TOM-a-TO, TOM-o-Toe!

For the most part, Lucy and Duke will eat anything. The other night, I was making their Daddy a salad, and both pups were sitting at my feet just waiting for something yummy to come their way. So, I decided to give each of them a little tomato and see what happened. I got a lot of giggles out of them in the next 10 minutes. Who knew a tomato could keep a boxer busy for so long?

"What the heck is that? And exactly what is it that I'm supposed to do with it, Ma?"

"You want me to do what with it? Eat it? I don't think so, but I might sit here and look at it for a while to figure out what it wants from me."

"I'm not sure what to do with it. The human says it's edibles, but I's isn't sure abouts dat. It doesn't evens smell like food!"

"I guess I'll try it. How bads can it be? She's was puttin it on Daddy's plate!"

"Hey, Lucy! What did you do wits dat thing Ma gave you?"

"I ates it Duke! Its wasn't anytin exciten, let me tell you!"

In the end, Lucy ate her tomato, and Duke's too. But, she didn't seem very excited about it, which was odd because she typically loves veggies! I guess that my kids, like me, don't like tomatoes! (And I've finally found something that Duke won't inhale!)

I Spy Two Boxers...

On Monday, I pulled everything out of the drawers in the chest and the nightstand that were in our bedroom! Rob and I had picked out new bedroom furniture and it was finally arriving. I couldn't wait! I piled everything neatly on the bed, and just as I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to close the bedroom door... Along came Lucy and Duke. This was the exact reason that I should have closed the bedroom door. Don't they look comfy?



Did you notice that all of my neat piles were gone? Too bad the pups weren't overly eager to help me fold all of that stuff back up!

A Birthday Mop For Lucy...

The day before Lucy's birthday, Rob brought both kids to the store to hang out with us as we started to work on the tax information... Fun, fun, fun! I had a couple of errands to run and figured I had better take advantage of being able to leave the store while I could. So, I leashed Lucy and loaded her into the Boxer Mobile. 1st stop the bank: I don't like leaving Lucy in the car, so I went through the drive through window. About 5 tellers came to the window to check out Lucy, and the end result was a milkbone sent in that funny little tube.

Next stop, Fed Ex where I neglected to shut the alarm off on the car when I locked the doors. I was in the store, filling out paperwork when I heard the sound of my alarm and realized that Lucy had probably moved! Sure enough, it was the Boxer Mobile and Lucy, little darlin that she is, was sitting in the middle of the back seat looking around trying to figure out what the heck was going on! Note to self: remember to deactivate the alarm when leaving the vehicle!

3rd stop, Petsmart! I needed to get something to occupy the kids while we did paperwork and I wanted to let Lucy pick out a toy for her birthday! Petsmart is Heaven to a dog, all of the smells, the other dogs, the toys, the bones... It's just Heaven! Lucy is very good with little dogs, and there was a tiny little dog walking around the store with it's owner, all Lucy wanted to do was give that little dog a kiss, but the owner of the dog wouldn't let her get closer than 2 feet. I felt so bad! And of course, Lucy didn't understand, she kept looking back at me like "What's da matter wit dis lady, ma?"

Lucy did pick out a toy, and several different kids of bones and other things to chew on. Every time I take one of those boxer kids in there with me, I spend a small fortune! They're like little children looking up at me with those big brown soulful eyes, "Pleeeeeze, ma! We's don'ts have any toys ta playz wits!!!"

I held onto to Lucy's birthday toy till we got home on Saturday evening. She wasn't very patient with me as I attempted to cut the tags off without my glasses on, and there were several protests about the length of time it took me to do so. Finally, all tags were removed and Lucy took off running through the house swinging her birthday mop all over the place! Of course, Duke wasn't far behind her trying to get in on the action. Now if only that mop would actually clean up the mud that they deposit on my floors...

Lucy Lou Bugga Boo Is 2!

I can hardly believe it, but my baby girl turns 2 today! It seems like just yesterday that I was counting down the hours till I could bring her home. The time sure does go by quickly.

I thought that in honor of Lucy's 2nd birthday, I would take a look back through some of my favorite Lucy memories... Besides, I love looking at her baby pictures!

Happy birthday, lil' Angel! Mama, Daddy and Duke love you to pieces!

Lucy was 5 weeks old in this picture, and it was her very 1st puppy bone! I feel so lucky that I got to know her when she was so young! I miss that little pink nose with black spots!

This one was taken at 7 weeks old... with her mama counting down the days till she could bring Lucy home! My little princess!

Lucy's first night home with us, no need to worry that she didn't feel right at home. She curled right up between our two pillows and fell fast asleep!

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of Lucy! She was very good at posing when she was a baby!

6 months old, and on the job with her mama!

10 months old, reunited with her favorite toy after it had a slight accident! This was the picture that I didn't know I had until I uploaded them! I was so excited by her flying ears!

The day after her 1st birthday! Lucy wouldn't be Lucy without a little bit of dirt, and some paint.

Hanging out with her new brother, and her favorite toy the day after we brought Duke home!

Looking for trouble in September of 2011! She just wanted her toy back!

In the kitchen with me last night, wondering when some good food was going to drop!

On The Job With Duke!

Yesterday morning, we loaded the pups in the truck with us and headed to work. Lucy spent the day with her Daddy, and Duke spent the day with me! I just love having the big guy here to keep me company, and of course, to protect me!

Once a month, my Mom & Dad come down to Pittsburgh. My dad is receiving some kind of injections to help him with the back problems that he's having. While it's a horrible reason to have to come to Pittsburgh, they usually swing by the store to visit me, so I get to spend an hour or so chatting with them which I otherwise wouldn't be able to do. Yesterday was that day! Duke was so happy to see his Grandparents! He was so excited that his enthusiasm was impossible to contain for the first 10 minutes that they were here!

I'm usually the one behind the camera, so I don't have that many pictures of myself with the kids! Yesterday when Duke plopped down on my lap, my mom couldn't resist taking a picture of me with my "lap dog"! I love it! As you can see, he doesn't quite fit on my lap, but that doesn't deter him!

My parents aren't quite used to my wild kids, and my mom told me yesterday that she thinks Duke looks like he wants to eat her.... What this sweet face? He's a big love bug! I'm pretty sure it's just the size of his head that makes her think this way.

Duke settled down shortly after my parents left, he curled up at my feet by the heater and took a nap. Then he helped me eat some carrots at lunch time. We took several walks to take full advantage of the 60 degree weather and sunshine that was here yesterday. By 8:00, he was more than ready for his Daddy and Lucy to come pick us up. He was so ready, that he ran straight to the door, and waited! I can't lie and say that I wasn't ready to go home and see Rob and Lucy too!

I must say that I feel very lucky to be able to bring my boxers on the job with me! It's always great to spend the day hanging out with either one of them!

Time For A Bath!

I don't know exactly what made me decide that last night was the night, but I did. It was time for Duke to get a bath. I asked Rob to occupy Lucy whom I knew would most certainly want to jump in the tub if she heard water running and called Duke upstairs with me. I went in the bathroom and started running the bath water, and heard the door to the garage slamming shut downstairs and watched as Lucy jumped in the tub and Duke ran for cover. So much for Rob occupying Lucy!

Attempt #1 was a complete bust! I followed Lucy and her wet paws back downstairs laughing. Rob asked me what happened and I told him. He didn't think it was so funny and decided to help me. We went back into the bathroom and Lucy jumped back into the tub. Duke tried to escape again, but his Daddy was quicker! Before I even knew what had happened, I had two boxers in the bathtub- not exactly the best idea on the planet!

Attempt #2 went much better...I quickly soaped Lucy up, rinsed her off and turned her over to Rob who pulled the blow dryer on her and started to dry her off while I soaped up Duke! Lucy was not happy about the blow dryer, but Duke did okay in the tub. Despite his earlier intentions of avoiding the bath, he was very patient while I scrubbed him up! And when he was all done, he hopped out of the tub and let his Daddy blow dry him while Lucy ran like a madwomen all over the house trying to shake off the last remaining drops of water!

And so now I've got 2 very clean, very soft boxers! It all turned out much better than I had anticipated!