Springtime Fun

Katie and Louie enjoying a Springtime Walk

 All the girls in Natalie's class just got their costumes for the upcoming recital at the end of May.  Natalie is thrilled with hers.

At the beginning of April Natalie started swimming lessons.  Her teacher is very sweet and patient and Natalie is loving her classes.

Natalie with a couple of friends at school.  I love how her friend has her hand on Natalie's back. They are all such sweet girls.

A rare site: Natalie wearing jeans.  She wore them to the park and immediately changed back into a dress when we got home.

Natalie and the Easter Bunny

Easter Day

The Hunt is on...

Heading out for another trip to the Tunnel Park

Getting dollies ready for bed.  I asked Natalie about the blocks on top of each dolly.  She said that was their snack :)

Natalie lined my bottle collection up and was so proud of her work.  

Here's to hoping for a long spring and a delay of the hot summer days.

A Holiday Card From the Happy Haus

Katie the Newf: Protector and Transporter

In the two years that Natalie has lived at The Happy Haus I have watched her relationships with the Newfs evolve.  Louie took to Natalie immediately and they quickly developed a very sweet bond.  Katie, on the other hand, was quite wary of Natalie and therefore needed to be watched at all times when the two girls were in the same room.  After about a year I began to feel more comfortable with their interaction as Natalie matured and learned more about manners around doggies.  About 18 months after Natalie came home I no longer had any concerns about the two girls being together.  However, I always felt like Katie simply felt neutral about Natalie…that she didn't care if Natalie was part of our family or not.

A few days ago I was walking Katie while pushing Natalie in her stroller.  We were almost home when suddenly a familiar Boston Terrier started running towards us.  Katie had an encounter with this dog back in 2007 when she was about 10 months old.   As she did previously, Katie acted nonchalant when the dog approached.  She didn't bark, move a muscle or seem to be on alert at all.  The dog's owner quickly followed.  Natalie asked if she could pet the dog.  I asked if the dog likes people - especially children.  We were assured that it did and the owner picked it up so that Natalie could reach its head to pet it.  The Boston Terrier acted very friendly, so I was surprised when Katie dropped her indifferent attitude and at lightening speed threw herself between Natalie and the other dog and pinned the dog to the ground.  At the time I didn't realize that Katie was protecting "her" Natalie.  I was just concerned about the fate of the little dog, but other than having a back covered with Newf drool it was completely unharmed.  Katie's intention was not to harm or she easily could have done so.  Her intention was to remove a possible threat to her girl.

Whenever Natalie expresses fear about the evil sea witch from "The Little Mermaid" or the mean man from "Beauty & the Beast" coming to get her I always explain that lots of people work to keep her safe.  I tell her that her teachers will keep her safe at school and when she is at home Katie, Louie and I will keep her safe.  I always believed this to be true of the Newfs after reading so many stories about Newfoundland dogs putting themselves between their humans and danger.  Seeing Katie's protective nature in action warmed my heart.


Unlike her brother Louie, who is not a fan of draft work, Katie also enjoys pulling Natalie around in her cart.

Dressing Up and Dressing Down

Have I mentioned before that Natalie is obsessed with fashion?  She picks out her own clothes everyday and 99% of the time she chooses a dress.  She loves dresses so much that she often begs me to wear one too.  Yesterday I did, so we decided to take a few pictures because as Natalie said, "We match".  Maybe not in the color or style of dress, but the fact that we both had dresses on was good enough for her.










Water play days started at school last week.  Natalie is having a blast splashing around with her friends at school.

A Girl and Her Newf (again!)

Natalie relaxing with her Louie Newf after a long day at school.

Natalie has watched me brush the dogs' teeth many times.  Last night after watching me brush Katie's teeth she asked if she could do Louie's.  I think she actually did a pretty good job and she cracked us up saying "Wake up Louie" and making exasperated noises when he wasn't 100% cooperative.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others...

Amendment to post:  The title refers to the fact that all of the pictures are of Nat & Louie except for the one of Nat & me together.  For a while it seemed like all the pics we took were of the tiny and giant black headed siblings.

I just noticed that almost all of the recent pictures I have are of Natalie and Louie.  He may not look enthusiastic about all of the attention Natalie heaps on him, but I think Louie really likes having her around.  He is such a sweetheart and so is Natalie.  Katie and Natalie are very comfortable with each other, but just don't interact as much.  The other morning though when I was out walking Louie, Gary found Natalie and Katie lying together on the kitchen floor.

Big Dogs at the Big Dam Bridge

We recently took all three of our kids for a walk across the Big Dam Bridge.


The "Big Dam Bridge" in Little Rock, Arkansas is the longest pedestrian bridge in the world.




It's fun to be on an outing with the whole family.


Migrating pelicans


A rare family photo


On the way back to the car Natalie made friends with a little puppy.

A Chilly Marathon Day

Marathon Day was a cold one this year, so we didn't stay outside long enough to take many pictures. We gave encouragement to a few hundred runners and then left the remaining thousands to complete their run without the Newfie /Natalie cheering squad.  Natalie had a great time clapping and yelling "Go Runners!"

Scenes From a Christmas Storm

On Christmas afternoon sleet began coming down steadily and quickly covered the trees and the roads.  The airport was shut down which sadly prevented my sister from catching her flight to our house.  That evening the sleet turned to snow and we were treated to a rare White Christmas.  The next morning we woke up to this beautiful sight.




Our front porch.


Trees bent over the road in front of our house.




Central Arkansas received 6-12" of snow... Louie was thrilled and spent most of the next few days outside.


The plum tree in the middle of our backyard had died this past year.  The weight of snow and ice caused the whole brittle tree to fall over and snap off at the base.


Katie enjoyed the snow too, but mostly wanted to be outside when we were.  She tends to want to be close to her people at all times.


"I wish every day could be cold and snowy.  It's so comfy out here" -  Louie


Natalie's first snow


She was concerned about getting her boots "dirty", but we soon convinced her that snow is clean and fun to play in.


We made our first snowman with great difficulty since the snow was not the type that sticks together well.






A very snowy Happy Haus


We were so fortunate that we didn't lose power as 260,000 other people in Arkansas did.  We had already had our power outage turn right before Christmas.