Ghosts of Guests Past ~ Ode to Stewarts

As I went about finally cleaning the guest room after Dad's recent visit, I was reminded of all the guests we've had over the past year. Our friends, the Stewarts, came to visit back in March of this year. Also way back then, I promised to blog the visit. Clearly, this post is really stretching the whole better-late-then-never philosophy. Eeek!

Annnnyway...

Here's to you Stee-warts. Did you know that's how J had you entered into our phonebook on our phone? ;)

Get ready for some severe picture overload. I don't think I've posted this many photos to one post since last Fall when Chris and Nichole got married and took us all on their honeymoon (I love saying it like that, hehe; posts here, here, here, and here. Whew.)

With 3 munchkins in the house, you can bet there was tons of this:

Welcome to mid-March in MN little man. =)

Yes, we were blessed with new snow right before their visit. Thankfully, the sun-washed dessert-dwellers were actually excited for the change in climate. As I dreamt of Spring, I thought they were a bit bananas, but it worked out well. ;)

I think these poofy pants might have taken up their own suitcase. HA!

Princess, indeed. =) She is such a perfect mix of sassy of sweet...the kind that raises your eyebrow as it forces a smile across your face. Love miss Gabby!

Oops! I do not remember how Mason ended up in this position, but what a photo op, right?!

The dogs got in on the mix too. That's Ham-bone, formerly Moanie (more on him and his visit in another post), trying to keep up with Paisley. My girl got air, baby! ;)

This looks like a really dangerous proposition for Justin doesn't it? If memory serves, no one was injured, so it's all good.

Snow monster. ;) Check out Justin in the background, already stripped down to shorts.

Then the kiddos would come inside, warm up, and enjoy some time on the lounger.

We also journeyed to the twin cities, enjoying--errr, tolerating?--a super-crowded children's museum, and then on to the Mall of America, that iconic stop that everyone wants to make. =)

Here, Mason snacks as he watches for his Mom and sissie on one of the rides.

Gabby's face says it all after they were done. =)

Mason and Grady found this little stage; this was before one or the other of them took a break for it to try their entertainment skills. Hehe.

Mason and his Dad, Justin. Doesn't the little guy look so sweet here? That's how they get ya...

It was off to the lego tables next. Note Gabby's look of concentration here.

You knew those pesky boys weren't going to let that go.

Oh no! There it is. They did it now.

She's a trooper, she recovered. =)

Let's see, what could I have possibly not covered? Ahhh, well, this is how Gabby spent a good portion of that weekend:

She and Paisley had a bond that evoked truly dangerous thoughts, I tell you. Like the thought that Paisley needs a little girl in her life. ;)

Right up to the very end, Gabby lavished affection on Paisley and Pai soaked it up in a way that caught me by surprise.

Not that she doesn't soak up Bugga's love and attention too, just that she is often as likely to avoid it. ;) The girl likes her space, usually. With Gab though, she was quite content right where she was, it was so precious!

So THANK YOU Justin, Tara, Gabby, and Mason for trading your AZ sunshine for MN sunshine-with-snow!

We can't wait to repay the visit, preferably when it's below zero here. =) Love to you guys!

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! More catching up on the way, stay tuned. ;)

Momma Sula

As the Bug is busying himself covering and uncovering Paisley in her chair (darn, she's a good girl; her patience with the boy often rivals and/or exceeds my own), I thought I'd take a moment to introduce our 8 newest {temporary} family members.

I shared briefly how Sula came into our lives Saturday, June 13th and by 8a the next morning, she brought another 8 little beings into the world.

Here they are, a couple of days later.

I'll spare you all the gory details and equally gory late-night video. ;) Well, "gory" to some might well be "beautiful" to others. I myself was somewhat in awe, if not completely freaked out at the same time. Having brought forth my own little being into this world, I felt a strange connection to Sula throughout the process. She labored largely with her head hanging out the baby pool, in my lap, letting me massage and pet her and whisper encouragements that I'm sure meant little to her...being a dog and all. =)

As you can see, she did great, and delivered 8 beautiful, healthy puppies.

Each and every one of them knew what their duty was, and this is it. Most of the early pictures are of this, because this is all they do. Much like human babies. Who'd 'ave thunk?! HA! {Sarcasm alert, in case anyone wants to lecture me about mammalian laws of nature or something.}

Sula is holding up like a champ to the demands of motherhood.

Albeit a rather tired champ, at times. ;)

Again, much like a human Momma. =)

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. ;)