The Times They Are A Changin'

Two months since my last post. I really need to get better about doing monthly updates at a minimum! The holidays came and went, and it was a lovely one this year. Charlotte was so excited about her Elf on the Shelf, Cissy, and we didn't go too nuts setting up scenes for the elf. We kept it to the basics, like, "Oh, Cissy's in the tree!" and "Cissy is riding on that reindeer!" I think next year we might need to up our game a little bit on the Elf antics. We spent Christmas Eve with Sam's parents and then came home to our house. Charlotte and I put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. She wanted to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" twice before bed. I loved snuggling up with her and seeing how excited she got looking at Santa and all the reindeer in that book.

Christmas morning was just the three of us at our home. Charlotte tore into her gifts and ooh'd and ahh'd at everything, except for the clothes! Later that morning we drove to PA to spend the rest of Christmas at my mom's house with my mom, dad, sister, brother, my sister's fiance, and the dogs, Bella and Lil' T. It was a beautiful Christmas!



Post-holidays we really have been hankering down on the house search and guess what? We found one in Pennsylvania! I don't want to jinx anything by posting what house it is just yet, because we have only two months to sell our home in Shaker Heights, Ohio! Our realtor comes tomorrow to list it and we are really hoping for a quick sale! Moving, in general, is just obnoxious, so we are trying to really decide what we want to move, what we want to give away, and what needs tossed! I think we've given 30 bags to Goodwill already. I've been painting and de-cluttering like a madwoman to get our house looking fresh and move-in ready for potential buyers. Living in a house for 6 years, man, you really accumulate a lot of stuff! I think I have enough baby clothes and toys for an entire village.

New addition to the family - I am excited to announce that we've decided to add to our growing family! We have put a deposit down to secure a spot to choose a new puppy! In late spring, early summer, we will be welcoming a new mini goldendoodle puppy to our home! The litter is going to be bred in February or March and will be due in April or May. We needed a hypoallergenic dog for Sam, and a dog that is friendly and good with children, and we have heard really good things about the breeder we are using and have friends with a puppy from the breeder. It's going to be a mini goldendoodle - around 20-35 lbs. We haven't told Charlotte yet - because she'd get too excited and then have to wait months and months. The puppy will be an early 3rd birthday present for her!




not our puppy, just pictures of the mini goldendoodle from the breeder's website

We could use some suggestions on names! We have a sort of un-planned tradition in my family of naming our dogs with "B" names - Brandon, Buffy, Bailey, Bruiser, Bella...so we should probably stick with that tradition since it's proven great so far!

It's coming up on the 1 year anniversary of when we had to put Bruiser down, and I've been looking at pictures of him a lot lately. I think the new puppy will help us to really heal as a family, and while we will never forget Bruise-daddy, we know he'll be happy for us and watching over us in our new home!



Until next time, blessings and love,
Amanda