A Few Of My Favorite Things

Any "Sound of Music" fans? :) Lily Noelle is such a spunky, loving puppy; I can't help but have a few favorite things about her. Now I may be a little biased, but I love every part of her: her personality, her spunk, her naughty streaks, and her playfulness (just to name a few....). Sure, Lily can be annoying, but what kid/ puppy isn't from time to time? I am beyond blessed that Andrew and I decided to add her to our little family. :)

There are so many things I love about our Lily Noelle; here's just a few:
I love the way Lily nuzzles her nose into objects around her in order to get comfortable.

I love her floppy, expressive ears!

I love how her ears pin back to her head and her tail wags uncontrollably whenever she sees Andrew and I. It is literally the BEST way to be greeted!
I love how she smiles as well as her long, slimy tongue and the kisses that follow.

I love how she bounces here and there whenever she is excited.
I love how "helpful" she is. ;)

"Helping" Mama with some homework...

I love how smart she is. Though not always the most obedient, Lily LOVES praise and learning new tricks. It makes training a little easier!
I love that she loves to snuggle. Best. Snugglebug. Ever.

I love her random white freckle on her left shoulder

Can you see her white freckle on her shoulder?

I love how loving she is. I swear she senses others' moods and reacts to them.
I love how protective she is. I am 100% sure Lily Noelle will protect and guard any *future* Blanchard babies. How can I be sure? Watch this video (before the video was taken, Lily was sleeping in the next room!)

Of course, these are just a few of my favorite things about my LilyBear :)

Silly Sleeping Beauty

Have you ever known that one person that can sleep in any position and be fast asleep in minutes? May I present: Lily Noelle. She sleeps in the weirdest positions and will be out cold within seconds. I don't know how she does it! Whether she is laying on her back with her paws in the air or half on/ half off the couch, Lily will be fast asleep. Nothing can disturb her from her beauty sleep.

Yep, she's actually sleeping...

She actually started this strange habit from day 1 of bringing her home! On our ride home from picking her up from the farm, she fell asleep on my lap with her head tilted straight back and her legs stretched out straight.

Sleeping weird from day 1

Lily Noelle has another weird sleeping habit: she will stretch in her sleep. By "stretch" I mean, she will strong-arm anything and everything around her while being dead asleep! We were snuggling one morning, and she strong-armed me OUT OF THE BED! (Not exactly the best wake-up call, but hey cute puppies can get away with it!) Not only has she strong-armed out of the bed, but she has smacked me in the face, stomach, and neck while "stretching" in her sleep.
May I present my silly Sleeping Beauty:

Sleeping weird on the couch... 

Sleeping weird in the car...

Lily doesn't understand the words: Personal Bubble ;) 

Stretched out on the couch... again!

Our First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. A holiday dedicated to give thanks. Let me tell you this Thanksgiving I was and still am so incredibly thankful for my little family.
Last Tuesday, we made our way to Fayette, Iowa, where Andrew's family lives. Our six hour drive was fairly uneventful. I slept, Andrew drove, and Lily watched the surrounding landscape between cat naps in the backseat and my lap.

Before we could go to Andrew's parents' house, we had to stop by the local vet's animal clinic to board Lily for the majority of our vacation. Most of Andrew's family is highly allergic to dogs, especially boxers. We stopped by the North Fayette Animal Clinic.

Lily Noelle was enthralled with the new sights and smells! We gave her over to the vet technician after saying some goodbyes. It was a hard and emotional parting, as we had never been away from Lily more than a night.
Fast forward 5 days (filled with laughter, good food, games, and lots of family fun). It was Saturday, and we could finally pick up our baby girl! Andrew and I were bouncing off the walls. We got to the animal clinic early. After paying the various boarding charges, they brought Lily Noelle to us. Andrew swears she got bigger over the five days; I couldn't be sure. Lily Noelle was ecstatic, as were we! (So ecstatic, in fact, we totally forgot to take ANY pictures!) We were so incredibly happy to be our small family once again. :) The rest of Saturday night Lily Noelle would not stop checking to make sure we were still there. She also had to be right next to either Andrew or me.

A very exhausted puppy

On Sunday, we made the six hour car ride back to Minnesota. Again, the ride was pretty uneventful. I slept and Andrew drove. This car ride, however, Lily laid on my lap the ENTIRE way home! Let me tell you, a 40 pound puppy is heavy after an hour of laying on you; after six hours, however, that puppy weighs a ton! No matter, I was just happy to have our family back together again! :)

Fast asleep and somehow comfortable?

A 40 pound puppy doesn't exactly fit well in the front seat...

A couple of Sleeping Beauties :)

My People Watcher

Lily loves people (as you might have picked up on from previous posts). She loves to be around people; she loves to play with people; if she can be with people, she will do anything and everything to be with people. Lily's new favorite hobby, though, is people watching. She LOVES to people watch! We live on Main Street of our small town, so there are always people milling around on the street. Since we live on the second floor, Lily gets a pretty good view of all the people coming and going! There are two windows that give Lily the perfect vantage point: the kitchen window and a living room window. Lily is finally tall enough to jump up and stand on two legs to look out the kitchen window.

For the living room window, Lily has found a way to stand on the couch's armrest with two legs and look out!

I actually took the two pictures above when we got our first snowfall of the season. As I sat on the couch doing homework, Lily raced from window to window, watching not only the snow but also the people bustling about on the street below. Gotta love my little people watcher :)