Life Lately

Guys, life lately has been spent with my two favorite furry ladies. 98% of the pictures in my phone involve these little girls but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

 

Rory has been loving her new life and home. We've been spending a lot of time outside in the beautiful spring weather. She loves playing with her big sister and often they can be found chasing each other around the yard. Puppy zoomies might be the cutest thing in the world! Rory is the happiest puppy and is just thrilled to be included all the time. She has no idea why Sophie gets excited but runs alongside her excited as well, just thrilled to be along for the ride! 

Oh Sophie our neurotic princess! She absolutely adores her baby sister and bringing her home was the best  thing we could've done for Sophie. She loves being a big sister and is so good to Rory. She's so gentle with her and lets her climb all over her but also so playful. It was truly the best decision to get a second puppy even though it was a crazy first month as a family of 4 (+1 cooking!).

You don't often see one without the other, they stick pretty close! 

We took Sophie for her most recent grooming appointment and Rory worked on riding in the backseat with her sister. We were nervous at first but they do great in the backseat together. Rory is learning how to look out the window like her big sister does. We did discover she is a lot calmer than Sophie in the car and when we brought her home while Sophie was getting groomed, Rory was sleeping in the back seat...something that has never happened with Sophie!

Tim has been bringing home extra turf from work for us! Our goal is to get all the dirt areas in our backyard covered with turf to keep out house less dirty. We are hoping to have this done soon and possibly get our front yard done this summer too.

Please ignore our mess of a deck, we desperately need to get it redone. I'm hoping this might be our project next spring...right now we have too much else to get done first!

I still have a ton to do in Ellie's room, but my mom bought this cute E print from Marshalls and I love it! I need to find and order a rug and need to complete our closet DIY, but we are working on it! 

I have been very into clearance shopping for baby Ellie! You guys know I am always on the hunt for a deal and baby shopping has been my main focus lately. If you see any great deals please let me know!

Last Saturday I headed into Walmart where I found diapers for $6 and onesies for 75 cents! I also headed to TJMaxx where I spent $50 on a ton of clearance finds.  I know we will be getting a ton of gifts for Ellie and that everyone loves to buy baby clothes, but I just can't help myself. I love getting a good deal and I really don't want to pay full price for baby items.

Again, if you see any diaper/wipes/baby deals please share them with me!!

I hope you are all doing well and I will try to do better at taking pictures in the future!!

Welcome Rory!

 I know I promised I would be better about updating the blog. I have a TON to say and life has been so busy lately.  I have a list of posts to write up and do plan to get better about updating as we go forward.

Today I wanted to share the newest addition to our family! No, not our baby girl who will be arriving in September.....

Meet Rory!

Last July/August Tim and I had been struggling with infertility for over a year and were looking at starting fertility treatments. We knew we wanted to bring a sibling into our home for Sophie and that she would love having a sister so we put ourselves on a waiting list for a goldendoodle puppy. The day I found out we lost Baby B we received an email that we could pick up Rory on April 4th. It was a true miracle. 

Rory's first weigh-in at the vet came in at 13 pounds! Sophie was 18 pounds when we brought her for her first vet visit so Rory feels significantly smaller than her big sister did. We keep commenting on how fragile she seems but luckily she's been a great eater and we can already feel her getting bigger every day! 

As far as puppies go Rory is extremely easy-going. Our vet and vet tech kept commenting on how easy-going she was during her visit. She loves to play and has been in heaven with the huge selection of toys we have collected around here. When she gets the zoomies it is absolutely adorable and she can often be found sleeping on top of a pile of pillows.

I'm sure you're curious about how big sister Sophie is adjusting to having a sibling. Well, she couldn't be better!! The first day we were very nervous and Sophie definitely seemed a little jealous. After that initial jealousy, we haven't seen it since. The two of them are best friends and play together, cuddle together and just generally enjoy each others company. Rory is obsessed with her big sister and Sophie is very sweet about letting her cuddle. It is so adorable and I love watching their relationship. 

I am excited for Rory to get a tad bigger so I won't be quite as stressed out about their wrestling matches but I love to watch how Sophie rolls on her back and lets Rory climb all over her. They also play a ton of tug and Sophie has always wanted us to chase her around the yard and she finally has someone who will do it non-stop.

Overall adding Rory to our family has been one of the best decisions we have made. She is sweet, snuggly and so playful. While having a puppy is certainly stressful and I'm not sure I would recommend any pregnant woman to add the stress of it to their life I am so glad we did it now before having a baby. We will all be adjusted before we get thrown for that loop in September. 

One of our friends who came to meet Rory said it best when she said, "You guys seem to thrive on chaos."

I can't even disagree with that statement because we just love to have some sort of project going on. If there's not something going on then life gets too boring! 

Halloween Weekend 2020

Hey friends! Did everyone have a great Hall-o-weekend? It was very low-key around here (like most weekends around here) but I thought it was great to have Halloween on a Saturday. I think we should observe Halloween on the last Saturday of October every year, anyone else with me on that?

Sophie loves her toys from her Barkbox and I love that each month the theme changes. We were of course thrilled to see Halloween themed toys and Sophie has been enjoying her Vampy-corn, Barry Bones, and Ghouly Worm. If you haven't signed up for Barkbox and you have a pup it's a great idea to get a year-long subscription as a Christmas present for them! We truly enjoy having this box come each month and I think the price is 100% worth it!

Guys, it snowed here on Friday!! My poor pumpkin and mums enduring the storm, they look so sad!

We spent a lot of the weekend cuddled up on the couch and Sophie was thrilled with all of it! I love how sweet her face is in this picture. 

I feel so lame. This is what I did for Halloween trick-or-treating. I made 30 treat bags and left them out for our neighborhood kids. We ended up with 5 leftover so it ended up being just about the perfect amount. Even though I put out a pumpkin and some little Halloween decals on the door, I didn't really do much outside decorating for Halloween. I always intended on going back out to pick up more pumpkins/gourds and make the front steps look nicer but I just never did. I felt especially bad about my decorating skills when I saw what The Blonde Abroad had done....

(This picture is a screenshot of @theblondeabroad Halloween post on Instagram)

How cute is her setup?! Her dog Bailey looked so cute as Harry Potter and I couldn't believe all the awesome decor she had. If you aren't already following her on Instagram she is one of my favorites. Normally she is traveling non-stop but has recently purchased a house in San Diego and is doing some home decor content which I love! I felt very inferior when I saw her decor versus what I had going on outside!! I always say next year....

Last week at BJs I picked up a huge box of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate mix and I kicked off hot chocolate season on Halloween! I love fall and have enjoyed having my fall decor up inside our house but I am ready to decorate for Christmas. 

It seems like more than half the people I follow on Instagram started decorating yesterday for Christmas. I didn't start yesterday but I am planning on starting very soon. Tomorrow I have the day off from work so I will be taking down all of my fall decor and giving the house a good deep clean and I plan on decorating for Christmas maybe next weekend. Let me know when you are planning on decorating for Christmas, I would love to hear how long you are waiting this year.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's my husbands birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Tim! You are the most patient, kind, wonderful person in the world and I cannot imagine my life without you. You are my match in every way and I am so lucky to be married to you!!

Birthday Weekend 2020

Well, it's happened. I am officially 32.  

Despite 2020 (and my age) I managed to have a great birthday weekend! We started off on Friday night with a birthday dinner at my parents house. My mom, dad, my brother, my brothers girlfriend, Tim, Sophie and I celebrated with takeout from one of my favorite restaurants, Pasquales. It was delicious, I absolutely love their penne alla vodka! 

I didn't take any pictures at dinner but I took this picture of my birthday gift from my parents.

My mom and papa both have similar birdbaths and I wanted one so much. I found this one at Walmart and requested it for my birthday. My sweet mom ordered it and my sweet husband lugged it into the car for me to take home. I have it set up on the side of our deck in the corner where it meets our new fence (post on that coming as soon as it's completed) and I plan to plant a ton of things in this area next spring! I want this to be a little secret garden area. 

I also got a special birthday package from Rachel with this cute t-shirt inside! I panicked when I saw the mailman coming with an Amazon package because I couldn't remember what I ordered and I have been known to order so much stuff that I can't remember what is coming!

Sophie was feeling awful sleepy on my birthday Saturday! She slept almost the whole day while I puttered around, cleaning the house and getting ready because we had some visitors coming over.

Brittni came over with her family! Sophie can't contain herself around these girls, she is a nut! It was so nice to have them over for a pizza party and just hang out together. They brought me some beautiful flowers, KitKats and paintings they had done. You can see on the tv what our entertainment was- the girls love Hamilton!

My awesome husband also made me feel so special with a sweet sappy card and some KitKats (can you tell they are my favorite??). We decided to not do big gifts for each other this year since we generally just buy ourselves whatever we want anyways. We also would like to work towards our savings goals AND I just bought a new car so I don't really need anything gift wise ;)

I'm writing this on Sunday and this sums up our plans for the day...

Lots of hanging out on the couch! 

I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to take on this new week!!

 

Outdoor Fall Decorating/ Life Lately

To every person who reached out to me through comments/emails/texts after my post last Friday, thank you. It means the world to me that you are here and while my world and story aren't always picture perfect  I am so thankful to have each and every one of you here for it.

On a lighter note today I'm sharing what we've been up to lately...which honestly isn't much! Are you still laying low where you are? In some ways it seems like things are a little more back to normal because I feel more comfortable going into stores, school has started in person/hybrid here, and it just feels like life is a little more normal. However, on the other end of the spectrum everyone is still in a mask all the time, I still work from home nearly all the time, and we don't have a lot of plans besides being around the house! I love being at home so I truly don't mind that part of it, but it leaves me with not too much besides house updates!

This past Saturday my papa and his girlfriend Vivian stopped by to visit us (well mostly Sophie) and it was so nice to have some visitors! Sophie was fairly well behaved and loved being fed a million treats and gaining a new toy. While they were visiting they mentioned stopping at a farm and once they left Tim and I decided to head to a local farm to pick up some outdoor fall decor. We love going to Shickasheen Farm and if you are in the South County area they are a great side of the road farm stand with awesome prices! Our friend Emma and her husband run it along with their family and we loved getting the chance to chat with Emma a bit and pick up a pumpkin and a couple of mums for our front steps. Emma mentioned that they were going to have some more pumpkins soon, so I will definitely be back for some more decor soon!

I love having a bit of fall sprinkled on my front steps. I also recently replaced my front door mat and bought a new buffalo check mat for underneath as well. Both were purchased on Amazon and I love them! Quick question for you, how often do you replace outdoor mats? I am finding that mine wear out super quick, but they are exposed to the elements (no overhang) so I suppose it makes sense. I just assumed they lasted a bit longer, but maybe I just paid no attention when I was younger and living at home!

Oh, football is back! Thanks Soph for the reminder! 

We have been busy drafting fantasy football teams and watching the first week of games. I was quite pleased that the Patriots won on Sunday afternoon and even more pleased when Tampa Bay had a terrible game. Brady and Gronk weren't looking great and I selfishly enjoyed watching those traitors suffer. If you've been around for awhile, you know I have always loved Gronk so I feel a bit betrayed by him. Brady I think all of New England is angry with but I don't know what he expected to happen.

It's nice to have football back on for another bit of normalcy since Tim and I spend most of our Sunday with football on the tv!

We are still going on a lot of walks around here! Tim said to me the other day that no other dog in the neighborhood seems to be getting two walks a day...but this girl does! I have been doing a healthy living program lately and I will talk about it soon, but it is definitely encouraging me to get out and be active every day! 

So that's what's been up around here lately. Let me know what you've been up to!

 

Sophie's First Birthday!

If you aren't following Sophie over on Instagram (sophiethegoldendoodlegooding) you should definitely get over there to check it out! Yesterday I did a birthday day in the life story for Sophie's first birthday. I saved it in the highlights section so you can check it out if you missed it. 

Although it was a normal Thursday and a work day for both Tim and I we did our best to make sure our favorite little lady knew how much we love her! 

I ordered a pet party pack off Amazon months ago and on Monday night decorated our kitchen for Sophie's birthday week!

Yes, she's on the kitchen island. No, I'm not ashamed that I made Tim put her up there! How cute is this picture?!

We also took our sweet girl to FetchRI which is our local pet store where they took this picture...

Sophie was afraid of the frame of course. We bought her a new toy and a ton of treats! We know how to spoil that little girl!

Today I plan on doing an imprint of her paw print because I forgot to do it yesterday! 

How do you celebrate your dogs birthday?

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Sophie's July Birthday Barkbox!

As you may have heard from me before, Barkbox Day is one of the most exciting mail days here at our house! Sophie always seems to know when this box arrives and as soon as we put it down on the floor in front of her she bounces around it and sniffs it like crazy!

This month our theme was....

Oh my dog it's your birthday!!!! Tim exclaimed, "It's birthday themed! Sophie it's your birthday!!" 

Clearly we are overexcited parents.

Complete with a paper banner, it was super cute! 

I love this little piñata! Sophie seems to really like this one and she's been bringing it for us to throw and tug on all week. 

Party hat has also been a big hit because Sophie loves to chew on anything that has straps. She already chewed one of these straps off but it didn't fit on her head anyways...because we did try haha

This present is a little big and there is definitely a ball inside so if it's ever destroyed we will at least have another toy. She has been chewing it and playing with this toy but it is definitely harder for her to carry!

I like seeing all the toys that we potentially could have received. Barkbox always has the cutest themes and honestly every toy we've gotten has been great.

These pizza party treats are a huge hit!

The pork jerky has been her favorite though!

This chew took her about two minutes to chew, but she seemed to enjoy it!

I just love this picture of the piñata and Sophie just watching me play with her toy! 

Do your dogs get Barkbox?

Sophie's Favorites

Happy Monday!

We are starting Sophie's Birthday Week over here! Growing up I always insisted that my birthday be celebrated as long as possible and would often refer to my birthday week, birthday weekend, birthday month. Then my mom would remind me that it was a birthDAY. Such a buzz kill. I always swore that I would celebrate my kids birthdays to the fullest extent (including half birthdays) and why not celebrate my furchild the same way?! You already know we celebrated Sophies half birthday in January but now it's time for her 1st birthday! Her birthday is Thursday but today let's talk about some of her favorite things! These have been some favorites around here during this first year and we hope they help if you are looking to bring home a new furbaby!

Barkbox

If you've been reading for awhile then you know we are loyal Barkbox subscribers and every month we look forward to Sophie's box as much as she does. Later this week I'll be sharing what was in her Barkbox this month. In the meantime you can always read what has been in our boxes each month here on the blog. 

There are always three toys inside (but some are inception toys and have more inside if your dog destroys them!), two bags of treats, and one bigger chew. I think it's completely worth the money because we would buy treats and toys for Sophie anyways so at least this way we can say no to buying something because we know her new box is on the way. Since Sophie hasn't been really into destroying things lately we have accumulated quite the pile of old toys but honestly she plays with them all. A couple we are friends with has a dedicated room for their two dogs where they keep their beds and toys and they've been getting Barkbox for years. The amount of toys they've accumulated for their two dogs is amazing! I don't mind having a constant intake of toys because it makes it less hard when she destroys one and we have to throw it away, We are pretty strict about once she is able to pull stuffing out we toss it and sometimes it's sad to see a once favorite toy get tossed (or one she was gifted from someone else) but we know some new toys are coming soon!

As for the treats, there has only been one or two that she hasn't liked. She doesn't like peanut butter (I know my dog is a weirdo) so any of those treats we pass on to other dogs we know! You can also put specific dietary restrictions in your preferences so I can certainly go in and mark that she doesn't like peanut butter for future boxes but I just haven't done it yet!

Homemade Dog Treats

I made homemade dog treats this past weekend and Sophie loves them! Here's how I made them...

4 Cups of Flour

2 Cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/3 cup of oil (I used olive oil)

1 3/4 cups of water

1 egg (optional)

I mixed everything until it was mixed thoroughly a was a nice dough.

I scooped the dough into silicone trays that I ordered off Amazon. You can find them here. 

Bake at 350* for 45 minutes- 1 hour. (Keep checking until they are fully hardened)

I have been storing them in the fridge and Sophie has been loving them! They are a great treat for her and she is a happy girl!

This does make quite a few treats, so just be aware of that! If you want less treats just cut the recipe down a bit.

Grooming Tools

Now, these are probably not Sophie's favorites. She is not a fan of getting groomed or brushed. However, these tools have made the process so much more bearable for all of us! Biosilk for dogs smells great and makes her hair/fur so much easier to brush through! The steel comb is gentle but allows us to pull out any tangles that we do find. After a matted hair cut we will never let that happen again and have started brushing her out every night, especially her ears and tail at this point. We hope this will help prevent matting! 

Kong Wobbler

This toy was an impulse buy off Amazon to keep Sophie entertained a little longer when we have to leave her alone and she loves it! This is by Kong and called the Wobbler. There are multiple sizes but we bought the large size since we wanted her to have a little bit of a challenge. She pushes this toy all over the house! We fill it with a few treats mixed with her food and while there are often quite a few pieces left on the floor, she does eat quite a bit of the mess she makes! I love that she can entertain herself for awhile, especially when we are busy doing something else or when we leave the house for a bit. 

Fetch RI

Sophie loves visiting her friends at FetchRI which is our local pet boutique. There are a few things she loves getting when we are there.

• Cheese Chews
• Part-y Bar Treats
• Earth Animal Chews (the beef and salmon are her favorite!)
• Elk Antlers

I'm sure we will find many other treats there to try in the future! The store itself is amazing and has so many events and services. We took classes through Mischief Managed  in the Fetch Room, attended their Trunk or Treat, and had pictures taken with Santa!

If you are in the RI area I highly recommend a trip in! We will continue to support them for years because we love supporting small local businesses and we love the personalized attention that comes with shopping there. Sophie is always loved on and they take a picture of every dog that comes in each day to share on their Facebook/Instagram. They also have a great rewards program which makes us more motivated to buy supplies there!

Other Favorites

Here are some other things that Sophie loves:

• People...any person who will give her love and let her lick their face.
• Other dogs (as long as they aren't barking/ aggressive)
• Tennis Balls 
• Playing Outside
• Playing Hide & Seek (I tell her to sit and wait and then I hide and yell "okay come" then I make noises until she finds me. Yes, I know I'm insane)
• Playing Fetch
• Playing Monkey in the Middle (Picture Tim and I throwing a ball back and forth in the house trying to keep it from Sophie, but letting her have it every once in awhile)
• Human Food (Especially meat, cheese, pizza crust, watermelon, cantaloupe)
• Pulling out every toy she owns.

I hope if you are planning on bringing a furbaby home this will help you. If you want any other recommendations for other dog products, just let me know! We have tested out quite a few treats, toys, and supplies since bringing Sophie home in September and I'm happy to share what we have learned.

Also, Happy Sophie's Birthday Week to you! I plan to be back on Wednesday to share what was in her Barkbox this month, I will see you then!

Sophie's May Barkbox

Well, this post is a bit delayed, but today I'm sharing Sophie's Barkbox for May!

This box was absolutely adorable and had a Scooby Doo theme for the new movie that just came out. Whenever a package arrives now Sophie assumes it's for her and this day she was absolutely correct.

Here she is just waiting patiently for us to open her box. She knows there are fun toys and treats inside and watching how excited she gets just makes it more exciting for us. I swear we are the most over-excited dog parents on the planet, it's borderline obsessive how much we love this dog. 

We were surprised and excited when we opened the top of the box and saw Scooby on the top. Of course Sophie instantly grabbed Scooby and took off running! She always grabs the first toy she can and runs off like the Flash. Then she comes back to see what other treats are inside.

Scooby has been with us for a little over a month and has held up pretty well! His ears are a little tattered and his tail has seen better days but beyond that he is holding up nicely. He is a toy that stays in rotation now and Sophie often grabs him for tug or fetch. 

The Mystery Machine remains in near-perfect condition. This isn't a toy she has really played with much at all. I'm not sure if it's just a little too big or if it doesn't make the right sounds but she's not too interested in this one so far.

Oh the sandwich. Well, this was destroyed the first night it came into our home. This is a great tug toy but Sophie's teeth were just too strong for it. We ended up having to toss the little pieces and only have the bread pieces and the burger (I think it's a burger??) part left. Sophie will often bring us the bread for us to throw. So, I guess she's still sort of enjoying this one.

Both bags of treats have been loved and enjoyed! These treats were pretty small but she would perform all sorts of tricks for both to them. We loved asking her if she wanted a Scooby snack too :)

This "long term chew" isn't so long term for Sophie anymore. However it's always great to an extra "cookie" to give her.

Here is a picture of the inside of the box and you can see the other two toys that were options. I'm really glad we got the ones we did! 

Here Sophie is with her haul! You can see some other toys in the background too, girl is spoiled and always digging through her toy bin!

Do you order Barkbox or another subscription box for your pets?