ANNIE!

Peter has taken Simon to California for an art show for 8 days which leaves Olivia and I to some quiet girl time. Well, since Simon will be having loads of fun with his California cousins, I figured Olivia and I should do something special too! So, I took her on an "m&m" date. "Mom and Me!"

We got all fancied up, went out to dinner and to see the play "Annie" at the high school. Then we went out for ice cream at Baskin Robbins! We had a really fun night together and Olivia loved the performance of "Annie" - especially since they used a real dog for the "Sandy" role. And I was pleasantly surprised by the talent and artistry showcased by our small town high school!

The funniest thing was that I had to carry her to the car after the play because her feet hurt so badly from the new, fancy, wedge shoes we finally bought her(she's been wanting "big girl" shoes like that for over 2 years so we got them at the mall on our way to dinner!). As I was carrying her she stated passingly with a smirk and a sigh, "beauty is pain."

Recent Pictures

Mother has bid me post new photos of the kids but since I've been having problems trying to login to the our family website, I suppose I'll post a few of the recent pictures of the kids here on our blog. Though we haven't been big on taking photos lately...way too much going on to get creative...there have been a few.

So, at the bidding of my mother, here are a few recent photos of the kids in all their silly splendor!

Photo Descriptions...Groucho Simon, Olivia pretends she's the witch from snow white, Olivia decides she's old enough to do the dishes, Simon and Olivia forget, momentarilly, that they hate each other (jk), and Olivia wears mom's equestrian jumping helmet for crazy hat day at school! (I knew I was keeping that thing around for some good future use!)

SNOW!

We had a wonderful snowy afternoon today! In all, we probably had about 2 inches and the kids and the dog played for over an hour in it. The neighborhood kids came over and they had a big snowball fight. Even g-ma ran out in the snow and spun around trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth! Considering it will be in the mid twenties tonight, I'm fairly positive the snow will still be around tomorrow morning. Perhaps no school!?

Our newest addition!

We too have a new addition to the family! No it's not a baby! But it is a puppy! His name is Howard! Goofy, old man names are so be-fitting little lap dogs! He's a piebald, wirehair miniature dachshund.


Aside from keeping us up all night, a lot like a human baby, and aside from him peeing and pooping in the wrong places, he's a wonderful little guy with a sweet temperament! The kids love him and they really wear him out, but he tolerates them well.

Now, we need a puppy like we need a hole in the head. But the circumstances were hard to pass up (it's a long story) and we figured it was time. Plus, we've never had a small dog before and he's just so fun! I can pack him around, he fits in the littlest places and it's not overwhelming to have him in the house.

The photo above is his "family portrait". He's the middle puppy. He won't have as much wirehair as his parents or siblings, but he'll end up with more than he has now....it's still growing in!