ELLIE BOO!

Well, we also did this in 2020 :)

Stephen and I decided to listen to the kid's pleading for a new puppy.  Addison had been unrelenting for two years, she wrote persuasive speeches, raps, poems, comics, drawings, power point presentations, etc about why we were ready to welcome a new dog into our family.  

Stephen and I decided in the summer, we were ready to start the puppy journey and we found the perfect breeders and breed,  a sheepadoodle.  They are so smart and do not shed and are beautiful.  (Not that Sadie and Wrigley aren't their own kind of beautiful, ha!)

So, we patiently waited for our puppy to be conceived and born and we did not tell the kids!  It was the hardest secret to keep ever!

The day for pickup finally came and Stephen and I could not wait!  We told the kids we were going out of town on a date day and we would be back in the evening because the puppy was three hours away...each way.  

Sweetness on the drive home!

Surprising the kids with Ellie Boo goes down as one of my favorite all time family memories and we have a lot.  They were all completely shocked and Addison got so overwhelmed by true joy that she started sobbing uncontrollably.  It was such a sweet moment.

Ellie Boo!

Crying with joy...

Still crying with joy...

No more tears, just joy :)

Amelia remembered this precious story.  So when she was 6, Santa brought her the above stuffed animal for Christmas.  Santa explained our family was not ready for a puppy but when the time was right, we would get a puppy and thought this stuffed dog was a good friend until then...

the resemblance to Ellie Boo was unbelievable!

Amelia that Christmas with the stuffed dog from Santa!

Too cute for words.