WE TOOK THE PLUNGE-Christmas 2009

All of you know we were in California for Christmas. It was really important for the girls to be able to spend Christmas morning running down the stairs with their "Schultz cousins" (my side of the family) who mostly all live in Southern California. So, we flew into California, and their dad and his family graciously drove with their 3 kids to California to spend a few days and Christmas Eve with them. Then their dad drove them to us Christmas Eve night before Santa came so they could be with everyone for the morning.

Here are the girls waiting for the event to begin.

Christmas Santa Set-up

Here's Spencer playing with the "toy that ruined Christmas". You all have one of those I'm sure. The toy that the kid played with so much that they ignored everything else that was under the tree. This was the first thing Spencer opened and he played with it, no joke, for an hour straight. First watching, then taking the dogs on and off, then figuring out how to stop them halfway down the track to wait for the other dogs before letting them all go down. I think he loves this toy cuz it's similar to the penguin one on Baby Einstein.

And we took the plunge. We now have a dog. Can you believe it? Don't even get me started on how it came to be cuz the whole story is a whole post in itself. But know that after the first night I had it (five days before Christmas) I was about ready to give it back. Too bad the family we bought it from probably crossed the border to come over and sell it. Glory be and hallelujah for my 6 year old niece, Eliza who babysat it every waking moment until the girls came back home for Christmastime. I let her present it to the girls since she had been my saving grace.

It really is a cute talk and thank goodness Brian has bonded with it. I'm not a dog person (see this post), and thought I was going to be stuck with all the responsibility of this dog while the girls were away in Utah after Christmas. Brian has been amazing and actually REALLY likes the dog, and HE'S not a dog person. That's how cute this dog is (and of COURSE how good of a man Brian is right? hehe.)

It's a teacup chihuahua...only 1 1/2 pounds, and will probably only grow to be 4 pounds. We only bought it for $100, which was a huge deal for us since in Germany, mangey mutts are selling for a starting price of $600. We were told that we could re-sell it for $800 if we wanted since it is a pure chihuahua and its colorings and markings are very distinct.

I thought Xoe was going to have a nervous breakdown with delight (no joke) when we gave it to her. She was so touched that her chin was quivering and it was all she could do to hold back the tears. She just kept saying, "I just really can't believe you guys got us a dog. I just can't believe it." They have been asking for a dog for at least 10 years....ya, pretty much since they were born. I think I've made my case long enough. They better understand how quick that dog will be "outta here" if they don't take care of it.

They named it "Otis" after the movie "Milo and Otis". But we call him Otie.

Who thinks I'm crazy? I do. Now we gotta figure out how to get it back to a foreign country with us.

Oh and by the way, if any of you remember this post, you'll remember that Spencer was enamored with dogs, which is one of the reasons we gave into getting one...ya, he wants nothing to do with this one.