So here is the story of our sweet little pup Dashel Bark Vadar Scharman. The girls have begged for a dog for years, FOR YEARS! Being in the stage of life where I am still cleaning up copious amounts of things that do not belong to me, and other people's poop, I was not ready for a dog. In a strange moment of dog wantingness I texted Clark "Let's get a dog" and BOOM! in less than 24 hours we had one picked out. Clark was on the girls' side. He wanted a dog too. We knew that when we got a dog it would be one of two options: either a rescue lab from a shelter or a purebred Vizsla. Two ends of the spectrum. We decided to try for the lab. I found the perfect puppy at a shelter. He was black with a white belly and his name was Clark. I kid you not. Clark. It was a sign. Clark (the human) went to check him out on his way home from work and signed on the dotted line. The next day we brought the girls onto the couch, blindfolded them and brought the dog in to lick their faces one at a time.
Immediately smitten, all of us. He was the sweetest dog. So calm. So snuggly. He learned quickly and was obedient and calm. However we noticed very soon after bringing him home that he was not entirely well. He had a bit of a cold which turned into a cough, which turned to diarrhea and so lethargic that he was no longer a fun, energetic little guy. Worst case scenario was our worst nightmare and we found ourselves with a severely sick puppy just a few weeks later. When he got really bad the vet ran the necessary tests and found that not only did he have a liver disorder that would cost thousands to maybe fix, he tested positive for distemper, a death sentence for a little puppy. Because he was already so sick the vet supported an immediate euthanization. It absolutely broke our hearts. It was a Friday afternoon and the vet was afraid that at this stage of his illness it was only a matter of days before he was seizing so bad there would be nothing we could do. Not wanting that for our poor Dash and not wanted the kids to have to go through that we chose to put him down that very afternoon. Clark came home from work early and picked each of the girls up from school. We explained the situation and let them all say good bye. It was the worst. I have never felt so sad for my family. The girls were devastated. But we said good bye and Clark took Dash back to the vet and then to bury him at his parents house next to his cousin dog, Shamus so he wouldn't be alone.
It was sweet to have him even though 6 weeks was much too short.
And unfortunately life goes on. We still had things to do and places to be. We still miss that sweet little face and calm demeanor. But our hearts have found joy in a new little friend, but I'll get to that in a minute.
First I have to skim over a few birthdays. These two weeks at the end of August/beginning of September is our birthday blizzard! I already covered my blissful birthday of "Emily's greatest desires" where I gave specific instructions which my family followed very well.
Next up was Haley who shoved us into the teenager stage, against our wills. I could go back and quote anything that was ever said at any age about this girl. From the time she could talk she has been a firecracker of determination and personality.
This is how we usually look when we do a birthday wakeup. Real life here folks.
She got lunch out and a shopping trip to the mall with her Mom and Dad. Haley heaven.
We enjoyed the last few weeks of the pool until it closes up shop for the winter. Seatbelts, optional.
Next up is Mimi. She also got a lunch out with Mom and Dad and her own shopping trip to pick a present. I love getting to spend one on one time with these kids. They are pretty super awesome.
I can't really remember much about Clark's birthday except he apparently got a cake and looked angelic.
Now I remember! Clark got fishing stuff for his birthday which was only partly self serving because they girls have wanted to go fishing with him for a long time in our little neighborhood pond. He gave them a good, thorough tutorial before handing over the rod.
We live in a great neighborhood. With the exception of a couple of less than stellar neighbors and some speeding issues, its lovely. We have a wonderful path around a nice lake with plenty of ducks.
Nothing quite warms my heart like a little girl writing spelling words.
This was the day that Megan and I thought we had an amazing idea to go see a movie in the middle of the day. We thought it might be the golden discovery - empty theater, babies mesmerized by the big screen and some snacks. There were some oversights. In this shot right here, those two babies are watching a terrifying preview of a movie about a haunted house, screeching ghosts and dumb teenagers. Then other people had the audacity to come into our theater. We moved down to the front of the theater hoping we could make it through without disturbing anyone.
IT'S LIKE WE HAD OUR FIRST BABY YESTERDAY! That was very wrong choices. We went to see the Giver and it was very good and we were determined to actually see the entire thing, meaning we spent the last 45 minutes standing in the stairwell to the exit bouncing really big toddlers on our hips and trying to keep them quiet. Wrong wrong choices. Next time we'll just take turns.
Then I took Jonah to the zoo. I was reminded that I used to do fun things like that when my older kids were little. Poor Jonah. He may have the most photos taken of him but he sure gets gyped on getting out for Jonah geared fun.
I'll have to work on that.
See? Lots of pictures get taken of him.
What can I say? He does cute things. And his hair is real blond.
Hazel has insisted, since the very first day of Kindergarten, that she have a note from me in her lunchbox. I realized early on, that she keeps every, single, one. I have to throw them away in batches when they start to clog up her backpack but I find it sweet that she holds on to them.
The Scharmans like to play hind and go seek. We don't usually decide to play and then count and all that jazz. It usually goes down like this, "Dad is almost home. HIDE!" Anytime Clark gets home before the girls, HE hides. If the girls come home and see his car, they refuse to go in because they know he is lying in wait to scare the bejeebies out of them. So now the game has become, stump Dad. He is a really good seeker. We have to get more and more creative because he can find all of them in no time flat. We have had a couple of real winners. This laundry basket would have been good except Clark noticed it wasn't that full when he left that morning. And it was breathing.
This was an obvious one but Haley was going for effort points. Getting her body up there was quite impressive.
So this was the winning spot on this day. Mia is up on top behind that sign. You can kind of see her owl pj pants on the right.
I like to watch Clark seek. I'm much to giggly to hide myself.
Clark and I had decided that we should try again while still in puppy mode. Who knows when we would feel so inclined again. This time we swung far to the other side of that spectrum and found a Vizsla breeder near Houston. When we first spoke to her the current litter had one puppy left and they were nearly ready to go home. After speaking with her vet we all decided that our safest course of action was to wait out all of his immunizations and then test to make sure he was as safely guarded against distemper as possible. That was a long month! The breeder was two hours away, not a quick jaunt but we went to visit him a couple of times to bond and play and make sure he knew who we were. His name changed a couple of times but we finally decided upon Rockets Red Glare since he was born on the 4th of July. We call him Rocket or Rocky, an appropriate name since he is fast!
He has been at home with us for 3 weeks now and we like him. He is spunky and playful but also so very sweet. He is a velcro dog that does not leave our sides, has to be in the same room with you and is usually trying to climb up into your lap when you sit down.
We'll keep him around.
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