A Historic Day

Today its official.  We have adopted a new member of the family.  Mikey is ours to keep.  Hard to believe, I know.

Here's what we know about him so far.  He was born April 26, 2013, and now we can add he was adopted June 20, 2013, from a rescue organization called Hands, Hearts and Paws.  The name they  had given him was "Spirit" and his mom was "Gypsy."  He weighed 2.5 lbs when we first met him.  We dont know his current weight.  He's a sleepy guy so far but that's normal for puppies.  He is far less rambunctious than his sisters who left us today.  They were much more feisty and yappy so Mikey seems to be a "chill" puppy.  We'll see if things stay that way as we get to know him more.  Here's some pictures of that adorable little guy... and I should note that if you ever told me that I would be one of those people showing everyone pictures of their dog, I would have NEVER believed you.  But here we go...

Emmitt holding Mikey... in maybe not the safest way

Shortly after his sisters left, we gave Mikey dinner and he didnt eat.  He whimpered and cuddled on our laps and we brought him into the house to start introducing him to his new home. 

Poor little guy was noticeably sad and took great comfort in his froggy.

Gradually he perked up.

And he even seemed a little playful after a bit.  He got this little chew toy and a matching blanket (thats in the background) from the agency.  He seems to really like chewing on it.

aaaaawwwwhhhhh

And then while we ate dinner, he took a nap.

And here's a few pictures of him and his sisters before they left

4 kids and 3 puppies... that was one BUSY week!

Puppies

So I am surprised but... da da da daaaaaa... we now have a dog.  It all started with a garage sale we had.  In an effort to help the kids part with their "junk, "  I told them that they could vote together to decide what to do with the money.  They asked if they could use the money for a puppy and since Kevin and I didnt immediately shoot that down, the idea grew and grew and got Kevin excited and obsessed with searching the internet for a possible dog for our family.  Initially I said I wanted an adult dog so that I wouldnt have to do house training.  The problem was that when I went to check out these puppies that Kevin had found, I just couldn't refuse.  I could then see the benefit of a puppy.  You cant help but bond with such an adorable little thing.  You even love him through the mess and the work and the smell and the cost and the list goes on...

Well heres some pics of my first visit.  I went without the kids so as to remain subjective :)

And here he is... our cute little guy we named "Mikey" 

Full name: Mikey Cosmo Bosco Brandvold Jr. 

Isnt he cute?  I think he's adorable and Im not really much of a dog person so thats got to say something right.   After much discussion we named him Mikey.  The idea arose after noticing his one white paw- you know sort of like Michael Jackson's one white glove.  Now I wouldnt say we named our dog after Michael Jackson cause that guy was kind of weird (talented, but you got to admit -weird too) but the name Mikey just fits this little cutie.  The names that were also considered became the middle name.

And because just getting one isn't exciting enough we agreed to foster a couple others as well.  Why  not right?  Its actually been good we did because if we just had one our four kids would have mauled it.  We have three and they still fight over them.  The other two (Lyric and Luna) will be gone in a week.

Summer Fun

Summer is upon us and we are loving it.  It has been very busy so far.  Braydens done baseball camp and has basketball camp next week.  Both girls have done one session of swim lessons and they are starting the next session tomorrow.  The girls also did dance camp and Brielle is doing gymnastics.  Add to that, the garage sale we did last week, there hasnt been much downtime around here.  Busy is good.  Id much rather the kids be busy than bored.  Heres some of the fun pics we have taken this summer.

Kevin took the girls on a daddy daughter date to the circus.  They had dinner first at Upstream and then they got their early to the circus and were able to see the animals and interact with the performers.  They said the show was amazing.  They absolutely loved it.