swimming

Soft Claws, Swimming, and Crafts

I know, pretty random title for a blog post! Okay, fellow cat owners, have you heard of Soft Claws?

Soft claws nail caps

They’re nail caps for cats as an alternative to declawing when dealing with scratching. Our Malcolm boy is pretty destructive with his nails. He’s ruined our curtains and fabric chairs and benches, but that’s to be expected. He has been scratching Sadie lately, so we decided to try out Soft Claws (<–affiliate link!).

Malcolm is great with allowing us to clip his nails, so getting the nail caps on him wasn’t too hard. We applied them on Friday night and he has only lost two over the past few days. That’s a win in my book because I thought he would have them all off within minutes. He looks pretty cute with green nails!

Cat with soft claws nail caps

Onto swimming! My mom, Sadie, and I spent the day together last week and decided to take Sadie for a dip in the pool at my parents’ local YMCA and it was a ton of fun!

Sadie took a little bit to warm up to the idea, especially after she accidentally went underwater, but by the end of our outing, she was splashing and screaming with joy. I can’t wait to do it again soon 🙂

I’ve been trying to think of fun little crafts for Sadie to do while we patiently await the arrival of spring weather and can play outside as much as possible. I had the bright idea to buy a couple of bags of dried beans and put them in a big tote with containers and scoops so she could pour the beans and keep it all contained within the tote.

She thought it would be great to put all the beans on the floor and also eat as many as she could stuff into her mouth, lol!

Baby and toddler craft idea with beans

At first I was like, man this is a fail. Then I realized that she was having a lot of fun, even if it didn’t go as I intended. So, I’d say it was a win. I think that’s how it is in life sometimes, too. We plan something and it doesn’t go as we thought it would, but it ends up being awesome in its own way, you know?

Okay, well I better get my day started! We recently filmed a vlog that shows what a day in our life is like, so watch that if you want to get an idea of what we’ll be up to. Basically working, playing, and getting into all sorts of random fun 🙂

Five Things

Hey hey! I feel so behind on all things blog-related. I’m here now, and ready to discuss some random things, as always.

1. A date! I think it was a weekend or two ago that Jimmy and I went to Trax Farms here in Pittsburgh for a little afternoon date and it was lovely. Yes, our idea of a date is going to a farm store 🙂

Girl looking at garden and farm store Trax Farms in Pittsburgh, PA

Speaking of Jimmy and I, our wedding anniversary is tomorrow! I can’t believe we’ve been married four years now. It feels like just yesterday we were walking down the aisle, taking pictures, dancing at our reception, going on our honeymoon, and settling into our new life together. Now we have a menagerie of animals and have been blessed with a sweet little girl on the way. I can’t say it enough: God. Is. Good. 

2. Speaking of our pets… Malcolm turned two in May, and Mavis and Lola each turn 12 this month: 12 months for Mavis and 12 years for Lola!

Black cat laying in windowsillCocker spaniel laying on black lab funny

Lola, Malcolm, and Mavis keep us busy and make our hearts full. We’re constantly laughing (and sometimes crying…) because of these three musketeers. Also of note, Mavis finally went into heat! I’ll probably post more about it in a 12 month update for her!

3. Swimming. Guys, I went swimming for the first time in like three years! Long-time readers will probably remember that I was a competitive swimmer growing up, and then swam for fun at the gym during college and for a year or two after. I finally got back in the pool last week and it felt amazing, aside from all the huffing and puffing I did 😉

Swimming kick board, pull buoy, paddles, and Thermos Intak waterbottle

4. Granola. I made some banana bread granola for our neighbors as a thank you for a baby outfit they gave us and I thought I’d share the recipe. It’s a keeper! When I first posted the recipe, I called it banana nut granola, but I think banana bread granola better suits it.

Banana bread granola in a mason jar

I also have a great chocolate granola recipe and peanut butter granola recipe. I thought I had a few more granola recipes here on the blog, but they’re currently living in my homemade cookbook. I’ll have to post about them soon! Some of the flavors are coconut almond, cranberry orange, and oatmeal raisin. Now I want a bowl of granola with milk.

5. A thank you. Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post! Everyone had such great input and I’m glad I decided to post about the tough stuff we had been going through. You guys rock 🙂