Birthday Boys and Dogs

First of all, Happy Birthday to my little guy!

3 years old!

And, secondly, a puppy update.

You remember Ceiba?

Yes?

She's huge now.

(Well, relatively speaking.)

And Koa's still her same old self- "Big is Beautiful!"

;)

Poor dear- she needs a good run.

(Every day.)

After about 50 attempts to get a good shot showing how big Ceiba is now compared to Koa, I was forced to settle with this one.

That little brown furball is a blur in all the rest.

And, she still pesters her "big sister" mercilessly.

And, as you can tell, she feels real bad about it.

A Very Doggy Thanksgiving

I'm back!

Hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.

We had LOTS to do in order to get ready for our Thanksgiving travels this year-
getting the ingredients together for the making of various dishes for the big feast,
driving hurriedly to Sioux City to pick up last minute items,
thanking kind police officers on the way home from Sioux City for giving warnings instead of tickets, (driving the rest of the way home from Sioux City at a calmer pace),
packing the overnight bags,
getting all dog related items together,
and....

GIVING TWO DOGS A BATH.

(Ceiba attempting to escape the tub- I was laughing so hard at the time of the picture that she actually DID manage the first escape attempt.)

(Ceiba making it clear that she IS NOT a fan of bath time. NOT A FAN. DID YOU HEAR ME? NOT A FAN, MOM.)

(A very happy little fluff ball- the tail was wagging uncontrollably due the fact that she was now OUT of the tub.)

(Koa, being told to "sit" after her bath. Apparently MY drying job was just not enough. Every time I said, "Sit." she would literally throw herself back down onto the towel and wallow around like a crazed pig in mud. I wish I had video. Seriously.)

(Finishing off the bribe treats. I have only ever given Koa a bath in the actual tub once or twice before in her life. Why, you may ask? Because it is literally like full body wrestling! Koa actually did pretty well this time- it was Ceiba that I had to be wary of. That little furball was a handful. I needed about two more arms in order to 1- keep her in the tub, 2- actually wash her, and 3- keep her in the tub. This is a full contact sport. I was drenched.)

(Prim and proper in her new "Bling Bling" collar for family pictures. "Who me? I was a handful just minutes ago in the tub?! No, you surely must be speaking of a different little fuzzy brown puppy...")

(Lookin' spiffy! Got the nice jingle bell collar on for family pictures, and a big 'ol doggy smile because she knows we're about to go for a RIDE!)

(Peek-a-b00. Still a bit nervous traveling in the car.)

(Koa, on the other hand, would gladly drive if Pete would let her. She's so sly too- she crawls another inch forward every 15 minutes for the entire trip to see if she can eventually make it all the way into his lap- while he drives.)

(Awwww. Zonked out.)

(Awwww. Looking as cute as possible so daddy will take pity on her and let her sit in the front. Might I add that, in the car, Koa has absolutely no interest in me, whatsoever. I call her to come up front and, every time, she does- right onto Pete's lap. Not even a glance MY way. Humf.)

(Papa got his little grand-doggies a gift. Yummy chewie bones!)

(Mmmmm, shlurp, shlurp! Good stuff. Thanks Papa!)

Rivalry

It's begun.

"Sibling Rivalry" I do believe.

Little miss Ceiba just HAS to be where Koa is, have what she has, do what she does.

And Koa, like most "big sisters", is not all that crazy about it at times!

Little stinker.

Life of the Party

Tuesday night- awwww, her first (possibly only, haha!) Trick or Treat picture!
We stopped at Petsmart to pick up a few things on the way home with Ceiba,
and they were doing some sort of pet Trick or Treating.
I went to use the restroom, came back and Pete looked at me and said,
"They just took her. I had nothing to do with it."

Apparently they, too, found her irresistibly cute. :)

Due to the aforementioned Pet Trick or Treat night, we were given a bag full
of miscellaneous pet treats. The Complete Meal Bone was thoroughly enjoyed
as a welcome-the-new-baby-home-big-sister gift by Koa.

Last night (Thursday, night 3 with the new poochie), she finally found her voice.
She and Koa had a ball chasing each other around.
I forgot how much little puppies "hop"!
It was soooo cute- had Pete and I cracking up. :)
I wish I'd had the camera close by- they were really into some sort of hide-and-seek-peek-a-boo-growl-and-hop-around-at-you game.
Hilarious!

Awwww!
A sweet "sister" moment.

Her tininess just kills me!
She was the 'runt' of the litter, and her mom was smaller yet than Koa is now.
We're hoping she stays kind of on the smallish side. ;)

Whoever Said "Sleeping Like a Baby" Was a Good Thing?

As with most new 'babies', sleep becomes sacred.
She actually has been sleeping wonderfully through the night,
but little miss Ceiba has yet to learn that 5:00 a.m.
(when "daddy" gets up to go to work)
is not playtime.

It's go-out-to-pee-then-go-back-to-bed-time!

Koa, on the other hand, has never
(since leaving her puppy-hood behind her)
had a problem with this.
She, like her "mommy", loves to sleep.

Not the new one!
At least, not at 5:00 a.m.
Or 6:00 a.m., or 7:00 a.m.

No- she wants to play!

But then, after that wonderful early morning romp,
she decides it's time to catch some z's.

So, again I ask, who said sleeping like a baby was a good thing?
Some of the positions she falls asleep in look more like torture to me than relaxed comfort,
but, hey, as long as she's sleeping.........

:)

What We've Been Up To, Part 4

Building a New Outdoor Play Area:

We rented a sod cutter and got busy cutting and rolling all the sod for the area.

Koa wasn't a fan of the loud noise from the sod cutter,
but she did enjoy playing in the "sod mountain" we built!

Who says girls ain't got muscles?! :)

Ugh- they were really heavy though.

Newest Member of the Family!

Meet Ceiba!

She's our new sweetie. :)
I've been wanting another puppy
(kind of like 'baby fever' for a second child- at least for someone who'd rather have kids, but is settling, right now anyway, for dogs...)- but Pete kept saying no.

Well, the last few weeks have been rough, to say the least- waiting for test results, worrying, waiting, just plain feeling really, really down- and he surprised me last night with...a new puppy!

I was so excited when he gave me the news! Apparently he searched the Humane Society on Saturday too, without letting on, but didn't find anything, and then found the ad in the paper this week for Ceiba and her siblings.

So, last night we took a little road trip into Nebraska a ways, and picked up our new "baby". She's a true "mutt", but she does have a lot of Weimaraner and Lab in her. The mother was the sweetest, friendliest little thing. Ceiba seemed to be one of the smaller puppies, so maybe she'll stay that way? :) So incredibly adorable!

Koa's sort of getting used to having a "baby sister" around- she gets possessive every now and then of "her" stuff, but most of the time she just wants to play. I don't think she's figured out yet if this new pup is some sort of new squeaky toy, or another dog that's here to stay. Hopefully they'll get along really well as the days go by.
(We've also heard that introducing a second dog can have a calming effect on a hyper first-dog, so we're hoping we see some of that!)

Our Current "Baby"...Koa!

Do we have "people children" yet? No. But, does that mean things in my house (such as the great big rug in front of the door for example) stay neatly in their place? Oh, nooooo- not a chance! Koa apparently decided that the (nice and neatly placed) LARGE rug was perfect for "nesting" in. *Sigh.....at least she left the shoes in a neat row, right?

Not to gross you out, but we have quite a few snakes this year...
(ahem, sorry for the reference to snake bowels...)