Catching up: We got a new kitty. A.K.A. why you should avoid the cats for adoption center at PetSmart if you're not looking for a cat!

Mistake #1: Walking by the adoption center in PetSmart

Mistake #2: Looking at the kittens.  I fell in love with her eyes and coloring immediately

Mistake #3: Chris let me hold her.  She loves being held and is super purry.  Our cat Sophie does NOT like to be held.

Mistake #4: After we got home, sans kitty, Chris let me go back

Mistake #5: Chris said she could be an early birthday present.

We got her.  Her name is Nora.  We love her.  She is super cute, small, and sweet.  She is also a TALKER! She meows all the time.  She loves Sophie (the feeling is not reciprocated) as well as the dogs, she plays with the boys and cleans their faces, in fact I think she thinks she is a dog.  Ultimately we both agree we probably shouldn't have added another pet to the household (we are definitely done with pets for a while!) four is our max. MAX.  But she is a really sweet and entertaining addition to the family.  

The next addition to our family will be of the human variety.  Not pregnant yet but we stopped trying to not get pregnant in August.

Catching up: Chris gets a new truck

It was sad to say goodbye to the jeep, but Chris has wanted a truck for a long time, and with two big dogs and looking to start a family soon, we really needed the extra space.  We got a 2006 Toyota Tundra in February 2012 - an early birthday present.  And he friggin' loves it.

Catchinp up: Porter's first Christmas

 It is hard to get a 9 week old puppy to pose for a picture

 Not happening

 

 He doesn't hold still for long

But he's pretty cute

Catching up: Porter comes home!

We brought Porter home mid December 2011 at 7 weeks old (the litter was just getting so big the breeder, Karen, said we could take him a little early.

 Around 4 weeks old here

 Meeting big brother Oakley for the first time

 Sleepy puppy

 His favorite spot then and still now is the spot in front of the front door

Starting the Catch-Up: We bought a house!

I remember it, we had been house shopping for a few weeks.  It was Columbus day.  Monday, October 10, 2011.  Because of the "holiday" we had the day off. Chris decided to go hunting and I invited my mom (since that is also her birthday) to come look at a few houses with me. The first two that my realtor wanted us to see were totally lame.  I had seen the third one online and I just knew it was going to be good.  I had a feeling.  When we pulled into the neighborhood I immediately liked it.  It is so cute, it is a little older but very well-kept with beautiful large trees in all the yards and a small park in the middle of the houses to share.

When we pulled up I saw the beautiful large tree in the front yard and then...the house.  It was peach.  Yuck.  I really dislike peach as a house or wall color.  But we went inside.  The layout was great, you don't just walk right into the living room like many houses, there was a living room in the front of the house and a family room in the back, both good sizes.  The kitchen had an island instead of a peninsula or galley (I did hate the cabinets above the island, but you can't win them all).  The bedrooms were a large, the layout of the master bathroom was efficient and the walk-in closet was the perfect size. And the park out the back yard surrounded by large trees was beautiful and private.

This was it.  The one.  I knew it right when we walked in.  I left Chris a message to call as soon as he was off the mountain so he could come see it.  It was pouring rain so Chris got done early but our realtor was busy hat afternoon (with a guitar lesson, actually) so we weren't able to see it until that evening after dark.  Chris assured me that if I liked it enough to put in an offer, so would he, but I wanted him to see it.  When he saw it he agreed it was great (duh!) from the house to the location it was perfect.

We put an offer in that night.  It was a foreclosure so we were dealing with a bank.  We found out there was another offer on the house so we offered full asking price and it was accepted!

We moved in as soon as we could, which happened to be Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2011!

 Back of the house

 Backyard with the park behind

 Front

 Kitchen, don't worry, we changed the floor immediately

 Kitchen looking into the dining room

Looking into the family room from the kitchen, huge windows let in a ton of light

Introducing Porter...

Out of the two male landseer puppies, the breeder decided to keep one of them, sooo....that means by reason of deduction we get the other one and I could not be more thrilled! I liked this one the best anyway, he has a way cool white stripe on his face (even though it probably won't stay there to adulthood). So, without further ado, here is out new baby boy, Porter. TA DA!

More to come...

Puppies!!!

The newfie puppies were born on Friday, October 21. Now that they are two weeks old we were able to go see them. There are two male landseers, so we don't know which one we are getting yet but it's narrowed down to 50/50!

At two weeks they are already almost 4 lbs! We are so excited we get him in the middle of December!