Trick 'er Treat, Smell my Feet!

Happy Early Halloween! We went Trick or Treating today down a really nifty street of shops, art galleries and restaurants near our house. Violet got all dressed up in her Purple Bug costume and off we went!

We met up with her playgroup pals. A devil, a bandit, a bug, a bunny, and a ladybug. There was also a ballerina but she was off doing some barre work.
Uh, did you know they are putting CANDY in this bag??
She got the hang of this REAL quick!Walking down the street with mom :)

Violet was testing out her first lollipop. She couldn't put it down for a family picture!
Here is the "better half" of my playgroup (or more aptly, the "more tired half"). From left to right, Sarah W., me, Megan holding her little pumpkin, and Sarah B. We let the daddies play with the kids at the park after a long day of candy gathering!

So yes, life goes on without Obi. For how frustrating he could be, we really REALLY miss him. It's strange to come into the house and only be greeted by one (quiet) dog. Violet has a little more room to run in the house, but otherwise she doesn't seem to realize he's gone. Porter is definitely more lonely, but he is getting lots of attention.

Give your doggies (or kitties, or ferrets, or ponies) some extra hug and smooch for us!

Rest in Peace, Obi

Obi

July 1999 - October 21, 2008

To our A#1 Security Guard, Violet Smoocher, Toodler Food Cleaner Upper, Beer Drinker and all around best pup. We miss you already!

Obi went downhill fast these last few days. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but probably just old age. He was over 100 lbs and 10 years old, which is old for a big guy. He spent the day yesterday taking nap in the Colorado sunshine and hanging out with us on the porch watching the world go by. By the evening he wasn't able to get up by himself anymore, and it was heartbreaking to watch this normally huge, strong dog have to be carried outside and back in again. It's incredible how fast that can happen.

We took him to the vet this morning where he peacefully left this world for hopefully a much better one than we know. Here are a few pictures of him from the last few years:

He was always so gentle with Violet. She was only a few months old here. He wanted to lick her ALL THE TIME those first few months. She WAS pretty delicious!
Here he's showing his size :) Violet was about 5 months old.
Here is Violet tasting his ear.
This is the last picture we have of him from last night. Violet plopped herself down in the middle of her dogs to read a book.
And this is one of my favorite pictures of our dogs, taken in 2006 (when they were still our only "kids"!) Obi is on the left, Porter on the right.Jon and I still aren't sure we know how to do this marriage thing without Obi. We got him at the tail end of our 2.5 month honeymoon/tour around the U.S. in our old VW Bus. We found him at a shelter in Tampa, FL. He was about 10 lbs, and they thought about 3 months old. They kept saying he'd be about 50 lbs at most. We named him Oberon after the beer that Jon was missing the most - ironically he LOVED to drink beer. He had been known to knock over full beer cans with his nose and hold it with his paw to lap it all up.

I hope he's hanging out somewhere like this. We miss you!

The Great Pumpkin (Patch)

This weekend we went to a pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. It was so fun!
There were lots and lots of pumpkins to choose from...
And to walk around with Daddy :)We went with our friends Sarah and Kevin and their adorable daughter Piper (you've seen her on here before). Here are Violet and Piper checking out the very friendly cow.
It is nearly impossible to get a picture of two toddlers, both looking in your general direction, let alone both SMILING. Sillies!!Although we did get them to sit still long enough when they shared some snacks.
It's official - Violet LOVES dolls! We took a walk with one of her "babies" in her stroller.
She loved it! She kept peeking over the top to make sure her baby was still there. Tonight we took another walk and she insisted on taking a different baby with her. It's so cute to see her hug it and kiss it and talk to it. We're gonna need a bunch of doll-sized stuff for Christmas (hint hint!)

When did she get so BIG??

We went to the zoo last week with our playgroup and got this cute picture with the lounging gorilla statue: From l-r Bryce, Violet, Jordyn and Piper is sitting on the gorilla's lap. Here are Jordyn, Violet and Piper running around the elephant. It looks so real! :) It's been really really great to see Violet finally be able to run around with the other kids. She can't quite keep up still, but it warms my lil' old heart to see her be able to play like a "regular kid" - finally!
She was looking so fly in her little jean jacket that we took some more pictures when we got home. Here is our "Self Portait"

Hanging out with the dogs. Obi hasn't been feeling very well lately, which you can kind of see in this picture (he's the one on the left laying down) but hopefully he's on the mend now. Both of them are so tolerant of Violet. Porter should worship her - she feeds him about 2 lbs of food per day.


It was Jon's birthday yesterday and we had a little party over here. Here is Violet eating up one of the cupcakes. YUM!

This toddler can toddle!

Look at her go!!


We take at LEAST one walk around the block per day. Sometimes she likes to ride in her wagon. Sometimes she walks with me. Sometimes she pushes it. You never know what you're going to get...

She does sometimes prefer to stand...


Or perhaps to let out a little scream to let me know that she does NOT want to sit down, thank-you-very-much!But then she redeems herself by doing a perfect flower-smelling squat
I got this cute picture of our little family on the couch the other night.
Violet has been making some really funny noises lately. Here is a short video of her latest ramblings:


In other news, I had my first craft show with my Hip Violet bibs! Check out my Hip Violet blog to see how it went!