Seasons Greetings from the McBrides

  As we get through another hectic holiday season, the McBride's are pleased to say that we are done with our Christmas shopping and feeling pretty darn prepared for baby thanks to the generous baby showers hosted by family and friends. We are adding the finishing touches to the nursery and gearing up to hibernate until he arrives...

  We are so happy to be together as a family this season, especially as we said good-bye to our beloved Finch last week. We are so thankful for the 8+ years we spent with him, and especially these last 7 or so months that Finch battled cancer. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to enjoy Finch, his love, loyalty, and his silliness for so long - he was our best friend.

  Finch taught Rigby a thing or two as well, and we are very grateful for the positive habits that Rigby picked up from him. Even though this is the crappiest ever, so many family and friends really helped us out with their concern and support. Finch is so, so missed - we really would've liked for him to meet the "little nugget" when he arrives this coming February.

AND thank goodness for Rigby - not sure if we would be making it through this without his cuddles.

  Before it got *too cold, we had the chance to get these great family photos with our good friend Erin of Erin Smith Photography - they turned out perfectly.

we had to laugh and play around about some of those over-the-top couples pregnancy photos
it just got a little silly after that...

Pup Windows!!

  Part of Finch and Rigby's main jobs are to be good watchers. They keep an eye on what's going on, and let us know if they are concerned with what they see...
  Back in the Mpls house, Finch would perch himself on the couch, and look out the front window ALL the time - occasionally a little "burf" or soft growl would be Finch's way of letting us know that he was looking out for us.
  In the Minnetonka house, we don't have any windows for the pups to look out of except for the sliding glass deck door (where Rigby is occasionally concerned with the passing chipmunk or squirrel) or the downstairs office window (but we're not down there as often...)
  So! We decided to add 2 Pet Peek Windows into our deck fence!

image from the website: this is a really short fence or a really tall dog....

Here is OUR more realistic Before & After:

Finch supervising...

Rigby getting in the way...

  The pups REALLY love their new peek windows - Rigby oftens asks to go outside JUST to use them. He enjoyed keeping an eye out for Trick-or-Treaters headed our way

Happy Birthday Rigby!!

  A look back at Rigby's First Year:

A quick nap on cousin Owen and a BIG hug from cousin Brooke!

  Last September we picked up our 8 wk, 5 lb pup and named him Rigby - he was tinier than we expected (Finch had been 8 lbs at 8 weeks), and proved to a lot naughtier and a lot more work than Finch was at that age. Kevin is convinced that I just don't remember how Finch was when he was really young - I remember Finch being a silly, energetic pup who jumped up on guests and pulled too hard on his leash until I got him trained - which didn't take very long.  The main difference of course was that Finch was an only child, and it was just me, single, living on my own at the tiny house in Minneapolis - before Kevin :) I had plenty of one-on-one time to spend with my boy Finch. Potty training had been a breeze and he learned to "shake hands" in 10 min. Sure there were accidents - but with Rigby!! Thank God we purchased a Bissel Spotbot, little spot wet-vac. It was used VERY often, and Kevin swears it saved our marriage :)

Finch: What are you doing with that little guy? I lick your face!!

  Right away, Rigby's first day home, he connected with his new, big brother, Finch. Although we got the feeling that Finch was more annoyed by this new pup, he tolerated his new little bro's constant snuggling - oh my goodness the snuggling! It's like they were ALWAYS posing for a Christmas card.

Finch really liked the little bed that Rigby got from Tabitha....and Ribgy fit in there too...

  Now, 10 months later, Rigby is a sweetie pup who...

-  runs around the backyard like a crazy man,

- thinks he's a lap dog,

- sneaks into our bed in the middle of the night and carefully lays down at the bottom of the bed between us so as not to get busted,

- prefers to eat out of Finch's bowl

- LOVES going into his kennel (he did NOT learn that from Finch)

- is best friends with Finch - they wrestle everyday, and I think Finch is younger because of it :)

Rigby is 1 year old today and we love him so!

Feel Better Finch!

 Our pup Finch hasn't been feeling 100%. After noticing an egg sized lump developed on (in?) Finch's throat, we brought him into the vet - who then referred us to a doggy-oncologist. Diagnosis: T-cell Lymphoma. The doctor is the best and we started chemo right away.
  Chemo for dogs is very different than chemo for people. No losing hair, no feeling really ill. We go in every week to check white blood cell counts and for treatment. Every few weeks will be a take home, 4 day, chemo pill.
  So far, Finch is 3 treatments in, and already acting younger! His egg-lump is not even there, and his lymph nodes are back to normal size. He's doing the best he can be considering the circumstances :)

Finch was so brave for his first round of chemo. They cuddle him and feed him treats the whole time!

The day after Finch's first chemo, he got extra special cuddle time from Rigby.

Having a good time at the cabin last weekend.
left to right: Rocko, Rigby, Finch

  Everyone is being so encouraging and supportive...

...Remember this tee from Target I showed off a few weeks back?
Featuring our very own Finch on a skateboard?

We were SO pumped to see so many really handsome little guys sporting their very own Finch tees! What support!

Left: Tristan, 7 months old, from Alabama. We met Tristan's mom and dad on on our honeymoon cruise - we got married the same day!!

Middle: Liam, 3 years old, from Hawaii. Kevin's uncle Tom's great-nephew is demonstrating his sweet kick-flip skate moves - just like Finch!

Right: Gabe, My cousin Tiffany's little one really looks like he's really a fan of his Finch tee!

Left: Otto, 4 years old. Our neighbor's son from down the street; when asked "Who is on your shirt?" Otto responds "RIGBY!!!"
Right: Owen, 2 years old. Our very own special nephew Owen prefers Finch on his shirt, but not so much in person (he's still a little spooked by 90lb Finch whose face is *exactly eye level...)

Thanks for the support guys!!!

Finch's Target Tee!

  You can find a skateboarding Finch tee on sale at Target now!! For Toddler Boy sizes 12mo. - 5T, my textile designer friend JP used a photo of Finch to create this funny tee - only $5! Available in store and online :)

  Finch! You're famous!

Oh Rigby

  Rigby sure loves his brother Finch - like on bath day: Rigby went first, and then Kevin took Finch into the bathroom for his turn.

   Here is Rigby waiting ever so patiently for big bro to come out...

  And all Little Riggs wanted to do was snuggle when he came home, after his "fix'n surgery", sporting his lovely new cone (which he broke by day 4, and we had to buy a new one...).

McBrides All Fired Up!

   Not that our house isn't warm, its our fireplaces that are lacking in the warmth department - and that just doesn't make any sense right?
   Back when we came across our house during the house hunt, we thought the two wood burning fireplaces were a major bonus. Kevin was even pumped about chopping wood! Our home inspection didn't turn up any issues with either fireplace, so we were pretty bummed when we tried our first fire upstairs last winter to find that the downstairs smelled like smoke - REALLY bad. So we tried to master the cross-ventilation and ensure that all the smoke was sucked up the chimney where it belonged and had a guy out to clean the chimney and inspect the flue, etc.
   It was discovered that our downstairs fire-box was cracked and would not be suitable for a fire unless fixed, which would be SUPER costly, and that there was something else going on that would make it pretty near impossible not to have a smokey-smelling basement when using the fireplace upstairs. Lame!
   SO! It's was decided! Gas inserts it is! We shopped around at a few fireplace retailers and were really impressed with Fireside Hearth & Home - not far from our place in Minnetonka, MN.

BEFORE = all that brass!

Left: Upstairs Fireplace with stone ledge hearth, Right: with solid brick hearth
- both complete with big brass surround and good old Chicago Brick

Ripped out!

Installed....kind of...doesn't look the greatest, but it sat this way for a week so the inspector could
come by - he barely glanced at it and said "looks good"

And now!!!

The ALL NEW upstairs fireplace along side our recently hung artwork wall

a look at our mantel - as holiday as it got after the boutique was over

And here is how downstairs turned out. We rehung the mantel - after it fell off and hit me in the head last year... Is my head okay? You can decide.

We hung this great framed print from Society6 called "Lost In Stripes" by Bianca Green + added this fun orange, tin clock I picked up at General Store of Minnetonka, along with a little white ceramic luminary, with 'punched' holes that allow the candlelight to glow through, that we nabbed from Crabtree Ceramics @ Finch's Boutique in Dec.

We went with a black surround for downstairs with a nice double-line frame with curved top.

What do you think of the fireplaces Finch & Rigby?

We're all warm and cozy here at the McBride's now!