A Little Snow and a Birthday!

Our winter weather has been a bit strange!

We had 6 days in February with temps in the 70's!

Most of us were very happy with those

warm and sunny days!

Ahhhh-- felt like spring!

Two days after hitting a record high of 76, we had

thunder, rain, hail, sleet and snow all in the time frame of 2-3 hours!

That's the beauty of living in Nebraska -

the weather can change very quickly!

Our little Scottie thinks she is a snowdog -- she absolutely

loves it and spent a lot of time rolling around in the snow and rubbing her 

face in it every single time she went outside!

She has so much fun that I don't mind (too much) the messy towels 

and blankets she uses to dry off when she comes back into the house 

only to want to go out again in a very short amount of time. 

Who knows what the weatherman will bring us in March and April?

I'm ready for the warm-up to hang-around!

Happy last day of February

and Happy Birthday to my firstborn son Philip today!!

[He'll love that he got to share a blog post with the dog!!!]

I didn't make this cookie-cake, but wish I had a bite of it!

State Cheer Tournament

Last week all of the cheerleaders attended the 

Nebraska State High School Cheer and Dance Championships!

It was an even earlier wake-up call than their usual

6 AM practices as they had to be at school and ready

to  roll out of town at 5:45 AM!

Do you see Maddy?  She's in the back line pretty far to the left.

The Pius X girls came in 3rd in sideline cheer and 5th (out of 10) in tumbling.

So proud of all the girls as they did a great job this year!  

I had no idea how much work and practice goes into 

cheerleading!  And the girls really enjoyed supporting the

team sports at Pius.
   

A little sad and hard to believe that cheer is over now.  

They have an end-of-the-year

potluck banquet in March, but no more practices until . . . 

tryouts for next year in early April!

GO BOLTS!!

The Yellow Balloon!

Red + yellow = fun combination!

Maddy received a red coat for Christmas and she

absolutely loves that coat!

Of course she would -- we live in Nebraska --

everyone loves RED here! :)

On her list of things to do recently was to go out to

our favorite spot near Holmes Lake and

do a photo shoot in that red coat.

For fun, we added a yellow balloon!

Timing was everything as we wanted a warmish day so we wouldn't 

be freezing and it couldn't be too windy!

We had such a day and even though it

didn't seem windy,

even a teensy little breeze

got that balloon a-moving!

It was fun though and it's so sweet that

she is still agreeable (sometimes) to having

me take her picture!

Also, many thanks for your sweet comments

and orders from Maddy's etsy shop!

We have been sewing up a little storm.

Go figure - her favorite shopping outing now

is to a fabric store! :)

My Little Entrepreneur!

Miss Maddy and Muffy have been big fans of Instagram

dog accounts

and doggie bandanas for quite some time.

They have won many contests and "modeling" gigs -- 

Muffy is the model and paid with many, many doggie treats!

Hmmm -- perhaps that could be contributing to her (Muffy's)

winter weight gain!

Muffy modeling the "Picnic Plaid" bandana

For the past six months, Maddy has been designing 

the perfect doggie bandana in her spare time.  She's tried the tie-on ones,

the snap-on ones, velcro, etc.,

but neither she nor Muffy were fans.

They often came unfastened or caught Muffy's fur.

So, they determined a slide-on over-the-collar

bandana would be the way to go.

Your doggie cannot escape the fashionable bandana look

when it is fastened over the collar!

Sooooooo, she and I developed a pattern of sorts

and hit the fabric stores!

We made quite a few winter/Christmas bandanas, but did not have the 

Etsy store up and running at that time.  

We've really become focused on the spring/summer line!  

Miss M went to work and figured it out and now she has her

own little storefront on Etsy (happyhoundcollection).

Some of the spring collection

My little sewing machine is getting a workout!

If you're wondering about the division of labor in this enterprise,

Maddy is the taskmaster/designer/cutter of fabric/etsy go-to-person,

packaging master and

I am the seamstress.  

One of our favorite fabrics with either pink or purple on the reverse.

We love some of the spring fabrics we've found and the bandanas

are totally reversible!  

We offer two sizes (mini --our Scottie wears a mini) and

standard  size for larger dogs.  By special order, we can do Jumbo

for really big pups!

Easter Peeps and pastel plaid on the reverse side!

If you have time and the inclination, check out 

her Etsy store (happyhoundcollection)!  

Or contact me through the blog and I'll see what I can do.

She's quite the little entrepreneur!

While it is a bit of work when I would normally be lounging

on the sofa watching The Real Housewives or cleaning house (ha),  it's

totally fun to do with Maddy and it reminds me 

of my sweet Mom and how much she loved to sew!

She'd be so proud of us!

Cheer Season is Winding Down

How did it go by so quickly?

Cheer season is winding down.

The freshie girls had their last cheering gig at school last night!

It was a freshman boys basketball game. 

 No doubt due to the

great cheering by the freshie girls, the boys

have had a very successful season!

Freshman squad - 2 girls weren't able to be there

The girls have the state cheer tournament coming up

in a couple weeks, so practices continue

a little longer.

One of the perks that a parent doesn't even

realize until it happens is that by going to the

freshman sporting events to see the girls cheer, we 

were also able to watch and see freshman 

teams in action!

Football season was a blast - even on those chilly days!

Freshman Girls volleyball and softball was so fun!  

Tennis - always a favorite of mine. 

 Love that the girls cheer at more than the main football and 

basketball sporting events. 

Freshman Girls basketball was pretty amazing to watch

and the Freshman Boys Basketball have been on

fire - winning every game!

Their coach brought them each a cookie!

Really going to miss seeing these adorable

cheerleaders and chatting with the other

freshie moms!

Go BOLTS!

Is It Always About Shoes or Shall I say Glass Slippers?

When the story is Cinderella, yes, it is often about the shoes or

really I mean, glass slippers! :)

Last weekend, Maddy and I went to our performing arts center to see the

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway production of Cinderella! 

Cinderella - photo from website.

It was fabulous!  The singing, the dancing, the jokes! It had such a fun way of

looking at the story we all know and love and some very funny parts!

It was really quite an amazing performance with a couple of special hidden messages.

At one point, the Fairy Godmother says to Cinderella, ‘If you have a dream, then very soon thereafter you’re going to have to fight for it. Otherwise, how would you know the dream is yours?’

  Isn't that the truth!  It also had a message of being kind and generous to

others and that more than one point of view is not only acceptable,

but often a very good thing!

We had great seats in the first row. 
It was a perfectly magical way to spend a Sunday afternoon! 

If it comes to your city, run, don't walk and get tickets!