Blogger-ade anyone?

*Title courtesy of J, as he inquired yesterday if I had been drinking blogger-ade, you know, to account for the sudden presence of new posts. ;)

Anyway, I am hopping in my time machine and going back to last month, and really, I have farther back than that to go to update all the visits/happenings/good times I would like to, but for now...well, baby steps people. =)

Last month J's brother Chris, his lovely wife Nichole, and daughter/Bugga-cousin-extraordinaire Kaylee came to visit. We had an amazing time, though it was too short, as with any visit from people we adore. ;)

Chris and Nichole were big with child at this point. Evidence A.

And Kaylee was soon to be a big sister, and quite excited about it. Evidence B.

;)

Okay, enough with the evidence. Goodness, you'd think I've been watching CSI or something with...um, evidence in it. ;) Well, I have been watching Arrested Development over and over and over as if no other show ever existed, and there is a lot of talk of evidence there. Hmm, all pieces to the puzzle.

Gosh, this catch-up business really sends me on a lot of tangents huh?! Back to the point...

Kaylee is so sweet, and so so easy to photograph because she does endless amounts of adorable things.

See?! Even when she's making this face, isn't she cute?! ;)

And Bugga thinks she is just the greatest. They have a total blast together. I love this picture of them looking out a big window at the MN Children's Museum.

Everyone swinging. =)

Well, as I said, this was just over a month ago, and what do you know?! Last Thursday Chris and Nichole welcomed little Dominic into the world and we couldn't be more thrilled! Kaylee is a big sister, and taking to it wonderfully I hear. So there is a new little love to behold, some sunshine into this often sad and dreary world. ;) Got a little dramatic there, oops. But I think you catch my drift. YAY Baby Dominic!

Speaking of loves, here are my two. This little duo is my everything. Even if sometimes I wish this little duo would hop in the car and leave for a few hours, allowing me to refresh/clean/nap/read/zone out/relax/reorganize the entire house/inspire world peace...returning later with supper in hand. And dessert. And matching "I {heart} Momma" tattoos.

Kidding about the tattoos of course. But never about the dessert. ;)

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Chris, Nichole, and Kaylee and welcome to the family little Dominic! We can't wait to meet you! =)

Dirty...

...just doesn't really cover it these days.

;)

Happy Monday.

Dusting off the cobwebs

Swish.  Swoosh.  Whew.

As you can see, I'm finally trying to dust off some of the cobwebs of this little blog and play a mad game of catch-up.  Spring cleaning was never so much fun, huh?! 

What's that?!  It's Summer already.  Crap.

Anywho...my Dad returned home to NE this week.  He left the great state of MN on Tuesday, exactly 2 months from the date he first arrived.  He went through 4 weeks of residential treatment during that time, here in MN, which was a blessing because we could visit him on weekends and often brought him back to our house for day or whole-weekend passes.  Was it successful?  Only time will tell.  I want to be hopeful, but history keeps me guarded.  I can say he was in good spirits, and his physical health was far improved from when he first came to stay.  

Probably the best part of his visit was watching the relationship between him and Grady develop and flourish, after being basically non-existent for Bug's first 2 years of life.  Dad requested pictures with Bugga and the big 2 dogs before he went home and the following chronicles the folly of attempting such a thing.  ;)

The dogs didn't want to sit still.

Bugga insisted on holding his broom.

And not looking at the camera, both of which irked my sometimes too-serious Dad.  Personally, it just made me laugh and I assured him it was probably the best we could hope for with a 2 year old. =)

I'm posting this picture simply as an illustration of just how difficult it was to get those 2 to sit still for even 2 seconds.  

Oh my goodness....I just realized how far behind I am indeed.  None of you know this dog.  This leggy, big, brown and white boy dog.  DOH!

This is BRAN.  {One of } Our new foster{s}.  ;)  See now?  Catch-up is an understatement.

So Bowie got adopted on May 23rd, exactly one year to the date that we brought home our first foster Pumba.  Personally, I love dates and I find it endlessly interesting when dates coincide like that.  But I know not everyone shares my sad little fascinations, so I'll move on.

We took a little time off.  Dad was in treatment, during the weekdays anyway, and we were enjoying some time down to just our humble little family of 6--J, Bug, me, Paisley, Monkey, and Turtle.  You know, our quiet, little family.  ;)

June 1st, Mr. Bran came bouncing into our family.  Bouncing, bounding, jumping, licking, smiling, tail-chasing, these are some of Branny's more treasured pastimes.  He is 5 years old.  He is sweet.  I swear he is mixed with lab, because he has a few little...um...quirks.  =)  Nothing awful, but it must be the lab in him, that's all I can say (no offense to any lab-lovers that happen upon this blog!).  

Fast forward to June 12th, Dad completed his treatment and came back home to our house.  We were up to 8 family members, but that was nothing, we were about to double that +1.

Enter Sula, June 13th.  

Then enter Sula's 8 babies that very night.  Yeah, more on that later.  Don't you worry.  =)

See that, in the background of that pic there?  Is that...wait...really...chain link?!  In my house?  I did always have slightly different home decor tastes I suppose.  

Since I'm off topic, can I just take a moment to say how enormously GRATEFUL I was to have Dad here for that adventure!!!  Wowsa!  It would have been freak-out central without his calm and experienced demeanor throughout the night and beyond.  He stuck around and helped as we became a household of 17 living, breathing beings.  17.  17.  17.  

Sorry, oops, I get stuck on repeat every now and again.  Minor side effect of the past few weeks. ;)

Alas, we are back down to 16 now.  Darn near lonesome, I tell you.  Good thing I have all of you, right?!  {Echo}  {Crickets}  Um, well that's okay, I might have things to do around here after all.  ;)

I didn't miss it...

...no, I didn't miss Father's Day. I mean, he's still Papa today, just like he was on Sunday. So no, I didn't miss it at all. ;)

What a great Papa he is too. Papa, Dad, Daddy, the "man", or just J--all those titles get tossed his way daily it seems--whatever you call him, he's there, willing to share a hug or a wrestle-fest.

I couldn't have asked, hoped, or dreamed for a better partner for this journey of parenthood. Or the journey of life in general. =)

Plus, where else would my child inherit such amazing hair?!

He takes his roll as a "doggie parent" just as seriously as he takes his roll as parent to our Bug, and he enjoys all the spoils just as much too. =)

Happy Father's Day to my J, my Doug*, my honey, the man. Love you always, thanks for keeping me laughing and helping me keep this crazy family in some semblance of sanity. =)

*Inside joke, going waaaay back to the beginning, as it were. High school even. Okay, since I've given up all hopes of not being a huge dork, I'll go ahead and share. So J and I were just lovey-dovey high schoolers dating. He had his little crew of ragamuffin pals (ha!) and one day we were all hanging out and they kept calling each other "dog." How very urban of them huh?! If only there weren't corn fields a stone's throw away. Anyway. They left and I naively asked Jeremy "why did they keep calling you Doug?" I misunderstood. Story of my life. ;)