Happy Halloween

(can't you tell - it is a witch with a smoking cauldron)

We have had very few trick or treaters in our hood, 3 so far. (Update, now 4) (further update, we have had about a dozen so far).

Cody is off at a party with his girlfriend, Maggie. Graham at a party with his girlfriend, Amara.
Let's not talk about how old we must be to have teenagers.



Slade has taken Seby & Zane off to get their sugar. They have been so excited about Halloween. We have been counting down the days for a couple weeks now.

We are preparing for our new addition, a chocolate goldendoodle puppy! I got the crate today. It is set up off the kitchen. It feels very hectic because we will be leaving our sweet puppy just 10 days after we get her! We are off to California to be with family for the holiday, which was planned before the timing of this puppy. It seemed better to keep the puppy at our house instead of send her back to the breeder for the week. So, between Erika and Mariana, we will leave her at the house. It feels like a much better solution. We are able to get her a ticket to fly with us - but it seems too crazy to bring a puppy on a vacation.

We have been "trying out names" for the puppy. It really helps to have some current pictures of her. We have been thinking of going with Coco - but now that I have "tried it out" I'm thinking no, it isn't right. It sounds too much like Cody, and I realized I actually call him Co Co sometimes. So that seemed weird. Right now we are trying out Molly. It might take us some time with her to figure it out.

Seby & Zane are very excited about getting a puppy - they were just dying to get inside the crate - so I said ok, just this once.



Slade, Seby & Zane cut pumpkins the other night. They all did an awesome job, my favorite is the one Slade made.

New pics of our new girl!

Here she is waiting to be old enough to come to us! November 13 is when we will get her. Everyone in the family seems to like the name Coco for her - so unless it seems wrong when we get her I think it is a good fit. I have been reading up on my puppy training books, I have a crate ordered, vet appointment made, signed up for training classes ... what else besides getting the puppy in the house?

Aren't they so cute?

Graham and Amara - at the Harvest Festival at the farm - it must of been from someone's phone. I copied it from facebook.

Can anybody get married?

My sister sent me an email asking me to donate to a worthy cause - after making my donation I told her that she and I should both post about this need. She posted on her blog first and I can't think of any better way to say than she has ...

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Hey folks - it’s a political see-saw around here these days. Obama’s chances are looking up, but here in CA, Prop 8 is struggling. Here’s the deal: right now, gays are allowed to marry in California. If Prop 8 passes, that right will be taken away. Religious groups are pumping millions of dollars into the Yes on 8 campaign. Polls are showing growing support for Prop 8. If you can, please donate anything - even $10 - to the No on 8 campaign. I know times are tight and it’s hard to give money with the fear everyone has of their financial security - but if you could forgo a couple of expressos or lattes or a dinner out (you elitist, you) - that money could go to protecting equality in our society.

PLEASE DONATE NOW

www.noonprop8.com

Why do I care? Mostly, I believe that everyone is equal. I believe that everyone should be treated equally under the law. If a particular religious sect doesn’t want to grant gay marriages, it is their absolute right to refuse to marry gays. However, our constitution grants every person equal civic rights. And I believe that to protect our democracy we must uphold those rights.

Then I think about children. According to the American Psychological Association (and, more convincingly, conversations with gay friends), homosexuality is an inborn trait. You can’t “make” someone become gay or stop being gay. In large part, due to discrimination against gays, the suicide rates for gay teens are much greater than their straight counterparts. One study shows that while straight and gay teens attempt suicide at equal rates, gay teens are two to six TIMES more likely to try again. I don’t want that to be my kid. Or any kid I know. Or any child at all. I want all children, especially teens, to know that their future can include marriage if they choose it. How heartbreaking it must be to realize that your society is trying to limit your future just as you are starting to create it.
-Christina
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For all these reasons and more please support this cause.

www.noonprop8.com

Shouldn't everyone be able to realize their childhood dream of getting married?

Mommy & Daddy

Daddy



Mommy

I have to say I am so happy with these parents for our dog. The poodle allergy needs from the daddy - but the personality of the mom - the laid back goldendoodle.

I'm sooooo excited. It is a much better choice than what we did first. I'm glad we were able to change breeders/dogs.

Coco!

This is her! Our new addition. Well we don't have her yet, she is still too young. BUT, we have done it! I actually changed which puppy I wanted. I have been thinking about what puppy we are getting none stop - which I should! I realized that I have really wanted a chocolate girl - Graham gave clear feedback early on NOT wanting a chocolate colored dog. Today I realized I really did. He doesn't seem to have an opinion any more.

I'm so excited. We just have to figure out what day we will get her. She will be ready to "come home" November 12 - but then we leave for California on November 22, returning on the 30th. I can't get a ticket to bring her with us to California - luckily the breeder said they would keep her while we were gone.

I'm soooooo excited. I feel much better about getting this dog than the previous one ordered. I was just trying to please Graham and didn't think about how much it meant to me. Coco seems fitting - unless when we see her it feels wrong.

I might have to go down for a visit next week - they are 3 hours away! We will see.

Happy Birthday Slade!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Slade is in New York for work and is missing his birthday with the family. But, we will celebrate this Friday night with a night out on the town with the whole family! We miss you baby and can't wait to have you back home!

We love you and miss you

A long weekend at the lake house

We just spent the last four days up at the lake house. We pretty much spent our time reading, playing board games, and poker (of course!).

When we first arrived we had many chores to do - there were a disgusting amount of flies that needed vacuuming up! There was also a soda that exploded in the fridge, so the whole fridge had to be cleaned out. Zane was funny about wanting/NEEDING to help clean up with all of this. First he did a lot of the vacuuming, then he moved on to help me clean out the fridge.



All four boys played a bit of Monopoly - with cards that Cody wrote for the game. And he also added $1,000 bills to the bank.





All the leaves were off the trees - well there looked to be a small handful of trees that had not lost their leaves yet - otherwise all the leaves were on the forest floor. And if you like walking thru piles and piles of crunchy leaves - then this was the place to be this weekend. Seby and Zane were in heaven. Of course we all enjoyed it and were amazed at how loud it was to just take a walk in it. On one of our walks we tried to NOT make any noise and it was very difficult.



The lake is lovely no matter what the season.



We got the house ready for the next time we will be up there - right after Christmas. We were all wondering what kind of weather will we have then? And how much snow???

Murder Mystery Party

We hosted a Murder Mystery Party this past weekend. It was big job - but also a really fun party. As Slade says, it wasn't difficult to get most of the attendees (there were 40 characters) to come out of their shells. It was quite hilarious.

Puppies & Obama

Wasn't Obama awesome tonight?

Well, actually I could give some pros and cons on both sides - but, he is it.

I really don't won't to hear any more polls. And I'm also really liking Al Franken. It just hasn't gone my way for the last two elections, so I'm not trying to get too excited.

Go Obama!

We are buying a puppy. I've been looking for the past year or so into a breed that I would like. I told the family this was MY dog - but they could also love it. So, I was picking the breed, but I did compromise with Slade about the size of the dog. I really wanted a bigger dog, Slade wants a smaller dog.

The last time we got a dog I thought we could only get one kind of dog - a poodle. The only poodle I knew was Duke - and Duke is not your average poodle. Duke has a great personality. The poodle we got (Paris, as some of you may remember) was a typical poodle. I didn't realize this until I was at a school event and listened to a parent describe a dog she found annoying. I was shocked because I felt that she was describing our dog, Paris. After telling her this she said, do you have a poodle? Well that is what poodles are like. I realized then it didn't matter what kind of training we did with this dog - I would never like it. So, we took him back to the kennel we bought him from. I inquired about him when I started this search and he is a favorite show dog for the kennel - groomed all day - clearly not my kind of dog.

So, we are looking at the goldendoodle. This is a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle (we have to get a poodle in there somewhere for the allergy issues). This breed has the personality of a retriever and the non-allergic traits of the poodle. It is also a nice cross between the two breeds in terms of it's physic.

So, we have a confirmed pregnancy with Angel - the mamma dog (Max is the daddy). They had an ultrasound last night and there appear to be many puppies. We are first on the list for a girl dog. I have too many males in this house - I won't have a male dog.

This is an example of the standard goldendoodle.



Paris was about a 20 lb dog and this dog should be between 40-45 lbs. This is the minature size - the standard is 50-65 lbs.

Luckily we have all met a lot of goldendoodles in this past year - mostly at soccer games for Sebastian during this past summer. I can't stop myself from going up to the owner's and confirming the dog is a goldendoodle. Then I get to pet it! They are the sweetest dogs. There are also a few families that have them from the school - so we get to see them at the outdoor school events!

So, the pregnancy is confirmed and the puppies will be born around Halloween. Such fast gestations for dogs. We will be able to bring her home around Christmas. So, now we get the new task of coming up with a girl name. Obama doesn't sound right, but I did consider it. First in the running is Franny (of Franny & Zooey by Salinger). When Slade heard this he said "Oh shit" - "What I said?" "If you like Franny, that means you really want two dogs." Well, he is right I do want two dogs. But we will see. One at a time.