High Structure, High Nurture

We've been having this 'issue' with Chloe lately. Andy and I will head up to bed, and as soon as we close the door to the living room Chloe goes NUTS barking at who knows what out the window. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get her to calm down. Fast forward to a couple nights ago:

[Chloe barking up a storm.]

[I go down and try to tell her to stop. Twice.]

[Andy goes down.]

[I go down.]

[I come back upstairs].

Andy: What did you tell her?

Me: I told her, in a very firm voice, "Chloe, sit. Down. Stay. NO bark." All words she knows. Why, what did you tell her?

Andy: I kissed her head, told her I loved her, and sang her a short song.

*we both burst out laughing*

Karyn Purvis, eat your heart out ;)

A Day at the Lake

Oh what a weekend! We spent our Saturday at the lake visiting with Andy's brother Tom and his wife Dana. We planned this months ago, and we were all floored that after a bagillion days straight of rain, the sun finally broke and we had the best day of the weekend!

The four-legged wasted no time doing what she does best. When I tell you she probably jumped off that dock no less than 100 times I am not even joking. You could throw pretty much anything in the water and she is more than willing to go after it!

And to think we thought she might never love the water...

I had this 'brilliant' idea to bring her life vest and a rope with us this time. Last time we took her to the lake, we tried bringing her out with us on the paddle boat and she jumped out of it when we were in the middle of the lake and just started swimming away from us. Obviously she's a good swimmer, but I've also heard stories of labs just swimming until they are so tired they drown. 

I'd prefer a castastrophy-free day, so the life vest it was!

Give me a dock and some sun and quite honestly Andy could have just left me here all day. I require nothing else, except maybe the occasional glass of water.

We tried to convince Chloe to take a break every couple hours but that was usually short-lived. The girl just can't help herself...

If only I looked that coordinated when I dove off a dock!

Andy and Tom really wanted to get some fishing in, too. However, a certain someone just could not stand the thought of not being included, and so there was a lot of this:

And then she would try and weasel her way onto the paddle boat, causing all sorts of splashing, awkwardness, and overall chaos.

We finally convinced her to stay at the dock with the 'girls'. She was mostly content with that, but please note the look on her face when I made her take a picture with me. I certainly hope our future children do not act this way when placed next to me in photos... it could get mildly depressing. I'm gonna chalk it up to her being upset that she was not invited to catch the lures in her mouth mid-cast and invoke a trip to the emergency vet go fishing.

As soon as the guys were back in sight she left our side to go find the alpha...

And then insisted on being included...

Dana and I snuck out for a little ride ourselves. It was so nice to just soak in the fresh air and catch up on life.

Seriously, I can not imagine living here. I would never go to work. I would never be an adult. You'd have to peel me off that dock and I would certainly put up a good fight.

I would also like to note that Andy is finally succumbing to my incessant picture-taking. I think he's catching the bug, because I did not ask for a picture with Dana in the paddle boat, but look! There we are! And now I exist in all these fun summer outings :)

However I did push it when I asked for a picture of the two of us. This must be where Chloe gets it from. I keep trying to tell those two they will thank me later when we're old and gray, and our joints don't work, and we just want to remember the good ol' days when we jumped off docks all day long.

That usually convinces him :)

So that was our day at the lake! I am so glad we got to spend time with Tom and Dana, and enjoy a beautiful day in the sun with things like boats, hot dogs, fishing and sunscreen. It makes it a little hard to get back to the grind, but so nice to get away and enjoy summer!

For Father's Day

~ Dear Dad ~

Thank you for teaching me how to pump gas,

for not getting mad when I ran the riding lawn mower into the maple tree,

for believing in me,

and for your exceptional generosity.

Thank you for your sense of humor,

your ability to see potential in a seemingly hopeless situation,

your morning hugs,

and insisting that chocolate ice cream not have nuts.

Thank you for passing on your love of animals,

your tendency to cry at Hallmark commercials,

your grumpiness when you're hungry.

and your bad knees.

Thank you for your words of wisdom,

for making me dock the boat in front of the whole extended family because you knew I could do it,

for leaving quarters in my car cup holders when I was a poor college student,

and for emailing me house listings for fun.

Thank you for teaching me how to budget,

for taking my coffee can full of money in exchange for my first car,

and for checking on me when I'm sick.

Thank you for being hard on my boyfriends,

for buying me overalls and turtle necks in every color,

for leaving my vitamins next to my plate,

and for sneaking us chocolate cake for breakfast.

Thank you for loving Chloe even when she's nuts,

for building me fires to snuggle up to,

and for getting to my house in record time when I thought there was a burglar.

Most of all, thanks for being you,

and for what you've done to make me, me.

Happy Father's Day

:)

Life Lately

Enjoying: time with some of the Townies the other night. We all went out to a fancy restaurant for desserts and tea. A good dose of girl time and chocolate came just at the right time for me. Also? We talk about anything and everything. The conversation went from basic updates, to immigration law, to soaking your beans before eating, to death and dying and writing your own eulogy, to plans for a summer reunion. We are a unique bunch... and I love it!

Not sure about: tucking my shirt in my pants. This style is coming back and I just don't know. My legs are disproportionately long compared to my torso, and this sometimes make my pants look like they are halfway up my stomach. However, tucking in is coming back in style (have any of you noticed this?!) and I'm trying to figure out how to cope...

Thrilled about: you happy little shoppers! So many of you have been shopping with my referral link to Twice which means I've been getting some shopping credit, too! So far I've bought a khaki blazer from WHBM, a jean jacket from Levi's, and two shirts from Banana Republic. In case you haven't shopped yet but still want to, here is my link (liketwice.com/gVFKt ) so you can get $10 off your first purchase!

Eating: a lot of homemade pickles!! :)

Anticipating: moving down our agency's waiting list and getting closer to our little one. There are a lot of people in front of us with preferences for girls or sibling groups, which means the last referral of a boy went to family #20. We may be closer to meeting our little one than we thought... !

Cannot wait for: our day at the lake this weekend! We're going to go visit Tom and Dana and spend a day at their beautiful place. I can't wait for some relaxation, some time in the sun, and a chance to catch up with those two love birds!

What have you been up to lately?

Fun Weekend Kitchen Experiments

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! We spent time celebrating our new number, and hanging out with family and friends. Saturday was our weekly romp at The Farm, including a scrumptious grilled dinner and a movie for the guys (mom and I went shopping instead). Sunday we went to church and came home to enjoy the fact that the sun had finally come out after several days of rain.

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I also tried a couple new things in the kitchen! The first were these bread and butter pickles by Recipe Girl. Sooooo good and sooooo easy! Dare I say these little guys are better than the store bought ones! I love pickles, and even snuck a jar to work to snack on ;)

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The second experiment were these fruit waters! Oh.MYGOSH. So refreshing and so easy. I bought a HUGE container of strawberries on sale this week at the grocery store, so I used some strawberries and oranges. You can use just about any fruit though (except bananas). All sorts of ideas and combinations are on The Yummy Life: Easy Fruit and Herb Flavored Water. I put mine in Ball jars (the anniversary blue ones!) and let them seep in the fridge for a couple hours. We enjoyed them with friends on the patio and they were delicious!

(Next on the docket for experimenting is homemade laundry detergent. I'll keep you posted!)

Adoption Update: New Number!

We got our update early, and found out we've moved another spot! 

Who's ready for the 30's?!?! 

I can feel 'em comin'! :)

Happy Friday!

One step closer ;)

Meals + Music

Last night Andy grilled what can only be described as the quintessential, mouth-watering, perfect summer meal. It was worthy of a picture. 

We've been having fun picking music on Pandora to go with our meals lately. Last night was "Country BBQ" kicked off with Kenney Chesney. The night before we made scrumptious pizzas and played "Italian Traditional" and felt like we were sitting in a cafe in Italy. So fun! I dare you to make tacos and try "Regional Mexican". You can't help but smile!

What do you do to add spice and fun to your dinners?

Happy Thursday :)