Baby loves chicken

Did you know that chicken comes in 2 forms? The animal and the food. Recently I have discovered a new love for both of them!

When Sr. Gregorio came to visit last week he brought some presents with him. It was just like Santa coming to town, but with a blond beard and a button down shirt instead of the red suit. {I might be wittle, but I still know all about Santa!}. One of the surprises Santa Greg brought was a special gift from his big doggie boy, Sol. Apparently where Sol lives in the United States there is a club for doggie toys of the month. How cool is that? Only in America........the place where doggie dreams can come true!

Sol's present to me was a chicken - well, a gallo is what we Chapines call them. It is nearly as big as me! I wasn't too sure what to do with it at first, but Sr. G showed me how the big dogs play. Watch me show that Guy who's boss!

Meeting Gallo from Krista on Vimeo.

Thanks for giving away one of your toys to this little 3rd World puppy girl, Sol! Giving to the poor is really generous!

After Sr. Greg left Guatemala my tummy started hurting a little bit. The doggie doctor said I probably got into something that I shouldn't have {imagine that!} and that it was normal for puppies to get sick sometimes. So lately I haven't always wanted to eat my food. Mami and papi were getting a little worried, so one evening while mami was working really late papi whipped me up something special. Chicken - without the feathers. I scarfed it down fast and boy was it delicious! Plus it didn't even upset my tummy. That night papi sent mami a text message that said "Baby Loves Chicken" - and yes sir, he was right! Mimi loves chicken! Fire up that grill again papi!

Bye Bye Buddy

The other day my mami was really sad. When I asked her why she told me it was because one of her favorite doggies in the whole wide world had passed away. He was her family's pet and a little brother to my mami & her brother. He was my Uncle Riley. Although I never got to meet him, I did mami did tell me some stories about him and I could tell that she loved him just as much as she loves me.

When my mami was 15 years old, her family had another pet, Toby, that also passed away. The following summer when they felt like they were ready for another pet, they went to go pick up Riley Jaxx. Mami, Uncle Ryan and Grandmami drove about an hour away to get him and brought him back home in a laundry basket (kind of like how I spent first few days). He was really little and they were all a little nervous to live with something so little, but as time went on, he grew up and became their best pal.

Mami says that Riley was smart. He was a loyal friend and protector to the family. He played in the yard, danced for treats, chased them in circles around the house and cuddled up with them every night. He never wanted to leave their sides. When mami left for college, Riley became Uncle Ryan's best friend. And then one day when Uncle Ryan moved away too, Riley spent his time with Grandmami & Grandpapi. The whole family loved him very much.

Mami knew that Uncle Riley was getting older and sometimes had a hard time seeing and hearing, but still it is very sad for her and all of her family. My mami knows how to find a silver lining in every sad story though. She said the day we went out to enjoy the kites was a celebration for All Saint's Day. The kites work like messengers to let the people in Heaven know that their families still love them and think about them and want to communicate with them. Mami says that although it is really sad that Uncle Riley passed away, it is nice to know that it happened on such an important day and for sure now Uncle Riley is an angel in Heaven. Mami says he is my angel and will watch over me and protect me.

She also told me that we don't need to be sad because Uncle Riley is happy now. He isn't hurting and he isn't lonely. He misses his people family, but he has meet up with his angel family. Probably even right now, Uncle Riley is froliking and playing in a park with some of our family's other special people who live in Heaven too, like Toby & his sister Henni. Mami said that she knows her Mama Master is playing with them too. She really loved animals. I think even when we go back to Colorado we will carry on the Guatemalan tradition and always fly a kite on that day in honor of our friends in Heaven.

Certainly I wish that I could have met my Uncle Riley, but I'm happy to know that he had such a great life. It makes me certain that I will have a good life too filled with lots of love.

Perfectly Peanut Butter

Hello! It's mami here. Today I thought I'd share with you the recipe for one of Mia's most favorite snacks. Since we don't exactly have a PetSmart right around the corner here in Antigua, I was hard stretched to find good training treats for our little puppy girl. But then it came to me. If people can make their babies homemade natural baby food, why can't I do the same for my Mia? So I jumped right online and found a few good sites with dog treat recipes. A lot of the treats were quite complicated and since sometimes I'm not sure where I can find a light bulb in this town, let alone wheat germ, I stuck to what looked do-able and delicious. Our dog growing up, Riley Jaxx (rest in peace buddy), was mad about about peanut butter treats, so immediately I sought out a good peanut butter recipe that I'm happy to share with you.

Mia's Peanut Butter Poppers
1 cup creamy peanut butter (*we use Esmeralda All Natural found only here in Guatemala)
1 cup milk
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 cups wheat flour (or white if you must)

Mix together the PB and milk. Add in the baking powder and flour little by little, until you have a dough like consistency. Now the original recipe suggests rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes with cookie cutters, but since we hoped to use these snacks for training treats I thought small little balls were a better bet (this part takes some time). Pop them in the oven at 375 on a non-stick baking sheet for about 10 minutes, rolling them around a few times to avoid burning. When they begin to look slightly browned, they're done. Cool and store. (We purchased some great little glass jars and now keep the poppers in every room of the house.)

(Note: I usually half the recipe - it makes a whole lot of poppers!)

Scrumptious! They're all natural and not too bad, if I do say so myself. Think Peanut Butter Captain Crunch without all the sugar. Mia goes nutso for them! A girl after her mother's own heart! So far we've been able to teach her to come, sit and fetch, all by using the poppers! Who knows what the future holds with these treats!

My 1st Real Adventure

We woke up bright and early Sunday morning to celebrate El Día de Los Difuntos (Day of the Deceased). It's a big deal holiday here in Guatemala and since I'm Chapina mami & papi wanted me to experience part of my culture. We loaded into the car, stopped by to pick up my friends Alan & Louise and we were on our way to Santiago Sacatepéquez where the big celebration of kites happens every year on November 1st.

This was my first real adventure with my adventure loving parents, so I really wanted to show them that I know how to behave like a big puppy girl. Boy oh boy did we have fun! We walked a lot, and when I couldn't walk anymore papi carried me. Finally we reached the big cemetery where many of the locals had decorated the tombs of their family members with pine needles, marigolds and chrysanthemums. It was really beautiful. Then a little later on the big kites got raised. Wowee, they were really colorful and pretty. There were bunches and bunches of people at the festival, but not very many doggies - just me, so I got lots of attentions. I liked it.

Mami & papi found a seat on the cemetery wall and watch all of the people assemble the big kites while I did a bit of exploring all by myself.

Mami took about 300 photos of the kites (& me).
(I look scared in this photo, but really I wasn't!)

I made friends with some nice boys.

After a while I took a nap while mami & papi ate tacos.

Then we went back to see the rest of the kites.

Here are my friends Alan & Louise with Papi.

It was the coolest day ever.

I'm pretty sure that I did a good job on this adventure. Mami & papi are already talking about where we'll go next. Yipee!

I'm Papi's Girl!

I love it when Papi & I get to spend quality time together. Sure I go with him most days to the office, but usually he is too busy to spend a lot of time with me. My papi works hard, so he can bring home the puppy chow! Sometimes in the evenings we sit together and watch sports. Right now we're watching the World Series. I love my papi.

Paper or Plastic?

I know reusable is all the rage, but I must admit, I'm a plastic girl myself. Lucky for me, Guatemala also has a bit of an obsession with plastic. They even make their own brand of plastic - Guateplast. Everywhere mami & papi go, someone wants to give them something in a plastic bag even when they bring along their own reusable bags, so we have quite a collection of them at home. Ever since the day they brought me home, I've been sneaking away to my secret hiding place in the kitchen. We have these ugly open front cabinets in our kitchen. Mami hates them, but I like how they give me easy access to my little nest amongst the plastic bags. They're really quite comfortable to curl up in (and fun to play with too!). Pretty much every time I can't be found, the first place they check is the kitchen and I'm usually there taking a little catpup nap.

Recently papi installed the cabinet curtains that mami made to hide our junk. At first I was worried that they weren't going to let me go into my nest anymore, but that's not the case at all. Mami & papi really love me and they know that I always behave well in my secret hiding place.

this is from when I was willy wittle

I'm all wet from helping papi with the watering

it makes a good pillow too!

taking my morning nap in the nest

mami's new curtains don't stop me!

True Love

Thought of the day
There's no limit to a mami's love....