smushy stuff

I've been busy soaking up spring, immersed in books and projects.  

Here are a few pictures of all the loveliness going on around here:

Josie and I just finished up what may be our last virtual storytime.  Over the past two years we have enjoyed smushing ourselves together in our tiny storytime space and singing songs and reading books to an empty room, BUT I am ready to do an in-person storytime this fall.  I will miss my Jo-pie, but she will still get lots of songs and love.  After two years she can proudly say she never once tooted when we were live.  And she always looked smushy and soft and sometimes even engaged and smiled like she knew what we were doing.  She was a perfect cohost. 

We went from a beautiful March to a chilly and windy April to humidity and heat in May.  Summer is here, and my heart is happy.

The last cup of hot tea while sitting on a patio at a restaurant when it was chilly.

And now it's time for copious amounts of iced tea.  Thankfully the Midwest Tea Festival was back this year and I could stock up.  It was my first time trying a tea from The Great Mississippi Tea Company and it's simply magical and my new favorite black tea.

We've been wandering as many strange neighborhoods as we can get away with.

This is my Goper (Margo) at her finest.

There are even times the poops have been getting pooped out.  A sure sign of humidity and heat.

Probably the biggest change around here is Josie and Margo's sleeping arrangements.  Though the dogs are almost four and we've been leaving their kennels open at night for months (well over a year I think), they've both continued to stay in them all night.  

Then it happened.

Jo-Pie started creeping out a couple months ago and tucking herself next to Robert's side of the bed.  Robert put a dog bed down for her, and then a blanket, and then a second dog bed for cushioning, and she is happy as can be.  

It didn't take long for me to grow intensely jealous and one night, I evicted Goper from her kennel and asked her very politely to lay on my side of the bed.  She politely declined and the battle began.  Eventually I won her over and we started playing musical dog beds again, trying to figure out what she liked best. 

Robert and I have started telling each other that the "filling is out of the danish" if Josie is no longer fully in her bed (a tripping hazard).  Or the "filling is out of the croissant" if Margo oozes out of her bed (also a tripping hazard).  Occasionally my side of the bed looks like a slime bomb has gone off.  Margo's lips go on adventures at night, making snail trails everywhere.  But for the most part, Josie is the perfect danish, and Margo is my sloppy croissant, and no one has fallen and broken anything yet.  The kennels are packed away and our sweet pastry dogs are close enough for a quick pat or two in the middle of the night.