I've got a new baby...

Her name is Bella and she's a 2-month old black lab/border collie mix. When we saw her at the pound (we were just going to go look, we weren't going to come home with a dog! yeah right...) we knew she was the one. Much smaller than the other two month old labs they had, she was adorable, cuddly, and all alone... we were goners from the getgo.

So why pick a bigger/shedding breed for an indoor dog, might you ask? Well, I blame it on my husband -Gary's childhood best bud had been a small black lab named Spook. Slept with him and everything. He's been fixated on a lab since then, biding his time until my willpower was low! Friday he emailed me dog pages on the web all day. I admit, they looked pretty cute. Then he came home from work and said, "let's go look at dogs from the pound!" And sucker that I am, I went along with it.

Little did I know that getting an indoor puppy is like having a newborn. In order to properly housetrain her, I have to know when she eats, how much she eats, how often she poops, where she poops, how long her naps are... seriously, a newborn! Luckily, having done the newborn thing three times now, it's a very familiar routine and I'm going with it. We've got chew toys and baby gates all over the house (this dog is staying on the tile!) and are working out strategies to get her to sleep through the night and not chew the furniture to bits. I could never do this if Spencer wasn't potty trained, but as he is, and as Maggie and Sophie are old enough to help with her we should be okay.

My only real complaint is that we have to take Bella out in the middle of the night to pee! At least with my babies I could nurse them in the comfort of my own bed at night. Luckily, Gary and Maggie both are whooped over the pup and Maggie is the one who takes her out at night and first thing in the morning. Bless her. The dog sleeps in a crate in her and Sophie's room - we're "crate training" and so far so good. This may turn out to be a great thing, it may be a fiasco and my furniture all may be ruined (over my dead body)... we'll keep you posted!

Maggie Dances!

This has been a banner year for Maggie's dancing. Not only has she developed a propensity for picking up hard new clogging steps (and doing them just like her dad, nice and big!) but as a performer she SHINES! It's so fun to watch her come alive on stage - I even get a kick out of how when she's done she always tries to act kind of bored like it was not big deal. She's a dynamite dancer and we hope she continues to develop this shared family talent!

Green Smoothies!

...have changed my life! Well, in my mind they have. By secretly blending spinach, kale, and any other green in my fridge with some water, then adding regular smoothie ingredients (berries, banana, oj, plain yogurt, wheat germ, flax), you CANNOT TASTE THE GREENS. If the smoothie is dark enough, you can't even SEE them. Ta da! Miracle. I can get major amounts of phytonutrients down Maggie's picky little throat, and she has no idea that her conniving mother has just fed her a major helping of vegetables. We all have one smoothie daily, and already my nails are growing better, I feel healthier (again, maybe just in my head, but still), and I crave less sugar (minus the baguette with Nutella I had for breakfast and lunch today). And I just know that my family is eating better, which gives me a considerable amount of warm fuzzies.

Warning: if you actually read the Green Smoothie book, you will be enlighted, inspired and also completely terrified because of the crap you and your family have eaten all your lives. I lost a good 2-3 nights' sleep dreading the future cancers/obesity/lack of chewing capability my family was all going to suffer for our former bad habits. But in the light of day, (and once I got an actual night of good sleep), I realized that you take what you want from stuff like this, make the changes you're ready to make, and go from there. Baby steps. Or in our case, green baby steps. Otherwise you just go crazy, burn out, or go right back to the old bad habits. And eat a whole container of Nutella in one go. Oh wait, I already tried that today... time to put myself back on the wagon!

I'm so excited to grow this smoothie stuff in my garden! Spinach, beet greens, butterleaf, carrot tops... I have so many plans for you! If only it weren't blizzarding out there today, I'd go plant them right now... patience, precious, patience. I live in Idaho, after all. Living in Idaho does have its perks though- a kindly neighbor brough over a tractor load full of old elk poo last week which I joyfully tilled right into my garden. Seriously, who gets excited over elk poo? Me, that's who! Especially as it's a fabulous natural fertilizer and now I don't have to buy any from Walmart. I love my country life!