Yes, we're going to a party, party!

After I baked the cake this morning, Madeline and I went birthday gift shopping. Madeline couldn't go to the party because food was involved, so she got to ride around town with me and go to a store. We went to Natural Pet Store just up the street and I bought a new bed for Madeline (she's going to move to a bed inside an ex-pen tonight to start her on the road to sleeping on a bed full time) and treats and toys for Annalynn and Ardella.

I had arranged to pick up Marion, a friend of Karren's, to bring her to her first dog birthday party ever, and I picked her up about 1:15 and we drove out together to Karren's house (Ardella was with us, too, of course). When we drove into Karren's driveway, Annalynn was there to meet us. After an enthusiastic hello, we went to Karren's deck where the dogs went around and said hello to all the human guests.



It was a beautiful day as seen here from Karren's deck:



The adults sipped cider and seltzer while the dogs sat around and napped a bit.





The girls were decked out in special attire. Annalynn sported a fancy birthday kerchief:



Ardella wore her elegant collar with a pink flower.



After a few minutes of visiting we decided to give the dogs some cake. We had to get a picture of the cake and the dogs waited patiently. They're only sign of excitement was a constant drip of drool in anticipating of eating (which hopefully you can't see).





Yellow jackets chased us indoors where we finally gave the dogs their cake. First, we made them sit and wait, which was really hard!



They were off to their bowls at the O in Okay.



After cake, Karren showed Marian and I around her home and we saw all the projects she and her husband have been working on all summer. The dogs played chase in the yard with wild abandon and I'm sorry I wasn't carrying my camera.

Eventually we had a delicious carrot cake for adults and then the dogs opened presents. The dogs got some yummy treats from Karren:



And both of us got squeaky toys for the dogs. These are Ardella's - she got a fox and a squirrel, shown here in the picture. Annalynn got a rabbit and ?:



There were infamous antlers (which Madeline does not get):





The best.toy.ever was a puzzle Kong. Annalynn's was blue, Ardella's was orange. We put freeze-dried chicken in them and both were busy for some time.





I had to leave around 4:30 to get back to Madeline, and Marian stayed behind to visit with Karren a little longer. Karren had bought birthday hats for the dogs and had forgotten about them, so we put the hats on the dogs and took some final pictures. They were less than thrilled, but we enjoyed the photo session.





A good time was had by all. We plan to do it again next year. A belated happy birthday to all the other "A" puppies, wherever you may be.