A Dog and His Boy

Cooper and Adam.  So sweet...with a smidgen of creepy.

 

Charlotte's Web Dinner



Oh, it has been far too long since we've done a book theme dinner!  But now we have another little reader in the family and new opportunities to watch movies while eating hot dogs wrapped in dough in the name of  "education." 

 

Adam and Steve finished Charlotte's Web on Thursday, so Friday was our big night.  None of us had seen the live-action version of the movie, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  Except for the closeups of the creepy CGI'd furry spider (Charlotte).  Spiders should not have big, expressive, Julia Roberts-like eyes under any circumstances.  *shudder*  *willies*

 

About the dinner...I can't say it was particularly healthy...

 

 Pigs in Blankets and Pig-Tail Fries

My favorite part -- ketchup for dipping!

Farm-Fresh (or frozen Mrs. Smith's perhaps?) Apple Pie

...all accompanied by County Fair Lemonade.  I admit, there was not a vegetable to be found.  Please do not alert the authorities.

Back to School

Last year Andrew got accepted at a new school.  Unfortunately Adam's number didn't get called in last year's lottery, so he went to a different school.  Meanwhile, Libby went to preschool (yet another school to drive to!)  Last year was an interesting one.  I was pretty tired by May.

This year, Adam got into Andrew's school!  *Relief.*  He is so excited to be going to the same school as his big brother.  One of my (many) favorite things about the boys' new school?  It's year-round.  That means the boys' first day of school was August 1!  I won't lie.  We were all ready for school to start. 

This year Andrew looks considerably happier in his "first morning back to school" picture, doesn't he?  And Adam, bless him, is just always so happy to be included in whatever Andrew's doing.

first day of school:  1st and 3rd grade

Meanwhile, little sister doesn't go back to preschool till after Labor Day.  So Libby and I have the whole month of August together.  I've been trying to make it special for her.  We've had lots of "Girls' Days" (translation:  I take her with me on errands and take her out to lunch and talk it up big).  She has seemed pretty excited about them...until this morning.  After we dropped the boys off at school, she said, "Mom?  Could we not have a Girls' Day today?  I'm tired of them.  I just want to color." 

Well.  Allrighty, then.

Introducing Cooper!

It's been over two years since our beloved weaselful golden retriever Zoe breathed her last and went to the Happy Hunting Grounds.  We knew one day we'd have another dog, but for a while we were content to hang out in our dog-less-ness.  No doggie tumbleweeds rolling through the house.  No messes to clean up in the back yard.  No scratches in the wood floors.  No vet bills.  No worrying about racing home to let the dog out.  It was kind of nice.  But recently it began to feel a little empty.

Having raised two puppies once before, Steve and I knew what we were in for and decided we'd wait till next spring to get a new puppy.  The kids would have the summer to bond with it; and Libby would be going to kindergarten, giving me some time to train the puppy.  (Honestly, we weren't too excited about the prospect of going through the puppy stage, but we feel strongly that our kids should grow up with a dog.)  I realized I had no idea where to get a labrador retriever puppy around here (Zoe was a Buckeye, and Gabby had been randomly found wandering the streets of Charleston), so a couple months ago I started researching lab breeders.  That's when I stumbled upon the Lucky Labs Rescue.  I looked at their website, and it got me thinking: We don't have to get a puppy!  We could get a "ready-made" dog!

Once we settled on the idea of getting an older dog and not a puppy, the need to wait till Libby started kindergarten just sort of went away and our desire to have a dog in the house again got a little bigger. 

And so...I would like to introduce Cooper!

Cooper is a two- or three-year-old black lab.  But he acts like he's nine.  (That's how we know he's a Nichols at heart.)  He is a sweet, sweet boy.  He loves the kids.  He just flops down wherever we are in hopes of getting a belly rub.

Libby especially loves him.  Right away she showed him all the pictures of her recent tea party.  Cooper looked on with all the doggy interest he could muster.

We had Cooper here on trial for about two weeks.  When he first came to us, he really just wanted to flop in the corner and ignore us all...unless he was trying to dash out the front door whenever it opened a crack.  We figured he had "shelter shock":  he'd been in about four places (original home, pound, rescue foster home, and our home) in two weeks' time.  Poor boy. 

But each day he "woke up" and warmed up to us a little bit more.  By last week, we knew he was our dog, and I think I can say he knew we were his people.

So, today, it became official:  We signed the papers, and Cooper Rescue Dog is now Cooper Nichols!

Now we just need a middle name so I can start monogramming stuff for him.

"We're Rockin', Mom"

What I woke up to Saturday morning:  "We're rockin', Mom!"

On drums:  Andrew!

On drums:  Adam!  (What can I say?  We like percussion.)

On vocals/lead rubber band guitar:  Libby!

Cow Day, Year 3

Ages 8, 6, and 4 -- still fun to dress up like cows for Chick Fil A Cow Day!

Ladies' Man