Our Guard Dog

It's been 2 years since Miss Clara came into our family.
She is large.
In charge.
Sheds a.l.o.t.
Has the cutest freckles on her pink nose.
Still stares at shadows, but is getting better.
So badly wants to ride in the car but just gets overwhelmed with the lights.
Thinks she is too good to lay on the floor and would prefer soft chairs.
Loves us more than anything
and
we love her too.

Miss Clara Bell

We have had Clara for almost a year already. We think she is the best.
I think she likes it here too.

New gate

Have I ever told you we have awesome neighbors.  We do.  

This summer the kids have been playing a lot with the neighbor boy and we had this marvelous idea to put a gate between our fences so they could go back and forth between yards.  I can now see into their yard from the kitchen windows and the kids could not be MORE excited.  I know so many memories are going to be made in the years to come playing together outside.

 Um...as to Jett's outfit.  Well, we swam at the neighbors house and he went to change and came back in this pajama mix...in the middle of the day.

He's awesome, right?  No fear.

Does Seri look SUPER tall or what?  Wow.  

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No, Clara is NOT in timeout.  

She spent hours like this today.

Staring at shadows.  

Yep, she's a tad strange but boy do we love her.  

Clara Bell

Miss Clara joined our family 4 months ago and she feels right at home here. We adore her. 

 Yes, she sheds like crazy and it drives this Mama mad at times.  She steals any food left for a second on the counter and eats q-tips and whole loafs of bread, but we still love her to pieces. She loves to be heard by barking or talking and the kids swear she sings to them. Pretty hilarious.

Oh yes...we have fallen in love with Clara Bell.

I fought the vacuum.

And I won.

So, apparently my vacuum hasn't been working well, hence the tremendous amount of hair in my house.  After complaining about my vacuum to my dear mother, she let me know I needed a new belt.    

She even went and got it for me.  Love her.

Well, a new belt was the answer.  

I vacuumed for hours today.  No joke.  

It was frightening how much was coming up.  YIKES.

Clean freak Mama is feeling so much better.  

I even vacuumed Clara.  Well, I tried.  She didn't like it.  

My little man doesn't like to smile for pics anymore.  

Friday was Western Day at school.  

She is a cute little cowgirl.  

We went to breakfast for my brother's birthday this morning.  Seri adores him.  

They played tic-tac-toe all morning.  

Jett and Marli got a hold of my phone.  

Those two are quite the pair.

I found this pic along with MANY others on my phone tonight.  

Miss Mar knows exactly how I feel about Sunday nights.  Blah.

Freakin' Hair Everywhere!

Having a dog in the house, let alone two, I am bound to have dog hair.  I have had a dog for 13 years and have never minded it. Nothing a little vacuuming can't fix. Well...Miss Clara is shedding.  Not just a little.  A LOT! 

(I'm filling this blog with random garden pics to raise my spirits.) 

I don't know what is going on but it's everywhere and I can't control it.  It's driving this clean freak mama CrAzY!  It's on our rugs, on our clothes and the worst is Jett's fro. Yes, he is growing a fro.  He wants it HUGE.  That's a whole other story.  But his head of curly hair attracts dog hair. Nothing like picking out yellow dog hair from your son's hair, especially while walking down the sidewalk to preschool.  

Someday it will be funny I'm sure, but for now it's driving me nuts.

    I hope this is just a faze.  I keep brushing her but it doesn't seem to be getting better.  The vacuum is tired of it too because it doesn't want to pick it up anymore.  

Holy crap!

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful week preparing for Christmas.  It is soooo nice to be able to be home for two weeks with my little ones.    

We have decided to keep Miss Clara.  

She has been a perfect fit into our family.  A wonderful Christmas present.  

 The kids helped make the tags for our family presents.  

I made homemade cinnamon rolls again.  

A new tradition.  

On Christmas Eve evening we headed to my parents for our family Christmas.  

 The craziness of opening is about to begin.  

So fun to watch their excitement.

 My Dad bought us all matching hats.  Hilarious and random.  That's my Dad.  Kids wore Santa hats.  The girls got antlers and the boys were pirates.  

 My brother, the pirate.  

Arrrrr!

 My Dad...a.k.a. Papa.  

 Grandy got Seri a new vanity for her room.  

She got to see a picture of it before it came to our house.  She is going to LOVE it.

 Miss Riley with her funny new nutcracker.  

(Ugh.  She is getting so big.)  

All in all it was a marvelous LATE night together. We headed home, exhausted but excited for Santa to come.   


Amazingly, we didn't all get up until 8:30.  We had a slumber party in my room which helped us all sleep in.  

 Santa brought Jett a giraffe.

 And Seri a ballet outfit.

 Presents were opened.  

 The kids even made me a present.  Love them.

 The rest of the day we relaxed and played with all the kid's new things.

 Santa also brought us new art supplies and organization.  Love that Santa.

Jett has been BEGGING for a fish tank.  

Holy Christmas mess!  
The one day a year that this is ok.

Seri and her doll have matching clothes and pajamas.  She has been sooo funny with her.  
They are always together.  

She wanted me to take these pictures of them.  Silly.

It was a Very Merry Christmas in our home.  
We are so blessed.