Old Man Winter

The week before Lillian was due, and the Wednesday after she was due, we had some icy, snowy weather here in Dallas. Hucklebear thoroughly enjoyed himself running through the snow until there were little balls of ice matted in his leg hair. Michael and I occasionally call him old man winter, a nickname all the more appropriate when you see how much he LOVES to play in the snow!

Huck, Bro Otis and Uncle Max

Charlie (Michael's dad) was out trying to document these three little Westie friends over the Thanksgiving break so I joined in the fun. Huck LOVES going to College Station and playing with his brother Otis (Michael's brother and his wife Sara bought him at the same time we got Huck) as well as his "Uncle Max"(Michael's parents' Westie). It's such a funny dynamic with the two 'rowdy puppies' Otis and Huck wrestling constantly and playing until they can't keep their eyes open and Uncle Max telling them to 'back off' and 'be still' with this growls and grunts.

The one thing that they can all agree on? If there is a squirrel in the backyard, it's time to ATTACK!

Below: Max looking up, then Huck with his tail at attention and Otis in front of him.

Below: Max stands on the tree, blocking our view of Otis as Huck keeps watch on the tree.

The Original Baby: Huck has learned to jump up.

Huck, our original and first baby, has always been a jumper on people's legs. He just wishes he could get up to your face and give you a hug and a kiss... But there are other places where Huck cannot jump. He cannot jump into your lap if you're sitting on a chair. He cannot jump up on the fireplace hearth and warm himself by the fire. If you put him on the bed, he'll stand at the edge afraid to jump down unless you say the word "treat". People will try and coax him up onto the couch and it's like he doesn't even know what they are doing when they pat that space next to where they're sitting.

This, it turns out, has been a blessing, because Huck never gets on people's furniture when they dog-sit, he can't jump on the furniture and bother company when they come over invited or not, and because we rarely put him in our bed (except for infrequent occasion that he's just had a bath and we want to wrestle with him as he burrows under the covers) he never sits besided the bed begging to be picked up.That said....

There was an incident a couple of weeks ago where Huck accidentally bounced his ball onto the love seat. He cried at the ball from the ground and when I turned around for a moment I found that he'd jumped on the love seat and was laying down chewing his ball. I turned around for one second longer to put my computer on the coffee table so I could go over and make him get down and to my surprise he was walking along the built-ins BEHIND the love seat!! Since then we hadn't seen him get on the furniture, but in the last two days or so when his ball has gotten stuck up in Michael's recliner, on the couch and last night on the COFFEE TABLE (what?!) Huck has figured out that he CAN jump up there and get the ball himself. Now it's sort of become the game to GET the ball on stuff so that he can have the fun of jumping up to get it.

Yes, last night we found the dog that used to cry at his ball from the ground, standing in the recliner and crying at this ball on the floor! It seems that we have a little monster on our hands just in time for Halloween. Oh Hucklebear you are quite the stinker!

Squirrels... Friend or Foe

So it's been a long time since we've written and though not much is new with Michael and I there has been a lot going on in our lives! We got a new sister in law when David married Sara on June 19th and just last week on July 8th our first nephew, Jackson Charles Anderson, was born to Jonathan and Ashley. I have some pictures of those events that I still need to pull off my camera, but I was cleaning off my desktop today and found this video of Huck so I figured I could at least post that in the interim.

Huck loves loves loves to be outside. His routine when we open the back door is to check the wall for lizards, then run to check the trees for squirrels, then do whatever other business he has to do out there. If he's outside in the morning there is no question that he's sitting in the flower bed looking to the sky, because those squirrels are sitting up in our trees tormenting him with their flicking tails, chirping, and scurrying about. I'm not sure if he desperately wants to play with them, or eat them, but it is the number #1 cause of a barking, whining, Hucklebear.

Poor huck.

Our Baby Huck Turns 1

When my friend Beth's bulldog turned 1 we went to an official dog party, got doggie picture frames, cooked hamburgers and Omaha Steak hot dogs (WHAT?! so delicious). She even made a special carrot cake cupcake just for Billy (the bulldog) that was safe for dogs.... On Huck's birthday Michael and I went out for date night and bought Huck a toy on the way home because we're bad parents.

To make up for our neglect of our baby on his birthday I gave him a horrible haircut last night (more on that later) and now I will post some long overdue videos of our funny little man.

Video 1 (sorry it is sideways, I didn't think about not being able to flip it when I was filming):
Michael's favorite way to play with Hucklebear is to sort of move in slow motion while Hucklebear sits and stares awaiting the burst of energy and chase that ensues at the end. In this video Michael is actually hiding in the pantry/laundry room SLOWLY opening the door. You'll see that as scared as Huck gets he always chases after Michael to continue the playing.

Video 2:
This is Huck totally destroying the snuggle we got him for his birthday in about 2 mins. We literally threw it away about 10 mins after we got home.

Our Dog, Huck the Cat

Hucklebear loves carrots. They're nearly the only treat he gets (unless he goes to the grandparents' or great grandparents' house). However, unlike most dogs who scarf up their favorite treats immediately, Huck likes to play with his first.

Huck was playing in the formal living room the other day while I worked (notice the destroyed plastic bottle on the floor) and because he was doing so well I gave him a treat...sorry the video quality is so poor.

Huck After a Bath

Guess who else loves FALL?

Little Hucklebear was neutered on Friday the 13th (Nov.). With a heavy heart I took him to the vet and among all the other crying shivering dogs he was a pillar of strength - Mr. Social Butterfly actually - running around tail wagging meeting other dogs. "The bad part (I thought to myself) is when they take him from me...." but when the vet tech took the leash he followed her, tail still wagging, back into the operation room without even looking back!

When I picked him up I anticipated a groggy, nervous little dog - changed from his previously chipper self now that he'd endured surgery, but NOOO, little Hucklebear was happy to see me, ready to play, and hungry for treats. I took him home with instructions to keep him calm as he would still be in some pain for a couple of days.

That night I wouldn't let him play in the backyard unsupervised, but even while I was out there he was a ball of energy. I tried to bring him inside and calm him down a bit. The next day Michael was out working in the backyard and Huck proved he was far from inhibited by his little snip snip! See pictures below.


Anyone who may have been worried can now rest assured that he is just fine. His stitches are healing beautifully, he seems to have no side affects (AT ALL!) and tomorrow we can give him a bath. Thank heavens!

Mother Daughter Weekend

The weekend of September 26th, Michael went for his guys weekend in Lake Providence, LA and mom came to Dallas and had a girls weekend with me. She drove in late Thursday and I took Friday off so we could have an extra day to relax. I had a great time, but part of me thinks it still wasn't as great of a time as Hucklebear had (oh man, our kids are going to be rotten!).

Friday we took Michael's car for an oil change in the morning and then headed out for some shopping. We hit Hobby Lobby, TJ Maxx, Target and a few other places I probably can't remember. Though I DO remember an incident at Chick-fil-A where mom told a pregnant lady that I was due "in about two years", so we must have gone there as well. :-D

Friday night we decided to stay in, order pizza and watch a girlie movie - mom's friend Becky who lives here in Dallas joined us and we ended up watching Doubt. Though it wasn't exactly the light-hearted comedy we initially thought we'd get, we really wanted to see it. Let me also say that Becky knows how to do a girl's night right and she came equipped with Snickers, Reeses, Peanut Butter M&Ms (I have a SERIOUS weakness for these) and all sorts of other goodies - just another reason to be glad she came!

Saturday morning we met Becky for coffee/breakfast at Starbucks and afterwards took this little pic below in front of the VERY sparkly Pegasus.


Mom and I headed to the house after that and began our painting of the breakfast nook (this was the painting of the khaki pictured in the earlier post). Hucklebear tried to help too - such a trooper...

Once painted, I knew that Target had this "perfect" little bucket that I could use as a vase on the table that would go just perfect with the new paint and that is where we found THIS little gem (which we did not purchase, but did try on!

Last but not least, Saturday night we made a fall wreath with the materials we purchased at Hobby Lobby the day before. I think it came out pretty good!

HAPPY FALL!