This post is going to the dog(s)

OK, here's the skinny: We are closing on our new house in 4 days. That means in just 4 more days we will have the keys to our shiny, new (to us) home in our hands! We are super excited to be moving to such a clean and well-kept house. We'd love to keep it that way as long as possible, but with a toddler and a baby who's about to get mobile we know it won't be too long before the house gets a bit beaten up. Add a dog to the mix and there's sure to be some damage!

This got us thinking about our dog situation. When we first got Annabelle we were DINKS and had nothing but time to devote to our pooch. Weekend trips to the dog park were common. We knew all the other dog parents not by their name, but by their pooch's name!

We got Annabelle at the end of our first year of marriage and just as we began our journey to conceive. During the next two years Annabelle became our surrogate child: our furbaby. You can see more about her first few birthday party's here: http://thefriendshipodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/03/when-is-dog-just-dog.html

When I was pregnant with Dominic, Annabelle, not my husband, gained sympathy weight with me. We were able to get it off shortly after Dominic was born. Face time with Annabelle gradually began to decline. We took a total of two trips to the dog park as a family until Dominic got knocked down by one of the bigger dogs and we decided not to go back until he was bigger. Now that little Jillian is here face time with Annabelle is pretty minimal. Jillian is a high needs child and sadly Annabelle takes a back seat where the kids are concerned.

Once we move to the new house David and I are determined to have Annabelle be an outdoor dog. Not ideal, but we don't want her nails scratching up our new house! We'll have enough to deal with in keeping crayons off the walls and juice out of the upstairs carpet!

This decision lead to another discussion: how will Annabelle take to being an outside dog? Honestly, I think we'll have a revolt on our hands. Annabelle is used to coming and going as she pleases (via her dog door) and sleeping in the master's bed (not my choice). Is it fair to exile her to live in the great outdoors?

As sad as it is to admit, Annabelle deserves better than what we've been able to give her lately. She doesn't get any exercise, except when Dominic chases her around the house with a foam sword, and she's started putting on more weight. She needs more attention than what we can give her.

So.....we have decided to offer her to a loving family that has the time, energy and attention to devote to her that we currently don't have. It's a difficult decision and we are praying that someone will fall in love with her and take her in to their pack.

What is an ideal family for Annabelle?
** preferably have children (she does GREAT with our two little's)
** a family that likes to share (she loves to get treats)
** energetic personalities (she loves to play chase)
** patient attitude (as a beagle, she likes to bark at squirrels, birds, pedestrians, pedestrians walking dogs, bicycles, you get the picture, right??)
** I'm guessing she'd prefer to be an only furbaby (she loves attention)

If you think your family would make a good match for our Annabelle we'd love to hear from you!

Baskets and Butterflies

This morning we had our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. I'm so glad it was this weekend and not NEXT Saturday as we'll be on vacay starting Monday.

Here are a couple of photos of our little man from today's festivities:


I call this one "Basketcase".



And, as promised, here is a photo of our caterpillar in his cocoon:


I wish I had a way to take a photo of the caterpillar while we are away. I guess it's time to google the incubation period for a caterpillar, huh?
ETA: I did a quick google search and the consensus is that the caterpillar will be in the chrysallis stage for anywhere from 9-14 days. So we may miss it's great, beautiful reveal!!!! Let's hope this one needs a little longer to cook.

And just because I have your attention, here's a random cute shot:

March Madness, already???

While I LOVE the month of March (first day of Spring, St.Paddy's Day parade, Spring Break) I am so not looking forward to March Madness at our house. I feel like we have limited time with DH as it is and this month I have a feeling it will only be worse. Think there's a chance he'll forget it's March?

Last week was a busy one for us. We had something pretty much every day! Here's a sampling of what we've been up to:


Oscars party at Nana's. Cheering for Toy Story 3!!


Enjoying some ice cream. After repeated requests to stop at the "Ice cream store" I finally relented and we swung through the drive through for a treat.



Sidewalk chalk at the park with our church's mom's group.



Finger painting a picture for sister. Look for this to pop up in a future post about sister's room!!


Tomorrow we are hosting a playdate for Dr.Seuss' birthday. I'll post pictures of our birthday cake tomorrow (and maybe some of the kiddo's enjoying it!)

Two-fer Tuesday

I've got two days of plays to post about today. I have just been so crashed out at the end of the day lately!

Yesterday we extended an invitation to our neighbor, M and her son O to join us for a little afternoon playtime. It was wonderful to relax with the boys and catch up on our gossip. The boys are at the age now that they are beginning to interact more while playing. They still don't play TOGETHER, but they will pause in their own play to check out what the other is doing and occasionally give some input. It's too cute!!

They were here for about 1.5 hours. It always helps the afternoon go more quickly when you've got some friends to help you lose track of the time.

Today we got an email from K asking for the name(s) of any landscapers we might recommend. I took the opportunity to relay the name of our "yard guy". I have learned to respond to any email asking for help, even if I don't really have any help to give. It's always nice to let people know that although you may not be able to help at the moment, you may be able to help them out later.

I inquired if we would be seeing them tomorrow at the neighborhood playgroup and she responded that they were definitely going to make it. She then invited us to meet them at the local park as they were about to leave the house. We couldn't make it for about an hour but we let her know that we would be there.

On the way I called L and told her that we were on the way to the park if she wanted to meet K and I there. She said she'd love to and to give her about 20 minutes. We all met up and the kids had a good time exploring the park.

While we were there, D made himself a new friend, Luke. Luke is about 9 years old and loved talking to D. I say talking TO D because D can't exactly talk WITH him. It was so cute to see him interacting with an older boy. You could tell he was loving the attention!!!



L and I kicked around some get together ideas for this summer: dollar movies, first Tuesdays at the museum, zoo visits, toddler storytimes. I'm really going to enjoy hanging out with her, I can already tell!

Tomorrow is a busy play day for us, we have a morning play group and an afternoon bouncehouse playdate. Should be fun!!!

First "Date"

Well, today was a busy day for D and I. We had not one, but TWO "dates".

The first "date" was with our neighbor, M and her son O. O is four months older than Dominic and he's always up for an impromptu playdate. M emailed me last night about us meeting at the mall for some window shopping. Dominic and I got there around 10:15 and noticed that the local library branch was having a Toddler Storytime session at 10:30. We decided to sit through it.

To be totally honest, it was pretty fun. I've noticed that when there are a lot of kids around Dominic tends to hover and cling to me. He was definitely paying attention to the lady running the event, though. After about 20 minutes I was ready to bolt. There's only so much positivity I can take at 10 in the morning. Looking around, I found that I was trapped! Strollers and children and moms on the floor were blocking me in. So we had to tough it out.

M asked if I wanted to go get lunch at a local haunt. It was such a beautiful day and I decided I wouldn't turn down any invitations unless absolutely necessary. So it was off to the restaurant. We sat outside and the boys had great fun coloring and making a general mess.



M is probably one of the most interesting friends I'll ever have. She was born in South Africa and lived there until she was 22. She moved to London where she lived for 6 years and met her husband. They moved to the States and have been here since. Her sister still lives in South Africa. She has the cutest British accent! As a mom she is much more laid back than I am. We went to Oktoberfest this past September and her son was actually eating sausage and sauerkraut! He was only 16 months old at the time!!!

D fell asleep on the way home. I was able to securely remove him from the carseat, take off his shoes and get him in bed without him waking. Two hours later we were on our way to our next "date".

This time it was off to the park. I had emailed L and her son A on Monday about possibly getting the boys together sometime this week and she suggested that we meet at the park that's close to her house. We accepted and were on our way to meet them.

L and her family had just returned from a vacation in Destin and I was anxious to hear all about her trip. We had been to Destin the week before and she had emailed to get our suggestions for places to eat, etc.

I found out a few tidbits about their trip. They loved the city. She enjoyed laying out while A was napping. She likes crab. I found out that they like to bike.

While we were there two other neighborhood playgroup girls showed up with their sons. One of them is pregnant and due in June. I hate to say it, but seeing her is just a visual reminder of the miscarriage I had in November and I know it's kind of put a mental block on me getting to know her. So I told myself to get over it already and started to find out more about her. Basically I found out that she was an elementary art teacher before having C. She is an A&M grad and graduated from high school in 95. So she is two years younger than me. Not exactly the most interesting information but three things more than I knew before.

On the way to the car I ran into J and her two sons, I and V. I met her at Starbucks over a year ago and for a while we would talk shop while my husband and I sat outside with our dog, Annabelle. My husband knows her husband and we were introduced when they showed up to get a coffee and ran into us. She knew me before baby and watched as I grew each month and would give me friendly motherly advice. A few months after Dominic was born she found out that she was pregnant again. Their weekly trips to Starbuck's slowed and eventually came to a stop.

She goes to my church and we've run in to them a few times after Mass. It was really good to see her again and we spent some time catching up. I hope to run in to her again soon. Maybe this time I'll be brave enough to ask for a phone number or invite them over to swim. Today I felt like I had stepped out of my comfort zone enough and didn't really want to accost the poor lady with my desperate attempt at including myself in her inner circle.

I did manage to get an invitation to join L and the other two playgroup gals this Friday at a local library event. Even though it's a public event we'll be meeting there so I guess I would call it a "date". Would you?

Oh, I almost forgot: The neighborhood playgroup needed a new coordinator for the toddler group and I volunteered! I got it!!! This should help me remember names and be more involved. Yeah, me!!!