My Bologna's 9th Anniversary

This year, My Bologna's anniversary fell on Dexter's birthday. My Bologna also enjoyed opening his anniversary gift!Nine years ago, on the day after Thanksgiving, Ben and I went to meet this crazy-looking fuzzy dog that we found on the internet.

My Bologna (called "Rex" at the time) was outside in the yard with a bunch of other dogs that his foster mom was caring for and I spotted him right away. "That's him!" I exclaimed.

He was a nervous, skinny puppy of about one year old, scared of people in general and men in particular (probably some sort of abuse history). But he came to me immediately. Once we got him home, it took a while for him to warm up to Ben but now they are best friends. And My Bologna and Dexter also love playing together.

Actual Birthday

Dex had a wonderful actual birthday the day after Thanksgiving. He began the day by opening family presents.

 The excitement on his face as he opened cards and unwrapped gifts was very fun to watch.

Thanks to all our family who thought of Dex on his birthday - he enjoys everything and now has more building materials, crafts, and cars!  He also has a new little desk and chair for doing his mazes.

Thanksgiving Helpers

The day before Thanksgiving, Dexter helped me prepare the sausage, apple, sage stuffing (he washed the celery and apples and mixed all the ingredients together). On Thanksgiving day, he helped Daddy watch the turkey on the grill and roll up crescent rolls.





I was Thankful for my happy, healthy family and home full of love.

Lansing Men Engrossed in Legos

Despite his exhaustion after Chuck-E-Cheese, Dex opened his birthday gifts from Grandma and Gunker when we got home. Legos!

Gunker, Daddy, and Dex went to town on the legos - all three of them probably could have stayed up all night building structures and vehicles!

Gone Goofy with His Crown

Dexter was pretty much delirious by the end of the party. He started getting really goofy with his special Chuck-E-Cheese birthday boy crown.

When we noticed Dexter could no longer focus his eyes, we knew it was time to head home.

Ticket Mania

We were a little concerned about Dexter going into the ticket-blowing booth at Chuck-E-Cheese. He gets "concerned" about loud noises (when he goes to a public restroom, he keeps his ears covered for of someone flushing!). So we brought along his sound-muffling headphones and hoped for the best. Turns out he loved it!  

Birthday Pandemonium

Dex and Ian had a great time at their Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party!

 Playing games with his good friend from Tae Kwon Do, Tabitha.

A little apprehensive playing the balloon popping game with Daddy.

Excited to dig into cake!