Party Girl

CJ had a blast at her friend's party. It was at a small bouncy place and the kids burned off lots of energy before breaking for snacks and cake and tattoos! CJ got a yellow dog airbrushed on her arm.

Princess Painting

CJ painted this beautiful card for her friend's birthday. A sparkly, watercolor princess.

Tub Tunes

CJ's Creations

CJ created the dog (a pink poodle) and person in the middle. Mama added the sun in the upper right and the flower in the lower left.

Stationary Rain

The rain looks a little prettier when it isn't falling from the sky, but is just taking a break on the trees.

Sunday Snowday

Daddy and CJ hitched a ride with the neighbors to do some innertubing. Looks like a fun day!

A Bit Too Early

Last night the snow started to fall:

It was beautiful and peaceful around the neighborhood at midnight:

Unfortunately it didn't last. There was a 2 hour delay for school, but it was pretty much just slush by that point and all rain by the end of the day. Darn.

Open For Business

We were really expecting a snow day today, but after checking tv, the phone, email and websites we didn't see any closure information. The snow really started to come down at home and we questioned whether or not it was worth making the trek, but the snow turned to rain at the last second and we headed out.

Roads were fine, but the off-ramp and parking lot had a few inches. It was actually quite beautiful looking at the snow on the roofs in the West Hills and the snow covering the trees. I'm guessing CJ is having a great day playing in the snow at their outdoor breaks. We'll have to see what happens overnight tonight - maybe a snow day will happen for us tomorrow.

Flakey Day

Well the forecast was for snow today and tomorrow and while we had some big flakes, they were only on and off. Even blue skies showed up in between. So no playing in the snow here. But we have heard that the storm is now due in the next 2-3 days so there is still hope...

Prince Golden

CJ had a great time visiting with Grandma and her friend. She was excited that they thought of her when shopping and also couldn't wait to show Golden to them.

Daddy's Dream Car

Meet Golden

Nope. Not ready for a real dog here, but a quick visit to the store and CJ was sold on Golden. So much so that she woke this morning and came into Mama and Daddy's room only for a moment before leaving again. When she came back in, she presented Mama with a wallet - in which she had counted out the money she needed to take to the store to buy Golden. We hope she didn't lose too much sleep over this guy, but he is a pretty cute pup...for a balloon dog, that is.

Ponies

No, not that kind, but pony tails in the hair. For the first day in a long time, CJ requested pony tails in lieu of braids. It is amazing how much longer her hair looks that way. Many of her classmates commented as they haven't seen her hair like this before.

Little B's Dream Comes True

On Friday Little B had her annual check-up at the vet. The vet said she looks awesome for a 12-year old dog.

One thing we discussed was the fact that Little B has been getting up in the middle of the night, looking for her food. The earlier and earlier she got up, the easier and easier it was to put her food out on the counter the night before so it would be ready for her. Then we started to wonder if maybe since it was out and she could smell it, that she wouldn't be able to sleep without obsessing over it.

So we're on a new feeding schedule for her, spreading the food out over 3 meals a day. She was super surprised when we plopped down a full bowl in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, but certainly didn't question it. And today she was looking for her dinner around the old 4 pm feeding time, but she eventually got some rest without it. We are also adding canned green beans, in an effort to fill her up. Apparently green beans and canned pumpkin can fill up dogs safely, without adding too many calories - not that we're worried about Little B's weight. The beans may cause gas, but the pumpkin could cause diarrhea if you give too much so we opted for the beans.

In addition, we are trying to get her a bit more exercise. Her walks had decreased in the length the last few years and definitely have gotten pushed aside a few times this holiday season. We are hoping that by slowly working her back up to a bit more exercise each day, she'll sleep a little better each night.

So far, so good. Saturday she slept til 5:50 am. She did hop up onto our bed at some point last night, but didn't get up to eat until after CJ woke around 7. We'll take that - much better than the 3:30 am feeding! Let's hope this continues to work.

2012 Fortunes

CJ and Mama popped on the light rail train today for a trip to the Chinese Garden.

CJ did awesome with the map they have for kids to find various objects in the garden.

She was most excited about a cute pair of chopsticks we found for her.

We also got our fortunes:

Mama's: Use your best talent to guarantee success in life.

CJ's: A strange proposal will soon arrive.