i'll save the sap...

As you know, today is Boogie's first birthday!! Don't worry, I'll save the sap and teary eyed memories; I'll just focus on the amazing weekend we had!

The last month has been full of party planning and prep for Boogie's big day!  Last week was full of stress and checklists making sure everything would be perfect....and I think it was!!  Saturday morning we were awoken by the sound of rain and thunder. My heart sank just thinking about how we were going to move his big backyard, bug theme picnic indoors....Luckily by 10:30 the rain cleared out and the sun came shining through! It ended up being a beautiful, warm sunny day, perfect for a backyard party!

The decorations fell into place nicely...

I didn't burn any of the food.....

and Boogie got to eat an entire cupcake while all his friends and family watched.....

Today, we got a call from our friend B saying that Bruce Chen (yes, the Bruce Chen...starting pitcher for the KC Royals) had 4 tickets waiting for us at will call!! Talk about a great birthday present!!  Boogie had a blast:

tailgating...

sitting in his big boy seat (with a great view)...

and cheering on the Royals (and yelling at the umps)...

Like I said, it was an amazing birthday weekend.  We all had tons of fun (especially the birthday boy himself), but now we're all a little tuckered (hehe) out....

I know I said I'd save the sap, BUT I will say, the last year has been amazing and has gone by way too fast. My life has changed forever and I can't remember what I did before Boogie came into our world.  Like J said to me today "I remember one year ago today like it was yesterday, but I can't remember what life was like one year and one day ago, before Boogie arrived..." We love you little man! Happy Birthday!!!

stuck on the couch...

Yes, I'm stuck on the couch right now. No, don't worry, I'm not on ordered bed rest or anything, but baby girl has decided to take up camp right on a nerve and any attempt to move/stand is followed by collapsing pain. So, I figured I'd stay seated right here and update the blog!

We spent this past weekend in St. Louis for J's summer regional meeting. Let me just sum up the weekend by saying Boogie had the time of his life (and mommy is exhausted from chasing my little energizer bunny for 4 days)!!

We arrived at the Chase Park Plaza hotel early Thursday afternoon for the welcome meeting.  Immediately Boogie became the life of the party; smiling and laughing at everyone and reaching out to every woman that passed like saying "I know I'm so cute don't you want to hold me?!" During the evening meeting presented by the company big-wig, Boogie stayed in the childcare station where he proceeded to have every babysitter and every "big kid" wrapped around his little finger!

On Friday night we all got the attend the Royals' game at Busch stadium!! 3 full buses of Royals fans invaded two party suites to watch the Royals victory over the Cardinals! The game didn't start till after 7 and I was worried Boogie wouldn't make it much past the 4th or 5th inning, boy was I wrong!! That kid had so much fun; dancing to the music, cheering and screaming with the fans and of course being passed around from one person to the next! The game went until after 10pm and even after we returned to the hotel he was ready to play for another 45 minutes!

"Yay! Go Royals!"

Saturday afternoon we got to go to the St. Louis Zoo where Boogie fell in love with the elephants.  As soon as he saw one he started making elephant sounds and didn't stop throughout the rest of the zoo! (of course, he came home with a stuffed elephant to commemorate the occasion).  Saturday evening was the formal awards dinner, so Boogie again entertained everyone in the childcare station.

He even loved the elephant water feature!

Sunday morning at breakfast, person after person came up to us saying "I saw Boogie do this" or "did you know he did that?"  As one person put it "we all have a Boogie story from this weekend!"

So, yes, Boogie was the star of the show this weekend and capped it off by coming home with his very first tooth!!

iheartfaces: let's hear it for the boys...

This week's theme over at iheartfaces (let's hear it for the boys) is celebrating the boys in our lives in honor of father's day.  My photo for this challenge is a classic one of daddy teaching son how to hold the football; decked out in their favorite sports gear, hanging out in the backyard.

Here are my boys...

bright & vivid...

Here's my 2nd attempt at entering a photo on iheartfaces.  I'm hoping to challenge myself to submit pictures to as my themes as possible this summer. I start a new photography class tomorrow that is all about photographing people, which fits perfectly with the mission over at iheartfaces!

This week's theme is "Bright and Vivid." I snapped this one of Boogie playing with one of his favorite toys....my cell phone!

a bittersweet goodbye....

We are sad to say, we have recently found a new home for our little Stewie.  This is hard enough so spare me the judge-mental comments please! Just trust that we have Stewie's best interest at heart and we did not come to this decision lightly or without attempts to fix the situation.

For those of you who don't know, Stewie was our pure-bred, 5 y/o corgi.  He was born in March of 2006 and came to live with us in May of that year.  He has been a great dog and true member of this family; after all, he was our first 'child.' He's always had a spunky, yet quirky personality. Definitely one-of-a-kind. Athletics have never been his strong suit and he's the biggest scaredy cat you'll ever meet. But, he's loving and loyal and down right hilarious to be around.

Unfortunately, Stewie had a very difficult time adjusting to our new family dynamic.  Ever since Boogie came home, Stew hadn't been the same.  He became depressed, resentful, snippy and just downright unhappy. We never thought that having to divide our love and attention would cause Stewie to react this way and he showed no signs of bouncing back.

After various interventions, we decided to start looking for a new home for him.  All we wanted was for him to be the happy-go-lucky Stew we all know.  Dropping him at a shelter or something of the like was NOT an option.  We wanted to find him a home, a family. We contacted his breeder, our kennel and other local organizations to help with the process.  We had a lot of interest and response, but nothing was seeming to fit quite right.

Then we got a message from a family in Emporia.  It was like our prayers had been answered; it was the exact situation I had dreamed of for our little Stewie.  An empty nest couple who have a 5 y/o corgi that was also acting depressed. They were looking for a playmate for him in hopes it would cheer him up.  They came to visit Stewie here and fell in love.  Over the long Memorial weekend, while we were out of town, they took Stewie to their house for a 'trial run' to make sure the boys got along.  The message we got on our return said "Stewie and Spenser(their corgi) are getting along famously.  Spenser's whining is at an all time low and they are like two long lost brothers."  This is definitely a bittersweet goodbye. We will miss our quirky little Stew, but couldn't be more excited about his new home and new family. They are excited about keeping in touch and updating us on the "adventures of Stewie and Spenser" and have invited us to visit anytime....


Here are some pics of our little Stewart throughout the years: