole series of photos (no surprise there) of one of our walks to the woods. They were some sweet pictures that I couldn't stand to exclude from our album.

This is what it will look like in the album...

So, as soon as the page was done, I uploaded it to my Shutterfly album, saved it, and ordered it. It looks like I should get the book sometime on Monday! I'm excited to finally have book in hand, something to look at and hold and look at some more.

Now, for devising some genius plan for getting caught up. Because at this rate, it will be mid 2014 or later before I get done with 2013... that can't happen! Or, it just might happen... we'll see.

Kids' Room Redo

Last Saturday, the kids loaded up in Grandma H.'s van, and headed off for a week(ish) of summer vacation adventure. That left Lucas and I (and the 2 knucklehead dogs) at home twiddling our thumbs (paws?). What to do with all this quiet free time?  I know!! Let's totally gut and redo all 3 bedrooms! Yeef!

To be fair, we had already painted Sebastian's bedroom the weekend prior, so we only had to paint 2 rooms. But still, there was LOTS of gutting and reorganizing and purging to be done. LOTS. Why do my kids have so many stuffed animals? There are some questions in life that can never be answered.

At any rate, we worked hard and painted for HOURS on end. Truthfully, if I don't have to paint anything else for a while, I'll be okay with that. (Sadly, I have projects lined up out the door that require my painting attention... a few days off to rest the hand, and then it's back to work for me).

The kids got home from Grandma & Grandpa's today, and they were seriously excited and surprised! Meagan actually squealed. She's not a squealer. We did tell them that after all the hard work it took us to get all the trash and junk OUT, it was NOT to find its way back IN. We'll see how long that holds out before we're asking them to clean it up again. *sigh* If only theory and reality would line up in real life. *lol*

So here it is... the big reveal...

Sebastian's room:
Yes, it's a very yellow wall. And pretend like his furniture is all sanded and nicely painted a dark brown/black color... that's one of those painting projects that I mentioned a minute ago. This was actually my grandparents' first bedroom suit together when they first got married. When I was in high school, my grandmother redid it for me, and now here it sits in Sebastian's room. It's maybe not the most stylish of colors currently, but it's solid wood... you just can't beat that!

This is the view from the door...

Isaac's room:
Isaac never asks for much. But when we were picking out the colors for his room, he asked for a bright green wall. Um...really? Bright green, huh? Like I said, he never asks for much. If this is a request that means enough to him that he would actually speak up and ask for it, then I guess I can at least TRY to oblige. As it turns out, I really like how it turned out. Yes, it's bold and loud, but it fits him. When he saw it, he was thrilled! He said one of his favorite things about the room was his big green wall. So, no, I will not be painting my own bedroom bright green, but if he's happy, I'm happy!

The view from the doorway...
We moved his bed. I wouldn't normally position a bed so that it blocks the view from the doorway, but this seriously is the best placement for it. It makes the rest of the room feel so much bigger like this.

I think this is my favorite little niche of the room. I love the symmetry. And the books. And that he finally has a shelf to show off HIS trophies (try having a big brother who needs steel braces to support all the darn medals hanging on his wall). Isaac doesn't do sports that involve individual awards, so he really only gets the end-of-season trophies. And still, he has never had a place to display them and be proud of them. Now he does.

It's hard to see, but the sheets have blue, green, and gray stripes on them... that's where the inspiration for the big green wall came from... the green stripes in the sheets. And one lonely green pillow. *lol*

Meagan's room:
Meagan has said for the past year that she wanted to have an ocean room. In her mind, this would include seaweed and mermaids painted on the wall. In my mind....not so much! *ha*  I did my best to really bring a beachy ocean feel to the room without going overboard (and no seaweed!). I LOVE how it turned out! Especially tonight, when we were able to turn the lanterns and candles on, and enjoy the peaceful, quiet darkness...so magical. I would have loved to have a room like that as a child (I better be careful...if I get started on my childhood room woes I may never stop! *if you only knew*).

The view from the door...

 I had this fishing net from a birthday party we did a few years ago. I still have to work on getting it to hang just right, but this is the gist. And I plan to weave a few seashells in there as well. She needs seashells, which is a concession I am willing to make. We hung the lanterns in the corner using Command Strip clear hinged hooks. We simply stuck the hooks to a flat spot on the ceiling, and hung the lanterns with fishing line. They have battery-operated LED lights in them, so I'm SURE they will be turned on for bedtime! The candle by the fish tail is also an LED candle. And we also have little tea-light LED candles that change color. Fun night lighting going on in this room!!

I found this fish and the glass candle dish at Pier 1. They make me happy. Currently, the fish actually has a broken fin that needs to be soldered back on, but he still looks cute as he is.

Lots o' Layouts

The kids were on vacation with their grandparents for a few days, which meant two things... 1) my house stayed clean, and 2) I actually had time to scrap.... yes, even with a new puppy in the house. 

Rather than doing one post for each layout, I'll just dump them all here in one post. 

Ride the Waves... These pictures were from last summer and our days out on the lake in Ohio. 

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Family Snuggle Day... This is an insert for my album. I had a bunch of pictures that I took one day while we were being lazy bums around the house. They aren't stellar photography, but the pictures say a lot about our life and our family. I loved the details that can be pulled from them... like Dublin's frog Pillow Pet on the couch (that he has since dismantled), and the fact that he chewed hangars like bones for quite some time. I also love the fact that these pictures ooze with love and comfort. How can you not love that?! So, great pictures or not, I wanted to make sure they were included in the album.

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Hey Handsome... Another insert page for the album. I had this funny series of photos of Dublin and his football (yet another toy that he has since dismantled). His expressions and playfulness are all over these photos, and I couldn't bear to leave them in some dark dusty corner of my computer files.

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Tacos... Snow day, March 2013... We celebrated the day off of school with lunch at Taco Bell. Just one of those fun moments that build up life's memories.

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Summer Vacation... Just a quick page that I threw together to document our first evening at the cabin on our vacation this year. Roasting marshmallows was on the top of the kids' priority list! And, of course, s'mores!

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Squishy Puppy Face

Today marks our one week anniversary! Of having 2 dogs, that is!  Last Friday, we welcomed Arya to our home, and a week later, here we are. She is not kennel trained and sleeping through the night on her own. And she is doing well, although not perfect, with the potty training. We're getting there. For the first few days, she did nothing but sleep. Now, though, the stress of the travel and the change has worn off, and she is spunky and feisty and sweet as can be!

I found her online through PuppyFind, which is also how we found Dublin. I have had puppy fever for...well, about since we found out we really enjoyed having Dublin... it's been months! And for the past month at least - probably longer - I have stalked Puppy Find for a blue Weim or some other such super cute puppy that I could love and hug and call George (or Arya). Well, the breeder where we got Dublin had a litter with 2 blue females in it, but they were gone within hours. When I saw we had missed out on those, I was heartbroken. We had a small window of time to be able to get a puppy and work on getting her trained before the kids are back in school and I am back to work. That meant, the puppy had to be the right age right now, and we had to be able to get her ASAP. Well, I did one last search, and found two female blues... in Miami, FL. *sigh* It was a loooooong shot, but I figured I could at least call the breeder to see... 

To my surprise, he came back with a pretty decent price for the puppy and shipping. Cheaper than if I were to have purchased the same puppy from our local pet store (trust, me, I looked into that option). So, after MUCH back and forth of do we / don't we, we decided to go for it. 

We picked her up from the airport last Friday afternoon. Her flight got in at 11:15, and we were supposed to pick her up at 11:40. But at 11:20, on our way to the airport, we completely blew out the right front tire on the van. We were turning in to get gas, and I heard a huge explosion and the van shook. Errr....truly, NO idea what happened, but it looked like the side of the tire had been stabbed and slashed.  Luckily, it happened right in front of our service station, so I didn't have to drive far on my rim. As soon as I got the van in for service, I called the airlines to tell them we would be late. They promised to hold the puppy in the office for me, no worries.  An hour and $180 later, we had our new tire, and we were back on the road.

So, we finally got her home after what seemed like a day-long fiasco.  We set her up in the front yard, and then Isaac went into the house to get Dublin. There was lots of sniffing and curiosity, but nothing else really. He wasn't sure quite what to think, but he was gently and sweet with her. Over the course of the last few days, though, they have begun to develop into buddies. They constantly look for each other, hang out in the same room, and even sometimes lay down by each other. If one goes outside, the other has to be right there too. And Dublin has gone to great lengths to teach her how to play... It's funny because he looks and sounds like he's being rough, but if you really look, he is being very gentle with her. I love it.

Okay, some pictures... you may have seen these on facebook already. But if you missed them on there...

 

As for her name... Arya is a character in Game of Thrones. She is a little girl who is born to a noble family, but who doesn't want to be a lady, she would rather be a warrior. This was the name that all 3 kids liked the best of all the names we came up with as options. I guess if you can get 3 kids to agree, you go with it.

week 13

Week 13 of 2013 was primarily focused on Easter. But not entirely. There were some other noteworthy events that week as well... like I GOT MY NEW CAMERA!! And we grilled out for the first time this year. And Isaac had a friend over after school. And we made cherry chip cupcakes (and we also made Brussels' Sprouts, but cupcakes are better).

Here's the whole spread....

The left side...

The right side...

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I love the colors and fun pictures from this week. Bright and happy and full of energy! A lot of these were taken with my NEW camera!!  I ended up getting a Nikon D5200. As of yet, I have still not learned how to use manual settings, and would LOVE to someday take a class or two to learn. But the auto settings and scene selections are abundant and can pull off some pretty great photos on their own.

Winter Walks

One more to share today. I had a second to get (a little) caught up on some of my layout posting. I'm sure there are still tons I've missed. One thing at a time, though, right?!

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Mr. Bubbles

A new layout to share with you today! I used July BYOC goodies available at TLP.

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