Fabulous Army Life

My teenager requested actual Shepherd's Pie for our Saint Patrick's Day dinner this year. I'm still learning to cook outside my comfort zone (which consists of a standard rotation of about 8 different meals) and usually chalk up thematic success to food-coloring something green on this particular holiday. But I was willing to give it a try. I was able to search online and find a pretty simple recipe -- How did anyone cook before Pinterest? -- and the results, while maybe not aesthetically beautiful, did satisfy all the hungry boys in my house. It may not make the rotation, but will definitely be on the list for next March. For dessert, I made an Irish trifle which was not at all Irish, but was listed under "Irish desserts" on Pinterest and did include my handy green food coloring, so it fit the bill for us. Plus also, it only asked for five ingredients and was quick and easy. My boys devoured this and the huge trifle dish that I thought would last all week was c...

Our boxer, Leo, is a fabulous dog and we have enjoyed welcoming him into our family.  He had a check-up at the Vet this week ... he is now 60 lbs at 8 months!  Not sure how big he will get, but we're working on training now, just in case.

Our boxer puppy is our first foray into the world of larger dogs.  I had several types of terriers growing up ... my husband's family had dachshunds and a beagle in his growing up years.  Our first dog as a married couple -- who is still with us -- is a Cairn Terrier (like Toto on the "Wizard of Oz," only blonde, not black).  So ... the world of big dogs is a new one for us. First, I am amazed at the rate of growth!  I think sometimes Leo has grown during a single nap!  He is still a wonderful pet, mild-tempered, obedient, and sweet as pie ... but BIG ... and growing! Leo (7 months) and Shadow (15 years) posing for the camera. Leo is fabulous with our boys.

So we have the puppy, the kennel, the collar, leash, toys, treats, and new boxer books. Next on our checklist is a name! We've brainstormed lots of boy puppy names -- everything from Mr. Paws to Rocky to Cannon -- but needed to meet our puppy before making a final choice. The boys began our search by throwing out the names belonging to some of their favorite games. This gave us choices like Pikachu, Wartortle, Pidgeotto, and Dragonite (from Pokemon) and Bakugan names like Tuskor, Griffon, Juggernoid, and Terrorclaw. As they continued to shout out crazy names, I picked up on the name "Leonidas." I asked them about this name (a dragon Bakugan that happened to be one of their favorites). I liked this name so we looked it up online (to ensure there were no negative connotations or satanic worship links) and found that it was also the name of a King of Sparta! We even found this summary of the movie "300": In the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and...

After weeks of research, days of debate, and a couple of hours of prep work ... we have a puppy! We adopted a boxer puppy today and love him already. We used www.puppyfind.com to look at lots of adorable puppies. It's one of the best websites I found in my search and we are so excited to have found our new family member there. The breeder is in the local area. She was fabulous with us, sending us emails, photos, and giving us lots of fun tips on our new puppy's personality traits. We met her tonight just to see "Simba" ... but came with a new kennel, leash, collar, dog food, and chew toys, um, 'just in case' we wanted to leave with him. She brought one of his litter-mates along for the ride and I seriously considered coming home with two new puppies. Sanity won out in the end, though, and we only have one. Our 15-year-old Cairn terrier, Shadow, was very patient with him when she met him tonight. I've been worried about her reaction. She was our fi...