How can it be possible???

My littlest turned 2 yrs old yesterday. It feels like just yesterday I was holding her nestled close to me in my room at the hospital. She brings such joy to my life..Happy Birthday Dear Girl- your mama loves you very much!!

I Heart Faces- Especially Pet Faces :)

This weeks I heart faces challenge was Pets. It was difficult to choose a favorite shot, as I have so many of them (mostly due to the fact that I have many pets) ;) I chose this one, Even though it isn't a gorgeous shot of my Husky Suka, I love the meaning behind it. When we brought Suka home, he was tired from the long trip. My daughter Cassandra, although she wasn't tired, lay down on the step above him on the back steps of our home, and went into almost a trance touching him. She is usually a never-ending ball of energy that rarely "comes down", so to see her lying so still, with her eyes and body focused on nothing but touching him it was amazing to me. Thank you I heart faces for the opportunity for my photography to grow and mature :)

Enjoying Life :)

Suka's been a patient pup, good thing he has a good big brother to keep him busy and happy. I've been having hip pain for the past 3 days and nothing seems to be making it better so methinks I will have to set up a dr. appt here in the very near future. This means that walking has been at a minimum for the past few days. That's to Suka's liking actually. He doesn't like walking unless one of his big brothers is with us, or his human brothers and sisters are with us. I'm still taking him out daily, but our walks are very brief because of my hip pain.

Any Husky owners out there willing to give me some advice on the whole mouthing/nipping issue? Is there any particular method that works best when training not to mouth on people? Just wondering! Suka loves to play which is perfect but he is still trying to understand that he can mouth on the dog brothers, but not on the people :)

Suka is starting to get older looking in the face already- babies sure do grow up fast, don't they!!! :)

I Heart Faces Challenge- Teens (big sissy-little sis)

This week's Photo Challenge theme was teens. I picked this photo because it shows the beauty of sisterhood. My teenage daughter has an amazing relationship with her little siblings. She loves spending time with them, and they love spending time with her because of it. She is loving, kind, helpful, and considerate- all wonderful qualities in a teenager. Pretty Faces are nice, but I heart pretty and happy faces :) If you would like to participate visit I heart faces (or just go to see all the amazing photographers who participate each week!) :)

Family

A new photo challenge has begun :) Elisabeth at the Lean Green Mommy Machine is hosting and this week's challenge is Family (next weeks is Hope, a great think outside the box theme~) Anyhow, family is easy for me as I have so many of them :) Speaking of which we will be hanging out as a family sans my hubby today at our local strawberry festival, I cannot wait :) Hopefully I'll be able to capture a few shots in the Hoards of people! :) It's always a good time- there are crafters, vendors, flea market, food, music, games, sales in all the shops downtown, so much to see and so much to do, and of course LOTS of STRAWBERRIES! :)

If you would like to participate in this weeks or next week's challenge, visit the lean Green Mommy Machine :)

Suka-Almost 10 weeks

I cannot believe that Suka will be 10 weeks old already on Thursday! Time is flying :) Suka is a good boy- stubborn, but that goes with the breed, but wonderfully tempered otherwise! We went to Petco last Saturday and I was there almost an hr. He was patient, laying on the ground most of the time, sometimes even on his back with his belly in the air. One of the trainers there, who is familiar with Siberian Huskies said that that is a sign of a great tempered dog. Most dogs and puppies that go into Petco are very ill at ease, hyper, nervous etc. Suka acted like it was only normal to be there. He did try to sneak off some doggie treats that were nose length from him though ;) I got him a treat for in the van instead :)

Suka is plugging away at housetraining. He has only pooed in the house one time in the over 2 weeks that I've had him. He still will pee in the house if you aren't on top of him the whole time (but I keep on top of things pretty well and the weather has been nice enough that he has been able to be outside alot) so pee accidents are more, but still no more than 2 a day and usually only one (a few days none at all)Housetraining is a struggle, because I cannot leave him alone really at all so he doesn't have an accident in the house BUT it could be MUCH MUCH WORSE!!! So, my thought is he is doing pretty great for his age :)

Suka knows he must sit before I give him his food and water. He also knows he will not get a treat unless he is sitting. He is getting very good at down as well, and he has almost mastered giving paw. He is a smart pup for sure. I love teaching my dogs obedience at an early age, and we will be going to an actual obedience class later on for socialization and shining up the beginning skills I am teaching him.

The only things that we really need to work on are:

1. Walking- He will willingly walk if Bob walks Ruger with me, or if I am walking with the stroller and the kids. He will NOT walk with me well if it is just the two of us. He lies down and I have to pretty much drag him on his walk. I walk with him every day but for some reason he doesn't like to walk just the two of us. Really have to work on this, because he is supposed to be my walking partner! Hopefully as his daily walks keep going, he will little by little be more excited and comfortable about walking with me. I use a harness rather than a collar so I have more control over him and he is more comfortable than me pulling him by his neck.

2. Mouthing- Suka loves to play, just like every pup but when he plays he likes to mouth and use his teeth. This is fine when playing with Ruger, but not fine to do on me or the kiddos. He will learn thru consistent discipline and redirection but it will be an uphill battle. Whenever he starts to mouth me I sternly say "No Suka, Give Kisses!" and usually he will start licking my hand instead.

Other than that he is doing exceptionally well and I love him to pieces :)

I Heart Faces Entry- Baby Girls and Sugar,Spice, Everything Nice

For this week's I Heart Faces entry I chose a photo I took of my littlest whose 2nd birthday is coming up in the next few weeks. She was the epitome of baby girl (and still is) :) Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice- that's what little girls are made of :)

Last Foto Friday at Renaissance - Favorites

Wow, this was really a bittersweet Foto Friday for me. I am so sad that it is ending, and I had a really tough time finding favorite photos because I have so many favorites. I didn't pick Foto Friday ones, I just picked Favorites in general because I interpreted the assignment as favorite in general, sorry Rebecca if I was wrong in my interpretation.

These are Among my favorites (as I said, I have many) I love the angel against the blue of the sky, it reminds me of what the Angel Gabriel would have looked like- beautiful yet unbelievably powerful and strong. The second and third are the true emotions- one of my silly daughter, and one of the serious side of my son(which I can well relate to, because I have the same emotion often). The last is my youngest daughter's hands clasped gently in my Grandmothers knarled ones.

I am thankful to see one of the other Foto Friday participants is picking up the reins, I offered, but I am not even close to being a great photographer and I don't have a lot of visitors to my blog anyhow so I wouldn't have made a perfect hostess. but Jennifer, well she is a wonderful photographer and a great new hostess for a foto friday :) I am looking forward to participating in her challenges :)

Thank you Rebecca, for starting Foto Fridays, and helping us all to think outside the box with our cameras and improve our photo quality :) We couldn't have done it without you, literally! :)

I Heart Faces- Play

This is my first photo participation entry at I Heart Faces. The Theme was Play and to me, what a better contribution than my youngest playing in our backyard :) Slides are so much fun for everyone! If you would like to participate or look at all the amazing contributions, go to I Heart Faces to take a peek at all that is going on there :)

Foto Friday- Happiness

This week's Foto Friday theme was "Happy"

So many things make me happy- here are just a few.

Happiness is a soft new puppy. Happiness is little helpers who want to be like me. Happiness is a sign of good things to come. And Silly Happiness is freshly painted glittered nails in the sun :) Oh, and did I mention, happiness is a new puppy? :)

If you would like to participate in this weeks Foto Friday Please Visit Renaissance (or at least take a look at some amazing photographs by amazing people!)