Spring, already?!

My goodness. We've had a busy, busy end of the winter and here we are at the first part of spring (or spr-ummer last week. Get it? Spring+Summer = Spr-ummer.). Demi is settling into her new digs. The invisible fence people have been out a few times helping me train her in the yard. Elise is content to have a new friend in the yard with her as Garth rarely likes to leave the patio. What an old guy! She's always up for a game of fetch.

And Garth is settling into having a new friend. He no longer feels the need to follow me around like he did when he was an 'only dog'. He's now content to nap away on the couch. We can't believe he's going to be 14 soon!

We did celebrate Demi's 8th birthday on the 15th of March... complete with party hats (supplied by Nana), cupcakes for the people, and doggie ice cream. Elise claimed the ladybug hat right off the bat but then switched to a dog hat for dessert.

 (Upside down dog hat!)

Then we took the party on the road and visited Grandpa in the hospital wearing our hats. Here's Grandpa wearing a duck hat. Unfortunately the hats proved a bit tight for anyone who had a head larger than a 3 year-old. We are positive that the party hat gave Grandpa the oomph to heal faster and get released from the hospital:) We love you grandpa!

Then we had a spell of warmer weather. 80s in March! We've been busy ripping things out of our garden- making way for my first vegetable garden when the weather gets toasty warm for the season. When you ask Elise what we are going to grow, she answers 'food'. She's in charge of digging for worms and spotting other bugs of interest. She gathers all of her treasures in a bucket but I have to make sure that they get released back into the wild when we are done with our work. No worms were hurt in the making of this blog...

Of course it's nice to have a picnic in warmer weather. It goes to show that Elise doesn't have memories of last summer because she was thrilled beyond belief to eat pizza on a blanket. Demi even enjoyed the family event too. 

 Here's Elise with one of her buckets for treasure hunting. If it's a good find, it goes in. Pine cones, worms, flowers are all fair game.

School continues to go well. There are never any tears... Ok. That's a lie. Sometimes there are tears when it's time to go home. Today was one of those days. It's so fun to watch her little mind grow. The other day at the kitchen table she was counting her fingers... One, Two, Three and Four. I said, 'Count again. There are five.'. Amazingly I was told by my little peanut that a thumb is not a finger. Well, I guess she is right. 

 At school they had their first party and Daddy took Elise as I had to work that day. It was in honor of the book 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom'. There were special snacks and crafts for the parents to do with with their child. Elise even decorated a cookie. Jeff told me that Elise and her school friend Katie were holding hands for part of the time. How precious is that?!

 So, now we sit and  breathe for a bit. It's been a crazy, frustrating year so far. We try to take a day at a time and pray for health, smiles, and simplicity... Like pancakes as big as your head and knowledge that you only have four fingers.. As these things make you smile.

Be ready to smile. Tune out as soon as you hear

my big voice... as I couldn't figure out how to cut my video

to make it shorter.