Hello friends!

Sorry it has once again been a couple months between posts. For most of the winter we were busy and to be honest I’m not sure what my next series should be on. Please send me ideas of what you want to know— about us, our family, our neighborhood, anything! Here’s an update of what we have been up to and what projects we have taken on in our house…

December was busy for us! Andrew, Goldy, Jake, and I also got pictures with Santa thanks to our dog trainer—they weren’t super sure about it but warmed up to our trainer’s husband posing as Santa and we got a couple of cute photos.

We celebrated Christmas with Andrew’s family earlier in the month, which was a ton of fun. We saw a rock and roll Christmas concert/comedy show together and stayed with Andrew’s parents in their new house. Their house is beautiful and super nice down in the twin cities area, with their guest rooms in the basement— perfect for when we bring our future child along for a visit! Andrew’s mom got Jake a tornado puzzle feeder, which he loves and is a challenge for both pups.

Jake has been doing nose work training, and he completed beginners nose work in December as well. He loves having a job to do and hunting around for the right essential oil odors. It was fun to watch him learn this new game we play and see how much fun he has.

The middle of December brought a new event in our area— Christmas Caroling in Gregory Park! I worked some local organizations to plan this event and had four different groups come and sing by the campfire pits. While it was really cold, it was a big success and I’m looking forward to planning it again next year.

Andrew and I also tackled a small home improvement project in December— we turned a cupboard in our family room into a dog den! Andrew took out the doors and the pull out shelves while I made cushions for the space and curtains. They aren’t positive it’s where they want to hang out yet, but Goldy and Jake explore it every so often. I think our future child will also really like it when they are a toddler.

Just before Christmas, I was able to see a bunch of my dad’s extended family for a fun night of bowling down in the twin cities. We had five or six lanes at a bowling alley down there and caught up with aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. It was a blast!

Finally in December, Andrew and I celebrated Christmas before going down and celebrating with my parents and some of my mom’s extended family. Jake is getting much better around little kids as he feels more secure in his new life with us.

January wasn’t quite as busy thankfully. But we started in rough shape— I had the stomach flu starting Friday before NYE and into the next week. Andrew was sick with a bad cold the week after that. We mostly relaxed and tried to get healthy. The pups did a craft project— painting by licking peanut butter— and their paintings are hanging in my office now. For MLK weekend, we were back down in the cities celebrating our final Christmas. This time it was with my sister and her family, my parents, two of my cousins and their families and their parents. It was a busy weekend but a lot of fun.

February was a month spent entirely at home and it was wonderful. I was able to finish a paint by numbers of the lake that took me almost a year to do. Jake continued to do nose work training and found his personality.

Andrew seriously updated the guest bathroom— a new color of paint (blue!), a new light fixture over the sink/mirror, and a new shower curtain rod. We also moved the piano from the library to the back of the family room, removing my desk that hasn’t been used since COVID (when my craft room became a home office). I continued to attend Sisters in Christ, which has been amazing.

We also had visitors in February— Andrew’s parents came up for a weekend! We had so much hanging out and catching up with them. We completed a Hunt a Killer premium game and then made a delicious stir fry dinner together. They brought us up a “watch me grow” planter from the cities full of different bulbs that we got to watch turn into beautiful spring flowers! This was especially nice, since we still have snow as I’m writing this and have had two snow storms in the last week or so.

While it still feels like winter, I’m calling March spring and will post another update soon!

~Natalie