Tucker LOVES Georgia

LOVES as in: I must be around her all the time or I collapse into fits of whining and howling until I can see her again.

Welcome Home, Tucker!!

We picked up Tucker this morning and Georgia is in LOVE! On the way home she put her face down by the door of the crate and told him the story of his adoption.

The Countdown is ON!!

Earlier this week, Brian spoke to Tucker's foster mother and she said that the rescue decided to release Tucker and his sisters early. We will get him on Saturday! Very exciting!

Today Georgia and I went to Petsmart to get him a ID tag, treats and a couple of toys. Brian's co-worker has offered us a crate which is the biggest, most expensive thing we will need to buy. We've promised to take him to the rescue organization' vet to be neutered at the end of November, once he reaches 16 weeks of age.

More later this weekend after we welcome to his new home!

Visiting Author Ron Hershi

Last week, naturalist and author Ron Hershi visited our school district. This meant that Georgia had her first field trip on Tuesday! She and her classmates rode the school bus (the MOST exciting part!) to a local park where Mr. Hershi guided them on a tour of the area. On Thursday, Mr. Hershi visited the school where each student made a book about their experience.


Also on Thursday, I had my first volunteer time in her classroom. I helped students paint rocks that they'd found at the river's edge during the field trip. Georgia was very excited for me to be there and I really enjoyed it. I am not scheduled again for another 2 weeks but I am working in the library next week for the Book Fair.

Update regarding Tucker

We received some news about Tucker today. We will still be able to adopt him but not until mid-November. The rescue's vet tried to spay another puppy this week and, sadly, the pup did not survive the procedure. They have decided to wait until the pups are 4 months/16 weeks old before performing a spay/neuter surgery.

We are bummed but, of course, just want Tucker to be healthy and we trust the rescue to make that call. Tucker's foster mother has agreed to bring him to meet us this weekend, which is a surprise for Georgia. We will be sure to take some photos as it is sure to be a fun day.

Golf Outing Today

Home Visit re: Tucker

We just met Gail from Tucker's rescue and we've been approved! Gail will move the process along and we should get an official word via email by the end of today.

We are so excited and can hardly wait to bring him home. We may try to contact his foster mother to see if Brian and Georgia can meet him. Perhaps a surprise for Georgia.

Introducing...Tucker!!

Today while Brian took Georgia to a classmate's birthday party, I met a woman who is fostering a puppy, Tucker, who we hope to adopt. He is a schnauzer (50% - his mother is a purebred) mix, perhaps corgi or dachshund, who is being cared for by a local rescue organization.

In the coming weeks, we will meet at home with an adoption representative who will decide if our home will suit Tucker's needs. We are hopeful and fairly confident that this will work out and we will adopt Tucker just before Halloween.

In the meantime, Tucker will stay with his foster mother until he finishes getting his initial vaccinations and gets neutered.

After looking into adopting a larger dog (golden retriever), Brian decided he wanted to wait until Spring. However, when he saw Tucker online, his heart melted and he quickly completed the adoption application. We had hoped to keep this a secret from Georgia until we were sure everything would work out but we are fairly certain this will happen and we (Brian!) could not wait to tell her about Tucker. Needless to say, she is extremely excited.

We really think Tucker will be a fantastic addition to our family. We are all so excited to move forward and bringing Tucker home. His foster mother said that the organization typically does not adopt to families with children but since he is a puppy and she is old enough to understand how to care for a dog, they think this will be a fantastic match. Tucker and Georgia will be able to grow up together, which is one of the things that makes us most excited.

(Photos are from the rescue's website. Our camera seems to be broken, which explains the lack of recent photos on the blog.)

Go Bucks!

Note from Mrs. Fields

Yesterday I emailed Georgia's teacher and volunteered myself as a helper in or out of the classroom. I also told her how much Georgia loves school and that I know she can be a challenge. Here is her response to that part of my note:

Georgia is delightful! I just have to keep her from "helping" too much. Ha, Ha! She was working on another child's paper the other day and when I called her on it she said, "well, he had them all wrong!" She was right but I had to remind her that it was my job to "help" him. It was very funny! She is a smart little ball of enthusiasm! I am enjoying her. PS She hates to "get in trouble" but can always tell me exactly what she did and what she could do differently. A great combination!

I feel good that Mrs. Fields sees Georgia as enthusiastic, because I think that is exactly what she is. The flip side of that, of course, is overbearing and annoying, which she can be, as well. But Mrs. Fields seems to see the positive of that, which is great for Georgia.

Also, Georgia is officially a ballerina! We ran over to the studio last night and signed her up for classes starting this Thursday night. The stuido is in Blue Ash so Brian will be able to meet us over there after work sometimes. She is so so so excited! We bought the official leotard and shoes last night. When she tried the leotard on in the dressing room, she said, "well, it feels good but I need to try it out." Then she did a few "moves" to make sure the leotard fit properly.

Brian started school on Monday and is pretty excited about it. He has to his other class tonight. We both think this will give him an edge when he looks for jobs in the future.

Madsen Cargo Bikes

Madsen is choosing a weekly winner of one of their bikes from anyone who helps them spread the word about their product via blog, Twitter, website, etc. Having posted this banner on my blog, I am entered to win!

Interested? Check out this link: http://www.madsencycles.com/contest/

Today's Makeover

A few weeks ago, Brian and I picked up an armchair and ottoman at a yard sale. We knew we needed more living room seating - all we had was a couch - and from the road, the set looked great. And for $20, it is a fantastic find, even though we are pretty sure it is from a set of outdoor furniture.

Of the pair, the footstool has seen better days.

Fabric + Staples = a Fabulous (to me, at least!) New Look!!!

I finally cut into the Denyse Schmidt home dec. fabric that I bought months ago and I love the results. I am going to take a look at the chair to see if I can work some staple gun magic there.

Happy Weekending!!

Week 1 of Kindergarten: Completed!

Georgia had a great first week of kindergarten. Her favorite part of school so far is gym class and she is looking forward to taking 1 book from the school library next week.

Have a great weekend!

TV stand: Before & After

It's official: we have a KINDERGARTENER!!

Today was the first day of kindergarten! It has shaped up to be a very happy and exciting morning for all of us. We are at home and will pick G up in about 30 minutes from now. I will update the blog later with details about her day! Can you see her practically bursting with excitement?

The very famous Mrs. Fields!!

G in her classroom

"After"

Brian worked very hard last night to mount these shelves in the kitchen. The exterior wall was very, very hard. I love how it looks and it will be even better once we've painted the entire kitchen.

How we feel today

"Before" photos

Along with the ongoing project of the basement stairs, we've been working on a couple of projects this weekend so I thought we would share some "before" photos.

Not surprisingly, the kitchen cabinets are not the highest quality. Shortly after moving in, we noticed one set of uppers was falling apart. We decided to take them down and hang open shelving. Imagine our surprise that upon taking them down (with Uncle Matt's help) the previous owners had not painted the wall prior to haning the obviously new cabinets. It appears that the stove and vent were once in that spot and that wall has been patched. Although we found no less than 30 cans of paint in the basement, none of them matched the paint in the kitchen. So, we've had to figure out what to do in order to make that wall presentable. We are going to paint this square of the kitchen wall (a temporary fix until we are ready to repaint the whole room) and hang 3 shelves.I suppose the up-side to having an extra set of kitchen cabinets in our basement is that we can experiment with those to see what we can do with the cabinets. We both prefer the look of painted cabinets so we will be able to test out products and processes until we figure out what will work for these cabinets.

Recently we found this large, square end table on the street. We know it isn't pretty (yet!) but is super-sturdy and a really nice size. All in all, it is a pretty fab dumpster diving find! We are converting it into a TV stand by removing the drawer to add a shelf for the components. Brian has already rolled/brushed on 2 coats of paint and it should be finished by the weekend.

Stay tuned for the "after" photos...

Hot fun in the summertime

Last week, Aunt Kathy was in town for a visit and did not have a car so on Thursday we took her to Columbus and went to the zoo for the day. Afterward we met up with Uncle Danny. It was hot but fun.

Yesterday/Saturday we decided to celebrate Georgia's first day of elementary school by going to Young's Dairy, one of our favorite haunts when we lived in Dayton. We had not been there since we moved in January. It was as enjoyable as we remembered. Take a look at this slideshow for some moments from the afternoon.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9773107@N06/sets/72157621934230737/

Sunday in the Spraypark with Georgia

We to a break from home improvements to go to the spraypark.

So so so SO hot!

But G had a great time so it was worth it.