Happy National Dog Day!

Happy National Dog Day to our Lucy Lou!

"A dog is the only being on earth that loves you more than he loves himself"

Lucy Lou,

You put a smile on my face each and every day. 

I look forward to your cuddles each morning and your excitement each afternoon when I walk through the door. 

I love your floppy ears and your fluffy tail.  

You are the best first dog I could ever ask for.

Thank you for making our house a home.

Your daddy and I love you very much!

Puppy Popsicles

Happy Hump Day, friends!

This weekend was a fabulous one as far as weather is concerned. It is the middle of August and it was finally starting to feel like summer in Mid-Michigan.... until yesterday. This weekend, it was easy to work up a sweat while doing anything outside. Lucy Lou, loves to be outside all.the.time. but when the sun is shining, her black fur is hot hot hot. 

On a hot summer day as a kid, I loved eating popsicles (who didn't?), so being the cool dog mom that I am, I decided to make Lucy some popsicles of her own.

INGREDIENTS:

18oz. Plain Low-Fat Yogurt

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Jar Banana Baby Food

1 Tbsp Honey

Dog Bones

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients, except dog bones.

Pour mixture into small paper cups. My cups were a little larger, so I only filled mine 1/3 full.

Stick one dog bone into each cup to serve as the handle.

Freeze until completely frozen. 

When ready to serve, peel away the paper cup from the popsicle.

Watch you dog drool over his/her new favorite treat.

I was able to get 8 popsicles out of the recipe. 

Also, if you have a smaller dog: my mother-in-law made these for her rat terrier, and used an ice cube tray instead of cups. You could also use smaller dog bones to stick in the ice cube tray as well. 

As you can see, Lucy really loved these new treats. It only took her about 5 seconds after I was done taking pictures to bit the whole thing right off the bone.

I hope she realizes how loved and spoiled she is!

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Easter Basket: Puppy Edition

I hope everyone had a fun-filled Easter yesterday and were able to spend time with close friends and family. It was a beautiful weekend here in Michigan, I just wish I could have enjoyed the weather a bit more than I did. Thank you finals! Yes, I realize I have pretty much been MIA for over a month. Blame school, the second half of this semester is taking every second of my time. But don't worry, after next week, I will have more free time to spend doing what I love: crafting and blogging!

Anyways, I did find some time to make Easter basket's for my puppy and my man. Today, I am sharing the basket I made for my sweet fur baby.

Lucy's Easter basket didn't have much in it, but the milkbones were enough to keep her happy. She needed a new harness since she gained a bit of winter weight, so of course that meant a new leash and collar to match as well. I put the leash in her basket, but the rest was too big to fit. We also bought her some bacon treats, stylish (and scented) poop bags, and filled the rest milkbones. 

Her basket was very small, so I ran out of room quickly. But I also purchased a tug toy and some tennis balls to throw in just in case. 

We waited until Lucy went outside, and then hid her basket in the corner of the living room, thinking she would smell the treats and run to find it. Well, with all the guests, including another dog, she was a bit too distracted. She did dive into the treats immediately once she found it though. 

(Look at how good she got at "leave it"! We never thought the day would come.)

Anybody else make Easter baskets for their pets?
I just can't help it, she is my child.
::crazy dog lady right here::

Happy Easter!

Homemade Apple Cinnamon Dog Treats

As October is quickly approaching, I think it's only fair that our fur babies should be able to enjoy the scents and tastes of Fall, too!  I whipped up some of these homemade apple cinnamon dog treats this weekend and Lucy is just loving them! These are pretty simple to make, so go ahead, get your Betty Crocker on and spoil your favorite four-legged friends this season! 

INGREDIENTS

1 large apple

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 cup of water

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 cup of oatmeal

1 1/2 cups flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Peel, core, slice, and mince the apple. (I just made sure to chop the apple very finely)

2. Combine the apple, honey, water, cinnamon, and oatmeal in a large bowl

3. Gradually add in the flour

4. Roll dough out until it is about 1/4" thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out desired shapes and sizes.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool before feeding to your precious pooch!

I have a feeling I will be making multiple batches of these this Fall! 

So now the big question is: If I make homemade dog treats, does that make me a crazy person?

I like to think it makes me a money saver...

DIY Dog Food Canister

Tired of storing your dog food in the giant floppy bag? Tired of making a mess as you fill your dog's food bowl? Tired of walking all the way down to the basement to get said food? Well, I've found a way to avoid the mess and the stairs by making a cute tin to store Lucy's food in!

All you need is a large popcorn tin, some spray paint, and vinyl letters. After spray painting the old popcorn tin, I created a paw print design, as well as the letters and let my Cricut do all the work.

Not only was this project extremely easy, but we are done dealing with large floppy bags of food on a regular basis, AND Lucy's food is stored in a fun tin! We can leave it on the counter, or easily store in the cupboard, and it even matches our kitchen! 

UPDATE: I was in Marshalls yesterday and came across these. I just saved myself $17!

Have I convinced any of you to make one?

Lucy Turns One!

Our fur baby is now one! 

And you better believe it, we went all out for her birthday. We tried to do all of Lucy's favorite things today: i took her for a run, we played lots of catch, let her run around the baseball field, and took her for a walk this evening. This girl is so spoiled, I think she got more presents than I did for my birthday. And yes, I am that crazy dog mom that spent way too long making a happy birthday banner for my puppy...

She even let me put a birthday hat on her! She was less than thrilled, but still managed to pose for a good picture.

Anyone else get wayyy too excited for your dog's birthday?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!

Lucy: Six Months Old!

Yesterday, Lucy Lou turned 6 months old! 

Our tall, skinny bundle of joy is starting to plump up, weighing in at 36.4 pounds. 

She loves snow, baseballs, and playing tug of war.

She is getting so good at following commands that I don't even have any funny pictures of her attacking the camera this time. Those puppy classes are starting to pay off....

Happy Sunday!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Saturday morning, I woke up and noticed the ground was white. It finally SNOWED! I jumped up and down like a four year old and ran outside. I have been anxiously awaiting snow since the day after Thanksgiving, and Michigan has been letting me down. 

When I came back inside, I immediately called my dad to enlist him as our photographer. I had been debating doing Christmas Cards for quite some time. Last year, I told myself to wait until we were married, so this was our year. I wanted to use a wedding photo, but then we would be missing our newest addition to the family. So I patiently not so patiently awaited the arrival of some snow so we could do some family pictures outside. 

We piled into the car and drove to my parent's house. An hour later, we had the pictures taken, our favorite picked out, and the Christmas Cards designed and ordered. Thank you daddy! <3

Here are some of our favorites! 

Didn't my dad do a great job?! They turned out wonderful!

14 Weeks Old!

At fourteen weeks, Lucy is now big enough to climb up on the couch by herself, and we don't mind because she is a great cuddle-bug. The picture below is Lucy trying to bite the camera... Adam insisted I post it

Ten Week Picture!

Lucy is 10 weeks old today, and it seems like the ten week mark is the terrible two's for puppies. She is similar to the energizer bunny, she just keeps going and going and going. AND she is into everything! This week she is weighing in at 11. 3 pounds and measuring 19 inches long. We had our first trip to the vet this week, and she was a trooper!

As this picture depicts, we had quite fun trying to get her to sit still this week.

Lucy Is Nine Weeks Old!

My little love bug is nine weeks old today, and still... she is growing like crazy. I just want to stop time so she stops growing so much!! Every time she falls asleep, I swear she grows by the time she wakes up.

In other news, I really do hope to start blogging more! I feel like I say this a lot, but I really will try this time. I have so many cool things to share (at least i think they are cool) and I really, really want to soon! Everything from the wedding details, our new home, and some fun recipes.

Introducing Lucy!!

We didn't wait long after our wedding before expanding the family. On Friday, September 14, we got an adorable puppy! She is a Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix that we adopted from a rescue at just 7 weeks old! Her name is Lucy, and she is the sweetest puppy in the world... most of the time.

Currently, Lucy is 8 weeks old and growing like a weed! I decided to document her growth through weekly pictures... until she stops growing. If you are unlucky, I will even post them on here for you all to see.