I really think that my sister has a sign posted on her back, “My name is Chris and I’m your new dogsitter.” So, each time she gets a new dog to watch, Kuma gets a new friend. Charlie is a three-month old lab mix with THE cutest ears! They stick straight up! Due to the fact that he is only three months old, Kuma didn’t really rough him up too much. Every once in a while she would accidently swing her butt into him and he would fly across the room, but no harm done. He would just get up and get right back into the thick of things. Because of his young age, we think that she just tolerated him. Very patient with Charlie but whenever he did get a little annoying, all she did was swat him across the head with her massive paw, just to tell him to knock it off.

Don’t let his size and his age fool you, though. That puppy was a quick one. He knew exactly where to go to get the full advantage to attack: under the ottoman. That was his “base” where Kuma couldn’t touch him. It wasn’t as if she didn’t try.

We know that dogs LOVE rawhide bones and are very protective of them, especially Kuma. You try to take away her bone and she will become a mother bear. You don’t mess with her when she’s gnawing on that bone. Charlie learned quite quickly not to bother her and her bone. But we have learned that weekend that Kuma can be a little shit.

Look at Kuma, laying there, with the bone right in front of her. No, she wasn’t tired of chewing the bone, she was taunting Charlie with it! She would lay there, not touching the rawhide, and wait for Charlie to try and snatch it away from her. That’s when she would leap up and take it, right before he could. Oh, no, this was not a one time occurence, she would do this multiple times. Isn’t she such a bully? But there were a couple of times that Charlie was too quick for her.

Victory to Charlie!

Also, I learned tonight that Charlie didn’t know how to sit on command before this past weekend. Apparently, we taught him how to sit. I’m sure he learned by example from Kuma. Chris had told Charlie’s daddy about her weekend with the puppy and she said something about Charlie sitting. He claimed that Charlie didn’t know how to sit and while on the phone, he told him to sit, which he promptly did. I hope that Charlie got a treat from his daddy for that.

Saturday night, Bob and I attended the annual spaghetti dinner and basket auction at his parents’ church. It’s a pretty fun event. All the proceeds from the dinner and auction goes toward the youth group for their mission trip in the summer. Since Bob was a part of that during high school and had a blast on these trips, he is now giving back to them. I’ve bid on baskets every year and had never won, until this year! And not only that, but I got two baskets! I only spent $75 all together on the baskets so I came out pretty good. One basket said it was Victoria Secret products and it ended up being just some slippers and stinky perfume. The rest of the stuff in the basket were NOT Victoria Secrect merchandise (false advertising), but I did get $20 for the Pasta House, which means lunch with Donna for free. The second basket had free tickets to the Missouri Botanical Garden which we are excited about. It also had a Birds of North America book, some bird calendar, bird playing cards and a decorative birdcage. We gave all of that to Bob’s parents. Not our style. Plus the spaghetti was excellent.

The only downside was that some of Bob’s friends from the youth group were there, WITH THEIR BABIES! Felt some slight pressure there, not that anybody said anything to us directly. Bob’s mom would bring over each of the new babies to us and want us to fawn over them. Subtle hint, huh? Yeah, right. We are at a point in our lives where we fawn over puppies, not babies.

Bob is obsessed with iPods and so for my birthday, he had to get the iPod Nano for me and I love it! It’s so itty-bitty, smaller than my cell phone. I can barely keep track of that, I don’t know how I’m going to keep myself from losing the Nano. Probably fear of Bob beating me if I do lose it. That’s motivation enough for me. I love you baby! My present is so awesome!

Scheming Krissy had it planned for two months. The stress, agony, secrecy of it all ended last night when Kenny showed up at the City Museum blindfolded to a room full of his friends to celebrate his 25th birthday. And what better place to have a birthday party for a man who will never grow up? After pizza, soda and cake, everyone exploded out into this giant playground for all ages. For those who have never been there, it’s indescribable. There is pretty much everything there for you to climb in, on and around. For those who were brave enough to go outside in the 10 degree weather, there’s Monstrocity, another playground that is probably 6 stories high. Great times. Happy Birthday, Kenny, that wife of yours is a keeper!

For the photo documentary, please click here.

Tonight, Kim and I decided that ice cream, Penn Station and Gilmore Girls would help her take her mind off of some family matters, so I was I was ready to go. Usually, we would go to Coldstone Creamery but for some reason, she had a hankerin’ for Baskin Robbins, which is still tasty. I tell you, ice cream really does make people feel better. So, Kim, if you need some more moral support and a friend for ice cream, I’m you’re woman.