Meet Sophie

The story behind our newest addition:

My friend Heather was looking through craigslist.com for people who might want her kittens and she came across an ad for a soft coated wheaten terrier. She knew I had wanted one since before we even had Tatum. I would take the kids I used to nanny for to the mall and we would go to the pet store and I would always find a soft coated wheaten terrier sitting in his/her square box hoping for someone to adopt them. The thing is, we've always been Boxer lovers, but I've always wanted a soft coated wheaten terrier. She is 15 months, spayed, shots current, micro-chipped and supposedly house trained. The family who adopted her from the pet store (yes, the pet store ugh) have pretty much kept her in a crate because they were afraid she would hurt the kids and didn't want to take the time to train her. She just had another new baby, so that's when she told her husband they had to get rid of her. She's really sweet, but pretty pathetic due to the fact that she acts just like a new puppy. We are definitely looking into getting her properly trained due to the fact that she likes to knock down the kids and doesn't even know how to sit. She also will run if she is in the front yard off of a leash (which Bailey never did). She has already tried to chew a few books and a binky or two, so this will take some work. Once she's properly trained, she will be an excellent dog. I'm just glad we could take her away from the situation she was in (not to mention she was on a pretty crappy brand of dog food). Our kids are pretty terrified of dogs because we haven't had any in the house for so long, so we knew it was time to add one to our family. It just worked out perfectly! There was a $200 re-homing fee for her to weed out people who would resell her to make a profit (she's hard to find since people don't breed her type in Arizona..more like Idaho or a colder state). They just wanted her to find a really good home. We are trying to teach her about the doggie door and she still doesn't understand it (we've only had her since last night). She is not a small dog..more of a medium dog. Daryl weighed her and she's about 25 lbs. The one good thing about the family whom we bought her from is that they kept all of her paperwork, like her papers, her micro-chip transfer info, shot records, etc..etc...She did take her to the groomers about every 2-3 wks too (I don't think we will be able to afford that, but we will keep up on brushing her and bathing her in between groomer visits). We locked her in the kitchen last night with her new bed (which she didn't sleep on) and her food and she did pretty well. The owner said that she will pee on the carpet if she went on it (she hasn't so far). Well the majority of our house is carpet, so good thing we dog proofed our house back when we had our boxers. She had one pee accident last night on the tile and she's knocked Corbin down a couple of times this morning already. We did pull an Angelina Jolie and changed her name to Sophie from Dugan since we just didn't like that name for a little girl. Oh, and did I mention she doesn't shed!

Finally a vacation...

We have been wanting to vacation out of the state for sometime now and when Daryl's brother and family invited us along on a trip with them to San Diego, we had to jump on it. We spent 6 days and 5 nights at a house practically on the beach. We haven't had so much fun in a really long time. We went to Sea World on Monday and Wed (summer two for one pass), snorkeling on Thurs, shopping in La Jolla and eating out everywhere (mostly up and down the boardwalk). We even took turns having a date night which was really nice. Tatum did pretty well with the water the first day we got there and after day one she wouldn't touch the water. She was terrified that the sharks would come and get her. I had to tell a little white lie that the sharks lived only at Sea World and that the ocean was only for water and people. Corbin is usually my little daredevil and freaked out about the ocean as much as Tatum. They both loved the sand and (Tatum) collecting seashells, but that's about it. I've also come to find out that Tatum is not as good a traveler as Corbin. Corbin is the type of child that needs constant entertainment, so this was definitely the trip for him. Tatum has always been the type of child to find comfort in routine and this just through her for a loop. It was really nice traveling with family..especially family who had little cousins who could play with our kids. We are going to LA in March again with them and we really can't wait for that trip!!!

(If you click on the myspace link under sites to visit on the right of this page, you can view the small slideshow I made on my page).

First day of school

Tatum officially started Trinity Lutheran today and LOVES it!! She is in room 1 with Mrs. Healey. There are approximately 6 girls and 6 boys (what I could count) and she already seems to be making friends. There were a few sad faces when it was time for the moms and dads to leave, but I am happy to say that Tatum was not one of them. She was already playing with play dough before I was out the door. There is one teacher's aid who also seems to be really nice. It was really strange leaving her there, but she is definitely ready for school. I love that she will be getting a little bit of religion along with her lessons, since this is very important to us.

Everyone's gotta have a vice..

Corbin's is his blue, homemade blanket from my friend Ashley and his binky (a.k.a., dink dink or mimi). She gave it to me at the hospital when he was born and I fell in love instantly. It's silky on one side and a soft, velvety material

on the other side (it has little moons and stars all over it too). A friend of mine used it in his first photo shoot when he was 4 wks. She had asked me to grab his favorite blanket that we could use in the shoot and I grabbed this thinking that one day it probably would be. He will search and whine all over the house for his blankie if it is missing. He will give me about a min. or two of snuggle time when he first finds his blanket and dink dink which I just absolutely love!

Off with his helmet hair

To cut or not to cut..that was definitely the question these days. Daryl and I had talked about letting his hair grow out this time (he's had it cut once already) and were pretty set on it for a little while...I just couldn't take it anymore and took him in for his cut. I found a really cool place close to our house that has a seperate play room for children and they only charge $7 for a kids cut! He did really well. In fact, I think he was enjoying it a little too much that he threw a fit when she was done and I was paying, he ran back to the chair and tried to climb back in. He threw an absolute fit when we left. I took a few pictures to share with you his little transformation. One of the pictures shows how relaxed he was having his hair cut (just like his daddy). :)))