Caturday Kisses

 Sheba's sweet kittens have changed so much in a week! From little eyes barely open to their markings coming in and starting to toddle about. These little Devon Rex kittens are growing growing growing!

Why hello there!

Don't you just have the cutest faces?!

So cute you just want to

Lean your face in and ask, "Who needs a kiss!?"

*SMOOOOOCH*

Helloooo? Would you like a tiny little

Toddler kiss? *Muaaah*

And one for you and you and you and you and you!

Tiny Caturday kisses for everyone!

Always,

Amelia

Fri-Yay Fresh and Delicious

 If you can believe it, we got even MORE snow!!! This is the most winter like winter we have had in forever!!!! The best part is, the doggies are just as excited as I am with the fresh falling flakes from the sky! 

Big beautiful snowflakes

PAWfect for morning snowy races

And the winner is...

Alice!! ( *Must be the haircut advantage ;) *)

Flying through the snowfall 

ZOOOOOM!

Ernie McDoodle says, That's just silly! Why race through the snow when you could...

Eat it instead!

SLURP!

Mmmmm Fresh and delicious!

Happy New Snowfall Sprinkles Fri-Yay!

Fresh and Delicious! 

Always,

Amelia

Tumbleweed

 Thatcher is now 8 months old and is one happy little guy! He is enthralled with Hazel, is starting to dance when we sing or have music playing, LOVES mealtimes, is waving, clapping, babbling (everything BUT Mama, sigh) and is starting to be on the move!! He isn't crawling quiiite yet, but he has perfected his own unique movement to get him from point A to point B - and everything in between! He tucks in his arms and rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. He does it so much we have now called this action the 'Tumbleweed'. I will put Thatcher down to sit with toys to play so I can get something done with two hands and I will almost immediately hear Hazel shout, "MAMA!!! TUMBLEWEED!!!" And I have to go rescue my roly-poly Tumbleweed with a "Where are you going?!"

followed by a deep chuckling baby with a newfound freedom glint in his eye.

There he goes...

Out the doorway - Look at that FACE!

Aaaaaandddd there's a Tumbleweed rolling down the hallway!

The look of mischief after being 'rescued' ... I set him down, turned around and he was gone! Thatcher rolled himself under the couch

Ready....

Set...

Tumbleweed!

I put Thatcher down with toys in Hazel's room so I could set up Hazel's bath and Thatcher's play area for said bath time,  and I turned around and Tumbleweed Alert!! (For reference Hazel's room is to the left in this picture, therefore he maneuvered himself AROUND the open bathroom door in order to keep rolling himself where he wanted to go.) 

Thatcher has perfected the Tumbleweed so much he can now grab items and take them with him

Like my sweatshirt.... going down the hallway

And now we are here... SO close to crawling and I am both so excited and also filled with "OH NO.. NOW WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO?!?!"

Watchout.... TUMBLEWEED ON THE LOOSE!

Always,

Amelia

With love from Maeve

 Maeve, Ruby's Apricot Curly Girl, says this snow is AMAZING!

She lives further south and never thought she would see snow!

She thinks it is PAWsitively wonderful!

Maeve - you are the cutest little snow doodle!

We are so glad you got a chance to play in the PAWfect snow!

Thanks for sharing <3

Keep those adorable snowy doodle PUPdates coming!

Always,

Amelia

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!!!