I picked Finn up from school on Thursday and he was so excited to show me the necklace he made! He is a real gift giver – always telling someone that he made something for them, it’s usually whatever craft is nearby that he made. In this case, it was for Daddy :).
While Finn was at school I took Brutus and Lily to the vet. Brutus was due for his last set of vaccines and I wanted to get Lily looked at for the limp that she’s been having for awhile. I figured it was just from over exerting herself when chasing deer. Seems like it is her right front shoulder but it’s pretty hard to tell. And it is really intermittent so it’s hard to put my finger on it. We’re hoping that they will be able to determine what is going on. Initially I wondered why it was a good idea to take them both at the same time. Lily, in particular, was being super energetic and pulling me all over! But after a bit in the room they settled down and looked like this. It’s funny, Brutus has found his voice i the last week or so and is barking more and more. He kept barking at the voices and noises he heard in the back of the vet clinic!
Later on Thursday evening Finn and I took Graham to his hockey lessons at the Chiller in Dublin. Finn thought it was pretty fun to be at the rink and watch Graham out on the ice. Of course, enjoying pop corn and a pretzel wasn’t bad either ;).
Finn has had another fun-filled week with art projects at home and school, learning about the states, making cookies, and such. And a first for him this week was bowling! We had to get the carpets cleaned on Friday so I suggested to Debbie that they go on an adventure for the afternoon so the pups would rest and she wouldn’t have to put them in/out and deal with wet carpet. So it was a late lunch at Culver’s followed by Bowling at Star Lanes. As you can see he has a lot of fun. He regularly asks if it will be a “Debbie day” or if Debbie is coming the next day. We are all blessed!
Saturday morning we headed to Costco. Is it bad that Griffin sees the Costco logo on a magazine at our house and knows that it’s a Costco book? Seems we go there frequently. But in this case we were on a mission for church to buy supplies for the after church meeting and luncheon that was taking place on Sunday. Kevin and I have been asked to serve on the Generosity initiative team. There is a small group of us on this team with the mission of informing the church body of the desire of the church leadership to pay off the mortgage on the building so that funds can be freed up to fund mission work both at home and abroad. Kevin and I will be coordinating the food and facility logistics portion of the events that we will be holding. So, off to Costco we went to get some of the foodstuffs! The event turned out really nice and honestly, it was probably the most simple event that Kevin and I have put on together! Whew. 
And it wouldn’t be a post without some puppy photos. This is the norm around here. Snuggling followed by crazy tug of war and wrestling, followed by more sleeping!
On Saturday afternoon we headed to the Bounce Club for Cole, our neighbor’s, 4th birthday party. We’ve now gone to a few parties here and its so fun for the kids (and easy for the adults, let’s be honest!) that we’ve decided to have Finn’s party here this year too. They bounce for an hour, then eat pizza and cake, and then head out. Fun, fast, simple, and easy!
It’s still pretty much all things puppy around here. We are all having fun with Brutus. I took this photo to document Brutus’ growth as he is definitely getting taller and longer!
After Finn took some photos he then wanted to be in some. I wanted to get one of the dogs’ feet together and he wanted to put his paw in too. You can also see his black eye here is healing and turning a bit yellow. He’s unbothered!
Griffin took this one of me and sharkie and Brutus and the one of Brutus in the kitchen below. . Turned out great, eh?
This is the typical scene for nap or bedtime. Reading Finn stories and the dogs cuddling on the floor!
Brutus is a pretty photogenic pup and is also fairly good at listening when you ask him to sit. Especially if you have a treat to share!
Nap or bed time starts like this.
And ends like this!
Brutus is chewing all sorts of toys and bones – and unfortuately a few human things too – like the zippers to both dog beds!! Ugh, he chews them at the only end you can start the zipper essentially ruining the zipping ability. This mammoth bed that we’ve had forever is now in need of a repair person to put in a new zipper so we can put it back together. In the mean time they are laying on the floor instead!!
Griffin is really enjoying being creative lately. He likes to play in his room with his legos and build all kinds of creations. He also really enjoys when you tell him a story or when he creates one to tell you. He has a really fun and creative imagination and we love hearing his stories!
Debbie brought some fun markers this week that could be used on the windows. It was a nice and sunny day outside too so Finn colored some spring time images on the windows. 
Art or creativity hasn’t ever been a gift of mine so we are thankful that Debbie loves to do art projects almost every day. Here they made stuffable mittens that they filled with letters and animals 🙂
Finn enjoys are projects at preschool too! Seems hard to believe it is time for next year’s preschool registration, but the time has arrived. We signed Griffin up for his last year of preschool (!!) in the Monkey class for 2017-2018. He will be going 4 days a week next year!
On Saturday we celebrated Andy’s birthday with a nice dinner out followed by tasty carrot cake and ice cream at their house. Yummers! 
On Sunday at the end of church we were talking with friends and one of them, Chris, asked us if we wanted to go to the OSU basketball game at 1:30. Woah, that sounded like a fun time! So we booked it out of church and went home to feed the dogs. Then we put it in high gear to get to the game where we got to our seats just prior to tip off. And the seats were GREAT! We are thankful for the fun afternoon and the generosity of Chris!
Later that day Finn and I were in his room and Lily laid down behind the chair, a common place for her to be. Finn though Lily would enjoy being covered up by his stuffed animals so he “hid” her so she could sleep. Can you find her? And of course Brutus isn’t ever far away, so he crashed the party. Then Finn wanted to be in the photo too – pretending to sleep of course!
Happy 2017! We are finding a new normal around here with our young pup Brutus! This week is all things pup it seems as you will see with the photos. Hardly a human to be found other than Finn. We moved his crate up to our room after a few nights of being home and he is doing much better at night. He will go into his room on his own now (no more forcing him in there!) and he lays down right away. Sometimes he muffles a whimper or two but then he’s out. We’ve put him out a few nights around 2:30 am and then he’s ready to wake up about 6 or so. 
Everyone I show a picture of Brutus to comments on how big his paws are. Yep, he’s gonna be a big boy. Here are some pics of his paws at 14 weeks for reference 🙂
Griffin just loves dogs. He has always loved snuggling with Lily and Cameron. He now goes back and forth cuddling with Lily and Brutus. At night time he usually lays next to one of them during songs and the other during prayers. 
Brutus loves to lay on my side of the bed on the floor. We’ve found him in some crazy uncomfortable looking positions at times when he is sleeping!
Lily is warming up to Brutus and allowing him to snuggle up close to her pretty often. They also play tug of war and try to get toys away from one another. They are getting along great!
This week Debbie was sick for a few days so on Tuesday Griffin went with me to work for a few hours. We took his tablet and he setup his “office” and worked a bit while I was working too. He was a trooper as I ended up being there far longer than I had anticipated! Silly me, I forgot all about Brutus needing lunch and Finn and I had planned to have a lunch date on our way home. But instead, we ran through the Panera drive through and ate at home! He was so excited to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich – like it is a delicacy! I guess we’ve never really made him one before (or at least in a REALLY long time) so he thought it was great and has since asked for it again!. 
On Wednesday Jim and Pat came up for the day to play with Griffin while Kevin and I worked. I didn’t snap any photos! But Finn had a great time. On Thursday Finn had school so I took him and then went to work a bit late. Amy was able to pick him up and take him to her house with the kiddos for the afternoon. We were expecting a lot of snow that day but it didn’t really happen. The kiddos were excited to play hockey (Amy too) outside on their patio. When I arrived to pick Finn up Amy pointed out that Finn had gotten a bit of a black eye at school. Yikes! Seems as though Maggie ran into Griffin smack in the corner of his left eye! 
These photos are from Amy!
And here you can see the beginnings of his black eye!
On Friday we celebrated Chad’s birthday with a nice dinner out at Harold’s in Worthington followed by drinks at Chubby’s. I must say, I have the best hubby ever, as I said “I just want some ice cream” when everyone was putting in their drink order at the bar. Next thing you know I was sitting at our table and he walked over with a double-scoop cup of ice cream from the UDF that was next door. Yummers! I am so spoiled. 
