February 2013 - We got a dog and it snowed, along with a few other things.

February was kicked off with our friends Emily and Chris getting married. Nikki was the Matron of Honor, however we didn't seem to get any pictures from the night. But the wedding was beautiful and everything went well for them. We watched their daughter, Paityn, the next two nights. Allie and Paityn are such good friends, and they had a blast together. We took a walk to the "treat store," aka discount bakery store, which all three girls loved.

A picture of Allie, Paityn, and Rachel on our walk

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I finally got a picture of Allie walking in to playschool.

It's so fun watching the girls when they laugh together.

 Rachel and Allie enjoyed a tea party together on our little benches by the window.

Some fun video of the girls working out with Chalene.

Jared and I both grew up with animals. We figured we'd get a dog someday, but we never had it placed on our timeline or events. We peruse the "free" section on Craigslist regularly, and there are often really cute puppies and kittens. Jared always joked that he'd come home and find a dog someday. I figured it could have just as easily been him bringing a dog home. But we always kept saying, "Not yet." Then one day, there was a post for a free lab-shepherd mix puppy. He was potty trained, and there was a picture of him with a baby on him. We thought, "that would be a good dog." So we sent emails to the person who listed him, asking several questions, and finally decided that we wanted him. But when we sent the email saying, "We want him," they replied with one saying, "someone else is coming to get him tonight." We were pretty bummed. We had finally decided to get a dog, and the one we wanted got away from us. Allie had seen the picture of him, so she was excited about getting a dog, too. So we decided that we'd go to the shelter sometime to look at dogs. However, a few days later we got an email from the lady on Craigslist saying that the other person decided they wanted a full-blood German Shepherd. She asked us if we were still interested. So we said, "Yes!" and went to get him the next day. The girls were so excited. His name was Bubba, but we changed it to Buddy. The vet agreed that Buddy was a more fitting name for him.

We visited the vet two days after getting him. It was determined that he was between 5 and 6 months of age (based off of his canines coming out), and the vet agreed that he seems to be a black lab - German Shepherd mix, along with some Collie or some other breed that gives him the white on his chest and toes. The vet determined that he had worms, so we had to get him treatment for that, along with his shots. The lady had told us that he had had his shots, but when calling the vet where he supposedly had them, none of the information matched up with Buddy. It seemed that he was somewhat of a "rescue" dog, despite not coming from the shelter. Also, it seemed that the pictures that were posted on Craigslist were not current, because when we went to pick him up, he was much bigger than we expected. He was already the size we thought he would get up to.

Buddy on Daddy's lap for the Ride Home

We took him to the backyard to get used to his space and to us.

Allie made sure to point out his food and water dishes.

Isn't he a handsome boy?

With the addition of a dog in our backyard, our neighbor's dog decided that our backyard is pretty interesting.  (The little black fuzz ball is his head poking under the fence.)

I gained an extra body in the audience when I go to the bathroom.

We'll have to do a post with all of Buddy's sleeping positions because he's always cracking us up. But we called this one, "Lazy Sunday Morning."

Rachel discovered that Buddy's bowl makes a great accessory.

The girls enjoy going on walks with Buddy.

Buddy has been a good addition to the family. I questioned whether I would regret getting a dog, but I must say that I haven't. I understand my mom's complaints about dog hair getting everywhere, but Buddy is such a good dog that it's something I can deal with. (When we first got him, he wasn't shedding. Once he started shedding, I remembered my mom's complaints.)

My greatest regret about not keeping up with the blog is that I have not documented so much of Rachel's life. I didn't write down when she started saying things, doing some things, etc. Rachel was such a sweet baby. She loved to smile and laugh. She was a great sleeper and loved her sleep. I don't remember when we first started noticing it, but Rachel is somewhat of a clown. She loves to get a reaction out of people, especially laughter. Below are some cute pictures of our little clown.

She was feeding her baby yogurt.

Both girls seem to have a little bit of a competitive spirit in them, which probably comes from their mother. Sometimes when they don't want to eat dinner, we'll have races to see who can get the food into their mouth the fastest.

Allie got a kite for Christmas, and conditions finally seemed right to try it out. However, something was not right. We're not sure why, but the kite did not want to stay in the air. It would spin like crazy and dive to the ground. Allie didn't seem too disappointed. She thought it was funny to watch.

We got some snow toward the end of the month. Allie loved having Buddy to play with while it was snowing. Rachel does not like having snow fall on her, so she and I stayed inside and watched through the window.

All wet and covered in snow.

When Daddy got home, he and Allie went out to make a snowman.

Making a snowman with Buddy is difficult. He likes to attack and eat the snowballs.

Rachel watched from the window.

The finished product.

Some sad news from February was that the light bulb in my bedside lamp finally burned out. I inherited the lamp when I moved into the dorms in college. I don't know how long the previous owner had the bulb, but it lived for 12 years with me. It was a sad day when it died. It went through a lot with me.