This is harder than I thought

Three of our puppies went to their new homes today, all three girls.  The boy will go home on Saturday morning.  This is a lot harder than I had anticipated.  These four little babies became part of our family, and now we have to send them away.  I admit, I cried.  Several times.  I also had to work today so I wasn't there when they actually left, which is probably a good thing.  I spent the morning saying goodbye, and then when I came home at the end of the day there was just one puppy left to greet me.

All of our pictures so far have been of the puppies and the kids, because I'm always behind the camera.  I asked Austin to take charge of the camera this morning so I could have some pictures of me and the puppies together before they left for good.  I don't like pictures of myself, and I don't like POSTING pictures of myself, but here's my goodbye photo shoot.  It's making me cry even as I'm uploading the pictures.

Tinkerbelle

Moonlight

They all gave me goodbye kisses.

 

Star

Twilight

They are always tuckered out from outside playtime.  They found their Mama's bed and all four crowded into it and snuggled up together for a good long nap.

Goodbye babies.  I will miss you.  *sniff*

5 weeks old!

The puppies are five weeks old today!  Just one more week before they go to their new homes, which makes all of us at the Lawlor house a little sad.  Three puppies are pre-sold, all the girls, we're just waiting for an offer on the little boy.  He's the best looking one and my personal favorite, so I secretly hope he doesn't sell :)

I also have just one more week to finish kennel training them, and to get them to drink water out of a bowl.  They'll eat their food, but they are refusing to drink water!  It's very annoying!  They're almost weaned from Elphie, she doesn't sleep with them at night and they only nurse twice a day, morning and bedtime. (and they're sleeping through the night... yay!)   I'm assuming that the less milk they get, the more thirsty they'll get and eventually will crave the water.  I took them outside in the middle of the afternoon the other day and they got all hot and sweaty, I actually saw them pant for the first time (so adorable!), and they still didn't drink any water.  It's instinctual, they'll get there, I'm just frustrated.

And yes, they played outside for the first time!  We go outside once a day now where they get to run and jump and chew on pecans and oranges and sticks, and learn where to pee and poop.  The puppies LOVE to play outside.  In these pictures you can definitely tell that we haven't mowed our lawn in awhile.  The puppies probably thought it was some kind of jungle.  Austin bought a new lawnmower just a few days later, it looks nice now :)

 um... wrong Mama.

 My favorite picture of my favorite puppy :)

 all tuckered out

 our pretty Mama

 Ember is covered in Bostons.

 

One more fun fact... puppy barks and howls and growls are so cute!

Puppies week 4

I know I'm two days behind on this post, they were four weeks old on Wednesday, but that's the thing about depression.  You stay in bed for 3 or 4 days without a shower and you don't do anything productive.  Want to know a great anti-depressant?  Puppies.  Taking care of them was the only thing that got me out of bed.

On THAT cheery note... here's this week's progress.

Our little puppies are learning to eat solid food out of a dish so we can start weaning them from their Mama.  They sniffed it, stepped in it, got it all over themselves, and eventually decided to taste it.  They're learning at different paces but I think all four have got the concept now.  Learning to use the tongue to lap up your food or water is a big deal for a puppy.  It's been a very messy learning process, but fun at the same time.

 I'm showing them how :)

We've also been giving the puppies the run of the house (under close supervision).  They love to explore, especially behind the couch.  We have all wood and tile floors so they've had to learn not to slip and slide everywhere they go.  Moonlight, our boy, learned how to run right away.  Watching a puppy run and trip has got to be one of the cutest things ever :)  It's like we have a puppy infestation though, they're EVERYWHERE.

The puppies also have TEETH.  They have little chew toys to help with teething, but mostly they chew on my fingers and toes, which is excruciating.  And they chew on each other.  Let the fighting begin!  Puppy wrestling death matches with ears, tails, and paws being chewed on relentlessly!

This is why puppy eyes are so hard to resist!

 Once you've been free, the pool just isn't as much fun.

Falcon Field Fun

Today was the 70th Anniversary open house for the Falcon Field Airport.  It was built in 1941 to train British pilots from the Royal Air Force during WWII, and it's a fascinating place that I've enjoyed for many years.  My Grandpa, who was in the Air Force during WWII, took me there when I was a child and showed me pictures of pilots and officers on the walls and told me which ones he had known personally.  He could also tell me every detail of every airplane on display.  He LOVED airplanes.  In high school we went to one of the hangars for a Sadie Hawkins dance.  Today's event showcased historic aircraft and other military vehicles, classic cars, railroad history and displays, helicopter rides (which we skipped) and modern aircraft.  It was a LOT of fun and I'm so glad we took the kids.

Now for some picture overload.

One of the pilots painted this on the side of his plane :)

Ben liked exploring the inside of all the different aircraft.

This aircraft was John McCain's, which he donated to Search and Rescue.  Ben and Ember enjoyed pretending to fly.  Ember was also able to show off her knowledge about the parts of the plane and the instrument panel because of her recent science course in aviation at school, and her field trip to the Aviation Center at Lowell Elementary.  The pilot was impressed and Ember was pretty proud of herself.

Ben really liked the military aircraft, and looked for the guns and bombers first on every single one.  I saw one helicopter barely bigger than a bicycle, but the Blackhawk was by far the coolest helicopter there :)

 Look Mom, weapons!

 Ben down in front, in awe of it's size and power.

 Armored vehicle used in WWII.

 Grace checking out the cockpit.  It wasn't as exciting for her as it was for the older kids.

The classic cars was one of my favorite displays.  Ben started to touch something on one of the cars, and the owner jumped out of his seat to stop him saying, "that costs $100,000!  Please don't touch!"  There was a poster next to that car that said when it was brand new off the lot, it originally cost $600.

There was an airport firetruck on display with some Mesa Firefighters there to teach us about it.  He said regular firetrucks are like garden hoses compared to these things, I called it the firetruck monster truck.  The wheels were taller than Grace!

 This would take up two lanes of traffic, it is SO wide.

 Austin showing the kids, that's where the landing gear goes.

The BEST part... absolutely the coolest for me, was meeting the Veterans.  I'm pretty sure Ben and Grace weren't as excited about that as me, but Ember seemed really interested and stayed with me the whole time I was talking to them.  She even asked a few questions of her own, especially when we talked to the female pilot.  She was a WASP, Women Airforce Service Pilots, and just last year had earned the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.  She let Ember hold the medal.  She was a civilian at the time and wasn't given Veteran status until 33 years after the war ended.  

We also spent some time talking to three RAF Vets (Royal Air Force) and they were a hoot!  They were goofing off with each other, teasing and joking.  They also told me stories of which Hollywood actors and actresses they got to meet and have dinner with because it was Hollywood that paid to build Falcon Field.  One pilot said he got to have dinner with Cary Grant, and told me he was a very interesting man.  Another pilot told me that after the war he was in Canada, came to the American border in his RAF uniform and asked about getting back into America, which is where he trained and came to love.  He said "they let me walk right across the border, and I've been here ever since!"  He also said when he was living in Mesa while training at Falcon Field, it was 80% LDS population.  He was impressed by that and said it's a shame that percentage went down, they're such nice people :)  Another pilot asked me if I have relatives in England, because he knows some Lawlors there.  Who knows :)  Veterans are amazing, and I'm always honored to have the privilege of spending time with them.

 The one on the left knows the Lawlors overseas, the one in the middle had dinner with Cary Grant, and the one on the right showed me lots of pictures of him and Hollywood actors together, and he's the one who walked right across the border in his uniform. 

I wish I had taken a picture of her name plate, because this woman is one of my new heroes.  She speaks at Elementary Schools around the East Valley, usually 5th graders which is Ember's grade, so hopefully I'll hear from her again.  It was amazing that during a time when so many women didn't even learn how to drive, she learned how to fly and joined the Air Force.

The Veteran sitting next to her at the table had taken a break and no one knew where he went, but he was one of the Tuskegee Airmen.  I would have liked to meet him.

This is hard to read, but maybe if you click to enlarge it you can see the whole thing.  It's the history of Falcon Field and it's fascinating.  I love history, I love Mesa, I love Veterans, and I love spending time with my family, so today was pretty perfect.