Max's 7th Birthday

Dan and I bought our first Lab, Brenna, as a puppy prior to having children. As you all know, I'm a planner, and while Dan was finishing his second degree, I had the time to train a puppy, take her to obedience, agility and fly ball training classes. Brenna was smart as a whip, and calmed down by the time Nicole came along. Unfortunately, she passed away at 9 years old and Nicole was only 2 1/2 years old.

We waited a few years before we felt we could add another dog into our busy schedule. When Nicole was in first grade, she started eating lunches at school. She had a very difficult time for about 3 months and cried at every single lunch hour. Her teacher and I tried to figure what was causing all this stress. We felt she was overwhelmed with the noise and the crowds. So she started wearing ear plugs at lunch time. Then I "challenged" Nicole.......if she could stop crying at lunch for 30 days, she could earn a dog. IT WORKED like a charm.

We were looking for an adult dog that was already trained. We had our name on a waiting list for 14 years with Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, MI. In all those 14 years, they never once called us to say a dog was available. So I called them. YES, YES, they had a male 2 year old lab available but we have to make a decision within 24 hours. YEAH RIGHT! I AM NOT a spontaneous person and I research things thoroughly, and YOU'RE telling me after 14 years of waiting, I HAVE to make a decision within 24 hours????

From the get go, we were hesitant because we wanted a smaller female. Dan and I checked him out at our lunch hour. Max was HUGE to us compared to Brenna. But he was very social and calm even when other dogs were passing us by (don't know what happened here) in the Leader dog lobby. We brought Nicole and 2 friends the next day to see how he reacted with children. While the girls swarmed him, he just laid down absorbing all the attention. So he became part of our family on Nov. 11, 2004.

Nicole's personality changed dramatically after adopting Max. She started becoming more outgoing and less fearful with crowds. We've been blessed to have Max with us for 5 years now and last Saturday, Oct. 24th he celebrated his 7th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX! WE LOVE YOU!

Flashback Friday

More older photos of Nicole's halloween years.

Flashback Friday

As we approach Halloween, here are some of Nicole's halloween photos from when she was little.

School Pictures and Grades

Nicole FINALLY got her 6th grade school photos in. I guess we don't have to do picture retakes :) Today we had her parent teacher conference. Her teachers praised her with compliments. She pulled all As and got a 4.0 average, 0 absences and 0 tardies. As always, we're so proud of her excellent work ethics. We went to Baskin Robbins tonight to celebrate with an ice cream sundae (Reesce's peanut butter cup ice cream with 1/2 hot fudge and 1/2 peanut butter sauce) Yuuuuummmmmmm. Congrats Nicole!

Lake Pleasant Volleyball - Game #6

Nicole's Lake Pleasant school completed their final volleyball game of the season against Nicole's former school, Vistancia. The players have shown vast improvement in the past 8 weeks. Being in 6th and 7th grade playing against 7th and 8th graders, and most never having played volleyball before, had its challenges. But they worked hard and Coach Shari did an excellent training job with them. We're very proud of them for their dedication and efforts. This Saturday, they are in a school tournament. We wish them the best of Luck!

Flashback Friday

Thanks for the great Flashback Friday idea Brenda! This was Nicole's first Halloween. She was 2 1/2 months old. I wore a matching lion cotume with her. Hmm... maybe I'll post the picture of both of us that year. I think we still have those costumes. They're probably somewhere in a box that we might not have opened or looked through in a while. I'll be posting some more halloween pics of us on Flashback Fridays!

Game #2 The Black Eyed Peas

Game #1 Black Eyed Peas

Today Nicole's Rec. team, Black Eyed Peas, played their first game. I am so proud of how well they played. All three games were so close in points, but sadly, we just never made it....just something to be challenged for next time. Note the last video clip. There was 15 touches on this one particular rally! Way to go Black Eyed Peas.