cosmo brown

anyone who knows us – knows how much we all love animals (ok so jake only “likes” animals).  each of our pets has a unique personality and we have many funny stories about each of them.  cosmo however takes the cake.  he is an enigma.  according to most articles – he should be dead.  before we knew it was a “no no” – we used to throw him onions from the cutting board and have fed him numerous grapes.  i mean they’re healthy right?  cosmo is a pug, but i think he has more pig than dog in him.  he goes through the trashcans and eats banana peels, coffee grinds, plastic bags, dryer sheets, kleenex – basically anything else that will fit in his mouth.  he doesn’t chew – he inhales.  he’s sucked down entire bags of chocolate and bottles of beer.  he’s wandered out of our house on numerous occasions and has waddled into any of our neighbors open doors looking for food (luckily he’s friendly). we try taking him for walks to help work off some of the fat from his numerous expeditions in the trash can and neighborhood adventures – as soon as we hit the street – he runs straight for any cigarette butt that he can find and sucks it up….even walks are unhealthy for cosmo!  yet despite all of this…he is still alive.

there is only one time that the end has come close…..we had just moved back to california from maryland and were spending some time with my parents.  i was petting cosmo when i felt something on his neck.  i looked closely and saw something that resembled a june bug.  YUK – I HATE JUNE BUGS….but it turned out to be something even worse…..a TICK!!  so i had never seen a tick before, let alone one that was attached to MY dog!  luckily my dad knew just what to do……he first tried putting rubbing alcohol on the tick – trying to get it to release cosmo’s neck.  over and over again he tried – no luck.  then he tried burnt out matches…..can you see where this is going?   after several attempts still nothing….but then my dad didn’t quite blow out the match and POOF cosmo was on FIRE!  my poor fat pug sitting there completely unaware that his back was literally on fire.  thankfully the fire only had a chance to burn off the alcohol and didn’t hurt cosmo.  

so my friends, this is why cosmo is an enigma – he eats chocolate, grapes, onions and everything else that should kill him and yet he continues on!

happy halloween

i can’t believe that october is over!  we never even made it to the pumpkin patch this year :(  - i guess it’s a sign that our kids are getting older and pumpkin patch visits just aren’t a priority anymore.

for halloween we decided to go to our church’s annual carnival.  the kids had a blast!  it was our first time attending and it was wonderful to see how many people from the surrounding neighborhoods came to the event.  everything except food was free of charge – so awesome! 

since our kids are getting a little old for bounce houses and the other games that were at the carnival, mackenzie and her friend volunteered for the evening.  a good portion of the youth group volunteered – such a great experience!

here are a couple of pictures:

mackenzie was one of the 3 amigos and blake was a soccer player from his favorite team - liverpool.

(yes that would be my daughters toe sticking out of her toms – that’s how we roll)

after the carnival, blake decided that his candy bag was not even close to being full enough – so we went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.  all of the kids (mackenzie’s two friends + my kids) wanted to take the dogs with them.  cosmo the pug is a “little” out of shape and would not be able to walk around the entire time –he’s been known to plop down and refuse to walk anymore once he’s decided that he’s met his exercise quota.  mackenzie really wanted him to come along – so she decided to strap a laundry basket to a skateboard and created a “wagon” for cosmo.  it was absolutely ridiculous – but hysterical!  cosmo of course loved it – nothing like laying around in a bunch of blankets being pulled around the neighborhood!  the girls just had to be a careful anytime that cosmo moved – since any weight shift caused the basket to tip!   of course my phone was dead at this point and i didn’t have my camera – so no pictures of cosmo :(

all in all a fun night – but jake and i are absolutely thrilled that it’s over – and the christmas season is in full effect! 

-noelle

p.s. our house is already decorated for christmas!!