Daniel was chosen to be one of the drum majors for the Litchfield Marching Band. He has played the drums since 6th grade, and always enjoyed being in the band. He is our fourth child to be in the marching band. There are a lot of early morning practices, a band camp, and tons of parades. At times we wondered if it was all worth it, but especially this year as we see Daniel take a leadership role, we know all the time and effort has been a great learning experience for him. Being in a band is different than a sport. Like the movie Drumline says “One Band, One sound” It is the effort of all the members that make the band a success. Not one player is more important than another…we need everyone to play to sound good. It teaches your child the importance of working together, encouraging each other, because not everyone starts out being able to play and march at the same time!

This week is extremely busy for us, as we have a litter of eleven puppies that are six weeks old, so every day we are going somewhere with the litter, along with testing the puppies to evaluate their personalities, and running them around at night so they sleep in their crates. Our strawberries are at a peak, so we are picking four ice cream pails a day, making jam and freezing them, and Amy is in dance camp. Put all that together and it is crazy. But in all the craziness, we take the time to watch Daniel march, because we know that we need to drink in the moment, so to speak. It won’t be long and he will be gone from home, becoming his own man.

I post things on the blog about our family so you can get to know us a little better, and also for future clients to understand why we don’t do random visits. We have chosen to breed seven females each year, so that is seven litters, potentially about seventy clients. Each family comes for a visit when the puppies are five weeks old, and again to pick the puppy up. We value our clients, but our family comes before our business. Our family dedicates a lot of time to the dogs and our puppies. We hope you can see that through the photos, and understand why we are not available at all times, due to the timing of our children’s lives.