Meet Chloe!

Just had to share these awesome pictures of Chloe, aka Silver Girl...the only silver female from Bella's last litter.  She is such a gorgerous dog and incredibly smart too!  According to her owners,

"Chloe just returned home after 2 months of training, 2 months home, then 2 more months of training. She is obedience trained, field trained, water trained, force-fetch trained and casting trained now, and is ready for Duck season in a few weeks."

 

WOW!  We can't wait to hear how she does on her first hunt!  In other news, we are STILL waiting on Bella to begin having these new puppies...she is really dragging it on, I think she enjoys all of the attention that she's getting! :)

 

 

 

It's a Good Thing That They Are So Cute....

 because if they weren't so darn cute...well let's just say getting rid of them would be a heck of a lot easier!  6 weeks and 4 days have gone by since these adorable little bundles of trouble came into our lives...yes it's been 6 weeks and I wonder how it's gone by so fast.  We have homes for 3 of them, Moose, Tank and Silver Girl...they are all going to wonderful people and will make them crazy and happy all at the same time I am sure!

"A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his."

 Tank, our big boy silver...he found his new family the first week of his life!

 Silver girl...sweet, sassy, tenacious little thing...can't wait to see what excitement she brings her new family!

 And of course Moose, he's going with Kelsey so technically he's staying in the family!

 

 I thought I would share a little peek into the life of living with 8 puppies, oh and let's not forget one very jealous mama dog!  My day starts off somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00am, it doesn't start quietly either, it starts with yapping, yipping and oh a WHOLE lot of howling and by howling I don't mean beautiful graceful howls like those of wolves, I mean gagging, screeching noises that sounded more like they are being strangled...apparently, my ears are the only ones that can hear this insane noise because the rest of the house stays fast asleep while I go tend to their screaming!  First off, the pen...the pen is a disaster...it's a product of whatever mess that they decided to make in the middle of the night...sometimes it's just one big pile of poop and pee other times, it's paper shredded, stuffed animals gutted and whatever electrical cords that they can find strewn all around. I find it amazing that these little guys can be so incredibly destructive at the tender age of 6 weeks...did I mention I still have 5 more to find homes for????  Ok, moving forward, here's where it gets fun...first off is carefully opening the pen, they push and squirm and more than a few have managed to get their tails stuck in the gate...once they are out, I then trip, stumble and shuffle my way to the front door...trying to avoid stepping on 8 puppies before my first cup of coffee is no easy feat.  They are now going outside, so it's out the door in to the front yard, 8 puppies and me...oh Lord help me...they fight over pinecones, trip over rocks and roll in the grass...when we were lucky enough to get rain, being the labs that they are, they discovered the puddles and managed to soak themselves.  I have to be careful though, we have a neighborly hawk that tends to fly circles, I think trying to decide if it would be worth his while to try and snag one of them!  

After a rather long trip outside with me screaming "puppies, puppies, puppies!!" in some annoying, high pitched voice that seems to get their attention (I'm SURE that my neighbors find me ridiculous!) I rush them inside...1, 2, 3, 4,5....uh, 6, 7.....7....7....crap!  I run back out and sure enough find 8 nonchalantly wandering the flower beds eating what few plants are growing there....I scoop him/her up and back inside we go...dodging and gently nudging (kicking) puppies back inside the door!  Once inside it's time for breakfast...here's a little glimpse of what THAT looks like....

  

As you can see...they like to be fully involved in their eating...

And when they find it boring and tiresome to share the pan...it's always so much easier to flip it with one swipe of their little (quite LARGE) puppy paws and scatter it all over the floor...it's much more enjoyable to eat food that is rolling around everywhere than contained in one spot, I am certain that I will be finding food all over my house for months to come.

But the food is just the beginning of the fun, in addition to tug of war over socks and towels and whatever else there is to fight over including each others ears and tails....there are also books and magazines to shred, brooms to have stand off duels with and crayons to eat and hence scare me to death with rainbow colored poop....

 Wine boxes (yes I drink boxed wine...quite a lot of it lately, thank you very much!) make wonderful chew toys!

 Brutus is taking this broom DOWN...notice the towel...they are a new decor item in my house these days...

And this one...Hooter looking oh so innocent with that "who me?" look on her face!

But for all of the trouble and early mornings and late nights and scooping poop and mopping pee and nibbled on toes and tugged on clothes...I wouldn't change any of it...it has definitely been an experience, one I do not wish to go through again and I'm sure Bella doesn't either....she has been doing her own share of "bad dog Bella" lately...

 Don't let this face fool you...she's trying to blend in with the floor in hopes I don't see her...

Look closely...amidst the basket of clothes (1 of many that I haven't folded lately) there is a bread wrapper...and that is one of I think 4 loaves of bread she ate in a 2 week period, I guess she was having severe carb cravings due to nursing all of the hungry puppies!

Oh, marshmallows too...they go great with whole wheat bread....

 Needless to say Bella has been reintroduced to her kennel which not surprisingly has been her safe haven these days from the brood of hungry mouths that still want mama's milk!

"Dogs are great. Bad dogs, if you can really call them that, are perhaps the greatest of them all."
— John Grogan

And that is the truth because for every "bad dog" moment that these dogs have there are so many more moments that melt our hearts and I know that these puppies will bring twice as much joy as they do trouble to whoever is lucky enough to have them...after all how can you resist these faces....

And They Call It Puppy Love.......

As many of you know, Bella had puppies on July 22nd...and not just a few, she had eight beautiful, rolly polly, yummy little bundles of fur!  6 males and 2 females to be exact and also surprised us with 2 REALLY silver ones and one little mini me, exactly her color!  So here is their official introduction, I will have you know trying to take GOOD pictures of these little guys who by the way are 19 days old today, was close to impossible, but here they are...6 still need homes so please forward this to anyone you know who may need a little "puppy love" of their own!!!

 Bella on the day they were born!  Proud mommy!

 This is Brutus, 1st born and the biggest...check out those paws!

 He also loves to hide, under covers, under siblings and in shoes....

 These is our sweet little "Hooter" girl, she's a bit of a diva but her cuteness makes up for it!

 "Little Bear" is our small guy, but boy does he have some spunk!  He was the hardest to photograph!

 This is "Mini Me", Bella's little guy...same exact color as his mom, and last one born!

 It's a MOOOOSE!  This guy is staying in the family!! We ADORE him!

 Silver, Brutus and Sam I Am taking a little snooze...

 Riley decided that because he didn't have a name, Sam I Am would fit...so it stuck!

 Sam slept through pictures....

 Sweet, sweet little Silver Girl...sigh....

 We just all LOVE her...so so sweet....

 This is Mini and Tank...both silvers...Mini is Bella's color

 This INCREDIBLY cute little guy is Tank...he gets the name because he plows his way over anything and any other sibling in his path and ALWAYS ends up on the top of a puppy pile!  He already has a family anxiously awaiting for him to come home!!!!

Just a little more information about them...Mom, Bella is a silver Lab out of Ducks in a Row Kennels in Huntsville, TX.  She is AKC certified.  The Stud is Baxter a gorgeous English Chocolate Lab out of Silver Star Kennels in TX, he is also AKC.  All puppies are registered.  The chocolates are $800 and the silvers are $1200.  A $250 deposit will hold your choice and the puppies will go to their forever homes at 8 weeks! 

P90X 24 days later...

So my first post was a very difficult one for me because I posted "before" pics from my quest to really get my body in SHAPE!  I posted the pics so that they would hold me accountable and I would remember there is never an excuse good enough.  While I have made excuses on some days and also added the Brazilian Butt Lift to my schedule...I had Riley snap some pics of me this morning after my Kenpo X workout and I have to say...I am pretty impressed with myself and even more determined to keep going...so here are my updated pics, I have to brag this time and share....

Day One

Day 24

Day One

Day 24

 Please do not judge the pics...like I said they were taken by Riley so... Anyway, I can't wait to see what I can do over the next few weeks before our beach vacation!! And I really hate to admit but my husband, Tyler was right...it's all what you put into it! 

Kids Will be Kids....

and parents will be parents.  So when our kids have disagreements and in return so do the parents, when is it time to call a "time out?"  This has happened a few times with both of my children.  There will be a spat or fight, typically I have let them try and work it out but still there have been incidents that sat with me, lingered and ate at me until I had to get to the root of the problem.  For instance, my daughter came home mad one day because she couldn't play with a friend anymore because the parent had said she was "mean."  I know Emma can have a streak in her, as quite a few little girls do, however this just bothered me.  SO I decided to take it into my own hands and marched over to find out what was going on...only to my dismay, did I find out that she HAD been mean, very mean...and all because she was following peers at her school.  After a long talk, she was devestated and wrote an apology letter to her friend and all is well once again...I think...I hope.
What is important from that situation is that I accepted what had happened and dealt with it.  I know I don't have perfect kids, but I do try to make sure that they are making good choices and I am guiding them to be good, I think I'm doing a pretty good job and nothing makes my heart swell more than when I hear other parents say how awesome my kiddos are!  Now in regards to my children getting hurt, that is a whole other story.  Our jobs as parents is to nurture, guide, teach and protect.  While I know I am not always going to be there to protect them, I want them to always be able to come to me for advice on how to handle a problem.  Riley gets very emotional and angry when he's hurt...feelings or physically.  I'm a lot like that as well.  So it's hard, it's extremely difficult for me as a parent to separate the emotional and try and be logical when I witness something that I know to be wrong happen to one of my children.  I don't ever want to be that parent that lives vicariously through their child and uses them to try and make themselves look more important.  I also do not ever want to become that competitive parent that is only concerned with their child being better, faster, stronger, smarter than the others.  I just want my kids to always know that they are trying their hardest and achieving their goals and quite honestly to hell with everyone else who tries to say otherwise or stands in their way.  So if that is what I want so badly for them, why is it so hard for me to take my own advice?  I'm learning...they are young and we have many years ahead of us...I'm learning that biting my tongue is often the best choice...it's a hard one and I may not always be able to do it, but setting a good example is also a big part of the whole parenting thing...now if only more parents would remember that!

Paying it Forward

If you have never seen the movie "Pay it Forward" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0223897/ I highly recommend you do...soon!  Just arm yourself with a shoulder to cry on and a big box of tissue, it is heartwarming as well as heartbreaking.  Typically paying it forward means when a good deed has been done for you to repay that deed to another...even if that person is a stranger.  A good example that I love is when the person in front of you in the Starbucks line pays for your order...that has happened to me twice and made my day!  Of course then you are supposed to "pay it forward" to the person behind you and really hope that it isn't a carpool full of coffee addicts! And so on and so on...
Today I experienced an awesome example of someone "paying it forward" a Facebook "friend" and member of the Bombshell Dynasty Beachbody Club I'm in, posted a very moving blog and it really hit home on so many different levels.  She had come across a post from a friend of hers, completely random but it touched her.  That quote was "it's never too late to become what you might have been."  Wow, so true.  This past year I have grown so much.  It only took me 37 years but I am finally really content and sure of where I'm going, and so excited about what is to come.  And every time I turn around something or someone is brought into my life to further solidify my certainty.  I have always had friends, but many of those friends have come and gone with time and life's twists and turns.  The few friends that I hold dear to my heart have been around for as long as I can remember and they know who they are...they are the ones who know every dark secret of mine and every dream I dream.  They "get" me (stolen from a new friend).  Then there are the people in my life that I call family, even if they are not.  Without them, I don't know where I would be.  And now, at this exact time in my life there are new people and new friends that I have made over the last year or so...these people have came into my life for all kinds of reason, some through our children, others out of completely crazy situations and still others that just simply were always there but it just wasn't the "right" time. I know that those friends are the ones that are a part of what I am becoming.  I remember my parents saying that you are only as good as the company you keep, or something like that.  Well, I'm keeping good company these days and I'm not so worried about the others that always brought me down or poisoned me with their bitterness or negativity. I am so thankful for where I am, and where I'm going.  I know that God has great plans for me and my family.  I am certain that all of our trials and tribulations have not been for no real reason.  So I sit here, writing this and getting stopped every five seconds by one of my children, and I am reflecting.  I am reflecting on what I want in life, what I want to be for myself  and family and friends, and that quote, that simple statement of "it's never too late to become what you might have been" is stuck in my head.  Really, if you read deeper than the words, what you will see is that if you are unhappy, if you are lost, if you feel like you have no one to turn to and nothing to be grateful for...it's not too late...it's never too late.  There is a plan for you too, and you CAN still be what you were meant to be, you just have to have friends and faith to push you forward...test the limits, better yet, test yourself...quit saying "I can't" and start saying "I can" and you will...I promise you that it works, I'm proof of it!  So, thank you Markie, even though we have never spoken or met, except through Facebook, you touched me today...right at a moment that I needed it!  This is me "paying it forward"...I hope this hits home for someone else too.

So I Did...

I realize that this was my first semester back in school, but I need to brag.  When I was in school years ago (I won't try to remember how many years...) but back then, school was a "job" something I HAD to do. This time around school is a choice, something that I WANT to do.  And I did.  I made up my mind that if I was going to really do this, I was going to do it perfectly.  So after many long days and nights, weekends spent with my nose in textbooks and papers, secluded in my "study cave of hell" a.k.a. my bedroom, I am very proud to say that I finished the semester with perfect grades!  I saw this a few months ago online while searching for a quote...the minute I read it I knew it described the way I felt and that it was a great reminder of what I know I can do...I know that several of you also feel the same way!

  This was only the beginning of my journey, I have more studying, more endless days of paper writing and more days locked away from my family and friends (thank you all for the support!!!)  in my bedroom...but I know that I can do it and do it I will!