best fall break ever!

We didn't do a lot over fall break.  Two weeks off and you think we would of had big plans.  Nope.  Marcus ended up having soccer through the first week.  And, then, 

we    got     a      dog

Meet Ponyo (pronounced "pon-yo" for those who haven't seen the movie).

The rest of the family has been wearing me down for a while.  We've had a 2 year dog holiday since Carina was put to sleep.  I've enjoyed  not having to have to feed a dog, clean up after a dog or decide what to do when with a dog when we go on vacation.  

But, the kids have been asking for a long time now. 

My first mistake was that I liked a couple local humane socieities on facebook.  Wrong.  That exposed me to lots of cute pictures of dogs looking for homes.  

That's how I saw Ponyo.  She was pretty cute.  But, I was going into a 3 day stretch at work and was not interested in the slightest to go see this dog.  I figured we would table this topic and come back to it on Monday (if the dog was still there).  

She was.

And, the boys agreed to spend their own money on Ponyo and her start-up costs:food, toys, crate.  How could I say no to that?  They had been saving the money for a new video game system.  I was happy that they were choosing to spend their money on something that would potentially be more work and not allow them to sit around and stare at the television.

It had to be fate that Ponyo was still available.  There had been an adoption event that the shelter had taken dogs to.  Ponyo was set to go, but was not in the right toom at the right time, so she got left.  

Yea for mistakes.

We met her on Tuesday morning and knew almost right away that this was a very good dog.  She did not freak out when surrounded by 8 people.  She was super happy to be with us and have new play mates.  A half hour later, she was ours and we were heading home.

It's like having a new baby.

We are working on potty training.  Ponyo will ring the bell, over half the time when she needs to go out.  We are trying very hard to monitor was she puts in her mouth (everything).  Trying to keep kid toys put up.  Trying to make sure that she does not run after the cats (who had their worlds rocked when Ponyo walked through the door) and eat the cats' food.  

It's a process.  And Ponyo's a puppy.  And, my kids haven't had this responsibility before.  

It's good for them. 

Ponyo is good for them.

She's not a little spoiled.

Liam was super-excited to have a puppy.

Yeah, Andy is happy, too.