Gus

 As of last weekend we have a new member in our household.  Our sweet little boarder collie Gus.

He's been a great dog so far.  Of course there is the usually puppy stuff, but he is quick to learn.

And eager to please.

The kids are in love with him!  And he is patient with them.

Danica usually "cuddles" Gus by putting him in a head lock & saying "Oh, Gussy Gus" over & over.  Gus in return does his best to squeeze out of her grasp, but it usually doesn't work.

Joshie loves to take Gus outside with him to fight "bad cowboys".  It's nice for each of them to have someone to play with.

Plus, he's super cute.  He's pretty young still so he spends a major part of the day sleeping.  And when he's not sleeping he's playing with his toys or the kids.

Gus is a good addition to our family and I think he will be a good watch dog for the kiddos.  This is a pretty big mile stone, our first family dog... he's going to be a good one.

Valentines Dance & Other Happenings

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day & you get to eat a lot of sweets!

The other day Josh took Maddie & Gracie to a father daughter Valentines dance.

The girls were so cute!  They got all dressed up & then  their Daddy took them to dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant, to the dance, & then to ice cream.  They each got a corsage at the dance which they loved & immediately placed in a vase of water when they got home.  Josh said they were shy at first, but then he couldn't get them to stop dancing.

 They had a wonderful time with their Daddy & were filled with excitement when they got home.  Mostly because on their drive back they got pulled over by a police officer because of expired tabs (oops, my bad).  And Josh, being the guy he is, joked that he might get taken to jail & the girls would need to spend the night in the van.  So, among their excitement about the dance the twins also asked me a bevy of questions regarding the arresting & jail time process.  This is their official dance portrait.

This weekend I also got to go on a mega girls night out.  My sis-in-law Booba (Angela) and her family have decided to move to North Dakota for work.  As a last hoorah a couple of us surprised her with a girls night out, which included a stay in a hotel in town.  She thought she was coming to babysit my kiddos, & instead we whisked her away.  It was so much fun to spend some good, kidless time together before she left.

While it's really nice to get away from the demands of a household for the night, there is the gripping reality of coming home.  Not coming home to my family, that's the good part.  It's the coming home to my house & knowing that it is going to be destroyed.  And while I knew this would be the case I still wasn't prepared for what I saw.  See, Josh's method is to let everything get totally demolished & then do a massive "clean up" (it's debatable whether husband/kid clean is in fact clean) before Mom gets home.  But I threw a kink in the plans & came home a little earlier than expected.  Hence, the big "cleaning" had not happened.  This was my kitchen when I walked through the door.

And here is the family room.  I just kept saying "You guys had to work REALLY hard to get the house to look like this.  It really took some effort!"  Then I may or may not have followed it up with a speech about respect for our home & me & how I was going to start burning everything so I didn't have to pick up all the time.

They then all "cleaned" the house & went to help Beau & Booba pack for their big move.  I, in turn, spent the next 3 hours actually cleaning the house & getting it up to par for a get-together we were having the next day.  This is what I swept up from under our kitchen stools- just from under the kitchen stools.  If this is how messy it was in a  six square foot area, you can imagine how the rest of the house was!

We wrapped the weekend up with a going away party for Beau, Booba & their boys.  It was fun to have everyone together & really sad to hug, say good bye & watch them drive away.  I know they are only one state away, but it is still too far.  My kiddos already miss their cousins & I miss my sister & friend.  But we pray that God blesses them on this journey & that it is everything they need it to be.

Odds & Ends

First of all, our new puppy.

I went out to the Rodolph's last Friday so I got to see the little fella.

And all his brothers & sisters.  They are all so cute!  I think there's one or two left in anyone wants one.

We still haven't named him, but promise to soon.

Super Bowl Sunday was quiet at our house.  Danica & I had horrible colds (& still do) and everyone else was exhausted.  This is a picture of the kick off of the game... we were pretty excited to watch.

Last night we made Valentine cookies with sprinkles...

... a lot of sprinkles.

Everyone got to decorate & eat one cookie.

Next time I do this it will be in the morning, they all had way too much energy afterwards.  And to fuel the fire Josh showed them clips from the Karate Kid (the one from the 80's) and they all were practicing karate... and getting hurt... and running in circles.  Cookies of this caliber need to be made at a time where I can kick them outside to play afterwards.

Danica mostly just ate the frosting and sprinkles... and didn't fall asleep until 11pm... and woke up this morning at 7am.  I think she's still on a sugar high!