marley.

I've never had a dog.

I've never wanted a dog.

I've never considered myself a dog person.

But this guy is a dog person...

and I love this guy a lot.

Even my dad said, "Corey is a pretty good guy."

Last summer when we went to look at these little guys, I said no.

So imagine Corey's surprise when I came home Wednesday and told him we were going to Brian and Shana's house that evening, and I thought he should pick out a dog.

This never would have happened if you hadn't brought Bella to school with you on Wednesday, GB. I should have just stayed away from your office. You should have made "puppy training" sound way harder. I blame you. We should have let Lawson name her Greenie Bean, and called her GB.

But look how cute Bella is...

She's Marley's sister.

There were many thoughts in my head as I made this spontaneous decision to get a dog.

(We laughed that Heather and Brian did research and shopping around for a year before they got Max and Ozzy. We made this big decision in 24 hours. That's kind of how we operate.)

1. Corey has always wanted us to have a dog.

2. Corey wanted one of Callie's golden retriever pups last summer.

3. Mama Callie is the nicest dog ever.

4. This is Callie's last litter of pups.

5. Golden Retrievers are nice, kid friendly, family dogs.

6. Poodles don't shed.

7. Marley is a Goldendoodle... she will look like a golden retriever (except for the golden part), but her hair is super soft and wavy, and she doesn't shed! (That's pretty much what sold me right there)

8. Goldendoodle is fun to say.

9. Sophie and Lawson get easily freaked out by other people's dogs. Especially big dogs.

10. I want my kids to stop being freaked out by dogs. (The 1st grader last year who was screaming hysterically because of the friendly old lab at the pumpkin patch was the thought in my head at this point.)

Thursday night as I was having doubts I remembered... I never thought I wanted a little boy... and look how great that has turned out! Surely a few months from now I'll be thinking "I can't believe I thought I never wanted a dog."

Corey adores her.

The kids are having so much fun with her.

It's totally worth it, just for them.

(But I am questioning how I'm going to work "take Marley outside" into my already crazy morning routine...)

surprise.

Don't tell Megan.

Or Megan's kids.


But look who came to live at our house...





Meet Marley.

parade.

Sophie and Lawson kept running back to sit with Daddy and Grandma Jones.
In the shade.
Smart little people. See that red face?



Chapman: Still Kickin' (the truck was a tornado survivor)


Lawson... getting brave enough to run get candy.
For the first time!

Don't you just wanna grab him?

And look... Sophie's getting brave, too!

Telling Grandpa all about it.

This was only part of it...



Trying for a great "Grandma and Grandpa picture..."

This one was pretty good, but there's a cute little red head missing...

There he is.... but he's eating parade candy.

Trying to get everyone to look...

Okay, they're all looking, now let's try for smiles...

Good job, Grandma and Grandpa.

The rest of you need some work.

Saying goodbye.

cousins.

He still loves her.

tooth fairy.

Sophie says she has a tooth that hurts.
We said maybe it was getting loose and going to fall out soon.
This led to a whole discussion about the tooth fairy and what she was going to do when the tooth fairy came.
Normal, typical tooth fairy stuff.

Then Lawson wants to share...

I can't remember his whole story, but it involved a carrot, his pillow, and a gun.

Not sure what mental picture he has of the tooth fairy, but she might be something like the Easter Bunny in his little head. And apparently, he is going to lure her in with a carrot and then shoot her.

Welcome to the world of little boys.

things they say.

Two of my favorite things to hear...

Lawson: "Wow, Sopie!" And I love that he says it after she has gotten something new or made something special. He has such true excitement for her. I love that about him.


Sophie: "Hey Lawson, buddy, look at this... are you ready, buddy?... okay, bud?" Such a sweet big sister.

zoo.

My summer vacation came to an end all too quickly.
I start back to school tomorrow.
No kids until the 14th, but lots and lots of meetings.

We hadn't gotten ZOO crossed off our summer to-do-list yet, so the kids and I made a trip on Wednesday. Perfect zoo day. Cloudy and overcast... almost wanting to rain. We got there early and beat the crowds. Such a fun morning!

We almost always take a picture of the kids by the orangutan statue near the monkeys. (Or whichever child is not scared of the statue at that particular moment. Last year the picture was just Sophie. It's the same statues year after year, my little scaredy-kids.)

A crazy lady kept us from our picture this time. She was above us, looking down into the monkey area, we were below, looking through the glass. I heard her talking the entire time, but assumed that she was talking to another person. Uh, no.

As we were getting ready to head up that way, she saw us, leaned over the edge and started yelling at us. I really wish I could remember what all she was yelling at us, but it was one of those "is this really happening" kind of moments and I was a little distracted. But I did get that she was mad at us for trying to teach those monkeys the Ten Commandments. And she didn't care if we were Iranian or not (really? Me, my little bleached blonde and red head. Never been mistaken for Iranian before.) We could just go ahead and call the police. Alrighty, then.

We passed Zoo Security (which from what I can tell means that they have a t-shirt that says "Security" and a walkie talkie). She kind of nodded her head at me and said, "Yeah. Something's obviously not quite right. We're keeping an eye on things." Okay, then.

So Lawson posed with the chimp. Cute little thing, isn't he? (Lawson, not the chimp.)

The kids loved watching the baby rhino roll in the mud.


Baby kangaroo. (Technically a Wallaroo or Wallaby or something, but calling it a baby kangaroo is more fun.)


And look at this baby monkey, riding on it's mommy's back. They kept coming right over to the side of the cage where we were. So cute.


But not as cute as these little people.


Sophie's favorite? The stingrays.


And to think, last year he wouldn't go near any of the statues. This year he was climbing all over them.



The otters were swimming all over the place. So fun to watch.




He threw his big ball right at us!


Trying to get some "country skills" so we can make our Daddy proud.



Washing hands after the petting zoo.
Lawson's face was cracking me up.




So thankful that I have summer days to spend with these little people.
So hard to believe that it has already come to an end.