Oly's 4th Birthday Party was tiny. And I'm glad we had planned it that way because Mama turned out to have a terrible stomach virus and was barely hanging on that day. It was just Oly, Benjy, Ruthie and Tommy.
We all decorated shirts with puffy fabric paint, which went unphotographed because it was complete pandemonium.
The kids made their own personal pizzas:
And then actually ate them!!!
And had Banana Cream cake that Oly picked out at the fancy bakery:
Played 'Monster' and 'Chase' for at least an hour:
Read some books:
And danced with Josie!
Tim offered to cook Oly anything she wanted for her special birthday dinner. She picked, "Brussel Sprouts, broccoli, kale chips and green bell peppers." You can send the Parents Of The Century medals to our house at any time.
We tried to get Oly to pose, but she just played with the dog, as usual.
I will post the millions of pictures from Oly's birthday tomorrow. There are so many in fact, that I crashed my phone trying to transfer them to the computer. But rest assured, it did happen: she turned 4.
We are still loving on Josie so hard. She has gotten a lot more comfortable, therefore a little naughty. But just puppy naughty, not really bad. For example, when she's in the very back of the station wagon I have to tie a knot in her leash and close it in the back hatch door if I don't want to come out of the coffee shop with her in the drivers seat.
She whines a little more than we'd like, but it's hard to tell why. Is it because she's about to pee all over the rug? Or, more likely, is it because that knowing there are squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits just existing on this earth brings her deep emotional pain? Luckily her discomfort is eased by sleeping on the couches.
She's afraid of the stairs. She refuses to climb them, no matter what. So we have to carry her up to bed at the end of the day. We're a bunch of suckers, aren't we.
Oly and I had a picnic on the porch yesterday. Grapes and salami. Josie just sat there and watched us. No begging, no assaulting. (Although half the reason I wanted a dog was for someone to clean the floor after meals. She's still learning to do it. After ordering her to gobble up a bite of tuna casserole that had fallen on the floor she ate it and looked at us like, "wait, that's what you guys are doing up there?!?!"
Here's Doctor Oly:
And here's the patient:
After hundreds of at-home checkups, we took Josie to the vet for a second opinion. This was stil in the waiting room:
I like this face. It says, "are you gonna stop this at any time?" The answer, Jojo, is no.
The vet pronounced her in perfect health (34 pounds! So petite!) but Oly wanted to check again using the official stethoscope:
Here is Josie trying to sleep while Oly pokes her paws:
And pulls her ears:
And here is Josie fast asleep in a pile of clean laundry:
Of the few people who, after a few hours, know about Josie almost all of them have expressed shock and exclaimed, "this is so sudden! You just went out and got a dog???"
Let me fill you in:
-We had only planned on waiting a few months to get a new dog after Harper died (in 2007)
-We picked this house because the landlord was very encouraging about us getting a dog
-Last winter we upgraded our car to a Jetta Wagon because it would comfortably fit two kids and a dog (and groceries)
-We have spent a few hours a week, for the past 5 years, perusing Petfinder.com
-Tim's not traveling for many months
-We're not traveling for many months
We saw on petfinder that she was at another Delco SPCA Foster Family's house since the hurricane and arranged to meet her today. We hung out with her for 30 minutes at the SPCA which is about the most stressful and stimulating place a shelter dog can be and she was totally sweet and mellow. Let the record show, though, that as soon as the words, "We love her. We think we want her" came out of my mouth she barked at another dog and bit her leash. Smartie pants.
Anyway, she's between 1-2 years old and was rescued by our SPCA from a high kill shelter in South Carolina. She's about 40 pounds and fully grown. For a family who's used to having a dog that weighs more than each of them, this is very strange! You should have seen our faces when we thought about how much money we'll save because of how little she'll eat compared to Harper Guy!
They listed her as mostly Basset Hound on petfinder. But we're thinking maybe some American Bulldog (her chest is really wide), definitely some Boxer and... I don't know, something else to make her more petite. She's great with Oly, already housetrained, instinctively fetches and brings things back (again, unlike Harper) and at the moment is very cozy in our bed with Tim and I. Don't worry, I remember how good Blue Dog was the first day he was here too, things could go downhill very quickly.
I know all of the pictures I've taken so far have been of her sleeping, but here's a video showing how appropriately rowdy she can be (she's been here 7 hours and already eaten a rawhide knot, a chewy bone and a squeeky toy:
Tim: "Oly, did you now that 13 years ago your Mama and I went on our first date?"
Oly: "You did?!?! Who babysat me???"
Oly found this picture upstairs a few weeks ago. It's her parents at a prom in High School. She thinks it's amazing and really wants to take it to school to show everyone, we compromised with keeping it on the fridge for now.
Last night Papa taught her how to be a wine snob:
First you swirl and smell it.
Oly: "Ewwwww!"
And then you think carefully about what you smelled.
This year for Halloween, Ruthie and Oly both wanted to be Mermaids. Since, as a quilter, I only sew straight lines and 90 degree angles- Amelia was tasked with taking measurements and sewing beautiful stretchy tails for the girls. I made them each headbands of mermaid hair and target made them sparkly tank tops.
Luckily a few weeks ago when the costumes were completed I took some pictures of her:
Because on Halloween it was freezing and neither girl would wear anything UNDER the tanktops, so the costumes were covered in coats.
And Charlie was an extremely grumpy shark:
Fire Chief Kyle was in charge:
It will be remembered by the kids as a blast, but basically there were frustrated tears and cold ears. Happy Halloween!
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