2.13.15 Harry joins the family

For some time now, we have been following several sites for dog breeders.  We finally took the plunge and followed through by selecting a pup from Little Paws of Iowa Kennel. 

Little Paws of Iowa

Derby was his official kennel name. (In the video, he is the pup with the green scarf. )  

All the pups in his litter were named with letter D.

His mother is a golden retriever named Gingi, , and his father is a miniature poodle named Beau.

We visited for the first time in January, when we took Emily back to school.  He was around 5 pounds at that time. 

Joe wanted to name the puppy Harrison, and we call him Harry.  

When we picked him up yesterday, we were astounded at his growth!  His paws are huge.  

He does not bark a lot, and has a nice disposition.  

He is quite long, when he stretches out.  The breeders asked that we would keep them updated on his size as he grows. He is the largest pup they have had so far.  Even for a "mini" goldendoodle, they believe he will could grow to 40 pounds.  He loves that "jabba the Hutt" blanket toy.  It has crinkly things inside, and he slept with it last night.

Joe set up a "dog grooming station".  He was very impressed by the petco groomers!  Harry is very tolerant of having his fir combed.  You can see why he will eventually need his fir trimmed around his eyes!  It is good that he likes to be handled. 

2.13.15 Joe's 10th Birthday

Happy 10th birthday to Joe!

We had a nice birthday celebration for Joey's 10th birthday.  He took ice cream cups to school to share with classmates, and said everyone liked those. For supper, we went to Corona Village. Zach, Grandma El, and Grandma Estell joined us for supper and cake, which was nice. The servers serenaded Joe...very fun.

He kept the sombrero on for the rest of the time there. 

Joe had many gifts and cards...a watch

A book and brain quest book from Matt and Mauri

 He enjoyed the cards and gifts everyone sent. 

Here is a close up of his "hockey" player cake....

He forgot to make a wish, so Zach was good enough to re-light the #10 candles! 

Joe is a blessing, every day.  We are grateful he is part of our family. 

11.9.14 November

Family events:

Veteran's Day, November 11th

Grandma Estell's birthday, November 12th

Matt's birthday, the 15th 

Eleanor and Jerry's anniversary, November 19th

Turkey Trot, November 27th

11.8.14 Autumn

Week after week,  Dan has been mowing up leaves and making trips to the compost area.  Some weeks he filled the compost bin, the pickup , and the trailer 3 times. Today he cleaned the gutters and did Eleanor's yard and ours, front and back, one last time.

He had some help, briefly, from Joey.

Most of our leaves are actually in the driveway and the back yard. They get into the area around the grill, under the deck stairs, etc.  They need to be shoveled out!

Here are my minor attempts at autumn decor. Love the colors of these fake berries. 

The Snoopy scarecrow flag is another favorite. I keep it up through Thanksgiving.  I noticed that the loops that attach it to the pole have both ripped, probably due to the high winds.  

All things "Peanuts Gang" make me happy. 

We are supposed to have snow Monday, so everyone seems to be making an effort to get their leaves up before the snow flies.  Joey is at Charlie and Lizzy's today, helping them shovel the last of their leaves into a pickup.  Often, leaves from the houses across the street to the north, blow across to our yard.  This year, an amazing attempt was made to get their leaves bagged.  They had about 30 of those brown, recylcable leaf bags at the curb for compost pick up Friday! We have never seen their yard this leaf empty, in the years they've lived across the street! 

Cheers to fallen leaves, raked and bagged, before the snow flies!  People in the neighborhood are already out doing holiday decorating! 

Zach enlisted the help of Corbin, Caleb, and Caleigh to help put plastic on over the main floor windows at the farm house.  Dan went out this morning to help Dan get plastic over the windows on the 2nd floor.  Every little bit helps. 

Joey and I ate at the altar society's baked potato and dessert luncheon after church today. A good time was had by all! 

10.16.14 October Visit

In October, Matthew Thomas visited.  He likes the stylists at Great Clips, because they "work so fast!"

The weather was very chilly during Matthew's visit, so we didn't play outdoors much.  We did enjoy a movie night, watching "Mr. Peabody and Sherman."

11.2.14 Monopoly

Joe has been playing Monopoly Jr. for a while now.  Last night, I purchased the REAL game.  We started a game this morning, and had to take a break for church.  In the end, Joey landed on Marvin's Gardens, which I had a motel on.  The $1150 caused him to mortgage all his property.  The next time around the board, he hit it again, and it was game over.  We played for about 3 hours.

Joey likes to play games of all kinds...guess who, battleship, apples to apples, and now...Monopoly.

10.31.14 Halloween

This year, we found a ninja turtle hoodie, thinking it would be a good choice for halloween costume.

 In the end, Joe decided to be a hunter for halloween.  Note pheasant detail! 

Joe, Lizzy, Charlie, and Julian enjoyed the haunted house on  5th Ave.  A good time was had by all.