Game Night

I loved playing games when I was younger. I have been teaching and playing a lot of different games with the girls. Blake isn't quite interested. Brett and him have been playing Lego Star Wars 3 on the Wii instead together! Madison loves Monopoly right now. That was one of my favorites.

Sweetness

Izzy is a great puppy - despite chewing things (rocks, wood chips, guinea pig bedding, slippers, etc) My kids love carrying her, playing with her and are ALWAYS with her. She is a very spoiled little puppy. All three kids have shed several tears over her "love bites" as well. They have several battle scars from their sweet little puppy.

The most photographed PUPPY!!!!

I tired both of them out with our long walk...

Always playing with Izzy. They love it that she can't jump up on the furniture yet.

Izzy loves to lick the water and play with the bubbles.

Izzy is never very far from the KIDS!!!!! TRUE LOVE.

So Happy to be HOME

Izzy gave us a big scare over the past couple of days. She started throwing up - TONS!!!! Everytime she had anything to eat, she would just start throwing up just seconds after. She wasn't keeping anything down. I took her to the veterinarian today. They told me that they were very worried and she would have to stay the day there with them so they could do a Barium x-ray of her. Poor Izzy. It was hard to leave just a sweet little thing there. I was stressed and worried all day. As soon as the kids walked in the door from school, they were asking about her. I told them that I had to take her to the vet because of her stomach. They knew that she had been sick for the last few days. They were really worried about her as well.

The phone rang and it was her vet. Good news, barium x-ray went fine. It did show some small pieces (wood chips), but everything was moving through as it should. We do still have our fingers crossed that she will keep her food down when I feed her tomorrow morning. I am just relieved that it wasn't something more serious. We are already in LOVE with this little puppy!!!!!! I picked her up at 7:30pm tonight and we hope to not have to return tomorrow. If she keeps her food down, we don't have to go back in. The kids ran out to greet us as soon as I pulled in the driveway. They acted like they hadn't seen her in weeks.

Izzy was all worn out from her long day of barium and x-rays!

Even Zoe seemed to miss her today.

The kids gave her lots of LOVE. I must say, I haven't let her out of my sight yet either!!!!!

Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods

I really wanted my kids to see some "Colorado Springs" landmarks. I think that it is so important for kids to see different parts of the USA!!! We decided to take the kids on a little car trip to Colorado Springs. We stopped to take pictures and look at Pikes Peak, visited Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and then went to Garden of the Gods one day. It was gorgeous. I am always amazed at the natural beauty of rocks and mountains. My kids loved it!!!! Blake could have stayed and played for hours. He loves acting like animals and running around. I just love that boys enthusiasm. Caitlin was making me a little nervous. She wasn't afraid of the rock climbing. I tried my hardest to keep up with her. Madison was a pro. That girl is so athletic and is great at everything she does.

Pikes Peak is the snow covered peak in the background.

We tired poor little Caitlin out!!!!

Boys will be BOYS!!!!!

Blake loved the rocks...

The GIRLS!!!!

Waiting for the BUS

Izzy has lots of energy in the morning. I have been making the kids go out early to wait for the bus. I need them to wear her out. She just loves the kids. She runs and chases them all around.

She is getting more "CRAZY" everyday it seems. All three kids were in tears this morning because she was chewing and scratching them.

A LONG week

I was so excited to get the kids back to school after a week and a half off. We had a great spring break, but I do miss a little time for myself to go to the gym or run. Monday afternoon, Madison came home from school early with a high temp. We thought that it was nothing, but it lasted all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I decided that I should take her to the doctor and she had strep throat. The poor girl still isn't feeling better. She did go to school today (Friday) but isn't back to herself yet. Tonight at Red Robin she barely ate a thing and kept asking to go home. She is exhausted.

We also started our crazy soccer schedule and Saturday games and I did a garage sale today at our house. I did great and got rid of TONS of baby and young kid stuff. It felt awesome to get it out of my house.

My half marathon is also just around the corner, so I have been logging many miles again. That means lots of treadmill runs this week since Madison was home sick - YUCK!!!!! I HATE running 6 and 7 miles on the treadmill. It also looks like a wet, cold long run tomorrow morning.

Our puppy is awesome, however, I feel so guilty when she is whining in her cage at 5am, so I have been getting up with her. I need some rest!!!!!!!! I would love to be able to sleep like her. We can barely get her to wake up sometimes...

Bringing Izzy HOME!

After letting the kids play for awhile with all the puppies, we were ready to drive 2.5 hours back home. We did bring a crate, but decided to hold her instead. She was sad to be leaving her siblings!!! The breeders warned us that she might get car sick. I decided to hold her up front with me.

Izzy just kept whining... Brett suggested that I let her back with the kids. She took a turn with each of them and just kept whining. I felt so bad for her. Finally she crawled up on the back seat with our two girls, curled up and fell asleep. The kids kept wanting to wake her up. We kept telling them not to.

She woke up right when we got off the exit home and threw up on the seat next to Caitlin - literally two minutes from home. Caitlin was grossed out and FREAKED out. I had to climb back there to help.

Zoe is doing very well with Izzy. Our kids love this little dog. They carry her all over the place. We crate her in the laundry room. She does not like sleeping in the crate all by herself. If we did tough love with three kids at night, we should be able to break this dog, RIGHT???????? She sounds so pathetic though...

Welcome to your new home!!!

Izzy loves following Zoe around.

First night at our home. She looks pretty happy!!!

Puppy Love

So... We got an amazing puppy. Izzy is a mini Australian Shepherd. It was ALL Brett's idea let me tell you that right from the start. A month or two ago, he started showing me pictures of toy and mini Aussie's. I firmly said, "NO WAY"!!!!!! He said it a few more times and tried again with the cute pictures. I still wasn't interested. I was busy enough with our three kids, older Aussie, guinea pig, and bearded dragon.

Then we spent last weekend in Chicago with another dog loving couple. They actually have 5 BIG dogs. Maybe I was caught up in all the wonderfulness of being away from the stress and busyness of the kids, but I did say that I would get a puppy. Brett held me to that! When we arrived home Sunday night, he started searching for our puppy. He found one that night. After several emails back and forth, I needed to give her a call in the morning. Brett wanted this little puppy. So Monday morning (only one day after I agreed to a puppy) we were puppy owners. We were going to surprise everyone including our kids. I am not very good with secrets... I did blab the secret to a good friend and then told Brett. He was so mad at me. I will never live that one down.

The morning of our drive to Toledo to get Izzy, we told the kids that we were taking them somewhere GREAT. They all had their guesses. No one guessed a new puppy!!!!

We arrived at the ranch. The kids saw dogs running around and asked if they could play with the dogs. After getting out of the truck, Brett asked them if they wanted a puppy????? They didn't know what to think, so we asked them again. They started jumping up and down for joy. Then four of the cutest little puppies came bounding out the door. The kids were able to play with Izzy and three other siblings.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Did I mention that my kids love going to the zoo? When Christy mentioned two different zoos, I knew that my kids would be up for that. This Mountain Zoo was in Colorado Springs and would be the first visit for Christy and Emily too.

The zoo was beautiful. If was right on the side of the mountain. Madison and Caitlin wanted to do a pony ride. Caitlin was a little nervous, but did a great job. I love seeing my kids get the chance to try new things!!!!

Talk about trying new things... my sisters rode the skyline. It is a chairlift up a portion of the mountain. I won't say who all made the ride back down on the chairlift, but some who went up, came down in a little golf cart instead!!!!!!

Of course, we had a stop at the gift shop. When will my kids out grow stuffed animals????? Maybe 11...Emily didn't get a stuffed animal. Of well, at least they play with them all the time. My kids love playing animals, pet shop, veterinarian, farm, zoo, etc.

The GANG

Caitlin was a little nervous

Confident Madison

Skyline Ride

My sisters weren't big fans of this. They said that Blake's nonstop talking didn't make it any better!!!!

Our new stuffed animals!!!!! Caitlin named hers Cheyenne.

Sunny Skies

Wow, Denver weather was awesome. We were so happy to just be able to get outside and enjoy the sun. We took the kids to watch Emily's soccer game and to several parks. The kids had a blast running around and playing together!!!!

Look at those mountains in the background. This is right by Christy's house!

Playing in the Jensen backyard.