We celebrated Christmas morning on the morning of the 24th, as we were heading to see extended family that afternoon. Both Tucker and Summer (and mom and dad) had a really fun morning!
I included three videos: The first is of Tucker opening his gift, the second is of Summer riding her new princess car, and the third is of her opening her Alphabet Caterpillar.
Tucker's Gift
Summer's Princess Car
Summer Opening her Alphabet Caterpillar
(Mom and Dad had tons of fun shopping the Lakeville Consignment Sale in October and got all of Summer's Christmas shopping done there :) )
Here are a few pictures from the morning.
Christmas morning with my two kiddos!
Tucker's BIG bone
Summer's Princess Car
It has the perfect height handle for her to hold onto!
Torey, Kelly's roommate from college, stayed with us one weekend. We got "snowed in". Summer helped us make cookies, one of Torey's family recipes.
This is Torey's car in the driveway after Paul shoveled. We got over 20 inches in less than a 48 hour period!
Tucker's view as he tried to go outside to go to the bathroom partway through our winter storm! He started to run out and then stopped, not sure what to do! Daddy plowed Tucker a little place to use the restroom!
A cute random--Summer sits in her bumbo each morning while mommy eats breakfast.
Kirkwood family Christmas card picture--taken after a big snow!
Summer in Winter :)
The annual Kirkwood family Christmas cookie bake-off--Summer's first! Summer is "helping" Auntie Kristin unwrap Hershey Kisses for the peanut butter kiss cookies.
Two generations of siblings :)
Summer's shirt is so true! If you can't read it, it says, "Who needs Santa when I have Grandma"!
Playing with Daddy
Grandpa and Summer
Summer loves to look at the tree!
Tucker loves his little sis!
Mommy and Summer walking around the tree.
Summer always gives Tucker a huge grin! (That is Tucker's tail in the front of the picture as he runs past!)
Yay Summer! She is getting so much better at balancing on two feet. When holding onto her crib, she can stand for a couple seconds without tipping over, all by herself! (of course we are spotting her to catch her when she does tip over!)
Hi everyone! As I mentioned in my last post, Summer has started to share a few laughs with us, only she makes us work for them! While they are few and far between, they are totally worth working for! Paul and I can be very silly, but the member of the family that gets the most laughs from Summer is Tucker! Just by being his silly self, Summer cracks up!
Because Tucker has so much energy, during the the winter (when it is too cold for his paws to walk outside), I chase him around the house. He loves it! (It is especially funny to see him slide on our new laminate floor when he can't stop running!) One of the best places to get Tucker's energy out is running up and down the basement stairs. He chases me downstairs, and then I pretend to run upstairs (give a false start) and he runs all the way up. Then he comes back down to find me, and we do it again!
I captured a small part of our game today. Because I was manning the video AND holding Summer, in the first video you can hear Summer laughing but can't see her. After Paul came home from work the four of us played again and I could video Paul holding Summer. (FYI: Tucker's energy is only a small percent of his normal when we play chase, because I couldn't chase him very well while keeping a steady video arm!)
Well, this blog post was actually "due" a week ago, but better late than never! Summer was 4 months old on December 3rd. We took her in for her 4 month appointment this week and she now weights 14.6 lbs and is 24.75 inches long. She is in the 66th percentile for height, the 68th percentile for weight, and the 86th percentile for head size. She did great during her shots. YAY Summer!
December 5th is a very special day in the Tommerdahl house :)....it is "Gotcha Day". One year ago on December 5th we picked up our special little Tucker. If you haven't heard the story, keep reading. :)
The first time we brought Tucker home
As soon as we moved into our new house (last Halloween), we knew we wanted a dog. We started looking online at various shelters and reading about each dog and looking at their pictures. Paul wanted a big hunting dog, and I wanted a medium sized "cuddle" dog, however Paul being the bigger dog-lover, I told him that he could pick the pup :). Last Thanksgiving, when Paul's parents were here, I came downstairs and Paul and his mom had Tucker's picture up on the screen. I fell in love with him!
This was the picture of "Sixer" (renamed Tucker) on the website.
He was going to be at a nearby PetSmart on December 5th and I looked at his picture almost daily as I waited to meet him. Paul filled out the "adopt application" and talked to the gal who would be there with Tucker. The night before we were to meet him, we went to Walmart and picked out a kennel, a bed, and some toys (including the monkey he still sleeps with every night...well, monkey #3 that is!).
We woke up excited. The adopt event started at 11 and we wanted to be early. We got there at 10:30 and already there were tons of people there, all talking about the pup they wanted. A couple near us mentioned that they were also looking at the same dog as us, and I got REALLY nervous. About an hour passed as we watched the Homeward Bound crew bring in dogs, a few at a time, and set them up in their kennels in the corner of the store. We saw Tucker!!!!! He was as cute as ever!!!! The crowd of people grew thicker and they started pushing in to the puppy corner despite the barricades. I was so nervous that someone would claim our Tucker before we could, but we weren't technically allowed in the puppy corner yet. I couldn't stand it! I left Paul to hold our place in the non-organized "line" and walked around the store, antsy and stressed! Coming back to the line, I couldn't stand still. I could see Tucker, only a few feet away, but I couldn't get to him!!!!
Finally they let us in, and we went straight to his kennel. We immediately traded our license for the chance to walk him around outside. He was extremely exuberant, loving, and lovable! We found out that he was a favorite among the shelter staff and he loved everyone and everything! We also noticed he would need quite a bit of training because he really had no puppy manners :). We fell in love with him, however, and took him back inside to officially adopt him.
When we got inside, the pet shelter crew told us that another couple was going to take Tucker out next. We said that we wanted him, so we didn't want anyone else to take him out, but they said it was only fair to give couple #2 a chance. AAAAAH! I was so worried! Paul told the gal that we had already filled out an application, and that the person outside had said we could have him (which she had), so this gal went to consult with someone. I kept hugging and petting Tucker while Paul told me not to make him look too loveable until he was ours or someone might steal him away from us! The gal came back and said we could have Tucker!!!! I told Paul to "QUICK, get everything signed!!!"
One of the Homeward Bound crew gave Tucker a jacket as a going away present because he was one of her favorites. Others gave him a hug and told us that they loved him and that they were glad he was going to a good home. We were thrilled to get him!
Santa was at PetSmart that day, so we got our first family picture as a threesome, and it is still on our fridge. Here is a picture of us taking Tucker home.
As I reminisce about our first year with our pup, I think of the training phase: the 3 months of nighttime crying as he was scared to sleep in his kennel, training him to stay downstairs and off the couch and not to jump on people (that last one is still a work in progress!).
I remember his first Christmas.
I think of his love of going for walks, his leaping ability,
his enjoyment of playing outside and with other dogs (especially at the dogpark),
how sweet he is with Summer,
and his love of just being with us wherever we are or whatever we are doing. He loves to pick up his bed with his teeth and drag it to whatever part of the room we are in, and plop down right next to us!
Well, daddy didn't get a big hunting dog like he had hoped....instead he got a quirky dog that is scared to death of a gun shot and forgets to bring back the prize when playing fetch, but is sure full of a lot of love. I think daddy has a pretty big soft spot for the little Tuckster :)
