2009 in Review... SPRING!

I'm lumping March, April and May together... we didn't go anywhere during this time, just had some fun at home...

In March we brought home our puppy, Rosie. She actually had some crazy name that I can't recall, given to her by the crazy lady that we got her from! Okay so she was actually a veterinarian at Lilly/Elanco and she raised "leader dogs" so she probably wasn't actually crazy, just a little difficult to deal with.

First came the questionnaire. Like 25 questions, no kidding. What will be the dog's training program? Describe the dog's sleeping situation. What will the dog's daily routine consist of? I didn't think Jason would even go for filling out the questionnaire, but he provided the input that I needed. We got "chosen" as a candidate to adopt the dog, but then we had to travel to the owner's home in Greenfield to have her evaluate the "human-animal bond" to see if we were a match. After sitting in the house for an hour, Jason was done. He stood up and I asked if we got the dog. We did, so we grabbed her and headed to the truck as soon as we'd handed the check over. We left with the previous owner shouting after us "of course I want her back if she doesn't work out..."

Well she did! We intentionally chose to visit with her while the boys were on spring break at my parents' house, just in case we weren't a "match." We hadn't told them anything about a dog so it was a complete surprise to them. We took them to the vet clinic where Rosie was waiting and let them play with her for a bit. Then we broke the news that she was ours. They were so excited! She's been a great dog and goes to work with Jason every day that she gets a chance. She's become the official vet clinic greeter.

We also surprised the boys with a 4-wheeler when they returned from that same trip... they were almost as excited about that as they were about the puppy! They have had a great time, and so has Jason, with the new ride. Rosie even gets in on the action riding on the back. Jason made her a "box" to help her stay on. We ended up taking many trips back to the creek at Jerry Birt's and/or Ted Willer's to find fossils and have picnics during the Spring and Summer months.

The boys learned all kinds of fun things from the girls at the babysitters ... one of the best that they played over and over for several months was "Monkeys always look!" They did it to each other over and over. They even pulled it over on Jason and I several times.

Other faves of Owen's were:
- "fine! you can't come in my woom (room)"
- "fine! I don't like you or I don't love you and you can't lay by me!"
and
- "fine! you're not my best fwend (friend) anymore!"

He got in trouble plenty of times for this sassiness, but he's a mouthy a little 3 yr old nonetheless!

The boys also enjoyed a game of "is he bigger/stronger than my dad?" for a month or two. They asked it about superheroes, guys on tv, cartoon guys. Of course their dad beat everyone! haha!

Spring was also soccer season... the first for Owen and #4 for Ben. We were on the "Centaurs" team and though we never really knew what it meant, the boys loved it! I didn't blog back then but the year that Ben had just turned 3 in Feb and started playing soccer in April I swore that NEVER AGAIN would I have a 3-yr-old playing soccer! Well I ate those words... Owen was 2 mos shy of 3 when he started!

Of course he was motivated by trying to be like his big bro, and having watched his big bro play for several seasons. We got permission from our former coach who was in charge of the league and he said we'd give it a try. Apparently the two DePauw girls that were coaching the team called him to ask if it was a mistake... a 2 yr old on their team! He told them to give it a try and we'd drop him if he got to be too much trouble.

It's not just a momma bragging... Owen was the 2nd most aggressive kid on the team, Ben being first! We lost track of how many goals Ben scored. Owen didn't actually score any in the right goal (for his team) but he was pretty happy about two in the WRONG goal. They were great - and fun to watch. Their team cheer "Centaurs on 3 - 1, 2, 3 - Centaurs!!" was repeated over and over by both boys on a regular basis! They loved it - and they especially loved their trophies when it was all over.