A Funballs Time Snowy Weekend

We are currently under a 'winter weather watch'.  That is supposed to last until Wednesday morning.  Mom would prefer that the snow contain itself to the weekends, so she doesn't have to commute in the snow, while I think Dad would prefer that the snow fall everywhere but on the driveway...  Heehee.  In spite of the dire threats of snow, we've only received about 6 inches of snow so far, but it has been enough to make for a funballs weekend!

These first photos are from Saturday afternoon, when we had gotten a little bit of snow, but it wasn't actively snowing.

Mom says she has 87 million versions of this photo.  I have no idea what she's talking about.  As usual.

Life is GOOD!

We did have a doggie class Saturday morning, but Mom *gasp* actually forgot the camera.  Which is too bad, as we were 'door greeters' - being all mellow and well-behaved while people and their doggies came into Petco.  We could totally be greeters!  (Assuming we were well-supplied with treats, of course.)

As we got more snow on and off, we got to spend more time playing frisbee.

"Are we sharing, or just pausing in tug-of-war?" "Let's go with sharing.  It sounds better!"  "Roger that!"

Heehee.

Mom also spent a lot of time getting close-ups of us.  She seems to be a big fan of these photos, and occasionally we will play along...

Biggify those for maximum oooohing and aaahing!  Heehee!

After pausing for photo shoots, we got more frisbee time in.

Abby the Action Dog in action!

After a great weekend of walkies in snow, and funballs frisbee times, Mom decided it was time to celebrate Abby's birthday, even though Abby did not miraculously become a well-behaved, mature dog when she turned 3 years old on December 12th.  I was all for celebrating Abby's birthday because a) I always get cake, and b) I don't have to wear the birthday hat.  (Seriously, The Things We Do to Amuse Mom...)

Are you happy now?  Good.  Get this thing off me so I can have some cake.

I mentioned cake, right?  Mom actually makes bone-shaped muffins (yes, she has a special muffin pan just for us - why wouldn't she?!?), but they are Most Tasty.  A carrot-peanut butter-honey concoction with cream cheese and peanut butter 'frosting'.  They seriously rock.

At least Mom had a real candle for Abby this year - last year Mom had to write '2' on a card and stick it on another candle!

Cake!  (With our best 'baby-bird' impressions.)

The birthday girl

Nom, nom nom!

Most nommy, and Mom did not lose ANY fingers!  Heehee!

And for those of you who are having snow-envy, I think we've got a window of clear-ish weather to get Air Fiona out to pick you up!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

My (belated) Birthday!

First, thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes from everyone!  I was so thrilled every time Mom would read me new comments on my birthday post!  Thanks everyone!

Since Mom has been 'busy working' (something about 'consenting patients' - whatever THAT means - some times I think she makes this stuff up; she says it has to do with getting permission to access patient data, so maybe she's not making it up, but you never know...) she wanted to wait until the weekend so my birthday could be more properly celebrated.  If waiting a bit means more goodies for me, then it's all good!

We started off the morning with a walkie.  (No photos, as Mom "didn't have her act together"...)

Then we headed off to doggie class for funballs times!

Check out my awesome 'down and stay'!

Silly young pups!

Abby spent a fair amount of time socializing with the spectators...

"Hi! My name is Abby.  Do you have any treats?"

Why does Abby look so much bigger than me in this photo?

See what a good dog I am, while my sister tries to escape?

Heehee.

After doggie class we stopped by the Magic Cheeseburger Window!!!  (Alas, no photos of the actual Magic Cheeseburger Window, as it was raining quite hard, and Mom didn't want the camera to get wet.  But trust me, even with the rain, it smelled great!)

And when we got home it was time to have the Birthday Cheeseburger! 

Nom! Nom! Nom!

And being the Great Sister than I am, I (of course) shared the cheeseburger with my sister!

Watch your fingers, Mom!  (Just kidding! Neither of us takes off fingers when we get treats!)

After the cheeseburger (and the appropriate amount of rest time so we didn't have digestion issues), we went out for some Frisbee Time!

Mom was trying to get some 'discus' photos for the Blogville Olympics but the sky was getting cloudy and rainy again, so we'll have try again, tomorrow.  Still, we had fun frisbee times, and I got to play tug-o-war with Dad!

Abby and I also engaged in some bitey-face (as is the custom after Frisbee Time).

After a much-needed nap, Mom made 'birthday bones' - sort of mini birthday cakes in a muffin tray.  (Peanut butter-carrot cake, if you are curious, and fit for human and doggie consumption.)

Yummers!

And then Mom frosted them (with cream cheese and peanut butter), and put on my birthday candle!

Mom blew out the candle for me, but I wished for world peace and bully sticks for all!

And then, of course, we had to have some birthday cake!

More nomming!

 And, of course, Abby got some, too!

You might think these photos look an awful lot like the cheeseburger-eating photos, and you would be right, except here we are eating birthday cake! 

Then, finally, Mom broke out the dreaded birthday hat.  You would think that as a present to the birthday girl, the non-birthday girl would have to suffer the humiliation of wearing the hat, thereby making the birthday girl (me) not feel like a fool with this silly hat on my heat.  But apparently Mom doesn't agree with me.  And if I used that logic, I'd have to wear it for Abby's birthday, so nevermind.  Besides, Mom did buy us a cheeseburger and make me bone-shaped muffin cakes!

There, I've got it on.  Are you happy now?

Okay, fine.  Another one for posterity!

Heehee!  Mom was happy that I wore the hat, so I guess it was wasn't too awful!  It was a Most Excellent Birthday, and well worth waiting a few extra days for the big celebration!  (Although I am looking forward to Abby's birthday when I will get my part of a cheeseburger and cake without having to wear the birthday hat!  Heehee!)

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Abby's Birthday and a Turkey-Hotdog Refresher Course for Mom

Well, it looks like we are doomed to posting once a week for a while - something to do with Mom leaving at o'-dark-thirty, and it being sort of dusk-y when she gets home, making for non-optimal photo time.  Mom has been saying something about how she has never been so excited for the Solstice in her life as she is this year - even if it is only a few minutes a day, she wants to know the days are getting longer.   But, Mom has assured me that she is going to try to post once a week.

Which is a good thing, as well have All Sorts of Exciting Things going on.

First, Abby took Mom to Petco for a refresher class on how to feed turkey-hotdogs as Mom has been slacking in the turkey-hotdog department for a while.  

Abby, being Abby, had to go suck-up to Jessi, first thing, and then go make friends with the two little Westies who were finishing up their class...

After the little dogs left, Abby got her private lesson (of which there are no pictures, because Jessi was really focusing on Mom's turkey-hotdog-delivery technique).  At the end of the private lesson, Mom's technique wasn't totally perfected yet, so Jessi invited Mom to continue to practice in the next class of the day, whose only member was Mogli, a 9 month old Newfoundland.

Abby greeted Mogli modestly, as usual.

Okay, so Abby really doesn't DO modesty....

And then they got back down to the serious business of Mom feeding turkey-hotdogs in such an enticing manner that Abby would run through Petco looking for Mom and her turkey-hotdogs.  First Mom practiced by just standing at the end of an aisle and offering her turkey-hotdogs.  Then Mom was hiding behind things, and Abby proved too be too clever.  So Mom thought she'd be Super Clever....

Let's just say Abby had the last laugh!

However, we think Mom is now crate-trained!  Heehee!

Mom got her revenge, however....  You know how I mentioned that this last Monday was Abby's birthday, but we were holding off on the celebrating until this weekend?  Well, after the Crate Incident yesterday (Mom says she got in there voluntarily, but I think Abby lured her in with some turkey hotdogs!), Mom decided to do the birthday thing today.  Which meant that Abby had to wear The Birthday Hat!

Abby is looking rather pleased with herself because Mom is hold bits of ham just off camera.  But I almost feel sorry for the poor girl - I mean with a birthday in December she's subjected to the elf hat, and the antlers AND the birthday hat all in the same month!  I least with my birthday in July, I get to spread out the, ah, glad tidings!

Mom made cake (well, mini-cakes) for both of us.  Although keeping true to the 'second-child-is-an-afterthought' maxim, Mom didn't actually have a birthday candle for Abby, and had to, ah, improvise!  (And get the card off the candle before it caught fire!)  But the cake was quite tasty!

And Granny and Grandpa had sent us some Most Excellent sweet potato snacks which we checked out - 4 paws up!  Thanks from both of us (because Abby will share, I promise!)!

After the birthday celebrations, Abby and I ran off our cake with a little bitey face. 

And a little frisbee time.

And, a little Sitting In The Snow Looking Regal.  She's a Hippobottomus, what can I say?  Besides, she did get Mom to crawl in that crate, so that's totally deserving of a little lazing about!

And finally, a gratuitous picture of me, because the ratio of Fi:Abby photos is way out of balance!  Heehee!

 *kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

A Very Happy Birthday!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes! I had a Most Excellent birthday!

It started off with a e-card from Granny and Grandpa, and a very nifty gift certificate to Drs. Foster and Smith - home of the sweet potato treats! Thanks Granny and Grandpa!!!

After that, we headed to the park for some quality tennis ball time. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms later in the day, and we wanted to get in some zoomie time.


After the park time (and some quality time with Dad, watching golf), Mom had to run a couple of errands, and she thought that maybe I'd like to go to that magic window that dispenses cheeseburgers. Well, duh! Of course I want to go the the Cheeseburger Store!!! So Abby and I hopped in the car, and we went to The Magic Window, which did not disappoint!


Abby was very interested in the contents of the bag, and being the good sister that I am, I shared all my birthday goodies with Abby. Because, of course, when it's her birthday, she'll be sharing her goodies with me!


C'mon Mom! Cut it up already!

In no time we were rewarded with bite-sized pieces of a plain junior cheeseburger!


After the cheeseburger (which was Most Nommy!), we had some frisbee time!


After the frisbee time, Mom broke out The Hat.

Seriously. The Birthday Hat. Oy. Dad was armed with lots of treats, and I tolerated it, to humor Mom. I mean, she did take us to the Magic Cheeseburger Window....

Oh, please, maybe if I hunch down lower, the floor will swallow me up...

There, are you happy now? Actually, it wasn't too bad - Dad had lots of treats for me during this whole ordeal! And I don't have to wear this silly hat for another year; the next time it comes out, it'll be Abby's turn to wear it. Neener-neener!

So, we had dinner, and Mom and Dad watched some teevee (there's some bicycle race or something going on that has their attention). A while after dinner, Mom declared that it was Cake Time!

Cake!!!! I watched Mom make the 'cake' yesterday. A friend of Mom's had sent her some doggie-specific recipes, and Mom selected a peanut butter-carrot recipe. But we had no carrots. So she substituted apples - which was totally cool because Abby and I both like apples. So yesterday Mom made the batter and baked it in a muffin tray (the idea being that she didn't want particularly big servings, AND she doesn't have a small cake pan...). They looked pretty yummy!


(Don't mind the tray the silicon muffin pan is sitting on - it's Mom's 'junk tray'). When they came out of the oven last night and cooled off a bit, Dad and I tested one, and we gave it a combined two thumbs and four paws up!

Today, Mom 'iced' one - she mixed a little low-fat cream cheese with some peanut butter and frosted one. And put a candle on it!

I turned 3 today, in case I forgot to mention it!

Bring on the cake!!!


Mom's wearing a long-sleeve shirt, BTW, because the predicted thunderstorms did come in, and it went from 80+ degrees to 60 degrees in about an hour.

C'mon. Enough with the photo ops. Let's EAT!

Finally, we got some cake!

And, yes, I shared!

It was Most Excellent cake! (And yes, there are leftovers!!!)

Thanks for a wonderful birthday, Mom and Dad!!! And thanks again for all the wonderful birthday wishes!

*kissey face!*
-Fiona the Birthday Girl and Abby the Hippobottomus