Ray

Our newest foster dog, Ray, was surrendered by a family in New York City who could no longer care for him. He is an almost 8 year old snuggle smush. He has no clue of his size (all 130 pounds) and wants to sleep on the bed with us. Since there are already two adults and two Ridgebacks in a king-sized bed, we don't let him up at night. So he circles, offers one last dramatic sigh, and lays down on his bed. Such a sweetie!

Here he is with Stella. Ray barked at her for a while since she was on the sole dog bed in the sunbeam. Drew, who says he is not the sucker but clearly totally is, went and got another dog bed for Ray.
Look at that cutie!

Evan

Cute cute Evan! Here he is dressed up as Simba.

And, over the Christmas holiday, Evan finally was big enough to join us at the table for dinner and "real" food. Woo Hoo! We love being able to set a table for four!

Christmas Day!

Here we are opening gifts! Alex was in heaven... sicky heaven, but heaven. Poor kid!

Of course there needs to be dogs in the shots!

Christmas Eve.. the goods!

Here's what it looked like after Santa paid us a visit. Alex got a big art easel, a piano and a bunch of random stuff. His favorite toy, by far, though is the microphone that came with the piano. He likes to hear his own voice! Evan got a couple of things that he needed (like diapers - how did Santa know?), but his favorite is a ball that Santa bought at the Dollar Store.

Christmas Eve

Try to get cute pictures of an almost 3 year old and an almost 9 month old on Christmas Eve. I dare ya! Mommy and Daddy were not really smiling at the end of the attempt!

And.....topple. Alex has a smug look on his face, but he did not push his brother over.
The cutest one.
Pic with mommy? Maybe not....

Naptime??

Poor Alex had Scarlet Fever for Christmas. It was not a barrel of laughs... for anyone. The poor guy was dilerious and nothing we could do helped him feel better. So instead of a nice Christmas Eve Day nap, he cried. Why? His favorite blanket fell off the bed. His milk was too warm...oh wait, he'd prefer juice. He had a poopy. Mommy finally gave up. Evan, Daddy and the dogs got naps.

Evan's bath

Evan loves his bath! We have started a routine of bathing the boys together before bedtime. Cuteness abounds!

Puppy Lovin'

Stella really would like to sleep in bed with Alex, but he does not yet want that. For now, Stella has to settle on snuggling with him while he reads his bedtime stories.

The New York 12

In early November, 12 Rhodesian Ridgebacks were surrendered to New York's Center for Animal Care and Control. We'll never get the whole story, but apparently, a "breeder" was unable to sell his/her dogs and decided to just surrender them all. They ranged in age from about 4 years old to just under 6 months. We, of course, jumped at the chance to foster a needy Ridgeback, especially one that was under-socialized.

Meet, Missy (now Mimi) who has been adopted by a family in central PA (A very patient family who had been looking for the right dog for quite some time). We enjoyed her two-week stay with us and look forward to hearing stories from her new home.

Here she is keeping her poor little nose warm...

Adam and Katie enjoyed meeting Missy since their cousins on the other side were adopting her.
Missy claims the dog bed so "poor" Stella has to sleep on the floor.

Thanksgiving 2007

Finally getting around to posting Thanksgiving pictures. Sorry it took so long, but we are mucho busy with our monkeys!

Every year we go to the Saxonburg parade and Light Up Night. The boys, of course, love the parade! Here are Daddy and Alex. With all the flashing lights, the photos did not turn out all that well...

And poor Evan tries to stay warm and amused...

Mommy and Alex enjoy the parade. The best part was the Fair Queen riding in the back of a pickup truck with a big bumper sticker that said, "Haulin ass, Burning gas." Woo Hoo!
And trying to warm up in a hot bath post-parade. Look at our good sharers!

Thanksgiving 2007 continued

Alex, Adam, "Aunt Demi," and Evan. All on the most uncomfortable chair in the house. The grandkids with the traditional Thanksgiving Chia Pet.
Uncle Jeff works on fixing the Big Red Car. Totally Alex's hero!
The fam.
Stella and Alex. Food must be right out of camera range!