And another one bites the dust...

My cousin JoAnn had always been planning to come to town for my baby shower. It seems a few weeks before she came down, her husband (Ron) decided he wanted the weekend getaway also. So the two of them hopped a plane with Grandma and came for the weekend. Mom and Dad (who were also in town) clearly wanted to show off their house to everyone around. So Ron and JoAnn took a trip out to Georgetown with my parents. And, clearly, Ron was not going to hang around a baby shower all day on Saturday, so he went back up there with my dad the next day. And to make a short story shorter... by the end of Sunday they had signed papers to buy a house in the same neighborhood. They'll be joining us here in Central Texas soon. Here's a candid photo of the new converts:

Baby Shower

Baby Julien is still cooking up well... And at the end of spring break, my friend Laura threw a baby shower. It was more than a great time... lots of family and friends came in for the event.

Here's grandma and Mom:


And Jeannette:


My sister and cousin JoAnn were also in from out of town. One more picture from the festivities: Jeannette helping transport balloons to the party:


For more details and photos, see Laura's blog (click the link at the right).

Spring Break

Sure, it's been weeks, but I spent most of spring break this year working from home. Not only do the dogs enjoy the company, but they seem to love hanging out in the office. Here's a photo:

The windowsill is the perfect height for the girls to rest their heads while they watch the street:

The Dog Door Photo

Given popular demand, we've added a photo of the dog door in use...

The Girls are all Grown Up

Last weekend, we made the most important home improvement we've made to date. We replaced our back door with one that has a dog door in it. Now, when we're home, there's no more constantly getting up to let Hannah in and out. There was a small training phase to get them used to it (especially at night, when we're all upstairs), but it's been fantastic. But the best part is this...

Now, if you're familiar with our dogs, you'll know that they have, in the past, had some serious separation anxiety issues. The first time we left Hannah alone (in our apartment) outside of her crate was the same day we signed for the new house. She proceeded to take all of the (signed) paperwork for the house off of the dining room table and shred it. Just so you know, it's a bit embarrassing to call the real estate agent to explain that the dog ate the closing papers. Since we've been in the house, the pair of them has slowly been tearing away at the hardiplank siding around the back of the house on the porch. It's not pretty.

So, the plan for the new dog door was for it to be used when we are home, but for the dogs to still be outside when we're out. But Tim decided to give the girls a trial run on Wednesday morning to see how they might be able to handle a little freedom. He left the dog door cover off so they could come in and out. And they have performed excellently. They have torn up only one thing--a kitchen mitt that had chicken grease on it that we clearly should not have left on the counter. There was evidence that Casey had been on the couch one afternoon as well, but she does that once in a while when we're home also. So for the last three days, they've been given the run of the house, and I think they've enjoyed it.

We will, however, have to define some restrictions for when it is rainy and wet outside...

Dog TV

My dad was here last weekend, and we were discussing the fact that Casey could probably excel at agility training. Sunday night, we sat down to watch some TV and happened upon the Animal Planet. They were showing an agility competition. Casey promptly plopped down in front of the TV and literally watched the entire thing. She would get a bit distracted when they switched to commercials, sometimes even wandering off. But when the show came back on, she was right back in front of the TV. I've never seen a dog actually track the action on a television, but Casey was all over it:


Hannah took a turn, too, at the end of the show, but she did not demonstrate the same persistent interest that Casey had.


I had, in fact, never seen the HUGE dogs do agility trials before. They had a Great Dane, a Saint Bernard and a couple of Boxers in this particular competition. It was crazy...

26 Weeks...

If you've been following, you'll be noticing that there haven't been any photos of me for a while now. So to keep you updated, here's one from this evening... Christine at 26 weeks. I didn't realize I looked like that until I looked at the picture!