Wrapping Up November

I am stepping off the merry go round for a minute. Today is the last day of November. That means it is my brother's birthday. Love ya, Chris!! We just returned from spending Thanksgiving with them. It had shamefully been more than a year since we had been to their house. It was good to be there, good to rest, good to see the boys (nephew #2 turned 2 yesterday!), good to catch up on life, good to do a bit of hunting and good to do a bit of shopping. Just to be clear, Greg, Josh and Chris did the hunting. Melissa and I did the shopping. The guys came home empty handed, the girls did not :).
Thursday was a gorgeous day so while we cooked and prepared, the boys did some 4 wheeling and playing outside. Chris used the mower to bury the boys in leaves. Oh to be a kid again!

The nephews love their cousins! Sometimes more than Kaleb would like, lol. It's all good though!

Our other big November news is that Greg has a new woman in his life. Gasp! In a momentary lapse of my sanity I agreed to get a dog. Greg and Josh had been slowly wearing me down. I finally got the point where I felt guilty for saying no, for depriving my boys of the opportunity to have a pet in their lives. So, everyone, meet Daisy Mae...

Daisy is a 10 month old black lab. A family at church recently adopted her sister and when they heard Daisy was also up for adoption, they hooked us up. Tip: if you are thinking about getting a dog, be sure to let the dog lovers in your life know. They will go above and beyond until you find one. They won't rest until the connection is complete. We have some dog crazy friends, I tell ya, lol.
Anyway, the woman who bought her later decided she wasn't up for the challenge of a raising a puppy so the breeder took her back. She is a very nice dog (but I won't admit to it if pressed!). She is already housebroken, doesn't jump much, can follow some simple commands and loves to be around us. We had to break her of the habit she had to jump onto the furniture. After several failed ideas, someone told us to use mouse traps. Two snapped traps later the lesson was learned! She's a bright one. Now we leave the un-set traps on the sofa when we leave for work and just the sight of them seems to be enough to keep her off. We still have to find a way to curb some of the barking and get her to walk better on the leash. And I need to find a way to get her to stop following me everywhere. Drives me crazy, especially when I am cooking.
But you know that this adventure we have embarked on couldn't go on without some craziness! Last week we discovered she was in heat! We didn't even have her long enough to make plans to get her fixed. grumble, grumble grumble. So, now Daisy Mae is sporting some Daisy Dukes.

This was Daisy snuggling up with Chris' dog, Sheldie. They got along very well and with her blue pants on she was easy to identify!
Tomorrow is December already. I have been toying with the idea of doing a 12 day series of tips on how to have a meaningful Christmas. So, come back tomorrow for tip #1.