New dog!!!

Introducing Jae Aaron (Sedrick) Buckwalter

Nick labored over middle names for the dog and looked them up on the Internet, in English, Spanish and French. He almost went with "Neige" which means "Snow" in French and is common as a pet name for white furry creatures.

I was really hoping for something like Felipe, which sounds great in all 3 languages.

But Nick was in charge of it. He is the one who has begged for years to get a dog.

Jae is half poodle (yea for no-shedding!) and half maltese.

Look at this lover dog. He LOVES to lick (which the kids like, but I'm training him to love me without licking me) :) and he loves to cuddle and lay on us or by us.

Nick could not wait to give him a bath Nick was cracking up that dogs look like big rats when wet.

Here he is with his towel/shawl in midst of a yawn...though he was not bored during the bath; stressed would be the word I think.

Now he is ready to relax in style, smelling good (since we used one of our fragrant shampoos!). We have yet to buy 'doggie shampoo' but we like his fresh, clean, lavendar smell.

Our dear friends are moving (to UT -- thank goodness, as we know we'll see them when we visit there, which is yearly) and they gave us their dog, Jae. We have kept him for the past few years whenever they are out of town. The kids are so PYSCHED! I don't know if I ever wrote that we did not keep our big, beautiful Boxer after she literally ate our wooden backyard fence whenever we were gone; she escaped and neighbors called us worried. She was extremely lonely having been raised with another dog and so we found her a new home with 2 dogs, 2 acres, and 2 kids. Nick was very sad, but we told him we'd be on the lookout for another dog, smaller and more happy to be here, even when we are gone. Jae is very happy and easy to have here. He is quiet and sweet and we love him. We feel so lucky and we thank the Sedricks for giving us their precious pet! Ahhh, now Nick will stop making signs to put all over the house that say, "Let's go get a new dog!" listing all the types of dogs we might be interested in.

It seems to me that every boy needs a dog. :)