A Weekend at Home and an update on Maddie...

The pups had a pretty big week and weekend! First, on Thursday, Andrew and I took them for their first walk around the pond and fetch session. Both Copper and Penny loved chasing the tennis balls, but they were a little confused when we tried to get them to bring them back to us. Needless to say, they are both really good at Keep-Away! We'll work on the fetching...

Friday night we (the pups and me) headed to Cartersville. Copper and Penny got to meet their Shmimi and PePaw (Ma and Pa), Uncle Jake and Aunt Allie, Aunt Maddog, and they got to see their Aunt Shannon and Wilbur-Cuz again! It was fun watching them get used to the two huge dogs. They were right at home at the Crazy Lalla house!

Saturday morning I went to Holly's (Andrew's cousin) baby shower for little Hadley. The decorations were so pretty, and Hadley sure has a lot of people who love her already... as you can see by the mountain of presents! So many precious little baby things... and doesn't the mom-to-be look great?! Seriously... she looks the same except for the basketball under her dress!

PePaw babysat the pups while I was gone, and when I got home, Wilbur-Cuz was ready to teach them how to play tug-of war. Penny caught on quick, especially once Wilbur realized that he had to switch from "Big-Dog" gear to "Puppy" gear. (She got dragged a couple of times, but she is a tough little cookie.) Wilbur learned to be careful, he loves his baby cousins.

Copper couldn't let Penny have all the fun!

Copper tuckered out quick, and needed to take a quick nap on Aunt Shannon's lap. Maddie gave him a little smooch... I like to think she is telling him her secret to being the best dog in the world.

Here is sweet Maddog in her very favorite spot...

snoozing under Ma's lounge while she and Susan lay in the sunshine.

Later that night, I took the pups to meet Andrew's family at a birthday dinner for Dennis. They went wild for about 30 minutes, but then the day caught up with them...

Sunday morning, they had to have just one more round of Tug-of-War before their Wilbur-Cuz went home. They sure do love that big brown bear!

Penny was absolutely pooped Sunday night when we got home.

They slept the whole carride home (which, unfortunately, took 3 hours rather than 2), played for about an hour, ate dinner, and then came in to play with their Daddio and promptly passed out. They'll toughen up... this weekend is going to be another wild one with the Lalla's!

Princess Maddie (2006)

My homecoming crown looks waaay better on her! She's a true queen!

Unfortunately, we found out yesterday that there is nothing we can do for our sweet Maddie girl except love her and spoil her for the rest of our time with her. (That won't be hard to do!) We are heartbroken knowing that we only have 2 months at the most, and we have to watch her get weaker and weaker... but we will truly cherish the time we have left. My poor Ma is just absolutely heartbroken, especially since it hasn't been too long since Cherokee passed. Maddie is her baby girl, our Sister-dog, and it is so surreal that she will not live to see her 10th birthday. I just hope that we can keep her out of pain. She is going to be smothered with so much love! And you better believe she will be allowed on the furniture with us, now! I wish we were closer to home so I could see her every day.

I have such precious memories of sneaking her upstairs (there was a time when she wasn't supposed to go up there) to sleep in my room. That eventually turned into her having a bed next to mine! The night before I would leave to go back to college, I would let her squeeze onto my twin-sized bed with me.

My sister was in her first year at college when we got Maddie, and when she came home and saw her for the first time, Maddie peed on her shoes! Hahaha.

I could go on and on, but I should save that for another post when I can add her sweet puppy pictures... mohawk and all.

What a dog.

I love you, Maddie.