Synchronized Dog Training

Sadie came to stay with us Thursday night this week. It was a lot of fun having her around.

Spaghetti Squash-- What's that?

So, the past month and a half have been spent without beef/chicken/pork/turkey in our diet at home. Many of our staple meals (such as Gorditas!) require the use of those key ingredients so at times we were at a loss (we had a week where we ate Mac N Cheese two nights in a row :) ) However, Casey and I really stepped up to the challenge. I, in particular had a lot of fun developing my expertise in the kitchen using ingredients never used before!

I thought it would be fun to share a few of the yummy recipes we tried out that are definite repeaters!!! (I do have some pictures that I may try to add later, otherwise click on the link to see the recipe)

• Vegetarian Korma: We have made this recipe almost every week. SOOOOO good - even with those darn peas! (I hate peas) If you haven't had curry before this may be a tasty place to start.



• Asparagus & Mushroom Quiche: This recipe called for bacon which sadly we could not add. I'm excited to try it again!
  
  


• Portobello Mushroom sandwiches: Thanks to Casey's Dad for this idea! We marinated the mushroom caps in teriyaki sauce. Then we grilled up some onion, red pepper and the caps. We topped the caps with the fixings, some feta cheese and served on a ciabatta roll. YUM!
  
  


• Grilled Veggie Deluxe Pizza: Papa Murphy's Gourmet Veggie Pizza (without the artichokes/zucchini yuck) on the grill. The grill made the crust nice and crisp. (Though I do think I burnt it --- Casey was a trooper).
  
  


• Vegetarian Tortilla Soup: The avocados on top of this made it delicious.
  
  


• Potato Leek Soup: For this recipe I substituted the heavy cream with skim milk/butter. We also opted for vegetable broth over the chicken broth. This was my first time having leeks. They're really good...almost like a green onion.
  

Well that about does it for now! We still have a spaghetti squash to figure out before Sunday...maybe Friday's dinner???? Should be an adventure.

March Madness Sherplante Style

I'm not going to pretend I watch basketball but I thought that the title fit for this post. We had two concerts this month for the Northern Symphony Orchestra (actually the second is this Sunday). We continue to go to puppy playtime at the Humane Society every Saturday morning. Otherwise our free evenings are spent exploring fun parks to go for walks in.

For Henry he had a few milestones. His first Valentine (okay that was in February), his first bath, and his first stick of celery (mmmmmmmmmm!!!!).

Okay - so maybe he didn't actually eat the celery. Shredding it would be a better description. We will be starting up level 1 obedience in a couple of weeks. Overall he listens very well and will do what we tell him to do. However, if he has lots of energy or is not getting the attention he thinks he should get, he becomes a herding machine. We are eager to have this stage end! Although it is teaching us patience (it gets on our nerves as well as getting in our skin!).

Casey has decided to bike to work once the weather becomes nice on a more regular basis. To get him to work and back faster, we went and purchased new shoes and pedals (that he can clip in to). Here he is taking it for a test ride. He said he is very speedy now.

The Puppy Function

If Henry were a program and he had a Biting function, it would look something like this...(Disclaimer: This is not meant to follow any programming best practices or language.)

puppy=yes

Biting(puppy)
{
body_part_list=[fingers,fingers,forearm,toes,calf,fingers,hair,fingers,forearm,forearm]

while puppy
{
chosen_body_part= random(body_part_list)
call biteBiteBite(chosen_body_part)
}

biteBiteBite(body_part)
{
open mouth over body_part
close down mouth with body_part in it
}

}

Yup maybe in a few months I'll add in a way to get out of that loop but right now it feels infinite. :D

Thank you Casey for your contribution by providing the probability of Henry choosing a certain body part.

One Month With Henry

We've had Henry for one month now and he has changed quite a bit! The first row of pictures are from our first weekend with him and the second row is from just last week!

Puppy Antics

Henry has taken on some attributes that remind me a lot of Sadie :) in that I think he would love to live in the dishwasher if he could. (Granted I only know about two dogs) Casey was loading the dishwasher and by the time he turned around Henry had climbed in! Here is a picture of a similar day when I was loading the washer. Notice how one paw is even on the rack...

Also, some of his favorite activities that don't threaten the safety of our hands (we're still working on this) is chasing plastic toys on the ground. We found a frisbee that has proven to be entertaining for both us and Henry - A win/win situation yay!!!

Babies, Puppies, Road Trips Oh My!

I had a mini vacation this weekend while Casey and Henry had a guys weekend. My friend Kari and I drove down to Des Moines. I wish I had taken pictures...but sadly I forgot. Friday night I spent with my good friend from college, Jessica and her husband Derek. Saturday I spent with my friend Betsy and her fiance Blake. It was fun weekend filled with wedding planning and LOTS of much needed catching up!!!! I'm so glad I was able to make the short trip.

Sunday we had my brother and Angie over for a pre-Super Bowl lunch of sloppy joes, chips & dip, spinach puffs, bbq meatballs AND grapes/apples (we thought it would be good to throw something healthy in the mix). Henry was spoiled with a nice bone and fun lion chew toy from Uncle Matt and Aunt Angie :) He loves them both! Here are few pics from the afternoon. Leah is moving around so much these days! Soon enough I'm sure it will be hard for us to keep up.







Matt and Henry also had a good romp and soon enough Henry went into his "den" (aka under the couch). Thanks Matt for wearing him out!


All in all it was a busy but fun weekend. Tonight (Monday) has been spent catching up but I was able to get a small video to show off some of Henry's skills.
He's only been with us for two weeks but has gained about 6 lbs! (He came to us at 9 lbs) We both agree that having a puppy is a lot more work than we expected but we can't deny that he has a big spot in our hearts already. Anyways...he's pretty calm in this video - which is pretty unheard of but enjoy the show!