Max the Pup!

Getting Max!

This morning we surprised Maya and kai. We had them look at a picture of some puppies on the computer and asked if they would like one. Need I say more? They screamed and jumped around the room in pure excitement and surprise.

We proceeded with our Earth day plans and left from the Earth day festival to "the middle of nowhere" in Illinois to pick up our new addition. We drove through rain and wind for what seemed to be hours before reaching our destination. Max was living on a farm...the only only house on a country mile block. He had been born into a litter of 5 yellow lab male puppies. How perfect...we specifically wanted a yellow male pup. Now was the hard part. There were 4 remaining puppies and the kids had the difficult job of choosing which one was going to join our family. Laurie (the dogs' owner) was wonderful and let us hang out in the barn for almost 2 hours playing with the puppies and trying our hardest to narrow down our choice to just one. Each dog had a different colored collar which helped a bit to figure out which dog was which.

They ended up choosing Max (the puppy with the red collar). He was the largest in the litter and right in the middle in terms of temperament...not too rambunctious, not too shy. He was a perfect mix of soft and cuddly and crazy puppy.

He did great on the long ride home. He fell asleep in my arms and stayed there for most of the trip.

When we arrived home, Hunter and Cheeks were the only unhappy ones. Hunter jumped on the couch and hid behind me like a big baby...I think he actually frothed (sp) at the mouth a couple of times paired with some pretty intense growls. Time will tell, but I'm sure they'll be friends soon. Hoping anyway.

By the way, Max is exactly 8 weeks old and still has his puppy blue eyes. What a cutie!!

It's April and 80 Degrees!

Today was absolutely beautiful! We got a true glimpse of summer as the temp. reached into the 80's. We decided the beach was a must. We headed to Beverly Shores where we had the beach completely to ourselves.

Kai built this amazing cascading waterfall/pond thing out of sand while Maya spent her time digging a huge hole to reach water. Hunter just ran wild and spent much of his time fetching stuff in the water.

It certainly felt strange being at the beach without Benson today. This was by far his favorite place to be and was the first time we ever had Hunter at the beach without Benny. We sure do miss him.

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Macaroni and Cheese...Japaneese Style

One of the units studied in Kindergarten is Japan. How fitting that they are studying about this country during such a sad and trying time for all of those living in Japan. It has given her a new awareness and appreciation for this country.

Maya's Didi and Papa visited her class to share with the kids some Japaneese customs and all about everyday life. The kids learned about taking their shoes off before entering any house, dressing in Komono's, and eating with chopsticks to name a few.

Today during lunch, Maya declared that she would not be needing a fork for her mac and cheese, but rather a set of chopsticks.

Even though it took nearly 40 minutes, she finished every last bite using her chopsticks.