Merry Cider-mas!

For Christmas this year, we packed up the car and headed home to Ohio to spend it with our families. We dreaded the 12 hour drive but were excited to get home for a week of relaxation. Fortunately, we had great weather and did not miss out on a White Minnesota Christmas. In fact we have only had 10 inches or so compared to last years 50+ inches that we had by this time of year.

I knew Cider would be great in the car. Alex was a bit apprehensive. However, Cider did amazing. We were able to make a few stops to get her out and about for a quick walk and potty break. She did not lie down once in the car. She preferred to sit in the back and stare at us. I think she wondered where we were going.

For Christmas, Cider received her very own Chewy Vuitton and she loves it! We are twinsies.

My mom outdid herself this year with the Christmas dinner. It was quite a spread and very tasty.

The visit consisted of spending lots of time with my family, sleeping, laying around, run around, visiting friends and playing with Cider. She did awesome with my parents things too. A few mishaps but for the most part she was great. It was nice to have 3 extra helpers with Cider too. She enjoyed the attention. She did however earn herself more freedom our house as a reward.

The drive back seemed a lot longer although we made it back to Minnesota in 12 hours. Cider finally laid down to sleep which was nice.

We are already missing Ohio.

New Thanksgiving Traditions

Alex and I stayed in the Twin Cities for Thanksgiving. We had a few invitations this year to spend it with friends, however, we declined. We have gotten used to and actually enjoy our Thanksgivings together, just the two of us. Well, three of us.

This year, I came home from work with beautiful flowers from Alex to kick off the holiday weekend.

I wanted to do something a bit different for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. So I searched high and low for a popover pan to make popovers. We loved them so much that they will become a new traditional item to add to our Thanksgiving feast.

I love using our wedding china for these special dinners.

 Another big and juicy turkey. I picked out a 16 pounder for the two of us. We didn't eat all of it, but saved the leftovers for future tasty dinners.

We didn't want to make a big dessert that we would eat the entire weekend. So we opted for individual desserts that we would eat in one sitting. They were tasty.

Our After Thanksgiving Dinner Movie tradition continued with a viewing of Hugo. It was the perfect way to start the holiday season.

P-A-R-K

Nothing warms our hearts more than letting Cider run free at the dog park.

Is it cold in here? Or is it just Cider?

Apparently, we need to turn up the heat . . .

Cider has taken a liking to laying by the vents when it is pumping out the hot air. She gets confused when it turns off.

Although, I can't decide what is more bizarre . . . that she can't get close enough to the heat OR that she lays like a frog!

Cleanse Your Beer Palete

Back in November, Alex and I travelled to Chicago/South Bend for the season closer of Notre Dame Football. During our 6 hour trip to meet up with my family in Chicago, we decided to take a detour and visit Alex's new favorite beer's brewery, New Glarus.

As we toured the plant we were able to taste 10 different beers.

Alex's favorite beer flavor is still Spotted Cow. However, we enjoyed all of the flavors.

I think that this beer tastes so good because you can only purchase it in Wisconsin. Although I am not a beer drinker, I actually do not mind the lighter versions.

We may be becoming beer connoisseurs. Sam Adams, New Glarus . . . what's next . . .

Adoption Anniversary

November 6th marked Cider's one year with us. I was looking through some pictures and came across these photos from Alex's phone the day we met, fell in love and brought Cider home.

This picture should have been a warning. It was to Alex. Alex deemed her a spaz the second he saw her.

I just couldn't let her go home with anyone else. Who wouldn't want this face to look up at you everyday?

Cider and I bonded very quickly, much to Alex's dismay. Alex knew that no matter what he said, Cider was coming home with us.

Cider fell asleep in my arms as we frantically picked up some essentials to take her home.

A year later Cider is still a handful but she is full of so much love. I couldn't imagine our lives without her.

Lights Out!

My least favorite holiday of the year came and went quickly this year . . . Halloween. Thank goodness. However, that didn't stop me from carving pumpkins. We actually were going to get very creative with our pumpkins this year. We picked out multiple pumpkins different shades.

We had the 5 pumpkins sitting outside. Unfortunately, our neighborhood squirrels got to them first. We lost a green and small one. As in they completely devoured them. Grrr . . . they even got there little claws in the other ones as well. So we had to rework our plan.

I got a little more creative with my pumpkin face this year. Surprisingly, pumpkin carving is one of my favorite things about Halloween.

Alex was all smiles as he waited for the kiddos to come.

Cider even liked her pumpkin too!

We got a lot of compliments on our pumpkins, especially Cider's.

Not sure how Cider would act with all of the kids, I got a few new toys to occupy her time. She liked them a lot.

However, all of the strange people coming to our door was much more interesting to her. She did really well and eventually just laid down in front of the door.

Alex ran into the house very quickly at 7:45pm frantically turning off all the lights. He ran out of candy. In fact, he pretended to give candy to a large group because he only had 3 pieces and there were 7 kids. We bought approximately 550 pieces of candy and that still wasn't enough. Guess we need to get more for next year. Fantastic!