Christmas Eve(n) from Far Away...

Ooh, wow. This is my first Christmas away from my mama and my baby sister in 30 years!! The only thing that's constant is change in life...so new traditions are in the making this year. Christmas this year is in a decidedly warmer climate; this one has a connection to my native Atlanta...a Phoenix rising from the ashes-- yep, you guessed it! I'm in Phoenix, Arizona for Christmas with my wonderful boyfriend Chris's family. No scarves and gloves needed out here, it was 70 degrees when we landed today.

Stocking Sized at 2 weeks 

Last year, a very special Christmas gift came for my sister Emily and her husband Jimmy. The sweet star of the show, Stella, was born on December 10th. I got to come on Christmas eve last year from Denver to Atlanta and even spent a few of those early weeks with the night shift. I nicknamed my niece Squeaky Stella because she squeaked when she gulped down her bottles and we had "baby wake up time" a couple of times over night so that her mom and dad could get some less-interrupted sleep. I'm so thankful for those days last year!

Prettiest little baby gave the best snuggles, and got lots of superlatives

Baby Wake Up Time!

This year, we went to Georgia a little earlier in the month in order to be there for sweet Stella's first birthday party. She'd recently started taking her first steps and became a full-fledged walker while we were there, too. Oh, and she did a few excited squeaks for me too-- a sound my sister and my dad said she hadn't made in months! I like to think that she was remembering her special time with her Aunt Moto and wanted to remind me.

Waving hi or showing #1

Stella walking with my dad and me

Back in Colorado, I've been on fun-tradition-mode with my Chris and my kiddos I nanny for. We've made tons of cookies, including star-shaped cookie trees that turned into bricks upon setting. Shrub-shaped bricks, but bricks no less! We had a more grown-up theme with some of the sweets-- Chris made caramel shortbread with dark-chocolate peanut butter on top and I made Muddy Buddies with dark chocolate and almond butter instead of the usual. Peppermint- white chocolate covered pretzels, Swedish Cocoa Balls, and Peanut Blossoms rounded out our sweets. I was pleased and I think our friends and coworkers enjoyed! My 10 and 8 year-old kiddos and I went shopping in downtown Louisville shops and they gave me lots of gift-giving advice. (For example, "Soap? Nobody wants SOAP as a gift, I promise.")  I loved picking out the gifts I gave to my tween and teen kiddos-- they're both artistic and I think I got some gifts that will inspire their creativity. The younger kiddo even exclaimed, "I've wanted one of these!!" about a pot-holder weaving loom. I'm pretty sure I made at least a hundred thousand potholders to people-- glad that I could pass the tradition on!


Chris and I also have had some fun Christmas times decorating the tree-- we got a "noble fir" tree and it smells great! My mom had packed away my ornaments-- one from nearly every year growing up, so we brought those back from Atlanta. We laughed and talked about our traditions and nostalgic memories from this time of year. I decorated the apartment with a real wreath and some branches (from Trader Joe's, duh) and lots of thrift store ornament balls! My dear friend Chelsea gave us rocks glasses with "Home" and the outline of Georgia etched beautifully in the glass-- they're on the table with a quilted runner Chris's mom Pam made. If you look closely, you can see the quilted Santa tree skirt she made too! Different Christmas books, photos, and music have decked our halls pretty nicely too.

My kiddos and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster-- decked in Santa hats, of course! I wrote a few dozen Amnesty International Write-for-Rights letters and I donated for Colorado Gives Day. Chris and I made it to the Butterfly Pavilion's Winter Living Lights too and it was a very cool and festive showing! It's been a busy, but fulfilling month, for sure.

Gauthier-Thomaston-Haug-Schweiger family: Dad, Jimmy, Stella, Adrienne, Emily, Neil, Chris, Mom, Aunt Janet 

Oh, an activity I don't know will become a tradition, but it ended up being a ton of fun? We did a professional photo shoot!! I wanted to get a funny family picture of the three (me, Chris, and the dog!) dressed in matching plaid PJs. We got over 100 great pictures, but I narrowed it down to a few favorites. As always, Petey Bella was wonderful-- a bit confused, but patient and sweet. The photographers even commented that she looked at the camera for so many of the pictures! She was a great model dog.

Pensive Petey in PJs

Check out the next post for a tour of our Cozy apartment for a Colorado Christmas. :)

Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Starting a School

Disclaimer: The title above is a joke, not an actual school. I feel like I should clarify, since I work in education and starting an actual school is an incredibly exhausting and expensive undertaking. Well, for Petey Bella, her school is exhausting for her, but not terribly expensive for me. Take a tour of some of the students of "Bella's School for the Blind."

Story time with the lower school

As I mentioned previously, Petey Bella has several names-- Bella is one of them. She didn't have the easiest start in life, being starved and bred for dog-fighting, so she didn't have good nutrition or medical care. With that rough start, it has led to dental problems. Nothing major, but she doesn't have the strongest teeth, so she's had a few removed when they were cleaning them from the gingivitis and decay.
Why does all that matter? Well, she doesn't like hard, crunchy toys that hurt her teeth. What she does love? Soft stuffed toys. Dog toys with squeakers and  stuffed animals with eyes and cotton batting are the ABSOLUTE BEST.

Recruits she personally selected from the thrift store bag

As soon as Miss PT Bella, or should I say, Headmistress Bella,  gets a hold of a soft toy, she chomps down on it and finds out if it has a squeaker, button nose, or button eyes. As soon as she ascertains her plan of attack, she goes to work, using her teeth, nose, and paws to roll around, tear up, and de-eye, de-nose, or de-squeaker the toys. If the batting has to come out so it is completely disemboweled, so be it. I learned that although Beanie Babies have great eyes to tear out, the little bean pellets are not worth cleaning up. No more beanie toys for Pete.

The funny part about this is that sometimes she likes to hold on to the toy. I guess she plays favorites to some of her students.  There have been 3 in particular-- ones that had a sound chip inside. There was a woot monkey that would squeal when it flew through the air. She worried over that monkey--

Dog in a cat suit is actually her TA.

Lazy Miss Bella letting the TA teach class

carried it around, put it in her dog bed, or moved around my pillows til she made it a nest in my bed. When we'd pick it up to throw it, she would whine and tap dance around, trying to protect her baby! There was a blue bird with a chirpy chip and a broken Tasmanian devil-- same thing. Those guys kept their eyes and noses.

Mardi gras frog was a star pupil

We decided it's called "Bella's School for the Blind," because she collects all these misfit toys...and keep them in her dog bed. What can I say? It's much cheaper for me than any kongs, nylabones, or expensive toys. There are some rules: no students are accepted that are canine or human babies. It's too weird to have her chewing on babies or puppies. Cannibalism-- that's not in our mission statement. I came home one day with a gift for a baby shower that included a small soft bunny. I was confused that Bella wasn't downstairs with me,  when I realized, she'd gone "shopping" in the bag and tried to recruit a new student for school. I think my words were, "Bad Bella! That's for a baby! We don't take toys from babies!" Fortunately, we know how to pop some tags and the thrift store keeps us with ready and willing pupils to join the school body at Bella's School for the Blind.

Not all studying; there are field days too.

Happy pink monkey ready to learn

Headmistress checking why this line of kids is unsupervised.

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Adventures of Scrappy Pete, Little help from my Friends

Good luck clover found on a walk with good dogs

Petey Bella has no trouble making friends. She is pretty intuitive about other dogs and usually takes the submissive role with them, even if they are smaller than her. Now, I've noticed that she doesn't like to meet other dogs while she's on a leash, and she does not like dog parks. I think it goes back to her life prior to being rescued...I think she was put in some terrible situations and so she goes all PTSD on the other dogs in the dog park. I digress...

When someone comes over to play, or she goes to someone else's house, she's just the coolest pup. I pet-sat for a family in Decatur, who I'd met through Sittercity.com. Their little poodle mix, Shadow, was a super fun, well-trained pup and he just loved Petey Bella and Leo (my boyfriend at the time's dog). The follow-up comment from Shadow's mom was, "Shadow didn't want to come home from Camp Adrienne!" Petey had great fun running and playing with my pal Christy's dogs Jazzy and Stumbles. Stumbles and Petey were too cute sharing stuffed toys. They'd each carry them around and set them on their dog beds and then borrow them back from the other.

Smiling pups on a ROAD TRIP!

Petey Bella gets along great with my mom's dog Siena. Siena is very alpha, but she and Petey have never had any disagreement. When I still lived in Atlanta, we called it doggie-sleepover and Siena would get to come over to my house to play! (Wow, that's totally a "Stuff White People Like" there.)

 I moved to Denver in July and didn't bring Pete with me because of the hectic nature of MOVING TO AN ENTIRELY NEW CITY 1500 MILES AWAY WITHOUT ANY MAJOR PLAN OTHER THAN A JOB CONTRACT scared me about bringing a dog with no apartment. Due to 3 major work travels, I didn't make it back to Atlanta to pick her up until December. 6 months without my pup? Torture for me! She and Siena got to play, fight over my mom, and snuggle.

Petey and Phoebe sit patiently for treats.

My mom had knee surgery, so Petey got to go visit with my friend Monica and her pups, German Pointers, Phoebe and Gabby. Petey has stayed with them several times-- and prior to Gabby, they had a very old dog named Tessie. PT Bella was super sweet and calm with her-- it's like she realized she needed to be patient with a geriatric friend. Speaking of those "kids," as Monica calls them, those dogs have a great backyard with a doggie door. It took Bella many many times of watching Phoebe zip in and out of the dog door before she would bother. She liked having someone open the door for her better, anyway.

Petey and Duchess waiting on a bedtime story

Of course Petey gets along great with little Duchess, my sister's dog, and our family's first dog. My sister Emily and I were roommates for much of our twenties-- so Duchess and Petey were too. They would sleep with each one of us, but whichever of us went to work first-- the dog hightailed it out of our bedroom and beeline for the other bed-- to get snuggled in with her furry sister and other owner. Crafty pooches! My mom noticed it with Siena and Petey, and my sister and I noticed it with Duchess and Petey-- they like to lie down on the bed either symmetrically or identically. It's pretty sweet.

 My sister married this great guy who has a great dog, Abe-- he's a pretty similar build to Petey. He's a rescue lab-pit mix, and he's the most loyal, perfect dog. I don't usually like boy dogs, but Abraham is phenomenal. Petey, Abe, and Duchess have gotten to have some fun visits while my sister and her husband honeymooned and took other trips. Who doesn't love a good dog pile? :)

Abe and Pete, sleeping off some good laps

Siena and Pete, snuggle pups

Barely no room for da hoomans to sleep