Congratulations Kendra & Andy!!!

Congratulations go out to my co worker and buddy Kendra who tied the knot on Saturday! She looked gorgeous!!! It seemed like this day would never get here and when it finally did everything was just perfect!!!

Kendra, Andy and her mom Teena (who also works at ExKL)
First dance...this was so sweet to include their little boy Riley....
Riley deciding to pull some moves of his own...wanting to dance just like mom and dad....Some of the gang from evening shift....
More of the gang...
It was a great evening! Everyone had a lot of fun!! We wish you all the best and many many years of wedded bliss!!!

Who has been here????

Just a quickie post to ask all who have been here to drop me a comment and say hi and let me know what you think of my blog or anything else. I've been noticing that hits are coming from all over so I would love to know whose been reading my blog and sneaking a peek into what sometimes is insanity around here!
Don't be shy now....let me know that you stopped by!!!

They've arrived!!

It would seem that I was right on target from my last post about Sadie's pending labour. By Friday afternoon, she was increasingly restless and I could feel her contractions. She started pushing about 230 or so in the afternoon and knowing her history I camped out for a long wait. She has had 2 very long labours previous. 4 and 6 hrs of pushing so I was prepared to not be in a hurry. Her pushes got more intense by 330 and she started digging and clawing at the bedding in her pen. By 350 I could see a water bubble with tiny back feet in it. A breech puppy.... The pushes continued but it didn't seem like the puppy was advancing. At 405 I was starting to get worried and attempted to help this little one out. With some effort from me and alot from Sadie I was able to get the puppy out enough that I could have some leverage with its hips. We are talking something small enough to be a field mouse so there isn't a whole lot to grab!! With its hips out I grabbed a small wash cloth so it wouldn't slip and gently pulled with each contraction...I felt the shoulder loosen and then the head and puppy #1 was out! "He" was stressed from being stuck for so long and with alot of rubbing and stimulation he was breathing and letting out some cries. WHEW!!!! I was totally shocked when I weighed this wee fella and he was 5 oz!!! That is a good size puppy! Seeing that they were 3 days early I couldn't believe the size of this guy! Puppy #2 came about an 1 hr later also breech and a bit of a pull but not so bad.... a girl weighing 3 3/4 oz and then puppy #3 came about a 1/2 later...another girl!! She weighed 4 1/2 oz another good size puppy!!
So I am thrilled, and elated that these puppies are here and they are ok!! I have been stressing about having a vet call or worse having a traumatic litter. So far so good!!
I could have cried tears of relief Friday evening when I seen all the babies contentedly nursing.
Here are Sadie and babies just after they were born.

The boy on the left, smaller female in the middle and larger female on the right....

Here they are at 2 days old...already gained 1 oz each...see how much chubbier they are since Friday! Boy in the middle, smaller female on the left and bigger female on the right.

1 litter down, 1 to go due next Monday the 18th!!! I am just keeping my fingers crossed that all goes just as planned with them as well!!!

Will keep you posted with new pictures as these babes grow!!

Gettin' ready for babies...

Well the whelping pen is ready...
Everything is handy for when I need it. Towels to dry the babies, scale to weigh the babies, hemastat for clamping the cord and dental floss to tie it off.

Just need the babies!!! Sadie is not quite ready here yet..(pic taken yesterday)

This morning Sadie is showing signs of being in early early labour. She had a restless night, laying down, getting up, circling and laying down. This is an indication that she is not quite comfortable. Although early yet I can see that something is brewing. She is not eating and when I let her out to pee, and she didn't come back to the door I went looking and found her digging a hole..no sorry Sadie, you're not having your babies in a hole!

She is a bit early and I would prefer she hold off for another day at least (not due until Monday) but there is no messing with Mother Nature. I hope all goes well and we have no vet help and all healthy thriving babies. Will keep you posted...

Gone home...

Well my houseguests have left me!!!
All 9 wee doggies left yesterday morning. My good bud Esther arrived home Wednesday evening from London's Heathrow.... They spent the night here on Wednesday and loaded up and left for home in the morning. All the doggies were happy to see their mama!!! My house is definitely quieter but all in all it really seemed to flow especially with the amount of little paws running around here. I know Autumn will miss her little buddies Bentley and Mickie! What great fun they had!

These are some really cool things she found over in Ireland, Scotland, England and Paris that she brought back for us! Notice the Eifle Tower keychain...
As always she scouted out for yorkie things and found this really nice Leonardo yorkie with a kitty that I have never seen before. In the process she also found a White Shepherd by Leonardo as well! They are fabulous...thank you!
Glad you guys had a great time!!!

Sad to See you go.....

We are so sad to see our neighbors to the north move... The Porters have sold their farm and bought a lovely 10 acre parcel and beautiful 4 bedroom home about 20 minutes south of us. We will miss you guys...you have been fabulous neighbors!
It was Janet who was the first to greet us almost 4 years when moved here with fresh baked chocolate chip cookes. We felt so welcomed!!!
We have enjoyed your friendship and being neighborly!!! We hope you love your new home and even more hope we see you now and again!
We have yet to meet our new Mennonite neighbors we now share our fence with. We hope that they too will good neighbors to have.
Good luck and we will miss you in the neighborhood!!

Many, Many,,,, MANY Dogs!!!

Trying to keep up with my blog this week...been challenging as I've had a "few" extra dogs around here.
Since last week been watching a good buddy's 9 dogs for her as she cruises the British Isles....

Spent over an hour and a half yesterday grooming and doing top knots and brushing out grass clippings that they collected from the run as I had to cut the grass the day before! I last groomed them all on Sunday and they pretty much all looked like sheepdogs by yesterday!!

In total we have 12 yorkies, 2 poodles and 2 german shepherds here. It has been fun!! Although I don't think I would want that many all the time...its nice to be able to do a favour for a friend. (She's great!!!) Also I'm sure I will have the need at some point for her to watch my gang too.
Quite the gang!!! Casi baits them with cookies so I can get the shot of all them. If there is a yorkie heaven...I'm sure this is what it would look like!!!
They are here till next week.....greatful for my nice big dog run!!! I am also starting to prepare for my own new arrivals due Aug 11 and 18!!!

Chillaxing by the fire...

Lit a fire Thursday night for the girls. Amanda and Casi brought out their guitars. Amanda did her best to teach some songs to Casi. They sounded amazing and it was cool to chillax and watch the flames and listen to the strum of a guitar!

The Perfect Girls Day Out!!!

We enjoyed a perfect day together on Monday. I took the girls out for a day of fun! We started off the day playing Glow in the Dark mini golf. We went to the Putting Edge in Whitby along the 401. We had great fun playing the 18 holes in the dark!

The props were pretty cool!!

The girls being goofy....monkey faces...

Then we caught an early dinner at Jack Astors. My fav restaurant!!! It was so nice to sit and chit chat with the girls and just hang out!

My sazzafraz!!
BIG, BIG plate of nachos!!!

This is what was left of our dessert that we shared. A White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Cup. Make with the cookie on the bottom, caramel and blackberry sauce, french vanilla icecream and garnished with blackberries and raspberries......YUMMMM....

To finish our day we caught an early movie. Seen Mama Mia....it was awsome!!! I loved it! Brittany caught me singing to all those ABBA songs and was shooting me looks..."Mom..you're weird"!!!

I totally would go again. Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep were amazing!!! I didn't realize Meryl could sing so well.

I loved the day...we had such a good time and it was good to get away from the hum drum of chores and housework!!! Thanks Casi and Britt for sharing in my girls day! LOVE YOU!

Family BBQ

Despite all the rain that was in the forecast we carried on as planned for the get together BBQ on Saturday. The forecast said 70% chance of rain and/or thundershowers. Well for once the weather man was right on. We had intermittant showers and thunder/lightening most of the day. That didn't dampen any spirits however! We had good company and good food and it was absolutely wonderful to get together with the family! We roasted a turkey in one of those oil turkey roasters. Some of us were a might scepticle about the oil factor and the greasiness of the meat. We were all really pleasantly surprised....the 18lb turkey was cooked in less than an hour and was so tender and moist and no oily taste!
Here is part of the spread will some diggin in!

Thumbs up!!! Ryan gives his approval!!

Socializing...chit chatting...whatever you want to call it....it was great!

We also got to meet our newest member of the family...our great niece Denay. Just over 2 weeks old in this picture.

Here is another great niece Mya with her buddy Kole.

The Wii was certainly a hit!!! I have no idea what game they were playing but by the hoots and hollerin, it was certainly an intense game!

All into it...
Victory...for Trevor...
Our great nephew Kyle ....
In between the rain...the pool was fun too! Here Brittany and Brice have some laughs.

Sheenah and Mya...

All in all we had a great day! It was so wonderful to get together with family and just hang out and catch up. My aunt and 2 cousins came out too which was so special! It has been too long in coming! I would love to make this an annual thing but that may be stretching it. However will take what I can get! Had fun with all you guys!! Come back again soon!