Archive for February, 2018

  • The Year of the Dog

    Date: 2018.02.18 | Category: Family Life

    Our children love to celebrate Lunar New Year, which is the Chinese New Year!  We make all their favorites – chicken feet, steamed buns, potstickers, rice, noodles, and many other spicy dishes.  They look forward to this holiday and it is fun decorating our house and learning more about their birth country.

    This year is the “Year of the Dog” and our family set out to do it right.  Ok, not really, none of this was really planned.   Here is how the story played out.

    This past fall we set out to get a puppy.  One of our older dogs had a stroke and we had to let him go.  Everyone was sad that Sammi was gone.  Snickers, our other eight year old dog, seemed very sad and alone.   Snickers is a cockapoo and one of the best dogs around.   Dan and I had never been big fans of indoor or small dogs, but Snickers won us over.  We initially got him for Hope when she was about 12.  We had hoped that as she entered her teenage years she would come to understand what it meant to care for something else and be responsible for the care of this animal.

    Snickers and Hope have a sweet bond.  Snickers is seriously the best dog.  He knows who needs hugs.  He knows who is getting sick.  You can always find him sleeping next to the person who needs him most.  So when we set out to get another puppy we looked for a cockapoo and hoped for find one with the same personality as Snickers.  We found this sweet puppy and fell in love.

    She is a blue merle cockapoo puppy that is bouncy and ready to please everyone.  Gracie is who she has bonded with and Max and Lainey help to care for this sweet, smart puppy.

    As we were deciding to purchase Doodle, Dan asked if J.J. could hold the little white teddy bear puppy.  The teddy bear puppy climbed on J.J.’s lap, licked J.J.’s face a couple of times and fell asleep in J.J.’s arms.  Suddenly it looked as though we were purchasing two puppies.  I mean how do you say no to this?

    Lily is her name and she is a sweet, little puppy.

    Evie Faith and J.J. take care of Lily and make sure she gets lots and lots of love.

    After being home for a few days, we noticed that Doodle was going to Gracie and Lily was definitely J.J.’s puppy which left Elyse, who also shared a room with the girls, without a puppy.   Dan and I watched Elyse and could tell she was feeling left out even though she never said anything.  Dan started searching for another puppy.  I mean at this point one more puppy wasn’t going to make a lot of difference.  Right? Hahaha

    Dan brought up the idea of another puppy.  Elyse was talking about how she loves golden doodles and she loves their curly, apricot hair.  Elyse is very active and loves to go fast in her wheelchair.  We knew Elyse needed a puppy that was playful and could keep up with her.   Dan found this pretty little girl and we made plans to go get her.

    Elyse named her puppy Noodle.  Maisey and Elyse love Noodle, who is very laid back and eager to please.

    While I was looking at the site, I noticed there was one more puppy available.  The little brother to Noodle.  I asked the owner about him and she said there were a couple of people trying to decide if he was the right puppy for them.  I loved his sweet face.  The owner told me about his sweet disposition.  She even mentioned that he would make a great therapy puppy.   I tried to talk Elyse into getting this little guy but she was set on her puppy.  I guess I looked like I needed a puppy too because Dan told me to tell the owner that we would take both puppies.

    So now I have a puppy too.  His name is Paladin and everyone loves him.  He is mellower than mellow.  He truly is such a sweet puppy.  He is just the right puppy for Jasmine to hold on her lap.  She isn’t able to hang on to much, but he is so chill he just calmly sits on her lap.

    Ben and Liam help in caring for Paladin.  The truth is everyone LOVES Pali.   He’s just a sweet puppy.

    While we were picking up Paladin and Noodle we noticed a little beagle puppy that the owner was holding.  She said this beagle pup was the runt of the litter and they had to keep him separated.  I told Dan to hold the puppy but he refused.  He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to say “No” to this face if he actually held the puppy.  We already had four puppies and we certainly didn’t need anymore.

    But as you can see that didn’t last long…

    Dan has wanted a beagle puppy since he was little.  Hope started talking about having a puppy too and how she would take care of it.  We were worried about the puppy getting along with the other dogs and whether he would be a howler or not.  We talked to the owner and she said that this puppy was sweet and was known to whine for attention but wasn’t a big howler.  Hope convinced Dan that if the puppy didn’t get along with the others that she would take him to her apartment when she moved out in May.

    And Ripley came home with us the next week.   Hope and Eli LOVE their beagle pup.

    All the puppies get along great.  Someone asked how we get children and puppies to get along.  I wish I had some great advice, but I don’t.   It just seems to happen.

    Here is how they sleep.

    The puppies have brought a little more chaos into the home but a whole lot more love too.  Watching the kids and puppies play together is so dang cute.  They chase each other in circles around the house.   The puppies even snuggle up next to Lainey and give her some love.

    The puppies hang out with the kids during school time.

    And they even like to go for rides in the bus.

    Our puppies certainly give new meaning to the “Year of the Dog” but all in all it’s been a wonderful adventure and I wouldn’t change a thing.   Five puppies isn’t really as crazy as it seems when there is this much love to go around.

    Happy New Year everyone!

    May peace and love fill your heart, beauty fill your world, and contentment and joy fill your days!

     

  • 28 Days of Hearts

    Date: 2018.02.05 | Category: Congenital Heart Defect, Uncategorized

    Sharing Evie’s story this year on the 28 Days of Hearts blog…

    http://www.28daysofhearts.com/2018/02/day-5-evie-eli.html?m=1

    Here are our previous years stories.

    28 Days of Hearts

    28 Days of Hearts

    28 Days of Hearts