Duke

It has been a sad couple of weeks for us. First, our tiny turtles were buried.

Now we have said a sad goodbye to my parents dog Duke.

Even though he was almost 15 years old, he still had a little puppy look. I think that we will all miss him getting a haircut each year and looking like he was only a year old again.

He was such a great dog for my kids to grow up with. Kadie has known him her whole life!

Up until a few months ago he would do all he could to get up and play with my kids every time we were up at my parents. Even in the last couple of years when he struggled to walk and run.

He just couldn't resist playing with kids!

I will miss watching my Dad tease Duke with his squeeky toy.

My Dad would repeatedly stomp on the toy (squeeky squeeky, squeekeeeeeeee...)

and Duke would bark and bark and bark and run around barking more.

He loved it. Well, I think that they both loved it.

I feel like this post isn't complete because I didn't take a picture of my Dad with Duke.

They were like the two musketeers when it came to keeping the cats out of the house and the deer off the lawn.

We miss you Duke!

Goodbye...Hello!

Last Christmas the girls were so excited to get their little leopard gecko's from Santa.

Sassy really had a special little love for Laney.

As our first "real" pets other than fish, Santa told us that gecko's are very low maintenance and easy to keep alive. So even Josh and I were excited. They really were cute.

About 2 months ago, Laney's lizard dropped it's tail, and it was all downhill from there. Both gecko's were lethargic and wouldn't eat a thing for the last month. So we decided to give them up to a shelter that would nurse them back to health and then find good owners for them.

We saw and heard many many tears this last weekend.

Josh and I felt bad for the girls and for their gecko's.

What we weren't planning on was meeting some teeny tiny turtles at the shelter that need a new home! Kadie tried to talk me into a snake, but with all of the fiasco's with crickets this last year, I could only imagine mice and gold fish being worse. So we agreed on turtles.

Meet Freckles and Cuddle!

Now the girls are smiling again!

Let's hope that these little things stay healthy.