Puppies!!!!!

She finally had them. Wednesday night she started going into labor. She had the first puppy around 4:30 a.m. I had gone to sleep thinking it might still be awhile, and suddenly heard the sound of a little puppy crying. I walked in the laundry room where we have her set up, and there was a little puppy in the middle of the floor. An hour later we had number two, and in another hour we had number three. I started getting worried when the fourth had not arrived an hour and a half later. We called the vet who told us to bring her in. We decided to have her walk around a little bit and luckily Aaron was there to catch number four in the driveway. Number five arrived about five minutes later. Mom and puppies are doing well and we will hopefully find homes for all of them in the next two months. If you know anyone who is interested please let us know. The animal shelter is providing all of their shots and we are not charging anything for them. We just want them to find good homes.

Our Big Surprise

So when we decided to get a dog for Max, we thought we would skip the puppy phase and adopt an adult. I guess the joke is on us because she is having puppies! It should be any day now. I took her to the vet a week after we adopted her for a general checkup and was told that her belly was very big because she needed to be dewormed. Guess he was VERY, VERY wrong. We dewormed her and she just kept getting bigger.

Aaron and I had to laugh about it. Here Aaron was calling her Cleo the Cow because of her belly and the whole time she was just pregnant. We impressed ourselves with how quick we were to pick up on it. But then again, the vet missed it so we won't feel too bad.

When I told Max, he was thrilled. He has told everyone that it is very exciting news. He asked me if we thought it was exciting and I told him that dad and I used different words to describe the event, but that it was definitely a big deal.

So, I will post pictures soon, and if anyone knows anyone who wants a basset hound/? puppy, they will be ready in about eight weeks!!

Back to school!!

I can not seem to figure out why the first day of school is so monumental, but every year it is. It feels like once you send your kids off to their first day of kindergarten, time speeds up and they grow so fast that you just can not keep up. It seems like just a few months ago we were sending Max to his first day of kindergarten with his new Star Wars backpack and Star Wars tennis shoes, but then reality kicks in and I realize it has been three years ago.

I feel like I am always walking this thin line of wanting to hold on to my kids as they are right now, and then being eager to see who they are becoming. I realize that the only thing I can do is enjoy every single moment with them along the way. I have been VERY fortunate to be at home with them all of these years. I admit that next year will be extremely difficult for me with Celia starting school. It will be an end to a very special time in our lives. I remind myself that all that means is that we will be on a new adventure. How lucky I am to have this group of people to go on that adventure with!!!!



Conner and Max outside of Max's school this morning. Conner has always made sure to be there for Max every year on his first day of school. Conner is going to George Junior High again this year. Although he is still in the junior high, it is his first academic year of high school, so now everything REALLY counts. Conner and I have frequently been repeating the word SCHOLARSHIP together.




Max getting ready to go into his third grade classroom.

What an eight year old boy's tears can accomplish...

So, after swearing that we would never get another dog, we now have a new Basset Hound that Max has named Beauty. She is very, very sweet. We did do things a little differently this time. Instead of getting a puppy that we knew we would not be able to housetrain and not have enough time to be up at night with, etc., we went to the Rogers Animal Shelter and adopted an adult dog. Beauty is approximately three years old, and the nicest dog we could ask for. She is completely housetrained, sleeps in her (open) crate all night long, and walks nicely beside Max when she is on her leash. She likes to sleep and hug which obviously means that her and I will get along well, and she loves to play with the kids. Here are a few pics of our new addition.