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- If you feel like this photo looks familiar – I did a rendition of this image a few years ago (before Leander was born actually!) You can go back & check it out here: Abby’s Saturday #196
That photo (#196) has always been one of my absolute FAVORITE Abby’s Saturday images. I mean, I’ve taken just shy of 400 intentional images of my dog (398 to be exact), so I have quite a few that I really REALLY love, a handful that are just kind of fine, and yes, there are a few “duds” in the mix (meaning, either I couldn’t get the cooperation I needed to fulfill my idea or I was simply out of ideas & just snapped a photo to “fill the spot”).
Anyways – I love that original photo so much & I’ve really had the hankering to re-create it recently. There was just one problem: how do I recreate an image that used two bodies, with THREE?
Needless to say: I’m pretty darn proud of what I came up with to make it work! I am obsessed. (Shout-out to my kids for helping me clear the space (I literally have to rearrange our entire dining room to make this photo happen), for being good little models, and for actually cooperating (fairly) easily for this one!) - Yesterday, Braelynn & Derrick went to see the new Sonic 2 movie. Braelynn has been obsessed with Sonic for the last 2 years (pretty much ever since she watched the first Sonic movie), so she’s been anxiously waiting for this one to come out! She was SO excited to go to the movie theater (I honestly don’t even remember the last time she saw a movie in a theater) that she was actually a little nervous. It was so sweet. They got popcorn and had the best time.
Meanwhile, Leander & I went shopping to Ross (to pick up a few random things we needed for vacation – like socks), Target (to return something), and Giant Eagle. Then we came home, made popcorn, and watched a movie of our own. Leander’s movie of choice? Lion King 2 (I guess it was a “2” movie kind of day). - Abby went to the vet this week. Don’t worry! She’s 100% fine & normal & healthy!! Derrick said he actually thought the vet was “disappointed” she was so healthy. He said after they checked her all over, they were like, “Hmm, well, she’s super muscular, has good teeth, is at a good weight, she’s perfectly healthy I guess!”
The purpose of the visit was to get the “industrial strength” tick medicine – the poor girl is a MAGNET to ticks! We’ve been trying different “over-the-counter” stuff, but none of it has worked. I don’t know what it is about Abby, but the ticks just love her. The only thing we’ve ever had that’s been effective is the tick meds directly from the vet (and you have to have an appointment & “doggie physical” in order to get those). Thus the trip. - Braelynn smashed her toe into the sidewalk this week & now her toenail is black & blue. Why was she running around outside with no shoes on – who knows? It was definitely not warm enough this week to be doing that! It appears spring will be returning next week, but until then, it’s flurrying outside again this morning.
- Speaking of Braelynn, she asked for a sleep mask a few weeks ago & I got her one to put in her Easter basket.
However, while she was sick last week, I gave it to her to help her rest. She wanted to lay on the couch in the living room, but she desperately needed to sleep. She was so restless – tossing & turning – I knew she could hear Leander playing, and the lights were on – so I gave her the sleep mask. She put it on and almost instantly calmed down and fell asleep.
She’s been wearing it every night since to go to bed and we’ve noticed a dramatic difference in her sleep quality & quantity. She goes to sleep faster, sleeps deeper, and sleeps longer than ever before. She loves it and we love that it’s helping her so much! - Leander’s perfected the skill of climbing up onto the counter this week. He started out pulling out the step-stool and using it to climb up onto the counter (and help himself to anything he could find). Then, I took the step-stool away and hid it, so he figured out how to use the garbage can to shimmy up onto the counter. Literally, every time I turned around, he was up on the counter – it was like he thought it was a fun game or something (not).
- This week has been “prep” week: prep for the Just Between Friends sale (the massive kids consignment sale I participate in every spring & fall) and prep for vacation! Next week has a lot going on and the week after will be even busier, so this was my week to get as much done ahead of time as I could (I plan to finish all of the tagging for the JBF Sale today and then that will be completely done and out of the way). The JBF Sale is literally the day before we leave for vacation, so the last thing I want to do is worry about getting my stuff together to sell + be packing to go away!
We’ve been trying to think through everything we need for our trip – this is a big one for us! I mean, we go to amusement parks all the time, so we’re semi-pro’s by this point, but this trip is a much bigger deal because we’re going to Walt Disney World!! So, we’ve been brainstorming and thinking through all of the things we noted we should have brought/wanted to get the last time we went to Florida. It’s actually been a lot of fun because it’s built the excitement up for us to the point where I just start crying now every time I think about stepping foot onto Disney property again (for the first time in 13 years). I’ve already resigned myself to being an emotional mess the entire time we’re there – it’s fine, I’m fine, it’ll be fine. - Oh, and in not very big, but HUGE news: Derrick & I OFFICIALLY paid off his last student loan this week!! That means, outside of our house, we are officially debt-free. Wow, I can hardly believe we made it – somewhere deep down I think I thought we’d be paying on those stupid student loans forever. But here we are! They’re gone! And it feels SO GOOD!!
