how much is that doggie in the window?

One Saturday afternoon Josh had a meeting, so I did something a little unusual.

I took the girls to Pizza Hut for lunch.  (The unusual part is not eating at pizza hut, but doing it on a Saturday - the busiest day of the week!)

While we were munching on our pepperoni pizza (yum!) the girls spied a balloon seller outside the window.  Our pizza hut has big glass walls AND it's located in a busy area, so there's plenty to keep you entertained while you eat.  All during lunch, the girls commented on which balloons they saw.   They took turns making new discoveries:

"Emma, look, there's Mickey!"

"And look, mantha a yellow fish!"

"And hello kitty!"

"Mantha, do you see the dalmation?"

"I see a blue bird!"

And so on....

But two particular balloons kept being brought up - the black and white dalmation, and the pink puppy.  These two managed to stay in the conversation, and were asked for several times.  

I made a deal in my mind that if the Pizza Hut would give me the student discount (20%! No small amount!) then I would buy balloons for the girls with the savings.  (You think I'm cheap??!)  Amazingly, they gave me the discount with no problem.

After we paid our bill, we headed out in the cold for a closer look at the pups.  The cute thing about the balloons they wanted was that they stayed low to the floor and had legs that walked on the ground.  They were pretty cute, so I agreed.

Mantha chose the black and white one, Emma chose the pink one (no surprises there).  They've recently had puppy-infatuation due to a very cool Leapster game my parents bought them for Christmas, Pet Pals.  In the game, you have name your pup and feed him and love him and take him for walks and teach him tricks...you know, almost like having a real pup (without the poop). 

We got home, and Pet Pals became a reality in our home.  The pups immediately got names:  Mantha named her puppy Woofy, and Emma named hers BeeBee.  Extreme care and love has been given to them over the last few days.  They have their own blankets, their own place to "potty", and have to be walked, played with, and put to bed every night.

We've started preparing them for balloon-doggy-death, that inevitable day when the air will slowly start coming out of the pups.  But for now, there's just happiness all around...