Our Little Liesel

Meet Liesel! She is the newest member of the Monk family! She is a mini schnauzer, and is the cutest little creature on the planet, we have completely fallen in love with her and are having so much fun with a little baby in the house!

A couple months ago we had a heart wrenching experience. We had to get rid of Toby, our puggle that we had since Emily was a baby. Due to his marking and shedding he couldn't be in the house, and when he was outside he was miserable without enough love and attention. So we found a new home for him and after a long night of tears (I think I had the hardest time), and several weeks of adjusting to life without him we started talking about finding a new puppy for the kids. Emily would beg almost daily for a new dog because she missed Toby so much.

So we did our research, and decided on a female Mini Schnauzer. They don't shed, and a girl won't have the marking issue, and they're smaller than Toby. It still took some time, and I had to convince Steve that we needed a new dog.

Saturday afternoon we surprised the kids with a little fleece blanket that I made, and we asked them "Who do you think this blanket should be for?", Emily just kind of looked confused and then we told her "WE'RE GETTING A PUPPY TODAY!!" She was ECSTATIC! She squealed, grabbed her coat and shoes and we loaded in the car, ready for our drive to Utah.

When we got there Camden was so excited to see little puppies out on the lawn, and quickly grabbed one and began to squeeze it while screaming with delight. So as fast as we could we rescued the pup, then he distracted himself with the Mama. Seeing him with her really reinforced why I wanted a dog for my kids. He just hugged her, and kissed her, and buried his face in her fur. Emily picked out our pup (with a little encouragement from Mom and Dad as to which one would be best) and we were on our way home!

Emily was beside herself with this little puppy, and was so excited to be able to hold her the whole way home! All the way back to Idaho the three of us talked about different ideas for names, and we finally decided on a German name (since she's a german dog): Liesel. It means dedicated and gracious, perfect traits for our little girl!

I found Liesel sleeping in her bed along with the kids' snugimals-the little stuffed animals the kids got from the Easter Bunny. She's not a lot bigger than they are!