Monday, March 7, 2011
Growing Like a Weed
Lola is four months old now and man is she growing fast! I took her to the vet for her last set of puppy shots on Friday and she weighed 44.5 pounds.
It seems like only yesterday she was a little 9 week old, 19 pound ball of fur. She has been such a good puppy! She is doing an awesome job with potty training. She goes and stands by the door when she's ready to go out, and if we don't see her, she comes up to us and whines and then goes back to the door to let us know, "Hey!! I'm waiting patiently for you to let me out!" She still has an occasional accident, but that is mostly when she's in the middle of a crazy, hyper, playtime mode, and it's like all of a sudden she goes, "Uh Oh, I gotta go NOW!" And so she does.
She has also done a great job learning her tricks. She can "sit", "shake" and "lay down", and we have been working on "turn around". She also knows that "Go to jail" means that it's time to get into her crate. And although it's not her favorite thing to do, she will begrudgingly "go to jail"... for a treat of course!
Brad and I are talking seriously about getting a fence put up around the backyard soon since Lola loves to be outside so much. I'm sure this will change after the temperatures start to warm up, but she sure loves to run around on these cooler days. It would be so nice to be able to leave her out there to play as much as she wants until she's ready to come back in. So, hopefully we will be able to proceed with that fairly soon!!
Miss Lola has definitely kept us busy and on our toes for the past couple of months. Toys are EVERYWHERE, I can't keep the back sliding glass door free of nose and slobber marks, and her curiosity gets her into everything, but we have truly loved it!! She's a sweet baby girl who is growing up so fast!!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Chocolate Footballs
I was feeling a little festive for the Super Bowl this year. Mom and Adam were in town visiting, and Brian came over to watch the game too. We had some yummy finger foods like chips and dips, wings, pigs in a blanket, etc, but I also wanted to try something new. So I attempted the football cake balls from who else, but bakerella?! They are just like her cake balls, where you mix the prepared cake with a can of frosting and shape them into whatever you like, and then dip them in melted chocolate and decorate. They were fairly easy to make, but I can definitely use some practice in shaping them. I have to give mom some credit too, because she helped me shape some of these footballs. We took some down to our neighbors who were hosting a Super Bowl party, and the kids were excited about them. Even though they didn't turn out perfectly, they still tasted pretty good!
Great Memories and New Beginnings
Since I skipped blogging at all for the month of February, it's time to get caught up!!
February started out a little bittersweet. We made a trip to Brad's grandmother's house in St. Louis to help her pack and get ready to move out of her house. Brad's grandfather died in 2007, and since then his grandmother has lived in the country on 20 plus acres of land by herself. The family started talking to her about moving closer to town and closer to her family a few years ago, and she just wasn't ready at the time.
It's easy to understand her resistance seeing as how she has lived in that same house for 55 years. It's where she made her life and her family with her husband and children. It's where all of the family got together and celebrated different milestones and events. And quite simply, it's just her home!!
However, I can also see the point that the rest of the family was trying to make. She was at least 45 minutes away from any family in case something happened. And things HAD started to happen, she fell a couple of times and even broke both wrists. It was also too much for her to upkeep...I don't even know that I could take care of 20 acres out in the country with an older house and an in ground swimming pool.
So, last year, the family finally won her over and convinced her to sell the house and move, and it sold earlier this year. We made the trip up there so that Brad could help load some of the heavier things on to the moving truck and so that we could be there for moral support. All of her children and most of her grandchildren were there for the final weekend in the house. There was a lot of talking and laughing about good memories and good times. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Brad's grandmother though, as all of her things were being moved around and gone through, and she had to leave some things behind. I can't imagine what she must have been feeling. She has many great memories to take with her though. And the family that bought her house is using it as a weekend getaway for his kids and grand kids, so I think that made her feel better too...to know that they would use it to celebrate family just as she and her family had done. While I'm sure it wasn't easy for her to say goodbye to so many memories, I know that she is thankful to have so many great ones to take with her!
Here are a just a few pictures of the house and family over the past couple of years:
February started out a little bittersweet. We made a trip to Brad's grandmother's house in St. Louis to help her pack and get ready to move out of her house. Brad's grandfather died in 2007, and since then his grandmother has lived in the country on 20 plus acres of land by herself. The family started talking to her about moving closer to town and closer to her family a few years ago, and she just wasn't ready at the time.
It's easy to understand her resistance seeing as how she has lived in that same house for 55 years. It's where she made her life and her family with her husband and children. It's where all of the family got together and celebrated different milestones and events. And quite simply, it's just her home!!
However, I can also see the point that the rest of the family was trying to make. She was at least 45 minutes away from any family in case something happened. And things HAD started to happen, she fell a couple of times and even broke both wrists. It was also too much for her to upkeep...I don't even know that I could take care of 20 acres out in the country with an older house and an in ground swimming pool.
So, last year, the family finally won her over and convinced her to sell the house and move, and it sold earlier this year. We made the trip up there so that Brad could help load some of the heavier things on to the moving truck and so that we could be there for moral support. All of her children and most of her grandchildren were there for the final weekend in the house. There was a lot of talking and laughing about good memories and good times. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Brad's grandmother though, as all of her things were being moved around and gone through, and she had to leave some things behind. I can't imagine what she must have been feeling. She has many great memories to take with her though. And the family that bought her house is using it as a weekend getaway for his kids and grand kids, so I think that made her feel better too...to know that they would use it to celebrate family just as she and her family had done. While I'm sure it wasn't easy for her to say goodbye to so many memories, I know that she is thankful to have so many great ones to take with her!
Here are a just a few pictures of the house and family over the past couple of years:
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| Grandma, Brad and me |
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| Grandma with the grand kids and great-grand kids on Thanksgiving 2009 |
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