Finding a New Friend...

I don't know if I ever wrote about it but in December we lost our beloved dog Daphne. She had been sick for a while and we found out it was most likely cancer but still hoped maybe the x-ray was picking up on some kind of infection!? Maybe? But no. On the 11th (I think) we were trying to put up our Christmas tree and she lost the use of her hind limbs. It was so sad that we knew without a doubt that we would be taking her in first think in the morning to be put to sleep. We had hoped to at least help her make it through Christmas but there was no way....in hindsight I think it was best that the kids had the distraction of Christmas to keep their minds off of the loss.
We are so thankful that we decided to take her on our camping trip Thanksgiving weekend. She actually perked up a little and enjoyed the time out there with us. And we got one last happy memory!

Do you see her tail wagging in the picture? This was at the very end...she was skin and bones (despite my cooking more for her than I do for my own family and trying to coax her to eat at every turn...) It was so sad but to see her have a little burst of energy and enjoy her family one last time...worth every bit of it!

So, fast forward. We attempted a dog at the very end of December. But I discovered that satan can come in the form of a really cute puppy. It was an awful experience. We didn't go looking for a puppy and thought since we just "came across" it it was meant to be!? No way. That dog tried to eat Haley and Nathan...can you imagine when it got bigger? And he was going to be HUGE! We took him back before the kids needed stitches. Also, it was probably just too soon. Every time I looked at the puppy I could only think of how much like Daphne he WASN'T.

 (the above picture was taken during a very rare moment of peacefulness in that cute but evil puppy's time with us). No one was sad when he went back to his original home.

We've had a few other pet catastrophes (baby bunnies bought from a pet store with less than ideal conditions leading to sick babies) this year and while at our wonderful vet (she really is!) I asked if she could keep an eye out for a good family dog. Not a puppy, a dog. And she asked if I had an aversion to any breeds...well, yeah!? What are we talking here?? Her instant thought was of a last chance rescue dog-a boxer- that she had done the treatment for heart worms :(. So, we went immediately to meet this dog. (She said that even during the painful treatments the dog was sweet and docile!) We ended up taking her on a trial basis but I knew if we took her home I was 99.9% sure we'd keep her. So, this is our new friend Katie Belle:

Can you tell who her bestest buddy in the house is? One night during a storm I slept in the living room with the dog and the kid-and I'm not sure which one was more scared!-Haley slept with her hand on Katie Belle's back. It was really sweet. So, we let the dog sleep on couch cushions and we keep the two year old:

in the kennel. You know I'm just kidding, right? (although look at the wall behind the kennel...that was the work of said two year old...hmmmm) No, really the little ones just think the kennel is the coolest thing.