The great wall of DOG!

YEAH!!!!! It's finally up! After 2 1/2 years we have successfully fenced Sadie in. This was a tricky space that I didn't want to put up just anything. I knew I wanted privacy, but not a wall. I wanted to be able to see kids playing in the driveway or see who might be coming down the driveway and vice versa. I was getting very frustrated with having nothing there and having to chase Sadie around the neighborhood. I was desperate to find the square type lattice, but couldn't find it. We ended up finding it at the new and bigger Lowe's out in the Valley. I have never been out that far because it requires passing a Walmart... and there's that restaining order and all! I did it, I passes WM and found what I was looking for. We started laying down the base boards in the morning, thinking they needed to dry and would pick up the next weekend. Well, our neighbor Brian stopped by to see if Brad wanted to go play a game at the park and within 15 minutes the saws were out to make one cut... then another... then another... we threw some chicken on the grill for both the families... yadda yadda yadda- by 10:30 the fence was up!

Oh so sad! The last piece of freedom. Boo Hoo, now you can't run the neighborhood stealing children's baseballs and picking chili cans out of recycle bins! I was seriously concerned about her safety with her eyesight so bad now.

The last piece being cut. WaHOO!

12

Sadie May is about 12 this spring. She is really having a hard time seeing in dim lighting. She will try as hard as she can to keep up with everybody because she doesn't want to miss a thing, but she sleeps alot more too now. She's really getting white!

Hose Happens!

If you don't keep an eye on this kid you could have a huge mess on your hands (face, feet, hair, clothes). She just loves to get wet. When we water the grass at night, she's right in that sprinkler. I don't care too much if we are headed for a bath anyways.
This was Mother's Day and we had been working outside all day on yard projects.

Littlest Pet Shop Party

Littlest Pet Shop stuff was hard to find, so I made my own decor. Each table had a birthday cake centerpiece with LPS images from their website and #4s. There were bowls of gold fish crackers and "bird seed" (sunflower seeds).

We bought our new patio furniture just in time for the party. I found these paper lanterns at the dollar store.

The food was all pet themed: Hot Dogs, "Pup"peroni & "Snausage" Pizza, "Cat Chow" (Cracklin' Oat Bran) served in a pet food bowl, breadsticks knotted like "Rawhides", the "Bunny Buffet" was a veggie tray, Swedish fish in fish bowls, "Fish Food" was gummy worms, "Hamster Chow" was Chex Mix, a bowl of Annie's brand bunny cookies, and of course homemade "Puppy Chow".

Aidan & Tristan our friends and now neighbors. All the kids could stop at the "Puppy & Kitty Transformation Station" for masks, candy collars w/ ID tags, and LPS tatoos.

Aidan was with Tristan and his mom, Emily, before the party. Emily got Aidan ready for the party and made up for having a boy by getting out her curling iron and giving Aidan a head full of curls- it was ADORABLE!!!

One of our games was the "Kitty Litter Scoop". We bought a new litter pan (of course), filled the bottom with candy, then added rice for the litter, and let the kids take turns scooping the litter. For added effect we molded tootsie rolls into faux cat terds.

The kids were a little grossed out, but really intrigued!

Zach and Jenna playing the Bone tossing game.

The beverage table.

Aidan, Tristan and our neighbor/ babysitter Corrin.

All the kids playing chaulk in the driveway.

Mary and Heidi watching the litter scooping game, a little grossed out!

JD took the first scoop and decided to test out a "Kitty Cookie"

Brad trying to make the crown fit. Sorry step sister!

Jonathan already has big, brown, puppy dog eyes, the mask just enhanced them and crossed them a little!

We found this Littlest Pet Shop birthday set and thought it would be perfect as a cake topper.

Aidan loves to go to JD's house to play with his transformers, star wars toys and all the cool toys that she doesn't really know anything about. JD knows she loves Transformers so he picked this one out for her.

"Thanks Tristan!" **Hug** "Your welcome Aidan!" I'm so glad I captured this cute exchange between friends.

All the kids we tired and getting cold while Aidan was opening her gifts V E R R Y S L L L O W W L L Y! JD just couldn't take it, he kept trying to help.

Aidan had an amazing birthday (week)! She got so spoiled and we had fun spoiling her! She's a great kid and she really appreciated all the special things we did. It's a good thing we went through her toy room and got rid of all that "baby stuff" as she put it- she's a big kid now and she doesn't let us forget it! It goes both ways- we like pulling that "you're 4 now, you can____"