Dinner Party

Tuesday night Mike and I had Courtney, Greg and Eli over for dinner. We had Taco Soup, my Aunt Paula's recipe, I kind of had some fun with the recipe and tweaked it a little. It turned out really yummy. I have to take a moment to brag on Eli. Usually, when he comes to my house, 2 dogs who are still very energetic, one who is still a puppy, are usually too much for Eli. They go and give him kisses running at him with full speed and force and typically Eli turns around running to Mommy and Daddy. Which is what I would do if I were at the same level as my two munchkins. I honestly have never blamed the little guy. I just put my two out back and we go on and have a great night, dig out some of my toys for Eli to play with and it works out well. On Tuesday night though Eli was laughing at their kisses, running and playing with Duke and having a great time, mainly with Duke, Jemma decided playing was overrated for a sophisticated dog such as herself. Duke on the other hand followed Eli around where ever he went, took beatings with palm-palms like Eli was offering him a treat and welcomed Eli's love and attention.

Eli is petting Duke. Aren't they sweet.

Hiding out...

Jemma hides from the world. If only it really worked like that.

Well, this weekend we did a few projects around the house. After a few trips to Home Depot and Lowes we had what we needed to make the platform for the four poster bed we brought back from North Carolina. Mike is working on making a platform that will fit inside the double frame in order to support the queen size mattress that we currently own. I have been very impressed with his carpentry skills. I tested the strength of my right arm and spent the whole weekend painting our dining room table and chairs as well as recovering two chairs I had that I wanted to add to the set. Hopefully my Mom is impressed since the dining room table and chairs were hers and we have owned them since I was probably 5, not bad for 20 year old furniture. Ignore the runner. I need to sew it up but I don’t have a machine so it will either take me forever to sew it by hand or I will need to buy one someday. Oh and ignore the fact that I am missing a chair. I ran out of strength and patience and decided to paint the last one later.

Tomorrow it is back to work for the both of us. Mike is in Spokane for once. He has a dentist appointment. Then, Courtney and Greg are coming over for dinner. We are going to use food to lure them over and then use Greg to help move the platform for the bed. I still have to decide what to do for dinner. Hmmmm…

Goodbye Maggie

Best picture that I got of the three amigos. I know it isn't great but hey it's the best I managed to get.

Nicole and Ian came by this morning and picked up Maggie. You know it would be nice if Maggie would have looked back at me as she left as if to say "It's been fun." But in the absence of even a glance I realized that she was more than happy to be with her family. All I was left with was a muddy bathroom, dirty floors and a house that is still recovering from W.D.S. (Wet Dog Syndrome). She was fun to have around. I will miss how sweet she is and how she is always willing and ready to cuddle. What I won't miss is bathing 3 dogs. I would like to point out to those of you who don't live in this area that in honor of Maggie going home the sun came out. It fought a long hard battle wtih the rain clouds and chose today of all days to come out and dry up all the rain. Well thanks to you too sun.












In our house, dogs must be invited onto the couch in order to sit there. Maggie didn't know better and when I looked over to see her gazing at me so affectionately, I just couldn't kick her off. The other two got the boot right away. They know better. They sure are cute though.

It was brought to my attention that I hadn't done a post in a few days. Thank you, Nicole. I have to say that I can't promise a post everyday or I will only walk around feeling guilty on the days that I don't post. I don't like feeling guitly so I won't promise a post everyday. But reminders from friends that they like my post and have noticed their absense are welcome.

I spent the last two days shopping it up with Nicole and Courtney and their two boys Peyton and Eli. We had a great time together. Last night Mike and I joined Nicole, Ian and Peyton for dinner at O'Daurghty's an Irish Pub. We had a great time. We look forward to planning a trip to see them on the westside sometime soon. I need to make a run to Ikea. I love that place. Rebecca, I haven't forgotten that we are still planning an April trip to the westside. That should be a blast as well. We are going to be tourist and do lots of activities like Pike's Market and the Aquarium and Ikea, of course.

To your left is Peyton and I at the Starbucks on Wednesday. He is such a sweetie and a little flirt.

To your right is Eli. Once he warms up to you he is the best little friend you could ever ask for.

Today, Mike is at work, as usual and I have the day off. I think I will try to do some rearranging of my furniture. I don't realize that I don't like it until someone comes through to look at it or visit, then I realize it isn't me and I don't feel comfortable showing it to people. So, today I will do my best with what I have to make it feel more like home - to me at least.

I have worked with my dogs in the past on visual signs for their commands. Sit = a fist, down = 2 snaps and I point my finger down, stay = open hand facing them, etc. So yesterday I thought I will get the cheese out, which they only get when we train, and we will work on sit and stay so we can get a group photo. Well, I am sure if my neighbors saw or heard me they might have been calling animal control. Imagine me in the kitchen yelling sit, with my fist in the air and then waving my hands at them to stay. I must have made quite the seen. When we first started I would hold my fist up and say sit and 2 little bottoms would hit the ground without a question of doubt. One little bottom, a black one, was wandering about the kitchen looking at us saying "I don't know what you two think but that lady ain't my mom." Occasionally, Maggie would come round and sit with the others and I had three cute, eager for cheese dogs. Until...I grabbed for the camera. Then Maggie was out of there. So determined to make this work I kept going. Soon I had three little bottoms wandering the kitchen saying "We aren't listening to you; now give us our cheese lady." I soon gave up. Yes they won, yes they got their cheese and no, I did not get my picture.

Friends at Work

Have you ever wondered what Mike does as work? I do especially when he sends me pictures like this one. They are awfully cute!

I missed a post on Sunday. It was bound to happen sometime. So let me catch you up. With rain clouds threatening our Sunday Mike and I manned our posts, him on the couch watching football and me by his side reading a good book. Mike has been engrossed in Fantasy Football. He loves it. I think he gets so into it though that he gets overloaded on football and needs a day or two off. I never thought I would see the day that he would need a day off from watching football. Later that day, we went to dinner at our friends Courtney and Greg’s with their family Nicole and Ian, also our friends. We had a great time.

I mentioned that we are watching Maggie, a labra-doodle. Well, last night we came home from dinner to three very happy and very muddy dogs. We gave them baths one by one then they took off around the house barking, wrestling and having a fabulous puppy time. I thought “Oh, they will be so tired and ready for bed after all this excitement.” Boy was I wrong. At 10:30pm they played musical beds, first one dog up on our bed, then two, and finally three. Then they would all get kicked off only for us to hear the clinking of metal dog tags as they paced around the room. Then, there came the whining at the door. We finally caved in and let them out even though it was still wet outside at 1:30am. This entertained them for a short time. At 2:30am I hear barking and lots of it. In an effort to spare our neighbors of the agony that we were experiencing I let three wet dogs back in. Around 3:00am they finally fell asleep. Needless to say we are both tired. Mike is staying down in Pullman tonight so I get to wash three muddy dogs, again, by myself tonight. Hopefully, my reward will be that they all sleep well.

 

Apple Festival in Green Bluff, WA

Today, we took an adventure with some of our very good friends the Armstrong’s. They came in this morning from Pullman and we had French toast at our place for breakfast. Then, we drove about a half hour to Green Bluff, WA to the Apple Festival. There are several farms and they each have something to offer - apple picking, hay rides, pumpkin patches, hay mazes and, of course, candied apples and cider. Oh, and not to forget the pumpkin chucking-which is very popular in some places and entertaining, if I do say so myself. They basically shoot a pumpkin from a cannon. Needless to say we all had a great time. This might have to be an annual event.

Next up! The Riensche’s are coming to town tomorrow. Ian and Nicole have been good friends for a long time. They are bringing their little man, Peyton (who is extremely cute). They are also bringing their labra-doodle Maggie. Maggie is going to stay with us for the week. Duke and Jemma will be very glad to have her and we are excited to see Ian, Nicole and Peyton.

This is my first entry. I am Laura James and this is the James Family Blog. I was inspired to Blog by my good friend Nicole who makes it look so easy and it is always fun to keep up with her via her blog. My husbands name is Mike and we will celebrate four years of wedded bliss in November. My prayer has always been that we will love each other more tomorrow than we do today and by God's grace I do believe he answers that prayer everyday.

Our kids. Yes they are dogs but anyone who has owned a dog knows they are so much more than that. People don't spend billions of dollars a year on their dogs just for the heck of it. It is because we love them and they warm a special place in our hearts. These two munchkins are wild and crazy in this picture but they will snuggle right up and give you a kiss with just a glance their way. So don't tempt them or you will be slimed. Jemma will be 2 years old in November and by Golden Retreiver standards will be a puppy until 3 years old. Duke is about 8 months old now and is Jemma's nephew.

We moved to Spokane Valley, WA about 3 months ago and we love it! The trees, the mountains, the river, and not to forget the shopping! We will always hold out for a place where it is warmer in the winter. We are more of your 3 season kind of people we could live without the 4th season. For now though Spokane Valley is a special place and we are happy to be here.

Today, I am cleaning and preparing for our friends the Armstrong's and their twins Natalie and Spencer, who are 3 1/2 years old, to come tomorrow. We are going to Green Bluff to the "Amazing Corn Maze" and apple picking, I hear the cider there is excellent as well. We are very excited to see the Armstrongs.