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As requested, here are more pictures of the most adorable puppy in Durango!
Mark, Silas and I are having so much fun with this little pup. She is so sweet, gentle and calm. Si and Ruby love to play outside together, they chase each other around the yard and wrestle in the snow. Levi isn't so excited about her, Ruby likes to tackle Tiny and play with his toys, which Tiny does not like! I think he'll grow to love her eventually.
Things have been a little boring here lately, so we decided to add some excitement by expanding the family. Meet our new puppy, Ruby:
We just got her last night. Our friend Harry was having a beer at the Ska Brewery and met a lady with a free puppy. When we got the call from Harry telling us about a free, cute pup, we somehow got clothes on Levi & headed immediately down to the brewery. It was love at first sight.
Ruby is a 7-week-old Newfoundland/Shepherd mix, her mom is a full-blooded Newfie from Telluride, the dad is a neighbor's stray shepherd mix. Some of you may know that I have always wanted a Newfoundland, they are gentle, devoted companions that will protect children (and hopefully chickens), haul heavy loads and save drowning people - perfect for our family. We are all very excited, Silas says Ruby is the bestest dog (sorry, Moose).
Moose seems completely unfazed by Ruby's arrival. It took Moose several minutes to even notice her, then she just sniffed Ruby over and went to lie down in another room. Luckily for Moose, Ruby has two little boys that are more than happy to wrestle with her, so Moose is getting her required personal space.
Welcome to the family, Ruby!
We had a lovely Christmas here. It was just us and Mark & I were a little sad about not sharing our celebration with family or friends, but the boy's excitement was contagious and it was a good day. It was very loud, crazy and chaotic, the last week has been really, but there were such sweet moments, too. Like when Silas kept repeating, "we are so lucky that people gave us such nice presents" and his secret plan to make his brother a special gift - two beeswax candles.
Although you can't tell from this picture, Levi was very excited when he opened this gift and wanted the candles lit right away. Watching Si & Tiny on Christmas morning was just so much fun.
I have some sad news, too - we discovered that Genevieve was missing on Christmas morning, it seems a racoon ate her during the night. Everyone is very sad about this, she was such a sweet chicken.
Our family celebrated the longest night of the year by bringing in some light, we made and decorated beeswax candles. They were easy and fun to make and smell wonderful.
We also welcomed the first day of winter by preparing a feast for the birds. Silas thought this was super fun and that the birds will really love it, too.
Happy Winter Solstice!
This picture pretty much captures the atmosphere in our house right now. Packages are arriving daily and Silas is barely able to restrain himself from ripping the presents open, but so far Tiny is much more Intersted in the boxes than the presents.
Levi made his first onrmanent today. It is a pretty simple design made with one of his favorite mediums, aluminum foil, and he seems very happy with it. I like it, too.
We have been doing a lot of baking, today we made gingerbread bear cookies.
There has been far too much sugar consumed here lately!
Yes, it is craziness, but so much fun, too. The holidays are much more joyful with these little guys around!
Watch this short video!
It is a great counterbalance to this season of shopping, spending and consuming. A reminder to slow down and remember what is really important in our lives.
Motivated by the idea of not buying more stuff, we spent the morning making some Christmas presents!
When Mark was growing up, he & his family had a great tradition - each child would pick out and buy a new ornament for the tree each year. It is fun to see how Mark's tastes evolved over the years. We tried to keep that tradition alive with Silas, but Mark & I are just not into shopping and it didn't work for us. Instead, we've created a variation on that idea, Silas makes a new ornament every year. He has been hard at work on this year's ornament.
And here is the latest creation, a lovely, puffy felt star with sequins sewn on:
I cut out the stars and sewed the ribbon on, but otherwise, Silas did all the work on this one. I love this and I can't wait to see what he'll come up with next year. This is Silas' third year making ornaments, I guess I need to get Levi started. To be continued.....
As I've mentioned, Levi likes to do his own thing. Luckily for me, one of the things he really likes to do is help. He picks up toys, does laundry and grinds coffee. Last night, he helped me make dinner, then decided he would serve it, too. So cute.
We have been home a couple of days since a week-long adventure to Maine and are now tired and broke. We flew back to do some work on our Portland apartment building. Just getting there was exhausting - 3.5 hours of driving, a night in a hotel, two flights, then a 1.5 hour drive on either end, all while trying to keep Si & Levi happy. We arrived in Maine just as the weather turned bitterly cold, it was 12 degrees when we landed, and were there for the first snow storm of the season, which was kind of fun.
Marsha and Bernie, aka Nana and Opa, flew up to lend us a hand. They were a huge help and a lot of fun, especially for Silas. Nana & Silas spent most of their time playing.
Mark and his Dad spent the time either in the basement or moving heavy things from one place to another. I hung out with Levi, who only likes to do what he wants to do right now, so we spent much of our days in the empty first floor apartment (he isn't in to getting dressed or going outside right now).
It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of fun, too. We had a couple of nice, but loud, dinners out with Marsha & Bernie. I had a dinner out with my friend Kate and we were able to talk without interruption. We shared a loud, hot, smoky evening with the Betts family, Silas & Tiny were thrilled to see their cousins. And speaking of cousins, we found out some VERY EXCITING news - a new cousin is on the way!
OK, that is just a joke, Danielle is not pregnant, that is a belly cast from my pregnancy with Silas under there, but ....
Joel & Martine are expecting a baby in the middle of July! We are so excited and happy for them and can't wait to meet the new little one next summer. We found out this great news on a 24-hour stopover in Baltimore on our way home. We had a lovely visit with the entire Shutty family.
We're glad to be back and Silas is happy to be reunited with his chickens. Mark & I need a nap.
