Party Time!

Keeley's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day but since that is a Tuesday this year, we had his birthday party today. Here's Keeley waiting patiently for his guests to arrive.Keeley's best bud, Romare, came down from Madison to be here for the party.
He brought his pal, Arnie, too.
Keeley was so thrilled to have his neighbor dogs over in his yard. This is River.
And this is Abby. Keeley loves them! We've got really great neighbors.
Keeley's pal, Oliver, was here too.
And Keeley finally got to meet his first DWB live in the fur! Kirby came up from Chicago just for the party. They got along great together!
The one and only, Tara Tru, was in attendance also.
Here's a photo of some of our decorations. Notice the Irish Terriers on the plates and napkins.
When the humans had cake, the dogs each got a doggie cookie. And each doggie guest also got a couple of cookies to take home for later. One cookie was a cheesy bone and the other was a slice of doggie pizza.
There were also human guests at the party, though less than in years past. This year the human party goers were: Christopher, Mark, Bao, Chou, Susan, Kristin, Rebecca, Kara, Rob, Keeley's grandma, and myself.
Here's Keeley and Romare getting into some bitey-face action.
Keeley usually sleeps all day long. Here he's looking like he's about to fall asleep right in the middle of his party! What a goof!
Kirby and Arnie played a little bitey-face too.
Bitey-face was the name of the game. Here's Kirby and Oliver getting into it. Oliver usually doesn't like this game but he was really lively today.
Including Keeley, there were 8 dogs total. That's the most dogs that Keeley's ever had over all at one time!
After all the guest left, here's Keeley posing with all his loot.
He got a cute elephant stuffie and green tennis ball from Romare. Tara gave Keeley a Hol-ee Roller, and some liver treats. (She also gave me an Irish Terrier decal for the car, and an Irish Terrier purse... and it wasn't even my birthday!) And from Kirby, Keeley got this really cool weird purple puppet thingy, a bag of Grandma Lucy honey treats, and a bunch of delicious looking irish themed doggie cookies. Keeley's grandma also got him some shamrock doggie cookies and a cool "Bark Knight" card.
Keeley is such a lucky birthday boy. He had a great party. As soon as the last guest left, Keeley went right to sleep. He's still sleeping it off now as I blog.

Playdate with Tara Tru

Today Keeley had a playdate with Tara Tru. She's the Irish Terrier that was in our pictures on the post about Irish Fest from this past summer. She's so cute!
I told Keeley that a playdate with a show dog is like dating a super model.
Keeley tried to impress Tara right away with some marking. Unfortunately we were inside when he did this. I don't think he understands how embarrassing it is for his grandma and me. Tara's parents were really understanding though.
Keeley mostly just wanted to sniff everything in Tara's house. Tara did her play bow and tried everything to get Keeley to play with her but he was totally into sniff mode. However, they did do some running around outside together.
They also demonstrated what tricks they know. Tara knows how to do "roll over". While the best thing Keeley's got is "give paw".

We had fun and we really liked Tara and her parents. Next time we'll have to have Tara come to our house. Maybe Keeley will be more lively if he's on his own turf.

Irish Fest

Keeley's grandma and I went to Irish Fest today, but because there are "No Pets Allowed", Keeley went off to daycare so that he could have a fun day too. Even when I'm apart from him, my sweet little pup is always on my mind. As soon as we got there, we went right to the dog area.

Now, I know I said that the rule is "No Pets Allowed" but Irish Fest always has an area to showcase the various breeds of Celtic Canines. It's by invitation only and I'm pretty sure you have to be part of a club too.

There are Irish Setters, Irish Wolfhounds, Irish Water Spaniels, Kerry Blues, Soft Coated Wheatens, Glen of Imaals, and of course, Irish Terriers. Irish Fest is where I first discovered Irish Terriers and where I decided that it was the dog for me.
For a while we watched this cutie run around the agility ring making her own course.

There was a sign by the Irish Terriers that said: "In the body of every Irish Terrier is the spirit of a Leprechaun. If you look into the soft, brown eyes of an Irish Terrier you'll see someone looking back at you. People watch dogs, Irish Terriers watch people." This is certainly true for the Keeley pup. He loves people watching.
We checked out the other dog breeds too but most of the time we stuck with the Irish Terriers.
There's lots of other stuff to see at Irish Fest too (besides the dogs) such as watching Irish Dance, Irish Music (both traditional and rock), watching Tug of War, Hurling, and Currach Races, Plays, Contests, Food, a Parade, Shopping, and more! It's definitely one of our best ethnic fests.
Of all the fests, it's also the most kid friendly. In addition to the children's play area and fountain, there also a children's activity area with projects and games.
When we got home (after picking up Keeley from daycare) we gave him all the Irish goodies that we had gotten for him.
Keeley's grandma got him this Paddy McFest stuffie and a new Irish Fest bandana to add to his collection.
Keeley really seemed to like the stuffie!
Keeley's grandma also got this pillow for herself because she thought it was very fitting.
I got Keeley this Irish tank top. He's not too thrilled to be wearing it, but sure does look cute!