Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Logan will be 7 months old tomorrow. He is such a cutie! He got his first tooth last week, so I guess that means, he is officially growing up. Mickie and Tim are doing well. These 2 pictures were taken by Penney's. There is another really cute one of Logan with Santa that I will have to share next time.

























The long awaited update pictures of Sarah are finally here. I have been terribly busy with work and working more. I tried to get some of her with Charlie or in places around the house where you would be able to get an idea of her size.















She listens to everything I say. I think she takes notes. In fact, I am certain that she takes notes at puppy class. She is doing Very well in her training. I guess after training a Clumber Spaniel...well, never mind.















Her color is really coming out now. She is really beautiful! ( Not that I am partial or anything.) Her coat is coming in, soft, and shiney black.












Sarah is 4 months old today. She weighed 22 pounds at her vet visit on December 4. So she has grown, but is still a bit small and slim. She should be about 4 pounds bigger than she is. She is doing pretty well on eating but everytime she starts looking a little rounder, then she gets taller and is skinnier again.






























































The picture of Sarah by the back door I liked because she was stacking herself. I tried to take the picture, quick, before she moved and unfortunately got it off-center and clipped her ears off in it.










Also, I have a question to ask for the purpose of getting information and feedback. Sarah is tentatively scheduled for spaying on February 1st. But I have heard, from my dog training person, that spaying them too young will inhibit them from reaching their full size as it somehow effects their growth hormones. She said that breeders are recommending spaying the larger breed dogs later, rather than sooner. The early spaying has also been linked to mammary cancers. So, let me know what you think on this.

The Babies Are Growing

All the babies are growing and doing well. Logan is now 6 months old, 28 inches, and a little over 20 pounds. He is a happy baby!

Since Tim has to be at work at 3am on stupid black Friday and Mickie has to work, and the daycare is closed that day....I guess they all want to go shopping...anyway, Logan is spending Thanksgiving night and Friday with me. I am sure we are going to have a good time.




Sarah is growing too. I'm not sure how much she weighs right now. Her next appointment is the first Friday in December. She has definitely grown. Her collar is no longer hanging on her and although she is still skinny, she is not as skinny as she was. She is eating about 4 cups of puppy chow a day, sometimes with coaxing and encouragement, but she's eating.

Her ears have their good days and their bad days. Yesterday was a good day for her ears...today, not so much. She is really coming along nicely.

She will soon be in need of a bigger crate too. When she stands up in hers, she is nearly at the top of it now.

Her coloring is really coming out now...she is going to be beautiful, for sure.

SC Governor's School - Visit

Marianne is applying to go to the Governor's School for 11th and 12th grade. So we went to their open campus day for prospective students.








The Governor's School is in the downtown area of Greenville and is a resident high school.











The campus is absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful views all around, including overlooking the Reedy River.















The courtyard and ampitheater.


























The dining hall, not to be compared to regular high school food.











One of the classrooms.













The girls dorm and the boys dorm....boys on the left wing, girls on the right.
















Other places around the campus between the dorms and the classrooms, library, and courtyard.



We had a great day at the Governor's School. It is in a league of its own. Trying to compare Westside High School to this school was a joke. There are about 225 students here, pretty evenly split between girls and boys as the dorms are the same size. The catch to that is that there are about 10 times more girls applying to the school than boys, so there is a lot more competition for the girls in getting accepted. Marianne will be submitting her application and samples of her creative writing. Interviews will take place on February 5th. Letters of acceptance are not sent out until some time in April. We are hoping for the best.

Oh the Joy of Toys

Both of Sarah's ears are up, mostly anyway.
She had her first puppy class last night and did very well after she got over being scared. We practiced sit, sit-stay, take-it and give.









As I mentioned before, Sarah LOVES the dog toys!! (I put my tennis shoes away...they are Not dog toys.)












Sarah is growing and has been eating more the last couple of days. But she is still too thin. I think eventually she will get all caught up. She did eat a total of 3 1/2 cups of puppy chow with a little bit of canned, along with her missing link and pumpkin.






















































She is adjusting well and seems to know that she belongs to me. :)

Meet Sarah

This is Sarah. She is my new German Shepherd puppy. She is 12 weeks old now. She is going to grow up to be a good watchdog for me and Marianne.

She is very active and is keeping me on my toes. When Charlie was a puppy, his version of activity was changing the position he was sleeping in.

Sarah's Aunt Lisa gave her some new toys, that she thoroughly enjoys. She is doing pretty well on housebreaking and learning about walking on the leash. Since she is a bit skinny, we are also working on improving her appetite.

Sarah, Charlie, and Kellie

Marianne - Sweet 16

I can't believe Marianne is 16! Where does the time go?

We all had a good time at the Mexican Restaurant and then came back home and ate cake. It was an unusual cake, but was made by request.

Logan and Uncle Barry sharing some fun and chuckling. Logan and Barry are very fond of each other.

Logan spent the night Saturday night and we took him to church with us on Sunday. He is already 5 months old....and off the growth charts.

He is a little over 20 pounds and 27 1/2 inches.

Marianne has been saving up for a long, long time and has bought herself a car. 2002 Dodge Neon.

She is still learning how to drive, so her car is waiting patiently in the garage.

Jekyll Island Getaway

We were all able to take off and go to Jekyll Island for the weekend. Hooray! It was a great escape. Marianne kept saying that she didn't remember going to Jekyll Island, then we figured out that she was still in diapers last time we were there, so it was a good excuse to go again.













We brought Ashley and the dogs along with us. We stayed at the Oceanside Inn. They are amazing because they really are pet friendly...any size dog is welcome...none of those 10 pound limits and such.






It was Charlie's 1st beach trip. He LOVED it!!!!
(Gracie did not share in his excitement for the beach). Charlie chased the waves, swam, dove into the waves and even swam out to ride some of the waves back in to shore....and then did it over again....until I had to drag him out of the water.

Mickie, Tim, and Logan arrived a couple of hours behind us.

While at Jekyll Island, we spent a few hours at the Sea Turtle Center. It was really cool! They have educational stuff about the Sea Turtles and they also have a Sea Turtle Hospital and Rehabilitation Center.

Amy is the smaller turtle. She is in the education part of the center. Erika is in the rehabilitation center. Hopefully, she will get to go back out into the ocean later.

Since we arrived early on Friday and the hotel wasn't full, they upgraded mine and Marianne, and Ashley's room to a suite for the same price....very cool! So we had lots of room for everyone to visit together.

Mickie, Tim, and Logan had their own room.

I took the dogs for a walk on the beach before sunrise on Saturday. Charlie wanted to know why I was torturing him and not letting him go swimming. Gracie was wanting to know why I was punishing her by putting her down in this awful sand for some ridiculous picture. It was beautiful!

Mickie and Tim got to stay until Monday, but we had to come home on Sunday. It was a GREAT!!