Christmas Pics!

I've been meaning to make a Christmas wrap-up post for a couple days now. Finally here it is, on the eve of New Year's Eve. As most know this was our first Christmas with my mom visiting from Phx. So her first TX Christmas. The weather behaved for the most part. A few rather cold days but nothing too extreme. No arctic blast! An arctic blast is actually due to hit us tomorrow. Cody's New Year is not going to start off like he planned.....Sorry Code, no 80 degree days in the foreseeable future.

Back to Christmas, we had a lovely Christmas. And both of us commented that this visit with my mom was definitely one of our overall faves. I'm sure our fur-babies enjoyed having grammie around. Piper got to know her better and without a doubt the little girl in the house loves her grammie. I do believe she will remember her from now on. Next time Piper sees my mom it will be old hat, she won't have to warm up to her.  Cody always gets the award for most vocal when it comes to welcoming grammie. He's a nut! Simon is typical Simon, with his neutral attitude. Not that he's displeased to see her but he's rather neutral on all accounts but food. He's very pro-food!

I believe Christmas morning is always my favorite. We get up in a lazy manner, take the dogs out in a hurried manner, then get around to opening gifts. The boys still love opening gifts. Yes, they open their own gifts. A skill Piper has yet to imitate. LOL!  After opening gifts homemade cinnamon rolls, hot cocoa, and a Christmas movie are the focus. Since getting married we've tried to implement our own little traditions. I'm certainly a traditionalist.

Below are some pics of our Christmas Eve at my in-laws and our Christmas morning:

 My father-in-law avoiding opening a gift to run the camera. He got away with that for only awhile!

 Aww, doesn't my mom-in-law look good! Love this pic!

 Our nephew, Dylan, striking a pose!

 Me, either striking a pose or getting annoyed at my husband for taking my pic yet again. ;)

Christmas Morning:

 Code-man! He loves this toy, his new fave! A skunk!

 Simmie! I can basically only tell because I remember dressing him in red!

 Piper hiding under the tree, slightly hard to spot in this pic.

 The boys are always ready to lend a paw when opening gifts! :)

Piper sampling one of the boy's Christmas lollipop.

 

 

Quick Snap Saturday!

Oh what a cute little gift under our tree! It's interesting having a young cat around at Christmastime. Fun, indeed! Though this is her second Christmas she's certainly more aware of everything this year. Perhaps she's more secure within her place in our family. Last year she was so young and new to our family she may have been more apprehensive to step out of line. This year she's secure within the family unit. Although she is a very good kitty. She has the same fear of being in trouble that her older brother Cody has lived with. Which makes disciplining her quite easy!

 

When we first put the tree up she was curious to say the least. She played with the ornaments hanging low, simply batting at a few key ones. Mostly the Dallas Mavericks candy canes have caught her eye, or shall I say, the candy canes have caught her paw!  There have been a few moments when we've noticed her attempt to grab onto a branch. Which the idea of grabbing branches has been immediately squashed by one of us! All in all she's been respectful of the tree, no ornament has been killed at the paws of Piper. ;) 

 

Her big enjoyment is laying on the soft tree skirt under the low hanging branches. As more presents soon get wrapped there won't be as much room for her to lay. I think once the presents are wrapped is when I'm most curious about whether or not we'll come home to an unwrapped gift or two. Of course that could be courtesy of Piper or Simon. :) 

2 Years!

As of yesterday we have been happily married for 2 years. Can you believe it? Two years! It went by quite fast I must say.

We both love having our anniversary in the month of December. It's nice to stop to reflect on our wedding day during the craziness of the holiday season. However, there is one slight, and I mean slight, negative to having an anniversary in December. Can you guess what it is? If you order a gift for your honey make sure you order it with more than enough time for it to travel to big D. It's the busy holiday season with lots of packages being shuffled around daily and things are unpredictable to arrive on-time. We were both in the same boat on this issue this year. The gift I ordered for him I had my fingers-crossed since last Thursday, hoping it would arrive in time. He was also awaiting the arrival of my gift he had ordered. At 5:05 pm a knock was heard at our door. My gift for Brad had arrived.....whew!!!!!! Talk about in the nick of time! I quickly flung into turbo drive as I found a box for it and wrapped it before Brad got home. I must say I was in awe of what I got him too. LOL! I think it's soooo cooooool! I can hardly wait for him to open it, he's going to love it. I get so excited to present him gifts. And this gift is definitely one I can barely contain my own excitement over. Notice my language....notice I said, "I can hardly wait for him to open it." Since Brad's gift for me hasn't yet arrived we have decided to hold off on exchanging gifts until it comes. No biggie, we have something additional to look forward to as the week progresses. :)

For our anniversary dinner, no big surprise, we once again decided to go to Uncle Julio's, where Brad took me for our first date. It's our traditional spot for celebrating anniversaries. It used to be the go-to spot to celebrate our first date now it's the go-to spot to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  You know me, I LOVE traditions!!! After dinner we came home to pop some bubbly, check in with the MNF game, and have some dessert bars. As a surprise treat for Brad, I made gingerbread bars. He loves gingerbread at Christmastime or anytime! I made the gingerbread in bar form rather than individual cookies then I slathered them with ooey-gooey white frosting. YUM! Oh this is kind of funny, when we popped the champagne little Simmie immediately arrived in the kitchen. Simon has a weakness for champagne. A few years ago he seemed rather intrigued by the bubbly, we gave him a small sip. From that point on he has celebrated New Year's with a sip of champagne. We quickly reminded him that he has 2 more weeks to wait for his bubbly moment. No champagne was enjoyed by Simon, just his parents!

Side message to my husband:
Thanks for a great anniversary evening my sweetness! I love the flowers and I can hardly wait to exchange gifts. And once again as I already told you, thanks for marrying me! You are the man of my dreams! Far exceeding my expectations! Oh and thanks for marrying me in "2012". I must admit I really like the way our wedding date reads....12-15-12! Love the 15 being bookended by 12. :)

Quick Snap Saturday!

Here's a great pic of two handsome gentlemen! Brad and his dad! These two have taken some good pics together in recent years but this one is especially nice in my opinion.

 

I appreciate the fact that both of them are always willing to pose for a pic. Or at least 90% of the time. ;) I can guarantee this pic will be popping up in the new year. I always make a calendar for us each year featuring an assortment of pics from the previous year. This pic has already made the cut!

Cody's Birthday!

 

 

Our little Cody turned 13, as everyone already knows. I know he enjoyed the new toys. I know he enjoyed his cake. However, he sure was a Mr. Grumpy-Pants on and off throughout the day. He was a punk towards Simon twice! Simon simply was trying to stay out of his big brother's way, so as not to wake the beast inside Cody. It was a chilly-drizzly day yesterday, perhaps that contributed to Cody's grumpiness! We had a little Eeyore yesterday!

In typical Cody fashion the only toys he's played with today are the new ones! He's so funny about that! He loves getting a new toy!

Guess what unique thing I did for Cody's baker dozen bday?  I made a baker's dozen! Yep, he got cupcakes instead of a cake. The cake batter worked perfectly for 12 cupcakes and 1 jumbo cupcake. When it came time for the boys to indulge in the special birthday treat Brad's idea was to simply drop a cupcake in each boy's bowl. Definitely not how mommie would do things. We went with daddie's idea, it was quite humorous watching them attempt to eat a whole cupcake. Cody licked all the frosting off his cupcake then politely ate it as best he could. Simon gulped it! It took him a few gulps to master it. It was a gulping expedition for him. Needless to say they both made quite the mess mommie had to later clean up.

All in all it was I believe a nice birthday for the Code-ster! He certainly loved his new toys. However, I think he thinks the 3 toys that were presented are all his, we'll set him straight on the importance of sharing later. That is one lesson we continue to teach Cody over and over again! I tease, he's not too bad about sharing. He shares quite well. However if he has any inkling Simon is out to destroy a brand new toy he will take it away from Simon. Simmie is the most passive fur-baby we have. He's easy-going to the extreme. Cody is the enforcer! Officer Cody enforcing all rules and keeping everyone in line! No wonder he's so grumpy...he's got a big job keeping 2 pesky siblings on point, one is more pesky than the other! LOL! 

 
 
 
 
Once again....Happy 13th Birthday my dear sweet Cody-man, mommie loves you! I can't believe we've had nearly a full 13 years together. I remember when I first brought you home. Oh man, you were a sweetie! And you've always tried your best to stay out of trouble, never testing the waters. It is my honor to be a pug-mommie!
 

 

 

I love the action shot of Simon with his ears flying up! Another classic moment was caught when I struggled to get Cody's attention as he played with his new toy, yet Simon's eyes are nearly popping out of his head as he focused on the cupcake in my hand. Oh and does anyone notice something new about Piper? She got a collar! A perfectly red Christmas collar!  

 

 

Quick Snap Sunday!

This is Cody's first time in a Quick Snap post, in honor of his bday it is purposely being made on the 7th!  It was a must to feature him today since it's his birthday. This will likely not be the only pics of Cody today. Well, it actually might be since I may not get around to posting bday pics until Monday.  But the goal is to post more later, after he wakes up as he's currently crashed out. Brad did sing to him just a little after midnight.

 

Getting back to the pic above...I'm not sure you can tell how big the peanut butter jar is but it's the bigger size. This was the first time the boys have been given the big size pb jar. We worried slightly that Simon might try to stick his big ol' head in the jar and get stuck. Luckily nothing unbelievable took place.

Both boys completely enjoyed the jumbo jars. They approve of the switch from small to jumbo jars!

With Brad and the boys loving pb so much I finally decided I need to start buying the big jars. Otherwise peanut butter occupies a spot on my grocery list too often.

They both may be pugs but they are completely different boys.  Here's another difference in the boys, Simon never stopped as I snapped his picture with his pb jar. Cody obviously stopped what he was doing to give me a perfect straight on look! Hi Cody-man! 

My Friday Night!

It's a quiet Friday night at home for me. Yes, just me. Well I'm never completely alone. It's me and our trio of fur-babies. Brad has a tennis tournament he's in this weekend. It started tonight instead of Saturday. I'm not too used to him having Friday night tennis.

Actually I'm not used to Friday night's without my mate at all. I feel quite lost to be honest. I went out briefly but soon realized I would rather be at home, feels too weird being out at night without Brad.

Get this, his match time was 7:00 pm, if him and his partner win they play right away again at 9:30. Yikes! That is a late match. Not to mention there's hardly any time between matches. Too much to ask of people to play one match then turn around and play another. Just my humble opinion!!

I'm trying to keep busy! Let's see, I cleaned out the fridge. As I mentioned I briefly ran to the store. I finished up the puggies laundry. Yes, the pugs have laundry. If only they could do their own! ;) Now I'm obviously sitting here blogging as I have the Arizona-Oregon game on in the background. Go AZ! I know I'm a Sun Devil but I have to root for the Wildcats over those annoying Ducks. The Wildcats are representing AZ at least. And besides who doesn't want to see an upset? Go Wildcats spoil the Ducks parade. 

Baker's Dozen!

Well it's that time of the year...Yes, it's Christmastime. Not exactly what I'm referring to though. Someone in this household whom stands about a foot tall and has a floppy tongue is about to celebrate his birthday. Yay, Cody-man!

Cody will be turning 13. He'll be my little baker's dozen boy. I'll poke him in the tummy on his birthday to see if he giggles like the Pillsbury dough boy. LOL!

Sunday is the big day for our Cody-man! I can hardly wait to bake him a cake. When it comes to his cake this year I have an interesting idea floating through my head. We'll see if I end up trying out my idea or not. Should be fun!

Alright Cody here is the good news for you....no snow in the forecast for the weekend, unlike last year. Not so good news, there's rain predicted. I'm thinking you can handle the rain as long as the snow and icy cold temps stay away for your bday weekend. Am I right big-man?

Pie!

As the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close I have a similar thought as I had last year....I didn't have enough pecan pie!  I made two pecan pies for Thanksgiving. One was the classic while the 2nd was a unique variation of pecan pie. I had a piece of the unique variation pecan pie but no classic.

The variation pie was good, I was satisfied with how it turned out. My complaint was it didn't seem sweet enough! I guess I'm used to the overwhelming richness of classic pecan which this version didn't quite have the same type of richness. It was funny how when I said the new variation pecan didn't seem sweet enough my mother-in-law quickly stated she would've recognized it to not be sweet enough. :) She has expert taste buds!

So the new variation pecan pie's fate is in limbo. It's not a definite make-again. Knowing me though, I'll likely be curious enough to try it out at least one more time before abandoning the recipe completely. 

Oh here's something interesting....we are still learning about one another! Brad has made numerous comments about pecan pie in the last 5 years. The word favorite has circled around the words pecan pie. So I've been thinking the pecan pies I've made have been much desired by him each Thanksgiving. The other day he chimes in with something I've never heard him say before...."my favorite pie would be chocolate cream." I instantly said, "Huh?"(with a puzzled look likely displayed on my face). Apparently pecan is ONE of his faves pies but doesn't occupy the top spot in his countdown. He does believe it is the overall favorite within his family. Sigh of relief! All good info to know! Glad we got that established as our 2nd wedding anniversary approaches.

I now have to figure out how to make a chocolate cream pie. I've made one chocolate based pie before. It was okay, but not a recipe I've repeated since. I can't even recall what type of chocolate pie it was: chocolate cream, French silk, or something else. Not even sure how many types of chocolate pie there are, I think 3: French silk, chocolate cream, and regular chocolate. Anyway, I see perfecting a chocolate pie in my future! :) As for me.....pecan is in my top 3 along with fresh strawberry not sure what else deserves a top 3 spot. Pecan is a definite contender for top honors in my opinion however I'm reluctant to definitely award it my #1.

Turkey Day Break!

It was a good Thanksgiving day for us. We spent the day at Granny's. Yummy food, football, and lots of conversation. What could be better? Thanksgiving day is definitely my favorite Thursday of the year. However, I believe Christmas lands on Thursday this year. For 2014 Christmas will likely move up to be my ultimate favorite Thursday of the year. The best part about Thanksgiving other than the obvious is that it's always on a Thursday and there's no work on Friday. It's a lovely 4 day break we can count on every year.

Since the Cowboys have already played this week and the Cardinals are not featured on TV. I'm not certain we will spend a full 9 hours watching football today! In our house football is always on but we are able to shut it off if we want to do other things. Our little section of the world doesn't stop for football it pauses! ;) Long pauses!

Perhaps we'll skip the late afternoon game in favor of going to a movie together or doing a bit of shopping. It's a beautiful day here. Picture perfect! We need to enjoy it today because a 40 degree drop hits town tomorrow. A cold windy and rainy Monday is in the forecast.  Safe to say we'll certainly make an effort to get out to enjoy the great temp today. That's another interesting factor when you live in a place that has some "weather", you have this unbelievable desire to get outside to do something when you know the weather is drastically changing the next day. More of a desire than simply trying to "beat the heat" as lots of people have in Phoenix.

We had company over last night! Which is why I had to be quick and brief with my Quick Snap post yesterday! ;) Last night we played games and did our best to introduce my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to a new TV show we recently discovered. I think a good time was had by all! At least from my standpoint it was. :)

The Breakfast Food Journey!

I'm not a huge breakfast food fan!  Just ask my mom if you don't believe me. However, I was raised in a household where breakfast was ALWAYS served. To me breakfast is quick and to the point. So I rarely crave some of the more, shall I say, "elite" breakfast foods. Not that I don't like a pancake breakfast or a good waffle but I have no time for those things on most days. Besides those aren't healthy enough for everyday. Pancake breakfasts we frequently have on Sundays. Waffles however, are never served in this household. Why you ask? We don't have a waffle maker. If it wasn't for his wife's insistence to eat at least SOMETHING for breakfast Brad would float right on to lunch at least 5 maybe 6 days a week!

There are mornings, those special days where we have the time to go indulge in a morning outing to get breakfast. This past Friday was one of those mornings!  We actually got up and around and out the door while it was still "breakfast time".  Trust me no easy feat for us around here! Especially when you have 3 pets, 2 of which need a long morning walk and you are of course married to Brad. He is not known for getting up and around too early on a non-work morning. I love you honey!

So off we went with a destination in mind. My fave breakfast place to go to....drum roll please....Mimi's Café! Where to start? Great blueberry muffins. Yummy French toast and crepes. Oh and of course eggs benedict. See if I'm going to indulge in breakfast foods at a restaurant it's a fancy version of French toast, a waffle, eggs benedict, or possibly crepes that I'm going for.

As we approach Mimi's I quickly notice Mimi's is no more! All boarded up. We were stunned. We then went to a nearby pancake house that we've been wanting to try. People were standing outside the door of the pancake house. It was cold out and we didn't feel like waiting outside for too long. So in the car we jumped this time heading for Cracker Barrel.  Good ol' Cracker Barrel, certainly Brad's fave breakfast spot. Cracker Barrel is more appealing to me in recent months than it has been. I've come around! It's just a slightly different style of food. Took me awhile to embrace what they seem to do best at Cracker Barrel. I told Brad as we headed to Cracker Barrel that it too would be slammed. And sure enough as we pulled into the parking lot there were no parking spaces and people were standing around all over. Brad suddenly changed his mind. I'll be honest after the disappointment of Mimi's and then the ridiculously busy pancake house I had moved on to lunch. Visions of lunch food were dancing in my head. Cracker Barrel was a good option partly because Brad was still in breakfast mode and I could easily get lunch.  After all this driving around it was practically lunch time anyway. Now that Brad had experienced the disappointment of an overly busy Cracker Barrel, he was ready to move onto lunch. In the end we went back to the area of town near the neighborhood pancake house to dine at Red Robin. Certainly one of my fave spots for lunch or dinner for that matter.

After all that driving our taste buds never got breakfast food.  We both laughed though when we opened up the Red Robin menu which currently features a French style burger with an over-easy egg on top. We could combine breakfast and lunch by getting the burger with the over-easy egg! We didn't though! Not our style! Eggs and burgers I just can't put into one meal....sorry folks!

Quick Snap Saturday!

 

Pom-Pom Ready!

 

Piper was ready with her pom-pom in paw to cheer on the Cowboys this past Thursday. However, all her cheering didn't help them any. What an embarrassing game! I almost didn't want to use this pic since the game was such a dud. But hey, it's too cute in my opinion.

 

Notice the position of her paw as well as the lone streamer stuck to her mouth. She had just got done attacking this pom-pom. I think her paw is getting ready to pin the pom-pom.  One of my fave things while watching a Cowboys game is getting Piper hyped up with the pom-poms. Hee Hee!

 

 

 

 

Side Note: I'll do my best to post another post or two tomorrow. Things have been busy as we've celebrated this Thanksgiving weekend.

Quick Snap Saturday!

 

 Giant Cinnamon Roll Morning!

I'm not sure where or when I got this idea for a giant cinnamon roll but I did. This is one of the most fun items I have made in quite awhile. An idea I simply got in the kitchen to attempt.

Here's how I did it. First I made one regular size cinnamon roll, placing it in the middle, then began to "build" off of it. I began wrapping the rest of the cinnamon roll dough with the filling facing inside around and around until my dough ran out. Super fun for me to try. Super easy in reality. Super unique to eat. We ended up cutting it almost like a pie in triangle wedges.

Brad was quite impressed with the finished product. He was in the dark as to what exactly I was doing other than making cinnamon rolls. Perhaps cinnamon rolls are another wintery tradition for us. I think I'm more likely to get the strong urge to make cinnamon rolls during colder months for some reason.

I Think Winter Has Arrived

Time to catch up with things! Winter I believe has arrived. This past week was much more tolerable than the week before. Geez, about 10 maybe 12 days ago it turned super cold. Last weekend snow flurries were in the forecast. While sitting in front of the space heater, Cody I'm sure pondered hitchhiking to Florida.  Meanwhile I kept asking this rhetorical question...'We have to deal with super cold temps already, it's only mid-November?'

Thankfully we had a brief reprieve this past week. We enjoyed a few early morning temps in the 40s versus the 20s with a wind chill. Let me just say I've become accustom to the low 30s, that being said, the 20s with a wind chill and I wimp out!  Today it's colder with the bonus of rain. Take a wild guess as to whom in our household is the most disgruntled by today's forecast? The one whose name starts with a "C".

It shall be interesting to see what this winter brings. Our summer was rather mild. I was hoping for a mild winter too. One thing is for sure it's an early start to winter. November typically features brief bouts of cold temps just to prep us for winter but not like what we've experienced so far this November. Who knows maybe November and December got mixed up? Maybe December will arrive and bring back Autumn temps! That would be Cody's dream come true. ;) 

The best part, I think I'm already getting into the holiday spirit. Just days from Thanksgiving and I feel like I'm ready for Christmas to come! I'm ready to enjoy the traditions that Christmastime brings. First tradition we have here is popping in the movie Home Alone! I love that movie! We watch it every year. We do alternate it with Home Alone 2. I honestly wasn't a big fan of Home Alone 2 until about 3 years ago. After giving it another chance I'm now quite the fan of it too. I've actually never seen Home Alone 3, which means we don't own it, but I'm considering giving it a chance this year. Although I'm quite focused on the original Home Alone to start off this holiday season. Definitely one of my fave things during the holiday season is being curled up under a cozy blanket on the couch sipping hot cocoa while watching a good snowy film.

Quick Snap Saturday!

 

He's a one man clean up crew!

 

While prepping apples for some of my fave apple muffins little Simon was cashing in.  As I used the apple peeler the peels were extending all the way to the ground. It didn't take Simon long to gain enough courage to move in on the apple peels that were hitting the floor. However, it is possible he was a tiny bit fearful of getting in trouble because he grabbed a portion of the peels then walked around the corner. Thanks to him we had a long string of apple peels extending from the kitchen counter all the way to the hallway near our front door. I wasn't too worried about it, I don't mind if he eats apples or apple peels.  I quickly stopped what I was doing to grab the camera and follow him around the corner. Smile Simmie! Smile! 

Kisses!

It finally happened!!!!!.....Piper has been attempting to kiss her big brother Simon for months now. He has dodged her at every turn. He's nearly walked into walls, doors, and doorframes to avoid her sisterly smooch. He's also vacated his cozy warm bed when he has sensed she's only hanging around to possibly plant one on him.

The other day the avoidance was over, the sisterly smooch occurred! Maybe Simon was sleepy and unsure his little sister was lurking about. Maybe he was so frozen from coming in from his walk that the warmth of his bed was his only desire not concerned with whatever he might have to endure. Maybe he simply was ready to throw in the towel on the whole thing. After all it's been about a year he's dodged her lovely kisses. Actually it's probably been less than that because cats are not "kissy". That's a dog thing not a cat thing. Brad has been doing his best to teach her to give kisses for many awhile now. But freely kissing is not innately "cat-like". Some where along the way she has gotten the idea to try to kiss her brothers(mainly Simon).

So there was little Simon exhausted from his long walk and likely still feeling the chill from the bitter cold temps he suffered thru while outdoors. He was snuggled in for a long nap, his little sister came over to check up on him. She wasn't interested in doing her best to make him move so she could have a warm bed instead of a cold bed. Nope that thought wasn't on her mind. Good thing, because he wasn't giving up his spot to her. He was paying her very little attention. As he slightly opened his eyes to glance at her, she noticed his gaze, next she leaned in to kiss him twice on the top of his head. His eyes then looked my way and read, "Oh geez! She kissed me!". He wasn't fazed by it. He seemed rather anxious to get back to getting some zzz's.  As I said earlier I think he had thrown the towel in on avoiding what he had determined as the inevitable. In his mind he likely thinks....'So what a cat kissed me, I'm still tough!'

Perhaps, Simon is the most kissable of the trio. Cody has always given Simmie a few kisses here and there over the years. And Piper has been set on kissing Simon for numerous months now. Well, Sime it's tough being you! The pug with the macho/leave me alone attitude when he's on-leash is a big ol' kissable softie when at home. Go figure! I must say, Sime, you are quite fun to love on!

Incase anyone cares....Cody has yet to receive a kitty-cat kiss! Cody is way too much of a disciplinary to Piper I think it will be some time before she attempts to give him some extra sisterly love. Cody has a totally different demeanor when it comes to being accepting to affection. It must be his idea don't you dare force him to being overly lovingly. LOL!  

The Peanut Butter Incident!

By far the most loved food idem by ALL members of this family(oops, minus Pipey)...so by 4 of the 5 members of this family is PEANUT BUTTER. It's a tough race to determine whom loves it more, Simon or daddy! Brad puts peanut butter on items I would never think to put peanut butter on, like pancakes. If you want to up your pancake game, so to speak, slather them with some pb. Certainly makes for a more decadent pancake experience.

In our pantry at all times you will find at least 3 maybe 4 jars of peanut butter. A crunchy, a creamy, and 1 sometimes 2 jars dedicated to the boys. Now in our pantry the boys pb jars are on the far right and our jars are on the far left. Plus the boys pb is clearly marked with the word "boys" on all sides in large letters. The other day I went into our pantry to notice the boys pb jar had moved to the opposite side and was now on top of our crunchy pb. Hmm, strange I thought and promptly moved it back to its normal residence. The next day once again the boys jar had been moved. I moved it back to it's usual spot again.  By now I'm curious if Simon is using his jedi mind tricks to attempt to get the peanut butter out of the cupboard or if Brad is sneaking the boys some extra pb on the side when I'm not looking. Both seemed like plausible theories. LOL!

Well low and behold on day 3 of the mystery movement of the boys pb jar Brad and I are both in the kitchen together he reaches into the pantry and out comes the "boys" pb. I quickly point out to him that's the wrong jar, that's the boys jar. He looks puzzled and a bit alarmed. Asking me, "What? This is the boys jar?". My response was to say "yes" as I pointed out the word "boys" clearly written in 3 different places on the jar. Brad then exclaimed, "I've eaten that peanut butter for the last 3 days. I never saw the markings. You didn't write it in the normal ink." Well, that last exclamation of his was true, I didn't mark it in the typical black ink, it was marked in maroon. Still though it was clearly marked. Brad had a mini freak out moment as he was a bit disgusted after finding out he's been eating out of the boy's jar. I reminded him it's just his loving pug son's germs in the jar nothing to really fear. His response to that was, "Great. Now I have a ton of pug cooties! I'm probably going to start growing fur." His fear over his pug cooties he has possibly contracted has made us move the pugs pb jars to the pet food closet. It's not as convenient for me since the pb goes in the boys Kongs which I always prepare in the kitchen during a down moments as dinner cooks usually. But oh well, as long as Brad is happy!

Brad's reaction to realizing he's been eating from the wrong pb jar was priceless. And the "cooties" comment was almost too much for me to bare as I cracked up. Don't worry I'll let everyone know the moment Brad starts growing pug fur. ;) LOL!

Quick Snap Saturday!

Whew! I'm just barely posting this in time for this to still be "Quick Snap Saturday" and not have to turn it into a "Quick Snap Sunday" post.  It's been a busy day! Quite frankly it was an extremely busy week. One of those weeks where each day I seemed to be running to catch up with things. 

The pic for this Quick Snap Saturday post is the cake I made for my youngest nephew Dylan. We celebrated his birthday today at my in-laws place. Great fun! He simply requested a chocolate cake but I know his fave color duo is black and white. Therefore I instantly wanted to do something with Oreos. This is what I came up with, a chocolate cake with rows of chocolate frosting and rows of Oreo cookie frosting then as you can see I topped it off with Oreo's spelling out the bday message.

I must admit I was quite happy with how this cake turned out. The cake, the frostings, and my Oreo decorations were all just as I imagined them in my head.  I like it when something I make turns out the way I envisioned.  Who doesn't? Am I right?

Sunday Football Picks!

 

 

Who ya got? Cardinals are visiting Dallas today! It's that time of the day to get your pick in! Could be quite the dilemma for me, however, it isn't.  I'm a winner either way! My hometown team comes to play the team that is now my home team.  However, how does the rest of this household stack up? Is anyone struggling to make their selection? Notice how certain somebodies are dressed!

Is Piper thinking about choosing the Cardinals?

Couldn't resist posting a couple bonus pics from our engagement. Both of us wearing our team's Super Bowl shirts.

Quick Snap Saturday!

 

Look at the beautiful flowers my husband surprised me with today.  It was a hectic day for him. The day started early for us. He had an early tennis match plus had to go into work during the afternoon since it's the 1st. I got up while it was still dark out to walk the boys. I wanted to get the boys long walk of the day in before Brad had to leave for his match.

 

It was a long wait as I did my best to waste away time before he came home. I always miss him so much on Saturday's that he has to go into work. Then to be surprised by him arriving home with flowers was extra exciting! I love sunflowers this time of the year plus the red roses and orange flowers mixed in just make it one perfectly Autumn inspired bouquet. He did good! I love sweet little surprises like flowers!

Halloween is Here!

 

 

Happy Halloween from us in big D!!!

 

Brad went to work dressed as Batman(sort of).  Doesn't he look tough! I made him pose like that. He told me not to post this pic but I didn't listen....obviously!  Come on it's cute! He's my Batman! It's Halloween it's all about dorky pics!

 

It finally happened....a group photo session! A very successful one too, might I add! Up until this morning I've captured a few shots with all three sleeping or playing in close proximity, however, this is the first time I've had a "photo session" with the trio. For Halloween we have two black cats and our little pumpkin! Ha-ha the boys are dressed up as cats! I thought my idea to find them cat costumes was quite good! And Brad liked the idea too!  I think these are among my fave Halloween attire I've forced the boys to wear. 

 

Below are a few of the best photos I was able to capture early this morning. Cody is completely used to this whole ordeal. Simon too! Cody especially seems unimpressed though about being shoved into costume for yet another Halloween! I love the pic where Piper is looking directly at Cody. Perhaps she's asking him 'what is going on and how come we look like this?'

 

Once again Happy Halloween from Batman, 2 blacks cats and a little pumpkin!

 

And remember EAT CANDY!!!! 

Halloween Nears!

Well I've got a few tricks up my sleeve as Halloween fast approaches. My poor husband better watch out.  My little brain has been working over time to figure out some sort of a frightful breakfast treat to send him off to work with on Halloween.  I think I've finally got it! 


Our plan for Halloween night is to watch a Halloween/scary movie. Here's the thing, we don't want anything too scary. Nothing too bloody and gruesome. We are thinking something a wee bit frightening not disgusting, I never want to sleep ever again!  Perhaps Ghostbusters? Hocus Pocus? Maybe The Addams Family. They just released The Addams Family on blu-ray. It's the old movie now on blu-ray. I'll admit my vote is for Pirates of the Caribbean.  Yes, I know that's not exactly Halloween.  Yet how many people dress up as pirates every year?  A lot!  Pirates are on the creepy/ghoulish side of things and are always associated with Halloween as it seems.  Pirate costumes have to be one of the most sold each year!  I was actually chatting with a friend of mine earlier that stated she's going to be a pirate for Halloween. She told me this after I told her I had considered making the boys little pirates this year. Why now puggie-pirates?  I know my limits and their limits. Getting the boys to wear eye patches is NOT going to happen! Can you imagine? Picture me going towards Simon with an eye patch in hand.  Actually worse yet picture me going towards Cody with an eye patch. LOL!


One thing is for sure we will not be among the crowds of people going to see the new movie Nightcrawler which comes out on Friday.  Based on the previews and the title it doesn't seem like something we'd want to see. Quiet movie night at home with plenty of candy is more our thing!


Stay tuned to see our fur-babies in their costumes! 

Quick Snap Saturday

Is it treat time?

This is a sight I see rather frequently, our trio lined up near the closet that houses their treats when they realize treat time is approaching. They know exactly what time of day it is each day. No tricking them. That's slightly unfortunate at times. ;)

In the pic Simon looks the most calm and content to wait. Head is down and he's in chill mode. Truth be told he likely clued the other two into the fact treat time was fast approaching. Cody and Piper both have their heads up and were keeping a close eye on me as I grabbed the camera. As soon as Cody saw I was simply snapping a photo he no longer felt the need to look in my direction. As you can see Piper remained looking towards me but is diverting her gaze. Not sure exactly what she is looking at but she's obviously not looking directly at the camera. Perhaps she's learning from Cody to divert her eyes, her glance. Cody is a master at that!

Costume Shopping!

Every year I dress up the pugs for their annual Halloween photo. I have been thinking for awhile what the costumes should be this year. The other day I finally had time to go look. I used to shop way in advance to get the pick of the "costume" litter, so to speak. Now I wait until about 10 days or so before Halloween because prices drop drastically. Took me some years to clue into the price reduction but I finally did.



This year we obviously needed 3 costumes. I have been determined to get little Piper in a costume. My husband has been telling me there's no dressing a cat. I intend on proving him wrong. I WILL get Piper in a costume!  She's young, this is the time to do it. If she gets dressed up at this age alongside her brothers then it will begin to be the norm for her. Now taking a 18 year old cat(Storm) and trying to dress her up in costume would never have occurred. Pipey doesn't know any better!


So 3 costumes were purchased the other day. The boys match this year. And Piper is in her own costume, her costume is right in theme with theirs but not an exact match. I think I chose wisely for Piper, its a simple costume nothing too over the top. The store had a witch's costume complete with a hat. But the hat was a must to make the costume make sense, and I know my limits. Getting a young cat to wear a hat is not going to happen. Plus I wasn't fond of the idea of our little fur-baby being a witch, I wanted something a bit cutesy. After getting the costumes home I quickly tried hers on her. Yes, I was successful....Piper got in the costume. She wasn't so sure about it and acted a bit dramatic once she was fully dressed but she put up with it. Simon has yet to get in his costume for this Halloween. However, Cody was chosen as the official model. I dressed him up in costume to show Brad. As I paraded Cody around I believe I heard Simon breathe a sigh of relief that he was not chosen as the costume model. LOL!



When Brad saw Cody in his complete costume his response was this, "Oh good it comes with a bow, my boys are wearing bows. Code already looks embarrassed." I quickly said, "He's not embarrassed, that's his usual look." LOL! Overall Brad likes the boys costumes. I did run my idea for their costumes by him before I bought anything. My idea for their costumes this year is one of my better ones. Do I wish they didn't have a bow on it...perhaps but it's not a girly costume in any way. It's very unisex. And it's not like they have to wear it a longtime, just long enough for mommie to snap a photo! So stayed tuned to see what our fur-baby trio will be looking like come Halloween.

Quick Snap Saturday

I'm starting a new thing this Saturday. I'm calling it as you can see with the title "Quick Snap Saturday". Hopefully I can keep up with this on a weekly basis, if not then periodically I will feature a "Quick Snap Saturday". Just one quick shot is all I'll feature. Who knows who or whom will be in the different snapshots, should be fun to see what I post in the weeks to come.

This first ever Quick Snap Saturday as you can see features my wonderful husband. Aww, isn't he handsome! He was a good sport posing for this pic. He doesn't hate taking photos but you have to catch him in the right mood. He's most commonly up for taking pics at all special occasions and he never minds posing with our fur-babies or his wife! 

Blast Off Simmie!

In my previous post I mentioned we've had some rain. The other night the 4 of us really got caught out in a bad storm. The time for the last walk of the day arrived coincidentally a storm was just beginning as we headed outside. It didn't seem that bad when we first walked out. Okay it was mildly bad. But we still decided to trudge along.

I was prepared for the rain and Brad thought he was prepared too as he was proudly wearing his new Cowboys jacket.  We got to nearly the halfway point of the walk when we looked at each other and decided the rain is getting worse, lets get back inside. As we decided to head back home. Brad reveals his new Cowboys jacket that appeared to be waterproof....hmmm.....is not waterproof! He was getting drenched. As we turned to head for home the rain started pelting us. I mean "pelting" us! The rain was coming down at a slight angle which meant we were all getting pelted right in the face.  Soon after Simon clued into the fact we were heading back home he took off. I mean he blasted off! I always walk Simon and Cody is always walked by Brad. It was suddenly like I had a sled dog on the leash. He was running so fast I couldn't believe it! He ran far too. He blasted off while outside then blasted through the hallways until we arrived at our front door. He decided he'd had enough of that pelting rain hitting his face and ears....he was done and ready to get home.

He's always been a fast runner, which I already knew. The part that's a bit surprising was the way it all played out. He recognized we were headed home and without any encouragement to run he was in full sprint. His willingness to run the distance we ended up running was surprising too. The lil' ol' dude can still hang with the pups! ;)

Football and Chilly Weather!

Yikes! I looked at the upcoming games this week, noticing Dallas goes up against New York Giants. That's a dangerous match-up in my opinion. They are both in the same division, which always raises the stakes. However, Giants most recently got embarrassed this past Sunday night courtesy of the Eagles. And Philly is yet another division opponent of the Giants and Cowboys. So the Giants are coming to Dallas on a serious mission. Fingers-crossed the Cowboys are ready. And yes I happened to notice there's no way I will get to see any of the Cardinals game since the play at the same time as the Cowboys. Last week we got "bonus" coverage of the Cardinals after whatever game we were watching was finished. I love bonus coverage!  

What else has been going on in our household. I'm anxious for the weekend mainly because this has been a long/slow-moving week. We've had some colder weather. The chilly weather came in with a bang on Monday when we had a super storm that drenched us. This past week I had to "up" my jacket level. I have 4 sweaters/jackets that I have ranked. The levels are as follows:

Level 1: my light sweater

Level 2: my windbreaker

Level 3: my medium weight jacket

Level 4: The big one....my heavy coat that one would use in the snow.

This particular week I've gone up to level 3! My brand new medium weight jacket. It's my first "puffer" jacket ever. I noticed tons of puffer jackets hitting the stores last winter but I was just fine with my jacket selection at the time. But at the end of the season last year I realized my medium jacket needed to be replaced this season. After enduring a long Winter and a chilly Spring I had buttons missing, buttons hanging off, and numerous strings. It wasn't the right choice of fabrics to buy when a person has dogs. If I had to pick up one the boys while wearing that jacket I could count on some ripped strings after putting them back down on the ground. It was a cozy jacket though which is why I was determined to make it last through our cold season last year. But I'm happy to report the new medium weight jacket is working out great! It feels so light weight yet it's a medium weight jacket.  And the best thing about it is it's "packable". Which means it came with it's own special bag along with instructions on how to pack it up and put it in the special bag so it doesn't take up too much room in a suitcase!  Woo-hoo! Great idea to make it packable. Trust me packing a jacket is the most difficult thing when traveling by plane in cold months, or even the non cold months. We had a hard time finding room in our suitcases for some windbreakers back when we went to London and Paris. Believe me when I say having a "packable" jacket is important!

Piper's 1st Birthday (Part 2)!

 

 

Here's our cutie birthday girl!  Our little Piper reached her first big milestone....one year old! I think the 2nd pic below with Cody directly behind her is one of my absolute faves!  I've been able to catch the two of them together in pics many times. Much harder catching her with Simon.  Cody likes to pretend he's not into his little sister but don't believe him, he loves her! In his own way, he loves her! He wouldn't discipline her if he didn't. Plus his heart is enormous.

 

Piper has always been a good girl. From day one I remember placing her in our huge overstuffed chair right before taking the dogs out and she cutely peeked around trying to see where we were all going. I also remember the 3:00am feedings for the little newborn Piper. And I of course remember wondering if she would even make it. They have to get passed that newborn stage. Another thing I'll never forget, is how much we debated about her name. She had 2 other, well likely 3 other names before we settled on Piper. What can I say? We tried out a few before finding the one that fit her best! It's been quite the first year!

 

So who is Piper? Well.....let me start by saying, she's been quite the joy so far. Her cute personality is a great compliment to the boys personalities. Piper's sweet, timid, a bit shy, and not at all a rebel. She likes being praised and told she's a good kitty. She's got just the right amount of independence yet she's not so independent she's standoff-ish. I must add she's a smarty! Little Pipey's been rather easy to train, but having the boys has helped dramatically with her training. Courtesy of our Hyper-Piper we have enjoyed numerous laughs during her first year. As she discovers new things we laugh at her funny expressions or movements in response to something new. Just the other night she ducked her head as Brad turned up the volume on the TV too quickly and too loudly. We both busted out laughing as her immediate response to the loudness was to duck down. She does act slightly like a pug which is certainly acceptable and understandable! Much like Simon, she prefers to gobble all her food at once instead of taking a few nibbles then going off to do something else like most cats would typically do.

 

I've learned a lot about cats this past year. It's been a fun ride! I'm so glad we decided to keep her. I believe she came to us at the perfect time. I love the fact she arrived to us just about 7 weeks before our first wedding anniversary. She'll always be our "souvenir" of our first year of marriage!  I'll admit the second Brad brought her home I knew we had a new kitty. I knew I wasn't going to be able to part with her. Brad was much better than I was as he attempted to not bond with her that first week since we weren't sure about keeping her. I was already working on names during the first 24 hours. Little did I realize that despite my early name brainstorming it would take us weeks before she would "officially" be named Piper.

 

Congrats Pipe! You are 1!!! Here's to many more bdays little girl!