Jasper

Our past week has been a blur of puppy feedings, puppy peeings, puppy walks, puppy play, and puppy whining at inconvenient hours of the night. I'm so tired. I have moments of wondering what the hell we were thinking, but it's mostly been fun and sweet. He's a lovely, mellow dog and he's really good with people - even children! We walk Seb and Liesl to school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoons - he went to both of their soccer games last weekend - and has been cooed over and manhandled by half the school.  He's been coming to work with me (my co-workers all gave their pre-approval) and hanging out (in a kennel) in my office while I meet with students. For the most part, he's a good ice-breaker; how scary can I be if I have a cute puppy to snuggle with? And in my free time, I am embarking on a crash course in raising and training a puppy...

puppy!!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday, we got ourselves a black labradoodle puppy who we have tentatively named Jasper. He's 8 weeks old. We got him from a breeder who lives south of us, in Lebanon - she had 5 puppies left from a litter of 8, so we got to drive down and (with her help) pick out our puppy. This one was the sweetest and most mellow of the bunch. His mom is a silver lab; his dad is a labradoodle.

We amused ourselves on the way down by brainstorming dog name. Oscar and Finn were the other main contenders.

We picked up a lightweight, foldable dog crate to transport him home - Liesl was in absolute heaven talking to him all the way. I would say that she was the most enthusiastic about getting a dog - she's been talking about getting a dog for a couple of years, has repeatedly asked for one for birthday/Christmas presents, and often pretends to have a dog (or be a dog) in her pretend games.

We stopped to get gas and let the puppy romp and go to the bathroom. He's already well on his way to being house-trained, which is fantastic. Watching Seb and Liesl romp in the grass with the puppy was amazing and so cute.

We got home and introduced the puppy to Steve and our new home, and took him out for a walk in the neighborhood.

We've got him set up with a crate and food bowls in a corner of the living room. He doesn't particularly like the crate - he doesn't choose to go in there on his own and whines when I put him in - but he's adapting and learning. He's slept in there the last two nights. The first night was awful; he woke up every hour, crying and whining, and I had to comfort him and talk to him. Last night was much better; he woke up three times and settled down much more easily. He was awake and ready to go play at 5 am (like a baby!) but didn't bark at me or whine - he was just awake and sitting patiently in the crate until I took him outside.

So much sleeping! He's a puppy -  a baby - and he sleeps so much.

Chasing a ball! Playing fetch!! He's going to be great when he gets big enough to play games with us. He's already clearly got the chasing and fetching instincts.

We walked Seb and Liesl to school together on Thursday morning, garnering more attention and excitement and coos than I thought possible. Everyone loves a puppy.

These pictures are fuzzy, but Liesl's face says it all. She's over the moon.

home life

Miscellaneous photos from the last week or so - when we're on vacation, or out of town, my camera is always out and in use! But around home, it's much less frequent. Usually I take quick snaps with my phone to document something and remember it -

So much summer reading!!!!!! Even though there was more Rainbow Magic Fairy and Big Nate than I would have preferred, I do love to see them so engrossed in their stories.

We celebrated Steve's birthday on Aug. 10 with a banner and homemade cards and an assortment of treats (mini-pies, cupcakes, chocolates). He has been really busy at work this month and we have missed him.

 

Both Liesl and Camille loved my mom's amazing pork spare-ribs, which she made when we were visiting last month. So I made ribs when we got back and tried to re-create Popo's secret sauce. The verdict: not as good as Popo's, but not bad! Pretty good! Maybe you can keep trying?

We finally replaced Liesl's broken-down old dresser with a lovely vintage one - she and I had a fun afternoon shopping together.

My beloved dance teacher and friend Ching Ching Wong is leaving Northwest Dance Project to strike out on her own - I am so happy for her and so sad for myself. We had an amazing and raucous final Jazz 101 class last week; Ching will perform in late October for one last time with NWDP. She's cleaning out her apartment and giving things away, including these amazing iridescent high heels - they're size 3, so Liesl will fit them in another two years or so. Eeep! She was so delighted.

I haven't baked very much this summer - it's been too hot to turn on the oven and we've been out on so many fun adventures. But on Thursday after school, the children were playing with friends, I had worked and come home and had nowhere to go, and I felt the familiar yearning return. I made a strawberry French yogurt cake and then double chocolate banana bread, and both were delicious and amazing.

Liesl requested clip-on earrings for a back-to-school present, and I obliged. She got a really cute pack of 12, with hearts, rainbows, strawberries, chicks, etc. Her best friend Nora was very excited too, and so Liesl was kind enough to share - they split two sets, with one heart for each and one strawberry for each.

Sebastian had a tough week - September is always a time of anxiety and uncertainty for him as he gets back into the routine, has to adjust to school expectations, and has to negotiate all the social dynamics of school and afterschool friend groups. But Friday night was sweet and we played a game of chess together and it felt good to re-connect.

This was my Saturday morning homework/chore list for each. All accomplished before 7:30 am and duly rewarded with an hour of watching Phineas and Ferb, their current favorite Netflix show.

Tonight was lovely -  we went to a BBQ at Adrienne and Jeff's - our friends Anne and Cuong, Luna and Anja, Elise and Mitsu, plus children were all there. We had a huge spread of pork chops, sausages, chicken, hot dogs, and five different salads (coleslaw, beet, Caesar, corn-tomato, lettuce-cauliflower). It was so fun to see everyone and hang out together and close out the summer. But as the photos below attest - I made a mixed berry crisp for dessert which fell onto the ground of our driveway on the way out and shattered. There were shards of ceramic (one of my favorite pans) intermixed with all of the (delicious, ruined) berries and topping. I cried. I am so clumsy sometimes.

eclipse photos

I'm finally getting around to posting these photos from the solar eclipse on Aug. 21. We were all home - Steve and I worked from home that day so we could go up to the school grounds with the kids and watch the 99% totality of the eclipse. It was a party - there were many school friends and their parents - Seb and Liesl were moderately interested in the eclipse and extremely interested in hanging out and reconnecting after the summer with their friends.

It was very cool to watch the shadows lengthen and feel the air get cool - the temperature dropped remarkably -

My favorite thing, though was the crescent shaped shadows on the ground. I took many photos but they didn't quite capture how magical they were.