Meet Jack

Saturday we finally got everything finished up with this whole grass-planting project!!  Shawn had the kids out helping him finish the raking, and they were going as quickly as they could because we wanted to go to the lake later on in the afternoon.  They finished by 1:00, and then Shawn and I went to the local ranch store to buy some bales of straw.  We have found that if we put the straw on top of the grass seed, after planting it, that it comes up a lot better and a lot faster.  The straw keeps it from being blown away and holds in the moisture.

So here is what our yard looks like right after a planting:
It's kind-of nice to have a golden yard instead of a brown one!

These are our helpers, helping to spread the straw

And here is what it looks like a couple of weeks later!

It is coming up great and we are really excited.

Anyway, while Shawn and I  were at the store, we noticed a sign for free puppies.  We looked at them and they were pretty cute.  I must say that I am not a dog person and in the past  I have been known to say that we would never have a dog, but that was before I had a boy that I could tell was really dreaming about having one!  And a boy that I was sure would take complete responsibility for the dog and for training it to stay out of my future flower beds! (This also seemed like a good year for a puppy since I don't yet have those flower beds in use.)

Shawn really likes dogs, and when we saw the sign, we looked at each other, and I think we both knew that we ought to get a dog for Caden.  Caden had never come right out and asked for one, I think because he'd heard my opinion on the issue, so when we went right home and asked him if he would like to get a puppy, he said yes but tried to act indifferent to the idea. When it became clear that we were offering to take him to get one, he couldn't contain his excitement any longer.  He kept exclaiming about how excited he was.  We took him down to the store and let him take his time picking out the perfect puppy, without offering any opinions of our own.

It is really cute to see Caden and "Jack" together and see the delight on Caden's face.  He keeps saying that he just can't believe that he actually has a puppy! He is so thrilled with, and proud of this puppy, and it's fun to watch him care for Jack and wrestle with him and do all those things that boys and dogs seem to do so naturally. Caden has already started reading up on how to train him.  I think this will be the beginning of a great friendship, responsibility and learning experience!