Sadly, Nick was out of town and I was told I could not celebrate without him. Which is okay since technically Yadi wouldn't know we were celebrating a day late. Shoot, the girl wouldn't even know what the heck we were celebrating! She'd just know she got new toys and a different "treat".
Over the weekend, I headed to PetSmart to get Yadi the toys Nick and I had picked out earlier in the week (which we didn't buy then because we forgot our coupon....thanks Shelly, for the $5 off $25 coupon!). I also took the time to make her a cake. I Googled "dog cakes" and came up with about 12 different recipes. I didn't settle on one before I went to the store so I just bought everything I could remember any of the 12 recipes I read contained. (yogurt, oats, peanut butter, bananas, honey, carrots etc.) I also stopped off at Target for party hats! Yep, I'm that "parent".
When I got home, I couldn't decide which recipe I liked so I kind of made my own. (Mainly because I wanted to use all the ingredients and not waste any.) I wasn't sure how it'd turn out; if it'd even rise or bake. About halfway through the baking time though, the house smelled DELICIOUS! It came out nicely baked. I wrote down what I did so tomorrow I'll post my recipe in case anyone else is as obsessed with their pups as I am and want to make them a cake.
Unfortunately, yesterday, her actual birthday, was rainy and nasty. I felt badly. I wanted to do SOMETHING. I had planned to take them to the doggie park but that wasn't happening. So I bought two new tennis balls and decided that would be a "small" present but one they'd enjoy. ....for 10 minutes. It took Yadi all of 5 minutes to rip the cloth off the tennis ball and rip it open. And in the trash it went. Then it took another 5 minutes for her to do the same with Vino's. In all honestly, she wasn't even trying to destroy them. She was simply gnawing on it. But her jaw is THAT strong.
(Maybe one day she'll learn..."if I tear things apart, they get thrown away." We do this because she will not just tear it apart, but actually CONSUME it. And we cannot afford a $3000+ emergency surgery.)
We ended the night with a slumber party! We do not allow the dogs on furniture. The only exception, a rare exception, is the guest bedroom (for after surgeries or lonely/rough nights for one of us). But since it was her birthday and she loves cuddling and Nick was gone, we had a slumber party in the (decor neglected...for now) guest bedroom (with the blue magnet blanket over Nick's precious comforter).
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Her actual birthday, Sunday was a gorgeous day so we played outside a lot with a softball the moron kids next door (purposely) threw over our fence. I cut the cake into a dog bone shape and then "frosted" it. (While also making myself a Chocolate Mocha Cake and making Nick chocolate chip cookies).
Then it was off to pick up the husband from the airport!
When we got home, we had another Yadi Crate Adventure (another post to come). After dealing with that, it was time to celebrate!
We put the hats on the pups and Yadi did NOT like it. The moment we stepped away from her, she swatted it off. It was difficult to get a picture of her with it on. Vino, on the other hand, didn't really notice it was on her. She just ran around like her normal excited self, playing with her toys.
But we did manage to get a few decent pictures of them in their hats, and us with them.
(Pardon Vino's ears and face. She does not respond well to harsh and firm commands. So when you "yell" or get a "firm" voice, she gets alert and very scared....hence this look.)
After the hats, it was time for cake! I wanted to a "1" candle but we recently learned they are scared of fire so I opted out of that. We cut the cake (which Nick left looking like the male genitalia), we had them sit and they got to indulge in it. They loved it! (Although that's not a shock...they eat each other's poop on occasion.)
Then it was gift time! Yadi absolutely LOVES balls. (that's what she said). She plays with them inside and out. It's nice because she can entertain herself for HOURS with a ball inside. We can play fetch with her. Or if we want to enjoy the television, she will throw it up, let it bounce, and chase it herself.
Our issue is, she destroys balls. She has two lacrosse balls but she isn't fond of them. She prefers balls that have a give to them and won't hurt her when she misjudges them (she has bad eye-mouth coordination). So we thought "KONG". Their stuff is supposed to be indestructible.
We opted for two larger tennis balls. (Yadi gets them lost under the couch and while it's entertaining at times, after 5 minutes, it's annoying. See THIS video).
We were hopeful that these wouldn't get sucked into the lost land of the couch and would hold up.
We also bought her a KONG frisbee. She loves frisbees, but your traditional plastic ones get tore up. She will chew them up and eat them. Then we get woken up in the middle of the night to her puking up bits of plastic frisbee. But this frisbee is very flexible and light-weight. She didn't seem interested in it. We shouldn't have shown her the balls first.
Well, they didn't get lost. They were large enough that they didn't roll under the couch or ottoman. However, they most definitely are not indestructible. Within 15 minutes, the smaller of the two balls was popped, the cloth was coming off. In about 10, the ball was torn up. And in the trash it went. She started with the larger one but we took it away. It's not even that she's TRYING to destroy them. She just liked chewing them and her jaw is so strong that she pops them and they give.
And that was her birthday night! Of course, she has NO idea why she (they....the reason we bought two balls was so that Vino could have one....naturally Yadi always wanted the ball in Vino's mouth) got new toys, or a cake or had to wear ridiculous hats. But that's okay. I knew why. And we had fun celebrating together as a little family!
So here's to many more years of her obnoxious antics. It's safe to say that she drives me insane with her constant need for attention and ability to never stop going. But she most definitely keeps us laughing and entertained. I don't know what I'd do without this little girl!
