Our Raider Boy...

So we learned awhile ago that if we say "Oh Petree, what a good boy" over and over that Petree would just go crazy and start whining, it was pretty funny. Well, recently we've discovered that one of the puppies, Raider, does the same thing. But better, and more funny. So watch the video, I think it's hilarious. Make sure your sound is turned on and up. Warning: my voice is pretty annoying but it's totally worth it.

Deliciousness

My contribution to Easter dinner was cheesecake. Delicious, and not nutritious, doesn't get better than that. I found the recipe online and started it about 9 at night. Only when I had it all mixed and in the oven did I see someone had left a comment on the recipe. Yeah, they said that the cooking time was way off and that it took closer to three hours to cook than the hour that the recipe said. Well, there was no way I was staying up that late so I just cranked the oven up and cooked it until I thought it was done. Turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I cut up some fresh strawberries to go on top, too. On our way over to Kayte's I made a comment about how the top of my cake wasn't all flat and smooth like the cheesecakes in restaurants. Michael said it's because they know how to cook and claimed that if he made one the top would be all flat and nice. I have challenged him to prove it but so far he has yet to do so.

Spring weather...

So when the puppies were little they weren't big enough to go outside when it snows. Lucky for us it has snowed throughout almost the entire day (sarcasm). So here are the pictures of the puppies first time in the snow. They actually liked it, Scooter thought it was tasty.

Tasty dinner

My mom got me a CrockPot cookbook for Christmas so I have been trying out a few recipes here and there and the following is a good one. I'll admit I was skeptical about the book at first, I thought it was gonna be just a bunch of gross old lady recipes since the people who submitted the recipes were all named Betty, Dorothy, Eleanor, etc. But I'm glad to say I have been pleasantly surprised. I don't use the crock pot often enough, I am paranoid about leaving it during the day because I worry it will start the house on fire and kill all the puppies. I like to worry. But I am going to start leaving recipes for Michael to do on his days off and that should make dinner a lot easier on those nights.

*Mandarin Orange Chicken*
Ann VanDoren of Lady Lake, FL (see, she's probably some old, retired lady living in sunny Florida because it helps her arthritis)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I use the frozen ones from Costco)
1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced
1/4 C orange juice concentrate
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained, but save 3 Tbsp. of juice
2 tbsp. flour

1. Put chicken in the cooker (duh)
2. Put the onion, orange juice concentrate, poultry seasoning and salt over the chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours (mine was done closer to the 4 hours)
4. Take just the chicken out, leaving all the juice and stuff in the crock pot
5. In a saucepan put the 3 tbsp of mandarin orange juice that you saved and the flour, stir until smooth.
6. Stir in chicken cooking juices (I just spooned as much out of the crock pot as I could), bring to a boil, stir and cook until its thickened (about 2 minutes).
7. Stir in mandarin oranges, then stir all that back in the crock pot with all the onion, etc.
8. Pour over chicken.

I cooked some rice in the rice cooker and put the chicken and sauce over the rice, it was really good! Michael wasn't a huge fan because he "doesn't like fruit in his dinner" but whatever, he's not much for going out on the "food" limb. The recipe makes 4 servings and is only 240 calories a serving (not including the rice). I guess old ladies, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose in society.
Haha, that last sentence is from the movie Dumb&Dumber, just for all those who might be offended.

Jump for joy

Another Link-

Here is the link to the second puppy album- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390788&id=10710948&l=93e18 there were too many to put all of them in the first one. In non-puppy news, I have started my garden inside and have planted a bunch of flowers and some vegetables and herbs, my first little greenhouse almost got ruined because Missy decided it'd be fun to dig in. It was on the nightstand where I thought it would be safed. Lucky for her she only ruined a couple. I have 11 zuchinni plants that are growing awesome and I planted some spinach too. Now if I could just get Michael to build me those garden boxes....

Here you go Mom!

The puppies are growing like, well, puppies. They run around like they're crazy, wrestle and bark at each other. They LOVE to torment Petree and chase him around anytime they realize he's near them. We are taking them in for their first shots on Saturday. Here are a couple pictures, so if you want to see more then go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2365335&id=10710948&l=cb669 they take forever to upload on here, so that will take you to my "puppy" album on Facebook. Potty training is going good and they are starting to sleep longer at night- thank goodness.

New Orleans Pictures

New Orleans

I got back from New Orleans a week ago but have been sick since then so I know I'm a little late in getting this up, what can you do? I was in New Orleans for a week to attend a training class and then the Marriott Extended Stay GM's Conference. All of Marriott's classes are always fun to attend and they pull out all the stops. I did have some time to sight see a little and the hotel was only a block or so from the infamous Bourbon St., which I was not all that impressed with. Maybe if strip clubs and all you can drink slushie hurricanes were my thing I would think otherwise. Needless to say, there was lots of other stuff to see. I finally saw the Mississippi River, I didn't have the time to go look at it when I was in Memphis, that was also just down the street from the hotel. The French Quarter is pretty amazing and beignets are a new favorite of mine. Beignets are pretty much French doughnuts, but SO good. I brought back a box of the mix so Michael would believe me. The food was good, I tried alligator, rabbit and oysters (oysters are gross) and every meal at the conference had some type of seafood which was awesome. Although I was glad to finally find a Subway for lunch one day. It would have been more fun if Bud had been able to come up to see me or if Michael could have come for a few days, but he had to stay home and watch the puppies. :)

So excited

This is what Petree thinks about being a dad, he just can't stop smiling! haha

Bright eyes...

They say that the puppies will open their eyes around 10-14 days old. So at 10 days we were ready to finally see some eyes- and nothing happened. And then nothing happened. Finally on day 14 Raiders eyes started to open up, they are still not fully open, so he kind of looks funny, hopefully the others will follow along soon!

Two weeks...

It has been two weeks since the puppies were born and they have been growing like crazy! All of them have at least tripled their body weight. They are starting to get their little fat rolls and their ears have started to flop over and grow, too. They are still pretty much worthless, though, they just sleep and eat all day, but they look cute doing it! These are some of my favorite pictures that we've taken...

Big softie!

So when we found out that Missy was going to have puppies Michael said, "That's it, once the puppies are born there will be no more dogs sleeping in the bed!! We will get a big bed for them but they will be sleeping on the floor. There is no way we are sleeping with that many dogs!"

Well, to the left is our now current sleeping situation (per Michael). Last night was the first night with the new puppies and Missy whined a few times because she was down on the floor in bed with the puppies but not up in the bed with us. So Michaels idea was to get this box that is big enough for Missy and the puppies but small enough to put up in the middle of the bed. "So she won't be sad she's not sleeping us but she can still be with the puppies" he says. He says that its just temporary, until the puppies are bigger and then all of them will start sleeping on the floor. We'll see about that...

Puppy pictures

They're here!

So we were laying in bed this morning around 8 and Missy started heaving like she was going to throw up. I took her into the bathroom and she threw up on the floor. I figured since I was up that we'd take her temperature really quick and see if it had dropped at all. It had stayed steady everyday so I was pretty surprised when I lifted up her tail and saw that the first puppy was making its way out! I called Michael, who was still in bed, and he ran out. I told him what was happening and he got a look of fear on his face and said "what do I do?!" We took her down to the box we had set up for her and she pretty much just laid there for about a half hour not pushing or anything. The first puppy is actually preceeded by a big bubble (to stretch stuff out) so the bubble was just hanging out, pretty gross. She finally started pushing and puppy #1 came out. It was amazing how she knew exactly what to do. She licked him and chewed off the umbilical cord. Puppy #1 (Spike) ended up being the biggest of the bunch so the next two came out pretty quick. Puppy #2 (Raider) and Spike look just like Petree. Puppy #3 is spotted/striped brown and white and looks nothing like either Petree or Missy. We named him Scooter. By this time it was about 10am and I was hungry so Michael went to get breakfast. We also figured that was in since we could only see 2, maybe 3 on the x-ray. But no- puppy #4 (Harley) is the only girl of the bunch and she came out about 10 minutes after Scooter. Michael sure got a surprise when he got back! We took them to the vet for a quick check up and everyone is doing good. They said the puppies look really healthy and Missy is a good mom. Petree is not sure what to think about them, he whines when they start crying and won't get very close to them. We are so glad they came today!