{B}

Look what someone got in the mail today.  LOVE it!!  

 

Love The B's

{Baby Shoes}

So I know I don't have a kid and no, I'm not expecting.  However, when I come across something this cute, I had to share.  Check out these adorable shoes on Etsy.  Love them!! 

 B
 

{Puppy Love and Collars}

Even before we got Bella, she was spoiled.  She has all sorts of toys that keep her entertained and loved.  She has her pelican and now a new moose to play with.  I couldn't help but get the moose.  Just telling her to get her overly large bobble headed toy is fun.  She of course loves to chew, so we have gotten toys that accommodate that need.  She loves to hoard them in her kennel, and in fact, steals the kitty toys and takes them in there too.  

 {Gotta get the moose!}

Did I mention Bella sleeps like a dork?  Here are just a few of her crazy sleeping positions.

{This is her sound asleep with her tongue out}

{She actually does this a lot and I'm not sure how it is comfortable.}

{So comfortable!}

{Showing her toys some love}

I have gotten her to a point where she likes her kennel, and I can leave her alone in it.  I must admit it was pretty hard at first because she does have some separation anxiety.  Good thing they make toys to help avoid this.  We bought her a Kong before we even got her.  The Kong in itself is not that great, but she loves it when we stick some PB in there!  If she can be distracted for the first 10-15 minutes, she will be fine in her kennel until we come back.  I've also been keeping her in there when I am working or doing misc things around the house.  It makes me feel better that she likes it.  

She is also 'sleeping' through the night.  {I really do sound like a new mom, ha!}  She will only whine if she needs to go out, but we have set her schedule so she can hold it until morning.  Let me tell you, I appreciate it!!  We had to take a few naps the first couple of days.

We are still getting the hang of 'come' and we just started working on 'sit'.  She gets that one pretty well, but might need a few more days to really get it with out treats.  We also took her on her first walk last night.  She did really good.  She is not sure what cars are yet, and of course, likes to take her time and sniff everything.  She is so funny.  She knows when we are back to the house and will pick up the pace to get back inside.  Silly pup.  She is also a lot more comfortable in the house and really wants to play with the kitties.  This basically means that she will chase them around with her whole butt shaking because she is so excited.  The boys have figured out they need to run fast and hide. :o)  She just really wants to lick them, but they don't appreciate it.  Pet lovers, I'm sure you've read the diary of a cat vs the diary of a dog.  It's SO true.  I can just see the cats looking at her sometimes saying, "Really, you are ridiculous" 

 {So excited for the treat}

{Such a good sitter}

For the most part, she has the potty thing down.  She still has a few accidents, but if we watch, we can prevent them.  She loves eating the dirt and finding random sticks in the back yard.  What I hate the most is all the mosquitoes!!  I have never had so many bites on the back of my legs.  It is quite annoying.  

We also experienced our first thunderstorm today.  She was a little scared, so we decided to snuggle the storm away.  This was after I had to run outside and try to save a portion of our lawn from the huge amount of water that runs down our sidewalk and through the yard by the driveway.  What a mess.  D appreciates not having to water the lawn tonight though!  

 {Showing momma some love}

{Daddy gets some lovin' too}

So I have 2 collars that I got her at the nearby pet store, but I really want something a little cuter for my baby girl.  I hate to get one right now though, because I know she will either grow out of it or it will be too small when she is full grown.  Look how cute these are though!  What do you think, which one should I get for her? 

{Damask N Dots}

 {This is pretty much adorable -  Windor with matching flower}

{American Jane}

{The Sienna}

{Poppy}

{Lemon Dots}

    
I want them all... Help me decide :o)
B

{Yard Work}

This is one project that I have left for the boys.  As much as I want to get down and dirty, I have been keeping myself busy inside with more crafty projects.  We decided that since we'd like to put in a porch in the back yard, that we would just do the front yard for now.

So to start off, we really did not have much of anything in our front yard.  What should have been a lawn, was just dirt.  We have a few large trees and this crazy, overgrown viney bush around our trees.  We could have left it, but it was filled with old leaves and who knows what was actually growing in there. One Sunday afternoon, the boys decided to knock the bush out.  We had a trimmer and we rented a tiller for the day.  

  As you can see the bush was taking over a good portion of our yard and Scotty was enjoying cutting it up.  D and Dad got the fun job of shoveling it into bags.

It was amazing to see how much larger the yard looked with out this crazy bush taking it over. 

After tilling up the yard, D and Scotty went around and tried their best to level out the high and low spots.  It was definitely a task since the yard had not been taken care of, ever.  

Scotty used sticks to show where these high and low spots were.

Our yard is pretty much completely in the shade from our big trees.  We decided it would be best to seed with a fescue shade mix.  This is the first time I've ever planted with seed, so I was not sure how it would come in. 

This is kind of a blurry picture of Scotty, but he is laying the first seeds down! 

Yay for seed!  Can you tell I was excited to finally have a start to the yard.

Now it was a waiting and watering game.  We needed to make sure it got plenty of water, so every night Scotty or D would go out and water the yard with the hose.  It actually rained quite a bit that first week so that helped a lot.  Well, I guess it actually hurt the lawn some too.  It poured one day, and we actually had to put a damn system in since our drainage is so horrible.  Scotty ran out and put a few 2x4s down to make the rain just go down the driveway instead of taking all the loose lawn dirt with it.  About a week later this is what the lawn was looking like.  

 Some green is starting to show

 It is a little spotty, but growing pretty well. 

Because it was so spotty, we decided to lay down another round of seed.  We are still waiting for that to come in.  We aren't sure if it is just taking a little longer or if the heat killed it.  We'll see.  Nevertheless, I am very excited to even see just a little green come in.  I love that just a little color out there makes a world of difference!  One of these days I'll really start on my 'green' thumb and put in a garden! :o)

B

{Homemade Cake Balls}

I love dessert, and I love baking, which is definitely a dangerous combination.  Saturday night I had a wine night to go to with some girlfriends, and of course, I wanted to bring dessert.  I love cake balls, and I have heard people talk about how they are made, so I decided to give it a try.  I really wanted to have everything homemade, but with just bringing Bella home, I knew I wouldn't have time.  I sent Darrell out to get some groceries and had him pick up the ingredients while I stayed at home and spoiled Bella.  Here is my 'general' recipe for how I made my own version of cake balls. 

Homemade Cake Balls

{Ingredients}

Your favorite cake box, any flavor {Or if you are really up for it make a homemade cake}
• A can of frosting {I suggest which ever flavor you would have normally put on the cake.  Again, if you are up for it, go homemade}
Some sort of chocolate {either chips or bark} to melt for coating the cake balls
Popsicle sticks or something similar to stick in them. 
Wax paper
Any extras you want to place inside the cake balls or on top

 

{Directions}

• First, make the cake recipe as directed.  I baked mine as a bundt cake because I think it holds in the moisture best.  Really, any way is fine, just don't over cook it.

 

 As you can see, I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge and Cream Cheese Frosting

Once it is out of the oven, let it cool completely.  I broke my cake apart in a bowl to help expedite the process, or you can put it in the fridge. 
Once it is completely cool, break up the cake in a bowl so it is all crumbles.  You'll need a fairly large bowl.
• You will then pour in the whole can of frosting.  Mix well - you will want all the cake covered in the frosting.  If you are really adventurous and want to spice it up, you can add other items in the mix that you think would be good, like fresh chopped strawberries to white cake mix or sprinkles, etc.

• The mix is easier to make into balls when it is cold, so I stuck mine in the freezer for a couple of hours, uncovered. 
• Once it is cold, you can take the mix out and start making the balls.  Cover a baking pan with wax paper and put the rolled balls on there.  You can make them what ever size you'd like.  Insert the popsicle stick into the ball and then freeze for a few hours again.  The sticks make dipping them in chocolate much easier.  
• 
  
• When they are good and cold, go ahead and melt the chocolate


• I do not own a double boiler, so this is what I do to melt chocolate.  You can put it in the microwave, but I tend to burn it when I do it that way.  I think this is actually faster and easier.  Take two small pots (One should be able to fit in the other one) and put water in the larger of the two.  You don't need a ton of water, just about 1/3 of the way full.  I bring the water to a boil and place the other pot on top/inside the pan.  Careful, the steam if VERY hot.  I kind of have to hold my top pot, because it would fall in if I didn't.  Once you do that, just place your chocolate in the pan and mix while it starts to melt.  Use a spatula so you can get the chocolate mixed that is on the bottom of the pan.  Again, make sure it doesn't burn.  It is also nice to do it this way because if you didn't melt enough chocolate or it starts to get cold, you can just put it back on the burner for a few minutes. 

Once melted, remove from the other pan and now the messy, fun part begins.  Take out the balls from the freezer and you can begin to dip.  You might need to melt more chocolate if you start to run low.  Simply put the pan back on the boiling water and add more chips/bark.

Be sure to place them back on the wax paper.  This will make it so they are easily removed.  Wax paper is definitely a must! 

Then if you feel up to it and have some extra fun stuff around the house, feel free to spice them up while they are still warm.  Note, that if you are doing anything other than more melted chocolate on them, you will need to add things as you are doing each individual one so it will stick to the chocolate.  You could add things like smashed candy bar crumbs or sprinkles or anything your heart desires.  Some like the chili powder on them with dark chocolate.  

I had extra milk chocolate chips, so once I was done with the white bark chocolate, I melted some of my chips in that same pan.  I then took a Ziploc bag and opened it up by folding over the zippy part, that way I wouldn't dribble chocolate everywhere when I put the chocolate in there.  Once it is all good to go, just close the Ziploc bag and cut a tiny sliver off on of the bottom corners.  Then just take it and apply pressure to make it drizzle over the cake balls. 

Put them back in the freezer for at least 1 hour to harden.

Enjoy!!

Overall, this is a really fun and easy recipe to make.  I think it would be super cute to wrap them in individual pieces of clear plastic wrap and give as favors or shower gifts.  So many possibilities.  I had forgotten to get the Popsicle sticks, which was a mistake.  I ended up using way more melted chocolate than necessary.  They were pretty delicious though!  

{Meet our baby girl Bella}

Our pretty girl. LOVE her. 

We are officially proud parents of a new puppy.  She is an Olde English Bulldogge and was born on April 29th.  Her brothers and sisters got a little bit of a cold around 7 weeks, so they waited a little longer to be placed into homes.  When we went out and met Bella (they called her Sissy) last Sunday. We looked at her and 2 of her sisters.  I know I mentioned that she has the brindle coat that D really wanted.  Originally, I was drawn to her sister that had a tan coat and more spots that were brown and white, but after spending some time with the three of them, I knew this was my girl.  She has such a cute temperament about her.  She is very curious, but very willing to please.  She will do anything to get some loving and enjoys giving kisses when she does something good. 

 The drive home

We were so excited to pick her up. It felt like we were never going to get her.  We picked her up at one o'clock yesterday afternoon in Manor and brought her home.  She was a little scared of the car ride, but that was to be expected.  I had read this first ride is really important in making her enjoy the car, so I held her in my arms on the way home, talking to her and petting her to make her feel comfortable.  She warmed up and was looking out the window at things and loved the air blowing on her.  

She wasn't quite sure what she should do.

Putting her collar on for the first time.

Had to adjust the size a little bit, and she just patiently waited for me.

Once we got her home, I put her collar on and immediately took her to the backyard to see if she needed to do her 'business'.  She was pretty nervous and was easily distracted by all the noises and smells.  Her previous home was a little secluded, so all this was so new to her.  We didn't keep her out there quite long enough the first time.  After bringing her back in, we showed her around the house.  She was so cute.  This was the first time she had ever worn a collar or to be lead by a leash, so she really was not sure what to do.  We are now getting the hang of it.  When we showed her the kennel, with two paws in, she peed outside of her bed.  She also was not being potty trained by her owner and was going in her kennel there. The first day was all about finding out a schedule that works for all of us.  We are finding out when she needs to go out, and so far, she has done really well with minimal accidents inside. 

The first time seeing her new kennel and the fluffy 'bed' we used on the first night until her bed arrives today.

She loves it. 

Her adorable little paws.  As you can see, she has spots on her paws and some of her nails are black and some are pink. Cute.

We are lucky that she loves her kennel.  Like I said, she was used to staying in one, so she will go in it without a need for much help.  We are still getting all the terms down, but it is a start.  We have quite a few toys already for her and she is so smart.  She knows that the kennel is hers, so she will take all the toys and drag them back to her kennel.  Her favorite toy right now isn't even a dog toy.  I wanted to find her some sort of stuffed animal, but I couldn't find one that I liked yet.  I had some old Beenie Babies that I have in our garage sale pile, and I went and grabbed a pelican.  She LOVES her pelican. 

Gathering all her toys in her kennel.

Daddy taking her around the house and showing her around. 

Loving her dinner. 

It's amazing to see how much more comfortable she has gotten with the house and the boys since she has been home.  She used to only stay by either mine or D's side, but now she is getting adventurous.  Our boys help with the situation.  I'm not sure that Bella knows what the kitties are, but all she know is that she loves them and they should be best friends.  :o)  Both boys are doing pretty well with her.  They actually have not really hissed at her at all.  Tigger of course always wants to be by her, but not too close.  They have touched noses a few times and Bella loves to go get him.  She won't run up to the boys, but just slowly walks over by them and her whole butt is wiggling!  She is so excited.  She just wants to lick them and touch noses.  It's pretty darn cute.  Kjr is still getting adjusted.  He is a little more hesitant, but I can tell she will win him over soon.    

Passed out in the cage... Or until a brother comes up.

The Bear coming to say hi to his new sister. 

She also sleeps like the boys too.  What a goober. 

We are having so much fun with her.  We can't wait for everyone to meet our Bella. 

Leaving you with this sweet face.  Happy Saturday!  From both B's.