When they're not playing tennis....

My brother and his family came to visit a few weeks ago. As most of you know, my brother and his family are tennis-obsessed; so obsessed my brother had a new ball hopper and case of balls shipped to our house. Most of their time is spent on the tennis court, but every now and then the kids take a break. Ryan spent the weekend playing football, and Alexa and Taylor played with Samantha and Seth. Despite being horrible hosts, we had a great time and hope they come back to visit.

Seth completes his first Chessie Rescue Mission

#4 heading north to foster care

Two weeks ago, in a matter of 3 days, I received 3 called about a total of 4 chesapeake bay retrievers needing new homes. Two chessies were litter mates whose owners wanted to surrender them because they had mange & couldn't be bred. One chessie was picked up as a stray and the last chessie's owners moved into an apartment and could not take the dog with them. Ughhhh. After secretly cursing these people out I began to coordinate their transition into dog rescue and foster care. Now, Seth and I can proudly say all 4 chessies are safe and are on their way to finding new forever homes!!... I guess I should be happy that these people contacted a rescue group rather than dumping the dogs on the side of the road.

The doctors of the house

Joseph Jr.

Happy after a long days work

the future Drs. Samantha & Seth McGowin

My friend, Amy, bought Seth personalized baby doctor "scrubs" for his "welcome to the world" present.. The "scrubs" are perfect and quite funny. Too bad he will outgrow them in the near future.... Now I have to decide whether to dress Seth in Sam's old monkey costume or dress him in his "Joseph Jr." outfit for Halloween. Any thoughts?

Pumpkin Pickin'

I like this pic b/c Sam looks so small among the larger pumpkins.

Not sure why I placed Seth in the direct sun.... oops. at least it was only for a few minutes.

Sam, Seth, and I went on a short trip to pick out pumpkins. It's gorgeous here today, and to my understanding it's supposed to be freezing-ass cold by the end of the week. I'm dreading cold temperatures.

New Truck

Here is Joseph's new truck. Samantha often requests to ride in the "big truck" over the car.

Seth turns 3-months

The children are doing great. Seth is still a bit fussy and is quite gassy, but he's a lot of fun. He sleeps well most nights, takes a long nap late-morning, and then is fussy on and off until he goes to bed, usually between 9Pm-10PM. Sam is still a good big sister. She is entering a new phase of temper tantrums and has taken to screeching when she wants our attention. I've started reinforcing good meal times with stickers. She seems to be eating more volume with the introduction of the stickers. I am still having a difficult time dressing her in pants. They're all too big around her waist. Sam looks forward to Kindermusik class every week and I look forward to the days Joseph is at home with the family.