Festival of Trees.

Our annual family tradition of cutting down the Christmas tree was even more fun this year thanks to a certain four-legged funny girl. Since we have no idea where Berta came from or what her life was like pre-Belbys (not as awesome as it is now, obviously), this very well might have been her first trip to the tree farm. And, surprisingly, she didn't sniff out and/or pee on every single tree like I thought she would (apparently, Christmas trees aren't as exciting as mailboxes.) A great time was had by all!

And we're off!

Weeeeeeee! I love car rides!!

Seriously, can't this thing go any faster!?

Fresh air, I love it!

Mmmmmm.

It smells goo-ooood out here!

Ahh, this is the life.

Ears flapping in the wind, not a care in the world!

 And an action shot of the flapping, floppy ears.

Doggie smiles!

We should do this more often, guys.

We've arrived at Mumma's! Time for the annual picture in the cutouts :)

Enough smiling, time to sniff.

Time to get to cuttin' down the tree!

Berta found an Izzy tree....short and fat.

So many trees...

So little time...quick taking pictures and pick up the pace, mom!!

Guess she found something she liked under there.

And we found our tree, yay!

Presenting the Belby Tree 2012!

Looking good!

One last shot before it comes down and comes home with us...

Let the sawing begin...

Lumberjack hard at work.

Berta and her tree (I had to help)

Do these pine needles make me look fat?

Woooohoooo, we got a Christmas tree!!

Good job, dad, let's get that in the truck.

An action shot of Ian with the tree...and Berta's tail being really excited about it.

Whew, that was a lot of work. Time for a nap on the car ride home.

And apparently I am out of space again, so that will be the last photo for now!

Done Blogging?

Unfortunately, I just learned that I am out of "free" photo space for my blog....so, that's why the updates have been sparse. Time to figure out if there's a way around it...or maybe delete the old posts to make way for the new. We'll see. Just thought I'd let you know why our adorable little beefcake (Berta), adorable little chub (Wrigley), adorable little nugget (Kip) and adorable little pork chop (Izzy) have been MIA on here!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Bunch of Hams.

A week ago we invited my dad over for a yummy ham dinner...and we learned that our furry babies love ham as much as we do!

                                                     A welcome kiss to papa from Izzy

Then she goes straight for the diamonds (after the attempted, unsuccessfully, to drink his Jack)

What can I say, she is her mother's daughter when it comes to diamond loving ;)

Berta observing the ham carving...and desperately hoping for a piece (intentional toss or unintentional drop, she didn't care)

Kip got banished to the office because he is a naughty little scavenger and would NOT stay off the countertop and away from the ham!

Nah-nah-a-boo-boo, I'm out here and you're stuck in there!

Let me out. Please. I'll be good.

(No I won't.)

Wrigley was unimpressed by the ham and the begging his siblings were doing for it!

Izzy got herself a piece!

And then growled at it. Unfortunately, this video is sideways and has background noise from doing dishes, but it is still funny :)

Quick Recap

This weekend we celebrated Lou's birthday, the pets thoroughly enjoyed his visit (as always!)

Berta got tired waiting for scraps and crumbs from the birthday dinner....but she stayed close by, just in case :)

The birthday boy getting some pet love! This is what double fisting looks like in our house...an animal in both hands.

But it wasn't all fun and games this weekend, Ian worked his tail off painting the ceiling in the basement.

Hard at work! The two coats are done and we bought wall paint, exciting stuff!

Stay tuned for pics of progress!

And just because...these are a few of my favorite things:

Wheat Stix, cats and Von Maur...the good things in life!



T.G.I.WHACK!

Ahhhhhh, a nice sunshine-y stretch on a Friday morning. Life is good.

Wait, what was that??

Oh, no you don't!! (Paw to the face) This is my cat tree and there is only room for one! And I don't want to hear "yeah, because you are fat" from your skinny-butt, Kip!

Bills Primetime Win!

Very exciting night in the Belby house/zoo...we all stayed up past our bedtime to watch the Bills whoop up on the Dolphins in the Thursday night game.

                                              Berta is resting up/saving her energy for kickoff.
                

Getting a double dose of Belby boy love, lucky girl! :)

Kip and Izzy showing their team spirit by napping on my lap...on the Bills snuggie.

I've got my game face on!!

Oh wait, a new lap to play on!?

The boys are focused....Izzy, not so much.

Are we winning??

(Yes, go back to sleep.)

Sound asleep on my shoulder :)

Look at me, I'm a tailback....

Get it!?! Hehehe. I love football humor.

Coming up with that hilarious joke was exhausting, time for a(nother) nap.

Berta checks the score.

(I adore this face so much.)

Bills win! Bills win! BILLS WIN!!!!

Her excitement is somewhat overwhelming. ;)

Wrigley's got a great seat for the post-game interviews.

I'm done watching, I couldn't understand a word CJ Spiller said.

All cheered out.

The aftermath of the post game celebration.

(A note to my mother and anyone else wondering...it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep the pillows neatly lined up and in order because Berta's little beagle snout burrows them EVERY. TIME.)

It's been quite the sports week over here...R.A. Dickey brought home the Cy Young Award for the Mets, the Bills finally put up a "W"...now I just need my Hawkeyes to show up and show Ann Arbor (U of Michigan) who's boss!