Griffin's Night with Auntie Sissy and Uncle Josh

Griff came over on Saturday to give Shell and Dan some alone time (actually, some Menards time...very romantic!) and we had a blast! Griff and I made cookies and we all played with Kowe.

Griff is such a good boy! Kowe is a good girl, though she was a little rough with Griff. I think it's a combination of jealousy and wanting to play with someone her own size! Either way, we had a great time!

Our garden is done!

Our little wet rat. She was playing in the water at the garden.

Josh and Kowe playing in the yard
Our Garden Planted! 10 Pepper Plants, a fairytale eggplant, 8 Tomato Plants, radishes and scallions. We can't wait for it all to grow!!!

A Night at the Ballpark

Caleb had a tourney this weekend, and we haven't been able to go to any of his other games so far, but we were thankfully able to go today! They played three games today and won all three!!! I'm convinced that Caleb is going to play for the Cubs (or the Cards if papaw has is way about it!)and get me good seats whenever I want!!!

Here is a pic of Caleb at bat. He did awesome today!

Griff *loves* the games! He was so good. He's a huge ham and had the entire set of bleachers for an audience....he was quite entertaining. But he loves to clap for his big brother and do high-5s when things go our way!

Here is Griff and I playing a fun game of ours.....where I bounce him and sing a song, and then he falls in the gutter. He gets so excited when he knows the gutter part is coming. I love how excited he looks....I DON'T love my double chin!! :)

One more of Griff and I. We took Kowe and she was so good...but now she's beat!

I love baseball in the summer!! Especially when we get to watch Caleb and see how talented he is.

Our Drama Queen is doing great!

Okay, so everyone knows that Kowe is spoiled. We admit it. It's no secret. Well, she came home from the vet a changed woman...she was more clingy and sometimes whiney....very normal after a major surgery. Very normal. But it lasted for several days (actually, up until yesterday). She has had a very needy connection with her buddies. And to top it off, she has been hanging out in her cage with her buddies (she normally HATES her cage). We were told that sometimes when girl dogs are fixed, they sort of go through a hormonal thing where they think they just had a baby. I think that Kowe did this to an extent. She carries one of two buddies around at all times. She tucks them in to the blanket, she lays with them, she hides them when she's not going to be with them. What a good mommy, right?! It's started to subside, but it really is most adorable to think about it. And sad, too, that she'll never be able to be a mommy. :( At least not to real puppies...but her buddies seem to be doing the job.
She loves to be under the covers and, as you see here, the pillows. We see you Kowe girl.

So yes, she has been pampered. Here, you can see her wanting her belly rubbed. And Josh probably gave in without any hesitation. We're both guilty. But how do you say no to that face?

And the kicker is that we had to HAND feed the girl! Yep, that's right. I think at first she was just not feeling well and didn't want to eat. So we hand fed her for the first two days. Then it became like our duty to feed her whenever she needed. Today, we took her to the vet and she told us we were getting played!! She said that we're going to have to be firm about not feeding her. She said it won't kill her not to eat for a day..and if she gets hungry enough, she'll eat. By george, she did. She's eaten LOTS of times today!! What a little pill. I guess when you're that sweet, you can be a pill. She's worth it.

Coming up on 4 months!!!

Holy panick Batman!!!

FOUR months. FOUR!!! Thankfully, we have EVERYthing booked. Now we just need to pay the people!! :) We had our first wedding fight this past week. The stress is kicking in! But we got it resolved. We bicker, we don't really fight. But this, this was a fight. The budget is strict and we have to stick to it. That's all there is to it. But that doesn't mean it's easy by any stretch of the imagination!! Thankfully, we have made every vendor decision together, so I'm not to blame entirely for being a small bit of a smudge over budget. However, we will be cutting a couple of things that I was REALLY excited about...but that's okay...it's the right thing to do. There are still plenty of things that we can do to remain under budget, so I'm not worried. I just thought it wouldn't be a true "us" blog if I didn't share some of the trials of planning this extravaganza! Our relationship isn't perfect...but gosh is it great!

On a more exciting note, we were able to register last week. WOW talk about tiring!! We had done our Pampered Chef one a while ago, mostly just for the fun of it. But last week, we decided to take on the adventure. It was a lot of fun. I had to be in charge of the gun because Josh couldn't get it to scan just once. There's probably no need for 4 trashcans or crock pots, right? And I also learned that Kohl's has a TON of fun stuff!! Josh was in charge in his store, but it was a little funny to see his employee giggling that he didn't exactly know how to get the gun prepared. I think she got a kick out of that. Then we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond, but weren't able to finish before they were ready to close. SO we went back a few nights later and then we did our Target one too. We all know how much I love Target, and how I could literally just wander the place for hours on end...however, this night (to Josh's benefit), I was way too tired to browse. It was a get-in-and-get-out night!! Then we crashed! But it's a check off the good 'ole list!!

And flowers are all figured out. That's a great thing. We're going to order invites in the next week or two, and continue to watch the time fly by!!

F.O.U.R. Months. Do you believe it???

Engagement Announcement!!!

Our engagement announcement was in today's J&C!!! If you have one, check it out. We might try scanning one in soon, but only if we get around to it. It's official and things are moving along very quickly!!!!

I went to a bridal shower for my best friend's (and bridesmaid) mom on Saturday, and it really got me in the mood for the wedding! But it also reminded me of just how much we have coming up here in the next four months!! My sister's baby coming, and a shower for that, Jaye's wedding weekend, Jessica's showers and wedding weekend, our friend Jenny's wedding, my cousin Tracey's baby shower, baby, bridal shower and wedding, and all of our stuff!!! In addition to our birthdays, several graduations, and Ronnie is retiring!! WOW!!! We're going to be some busy bees!! It's a really exciting time for a lot of people!

Check back and maybe we'll post the e-announcement.

No Puppies in Our Future...

Kowe got fixed on Thursday, and this is the sad little sight that she was...

The bandages on her feet are because she got her dew claws taken off too, but you can see her shaved little belly too. She's been very attached to her bowling pin and to both of us. She's so sweet. Josh and I were lost for the night that she stayed at the vet. We're glad to have her home and she's doing really well...as long as one of us are sitting right with her.

First, on Saturday, we moved the bushes that were in the front to the backyard so we could plant our new bushes in the front...

Then Shell and Griff stopped by and Griff had to get his hands dirty helping out... He's a great helper, and Josh didn't even get bonked in the head with that shovel!!...

Then today, Josh's parents came over and helped us get the garden set up and brick the front. They were here all day and we got SO much done!!! Unfortunately we didn't get any pics with them...we forgot the camera till the end. But THANK YOU guys so much for helping..you are machines!! And best of all, Maxwell got to take a field trip to our house and he loved laying in the breeze all day. I think he enjoyed it...

Patty and I were in charge of bricking the flower garden in the front. Is that straight or what?!?!...

Josh and Ronnie got the garden all set up. It was a ton of work, but it turned out amazingly! We'll plant flowers and all of our veggies this week and we're so stinkin excited! As you can see, with our dip in the back, they built the garden out of the side of the yard. It's so pretty...

Then we had a grilled out brats and burgers, and had a great dinner. After Ron, Patty and Little Bits left, we lit up the firepit and had some s'mores! Yum-O!...

Now we're beat! Kowe hasn't moved off the couch...even when we both went upstairs, which is REALLY out of character for her...usually she's nosy enough that she has to be in the know about everything. Not tonight!! Hope everyone had as fun of a weekend as we did!!

Happy Easter Everybody!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We did. We had lunch with family at Shell & Dan's and enjoyed lots of the beautiful weather until it started to storm. Here are tons of pictures of our day...they're a little random in the order, but I couldn't get them all on one post.

Easter Baskets!!!

And of course, any time I'm at all domesticated, it has to be documented! Here is a pic of the cute nest egg cookies that I made! I'm quite proud! They tasted really great too! :)

Hail Hail!!

We had to get these shots of the hail storm! It happened so quickly, so we don't have good pictures of the big sections...the rain washed them away...but in the top picture, you can see some of the bigger pieces. For a bit, all of them were bigger than quarter-sized.

Kowe Kowe Kowe

This is Kowe's newest favorite pasttime...getting her belly rubbed. She's almost like a cat when she comes up and rubs against us, then flops on her back for a rub. She's also recently learned (though we're still working on getting her to do it every time) to sit, lay and roll over. She can dance too (where she stands on her hind legs and dances in a circle), but again, only when she feels the need. She's a little stubborn!

Here's a pic of Kowe and I cuddling on her bed. She won't get on there unless she can still be touching us, but it's really comfy, so we cuddled for a bit on there. You can see how relaxed she is!