Surprise!!!

Chad told me on Monday night that there was a sale for Christmas that he wanted to hit that night at 7:30 so he asked me if it was okay if I put the kids to bed by myself. 

A sale right at 7:30?? I thought that was weird but agreed that he could go. When he left he asked me not to go to bed until he got back. Once again, I thought, "this is weird". But agreed.

Surprise!

Meet Duke. Duke is a Brittany. Poor guy came to us half starved and I think a bit neglected. But no worries, In our capable hands he is fattening up nicely.

Chad is brave... don't ya think?

 

And this is a little of what we've been up to ever since

The kids loooove him! I wish I could have had a video camera running in the morning when we took him in to Lilia's room. She rolled over and up and then paused on her hands and knees, thrust her head forward with a look of utter surprise and a bit of bewilderment and exclaimed, "OH!" and then just paused and stared. Adorable. She hasn't stopped loving on him since.

Jaedyn also all day long has asked to go outside and play with Duke. On Tessa days, this is her babysitter who she is normally very excited to see, she exclaims "I don't wanna go! I wanna spend time with Duke!" I think she was also kind of traumatized with our last dog experience cuz she has several times told me, "Mommy I want Duke to stay with us. I don't want him to go away". 

Poor Charlie. He's in a better home now but a part of me will always miss him. Can't say as much for Chad. We made the right decision giving him away. I think our last place was too small for two alpha males :)

Still I was nervous when Chad brought Duke home. I was under the impression that Chad did not like living with dogs. I really didn't think we'd ever have another. My first reaction when I saw Duke was utter shock. When I got over that I was just nervous... "uh Chad, are you sure?"

Like I said... she literally does not stop loving on him!

And thankfully we had some nice weather before this most recent snowstorm hit so we could enjoy the outdoors with him. He really needs to learn to walk on a leash!

He's so great with the kids, big enough to play and have fun with, knows his boundaries, doesn't jump on the kids, sniff crotches, or lick. He also lets the kids crawl on him, and he's very gentle. Almost too gentle! Oh and he's 2... so the puppy-isms are pretty much gone.

It's evident that he was an outdoor dog with little leash experience and not much exposure to books, kids toys and countertops! Ack. But he's a quick learner.

And this is what Chad brought home and surprised us with on Wednesday night. Think there's a connection?

Halloween

What I get to wake up to. Paha! Chad's hair was so realistic people didn't need to see his blades to know he was wolverine. And he went to work like this! He hasn't had a haircut in 3 months. Poor man. I postponed family pictures because of this costume. We just had them done this last weekend. Sadly, Chad declined the haircut and facial shave that I was hoping would take place following Halloween. Our pictures are gonna be great!

Making Princess Hair

Oh my sweet adorable little scarecrow! Lilia loved her costume! If you look closely you can see her little burlap patches on her shirt and hat that transform the costume from a Fall Fairy to a fancy scarecrow. I also drew a little nose on her following the photo shoot. orange/yellow eye-shadow on the nose with little stitches drawn on with eyeliner. Which surprisingly stayed on her face all night long.

She was quite the trick or treater too! Crawling up the steps, knocking on the door, grabbing a hand full of candy, and carrying her candy bucket the whole time!

So thrilled. So cute.

I can't believe I don't have a finished picture of our little Sleeping Beauty. Shouldn't be hard to get as she hasn't taken this off since... except to go to church. Then she was back in it for her nap. Haha. She loves it! But the finished product includes the pointed little shoulders and a crown. Mom did all the hard work on this one. She interpreted the directions which were crazy! And missing vital parts!

Jaedyn was very polite at the doors. She continued to call it "Sticker treating", hehe and said "thank you" at every door. She cut the trick-or-treating short however when she asked for dinner. Oops. In our party's defense, we were trying to go while it was still light and warmer outside.

Princess pose.

Ok now this one is embarrassing! I wasn't gonna dress up for Halloween but we were going to a Halloween party and Chad told me, "Just dress up in something Rachel McAdams would wear." I've occasionally been told that I look like the actress from The Notebook. So I tried. I saw the picture he took and immediately regretted having tried. I look nothing like her! Ah well. I'm sure people just thought I was a 50's chick or something.