I am so very proud of my kids...

You know, sometimes when teachers or other parent volunteers meet me for the first time and tell me that my children are wonderful and so well mannered and well behaved... Well, I joke that they need to be a fly on the wall in our house and see the difference in them at home. Some days, they live up to what other people see and complement me on. But at home lately, more often than not, they make me wonder if the others are seeing pod people in place of my kids.

Then there are days like today. We had to renew Oscar's pet license and so we went to the King County Animal Care and Control center in Kent. When you're out in public, you expect kids to wander around, jump all over the place, get into things and cause a lot of noise, even when there are signs posted to respect the scared animals and to be calm and quiet. You also expect teenagers, especially the older ones, to follow the rules and be calm and quiet. We weren't the first or last people in line and the poor animal control officers had to raise their voices so the people adopting cats in front of us could hear the instructions. And it wasn't my 9 and 11 year olds being loud, rude and disrespectful. I was plain and simply shocked at the behavior the teenagers behind us were exhibiting.

Our turn came, Matt and the kids went back to look at the dogs and I filled out paperwork for Oscar's new license. The teenagers, bored and tired of waiting, left. And silence reigned. The lady behind the desk delivered the same comments I've heard time and again regarding my kids.

"I'm impressed with how well behaved your children were! Are they always like that?" I just smiled and said thank you. But you know what? I'm very proud of them! Because they continued their good behavior, the volunteers let us meet and play with a dog they wouldn't have normally introduced to kids Eli's age because of their usual noise levels. One that they hadn't named yet because she came in just a few days ago. They even let us name her.... probably because she'll be coming home with us tomorrow after her mandatory birth control surgery. :)

She's a black lab and her name is R-too D-two. No, she's not named after R2D2 from Star Wars, although yes, that is where the idea came from. Her official name is Riley Too Dog Two. Riley was our first shelter rescue dog and when we saw R-too, we knew it would fit... she's the same black that Riley was. And Dog Two is because she's our 2nd dog at the moment.

I'm so excited! She's a labrador(next to poodles, our favorite breed), just the right size (a little on the small size for a lab), black (they shed less than yellow labs), not a little puppy (I so don't want to potty train another puppy), and had wonderful manners. I even held really tightly to a treat and she was very careful when she tried to take it from me, no nipping or biting my hand. Her first impression of Oscar was 'Let's Play!', and she left him and his treat alone when he had to slowly eat it and drop parts of it because of the size of the treat. I just wish I had my camera with me at the shelter so I could show you her picture. Come back soon for pictures! Right now, I have to go make sure everything is all set and ready for her arrival tomorrow.

Smoochies Ya'll!