The past couple of weeks have been beautiful outside!  As new home owners we have now experienced cleaning gutters, racking & bagging leaves, and other joys of home ownership.  We spent some time with my parents a couple of weeks back & went to a local pumpkin patch.  It was a nice afternoon where we went on a hayride, watched fish, and went through a corn maze.  To finish the day we celebrated Matt’s birthday early. Sunday we went to look at a beagle puppy we saw advertised online…a few short days later he was in our home instead of theirs.

We have had an exciting week.  We celebrated Matt’s 31st birthday and Tuesday we welcomed our newest member of the family  – Bagel the 10 week old beagle.  Wow, I remember someone saying puppies are like babies…and they weren’t kidding.  First we thought Bagel was 10 months, but instead he is much younger.  The first night was rough…lots of noise from our little ‘baby’, many trips outside (almost every 15 – 30 minutes), and a few accidents inside the house.  They boys are very excited to have him…George wants someone to boss around & Stuart thinks he is funny.  George doesn’t understand why Bagel doesn’t listen and Stuart doesn’t enjoy Bagel’s believe that Stu’s ears are chew toys.  However, we are all learning as a family.  Bagel only wakes up about once a night (5 am) to be let out and we are figuring it all out.  I guess it may only be another couple months til our family sleeps through the night….maybe.

Friday Matt & I celebrated our 5th Anniversary.  We had many nice cards, messages & notes of congratulations.  Looking back we have had a busy 5 years…and we are very blessed.  I’m sure the next 5 will go equally as fast…..and be full of even more memories.  For now we are thankful for all we have and wish each day for more patience, a reminder to use laughter when frustrated, and love to see the important parts knowing the rest may not last (like George’s loud mouth that spits out the word poop whenever possible). Ah, the joys of our life.