Butter's Blog Takeover

Hello subjects, this is Princess Buttercup. You can call me Butter. My life has changed a lot with all of this Covid-19 stuff. I've gotten a job, and let me just say, I am so essential. Every day at 7:45 am Dad says, "C'mon Butter, let's go to work." Then we load up in the Jeep, and drive to our other house. I then provide a detailed briefing to senior bank staff. Eventually, Dad remembers to feed me breakfast during our morning work. My day is grueling, and takes a lot of poise and self control to have to sit and chew my squeaky hedgehog toy. All. Day. Long. Well, I nap some too. I also have to make sure to snore super loud, so that my staff knows I'm still on the video calls. The best meetings are on Webex. I am totally Webex famous. I have to smile at the camera while everybody tells me how pretty I am. Sometimes I decide to chew the toy on. Dad's. Leg. Which is the highlight of my day. Occasionally I get to take a break, and Momma and the girls come over and play ping pong with me. I still have to babysit Noodle when they come over for my breaks though. After a long, hard day at work making major Ducats, Dad and I go home with dinner waiting for us. Then we go to bed, and the next morning we do it all
again. It's a tough job for a bulldog princess, but I do enjoy being essential to Dad's work day.
Signed,
Your Leader
Butter

Passing the time

Lubbock on today.

It's actually a decent day here in Iowa. Mid sixties and sunny- down side is the 20 mph wind. The puppers are enjoying some time sunning on the porch, so I'll do the same as I post this.

It's a Monday- this I know because Dallas is working and did not yesterday. I may or may not be aware of when Wednesday and Thursday roll around. 

We'll be tweaking our routine a little this week. Our schools here have decided to close for the rest of the year and we are now under voluntary learning. We haven't heard yet if the grades will be simply pass/fail or if there will be actual letter grades. It's frustrating all around. The girls log onto zoom for a small period each class a few days a week. Some calls go better than others. They miss friends and teachers and you can hear how disappointed the teachers are as well.

For me, I have finally gotten my workouts up and running. I still miss my "gym therapy" with my friends, but at least I'm staying in shape. The pop tarts are  not helping but, whatever. Juneau has even started working out with me.

After our workout today we walked Noodle and Cupcake- shorter than normal, it was WINDY ! But we plan to go back out this evening and let Flapjack go too. Tired puppies are good puppies!

The girls have gone for a socially distant lunch with friends. They're bringing their own food and sitting far apart while still hanging out. They facetime their friends a lot, too. It makes me so happy to hear them laughing and being silly.

Aside from my workout and the general house maintenance that has not changed during our coronacation, I spend my time sewing masks for friends and family (let me know if you want some) and making cards. I send out several a week , and I think my next big batch will go to a local nursing home.

We've been playing a lot of games. Video games, board games, card games, random made up games. The kids are enjoying easter egg hunts, actually microbe hunts. Have you seen those? You can check out giantmicrobes.com. Anyway, we have a set of good (antibody, white cell, red cell, plasma and platelet) and a bad set (small pox, typhoid, black death, cholera and Spanish flu) that we hid around the house and then hunt for. Sometimes whoever wins gets to pick lunch that day, sometimes its just bragging rights. either way, it passes the time.

On that note- think I'll go hide them - the girls should be getting home soon. Then more walkies, dinner and games. Not a bad way to pass the time.

Iowa Weather is Broken... Again

Hello all! Another update from central Iowa: the weather is broken. Yes, again. This morning, we woke up to a lawn full of snow, frozen trees and bushes, and continuing flurries for a few hours. Last week however, it hit 81 degrees! Having past the date for the beginning of spring, Iowa has clearly not gotten the message to make it consistently warm, as opposed to teasing us with one nice day and then going back to it's wintery ways. Although frigid, the weather did yield some pretty pictures.

On a more "what we've done recently" note, I've been doing a lot of homework, with the help of my favorite hero Flapjack. He's particularly helpful during AP Physics, and has learned a lot in the past few days by napping in my lap while I do some exam prep. He's also been teaching Noodle how to play tug with him, and Noodle doesn't quite have the hang of it yet which leads to some adorable video moments.

Lubbock has been doing a lot of card-making and mask sewing. Leave a comment or email one of us if you would like some masks, we are happy to send them to you! The same goes for cards, we really love to send the people we care about things to remind them that we are thinking of them, without necessarily having to text all the time. It's about the love that goes into making people things!

Anyway, hope all of you are still doing well! Stay safe!
Until next time,
Maui

Noodle's First Post

Hello! I am Noodle.














My nose is long and thin.
My nose is needly.
It's a needle Noodle nose.














My nose gets me in trouble.
I'm a naughty needle-nosed Noodle.

















The older dogs get annoyed when I'm naughty.
I'm a nuisance Noodle.














But sometimes, I like to be good.
I nap, and nest, and nuzzle.
I'm a napping, nestling, nuzzling Noodle.












I like to chew on my bully stick on car rides.
It gets pretty gross.
I'm a nasty Noodle.














Basically, I'm a nesting, nuzzling, napping, nasty nuisance, needle-nosed naughty Noodle.

Fun Times

Hello again! It has been a few days again, and our little family has kept busy. Lubbock's birthday went well, we've been on lots of dog walkings, and many more crafts have been made. Instead of telling all of these stories, I've decided to just post some pictures.


First up: sidewalk chalk time

 Maui's sunset heart

 Lubbock's chalk bear, for the teddy bear hunts going on

Lubbock is calling this "Coronacation 2020"

Juneau's rainbow











Next up: some cute puppy pics

 Fat Boy and Long Dog hanging out after figuring out how to defeat corona, and how dogs benefit from not. (story about our canine heroes in the previous post)

Everyone but Cupcake out for a walk! They were so hyper. Cupcake had already had a big walk with Noodle, but Noodle never gets too tired to walk.

Flapjack and Long Dog Battle the Corona Aliens

Once upon a time, there was a Fat Boy (that's me, Flapjack) and a Long Dog (that's Noodle). The Fat Boy and the Long Dog lived with their family happily all the time. BUT one day, the aliens came. The aliens are from planet COVID, and they were called the Coronas. And all the families were super scared of the Coronas, and they thought that toilet paper would protect them. But the Fat Boy and the Long Dog knew they had to help their humans. So they went scientifically in search of something to battle them with. After lots of thonking (mostly done by Fat Boy), they found that to get rid of the Coronas, you cover them in blalala (peanut butter) and then lick it off. So, Fat Boy and Long Dog readied themselves with lots of blalala (and even ate some themselves) to go fight the Coronas. But then, they met a Corona. And instead of killing it with blalala, they talked to it, and learned a mysterious secret. If the Coronas were allowed to stay on Earth, the dogs would get to keep their humans at home! This made Fat Boy and Long Dog very happy, because they wanted to snuggle their humans instead of fighting the war. So that Fat Boy and Long Dog gathered their weapon, and went home to give their family extra snuggles so they wouldn't be so sad about being home. And if the rest of the humans stay home to snuggle dogs, and pet cats, and keep gold fish, then the Corona will go away. 
THE END

(Written by a human, but from the bulldog's point of view. He thinks he's a super hero, and that the basset hound is his sidekick. Hope you enjoyed his story!)

April Already!

Hello all! Man, it has been a while since anyone has written on here! Can't believe time moves so quick in social isolation, and that it's already April! School closure for us has been extended, with a preliminary date of going back on May 1. Our family continues to keep busy. I've been working on some optional school work and required AP classes, our whole family goes on dog walks everyday, and today we broke out the sidewalk chalk. Lubbock wrote "Coronacation 2020" at the end of our driveway. Oh, and we finished our lego castle a few days ago! We've also taken to eating a lot of takeout food (while of course practicing appropriate social distancing!) as all restaurants are now on delivery or carry out options. Dallas has been calling this "the corona 15," obviously after the famous "freshman 15."
In other news, Lubbock's birthday is coming up on Wednesday. Juneau ordered The Rock's favorite tequila so that she and Dallas could make her one of The Rock's famous Hawaiian margarita. Lubbock ordered all of her own presents so that she knew she'd get what she wants, but the rest of the family pitched in to give her a gift from the heart. I don't want to spoil it though in case she reads this, but stay tuned and I'll try to post it on here on Wednesday.
Hope everyone is having a good time off! And a special thank you to all essential and front line workers, we are grateful for you every day.
That's all for now, until next time!
-Maui