Bella

After the devastation of returning Enzo passed, Daniel and I talked about getting another dog. I really didn't want a puppy because of the work involved. But we thought it might be our best option because then we would know what we were getting as far as temperament. So we took the plunge and got Bella, an 8 week old Great Dane puppy!

Everyone loved her! 

Surprisingly, I think Bella liked Opal the most. She was the most tolerant of her touching and laying on her. They were good buddies

As cute as she was, she was hyper. And sassy. And with 4 kids in the house (and 1 on the way) I didn't need any more sass in my life. She was also very easily excited. Like every time the kids walked by her she would jump on them. The poor neighbor kids were terrified to come anywhere near her. So, per the in home dog trainer's advice, we had to limit her to certain areas. Basically she was tethered to a leash almost all the time. 

We took her on walks, continued with her training but the sass was killing me. We finally decided that she was just not right for us. We had her for 4 months and a lot of her behaviors should have been getting better but they weren't. So, sadly we took her back to the breeder. The kids were not nearly as sad as I thought they would be. I think they were all in agreement that Bella was more of a nuisance than she was fun. 

The day we took her back. She was so big! But had so much more to grow!

We are once again pet less except for our chickens. (we gave away our parakeets a few months ago) As mush as I like pets, I think maybe we are just not supposed to have any right now!  

State Capitol

Daniel took a day off in March and we all headed to the Washington Capitol building. We met up with a few other homeschoolers and went on a guided tour. It would have been more fun without the 2 little girls running around! Overall they did pretty well and it was an informative tour. We also toured the Governor's mansion and just as we were walking in Gov. Inslee was coming out of a meeting and the kids got to shake his hand and meet him!

While we were there a high school choir was performing inside. The tour guide told us that several groups come in all the time and perform daily. I would think that would be fun to work there during the holidays with all the holiday performances!

We learned that it would be almost impossible to rebuild a building as nice as this one. The cost of the materials would be too outrageous today to replicate. It is a fancy place!

The governor's mansion. Addie said Daniel should be Governor so we can live there. :)

Happy Easter

We tried a new egg dying technique this year. It was a complete failure. They were supposed to turn out bright and like tie-dye. Super disappointing.

Saturday we headed over to the park for the Bonney Lake egg hunt. It was really fun, we had a blast and Johnny even won a prize! Some of the eggs had candy, a toy or a paper inside. The papers meant you had to go collect a toy or prize from the volunteers. As we were getting ready to open all the eggs to see what was inside we noticed a little girl crying. Her dad said she was sad because she didn't have very many eggs. She was small and really didn't get very many so I asked my kids if they would be willing to share. Between the 4 of them we had way more than we needed! She was so cute and happy that she got more eggs in her bucket!

Hunting for eggs. I may have to draw up a diagram next year so I can keep track of them all!