What Do I Do With My Hands!?

 I have reached parenting Nirvana and I KNOW it will never be replicated, duplicated, or copied in any shape or form (because WHO is THAT lucky!?!). BOTH MY CHILDREN TOOK A NAP AT THE SAME TIME!!!! Firstly- getting Thatcher to nap in his crib is a new occurrence I have been working hard on. He usually naps in the carrier as I work outside and inside, but with the weather as cold as it is, I have been working on getting him to nap independently in his crib. AKA the first miracle. 

Secondly- Hazel gave up naps months and months ago (with just a random 'I fell asleep mid play nap' here and there). AKA the second miracle. 

So there I was...Thatcher was getting fussy and I told Hazel it was time to go upstairs and get Thatcher ready for his nap, to which she said, "Mama, Can I take a nap?"... Trying not to get too excited, I said, "If you are tired, of course! I can tuck you in first if you'd like?".  I KNOW GUYS I KNOW!!!!

I get Hazel down for her nap. I get Thatcher down for his nap. 

THEY ARE BOTH NAPPING!!! 

I was almost afraid to walk down the stairs and burst my daydream nirvana bubble. I finally got downstairs and just stood there in disbelief... WHAT DO I DO WITH MY HANDS!?!?! I HAVE TWO HANDS!!

And then I got a marvelous idea...

More Puppy Snow Paths!  

So I got a shovel and got to work- manual labor with NO baby strapped to me and NO toddler every 5 minutes (with lots of love of course...) "Mommy mommmmmy Mamaaaaaaaa MOMMMMYYY I NEED YOUUU. DO you see my stick!?" "Can you put this stick back together?" "MOMMMMY Ernie is trying to take my stick!" "MAMA!! Do you see that plane?" While I'm trying to follow the dogs and clean up their business or clean up the snow. JUST TWO HANDS and BLISS.

Ta-Da!!!

Welcome to the Snowy Races

A BIG circle double shovel wide puppy snow path

The Havanese took to this new path quite quickly

Room for recess!? Count me in!

Fetch!

Their faces when they could still see the ball in the snow - Priceless

"I'm going to get it!!"

Playing with you is SNOW much fun <3

ZOOOOOOOOM!

Thank you for the fun doggies!

I am so glad we got to enjoy this bonus time together :) 

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

(THIS CAN'T HAPPEN MORE THAN ONCE RIGHT!?! RIGHT?!?!)

With false hope and the love of two hours with two hands,

Always,

Amelia

Wintery PUPdate Monday

 We are LOVING all the Doggie Snow Pictures!!!
Please keep sharing your favorite winter photos.

They bring smiles to us all!

"This is the most PAWfect snow I have ever seen.

I shall roll and roll and roll until I become the cutest snow doggie ever"

Tater says, "I am the best snow fetcher in all the land!

Look at me go! Gotcha Snowball!"

He's living his best life indeed!

Keep those snowy photos coming!! :)

Happy Wintery Monday

Always,

Amelia

Sourdough Sunday

Alright folks I am 33 now and my time has come to select a hobby from the following official options: 1. Plants- I cannot keep them alive inside for anything- so that's out... 2. Marathons- I am a Mermaid, do not put me down for land sports... next. 3. Bird Watching- HA! I do love birds, but silence to watch birds or let them even land close to me is not a luxury I have... or 4. Sourdough -so you see I have started a sourdough starter, I clearly had no other choice in the matter. And this is what I tell myself every night when I think "Sure sure, good life choice Amelia... You obviously NEEDED more responsibilities to keep alive, we simply are not busy enough!" However the desire for sourdough flaky chewy bread to go with my newfound method of butter making hit an all time high and thus I am in my kitchen every night around 1:45am puttering around with flour and water stressing about my cold kitchen and how to keep my 'newest baby' alive. I THINK (what day do you count it as when you're still awake from the day before but technically it is the next day!?) I am on day 8 of my starter and it is smelling like tangy bread! I have BUBBLES. I have GROWTH! I can save my first discard!!!

I didn't tell anyone I was using my new Christmas present to make sourdough starter because I was prettty convinced I was going to murder it via neglect- aka falling asleep in the baby's room again- and didn't want the added pressure of people KNOWING I have it.

But Look! Here we are!

We are surviving!!!

Dare I say thriving!??!

LOOK AT MY BUBBLES!!! (This is how you know you're old isn't it?)

It started to rise over my 1/2 measuring keeper cup!

I found that the warmest place in my drafty galley style kitchen is INSIDE my pots and pan cabinet on the bottom near the vent kick-out. 

So here it sits fed and tucked back into bed!

And now I have glorious usable sourdough discard!

GUYS what do I make!?!  I am new to my self nominated club and I have too many ideas and too much trepidation. I have NEVER gotten this far with quality starter (so many past runny excuses for sourdough starter... sniff sniff) Someone seriously tell me what to bake with my discard. I need an encouraging keep-your-starter-alive-with-love recipe!

Hit me with your best sourdough discard recipes! I am officially an official member of the sourdough hobby club! (If you say official enough times then it becomes true, that is the new member process if anyone wants to join me!)

Always,

Amelia

P.S. now that I have said something about your existence sourdough starter, DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP ON ME!!! 

Teeny Tiny Caturday

 Happy Caturday from our newest teeny tiny kitten paws!!

Sheba has 5 beautiful Devon Rex Kittens

With perfect baby bat-like ears

And snuggly little personalities already

The sweetest little bunch

Welcome to the world little ones! We are so glad you are here!

Happy Caturday!

Always,

Amelia

A Little Off the Top

 NEVER and I mean NEVER grab a pair of scissors after working into the wee hours of the morning catching up on things while your two kids sleep and think "Hmm you just need your eyes trimmed and a little off the top". Not only will you not go to bed until after 6am to get back up at 8am, BUT you will in fact NOT just take a little off the top, but will end up shaving the whole dog after trying to fix your mistake for hours to just give up and say "I am sorry Alice, you are just going to have to start over with your hair from scratch...." BUZZZZZ. 

Before: Big shaggy beautiful coat 

As cute as a button in all those curly havanese waves!

Just starting to flop into her eyes... 

With Alice having the fastest growing coat of the bunch, she is my barometer of when to time haircuts for everyone. I didn't want her getting too many snowberries with all this snow and not want to play or go outside to go potty... So the scissors I grabbed (Honestly my first mistake, I KNOW I am better with buzzers. Just WHY on so many levels)

So now I have dog sweaters and an outdoor jacket coming for my dog because I cannot be trusted with scissors at 3am thinking "Of course I can get this all done tonight! You'll be fabulous!" 

WHY am I the way I am!? I just can't stop myself once I start something. And to Alice's dismay, that includes a 'trim' that WILL be a full blown hair transformation. - The other dogs watched me while I trimmed Alice with eyes HUGE and avoided eye contact like their lives depended on it HAHA!

Luckily my insanity wore out and the rest of the sweet doggies were spared my grooming wrath (for now, duh duhhn duuuuuuuhnnn). 

So the reason for my confession of scissor insanity...Can everyone back me up and tell Alice how pretty she is? That she is a very good doggie and I PROMISE I have warmth coming in fleece sweaters and a waterproof snow coat for her??

After: (ALL TOGETHER NOW) AWWWW ALICE YOU ARE SOOOO PRETTY!!! 

Me:"Just a little off the top" 

Alice to the other dogs:"LIES! SHE LIES! RUN!! Save yourselves! It's too late for me, but not for yourselves if you get out of here!!!!"

The dogs shall check my hands for scissors the rest of winter and I don't blame them!

Sigh... Don't worry Alice, I think I hear the Amazon truck coming up the driveway. Hope you like purple sweaters for the entirety of winter!

Always,

Amelia

Thank You!!

 Thank you thank you thank you!! Thank you everyone who took time out of their busy day to wish me a happy birthday yesterday! WOW do I feel so extra loved!!! From my Mom's super sweet blog, to the phone calls, texts, and PUPdates from our furry friends, my heart is so very full! Being 33 with my family of 3, it can only mean another wonderful year is ahead of me :)  

My greatest gifts of all time <3 

I had an amazing day filled with love

Thank you to everyone for celebrating with me!

Always,

Amelia

Happy Birthday Amelia!

 It's Always Amelia's Birthday today!!!!! Amelia's warmth and love and endless devotion to her family and Yesteryear Acres makes every single day full of joy and laughter. We are so lucky to be so close and to share our love of Doodle Doggies and Havanese Puppies and Devon Rex Kitties! It is a blessing to spend our days together and I am the luckiest to be able to work alongside Amelia and her beautiful family.

Happy Birthday Amelia

Thank you for filling our lives with so much love and happiness!!!!!

We love you!!!!!!

Arctic Blast

 If there is one person who knows how to best handle this arctic cold front 

 it is ... Colton!

Colton LOVES the snow and is having the very best week ever.

Look Grandma!  We have 12 FEET of snow!

Look at these huge snow boulders

They are so BIG!

I need to take this one with me 

We better check the fishies!!!!

That was a blast!

After I warm up, can we do it again???!!!!

Dog Gone It! We Love Snow!

 The Doodle Doggies and Havanese sure love this snowy weather!

They are having the very best time!

SNOW DAY!!!!!

I can't believe the snow is still here

We love our race track!!!

Coming around for lap #2

It's Hazel!!!!!

SMOOCH! Your snow angel is so cute!!!!

Can we play again this afternoon?

 We just LOVE the snow!!!!

Y Acres Studio SNOW day

 The Y Acres Studio is closed today. Well - everything is closed today!  We are in the middle of a pretty awesome snow storm.  We haven't had this much snowfall in a 24 hour period in a long time.  Everything is beautiful!

The pond is definitely snow full!

Our faithful frogs are still on watch - even through this storm

The snow is so deep it is capturing the blue light!!!!

Our own polar experience at home

Despite all the snow - gotta keep working!

It's a great day for sledding

and mini snowmen

Happy Snowy Sunday from the Y Acres Studio