Flip Book, For the Record, and Inner Peace.

You know the old saying; When you make plans, God laughs.

Its remarkable how things happen the way they do. I would have never envisioned my life like this at 28. But what I've learned in the past few years is that my plan does not matter. No matter how organized, scheduled, planned, and "Type A" I am, it will never matter. His plan does. And its far better than I could have ever imagined.

Too often the "in between" stage of weddings and kids is overlooked. Couples will take engagement photos, wedding photos, then the next part of their life they will document is the birth of their first child. I truly feel the "in between time" is a time to cherish. The peaceful, quiet nights at home with just your spouse. Learning to cook together, live together, budget together, share the covers, and fully embrace the love and importance of marriage.

Even more importantly (for us, at least) - we've come to realize that not all families/love stories involve marriage then kids. Ours especially does not.

Matt is my family. Him, and him alone. And there is reason to celebrate and document that. After I posted these pictures on Facebook, I received a text message from my dear friend that said: "I love how much you cherish your marriage." And after reading that message I knew that this session, and Mandie, more specifically, absolutely nailed it. My vision.

I, too, wanted to rush past this stage, but the more I experienced my daily life with Matt and our furkids - planning vacation after vacation, sipping wine/whiskey in the front of the fireplace listening to Frank Sinatra, or just simply lounging around all day watching Law and Order marathons --I fell more in love with Matt. I saw the true beauty of our life and I wanted capture this time on camera. So we could, as my friend said, cherish it forever. Remember it. For Always.

I uploaded this album on Facebook, but I absolutely must share on my blog as well.

"A Date Night at home - celebrating our two year anniversary with our furbabies - Ernie, Lulu, Pappy, and Wally. The very talented, Mandie Haberman, and I set out on a mission to celebrate the families of two and/or furfamilies. This is our love, our life, and our family. We are so blessed.
A couple special things about my wardrobe - I wore the necklace and headpiece on the day of our wedding -- and my red robe in the morning (while getting ready). Thank you so much to Carolina (as always) for making me feel so beautiful during this special day. Amanda Red Wedding Photographer - I can't say it enough, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. You captured the exact moments I wanted to remember (always and forever) and we're sorry the ‪#‎fennelpuppies‬ were so naughty. 

Lastly, Matt Fennel - Thank you for sharing this beautiful life with me. Our furbabies and I are so lucky to have you. Here's to two years and a lifetime more!! I love you."

We are looking forward to working with Mandie SO MANY MORE TIMES in the years to come!!!! I highly, HIGHLY recommend her for all your photo needs (especially #partyoftwo sessions!!)

Thank you Mandie!!

If you scroll really fast, it's sort of like a flip book. :)   

Cheers.

Completely opposite of paying off debt

Dave Ramsey obviously doesn't have dogs.

The puppies broke out of their crate the other day. So Matt and I arrived home from work to find the white carpet covered in poop, and this lovely sign that they ALSO tried chewing their way out of their bedroom.

Now, don't let this hole in the wall confuse you with the OTHER HOLE I posted awhile back. This one.

That one, now has a cabinet in front of it to cover the horrible sight. The new one -- isn't as easy. As you can probably tell, the new one is on a corner and right when you enter the babies' bedroom. It's SO MUCH bigger and OMG! down to the stud/wood part of the wall.

We immediately called the ER vet (we have their number saved in my contacts and they will soon know us by name as well). And they settled all my "poisonous mushroom" nerves by saying that plaster and drywall do not have as serious effects as poisonous mushrooms. "Just expect a lot of diarrhea and vomiting." Great.

Luckily, both boys healed up just fine with minor consequences. But, more importantly (kidding) WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH THEIR ROOM?!

We always reference the room that the boys sleep in as "the babies' room" - It has the cat climb, the two dog crates, a bucket of the cat's toys, and shelves all the dogs' toys. The closet holds all the furbabies' necessities (SINCE WHEN DID PETS HAVE NECESSITIES?!): cat carriers, treats, belly bands, stuffed animals, blankets, medicine, grooming supplies, etc, etc, etc, -- you get it.

And, in my opinion, the room, itself, has always just been "blah" at best.

Pooped stained carpet. Two holes in the walls.   Sound like PROJECT MAKEOVER!!!!!!!!!! (while everyone else is decorating their human baby's nursery........................)

The walls are painted dark blue (from the nursery it used to be with the previous homeowners). I have ordered these pictures in huge prints and will be hanging them above the pups' crates.

Plus individual framed 8x10 pics of each baby on the adjacent wall:

 And a framed 8x10 pic that will sit on the shelf

Lime green curtains and a lime green area rug (to cover up the poop stains) and EEEEEK! Its going to be SOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!

Catastrophe averted!! I turned a NEGATIVE into a POSITIVE!

I'm considering purchasing a huge toy bin to store all the furbabies' toys -- something like this.

I HATE a messy room. Next, I will train the dogs to clean up after themselves...... Kidding, again.

But what happened to paying off our debt!?!?! WEELLLLLLLLL, THIS WAS AN EMERGENCY!  And its bonus time!

Matt and I will be paying off a huge expense later this week and I thought we could treat ourselves our furbabies to a new bedroom.

Also, Amazon Prime is AMAZING - but also very DANGEROUS. Free 2-Day Shipping. And two clicks to purchase. ITS JUST TOO EASY.

Last month during my "boycotting blog month" I also redid our bedroom. I will share updated pictures of both once the furkids' room is done.

Sooooooooo, back to paying off debt.... We're REALLY going to do this.

...Dave would be pissed.

Happy HumpDay!

Big boys, but not really.

Walks are fun!

We can't wait for SPRING TIME!

 Our dog sitter, Sharon, sent me this picture today.

DOESN'T HE LOOK LIKE AN ADULT DOG THERE?! When in the hell did our puppies get so big? And where has the time gone?!!!

In the past month, our puppies have grown out of their crates, grown out of their collars, upgraded to "big dog" bowls, and weighed in at over FORTY pounds at the vet!! HOLY MOLY!

What happened to my babies?

They're so big now.

Big Boys = Big Bones

Hard to tell, but the bones are bigger than my THIGHS.

Seriously - they were huge.

Ernie thinks he is a dog.

And, sometimes, the dogs think they are cats.

But don't let the big size fool you. Our big boys babies are still in DIAPERS and still CRY throughout the entire fucking night.

Here is proof that I get no sleep (because Pappy has separation anxiety and refuses to stop crying until he is sleeping with one of us on the couch or bed).

See Pappy's head?

I didn't get a lot of sleeping room that night. 

Lulu is pissed. And very territorial of Matt.

Hard to tell, but that is all four furbabies in bed with Matt and I. From top left to bottom right: Pappy, Wally, Lulu, and Ernie's big butt.

The diapers are so cute though, right?

Too bad our dogs are too damn smart (Australian Shepherd and POODLE) to have them actually WORK. Both of them scoot around until the diaper isn't covering their "you know what" and it becomes nothing more than a cute diaper that we can make fun of. SIGH.

Also, speaking of being too smart. 

I now have to double stack the gates because Wally is genius! He will either army crawl under, or jump over them to get downstairs. If those aren't an option, he will ram his body into the gate until he knocks them all over. He really likes cat food. He also really likes our table.

 

 

YOU TRY SAYING "NO" TO THAT FACE.

Pappy and Wally love our ice dispenser.

And Pappy is SO CLOSE to being able to get the ice himself.

He had a little help in learning.

You are all probably thinking -- "OMG! They are letting those dogs do so many naughty things!"
And YA KNOW WHAT!!!!!?

 They don't bite. They're incredibly loving. And it's their house anyways. So what if we're not good at disciplining? And they had a tough start to life!! And WHO FREAKING CARES if they get ice out of the dispenser and Wally sleeps on table. (Ummm, our dinner guests??) Can you tell I'm trying to defend my horrible puppy parenting?

#puppymotheroftheyear

Good thing, we're not raising HUMAN KIDS, AMMIRITE?!

This is a normal weekly trip to Mounds. Dog food, dog toys, cat litter, cat food, cat toys..... 

150 dollars later. The people who work there are starting to know us by name.

BONUS: Everyone gets free candy bars everytime they go. BEST PLACE EVER.
 

Neutering and a fence is on hold until later on in the year. WHY, you ask?!

We're paying off debt instead. Oh! and because we get to pay IN for taxes for the SECOND year in a row!!!! YAY!!? (Adios, credit cards!)

Why can't we write off OUR {fur}kids? 

That's all she wrote. Until next time.