Weekly Dog Blog -- Sampson, 11(+) weeks

11 weeks

32.6 lbs

This week, Sampson officially doubled in size since he has come home to us.  He continues to try to chew on Piper, and many moments that we find them together look like this: where Piper eats her breakfast

She has learned to grab his neck scruff from either side when he comes at her feeling chewy, and can hold him at an arm's length while they waltz somewhat awkwardly around the kitchen. This goes on until someone rescues her, usually with a distraction tactic. 

I'll be honest; it was a challenging week for the house as J was in Central America and Max had a miserable lingering fever and stomach virus that he said "Felt like a sensei match where he kept getting kicked in the stomach and couldn't fight back." Hayden had his ice hockey championship tournament--every time they won a game (and there were some serious nail-biters) I would find myself jumping out of my seat and cheering, immediately followed by the sobering realization that this meant another game, at another rink. Six games in two days, with a final result of: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

It was also the beginning of our swim season night meets, which Max was devastated to miss. Luckily, my mom is a devoted fan of the Barracudas and took Hayden and Piper, while Max, Sampson and I had some quiet evenings of Qwirkle at home. 

And all this time, I was baking--4 dozen eggs in a week. A carrot cake shaped like a carrot for my sister's golden birthday and her baby on the inside, who we call "Carrot". A gluten-free cake for my boys to take to a birthday party. A 3-D cake in the shape of my sister's house for her housewarming party, and a double batch of Namaste brand gluten free brownies for the swim team picnic and 4th of July. 

Then there was Sampson, who had been accident free for four days straight peed four times in the house before breakfast one morning and the pace of our lives felt like we still had not found our summer stride. And writing? Fuhdeddaboutit. I was lucky to shower. 

Finally, on Friday, after nine days abroad, we had the return of the alpha male and everything fell back into balance. Sampson's nipping of Piper could be corrected with one deep voiced 'Uh-uh" from J. Max woke up Friday morning, took a shower, proclaimed himself better and went to swim practice and swam 55 laps. Piper got over her shyness about the male lifeguards who assist the swimmers in her tadpole group with her daddy there and swam the length of the pool without stopping. 

We christened my sister's family's new house with a fantastic party. (Sampson had to go home early after grazing too many unattended plates.) I should have gone with him--the sangria (recipe below) went down way too easily.

I was also excited to receive emails from the first guests on the dog blog. This week, you can look forward to hearing from Ivan and his rescue lab-mix Forrest and Lisa and Zulu, her mutt from the other side of the world. Yes, people are reading this in Australia!  I will be posting these in the next few days. In the meantime, Sampson continues to woo me with his baby browns and charm us with his antics. 

The Return of the Alpha Male

SANGRIA RECIPE:

3 bottles cabernet (or other red wine)

1 2 liter bottle ginger ale

1 2 liter bottle orange Fanta

large bags of sliced frozen peaches, strawberries and raspberries

optional: fresh orange slices and Cointreau to taste 

Mix all ingredients in large container at least 24 hours ahead of time. Serve chilled.