We're Expecting a New Family Member

So, we’ve had a nice spring break (I can’t wait till school is over for the summer – I love being able to spend all day at the playground or hiking, and not to have to constantly check the clock to make sure we won’t be late for the kindergarten bus or a preschool pick-up). On Monday morning we got invited to go with Danielle and Jen to Lollypop Farm for a little play date, and Michael’s morning clinic got cancelled so he came along with us before returning to the hospital in the afternoon. Lollypop Farm is the name of the area humane society, and they have a pretty large facility with dogs, cats, birds, small animals, and livestock. We went inside and saw the cats, dogs, and small animals, then headed out to the farm area where the boys petted goats, we saw a couple of emus, and then walked along the trail around the farm to see the horses, geese, pigs, lama, cows, and deer. Then we walked over to Egypt Park and played for a while on the playground before going to Jen’s house for lunch. While we were in the shelter, we saw a yellow lab-retriever mix that was pretty, and I thought about adopting him all afternoon. After lunch I went back over there so I could see if we could take him, and he had been adopted. So, after deciding that we did want a dog, we visited one other shelter, looked online, and then returned to the farm every day (because they have a really high turn-over and get new dogs daily), and after asking about adopting 4 different dogs (that all ended up being dogs that needed to go to homes without small children), we went back over there yesterday morning and they had a lab. We spent about ½ an hour in their yard there with him, and we decided to adopt him. We’re going to go pick him up on Tuesday.

He’s a very pretty dog – he appears to be a purebred yellow lab. (I was leaning toward a larger dog – like maybe a great dane mastiff mix or something, but a lab will probably be better for us as our first family dog). He was a stray, so they don’t have much of a history for him, but I think that he was someone’s pet that just got lost or something, because he seemed well-behaved, knew how to play fetch and ‘shake,’ and was good with the boys. We will have to get several tennis balls – Eli threw balls for him over and over for at least 20 minutes straight and he was really excited about that. And the nice thing was that even when we would run with him, he would run along with us, but he never jumped up, which is good since it wouldn’t take much to knock down the smaller boys. He’s about 2 years old, which is good because we didn’t want a new puppy. And we are planning on taking him to the obedience class they offer at Lollypop Farm to learn some more commands and with a little help with walking – they said that when he is walked on a leash he kind of goes in different directions instead of staying right beside you, so we’ll be able to work on that. We’re pretty excited, though. And it will also be nice because we are going to start taking him on walks every day, so that will not only be good for the dog, but good exercise for us too – we love going on family walks, but don’t do it every day right now. They’ve been calling the dog George at the shelter, but I think we’re going to name him Brax (Michael wasn’t too excited about that name at first, but he seems to be warming up to it now). So, tomorrow will be a busy day with trying to get all the necessary supplies, but we’re pretty excited. Today at lunch Kolby said a blessing on the food and during the prayer he asked that the dog would be safe and healthy until we pick him up on Tuesday so he can come live with us. Pretty cute! Oh, and Michael’s mom suggested that we get a female dog so we could announce that we were going to have a girl join our family, but alas, this dog is male, so I will continue to be the only girl at the Bradshaw house. I don’t mind that, though. :)

So, the rest of our week has gone well too. As I said, we made several trips to the shelter, and we also enjoyed some playground time and a hike on a trail the other day. Michael enjoyed his soccer game on Tuesday night – he has his last game for this soccer league coming up in a couple days. On Wednesday night he had his journal review meeting, and then on Thursday night I worked at the family history center, and I got the chance to help a lady find some census records of her grandparents. Then on Thursday I babysat the daughter of someone we know from church, Natalie, a 7 yr old girl with Down Syndrome. Although Natalie seemed a little overwhelmed at times with all the little boys running around, she and Kolby played quite well together and we enjoyed having her here. She stayed with us until Friday night. After I dropped Natalie off, Michael and I got our hotel booked for Toronto – he has a conference that he has to attend and it just happened to fall on the Saturday before his vacation week, so we are all going along to explore Canada a bit, so that will be a nice little trip for a few days (and it’ll also be nice that it’s only about 3 hours away, so we won’t have to do a ton of driving on this trip). And when we get back from that trip I get to go with Eli to the ‘mother’s day tea’ at his preschool, and we are also hoping to get our raised bed garden put together over the rest of Michael’s vacation from work. So, then yesterday morning Michael and Kolby went to help at the Bishop’s Storehouse, a place where people in need can get food and basic supplies, and the other boys went with me over to the church for a short while, then we went to Lollypop Farm, and after lunch Kolby went with me to Home Depot while Michael put the other boys down for naps, mowed the lawn, and worked on repairing our fence in a few places where it has been leaning a bit since we bought the house. (I can’t believe that it’s already been almost a year since we moved here, by the way!) We had an extra long trip at Home Depot, as we got the sink/counter top for the bathroom vanity, some stepping stones for the walkway in the garden, fertilizer, (I looked for a marble piece to put on the floor in the bathroom doorway when it gets tiled, but the ones they had in the size we need all had defects, so I’ll have to look elsewhere for that), I picked up assorted items for a number of different little projects, and I got all the lumber for the raised bed garden and fence – which took even longer because when I got there I found out that the wood didn’t come in the lengths we needed, so I had to recalculate all the measurements, but I hope that I got enough of everything so we won’t have to go back again for more wood. So, by the time I got home we rushed and unloaded the car, got the carseats back in, made dinner, ate, and hurried over to Caleb Silva’s birthday party (only about ½ an hour late – I hate being late to things!), but we made it in time for the piñata, cake and ice cream, and gifts, and the kids had a ball playing on the swingset and chasing each other around the back yard. We came home and ran all the boys through the bathtub before bedtime. And today we had church. The boys did pretty well – besides a couple bathroom breaks we didn’t even have to take anyone out in the hall from the first meeting, which hasn’t happened recently. Isaac went to nursery without any trouble (he usually does well, but occasionally cries when he goes to class, so it was nice not to have any tears today). And both Camden’s and Isaac’s teachers told me they did great in class today I didn’t talk to Kolby’s teacher, but he was very excited to tell us what he learned today and show us the special paper crown he got at class. So it was actually a very nice day. Michael had one home teaching appointment this morning before church, and one that he just got home from this afternoon, and I’d better go help get dinner finished up because it’s starting to smell good and I’m feeling hungry.

I know I haven’t posted any photos or video lately, but I’m sure I’ll catch up one of these days. :)