Fabulous 40th!

I must admit, I don't really care much about my age.  I totally get that it's just a number and because my job literally requires me to be playful and silly every day, I don't feel old at all.  But 40 is a significant milestone, I guess, and man did I get the royal treatment for reaching it this year!  I am just blown away by all my loved ones' generous and thoughtful gestures-- from a classroom full of decorations, to a mailbox full of gifts and cards, to a FB wall and inbox full of sweet greetings, to a lawn full of decorations and 40 balloons!

When I rolled in my driveway from school, this was the jaw-dropping surprise I found!  My wonderful and sneaky friends came over to decorate my house in the morning.  I and the girls were just delighted!  I didn't learn until later that it was Jetta and Amy who had gifted me with this fun, and I totally enjoyed the pictures Amy texted of them setting it up...

We enjoyed the 40 balloons until Wednesday and then I brought them to school to hand out to my students, which delighted them too!  So cute to watch all my kids walk out with a shiny Mylar balloon tied to their wrist and a huge smile on their face.  Thank you, Amy.  It was a good birthday, and this surprise was one of my favorite parts of it! :)

Dave and the girls gave me a really exciting gift too... which I'll tell you about later and get sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when our contractor church friend is able to come and do the work on our house.   I can't wait!  For now, Delia is amusing people by telling them, "We got my mom a puppy for her birthday!" :)  These 3 also took me to a restaurant we've been excited to try-- a brewery with delicious food and a fun outdoor atmosphere.  

Even though it was the big 4-0, I did not wake up on the 22nd expecting to feel any different, but I actually did.  I felt MORE loved and MORE appreciative of the amazing people in my life than I even realized.  Thank you, everyone!

Meet Ivy!

One week ago we set out to buy some guinea pig food at the pet store.  As we always do, we stopped to check out the puppies at the Saturday Adoption Event the store was hosting.  This adorable little pit mix caught our eye.  As we admired her and learned more about her from her foster mom, we fell more and more in love.  We were told she was the most docile, obedient, affectionate puppy the woman had ever fostered.  She told us she'd recommend this dog for guide dog training because she was so smart and easy to train.  We held a little family meeting in the store's bird aisle and decided our perfect pup had finally found us!  We signed the papers, added some dog supplies to the guinea pig food we went to buy, and brought her home!  We named her IVY for our Chicago Cubs and the defining feature at Wrigley Field, and also because we thought it was cool to have another dog with a plant name.  

Ivy has been with us for exactly one week now and is doing wonderful in our home!  We knew our lives would change, but she hasn't been as disruptive or destructive as we expected.  She's playful, but not too wild.  She is nearly potty trained and does a good job going outside 90% of the time.  She does not bite us with her sharp puppy teeth, but instead covers us in kisses.  She has managed to mangle 2 flip flops and the rubber bathtub stopper, but no other causalities besides these cheap and easy to replace things!  She is our whole world right now and we are just looooving the joy a puppy brings to our family and are so excited to be dog owners again!

 Here are the things we have learned about Ivy this week: She loves belly rubs! 

 And the sun spot in our living room.

And ALL the attention, which the 4 of us are happy to provide.  The girls make her art and read her bedtime stories.  We play a lot of fetch and tug of war.

 She loves treats and is highly motivate to learn and obey.  She's already learned "Sit", "Stay" and "Down".

And she love, love, loves Dave!  Dave is by far her fave!  She follows him around like, well, a little puppy.  Dave was the most realistic about how much work she'd be during our bird aisle family meeting, and, with us at school all day, he does a good amount of it.  But she has captured his heart and I love seeing them together!

Ivy does not love: the vacuum cleaner, the guinea pigs, or the time of morning when we all leave.  After watching her for a week, we think she may be a pit/pointer mix.  She's funny about the pigs and freezes and "points" at things when she's outside.  And her belly is covered with the pointer's traditional black and white spots.  We look forward to uncovering all the other loves and personalty traits of our newest family member!

Labor Day with the Sequoias

Having actually spent most of Labor Day weekend down with fevers, colds and coughs, when Monday rolled around and we were all starting to feel better, we decided to get up off the couch and stretch our legs at Big Trees State Park.  This is one of our family's favorite hiking outings, so, even though we have not visited in about 3 years, the sights (and pictures I took) felt familiar.

 Thanks to numerous hikes around this state park, we DO know our trees!

 Tree huggers.

 Ella at the end of a long tree tunnel.

 Delia gave me lots of "Muscle Girl" poses on this hike.  

 This is a crevice inside a tree.  Both the girls took turns sliding in here.

 Above and below, playing inside the hollow, fallen tree-- wide enough to fully stand inside!

A sad shot of what's left of the Pioneer Cabin Tree, the one you used to be able to walk through, after a big storm knocked it down this winter.

And after we hiked around our favorite North Grove Loop, we headed down to the river, which was really high and rushing!

Between the grove and the river, we knocked another 2 miles off our "Hike 40 in 40" List.  Just 5 more miles to go before December!