Petey pictures to go with the peculiar post

Ok he doesn't look so bad here, rather dapper actually But this is the look I usually get Or this one He defiantly says, "I am a handsome dog, I am" He truly loves to sit on Wood and look out the window

Petey the Peculiar

The last time we took Petey to be groomed, we asked that they not clip his face quite so close and especially leave his nose a little fluffier. Well he came out looking soooo weird. Some times I look at him and thing he has the wart hog look and sometimes he looks like a snowy owl (they trimmed around the lower part of his eyes and down the top of his nose) But that is not the reason he is peculiar ;-). You know how most dogs like to bury things. Well Petey is all dog in that he loves to bury his bisquits and his Dingo's as well (Dingo's are little raw hides with a bright red 'strip of meat' inside that he loves. Trouble is that Petey hide things in our leather couch or under either Wood's or my arm or as in the case of Sat night on top of our bed. Poor little guy pretends that where ever he is hiding it is really in a pile of about 2 ft of very soft dirt. He pushes and pushes and pushes with his nose to get that invisible dirt to make his treat oh so invisible. Not exactly sure how he decides he is done (maybe when he has scraped a sufficient amount of skin off of the top of his nose) but after about 5 minutes he is usually satisfied that the invisible dirt has truly covered his still-in-very-plain-sight treat (kind of hard to push leather around with your nose... or my arm or Wood's and oh how cruel we are when we actually 'expose' the treat. Such looks we get.

All about Brennan

This little dude is SUCH a sweet natured cutie. I didn't hear him cry at all (but then I was sleeping in the middle of the night ;-) ). He loves to stand up on your lap and to be held while dancing around the room (we sashayed to "shall we dance" many times which made everyone laugh) I think the ritual nightly baths are more about splashing and have a ball then getting clean. I freaked him out a couple of times. Once while flashing the camera in his face, once when my ankle turned while we were dancing and I kind of stumbled (no worries Sarah, we avoided taking a nose dive) and once when I forgot who I was making noises for and I made a monster noise instead of a fun noise. His face puckered up and his lip shot out faster than you can blink. But I was quickly forgiven and we were back to lots of chuckles. The new Budd abode is very cool. Great for Ellen and Isaiah to have a room with bunk beds to share. Great for Brennan to have his own room. I love the openness and blue walls (:-) ) of the dining room/living room. BUT, the best, the best is the basement. There is a huge area for the kids to play on a finished concrete area. There is a computer/media area that I was trying to tempt Dave into getting a big screen tv or monitor for the wall. AND there is the craft/guest room. This really could be two rooms, it is that big. Sarah has her craft supplies all organized on shelves and a table for all of them to work at and then the other part of the room they have space for visitors such as myself to sleep on a very cool aero bed and have a book case and a cd/alarm clock and a closet and I was so lucky that I got flowers and welcome cards from the kids. I was very touched (made me cry actually). What a visit!

Miscellaneous fun

We played in the rain... or rather the kids did and I stayed in and took pictures :-) By the way, I meant to write a little about the kids. Isaiah just loves to play with remote control cars (he got quite a kick out of making the car or truck go forward and then back up and crash into his foot) and Blokus... rather he likes to place the tiles in their spots and make pictures. I was reminded a couple of times when I to got carried away placing tiles, that "it isn't your turn yet, Bopp" (very sweetly said). He also wants to make sure he is part of the conversations. Ellen and I had a number about a variety of topics and Isaiah would frequently wait until I was done speaking and then ask, "are you speaking to both of us, Bopp". Ellen is quite the grown up these days. We had a number of conversations about grown up things and once when Sarah and Dave were teasing each other in the car, they told Ellen they were just joking, and she leaned over toward me (we were both in the way back) put her hand over her mouth so her words were directed only to me and said, "I knew they were joking before they told me. They didn't have to say that." She also has become quite the soccer player. Last summer when I was there, she had a little bit of a time connecting with the ball. But not this year. I had a hard time avoiding getting smacked in the face while the balls whizzed past me. That girl has quite a kick, and not just when it is still, she gets that ball on the run! And we made the requisite Target shopping trip. It was Verrrrrry cold outside so Ellen added some jeans to the skirt and top she had picked out to wear that day. Ellen kept asking me why I was so cold. Ah to be a kid again And, Aunt Jill, these may not be ruby red slippers but they are Ellen's new cool fushia glitter shoes :-)

Pasta pictures!

I got this brainstorm the Wed I was supposed to leave to visit the kids that Pasta pictures would be fun to make. So instead of doing the smart thing and just buying some there, I got some cool Nemo, Princess and Pirate pasta along with the regular suspects and some glitter glue and some thicker construction paper and the ever famous Elmer's glue and shipped it kind of quick (read over night). I was promised that if it didn't make it by noon the next day my money would be refunded. Alas it was not to be so. The postal service lived up to its promise and got it there by 11:30. Anyway we were ever so glad to have it and we ALL had fun.We glued with dry pasta colored and slightly cooked pasta I had thought that the kids would have as much fun as I do peeling dried Elmer's glue off their hands, but I think I might have been the only one so thrilled with that part of this craft fun. Sarah had the most fun organizing all her craft supplies on her new shelves. That Sarah is quite the organizer. :-)

Let it Snow!

Well for only the 3rd time since I moved here 4 1/2 years ago it snowed! It started as we were finishing up work about 4ish with just very large flakes floating by our upstairs windows, but it was too cold to stick. Not so by about 7 pm.

Frozzzzen

13 degrees at 7 am. I believe it warmed up to 39 very briefly today. Brrrr too cold to be out side for long. Neither of these turned out the way I had hoped, but this is the ice that formed on the trash buckets we have been collecting water in. I had to break it up with a broom handle. About 3-4 inches thick!!!!

Delicious New Year's day

And I don't just mean the food. Bry and Kim came over and spent the day with us. Kim and I drank mimosas and watched Love Actually while Wood and Bry tried to fix some hardware issues in our office. Then we played Wii and Kim impressed us all with her shooting skills. Man is she hard to beat. After a way too much groanful dinner of fried porkchops, turnip greens and black eyed peas (both cooked with hog jowls) (really they were pretty good), mashed potatoes, salad, corn bread, lime and pear jello salad and banana/nilla wafer pudding pie for dessert, we watched the Bourne Ultimatum and just had an over all really wonderful day.

Wish for Christmas

Bry took the top picture of Petey. I was wondering what Petey was thinking and I think I found out. He was wishing that he would learn how to pee like the boy dog that he is! Whoo hoo. We took him to the state park for a walk on Saturday and wonder of wonders for the first time since we have had him ... 4 times he lifted his leg like a man-dog :-) He loves to chew on the strings from sweat shirts and sweat pants and snuggled up to Wood after they went to get the paper this AM (20 degrees outside...brrrr)