When we adopted our beloved Hannah pup a few months ago I told the volunteers from the shelter that I would be willing to foster a dog at our house once we had Hannah all settled in.  Hannah loves other dogs, Junji and Saya love dogs, we all do, so I thought it would be something good for us to do.  Well, I should have known that we (especially me and Saya) are not cut out for fostering.  After only a few hours of having Lucy home with us I knew she wasn’t going anywhere.  Even though I told Saya that we were only keeping Lucy until she found her family, Saya and I became attached to her immediately.  She is not the most gorgeous dog, but she might be one of the sweetest souls on the planet. The way she stares into your eyes will melt you.

I know how sad Saya would have been if we had decided not to keep her, because for a minute Saya thought she was leaving us. I had decided to adopt Lucy, so I texted the woman from the shelter with our decision and payed the adoption fee via paypal.  Then I looked at Lucy and said, “OK, Lucy, you’re adopted.”  When Saya heard me she thought I meant that she had been adopted by someone else and she was completely distraught.  It took me a few minutes to calm her down enough to explain the WE had adopted her.

So, we have two dogs–gorgeous Hannah, and sweet funny-looking Lucy. It has been very fun.  We love to find places where we can take them into nature and off of their leashes.  That is pure happiness for them and us.

In other news, it is summer and we are very happy.  Since we moved in the middle of the school year, Saya and I were commuting to her school for the last half of the year, and by the end I was totally over the drive.  I am so happy to have her home with me!

I have been working on a big project that has kept me busy (busier than I would like to be) and has taken up a lot of my time. But I am working my way through it and looking forward to more time for projects with my girl and spending lots of time outside.

Junji took yesterday off and is taking Monday off too, so we have fun things planned for this weekend.  See our pics on instagram (username: newhouseproject)

Our Hannah pup is doing great.  She is nearly housebroken and as sweet as ever.  As long as she gets her long walks twice a day she is calm and well behaved in the house.

Last night we went to visit the school where Saya will be going to kindergarten next year.  She loved it and she asked Junji to make her a countdown calendar so she will know when she can start going there.  The first grade teacher that was watching the children while the adults had a meeting was so much fun.  They learned the chicken dance and the hokey pokey.

My life is going to change a lot when she starts kindergarten.  In a way I am looking forward to having that time to work, but I am going to miss the heck out of her.  We will have a lot less time together, so I’ll have to make the most of our time after school and on the weekends.

How did you handle it when your children started kindergarten?

Saya turned 5!  We didn’t have a big party, just went out for pizza with friends.  This year, more than presents or cake, she was just excited TO BE 5.  Do you remember what that felt like?

Our first week with our new puppy has been exhausting.  She really is so good and sweet, so I shouldn’t complain, but she is not fully housebroken so she needs to be taken outside a lot, and she needs to be watched constantly.

I think the busy week has finally caught up with me because I feel so tired today.  Junji wants to do something fun tonight to celebrate the weekend.  My idea of fun right now would be to go into the bedroom alone, shut the door, and let him take over the care of the little ones in the house.  (We’ll probably just end up going out for ice cream.)

I think I am ready for the weekend!

This is a video we made of Saya about a month ago. We tried to document a little bit of her world view at the precious age of four.

This is our sweet new puppy, Hannah.  She is a very sweet mellow girl, and we already love her so much.  She likes to run and play outside, but when she comes in she is all cuddles.  She is half golden retriever and half Australian shepherd, so she will be a big girl.  She is so soft and shiny and she has the best puppy smell.   She is not housebroken yet, but we are crate training her, and I am keeping an eye on her all the time.  I hope she learns quick

I took our real camera on a walk.  I don’t do that much anymore.  (That’a a temporary tattoo on her arm in case you were worried.)

This video is sweet and we love libraries!

We went camping over the weekend.  The weather was amazing.  I was so thankful for the time with Junji and Saya.

I made an online home for my instagram photos which also means I now have a tumblr account. If you have any recommendations for good tumblr blogs to follow please tell me!

Over the weekend we worked hard on our house. The plan for the weekend started out with just painting, but ended up with a major room switch. We moved our bedroom from upstairs to downstairs. This was something I always had in mind for the future, but I am so happy it’s done now. One of the issues we were having was a lack of space for photographing our work. Now my studio is upstairs in the brightest room of the house and one corner is set aside for photography. I did a few test shots today.

I am working towards an etsy shop update. Sometimes it feels like I spend more time undoing stitches than making stuff, but I think I will have something soon.

Saya cut her own hair last week. She came downstairs to show me with a big smile on her face. I wasn’t really mad, but I told her that is the sort of thing you really should ask mom about first. We ended having to give her a short bob. Have your kids ever cut their own hair? How did you react?