Baron Celebrates his First Birthday

I know everyone is getting tired of pet posts or nothing new on the blog. I'm trying to get back in the blogging habit. Really. But Baron's birthday really does deserve a post.



Today is Baron von Holtkamp's first birthday. He is officially four. Of our four pets he is the only one whose actual birthdate we know. All four came from rescue but he is the only one that came with paperwork complete from birth. the rest we have guesstimated and assigned to the closest holiday fitting the time frame. Thus the cats will be celebrating their birthday on April Fools Day and Pearl will celebrate hers on Independence Day.

I think it is kind of cool that his birthday is on Leap Day. In fact, if I had felt like we could change his name when we got him Leap would have been a good choice. But since we were his third family in a little over two years I felt like he should at least get to keep his name.



Baron is such an awesome guy. He has really come out of his shell in the last six to nine months and become the dog I knew he could be. He is no longer a shy, jumpy, skittish dog. He is now a self confident, alpha, well behaved, patient older brother to crazy Pearl.

His little sister really does bring out the best in him most of the time. Every once in a while he gets annoyed with her, like any older brother would, but on the whole they really do love each other. He even comes over to protect her from the cats when she doesn't have enough sense to walk away from them. if that doesn't show brotherly love, I don't know what does.



I'm so glad Baron joined our family almost two years ago. He is an awesome addition to our family. Thank you Houston Collie Rescue for helping us find him.




Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Valentine's Day: The Rest of the Day Edition

The kids talked me into making homemade valentines. I felt like they should have had a sticker on the back that said, "No children were harmed in the making of these valentines, though it was close!"






I attended all three class parties. Everyone had fun. When I walked in to Charlotte's class carrying my food contribution she groaned "my Mom brought carrots!" in her most disgusted voice. All the parents cracked up. Rehm's reaction was very similar. I did at least bring dip to go with the carrots...

You can see Rehm was really into the holiday, NOT!



I happened to catch him on flag duty when leaving the school. Honestly, I wasn't paying attention and would have missed him but I heard someone calling his name.






I opted for our traditional family celebration and picked up two heart-shaped pizzas from Papa Murphey's for dinner. I served it with leftover carrots, ha!, apples, and Sprite in champagne flutes. It was a hit. Especially when Michael showed up with Krispy Kreme doughnuts for dessert.

And last but not least a picture of my Valentine's Day present.



This picture explains it best.



Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Happy Valentine's Day: The Hair Edition

The girls all decked out and ready for school. Ruby and Eliza Claire traded to these shirts because Ruby insisted that the sparkly heart one was "more my style!"

The one day a year that I'm a rock star hairdresser.

Eliza Claire and Charlotte both wore the style below.








Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Dog Wash

Today was Bath Day for Pearl and Baron. I took them to a do-it-yourself place. I love that it is cheaper than having someone else to do it and you aren't making a mess at home. And the waist high bath tub and counter, sprayer faucet, and dog dryer make it much easier than bathing them at home.

As you can see both were thrilled with the process.






Jenn - Posted from my iPhone

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Morning

It is now April 2012.  I was just looking through my pictures and realized I never blogged about Christmas.  I'm back dating this post so that it will end up in the right blog book when I get around to printing them.

Grandma and Grandpa came over to have breakfast with us and watch the kids open presents.  You can see that the kids were pleased with their gifts from Santa and everyone else.

 Charlotte could not make up her mind what to ask Santa to bring for her.  At bed time on Christmas Eve she was still trying to decide.  I told her I hoped Santa had read her mind because he was already on his way with her present in his sleigh.  Luckily Santa picked something she loved.

Ruby and her backpack for her new baby

Baby Sarah and Ruby.  I think they like each other.

Pearl thinks Santa brought Baby Sarah for her

Two peas in a pod.

Playing with Charlotte's new Playmobil pool.  It was a hit.

Helping Grandma make Rouladen for dinner

We were very lucky this year to have both Michael's brothers and their families in town for the holiday.  It had been over a year since we had all been together.  It was great to see everyone.  Apparently I got busy enough visiting with everyone that I did not take any pictures of while we were all together.  Bummer.

Dog Fostering

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this already, but looking back over the last few months it seems I have not.

In early October we decided to help out Houston Collie Rescue by taking in a foster dog.  Baron our loveable three year old, smooth coat, tri-colored collie came from HCR.

Our Howdy passed away in June.  It was obvious that Baron would like a playmate but we really were not ready to commit to having a second dog.  So when the opportunity to foster arose it seemed like the perfect solution.  We provide the dog with a home, love, food and exercise until its forever home is found.  In return, Baron gets a playmate and we all get the satisfaction of knowing we made a small difference.

Our first foster dog arrived on 10/8.  You can read all about Jana here.  She is a sweet, calm, loving eight year old collie mix.  She is currently going through heartworm treatment.  She spent the first eight years outside but has quickly adapted to inside living and honestly doesn't like to be outside any longer than it takes to do her business.

Jana loves belly rubs and will roll over when you walk by to make sure you give her a nice belly pat.  She likes to hang out near her people and when she wants more attention is happy to come over and nudge a hand to let you know.  When she comes in from the yard or we come home, if we don't immediately give her a pat she does a cute little howl to make sure you haven't forgotten about her.  When she does this we say, "Jana in the hooouuuusseee!" and she howls back a few times.  It is very cute and endearing.

Tomorrow, Jana will be going to a new foster home here in Austin.  I am excited for her and sad all at the same time.  We knew when she came to our house that we would not be her forever family and that at some point she would leave us.  But, she has been part of the family for two months and we have and do love her like our own.

I've talked to her new foster mom and know she is going to a great place where she is going to continue to get lots of love and care.  I know this is a good move for her but we are all going to miss her.  My hope is that she will soon be completely healthy and will find her forever home.

So are we done fostering?  Nope.  Tomorrow morning, after Jana's new foster mom picks her up, I'm headed to Houston to pick up our new foster dog.  Her name is Pearl.  She is a special needs girl who is deaf.  She is a double-dilute, smooth coat collie.  She has been in rescue since this summer.  I think she and Baron are going to have a lot of fun together.  She is younger and much more spirited than any dog we've had in a long time.  It should keep thinks interesting around here, because you know it is so quite and boring in my house...

Courtesy of Houston Collie Rescue

Courtesy of Houston Collie Rescue

These pictures are from when Pearl first came to rescue.  She is significantly bigger now.  

Jenn

Curls

Trying out new curlers

The back - ready for church

Ready for church - Looking much older than 8 to me

Mid-afternoon.  Still has curls.  They've held up better than I expected.

Jenn - Posted from my iPhone

Disney World: Disney Photo Pass Update

I am very glad I pre-ordered the Photo Pass CD.  I have spent time over the last week slowly editing all of the photos so I can have the CD mailed.  I have identified the most perfect Christmas card picture and can not wait to get the image so I can get it made and in the mail. 

I do have to say that the editing of the photos leaves a lot to be desired.  The tools available are few and cumbersome and the site is extremely slow and glitchy.

I do love all the boarders they provide that you can add to your photos.  They are cute and fun. I just wish I didn't have to close and reopen the site multiple times to get the boarder choices to show up.  Or sit and wait for five minutes for things to load at times.

But even with these issues I would still recommend the Photo Pass pictures and CD.  I just wanted anyone considering to know it does come with a few drawbacks.

I'm sure there will be at least one more Photo Pass update when I actually get the images.  And no, unfortunately they did not in any way compensate me for my review or recommendation.  I just like to share things with everyone else when I find them.

Jenn

Disney World: Day 1 - Epcot

The first park of our trip was Epcot.  We arrived about 45 minutes before the park opened.  Each day we made breakfast in the condo, wrapped it and took it with us to the park of the day.  While waiting for the park to open we would leisurely enjoy breakfast and a cup of coffee.  On the first morning we had egg, bacon and cheese mini croissants.  It helped to start each day with a good hearty breakfast that kept everyone full for several hours.

Once the park opened we headed to Soarin' to get fast passes.  Since there wasn't much of a line yet we went ahead and rode it while we were there.  I was really nervous about how Eliza Claire was going to react to the various rides at Disney World.  This was the perfect first ride. She and the rest of us loved it.  She declared it the "best ride ever!" when exiting the ride.

After Soarin', we went over to Test Track.  Eliza Claire could hear and see just enough that she was very unsure about the ride.  We convinced her to give it a try.  When the ride was over she declared Test Track "the best ride ever!"  At that point I knew it was going to be a fun week.

We spent the morning and afternoon in Future World.  We rode Soarin twice, Mission Space Green twice (except Michael who rode Orange the second time), Test Track twice, Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, Seas with Nemo.  I was surprised at how much we all liked Living with the Land, especially the green house part of the ride.  And, I was surprised at how disappointed I was with the Seas with Nemo ride.  I really thought it was going to be a ride through the actual aquarium, not just video of sea creatures.  We didn't have time to do much in the actual aquarium but it looked awesome.

On our way out of Epcot we had our first character experience.  Daisy and Stitch were visiting and there was no line!  My kids enjoyed the characters more than I thought they would.  It is amazing how expressive and funny they can be without being able to talk.  Everyone really liked Stitch even though the girls had no clue who he was.  

We went back to the condo for a late lunch and a break.  While I took a nap, Michael and the kids went to the pool and hung out in the Lazy River for a bit.

We went back to Epcot around 5:00 or 6:00.  We spent the evening in the World Showcase.  We sampled food from various countries instead of having a real meal.  We had Lefse in Norway.  It is a potato flat bread spread with a cinnamon sugar butter.  We had pot stickers and egg rolls in China.  Every one got a bite or two.  All the girls liked the pot stickers and Charlotte really liked them.  I think I'll have to find a recipe and make her some.  None of the girls liked the egg roll.  We had some caramel treats from Germany.  Obviously, this was Rehm's favorite.  And we had a Brat from Germany as well.  We only made it through about half of the World Showcase. 

For Grandma

This is Rehm with Neptune.  I ask him to come get his picture taken with Poseidon and he said, "Mom, Poseidon is Greek. We are in Italy, this is Neptune." 

We used a fast pass to ride Maelstrom in Norway and then staked out a seat for the fireworks.  While waiting for them we took turns going to Mexico to ride The Three Caballeros.  It was super cute and a fun low-key ride at the end of the day when the kids were getting tired.  Everyone really enjoyed it.

Then we watched the fireworks.  They were great except for Eliza Claire begging to leave for the entire show.  She didn't cry but she did not  want to be there and she made sure everyone knew it.

Favorite Rides:
Michael: Mission Space: Orange
Jennifer: Test Track
Rehm: Not sure I'll have to ask him when he gets home.
Charlotte: Soarin'
Ruby: Test Track
Eliza Claire: Test Track