Giraffes

I am not sure but it seems everywhere I look I find a giraffe! When Darcie and Anthony picked Aiden's theme for his room one of the animals in the group was a giraffe! Who knew giraffes were such a big deal.

This was the first one I purchased. It was part of the nursery group and I bought it so that I could put it up once the painting was finished! Pretty cute!

This was the second one I bought. I had my eye on him for quite a while and made the big splurge becaue Aiden's room seems so big and empty! He defenitely fills it up!

This one was sent by Darcie's friend Stella from South Carolina. Stella was our secret deliverer of Jason when I got my surpise back in South Carolina! Thank you Stella.

This is the little guy that is on the crib quilt that Darcie and Anthony bought!

I bought this one along with a monkey and an elephant. Darcie says I had to fight off some little kids for him! It wasn't quite like that but I knew the child's mother was not going to buy him so I just reached over and snatched him up :))))

Now this little one "Sophie La Girafe" I just bought her yesterday! I have seen them around and of course the box is in French so I could not figure out what the big deal is about this little toy! I knew it had to be something because she is a little expensive per pound! Finally the lady at Nordstoms asked me if my grandson had a "Sophie" yet and I said No....well she said every child should have one, explained to me about them so.......out of the store I went with a "Sophie" in hand!
I will tell you the story of "Sophie La Girafe" in my next post!

Spring is not just around the Corner!

The weathermen have been saying for days that we would have snow in our forecast. I tried not to believe them but yesterday while at work it began to snow! It snowed and snowed and then would get sunny (Spring really trying) it would melt, then snow some more. We got home from work everything clear.....settled into our evening of Idol and when we got up to go to bed it had been snowing for who knows how long! I have to say it is really beautiful but I don't think enough to stay that way and I am sure in a day or two we will just end up with slush and yuk! But enjoy these pretty pictures I took this morning before going off to work!
Our pond out back.....not cold enough to freeze running water!

Looking out into the dog yard! The dogs had great fun this morning not sure all of them did their business while outside....too busy playing!

Picture out the back looking at the girl's house.....they did not even come out this morning when I opened their door!

Looking at the front of the house......pretty slippery out there!

Valentine Surprise

As we all know I am not big on surprises but my husband and my friends continue to think that I am! I did however enjoy my Valentine surprise very much. My good friend "Basket Gal" (hence the surprise) makes beautiful baskets. I have admired this one basket in particular for quite some time now. During the Christmas Holidays we were over enjoying a bit of Christmas Cheer and Basket Gal gave Jeff a tour of her basket collection, of course pointing out my favorite! Without me knowing he contacted her and asked if he could buy the basket as a surprise for me! Of course buying was out of the question for Basket Gal so to my surprise on Valentine's day I had waiting for me, a lovely bag with my favorite basket in it! Thank you to my wonderful husband for always remembering and to my good friend for parting with one of her beautiful baskets!
This is my basket.....it is a beautiful basket and in the bottom it looks like a group of flowering cherry trees which are one of my most favorites!

Puyallup and Portland

Well.....the dog shows are finally over! Or at least until my handler recovers from pregnancy! I will enjoy the rest from it all......Sizzle did very well for just being an eight month old puppy. Out of the 5 days she was shown she won her class 4 of those 5 times and ended up going Reserve Winners to major points. She showed beautifully and we were all very proud. The handler also did beautifully and she survived going around the ring numerous times!

Sizzle's Next Show

I thought I was done with this dog show stuff and then I got Sizzle! Thank goodness her handler has moved home! She has been shown once and won her class of three puppies! We have three shows coming up this next weekend and then the Portland Specialty the middle of January. Thank goodness we will have to take some time off due to the arrival of Aiden Paul. I always knew I liked babies!

Trying to be serious!

On the move.....notice the handler!

Looking pretty good!

Thinking she is pretty hot stuff!

Wish us all good luck next weekend! Will post the results!

Christmas Presents

Happiness is not all about the Christmas presents you get on Christmas morning but the people you share that morning with. Seeing my family together opening their gifts is what brings me the most happiness. We even opened gifts for someone that is not even here yet but next year I am sure there is going to be even more happiness!

Jason getting started!

Anthony very happy with his book....a chef can never have too many cooking books!

Darcie very happy with her Coach Diaper Bag....now isn't Aiden going to be changed in style!

It is tradition every year that Jeff and Jason get a Dilbert calendar...this was Jeff's year to open!

I hope everyone received lots of nice gifts this year but most of all I hope everyone got to spend Christmas with their family.

Winter Girls

Winter brings on all new challenges for the girls! From frozen water, ground so cold you can't come out of your house because your feet get cold and the fact that chickens molt in the late Fall. Hello.....why would you want to lose all your feathers so close to Winter. Everyone seemed to be doing fine until poor Oprah went into such a heavy molt she lost almost all of her feathers! Well, Jeff and I were so worried about her so I went online to my handy "backyard chicken blog" where it told us it could either be bugs or molt! Have you ever stood out in the freezing cold holding a chicken looking for bugs on them! Well, I have and thank goodness I didn't find any! So the advice they gave was to increase their protien and you could do that easily by feeding them dry cat food. So the only cat food that I had was Sydney's really expensive cat food so now the chickens are sharing! And to my suprise Oprah started growing her feathers back in just a week. She still looks a bit ratty but she now is warmer and comes out in the yard and does chicken things like scratching and pecking! We love our girls!
Beyonce, Michelle and poor Oprah enjoying a cold sunny morning!

Beautiful Beyonce....Jeff's favorite!

Michelle and Oprah!