Fun Christmas Puggie Stuff!

My Aunt Stacy (again, not really my Aunt but Mom makes me call all of her best friends Aunt So&So...) sent us a present in the mail yesterday! LOOK at this ornament!

Clearly Mom is a terrible photographer & doesn't really know how to work her camera especially for close-up shots. But that puggie is trying to scratch his ear!

She got it at Hallmark. It's pretty cute, I must admit. I shall name him..."Vito."

And Grandma sent Mom these gift bags!

I mean, that pug is cute too, but clearly not as cute as Yours Truly. I mean, it might be as cute as Vinny but I think we all know that Vinny falls below me on the Cuteness Scale. Agreed? I thought so. Mom looked on the tag and apparently Grandma got these bags at a store called Alco where she lives - it's like a discount Dollar Store kind of place. (PS again displaying Mom's shoddy camera work - this Not-As-Cute-As-Me-But-Maybe-As-Cute-As-Vinny pug's Santa hat trim is all glittery!)

Do you guys have fun Christmas puggie stuff?

Later, friends!

Happy Pugsgiving!

I think someone is glad to be home.

And Pippa's brothers don't seem to mind that she is back either.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!

Pictures with Santa!

Saturday was a big day. First we had to go to the groomer and get our nails done and our butts squeezed. Oh, both of those are my FAVORITE. Mom finally got to witness us getting our nails done and boy did we both throw a fit! Mom kept laughing. Vinny & I were NOT laughing. Miss Amy at the groomer said that ALL pugs act the same way - like they are about to be thrown in to a pit of fire. I say it's totally justified.

THEN we went to a pet store. I love going to pet stores! Vinny though didn't react very well. He apparently just wanted to go home, especially when we went upstairs and this guy in a red suit picked us both up. And it went a little something like this:

Vinny was looking at Mom to save him. Ha, ha, ha.

Vinny doesn't like being held facing outwards (he's a real weirdo, that one), so they got better with time. As you can see though, I freakin' LOVE being the center of attention! I bet you thought it would be the other way around - that I would be the grumpy one. WRONG! Look at me just hamming it up for the camera! Woo-hoo!!

Wheeeeeee!

OH! And our friend Lucy and her Mom Melinda came too. Lucy didn't start out so great either.

This is Mom's FAVE!

But they finally got some really "traditionally" good ones too!

And after all of that, we had to go adopt my stupid brother Vinny. Moving on.

Later, friends!

PS. these were done by David Carlyon from Darkwood Studios at Pets in the City. He's amazing and photographs the beautiful stray dogs in East St. Louis that are helped by Gateway Pet Guardians, and the proceeds from these photos went to them!

Our Holiday Card from Shutterfly!

Our foster pugs have meant so much to us this year, so we wanted to honor them in our Holiday Card! And thanks to Shutterfly, we got to do that at a big discount (plus free shipping from a standard coupon on their site)!

We love you Louie and Pippa, and yes, Vito even loves Vinny, as he finally made his way in to our family officially after a long 5 months, and 3 surgeries. And this Thanksgiving, we are thankful for all of our pug friends & family in blogville, and most especially, for Pippa being found safe & sound and ready to celebrate her first Christmas with her forever family (and we are told, lots of presents coming her way!).

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Gotcha Day, Vinny!

It's official - he's staying!

To celebrate, the boys got their pictures taken with Santa today. It all went surprisingly well. Except that I definitely need to invest in one of those double-leash contraptions. We'll share the pictures with you when they arrive via email this week.

We love you, Vincent! Even Vito.

Thank you for finding us.

THANKS, GAMPY!!!!

Oh my pugness. I got an EXTRA-SPECIAL gift in the mail today!! Guess who it was from??? PAYTON'S GAMPY! He sent me a Cardinals jersey! And it is a super nice satiny one!

Now you know that I don't care much for clothing. But I do care a LOT for the Cardinals, so I am able to make some clothing-exceptions.

Ah, satiny and soft. See how happy I am?

I already had a Cardinals jersey BUT it was not as nice as this one! It was that cheap-o "polyester" stuff. So guess who that jersey belongs to now? You're right! My very unimportant FOSTER brother, Vinny! HA HA HA!

Vinny in his itchy cheap polyester version.

I have UPGRADED now, thanks to Payton's Gampy! It was SOOOOOO nice of him! He said Payton's Cub-fan parents have brainwashed her so much that they wouldn't even allow her to try it on. Oh that's so sad. I always pity those who are born Cubs fans and just don't know any better. Thank goodness I was raised right, just like Gampy! GO CARDS and thank you again SO much, Gampy!!


Gampy, when we meet in person I will be sure to wear my jersey!

PS Saturday is the big day when supposedly Vinny becomes my brother forever. Bah humbug.

Jeez, do you have to sit so close to me?

Later, friends!

Shutterfly 2011 Promotion!

Thanks to Minnie & Mack's recommendation, we are participating in the Shutterfly Promotion and we are very excited about it! Shutterfly has great cards for all seasons, photo books (a friend made one for all of us from a girls' trip to Napa two years ago and it's the perfect keepsake!), address labels - you name it, if it involves pictures, they've got it.

We also really like that Shutterfly has cards that can be "holiday-neutral" as we have lots of Jewish friends who we want to share cards with but "Merry Christmas!" splashed all over it just doesn't seem appropriate.

We have our Holiday Card all designed, just waiting to hit "Order" on payday! :) We hope to be able to share it with you soon! And don't worry about Vito, it doesn't involve ANY hats! We went with a snowman theme as that is what all of my holiday decorations are - no Santas for me!

PS, speaking of Santa don't tell Vito or Vinny they are going to get their picture made with Santa on Saturday. :)

SHE'S HOME!!!!

PIPPA IS HOME!! The details are a little sketchy, but someone called Pippa's mom this morning after finding her in the road more than 10 miles away. She was not thin, as though someone had been feeding her, and she smelled like cigarette smoke. She did not look like she had been living in the woods for 6 days. We still believe that someone took her and then dumped her as pressure was being put on.

Whatever the case, she is HOME and her Mom said she looks great and after a nice bath, she is sleeping on her favorite wine rug in the kitchen.

Thank you all for your prayers, for linking her to your blog, and for your support! We are all just thrilled.

This is My Dog Bed

I confirmed for Mom tonight that she never needs to waste another penny on a dog bed.


Later friends.

Dog Beds (and Pippa of course)

I love dog beds. Mom has bought me 3 of them now and I've destroyed every last one of them. I mean, they are just giant stuffed toys right?

Sure, it looks smushy and cozy like we should just looooove to curl up in there. Nah, why do that when we can tear them open?

You can see that Vinny is a very good student.

Later, friends!

PS Vito's mom here. There has still been no news about Pippa. Her mom is NOT giving up though and is posting her everywhere possible, and still searching. We really believe at this point that she had to have been stolen. Lola & Tucker's mom offered to post Pippa on their blogs so we sent her some information on Pippa. If you are interested in doing the same (even if you aren't in the area, someone reading your blog might be), just contact me and I will send you info & pictures. We are absolutely desperate to find her, no matter in what condition. We can't think of anything else until then. Her mom says she cries every time she sees a pink toy and keeps replaying every second of that day wishing she had done something differently. It is heartbreaking. As she said "Dogs aren't 'just dogs' to me - they are family and Pippa is family." Pippa's mom has saved so many dogs over the years and has dedicated countless hours and her own money to these babies. All of her pugs are rescues, but she works with all breeds at the shelter she volunteers at (where she saved both Pippa and my Vinny). It's so unfair that she is going through this.

Hug your pups tight, even if they sneeze in your face like Vito did to me last night after I told him that hug was for Pippa.

Below are some more pictures of Pippa from her first night at our house on June 2 of this year (my birthday!) while she was still feeling good:

Pippa is Missing

Vito's Mom here. Very sadly, after my happy update on Pippa the other day, she is missing. On Monday, 11/7 at 2pm, her mom let Pippa and her 3 pug brothers outside to do their business. They live in a very rural area in Southern Missouri on 35 acres. She watched them go to their "usual potty spot" and went back in the house (leaving the door open) for less than 2 minutes. Two of the pugs came back inside as her mom was going out to call them all in, but Pippa and her pug/boxer mix-brother, Rosco, did not come in. She found Rosco at the pond, located halfway between the house and the road (a very long driveway), which she said was very unusual for them to go that far on a routine potty break. Pippa was nowhere to be found. The land is very wide open before the woods begin, and she should have been seen. She is very slow and not a runner, and she never leaves her brothers' sides.

Needless to say, panic ensued. Her mom got on her ATV and started to search the property immediately and in no time had 5 other people on ATV's helping her. There has been no sign of her. Everyone is devastated and heartbroken, and are still searching. The pond where Rosco was found was spotlighted to see if she had fallen in, and searched again today (it is very shallow). The suspicion now is that she may have been stolen.

A big reward is being offered and has been publicized on 3 radio stations, a large ad is coming out in the newspaper there tonight, fliers have been given to every house in a 5 mile radius, and all of the surrounding land has been searched by ATV, and foot when possible.

Please keep Pippa in your prayers, as well as her family. They are beside themselves. We are hoping that someone has her and will be motivated by the reward to return her.

We love you, Pippa. Come home soon.