Puppy Birthday to You

We celebrated Richard's 32nd birthday with some fun balloons from his mom, a birthday poster decorated by Olivia, and a cake, decorated pathetically by me. It was a simple affair but fun.

Then on Saturday I surprised (or more accurately, horrified) him with a new puppy. 

There we were just taking some nice leisurely pictures at the park. And then I got on the phone and the next thing he knows a woman he doesn't recognize was coming right over to us, holding a dog. 

Things were happening so fast and then I told her that I didn't have a leash, and would that be a problem. He really started to worry then and was positive that I had just bought him a dog without discussing it with him first.

What he didn't know and what I didn't tell him right away was that the puppy was only for rent. 

 

 It was so funny to watch him try to look pleased for me. Even Olivia had that look like, "What's going on, Mom?"

I had never even heard of such a thing, as renting a puppy. And when I found out about it I knew it was just the kind of random thing that we should do for his birthday. Apparently it is really common in college towns and started at Yale. They rent out puppies for people to do a trial run before they adopt and also for people who are unable to own one for whatever reason. We kind of fall under both categories. We aren't ready to own one yet and I wanted to give it a try to see if we would even want to.

So we got to hang out with Silas, an adorable border collie, for an hour.

I quickly fell in love with his playful personality, the sweet way he had with our girls and his cute little ears that would bounce when he ran.

Olivia squealed and squealed when he chased her around and licked her face

Oh, wait maybe that was me ;)

Even Richard warmed up to him.

And Eloise was just happy to be there.

 

 

As you can see we had a blast and by the end I wanted to take him home with us. Richard had a great time, too, but he's not quite as ready as I am to take the plunge. Maybe someday.

I sure love you Richard, even if I did give you a heart attack (in the form of a puppy) for your birthday :)

And the girls think you're totally AWESOME, too!