Ghost Dog

This weekend seemed the perfect time to introduce you to our own little ghost here at the Schnelle house. Well, he's not really a ghost.

This is Ghost Dog.
See him? The big white one.

Yep, that's his name. Ghost Dog.

Ghost dog got his name because of his eerie presence. But I must back-up and tell this story from the beginning.

About a year ago, a family moved into the property behind us and brought with them two Great Pyrenees dogs that served as herders and protectors for the livestock there. They would wander into our yard once in a while with a herd of goats tagging along. The goats were pretty destructive, so we would often have to chase them back home. Back then, both the dogs were thin, lanky and skittish which made them a little bit creepy.

It was on one such occasion that our friend Cindy, who was staying with us at the time, helped us chase them out of the yard. She made the comment that the dogs were like ghost dogs.

A few months later, one of the dogs was left behind when our not-so-nice neighbors moved out suddenly (we found out later that they didn't treat their animals very well at all). He was left to run wild. Of course, the poor thing was pretty traumatized from being abandoned and he became very skittish and shy. The woman who owns the property placed food out for him in hopes to lure him in and develop trust, but he has yet to let any humans near him. Regardless, he sticks around the area, eats the food and still looks pretty healthy. Amazingly, healthier than before he was left.

Yet, he remains extremely elusive. You will catch a glimpse of him here and there, but only a glimpse, then he quickly disappears. Like a wild animal. Once in a while we will surprise each other, but he only stops to look at me for a second before loping back into the woods.

Hence, Ghost Dog. It stuck. The woman trying to catch him now calls him Ghost Dog too. It's his name, and it is perfect. Who knew?

While he is skittish with humans, he has made good friends with all our dogs. Recently, he began showing up early every morning to partake in the canine romp in our yard. I was never able to get a really good look at him until now. Still, if he sees any sign of human movement he takes off. But, I was lucky to sneak out on the porch the other morning and snap a few fuzzy pictures.

And yes, this is what our yard looks like every morning. Two of the dogs are ours, but the others belong to neighbors. Heaven.


He is so beautiful and majestic and huge! He towers over all the other dogs.

I was even able to get a couple of seconds of video.



It warms my heart to see him have so much fun. Our hope is that he someday trusts us enough that we can get him the proper care and love he needs. In the meantime, I am happy just to watch him from afar.

So if you think you see a white streak from the corner of your eye, or see something in the shadows, or an eerie movement in the dark, it is probably Ghost Dog lurking about.

Happy Halloween!!

Pic(s) of the Week: Pumpkin Fun

Last week, we introduced Mia to her first pumpkin carving experience.


She took to it like a moth to a flame.

Like she had been doing it for years.

Then, she tried to eat it.

And quickly discovered it wasn't a good idea.

This weekend, we head down south to Grandma B's house for Halloween. We have a weekend full of fun planned. Spook-tacular at the Springfield Zoo on Saturday, then trick-or-treating on Sunday. Can't wait!!

Pic of the Week: Football!

We took Mia to her first football game last Friday.
She loved the band, and the fanfare.




But with the first touchdown came loud cheering from the crowd.
And we left.

My World

What is life like for this stay-at-home Mom with three dogs, one cat, and a toddler?

Today is a typical day.

I wake up to the sounds of the neighborhood dogs engaging in their morning romp with my dogs in our front yard.

I cuddled with Mia under the warm covers.

We ate breakfast together and made funny faces.

I take Mia outside to play and we are greeted by four dogs (I have three).

I yelled at Cookie and Hank to stop wrestling near the baby. Again.

Mia yells too.

I pulled 1.2 million burrs from Angel's fur.

I picked up 55 blocks and 43 toys from the living room floor approx. 125.3 times. How is that for a word problem?

I swept and mopped the floor. Again.

I gave in to Brody's sweet face as he begged to get inside.

I told Cheyenne to get off the bed. Again.

I cleaned Mia's high chair 5 times. Once after each meal. I am really starting to loath that high chair.

I thought of a new distraction for Mia as I ruefully attempt to change her diaper without a wrestling match.

I stared at my daughter in awe as I watch her discover something new.

I laughed at my daughter as she says something new. (Like "Achooo Daddy" after Daddy sneezed or "bye pickles" as she left the table.)

I put away the candles that Mia pulls out from the bathroom drawer about 15 times.

I watched Toy Story for the 168th time.

I yelled at Cookie as she chases after the UPS truck. Again.

Finally, it is nap time.

Now I get down to business. Shower, work on the computer, and clean as much as I can until she gets up. Today though, I worked on schoolwork.

3pm, and it is countdown til Daddy gets home. Time goes by very slowly.

I walk Mia to the mailbox to get the mail, stopping along the way to pick berries off the trees.

I read the mail while Mia plays in the front seat of the car.

All the dogs are sleeping.

I rejoice when Daddy gets home and takes Mia while I cook.

We eat dinner as a family and reflect on the day.

I will go to bed with a smile on my face, thanking God for my wonderful family and the chance to get to stay home with them everyday.

Then, I will pray that Mia sleeps soundly through the night.

Pic(s) of the week: Gabe's B-Day Cake

Ok, so I might have exaggerated a little when I said I made Gabe and awesome cake. It was a cool cake, but not what I would classify as awesome. I had much more planned for this cake but the amount of time it took to make the cake and frosting from scratch coupled with a sickly, and high maintenance child, I ran out of time for my elaborate plans.

As evidenced by my obviously hasty depiction of the Kansas City Chiefs logo. The original plan was to have a replica of the actual logo but I literally had 30 seconds to slap something on the side.

Also missing is a Happy Birthday Gabe on the other side. Again, no time.

Still, I think it came out quite nicely.


There wasn't room to put all the candles so I left off a , and just went with 8.


It was tasty. Yellow cake with chocolate buttercream. The cake came out a tad dry, but the frosting was yummy. In retrospect, I would have saved a LOT of time by just sticking with a boxed cake mix.
I think Mia liked it too.

Fall Traditions

If you have followed this blog for a while, you know that Fall is a favorite time of year for us. October is certainly the kick off to a busy few months as we gear up for the holiday season and countdown to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (wow, Christmas already??).

I love to watch Mia grow into our traditions. The first weekend in October is always a big weekend for us. The Fall/Halloween decorations come out, we celebrate Gabe's birthday, pick pumpkins, and break out Ichabod Crane and It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown movies. Even though Mia came down with an ear infection on Friday, we were still able to take part in our traditions.

Saturday, we celebrated Gabe's birthday. His mom, Bonnie (aka Grandma B. or "Ma B") came to join us in the fun. To make it extra special, I cooked one of his favorite German meals. Sauerbraten, spatzle, and red cabbage with apples. Yum!!!

(picture from KitchenProject.com)

It sounds fancy but let me just confess that the Sauerbraten was cooked in a crock pot and everything else was pre-made and shipped to me from a great little German food company in Denver. Nevertheless, it turned out superb. I highly recommend this meal.

I did, however, bust out the Martha Stewart vibes and baked him an awesome cake. Which I will share with you in the next post.

After dinner, we spent a rare night out with friends and had a great time. As usual, I forgot my camera so I have no pictures to share. I really must get better about that.

Sunday, we continued our annual Fall tradition and took Mia to the Johnson Farms pumpkin patch. Oh boy, what fun we had! Mia loved, loved, loved it.

Here we are last year:
This year, Mia is walking, talking and able to really take it all in.


We saw baby chickens...
She kept going back to see these little babies about 5 times. It was hard to pull her away.

Then she discovered she could chase the bigger babies around.

You can barely see the little chicken, but she chased and chased him all over.

She loved looking at all the animals there. So much more exciting than seeing them in a book.


Gotta get back to the chickies!
She had no fear or hesitation this time.

Then there was the hay loft where she drug her Daddy back and forth across the hay for quite a while.
She was having a blast.


Finally, it was time to get on the hay ride up to the pumpkin patch. But by this time, she was losing steam.

We didn't spend much time in the patch, but she was able to pick out a couple of pumpkins. Which ever one she pointed at and said "pretty" or "cool", we took.

By Sunday evening, we were all exhausted, but it was a fantastic weekend with fun had by all!