Monday, December 23, 2019

Christmas Pups: Thinking Out Loud (Monday Edition) #126

Happy Monday! So normally I share a thinking out loud post on Thursday, but with Christmas on Wednesday I wanted to have more time to spend with husband and pups. The past few weeks have been rough for a lot of reasons probably the top reason being lack of sleep. Zeke is still keeping us up at night- any tips on how to get a puppy to sleep through the night are welcome. Anyway before I blab too much let's jump into this weeks thinking out loud!


1. Zeke graduated from puppy obedience class a little over a week ago and now we're debating if we should sign him up for a more advanced class. He's come a long way on his commands but he still has a long way to go. No matter what we try he's still not sleeping through the night. We thought it might be because he had to go potty, but he's hardly going. We're exhausted and really just don't know what to do. 


2. Last weekend we went to my company Christmas party. I love the company I work for, thankfully, and the party was unreal. Dozens of very expensive items were raffled off, sadly we didn't win anything. It was nice to get out and away from the pups for a bit. We rarely have time for just the two of us anymore between work and the pups. We relaxed, chatted with friends, and stayed out way past our bedtime. Despite being tired the next day we had a great time. 


3. One of the best parts of my job is the ability to give back to the community. Our charity partner, Chariots4Hope, held their last class of the year which also happened to be the graduation class for four of the women. These women have come such a long way in the past six months and watching them grow has been so exciting. The company I work for decided to surprise the women with Christmas presents for their families. We had spent an entire day shopping and wrapping presents for the families, but seeing their faces made it all worthwhile. 


4. With Christmas right around the corner Ginger and Zeke are gearing up for the big day. Neither of them has had a Christmas before so we're really excited to spoil them. Even my parents have mailed them presents, so rest assured these pups will be spoiled rotten and hopefully exhausted on Christmas so we can (finally) get some sleep. 


5. I saw this meme the other day that cracked me up because it's so true. I'm always showing people pictures of our pups whether they ask or not. Sorry our dogs are cute and I'm a proud parents. It's really no different than showing me pictures of your kids that I didn't ask to see. 

Have a great week and a very Merry Christmas! 

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Christmas Cards & a New Ride: Thinking Out Loud #125

Happy December! Holy moly where is 2019 going?! I keep waiting for life to slow down a little bit so we can catch our breath but recently it seems to be speeding up and flying by a million miles an hour. We're looking forward to mid-December when our calendars clear out a bit. This will be our first married Christmas so we plan on savoring every last second of it. Before I babble away, let's jump into this weeks thinking out loud!


1. Merry (almost) Christmas! I LOVE our Christmas cards this year. We used a mix of wedding and Christmas photos and I love that we got to include our pups. I printed them with Shutterfly because they're made right here in the U.S.A. so it supports American jobs. My family has always been very conscious of purchasing products made in America for Christmas (and all year) and that's a tradition Brent and I will continue to do. 


2. We hosted our very first Thanksgiving! The turkey turned out great (thanks to my mom for all the tips!), the side dishes were wonderful, and we were joined by awesome friends. Not being able to be with family for the holidays is really hard, but it's a lot easier when you have great friends who are like family. 


3. I convinced Brent to let us get a bigger Christmas tree. Target had them on clearance (onto the next holiday I guess) so we nabbed it for a little over $30! It was a steal and while I'm still firmly on team real tree this was an easier alternative, especially with two dogs who love to knock the tree around. It's honestly a miracle that it hasn't been knocked over yet. 


4. A new ride was added to the family. We finally traded in my 10 year old car, which I loved and miss, for a new car. Thanks to my awesome coworkers and friends we got a 2019 Lincoln MKC. It's beautiful and I'm still attempting to figure out how to work all the technology. The downside is car payments for several years and we have to pay taxes on the car in a month. We'll happily accept donations for taxes because taxes on cars in NE are ABSURD. Let alone I think it's criminal you have to pay taxes every year on your car when you renew you registration. 


5. Oh Ginger. Our sweet pup is finally adjusting to having a baby brother running around like a nut. While she may not like him all the time and sometimes they fight she is super protective of him and sometimes they even cuddle. She'll always be our baby girl and the sweetest pup ever. Zeke has sort of taught her how to play with toys, mostly they take them away from one another but it's an improvement over not touching toys at all. While Ginger and Zeke do drive us crazy some (or a lot) of the time they are very sweet and perfect for our little family. Rescue dogs are the best!

Have a wonderful Thursday and a great weekend!