Happy 30th Jarrett...and 7th Knight!

By now I'm a week late announcing it, but last week was a fabulous week which was capped off by Jarrett's 30th birthday (and our little guy has turned 7!). (See pics from our photo shoot from their birthday night!)

We started the birthday with some Veuve Clicquot with Rich and Laura and then headed to the infamous La Paloma. This is by far our favorite Mexican restaurant in Quincy. In typical fashion I overate...and we finished the night with the boys <3

Then came the present! I had been keeping Jarrett's present a secret for months and it was killing me. K I L L I N G M E. I had debated what to get him. I wanted to blow it out of the water and really do it up since we don't have children yet and this is a big one. Jarrett and I have a huge love for food and Jarrett loves cooking....so I found a place in Boston called Stir. Stir is owned by Chef Barbara Lynch (think No. 9 Park, Menton, The Butcher Shop, B&G Oyster....). They have all kinds of cooking classes and offer private events... SO, i thought perfect! But even better you can hire BL herself to cook. We made a four course meal and it was TO DIE FOR!

Strike a Pose

I am so lucky that I have friends that are talented. Especially when those friends become photographers and can shoot amazing work.

This year, I wanted to make really snazzy Christmas cards. I half-assed it last year, and was really displeased with the result. And given our handsome pups, I thought why not get a picture taken with the four of us by someone who knows what they are doing?? Capturing these four-legged friends looking at the camera at the same time proves quite challenging.

So I enlisted a friend, and former Bentley classmate--Brooke Allison Photography. I encourage you to check out her work. Not only does she do fabulous work, but she is a warm and bubbly person just waiting to take pictures and so easy to get along with!

We headed to Marina Bay in Quincy on a brisk fall day. So here are a couple shots of her fantastic work.

Pupdate November

During a little break from raking leaves, I snapped some photos of the boys. We were lucky enough to get weather in the 60's mid-November, so we had to take advantage and let the boys play while we worked.

October and a Pupdate

The end is near.

Yup, it's that time of year again. October! Which means crazy amounts of candy everywhere I turn. It means Jarrett wants to torment me with tons of scary movies. And it means the introduction of scarves and sweaters and shoes :(

But the best part of cold weather? Snuggling with the pups. And the pups snuggling with each other.

September Pupdate

It's hard to see because it was bedtime and the lights were off... but while Dad's away, the boys snuggle with Mom and lay on the bed a little longer than usual. In this case, it was with each other (not by Knight's choosing...) Love them.

Pupdate

I mean c'mon. They just make me melt. (Minus their alien eyes and the distruction Lincoln caused before/after this photo was taken)

Mayhem

This is how I feel in the morning. I can only imagine how mothers feel, which makes me slightly panicked when I think about our family in a couple of years with a baby and two dogs. But before I develop hives, I'll stop thinking about that.

Every morning we have a routine. Jarrett wakes up, takes Lincoln out and feeds him and gets ready. I then wake up, shower, get ready and take care of Knight and putting Lincoln to bed. Seems harmless, right? Except when I said to Jarrett last night "it's INSANE here in the mornings" and he replied "no kidding, that's why I get up first now", I realized how bad it is. He gets up earlier so he can AVOID the mayhem.

The past few days have involved our curious little pup realizing the shower is a really cool place to explore, knock over shampoo bottles and lick lick lick. What he doesn't realize is the paw prints he creates and carries from room to room (and on our white sheets--what was I thinking?). He also finds Knight's ears and paws taste better than any bone could ever. I've become a master of blowdrying my hair with one arm outside of the bathroom so I can keep an eye on the little devil, all the while using my hand to keep the door shut so he can't run in there and steal something from the trash can (mainly q-tips or tissues).

He's closing in on 9 months, and well...we still have some time before this teenager calms down. Let's hope that Jarrett and I survive until then.

We have a thief

Last night I thought I lost my mind. A remote to the tv had disappeared. I was looking underneath the couch, the cushions, EVERYWHERE. It didn't make sense and I was enraged that somehow it had vanished and I was the last one to use it. A week ago, same thing happened and I found it two nights ago underneath the couch. I thought, oh, we must have dropped it and it slid under there while the dogs were playing. BUT, alas, NO! I have found the culprit after I found it in the other room, no where near the tv....and with a tennis ball and rope.

and don't be fooled by this face. He steals remotes! WATCH OUT QUINCY, he's coming for yours next.

Pupdate (June)

What better way than to start your Monday work week than with a pupdate. Lincoln is now weighing in at 60 pounds, with Knight at a mere 55!

Terrible Two's

I don't know much about the human terrible two's, but we have reached them here in the Britt household.

Lincoln fancies furniture, remotes, cell phones, napkins/toilet paper, sticks, ...the list goings on. Pretty much ANYTHING on the ground that he can get at and run with in his mouth or chew.

In case you want a real life example:

welcome to home ownership

I've been away for a few days... week? Well, home ownership is getting the best of us. I'll post some pictures when I have some after pictures (we are almost there). We spent the bulk of the weekend (which actually turned out quite nice) painting outside (my job!) and digging up parts of the lawn and weeds and reseeding (Jarrett!). This leaves us tired and appreciative of paying someone to do this down the line....yes darling, we will be doing that next time whether you know this or not.

I must say, I am excited to watch this new grass come up although it doesn't look like much progress has been made in 4 days and I was hoping it would be a little faster. Yes, I am impatient. Remember cutting open milk cartons and then planting seeds in elementary school? I swear I saw grass in a day or so. Realistically, we've got another week to go. It also leaves us in the place where we cannot let the dogs out in the yard until the grass is coming up because there is fertilizer they'd be sure to eat (mainly Lincoln) and well, ruin (Lincoln). Walking a puppy ever hour or so because he drinks more water than I've ever thought possible is quite a pain, but the prospect of him peeing on my foot to tell me how badly he needs to go outweighs that for sure. And Yes, he did that last night. It was not pretty. Nor was the fact that he tried to lick the paint and got some on his whisker that took DAYS to get off.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, and wish us luck, we leave for NOLA in 2 days! Hopefully this cold will be gone by then. PLEASE!

Pupdate

Pupdate

Since all my prego bloggers give you "bumpdates" I'm going to give you a pupdate. Don't say I didn't warn you, TOO CUTE.

And then there were two.

Lincoln has arrived! And the boys are beginning to get used to eachother. I snapped this picture on my phone the other night...it just makes me melt.