Pic(s) of the Week: Mia and her rocks

Our daily routine these days not only includes pointing at every dandylion and then stomping on them, but also playing with the rocks in our driveway.

Angel is always keeping an eye on her.

Thank God for rocks...

Animal Love

It seems this blog has been taken over by little princess Mia. And how could you blame her? She is definitely the star of our little circus show.
But the doesn't mean that our love for our four legged kids has diminished in the least.
After all, this blog's name is A Brief Paws, right?

Therefore, I thought it only right to give each of our little furry ones their due attention on the blog as time allows me. I hope to profile a different one each week, but with a toddler running around, please forgive me if it's longer.


First up, Brody.
Also known as: The Brodster, Brods, Brody-kins.

I never thought of myself as much of a cat person. I always preferred dogs. That is, until we adopted our kitties. I don't know how we got through life without them.

The day we went to the shelter, we were overwhelmed with all the kitties. So many, how do we choose? But, throughout my life, my animals have chosen me in some form or another. Brody was no different.

As we looked at all the sweet feline faces, I suddenly felt a tap on my back. As if someone was saying "Hey there! Look at me!" I turn around to see this face...

It was love at first sight. The end.

Brody is certainly the coolest cat I have ever met. He is mischievous and full of personality.

He certainly provides the comedy relief around here... Brody is a people cat. He always wants to be where ever we are.

He loves to jump high in the air...


He is fearless...



And you will find him anywhere...




But most of all, he is a good friend...

It's Magic

Okay. It is not often that I come across a by-golly, miracle product. But this is it.
When our cats were kittens, they would try with all their might to jump up on the staircase. Being so small, they always missed their target and then proceeded to hang on for dear life as they slid back to the floor. Over the years as they grew, they never quite stopped playing on the staircase. Chasing, hanging, climbing, and sliding.
The result was this:

Repeated all the way up the stair case.

Every few months, Gabe would grumble something about skinning cats when he would walk past. It wasn't pretty.

My dear friend Cindy told me about an old remedy her mother has used for over 50 years. It is called a Tibetan Almond Stick. Just a stick that was made out of an oily substance that magically made scratches disappear from wood. I was skeptical that it could help such a severe case, but I checked it out anyway. I mean, it was going to be a BIG job to sand all of this down, re-stain, seal, etc. Made me tired just thinking about it.

So, I went to Amazon. The reviews were raving. I was hopeful. And, since it was only five bucks, I bought it.

It came today.

I tried it out, still a tad skeptical. No way could this little stick help scratches this bad.

Well......

Here is the result:

Wow! Even Gabe was impressed (and that is hard to do).

I am no longer skeptical.

Go ahead, try it! Click here.

Easter 2010 - Part II

As promised, here are the pictures from Easter Sunday. They are so good, I felt they called for a post all of their own.


Heading to church...

I think this is my favorite...

Although, this one is pretty good too. Oh that little face...

A family portrait...

We hope everyone had a great Easter! Welcome Spring!

Easter 2010

(Yes, I made this cake. More on that in a later post)

Boy what a difference a year makes! This was Mia last Easter...

This was her this Easter...




Easter weekend was fantastic. And super busy.

We went to our neighbor's Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Mia's first Easter egg hunt. She had a blast. She didn't care much about the Easter eggs. She would rather play with the rocks, but she had a great time anyway.



The Easter Bunny made an appearance. Mia is such a brave girl. Didn't even flinch. He looked a little scary to me...


A look of confusion "what am I supposed to be doing?"...

This is a staged photo taken just after she was handed an egg. We tried and tried, but in the end she just didn't really care about the eggs...


Eventually, she decided to take Daddy for a walk. Toward more rocks. See her pointing? Yea, that's for the rocks she sees up ahead...


Then came the baby ducks....

This is what I love about her. She has no fear. When I was a kid, I probably would have been terrified of these cute, harmless little duckies. But our Mia handles them without trepidation...
After the hunt, we went home for a long nap and to prepare for the next day's activities. Easter Sunday we got all gussied up and headed for church. I am proud to say we actually made it to the early church service with no hiccups. After church we hosted the Easter dinner for the Schnelle family. Not all the family was able to make it. They were greatly missed, but we had a great time talking and eating yummy food. Unfortunately, nasty storms were headed our way and our day was cut short. I don't know where my mind was, but it was not on taking pictures of Easter dinner. However, we did get some incredible photos of Mia in her Easter dress at church.

Mia looked absolutely adorable in her Easter dress. We got some incredible pictures. But you will have to come back tomorrow to see!