Meet Hanukkah!

No, not the holiday...

For those who know our littles, you know they are petrified of dogs. However, when we were at Rebecca's grandparents' house, Emma and Irene really warmed up to their dog, Barney. At first they screamed, but then Irene started putting her blanket on Barney and chasing him around. After we left, she kept asking, "Where Barney?" Even Emma was sad when we had to leave Barney behind.

So, after 3 years of no dog in the house, Rebecca started looking on the Animal Shelter's website. She made a short list of dogs she wanted to go see. I told her she could take the kids while I stayed home and did some work. Of course, the real reason I didn't go was because I knew I'd be suckered into getting one. Well, Rebecca came home with glorious tales of two perfect dogs and begged me to come back with her to see them. Against my better judgement, I did. We looked at 2 dogs: Charlie and Delilah. Now, Charlie was cute and nice. He'll make someone very happy. But... Delilah? She lived up to her namesake. She lured me with her sweetness. She never made a peep. She didn't bark at the other nutty dogs in the shelter. She didn't tug on the leash. She just came out to the play area with us and sat with us and begged to be loved on. She didn't care if the littles piled on her, it was attention. In the end, we couldn't resist her wiles. So we adopted her.

She's a boxer/retriever mix and is supposedly 8 years old, though that's not verified. She seems a bit timid, but just loves to be stroked and petted. She's gentle and calm, even around the littles, who constantly fight over who gets to pet her. The only thing we didn't like was her name. We let the kids help us decide on a new name. We all decided on Hanukkah because that's when we got her. We've shortened it to Nukkah, tho. :)

 We have always wanted a brindled boxer. She's just gorgeous.

 Her ears are adorable when she perks them up.

 Not surprisingly, she has taken to climbing onto whatever soft place she can find.

 But she's not always laying down. She loves to bound around in the yard and has taken to chasing the neighbor's cats, squirrels and even birds that come in to the yard.

 If she's 8, she still has a lot of energy. :) We're looking forward to new adventures with her.