We haven't been up to much lately. Nick is still out of school, but working hard to get some stuff ready for next semester. He still has a bit of free time, so we have all just been hanging out- playing with Atlas's new and old toys, watching movies, building forts and dancing.

Last night Atlas had fun going to Build A Bear to pick out an outfit for a teddy bear that Aunt Meg and Uncle Landon gave him for Christmas. He has named the bear Willy, which is the most normal name he has ever given anything. Most everything he names we forget what the name is cause he just makes up weird words. Anyways, he picked Willy out some sweet cars pajamas.

Today is Bixler's birthday. He is four years old, which in dog years makes him now older than I am! We made him a "cupcake" out of cheese, carrots and peanut butter. He chomped it down so fast I didn't even have time to get a decent picture. Atlas loves to sing Happy Birthday, so we sang to him then let him have his treat. Bixler is doing really well. We have a new collar on him that tells us how many times he barked while we were away, and the last two times we have gone out he hasn't barked at all. I seriously never thought I would see this day. I can't believe how much more obedient he is. He jumps at the table less, we taught him stay and lay down (two things I never thought he had the capacity for) and he is just generally more laid back. Finally we feel like we can leave the house whenever we need to. Tonight we went to an art exhibit and I wasn't worried at all about leaving him while all the neighbors were home. He still has a few hang ups, like he is scared of other dogs, that we will keep working on with our trainer. Overall I am really happy with him and his progress and it's great to not have all that stress about him anymore.