Lightning, Lightning, Lightning!!

Our "boy" is three! It's true... Lightning is no longer a teenager.
We love our boy sooooo much.
Our family trips on him every morning.
He doesn't move.
He doesn't make a sound.
He plants himself in the middle of the kitchen floor as we all make mad dashes to flee the house on time.
We nudge.
He refuses to move.

Lightning lazes about the house all afternoon.
He plants himself in the sunny spots of the floor...like a dog twice his age.
Although he's a lab...he's no fool.
Our boy conserves his energy.

He knows that he'll need it to run wild with his three sisters when they get home from school!

Lightning is showered with love...even though he has been known to nosh on favorite toys and hair clips.
Today, his special day, he was given extra special attention.
Lightning was the talk of the house.

"We need to play with the birthday boy!"- "Where is he??"- "Lightning is 3!!!"
"Be really nice to Lightning...It's his birthday!," reminded Gracie.
"Mom, I'm going for a walk to tell my friends that it's Lightning's birthday!!...Bye!," shouted Addi.
"We need to make Lightning a special dinner with three bacon candles," said Chloe.

Today Lightning played tug and catch in the yard all afternoon. The kids exhausted him! Unfortunately he didn't tire them out.
The girls are bursting with energy this evening. It is, after all, the first night of Spring Break and one day closer to Easter. Gracie has been counting down. She is our calendar girl...eagerly checking off boxes and keeping track of monumental events. At six Grace is more organized than I will ever be!

While Addi and Grace were out with the other neighborhood kids Chloe sat on the floor with our pup. She had made him a special dinner (with a little Mommy help). Chloe is forever thoughtful. A truly generous soul.

-Scrambled eggs
-Cheese
-Sliced hot dogs

...topped with 3 Beggin' Strips.

What more could a dog ask for?
Lightning was confused. He sniffed it...stared at it...and didn't touch it!
Chloe was confused. She thought that she had made it wrong.
Then...
Problem solved!
Chloe had decided that it needed to be stirred. That should do the trick!
"It didn't look like dog food," she said.
The stirring did the trick.
The bowl was licked clean.
I congratulated Chloe on a job well done.
This is why she's Lightning's best friend. Chloe knows him better than any of us.
Jim always jokes that she smells like our dog...she cuddles with him so much.

Grace and Chloe are now fast asleep.
Addi is wedged up against me, ready to pass out.
Lightning is resting in his favorite 10pm spot...
...his body is on top of Jim's slippered feet.
Jim complains about this but I know that he secretly loves it.
The day that Lightning stops is the day that Jim will announce that there's "something wrong with him."
It's my turn to snuggle now.
It was a good day.
Happy birthday Lightning.
Sweet dreams everyone.