but there hasn't been too much going on.

We are back in the preschool routine. Janae is loving her class and her teachers. I was a little worried, because she has new teachers now, but she did great and took the change in stride. She loves telling me about her day, and showing me her "homework."

Kiera is growing up so quickly - I can't believe her birthday is in just a few weeks. Wasn't I just posting about her birth???

I will try to do better at keeping everyone updated. In the mean time, here are a few picts for your viewing pleasure!

I put Kiera's hair in pigtails (or "ponies" as we call them) for the first time the other day. Of course, it was adorable.

She was even more adorable after her nap, when the ponies had fallen out.

Aren't her blue eyes beautiful??!!
Such a cutie!!

YEAH!!!! We finally have a back fence!!!!!

What a hard worker....

Janae and Jake being "helpful"
Don't pay attention to our dead grass please! That's our next project.

All done!! Now Janae and Jake can play out back without me sitting on the patio!!!! Woohoo!

I am sure many of you are thinking, "why did the Swanson's get another new dog...they go through dogs like some people go through toilet paper!!" or something along those lines. In fact, I was hesitant to even tell anyone that we decided to get another dog after our experience with Maggie. We debated as to whether or not we should try again, but then Jake just kind of fell into our laps. I had a lot more dog-requirements this time through though. Our new dog would have to be good with kids (and not try to eat Kiera!), good with other animals, easy to walk, etc.
We found out about Jake 3 weeks ago. After finding out as much about him as we could, Jeff wanted to meet him. I knew that if Jeff met the dog that would be it - Jake would be coming home with us. Jeff is definitely a dog-lover and has wanted a St. Bernard for a long time, but I have been hesitant because of their size, shedding, and drooling.

Anyway, Jake sounded perfect on paper, so we drove out to Estacada to meet him. Of course, my suspisions were right; Jeff was immediately in love!!

Here is Jake's story:
He was adopted by an older couple when he was a puppy. They put a lot of time and energy into training and socializing him. However, their health started to deteriorate, and they could no longer care for him. He was sent to live with Kim, a St. Bernard breeder, who also helps to foster/re-home Saints. He lived on her farm for about 6 weeks before we found out about him. I think that was really good because she had him long enough to see him in a variety of situations. She also had 7 other Saints there as well as cats, horses, and little kids - all things that were important for me to know about.
We picked Jake up this past Wednesday, and so far he has done extremely well adjusting to his new life. He is great with the kids, and is very friendly toward other dogs and cats. He doesn't even drool very much - which I am really excited about (I was picturing rivers of drool running through my house....think Beethoven). I am still unable to let go and be 100% excited to have him though. I think because of our Maggie experience, I am just waiting for the "honeymoon period" to end. I am still a little worried that a month or so will go by and then we will see his true colors - and not like them. Maggie was so perfect for the first 4 weeks or so before she started being aggressive. I guess time will tell with Jake. I do feel a lot better now, than I did a few days ago even. Every day Jake does somehting that is more endearing and relaxes me to his presence. The girls adore him (and so does Jeff) and we certainly get a LOT of attention from neighbors when we go on walks!!