But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

I Love A Rainy Night

We are getting torrential rains here tonight.  Since I'm a little bored, I decided it would be a great night to take some photos of the girls.  The light isn't great, but it's all I got.  I really should be cleaning the house but this is more fun! 

Blogspot Challenged

I'm back.  Blogger changed something this past week and I couldn't figure out how to post on my blog.  My friend, Lorraine, had to tell me what to do.  

Today, I enrolled Blossom in obedience school.  There are so many really cool classes for dogs to take now but she has to start out in Obedience 1.  I am looking forward to signing her up for agility classes next.  There is also a really neat class called Scent Discrimination where they teach you how to train your dog to find certain objects.  I thought it would be a great idea to teach Blossom how to find my cell phone, or the remote, until my friend Liz mentioned that I'd have to train her not to eat the items when she found them.  

Blossom has had 2 really good days of not eating us out of house and home.  We came home Thursday to this:

Apparently, Blossom thought that the chicken on the cover of my Cooking Light magazine was real.  She demolished that magazine along with Scott's shoe and a clothes hanger.  

Blossom also doesn't think much of  the Fall line at J Jill because she tore up the catalog while I was in the shower Friday morning. 

I asked Blossom to please let me sleep late on Saturday morning and she obliged.  Unfortunately, she kept herself busy with a pair of dress shoes that she must have stolen out of my closet. 

 

Thankfully the shoes were old and I had been debating on whether or not to throw them out.  

You would think that Blossom spends her whole day chewing and tearing stuff up but it only takes her a few minutes to shred pretty much anything!  Now that we are realizing where she goes to get these items, we are learning how to keep things put away.  I read that dogs love to chew things with "their people's" scent on it.  It is suggested that when you buy them a chew toy, you should put it in your clothes hamper for a few days until it smells like you.  

I'm so proud of my incredibly smart husband.  He spent part of Sunday afternoon burying brick pavers by our garage door so that Blossom (and everyone else) doesn't get muddy when she steps outside.  

Enough about Blossom.  Greta is the good one. 

She's sitting behind me in that same spot right now. 

Couch

Blossom isn't allowed on the couch.  She didn't know that until last night because she had never actually tried to get on the couch.  Imagine my surprise while I was walking through the den, with a load of laundry in my arms, and saw this....  (Luckily I had my phone in my pocket)

My little twitter kitty @gretameow quickly took to Twitter to tell on her sister.  After that, she tweeted this picture with the message, "I'm allowed".  

Those girls.....

OH...and for those of you keeping count, here's a list of the things I have to replace so far (Blossom): 

Hair clips (2)
Bra
Blue jeans
Comb
Black socks
White socks
Shoestrings (new as of today)

The Week In Blossom

I have been a little slack with my blogging this week.  That dumb ol' cold is still hanging on and after working all day, I just wanted to come home and sit down.  So, that is what I did! 

Tuesday night, I put treats in my pockets to help with obedience training on our walk with Blossom.  When we came home, I forgot that there were treats still in the pockets and I and put my pants in the corner so that I could wear them Wednesday night.  That was a mistake.  When I came home from work Wednesday, Blossom had eaten holes in the pockets and gotten the treats out.   

This is what Blossom did while I was at church tonight...

I've been tweeting about Blossom's surprises as they come.  Tonight, my friend Megan texted me, "Is there anything your dog won't eat?"  I texted her back, "Hopefully the cat..." 

Thankfully Blossom does not actually eat these items....she just tears them up and chews on them.  I'm very thankful that she does not swallow them.  That would be a different set of problems....

Wedded Bliss

Yesterday was our 14th wedding anniversary.  I believe this picture was taken around 1993.  We've changed a little bit since then.  :-)

Thankfully my glasses have gotten smaller. 

Horsing Around

I'm so not a horse person.  I even took horseback riding lessons for a year.  Proudly, I can say that I have never fallen off of a horse!  Once, under the supervision of an expert instructor, I even tried "vaulting" on horseback.  I stood straight up on a trotting horse and put one leg up behind me.  I didn't fall off then either!  Still....not a fan.  I've been bitten and stepped on.....I've had to clean up my share of horse poop....  HOWEVER.....

I am proud to say that my niece Laura is going to be a Mitey Rider!

The vision of the Misty Meadows Mitey Riders is:

"To offer equine-assisted therapy to children with special needs for as long as those needs exist in our world."

Please check out their webpage:
http://www.miteyriders.org/

Laura went for her evaluation today.  Even though she had never been around horses, Rana said Laura lit up when they put her on the back of "Sugar" and even leaned over and kissed her!

As awesome as the Mitey Rider program is....it gets better.  This program is FREE to children with disabilities.  All they ask is that a parent volunteer 30 hours of sweat equity per riding season.  

Awesome.  I may just become a horse person after all. 

Feeling Better

Scott and I were both knocked out with a nasty cold all week.  We were miserable but, thankfully, it was just a cold.  After spending most of the week lying on the couch, I finally started feeling better yesterday (Friday), and made it through my first full day of work.  Besides having a sweet nurse named Greta, I had this face to keep me entertained....

The Girls

Scott and I are both under the weather today, however, Scott mustered up the energy to take Blossom to a grooming appointment.  It turns out, we have a professional groomer 4 doors down from us.  That will come in very handy!

The big news of the day was that Blossom's fence was finished.  She can now run free in the back yard.  Between the grooming appointment and the fence, she wore herself out. 

Here's Greta watching her sister take a nap: 

When Blossom woke up, the girls played for a while:

OK....writing this blog has worn me out; time to hit the couch again.  At least Scott and I have the girls to keep us company & entertained while we are stuck on the couch.   

Laura's Birthday

Yesterday, Laura turned 6.  We celebrated by going to what we are pretty sure is her favorite restaurant, Red Robin.  She loves going there.  Here she is sitting with Grandpa. (Note her little hand wrapped around his arm.)  She isn't smiling in this picture but she smiled almost the entire night.

This picture is almost a duplicate picture of every year before.  Laura always sticks her fingers in her ears when we sing "Happy Birthday" to her and blow out the candles.

Here's Laura, Daniel, Christel (her cousin from France), and Laura's grandmother Seyfi (Teta).

Laura's cake:

 Daniel & Scott:

Daniel.  I have a lot of close-up pictures of Daniel because every time I take my camera out he wants to "help". 

Christel, Daniel & Teta:

Rana & her mom:

Mrs. Sefi:

Scott, Mom & Dad:

Me & Kevin (my brother):

 

Christel & Daniel:

 Me, Laura & her new robot, Sage:

Dad, Daniel & Sage:

I think Laura had a great time at her birthday party.  Happy Birthday Laura! Today is her daddy's birthday!  Happy Birthday Kevin.