Just in time

We got the Monday puppy pictures taken just in time.  The skies have opened up and I think it is time to get out the rowboat!  What is with this weather? It is hard to plan for anything as you never know when you will be needing a life jacket!
Here are this week's cute puppy pictures:

Our Caramel Girl is still available.  The family planning on getting her over the weekend had a change of plans so she is still looking for her new family.

She loves to play fetch

AND can multi-task!  

She is a sweet Snuggle Bear

That will love you forever

AND we have new babies!!!!!!!!!!

Belle's F1B Labradoodle Puppies were born

We have 4 girls and 4 boys to love!

Happy Monday!

Safe Delivery

My son did an awesome job of delivering the puppies safely to their new families.  It was a really long trip and I was nervous having him do that all by himself.  My son didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped as we didn't quite plan on all the fun we would have the night before creating a new "puppy mobile".  The pups decided they liked the temporary play area and my son said they were really great on the long road trip. My son has a huge place in his heart for his diesel truck and he said the pups did too. They slept for a good portion of the trip and then played nicely until they arrived safely at their destination.  Despite the torrential downpours - the trip went smoothly and my son arrived home late last night just in time to join us watch the beautiful sunset over Yesteryear Acres.

 I was so glad to have my son home safe and sound and the new puppy families were all so happy to have their new furry family members.  It was a good day all around.

How about NO extra Zzz's

Last night my son went to the gas station around 10pm to fill up for the big puppy delivery trip. He called on the way home to say something was wrong with the SUV. By the time he pulled in the driveway, the rear end of the SUV was basically sitting ON the rear tire.  The suspension had gone out.  Great.  Awesome. The Puppy Mobile was broken. Alright then....time for Plan B! With slight hesitation my son agreed to let us turn his pickup truck into a temporary Puppy Mobile.  My son saved every single penny he ever made and bought his pickup truck himself.  He got a terrific deal from an older gentleman who took such good care of that truck it almost looked brand new. He made my son promise to look after the truck and love the truck just as he did.  My son does too. He loves his truck SO much. He was a little sad when we got out the wrenches and screwdrivers and began disassembling the back seat passenger area.  Out came the seats. Out came the seat backs. We took the entire back end apart and then constructed a puppy play area for the puppies. We finally finished the temporary puppy mobile project at 2am this morning. I have to say that even though it isn't nearly as nice as the customized puppy mobile box that Mr. Yesteryear Acres made for our SUV - it is pretty awesome considering how late it was.  This morning when I woke the puppies up at O'Dark-Thirty - they all looked pretty happy with their new play area. Dear little puppies, please be good on your trip today. Dear son of mine, as soon as you return home, we will put your truck back together again and I will vacuum and clean and make it good as new! You are my hero.

Extra Zzzzz's

Oh man...today I am just flat out tired. Everything I do takes serious effort.  I drank a whole cup of coffee this morning just to get started.  I usually drink half a cup in the morning and then the other half around 2:00-3:00 in the afternoon. It is rare for me to drink more than one cup of coffee in a day but today at 3:00pm I had a second cup of coffee and drank the whole thing.  The result?  I am still tired!  I am literally dragging. I mean I had a productive day - I had 2 puppies go to their new homes this morning so I had the puppies ready bright and early. I made two batches of homemade ice cream, I washed and folded tons of laundry, I made homemade rolls for tonight's dinner but all of it took quite a bit of effort. Tomorrow I was supposed to make a puppy delivery trip to Maryland and my dear sweet son offered to do the drive instead. It took me all of two seconds to say YES PLEASE!  I am super grateful that he is willing to do the 12 hour drive! I will still get up at O'Dark-Thirty with him to get the puppies nicely situated in the puppy mobile but maybe....just maybe....I will crawl back into bed for a little nap after he is safely on the way. I think I need a few extra zzzzz's!

Puppy Care Package Cuteness

This weekend Juneau's sweet labradoodle puppies and Blossom's sweet goldendoodle puppies all leave for their new homes. Today we put together the Yesteryear Acres puppy care kits. I love putting the new toys and goodies in the bags and the puppies really like to help pick out their favorites! I found a new toy that the puppies just LOVE.  It is a plush chew toy that makes a crinkly sound and the puppies go crazy for it.  I bought four different varieties - a yellow duckie (Ms. Yellow collar girl's favorite), a blue lamby, a cow and a pink pig.  I don't know which one is cuter!  The puppies love them all and the little stuffed animal chew toys look so cute peeking out of the care packages.  The puppies all had their Yesteryear Acres beauty treatment today as well.  Nails all trimmed, coats all brushed, ears all clean.  They are officially ready for the big weekend!

Yellow Duckie...I Love You

This little caramel girl is available and is looking for a family to love. She has a medium length wavy coat and is a complete lovebug. She is ready for her new home starting this weekend and comes with a Yesteryear Acres favorite things puppy care kit. I will be making a puppy delivery to Maryland on Saturday and I am happy to bring her along as well.

I already know how to go to the bathroom outside

And I know how to sit like a good little puppy

I LOVE Puppy Snuggle Time!

I love her so much

Ahhhhhh I could stay here all day

Wait! Did you say it was Yellow Duckie time?!!!!

Hooray!  I love playing fetch with the Yellow Duckie!

I am really good at this game!

Yellow Duckie.....I love you!

Now what should we do?

You read my mind!  Snuggle time!

Good day for Jam

What can be done on a hot summer day?  Work outside weeding the garden? Nope.  I wouldn't want to deprive my son of that particular joy. Put up more fencing around the garden to keep out some very persistent hungry visitors? Nope.  I wouldn't want to deprive Mr. Yesteryear Acres of that particular joy.  What can I do? What can I do.... inside?  Where it is air-conditioned.  Where there is ice cold water.  Where there are good tunes playing on the radio. Hmmm. I know!  It is a good day to make jam!  Yes!  Now I can look ultra busy.  I can even smear berries on my shirt and wipe my forehead with a bit of berry juice so I look ever so exhausted when Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my son come in from working outside all day long.  Good plan right?!  I made a little over 12 pints of raspberry jam today so I am halfway there for the year's total! Yea!  Total jam for the summer so far is 20 pints of strawberry and 12 pints raspberry.  The blackberries are just starting to ripen so looks like that may be next. If I am really lucky, I might just have enough for a cobbler too!  Now all I have to do is to come up with another really clever project for tomorrow. Does laundry folding in the living room whilst watching a ridiculous TV show sound like exhausting work?  I think so!

Hot Monday!

Man it is a scorcher outside today!  Who turned up the heat?!  The puppies and I went out long enough to get some cute pictures and we stayed in the shade and it still was hot.  I know. I know.  It IS summer but whew!  It's a hot one! Hope the new cool puppy pictures help bring a smile to your hot Monday!

All the puppies said the sidewalk was the best place to play.  It was nice and cool and shady!

They were very good at doing sidewalk model poses!

See? Expert sidewalk camera style!

This puppy said - "Uh Oh! My tail is in the sun!  I think I better head towards the sidewalk!"

This puppy said, "See? I am sooooo smart! I stay right on the VERY edge! I didn't even make a mess!  I am such a good puppy!"

"Did she say it was time to go back inside?!!!"

"Hooray!  Time for some air-conditioning!"

"We can almost fly there!!"

Happppppppppy Monday!

Man Breakfast

This morning I finally had time to make the birthday boys their man breakfast. The birthday boys got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing on our pond and as soon as they walked out the door, I got busy making them their feast. First on the stove was the stone ground grits.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres absolutely loves grits so that was his special request for the morning. Once the grits were simmering, I got busy grating all the potatoes and then went to the garden to snip some fresh chives.  My son LOVES grated potato pancakes so I had to make a ton. Thankfully we have a big warming drawer so as each potato pancake came off the griddle, it went right into the drawer to stay nice and hot and crisp.  No man breakfast is complete without bacon so of course I cooked up a few slabs of pepper bacon to complete the feast. The house smelled delicious and it didn't take much persuading to get the birthday boys to leave the pond.  Eggs cooked to order and voila!  Man Breakfast! The only thing I didn't get done were biscuits for Mr. Yesteryear Acres.  He wanted homemade buttermilk biscuits but we were out of buttermilk!  He wasn't too sad though - he said I can make them next time.......like maybe tomorrow.  Both Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my son reminded me that they BOTH had birthdays so TWO breakfasts are better than one!  Looks like round two of man breakfast will be coming up soon. I guess I better get some buttermilk!

Puppy Visit Day

Today was puppy visit day. Both Juneau and Blossom's puppies will soon be old enough to go join their families so today was a chance for everyone to meet the puppies for the first time. Mother Nature was quite kind to us today and the weather was spectacular.  Blue skies, cool breeze, low humidity and....no rain! Yay!  It made for an awesome day to spend outside with the puppies.  The puppies loved it too. No need to run for cover in torrential downpours. Nothing but sunshine and belly rubs! The puppies had a great time. They got tons of love, tons of ear scratches and tons of "Awwwwww you are SO cute!"  Everyone loves days like that! The only hard part of the entire day was deciding exactly which adorable cute puppy was the favorite! With so many adorable choices - who can choose? We wouldn't have it any other way!

Kayaking Anyone?

We have had torrential rain EVERY SINGLE DAY for what seems like forever. It isn't your typical summer rain but drenching soaking, the backyard is flooding rain.  I have joked about opening a white water rafting shop right outside our back door.  What is usually a beautiful green backyard has been a current of rushing water lately.  My son almost dropped his keys when he was clearing the culvert and I can tell you - that would have been the end of his keys for several miles!!! Don't you love our "lake"shore view?  I never knew we had waterfront property!

This part of the field flooded in less than 5 minutes

Within 15 minutes the water was above the culvert (which is usually dry).

Kayaking anyone?

It doesn't look like Mr. Yesteryear Acres will have to weed whack the fence line today!

Ahhhh the peaceful vista of a meandering river

Hey - maybe we can go fishing after all!

The forecast calls for absolutely NO rain for the next 5 days......Let's hope so!

Birthday Boy......or should I say Birthday Man?

Today is my son's 17th birthday. 17th.  I can't believe it.  Last year when he turned 16 - it felt like he should have already been 16. He has been able to drive every tractor we own for a long time and waiting for his 16th birthday to arrive seemed like it took forever. Once he got his license he could finally go run errands and help out with the Yesteryear Acres work more than ever so the 16th birthday was great. The 17th birthday however seems old!  I am not ready for him to be 17.  17 is just one year away from 18 and 18 means he will be leaving soon!  I am DEFINITELY not ready for him to leave home. My son has aspirations to attend the West Point Academy or the Naval Academy and I know his days here are running short.  I know one thing - we will miss him!  My son wakes up super early each morning and helps out with all the chores before school starts.  He comes home from school and works here some more.  He is often the last one to come in at night.  During the summer he works from sun up until way past sunset.  He never takes a day off.  Even today.  Even on his birthday.  Even with all his relatives telling him he should relax today.  Instead he helped work all day.  We are hoping to celebrate his birthday and Mr. Yesteryear Acres birthday sometime next week.  Maybe they will even be able to take a few hours off to go fishing!  They deserve it more than anyone else I know.  My hard working men. I love them so!  Happy Birthday son. You are no longer the birthday boy - you are most definitely the birthday man!  Thanks for all you do!

Chauffeur

Mr. Yesteryear Acres license expired on his birthday so I have been his designated chauffeur.  Whenever we go anywhere together, Mr. Yesteryear Acres always drives.  He loves to drive and I absolutely I hate driving so our arrangement works well.  If I can get out of driving - I will. My son also loves to drive so I can get out of driving quite easily. When my son and I did our college tour trip - my son drove the entire time.  It made the week long trip so much nicer for me. Let me say, being the designated chauffeur for Mr. Yesteryear Acres is not a job I want full time.  In fact - today I chauffeured Mr. Yesteryear Acres right to the department of motor vehicles so he could renew his license. Mr. Yesteryear Acres is an expert driver.  He even holds certifications in some sort of defense driving higher level driver's courses.  I am not an expert driver.  Even though I am no expert, I get from point A to point B with no problem.  I  have driven through torrential downpours and I have driven through extreme blizzards - and still I make it to my destination with no problems.  Despite this, Mr. Yesteryear Acres likes to ask me whether I fixed the mirror, if I have my headlights on, if I have the car in 2 wheel or 4 wheel drive, did I see the car merging ahead, among many other questions.  Everyone who drives Mr. Yesteryear Acres gets the exact same treatment. You can imagine how much fun it is to be his chauffeur. Dear Mr. Yesteryear Acres, I am so glad you have your license. Now before you get in the car:
Did you check the emergency brake? How much gas do you have? Did you fix the mirrors?  Have you checked the tire pressure? Did you remember to look before you merged?
Love,
Your (now) retired chauffeur

Nothing better than your own bed!

I cannot tell you the complete and utter joy I felt when I finally laid my head on my very own pillow in my very own bed. I love my bed so much.  I love my pillow so much.  I love sleeping with my doodle doggie in my very own bed in my very own room in my very own house.  I love Yesteryear Acres. I felt like I had been gone forever! I worked nonstop the entire time I was at my daughter's house. We went to bed well after 1am every night and got up super early.  We usually only had time for one meal a day.  And by meal - let's be clear - we are talking bananas and crackers.  It was a hardcore moving job!  We were so exhausted by the end of the move.  My daughter now lives a mere 5 miles from the beach and did I see the beach? Nope.  Did I go to the seashore? Nope.  I drove almost 1500 miles and never got to the ocean.  I did however see enough of home improvement stores to last a lifetime!  I don't ever want to go to a home improvement store again! On the good side of things - I arrived at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico in time to see my daughter's graduation ceremony. When I heard all the things she has learned and all the things she will now be in charge of - I was really impressed.  She has accomplished so much already. It took us 2 days to move her things to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and when we arrived at her new house - it was perfect!!!!  We had rented the house sight unseen (just via the internet) and her house is beautiful!  It is even better than we had imagined. We got everything moved in and the place already feels like home for my daughter. We even got a small garden planted!!! The best part about the whole move is....there is plenty of room for me to come and stay.  We are all set for future visits where we will just sit around and enjoy her beautiful home and.....maybe...just maybe....next time we just might make it to the ocean!

Post Holiday Puppy Smiles

Happy Monday!!!! I hope you had a great 4th of July Holiday weekend full of family, food, fireworks and fun! I am sure many of you have to face work today and might have the post holiday blues so here are some adorable Monday Puppy Picture updates to turn your post holiday blues into post holiday puppy smiles!

We had a great 4th of July weekend!

Peek A Boo!

Time to play!

We love romping around in the green grass

And playing tag!

Freeze - You Are It!

Can someone untag me

I am coming!

Shhhhh - they can't find me here!

Happy Puppy Picture Monday!!

The Birthday Boy!

Today is Mr. Yesteryear Acres birthday! How I would love to celebrate it with him but the actual celebration day will have to be delayed a little bit.  Thankfully we are really used to that. Raising sweet doodle puppies means that we often have to reschedule big events. Birthday celebrations don't always happen on the actual birthdate.  Anniversary celebrations sometimes have to be delayed a few months.  Last year I celebrated my August birthday in late November.  When my celebration actually came around -it was worth the wait.  I will have to plan a super awesome day for Mr. Yesteryear Acres full of food, family and fun! I know he will need a big man breakfast with all the trimmings to start his special day and when the day is done - what will finish the day on just the right note? Homemade ICE CREAM! Now I just have to plan everything in between.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres definitely deserves a whole day of celebrating.  No one works harder.  No one is more dedicated. No one pours more of their love and devotion into our sweet doodle doggies. He is the best father, best husband, best doggie/puppy raiser and all around bestest friend anyone could ever ask for.  I am so lucky to be married to Mr. Yesteryear Acres. He is my bestest friend, soulmate, and the source of my never-ending smiles and happiness.  Happy Birthday my sweet!

Just The Essentials

I have been working non-stop to help my daughter get settled into her new home.  I was thinking I would be home on Thursday, but here I am sitting in her kitchen, writing my blog, clearly not home.  Thankfully things are being very well taken care of at Yesteryear Acres. I am so lucky to have such great support!! I love my family so much. Today was more errand running.  I never knew how many little things would pop up! Every time we would cross something off our list, another item got added.  Solar lights for the front - check.  No potholders for the kitchen .....NOT check.  New printer - check.  Printer cable - NOT check.  We have made a trip to the Home Improvement store and to the warehouse store EVERY DAY.  Tonight I thought.... we may just have the essentials covered.  We may just be done.  We may be at the end of needing store runs!  Then for the first time ALL week, I actually had a chance to make dinner.  A real meal.  (Last night at midnight we ate a banana and crackers for dinner).  Tonight we were so excited! REAL FOOD!  Right before the beautiful asparagus was just about done, we heard the explosion.  The NEW glass dish for the microwave exploded! WITH the asparagus! NOOOOOOOOO!  Luckily no one was hurt and the microwave is fine.  Just one shattered dish and....sparkly asparagus.  SAD!  Looks like another cracker night......and tomorrow.....more errands! Oh boy!

SURPRISE! Amelia Takes Over... Again

Hi! This is Amelia filling in once again for my Mom. She is still very busy moving my sister into her new home in North Carolina. She likes to text me updates every now and then to prove to me that she is working. All I have to say is... yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah so you moved 4,000 lbs worth of stuff. Yeah so you drove over 10 hours. Yeah so you stayed up wayyyy after 1 am unpacking enough to find blankets and pillows to sleep with on the hard floor. Yeah so you don't have any air conditioning and you are all sweaty and feel like you are melting. All I have to say to all that is... WELL YOU LEFT ME WITH CLEAN THE HOUSE THURSDAY!!! You left me with clean the house Thursday on the messiest of the messy Thursday's ever!!! That's right I went there. I spent over 2 hours in Austin's room cleaning the whole thing top to bottom and reorganizing every drawer he has. It was the ONLY way I could put all his laundry away. AND I still didn't even get his hat!! Then I cleaned all the sheets and remade the beds, dusted and vacuumed the whole house, did more laundry, I even scrubbed and bleached the bath tub and shower!! Including the shower curtains! And you know what?? I had to make today Finish the First Floor Friday! I got so tired by the end of Thursday that by the time I finished making dinner I was going to fall asleep. But could I go to sleep? NO!! Why might you ask?? Because you were ahead of me in steps!!! I had worked all day and you still had me beat! Therefore I  HAD to go workout! I ended up having to do two separate workouts in order to catch up! I did 4.11 miles and then jumped back on the treadmill to do 5.07 miles. Sometime after midnight when I finished my runs, the dishes were all cleaned, and the kitchen ready for tomorrow's breakfast, I finally was able to take a shower and go to bed. But it wasn't that simple... Why? Because I forgot to put my OWN sheets back on my bed. So last night I went to bed way after 1am. SO you see dearest mother our days are not quite so different.... Yes I did still had a bed to sleep on and air conditioning to clean by... WHAT?!?! You still don't think it's the same thing!?! Fine... Well you will have to excuse me... My homemade cake is coming out of the oven!! :) And it will be needing some homemade frosting put on top!! Hurry home Mom! We all miss you!!

Happy Birthday America!

Happy 4th of July! Time for cookouts and picnics and fireflies and smores and everything summer! I can tell you that this summer I have spent QUITE a bit of time in the car traveling across our beautiful country. The vastness and beauty of the countryside never ceases to bring a smile to my face.  I love the green mountains of Vermont. I love the lowlands of the coast. I love the valleys and farmlands and forests.  I love living in America. To me - it is the most beautiful place on earth.  America means family.  America means freedom. America means patriotism. Thank you to all the men and women who serve in our military making our country the best country in the world.  I am so grateful to be an American and so grateful for our military troops who make daily sacrifices so that we can enjoy our many blessings. Happy Birthday America!

4,000 lbs

Here it is at 1:00 in the morning and I still have hours before I sleep. We are moving my older daughter from the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. We had to weigh her U-Haul at the trucker weigh station both empty and fully loaded for her moving orders. How much is in the U-Haul? 4,000 lbs! No wonder why I am tired!!!! That is a lot of moving. We have to unload the U-Haul tonight ..... Or should I say this morning. Ugh! All I can say is why oh why did the bed go in first???? No chance of setting the bed up until the truck is unloaded. Looks like a late one! Thankfully, love is never weary. Let's start moving those boxes!!!! Fun!

Stuck In Traffic? No Fear Amelia Is Here!

Hey Everyone! It's Amelia again. My Mom is currently stuck in traffic on her way to help my sister  move from Virginia to North Carolina. So she called me and asked me to fill in as blogger today as she has at least another 6 hours of driving to go. Back here at Yesteryear Acres everything is going well. The puppies have enjoyed the break in the rainy weather we have had recently and played in the sunshine. And today after a much needed run to the grocery store I found myself once again spending the day in the kitchen. Upon request I made more ranger cookies which seemed to once again disappear in a blink of an eye. Then I made coconut macaroons which were eaten with an equal amount of vigor. My dad and brother absolutely love coconut and always tell me to add more. Such as with the coconut macaroons... may I point out that the only thing really holding together a coconut macaroon is.. well.. coconut. And my dad (Mr. Yesteryear Acres) asked if I put enough coconut in. Yes dad I put in the correct amount of coconut! He always replies with "next time you should add more coconut". If you ask me I think he is just trying to get more cookies! Then I started making minestrone soup for tomorrow nights dinner I read that minestrone soup is even better the next day and I want it to be just perfect. I just love minestrone soup and I have been craving for a bowl of it since I left Europe, so I finally decided to try and make it myself! So far so good! The first half of the soup already tastes good to me. I am so excited to have it for dinner tomorrow night. For tonights dinner I am going to make chinese lettuce wraps. Since the cookies are almost all gone I am also going to have to whip up something else for dessert! And who knows maybe a Yesteryear Acres bakery is somewhere in my future! Thank goodness I love cooking!!

Happy First Day Of July!!

Happy first day of July!! Here at Yesteryear Acres we are determined to make the most out of of our summers and this summer is just going by too fast! That being said we decided that we would make July last the longest and be filled with the most fun! So here is to starting July off right!! It's Puppy Picture Monday!!!! And who doesn't love puppy love!?! 

Blossom's puppies are getting bigger and more active. They love outside playtime!

I like to smell the grass 

I like it when the grass tickles my nose like this

Juneau's puppies are getting bigger and more playful too!

They just have the softest coats

They even like to pose for pictures! What good little doodle doggies!

We like to take sunbaths... ahh that feels so good

We like to play tag

And we like to run around and have the grass tickle our tummies!!

Happy Monday!!