Ginger Girl

We've been a doggie family for 5 days now, and we're all adjusting to what that means. Thankfully Derek takes the 7am shift with Ginger so I don't have to give up my summertime-sleeping-in-sessions! The kids follow her everywhere she goes, and want to take her with us all over town. Tonight I took them to DQ for ice cream while Daddy worked a late-evening shift, and they wanted to bring Ginger. They feel sorry for her at home by herself. I think she's probably relieved! She gets so much attention around here. But maybe all that attention is helping her enjoy her quiet time. She doesn't yelp or whine in her crate at all. We've even taken her on a few car rides in her crate, and she does beautifully.

One area of frustration has to do with woodchips. She chews on them CONSTANTLY. Should I let her chew on them, or keep following her around to dig them out of her mouth? She also doesn't like her leash at all. I put it on to take a walk and she refuses to come. She plants her feet in the grass and will not walk! If she does walk, she carries her leash in her mouth and I'm forever prying it out to hold it above her head to walk her. Is this just a puppy thing or what? I know it's not good to tug on her leash, so I try to avoid doing that. I've tried leash-training her around the yard and that is a joke. Any suggestions anyone? Also, she's hyper in the evenings. That means nippy. She nips at our ankles, sleeves, legs, shoes--you name it, she's all over it. For the most part she leaves our hands alone. I've worked with her and worked with her on that. But the rest of the body? When she's hyper, it all looks like fair play to her. Tonight she was so hyper and crazy I had to put her in the 10'X10' kennel for some isolation!

Our daily activites this week have been squashed by cold, rainy weather. While I'm always up for a good rain or thunderstorm, I've had enough of these dreary days! I switched the boys' winter clothes out for summer clothes on Tuesday, and ended up digging out the pants and sweatshirts this morning. Sheesh!

One particularly bright spot in my week came from a surprise visit from a friend. She stopped by to give me a cute little scrapbook for Ginger. It even has girly doggie stickers and embellishments. That meant the world to me! She knows I don't scrapbook, but I love to take pictures. Thank you Dusty!!! You made my day. :)

Remembering that this is "fun with our SONS," I will allow them some time in this post. Kaleb and Aaron have been addicted to their big wheels this week. They've ridden for hours and hours on those things. They've also resurrected their love for the Jeep, tying the big wheels and little tykes cars behind it and pulling each other all over the place. They're noisy and crazy, but they're having fun. :) And Ginger isn't afraid of all the commotion one bit. She sits on my feet and snuggles in to watch the show. Braylen joins in at times; other times he plays with his buddy or mows Grandma's yard. Aaron rode a good stretch of the street on his bike without training wheels, but still likes to have Daddy run with him. He did our monkey bars all by himself today and learned how to pump a swing on 5/27. He'll be on his own with his bike in no time. I'm not sure how I feel about that. . .

Aaronisms:

"I like guinea pigs, but I like dogs better." (Where did he learn about guinea pigs??)

"Can I ride my scooter to Dairy Queen?" (2 miles away?)

When seeing the sun rays shine down through the clouds before sunset, he says, "Aww look--someone's going up to heaven!"

"Everything's fun, but home might be the best."