During the summer, mom usually tackles one big project in the yard. This year, she's taking summer classes so the project had to be smaller. It turned out to be bigger than she thought.
See all that ivy on the fence? It was all over the yard. See that bare dirt? Covered in ivy.
From the fence on the right past the brown thing (porch swing) on the left was all ivy.
Here it is with all the ivy gone. 54 bags of yard waste. Three trips to the landfill (the ivy had swallowed a lot of stuff). Four hours with the tiller to try to get rid of the roots.
Here it is after!
The grass is starting to come back in the bare spots.
See those wooden scallops?
A previous owner had established a bed here once and planted ivy.
Yeah, thanks.
The bed is almost all shade so mom had to really think about what plants she wanted.
So here are the plants to get the bed started.
This is a Macho fern. It should get about 3 feet tall and wide. It's huge!
These are pieris japonica. When they bloom, the flowers will be pink!
This is dead nettle. It already has teeny pink blooms already. Apparently, you can eat this too.
This is astilbe. There are three of these, two are pink and one white. It won't bloom until next year probably.
So that's what mom has been up to. She brought in all these new plants for us to pee on!
Mom ordered a ton of stuff from Pugs In The Kitchen for our guests! Some of our friends have special dietary needs and PITK came to the rescue. When you are allergic to chicken, peanut butter and gluten or do better with a vegetarian diet, it's super hard to find treats! But PITK was able to work some magic so that all of our guests could have yummy treats.
Just look at all these goodies!
So many delicious varieties!
Plus, everypuggy got a stuffie, too!
As one of our gifts, we got collar bling! Mom ordered ones for us birthday girls and Isabelle, but completely forgot about Oliver. PITK wanted to make sure Oliver felt included, so they sent one for him, too. How sweet is that?
We also got these sassy bowls. Isabelle's s the one with a bow at the top. She has a hard time with deep bowls and usually has to eat out of cat bowls.
This is an adorable handmade book from Auntie Diane. She is Daisy's mom. We can put pictures and scrapbooky stuff and all kinds of things in it. It is just too cute for words!
Mrs. Jeanette and Mr. Chad and their pack (Giles, Beckett, Wallis, Sophie, Piper and Hooch) gave us these. Super cute t shirts, toys and treats! And how cute is that card with the French bulldog?
This came from Mrs. Glenda and Sassy. A super cute picture frame, plus gift cards from Petsmart!
We also had a donation made in our honor at the Norfolk SPCA from Ms. Mary.
Here we are investigating our presents from Auntie Erin, Uncle Pete, Stitch and Lilo.
Auntie Erin specially wrapped the presents so we could open them ourselves. Tallulah decided to make that happen.
And this is what came out of the paper! Look at all those yummy treats!
We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and truly don't deserve all these wonderful gifts! We will share all the delicious treats and toys with Isabelle and Oliver. Whether we want to or not.
After mom's threat to cancel the party, we straightened up and were really good, especially today.
It all started with the baking of the cakes. Tallulah did her best to get around the barrier and on to the counter.
Mom's not the best decorator, but she tries.
Paw print cake
That's supposed to be red for the patriotic theme.
There's Lilo, Tallulah, Stitch, Daisy, Piper, Oliver, Giles and Isabelle
All the puggies surround mom. Guess who has the cake?
We really want that cake.
Petunia is getting ready to help herself.
Hurry up already!
What is taking so long!?!!?!?!?!
It was ugly hot so many of our guests didn't come. But those who did really enjoyed it!
Isabelle enjoying her cake
This is Daisy. Her dad mushed the cake up for her.
Oliver is picking up any crumbs that Daisy missed.
Here we are, getting every morsel of cake that jumped off the plate. You can see our plates are clean already.
Elliott (black) and Daisy are looking for more.
There was lots of this going on.
And lots of this. Clockwise from the top, Sassy (fawn) sniffing Daisy, Isabelle eating ice cream, Petunia, Elliott and Giles (also black) eating his ice cream.
Isabelle takes her ice cream very seriously.
Tallulah is cleaning up after her guests.
Giles really seemed to like his ice cream!
So did Oliver!
Elliott stays with us sometimes. Isn't he fun?
Petunia is a master of getting all the ice cream out of the cup.
Tallulah taking a break on mom's lap. That's poison ivy, not bruises, by the way.
Well that's it for today. Next post, prezzies and most importantly, treats! Our party was catered by none other than Pugs in the Kitchen! You won't believe the oodles of treats and toys that came!
Special thanks to Auntie Erin and Mrs. Jeanette for sharing their pictures.
Tuni and Sequoia were our first pug friends. We all met at a pug meet up where Tuni ran as far as her little legs would carry her for about 10 seconds. Then she would wobble a little and plop right down in the dirt. Tuni was a favorite at meet ups and spent most of her time being held by anyone who could get a turn. She was just an itty bitty girl
Tuni's famous little tongue dried out and got dirty at the park, but her mom was always ready with some water to clean it off.
Tuni's mom and dad helped at Pugapalooza and created the most awesome kissing booth ever. We still use it.
Sequoia's birthday is just a few days after Tallulah and Petunia's so we had a joint birthday party one year. Here is Tuni, chilling on the chaise in our backyard.
Tuni had a hard life until she was rescued. She was dumped in a box and left for rescue. Thankfully, she landed in the best home, with the best parents and the best sister. They loved her and treated her like she deserved to be treated.
Their blog was the first blog we ever read, and they inspired us to start blogging.
Tuni, we have missed seeing your sweet face here and we will always remember you.
Our thoughts and prayers with your whole family.
