Pint size poetry and puppies

Sometimes beautiful poetry comes out of my children's mouths. Tonight on the swingset, Ryann announced that she was going to swing until she touched the sky. She pumped her little body on the glider until she was swooping high into the air and then she called out, "This is real! I feel the sky on my nose. And the wind on my eyeballs." And she beamed and beamed, so pleased with herself and loving life.

My poor husband loves me so much that he finds it in himself to deal with my crazy need for craziness. My friend at work put it into words perfectly. She told me - You're just like me. The more the merrier. You don't mind a crazy house as long as it's bursting with love.

And that's exactly what it is. I thrive on newness, challenge, excitement, and lots of love. Having said that - I was able to convince my wonderful hubby that we should get another dog. Our loving lab mix, Rosko, is nearing 9 years old and is starting to slow down. I was raised with a houseful of pets and with the mindset that when one dog starts to near their end, you should get another puppy with the hopes that the older dog will help to teach the new youngster the ropes. I've been looking longingly at puppies for the past six months and finally found one that I think will be great for our family. My mom and I went to visit "Benji" on Sunday and he was just as sweet as he looked in his online photo. He is a rescue dog we are adopting from an organization in Faribault, Minnesota. At first, I was unsure if I really was truly ready to take on the challenge of puppyhood again. I haven't done it in almost 9 years but I remember it can be tough. I agonized for about 24 hours and had a long list of pros and cons in my mind. I hashed it over and over with my mom and finally she said, you have really good reasons for getting it and really good reasons for not getting it, so why don't you just flip a coin. What a concept! So I said a little prayer and announced heads would be "get the puppy", tails would be "don't get the puppy". I flipped the coin into the air and it landed heads up. So, Saturday after Dance we will be loading the family into the van for the hour and fifteen minute trip to farm country in Faribault to pick up our newest member of the family:

Come on - who could say no to that face?!

We told the kids tonight that we're getting a puppy on Saturday and showed them the above photo.  Then, we asked their opinion on what we should name the new puppy.  Here are our "top" choices:

1. Rags (my personal favorite)

2. Dino (prounounced Dean-o)

3. Fluffy

4. Scooby Doo

5. Fuzzy

6. Little Lou

7. Lambert

8. Scrappy

9. Cupcake

10. Aladar

11. K.C.

12. Harry

13. Yoda

What do you think?  Is he more of a Scrappy or an Aladar?  ;)