It's been awhile

My sister-in-law has inspired me to start blogging again, so here is the first post in 10 months!

Fritz was 15 pounds when I last blogged, yesterday he weighed in at 50. So basically when we run there is 84 pounds pulling me up the hills and down - it is both a leg work out and an upper body challenge to keep those two from making me run at a 5.0 pace!

The bathroom is still not done! The plumbing is all in, but the artistic husband is still painting..............He has to be inspired to finish it.........

My garden is overflowing - the blackberries and peaches are done, the strawberries have started, but before I can pick any Fritz has eaten them. Tomatoes are green and growing.

For a good laugh watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

Upcoming July chick-flick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdDSqgZ87fM

Awesome summer dress
http://www.calypso-celle.com/Shireen-Eyelet-Dress-p-16981.html


Thanks for my b-day present Mom - this quote came with the bag and made me smile..."occasionally she dreams of Italy. she dreams of chesse shops, persnickety fiats, and very fine leather goods"

Pictures from Mary Jane

Click here to view these pictures larger

Our first week

Bringing Fritz home was an adventure. He came from a loving family located in Hemet, CA and his siblings have posed in Urban Decay cosmetics ads and Miller Lite commercials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efBSFRcdW9c

We know our little guy will be a star too, however, first he has to learn how to keep from bonking his head when he dives under the coffee table to escape from Phoebe. He bonked it real good one afternoon and Mommy had to get him a bag of peas to put on the bump.

All in all, it has been a wonderful first week gettng to know each other. Phoebe is loves her little brother and slept next to his crate the other night when she heard Fritz crying - so sweet.

On Sat. we took our first trip to dog beach with the kids. I was in charge of Phoebe because we run together and Jim was in charge of Fritz - thank goodness he was wearing his wedding ring because he was sure getting a lot of attention with such a cute little puppy.I

Happy Fall Thursday!

Goodbye and Hello

It was with great, great sadness that we said goodbye to our Finnegan this week. We had an incredible 6 years of love with him, but he was certainly sufferring in the end and it was time to say goodbye. We are so grateful that his Dr. is so gentle and kind and that we were able to have a peaceful evening with him to say goodbye. We spent the rest of our evening looking at pictures of both Finnegan and Floyd and decided that we really enjoyed having 2 doggies at the same time so we started doing some research. Here are some of our last pictures of Finnegan and please welcome the newest member of the MacLeay family - "Fritz" (I think)

Yeah, the Lees have arrived!

We are so excited to have them here, all except for the part about getting up at 4:30 in the morning on their first day - today was better, Emma waited until 6am to come in an tickle my foot. Emm got right out to the garden in the morning and starting putting flowers in the fountain.

Yesterday we spent the day on Coronado Island and saw some beautiful homes & gardens as well as the Hotel Del. We also went into Seaside Papery and it was so hard to leave - they had so many beautiful things - we decided if we ever have a nursery to decorate we will do it with these beautiful butterflys.

Emma enjoyed her ice cream with some people we met in the parlor - she was telling them that she preferred the west coast because it was "more realistic, like the Hummingbirds are more realistic here."

8 More Days

I only have 8 more days before my sister and her family descend upon us - I'm very excited but my mind does tend to race towards my list of to do's at about 2am each morning. I still have to clean out 2 closets to make room for the kids things, finish painting a bathroom, finish painting another bathroom, wash all the bedding on the Allergen cycle, go to Costco, finish another bathroom, mulch the yard, get the dogs claws clipped, oh and clean!

Jim made significant progress on the powder room this weekend - he continues to impress me with his many talents. The sink isn't really set yet, but we were having company on Sat. so he cleaned up the mess and moved the stand and sink in there for show.

Please note the transition pieces at the baseboard - I'll take credit for those, everything else is my creative husband's idea.

On Sat. night we went to Laguna Beach to see the Pagent of the Masters http://foapom.com/. It's such a unique show and I think our guests really enjoyed it. I can't even begin to explain it so you should just go to the link and have a look for yourself.

We parked across the street from the amphitheatre at the base of a cliff and when we looked up we saw these....

Yes, those are goats - hundreds of them. They were being herded my a man and his lone dong and they zig zagged across the cliff - EVERYONE was watching this, it was more fascinating than the show we were about to go see. I couldn't figure out where he was herding them too as there are private million dollar homes at the top of the cliff overlooking the Pacific. After the show someone told us that the goats are used for fire prevention - they are eating all of the dried shrubbery. If that's the case why aren't there more goats in CA? I need to research this - I'll let you know what I find.

Happy 4th of July

Well I wish I could say we had a fun filled weekend, but once again it was filled with home improvement projects - not to say that's not fun, but I am looking forward to a break soon. Jim made progress on the powder room - the framing is done, the cement board up and 12 tiles are in place - the biggest progress is that we decided on tiles. Honestly I think I just capitulated, my husband has very strong design ideas and I think I will have to wait till we get a vacation home so I can have my all white bathrooms with marble and nickel fixtures. Anyway, when more progress is made I'll post some pictures.

We also received our pillows last week - 9 months in the making - several discontinued fabrics later they are here and enjoying their place on our couch. Please note that the stripes are always facing in, Jim does not like stripes. He is also not a fan of the pillow I got him - the little bird. I guess he just doesn't think it belongs on the couch - it may move the bedroom, but for now I am enjoying it. The lady who makes the pillows had sketched this out and I just saw it in her showroom one day in a pile and thought it would make a darling pillow (I was right).

This was the first year we stayed home for the 4th, good decision, from our balcony we could see the fireworks at La Costa and Aviara, it was perfect.

Sat. morning I took Phoebe for a run and discovered an elderberry bush in full bloom, I'm monitoring it to see when I can sneak over in the evening and pick the berries, hopefully not getting bit by a snake in the process. I'll be bugging my Aunt Bea for Grandma's elderberry pie recipe next.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend - Happy Anniversary to Laura & Fred.