Happy 2020! We Dog-Sat

We got a call on New Years Eve that a friend's father had died. They asked if we would go by their house and get their mail, etc- which we were glad to do. They also have 2 dogs, and seeing an opportunity to see how our family does with an animal, I asked if we cold dog-sit. Of course they let us. 

Welcome S'more. 

She was a really cute dog who didn't know what was going on. She was a little afraid at first. Amy and Tyler loved petting her. At one point (on day one) Tyler was petting her when Will decided to come over and tackle them. Well, S'more didn't like that and reacted, by biting Tyler's face. Geesh, this was not going well. 

With our friends headed out of state to the funeral, and us with the dog, we had no option but to keep her. We started giving her some space (although she was attached to me- much to Amy's chagrin.) 

After a few days she weakened me and I let her curl up on my lap and even sleep in Amy's bed. That's when she really started to settle in!

She really is a sweet dog, and very obedient. We aren't sure we are ready for our own dog yet though. They are a lot of work! I've gotten selfish in my independence. Amy is allergic to dogs and is still really bothered by them. Her poor face was swollen and her nose was sniffy the entire time. She tried to convince us (through a nasally voice) that she was fine, but her efforts were in vain. We finally had to return S'more to her home, but it was fun to have her here! Maybe a granddog is the best option! 

 

Oh and mom and dad were here with the dog fiasco. I'm sure they enjoyed watching the comedy show that was us with a dog! 

It's almost a New Year

In all honesty, we were just too busy to celebrate New Years this year. Meme and Papa were here helping with more of the upstairs and we just focused on that.

We never built our gingerbread house at Christmas so we had Meme take a picture with the box. We were really creative this year!

After the photo Amy wanted to decorate the house so her and I split it down the middle and decided to see what we each came up with.

Afterwards, Amy, being Amy, decided the leftover icing should go all over her face. Oh this girl. A project isn't complete unless it's all over her face!

Happy 2020!

The Day after Christmas- Boxing Day and Zoolumination

Boxing Day is traditionally a service day. But for this house- it means boxing up Christmas. I mean, why break tradition!? I spent the better part of the day taking down Christmas, going through things, getting rid of stuff, yada, yada, yada.

In the evening we used our gift from Uncle Mark and took everyone out to eat and then to a Chinese Lantern thing (called Zoolumination) at the zoo. It was really pretty. In all honestly, the boys were really grumpy on the way there but they livened up after awhile. We thought there wouldn't be that many people on the day after Christmas, but boy were we wrong. It was PACKED. I honestly thing Disney World was less crowded. Oh well, we made it out safely.

A Monarch butterfly :)

In honor of the peacock at our wedding, we took a photo by one.

Will would go to every sign and read it. He did it with the animals too (some of the exhibits were open.) He likes to be informed!

It was a fun night, thanks GUM!

2019 ELF Shenanigans

I didn't get pictures every day, but here are a few of them. 

 

Christmas Day

Santa came! And gave everyone bikes. 

Will got a drone and he was pretty excited about it.

I don't have a photo of it, but Tyler was just the sweetest. One of his gifts was wrapped in a lights box. When he unwrapped the paper he looked at the lights box and said, "Oh, nice!" And then noticing it I told him to open the box. Inside were some pokemon cards he was wanting and he was much more excited about that. He was so sweet though, just being happy with whatever he got.

After everything was opened and Thanks was sent to Granny, I got my gift and everyone went for a long bike ride. Tyler isn't quite ready to no training wheels yet (we don't practice much) so he rode his old one. But it won't be long!

Will is natural rider and this is one of the only forms of exercise he does willingly.

Tyler got ahead of everyone and we all laughed when, as riding past, he yelled, "So long suckas!"

After our ride, Will wanted to try flying his drone. We were at a park with a big field so it was perfect lace to practice.

They got it flying!

The kids took turns and after awhile we headed back home to watch movies. It was a fun Christmas with perfect weather and a fun time together.