A week of laughs!

My three favorite moments with my guys this past week are...

Matt: "I have a girlfriend Mom"
Mom: "That's great, what's her name?"
Matt: "I haven't asked her yet!"

Luke: "Hey Mom, guess what?"
Mom: "What?"
Luke "Chicken Butt!!!" (and then bursts into a ton of laughter!!!)

Brian gettting ready to head up to bed, comes over to me, smacks me on the butt and says "Love you babe"

It's moments like these that I remember how much I love being a Mom!!!

Well...I embarrassed the WHOLE school:)

Click for more pics:)

Today was my annual least favorite day of the year...the first day of school:( I hear so many people who hate summer and can't wait for their kids to go back to school and let me tell you...I am NOT one of them!!! I love my kids (most of the time) and I truly LOVE spending time with them (again, most of the time!!!). I can honestly say yesterday might be the exception to my not wanting them to go back to school...they pretty much were just all mean to me all day:) While on errands, Brian announces "Mom, are you gonna cry tomorrow? to which I said "Probably, especially since Daddy can't be there. Mommy is sad that you guys are leaving me and that Matt is going to Kindergarten" and Brian replies "Mom, if you cry, that would embarrass, like, the whole school!" This conversation was then followed by Luke smacking my butt in Kohl's while shouting at the top of his lungs "Mommy has a big butt!" You can only imagine the hysteria this sent Brian and Matt into which only encouraged Luke to continue this for the entire shopping trip! I swear...by time we got home I wasn't quite as sad about school starting anymore:)


Of course this morning we woke up (at 5:15 courtesy of Brian...apparently the excitement kicked in) and I was once again sad. I am okay with Brian going since they've already taken my once sweet boy and made him into a wise-cracking, eye-rolling, crude humored little boy but I am NOT ready to give up my sweet Moose! Of all my kids, he's my easy going, still baby voiced innocent snuggler and I in no way am ready for him to follow the likes of his brother and turn into a full-fledged little boy! I am not ready for him to have a life outside of me and I am not ready for him to grow up...at all!!! I hate the fact that my kids are with a different motherly figure for 35 hours each week and that I am slowly becoming less and less needed. I am sick just thinking about the day that they get a serious girlfriend (yes, I know I still have a few years) but once they start school, they beginn their little lives, and I for one don't think they need a life!!!



I can honestly say that I am proud of them...they marched into school like they owned the place and are not too big to kiss me goodbye (I will probably crawl into a hole and die the day this happens!!!). I was the only one of us with tears (therefore embarrassing the whole school!!!) but as I walked out with Luke, I felt like part of my heart got left behind! I am sure I will be a basket case in two weeks when I leave Luke at preschool but in the back of my mind there is one thing to be positive about...in two weeks I will be able to run errands on Tuesday's and Thursday's without the whole store being made aware of "my big butt"!!!

August can do down as my LEAST favorite month...EVER!!!

Well August is off to an absolutely horrible beginning and will end even worse...with me losing ALL of my best little men to the place I hate most...school!!! (I find it hard to believe I was a teacher with the absolute hatred I now have for school)

Let me back up and explain why this month goes down for the record books...if you keep up with my blog you know that we all got sick in Disney World, starting July 29th. Well today is now August 16th and is the FIRST day we have not had a sick person since that day!!! And I'm not talking colds and simple stuff...in true O'Brien fashion, we have of course had to have the extreme everything!!! Let's recap...since July 29th we have had: 5 people puke, 4 people have diarrhea, 2 people with fevers of 105 or higher for multiple days, 2 people have fevers of 102-103 for multiple days, 1 tonsillectomy and adenoid removal (more on that in a minute!), 4 Doctors visits, 1 Urgent Care visit, 1 ER visit, 3 sinus infections (one of which resulted in getting to the eye socket and caused severe facial/eye swelling and temporary vision loss), 1 strained muscle in chest behind lung, four people on antibiotics, 2 people on steroids and 1 chest CT (which managed to result in allergic reaction to the injected dye)!!! AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I AM DOWNPLAYING THE SEVERITY OF ALL OF THIS!!! To say we need a vacation from our vacation is an understatement!!! The good news is...as of this morning, I am happy to report that all five members of this SARS-like household are just about back to normal so we can now just torch the place and start fresh;)...just in time for us to start school and catch all new germs attack us all over again!!! Back to the T&A, poor Brian has suffered from acute strep throat for the past year. He is on probation with the school this year (I'm sure Craig will be selling tickets for the showdown that will happen the day they try and tell me that they need to retain my functioning way above grade level child for absences!!!) for having so many absences. The poor guy regularly gets fevers topping 105-106 that cause migraines so it was time for the tonsils to go;) His surgery ended up being much more detailed than we all initially thought it would be as when they got in there, they found a 1/2 inch film of at least 6 month old puss coating the backside of his tonsils (basically means he has not been without strep since at least last Christmas!) As a result, they ended up having to scrape and cauterize 22 blood vessels, making the surgery much more painful than originally planned:( I love my guy more than I could ever explain, but anyone who knows Brian was prepared for this be a very dramatic recovery:)

Holy cow...did he prove all of us WRONG!!! To quote my son "I think they took my dramatic with my tonsils!" Brian should be the poster child for what a dream recovery looks like!!! We kept him stoned (tylenol with codeine every four hours, without fail for the first four days) which allowed for him to heal pain free and was taking plain old tylenol just seven days post-op. The child who once let us know where every last ache and pain was the minute he woke up did not complain even one time this entire recovery!!! He started eating solid foods on day three and has not had an ounce of medicine in over 48 hours:) I am so elated that my little man can start this school year without fearing that every time someone sneezes he'll come home with a fever:) To say that we are beyond proud of how awesome he did is an understatement!

We are going to celebrate this final week of summer doing LOTS of fun things and trying to keep Mommy from being sad at the prospect of her Little Moose starting Kindergarten next Tuesday. I absolutely HATE the thought of losing both him and Brian for 35 hours each week and just want to stop time with my guys staying just the size they are...the perfect size to still snuggle with Mom & Dad and young enough to not be embarrassed still giving Mom & Dad kisses and hugs:)

Our final weekend...all of the Rose cousins!

Craig has two older sisters...Chandelle and Gretchen. Between the three of them they have seven kids...our three boys, Gretchen's twin girls Sophia & Olivia, Chandelle's stepdaughter Serena and her son Aaron. Ending our trip with our boys spending some time with all of their Rose cousins was so much fun! Gretchen flew in with the girls, while Chandelle and her family live in Orlando. Poor Aaron was still recovering from being sick during the week so he missed Epcot but all of the kids had a great time at Chuck E. Cheese the next day!!!! It was so nice to get all of the kids together as it's a very rare thing to all be in the same city:) Hopefully we didn't get anyone too sick!!!

We all got it!!!

So we took a family vote and the consensus was to go back to Epcot for our last day! The kids had already been to the Magic Kingdom twice and had ridden everything there at least once so we arranged with Craig's sister to meet us at Epcot with the kids:) The bad news was that everyone in the family managed to get the bug either throughout the night or even at Epcot (both Brian and Matt puked at two different restaurants throughout the day and Craid had it during the night when I was sleeping off my own!!!) Being confined to a hotel room with various people having various items coming out of various ends of their bodies does not make for a pretty situation!!! We still managed to have fun (it's amazing what Pepto and Motrin will do for you!!!) and the kids all still managed to have a good day!!! Needless to say, we called it quits early and headed to Criaig's sister's house to get some much needed R&R!!! We will be here for the weekend where the kids can spend some time with ALL of their cousins on the Rose side before we make our journey back to Texas:)

Hollywood Studios...The Beginning of the End!

Hollywood Studios started out great but ended in a nasty way!!! We got there right at opening and the boys really enjoyed the Extreme Motors Stunt Show...watching cars and motorcycles race around and jump through fire had their full attention!! Toy Story Mania was a hit...they had all ridden it before at Disneyland and were super excited to get on it again:) The biggest surprise of the night was Brian and Matt riding twice and LOVING the Tower of Terror!!! Indiana Jones was another fun show in which they can't wait to get home and watch the movies with Daddy now!!!

After a fun day, I was ready to go by about 7...I felt horrible and kept warning my family that I was going to puke. Well, the floodgates opened as we pulled into the hotel parking lot and I lost all control of my stomach, managing to cover myself in what I care not to describe!!! After showering everyone off and a quick swim for the kids, Mommy retired to bed as our last fun filled day is quickly approaching!!! (Let's just hope that I'm the only one who gets this!!!)

A full day at the Magic Kingdom!!!

Click for pics!!!

To my fellow late night followers...I was tired last night! I fell into bed while Craig was changing the kids and was of no help whatsoever:)

Yesterday was a day of losts, yes losts at the magic Kingdom. Let's see...Luke lost his bowels over lunch and ruined his Elmo undies, resulting in a giant meltdown when I threw them away (I was not going to carry around those undies all day in the 100 degree heat!!!) Matt lost himself getting off of a ride after repeated warnings to stay with us and hold on over and over the last four days (Craig and I could see him but he couldn't see us and we are hoping the lesson was finally learned!!!) Brian lost full control of himself in line for the Goofy Coaster, resulting in Craig losing control of himself:) I had the biggest loss of the day though...my camera! While changing Luke in the baby station to a pull-up, I managed to set it down. I didn't realize it until 25 minutes later and was stuck in the sky on the people mover with Matt & Luke! Thankfully for honest people, it was right where I left it in the baby building and we were able to move on past that incident (surprisingly, Craig did not lose control of himself during that incident!!!)

Besides our day of losts, we had a really fun time!!! We were able to skip Fantasy Land since we had done it on Sunday (thank the Lord cause it was a zoo over there!!!) Brian and Matt each rode and LOVED Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! They had both been on Thunder Mountain before but Space Mountain was a first!! I can proudly say I have the bravest six year old I've ever met...not only did he ride Space Mountain, he rode alone since Craig was sitting with Matt!!! He wanted to go again after his turn with Daddy and since Craig was with Matt, Brian hopped on by himself!!! Luke had a blast on the Goofy coaster again, and even rode hands up like his brothers! The biggest two surprises of the day was Luke LOVING the Pirates of Caribbean and all three boys being absolutely terrified of the Haunted Mansion! I have three roller coaster daredevils who are terrified of fake ghosts!!! All three boys thoroughly enjoyed the Electrical Light Parade, Brian went into full photographer mode!!

Click for Brian's view of the Magic Kingdom!!

Today we are off to Hollywood Studios for another day of fun!!!

Epcot!!!

3 days down, three to go!!! We are HOT, tired, smelly, have sore feet (well Craig and I do from pushing strollers all day!!!), have a pair of broken glasses (Matt's!!!), a few bumps and bruises (Luke!!!), have spent some time in corners for various reasons (Brian!!!) and are having an absolute ball!!! The kids LOVED Epcot today...it was probably their favorite day so far! We were originally on our way to the Magic Kingdom and were literally about to board the monorail when we realized the monorail line for Magic Kingdom had about 400 people in it while the monorail line for Epcot had about 40...we made the executive decision to go to Epcot!!! It was a good decision, the kids were able to ride multiple rides over and over without even having to get off:)

Luke's favorite ride was the boat ride through the pyramids of Mexico...featuring Donald Duck! We rode it three times in a row without getting off and he still wasn't ready to be done:) Matt and Brian LOVED test track, as well as the Nemo ride and Turtle talk with Crush! They all really enjoyed making a mask and going to all of the different countries to get stamps on the stick, as well as having their names written in various languages! The kids were all passed out by the time we reached the monorail to head back and tomorrow will be the Magic Kingdom (for real this time!!!)

Animal Kingdom!!!

Like usual...click for more!!!

Today we headed to Animal Kingdom where we were able to do every single thing on our list:) We met all of the characters, saw the parade, went on a jungle safari, ate Asian food in Asia, rode Expedition Everest twice, went on a super fun and slightly scary (according to Matt) dinosaur adventure twice, rode flying dinosaurs (therefore omitting our need to get on Dumbo!!!), went on a wet and wild tube ride, got our super awesome hats signed by Mickey, Pluto and Goofy and even managed to almost knock over Donald while acting like giant hillbilly children, resulting in a 'cast member' ask us to "please not do that"!!! (seriously, my children may be the first ones to actually get in trouble by the fake smile plastered on their faces cast members!!!


We all truly enjoyed Animal Kingdom and even managed to not really mind the 95 degree weather with 100% humidity!!! We were back to the hotel by 9:30 and had time for a quick dinner and a "bath" in the pool:) Tomorrow we are back to the Magic Kingdom!!!!

Click the picture for a view of Animal Kingdom from the eyes

of Brian, Matt and even Luke!!! (Warning...116 pics!!!)

Mickey's House!!!!

Click the two different pics to see more!!!

Well Luke might as well head back to Texas as he completed everything on his list tonight...Mickey's house, "Dinne" World and the Goofy coaster!!! We got to Orlando this afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we had two stops...Downtown Disney followed by the Magic Kingdom! We had dinner reservations at the T-Rex cafe (think Rainforest Cafe but all Dinosaur animatronics) in Downtown Disney and thankfully the kids weren't starving!!! As we walked in we were greeted with a life-sized T-Rex that let out a giant roar in our faces and Luke totally lost it!!! He started shrieking and screaming "get me out!!!" from the stroller, he was completely terrified and had tears pouring down his face. We decided it probably wouldn't be a very fun dinner if Luke was hiding so we had McDonald's instead:) After souvenir stops at the Lego factory, the worlds largest Disney store and Goofy's candy kitchen we were off to Mickey's house...the Magic Kingdom!

We arrived at the park around 8:30 and went straight to see Mickey so that Luke would finally see that we weren't just fooling him day after day:) After touring Mickey's house, we made it to his barn where he was doing photo-ops. When it was our turn to go in, Luke saw who was at the end of the hall, screamed "Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, Mickey and ran full speed ahead right into Mickey's waiting arms!!! It was absolutely priceless!!! After some pics with Mickey and some kisses with Minnie, we had to go since the next group was coming in. Luke apparently wasn't ready since as we were all exiting he ran back to Mickey for one last hug, completely jumping into another family's photo-op!!! Luke finished off his checklist with being able to ride the goofy coaster, his official first roller coaster!!! There was no line and he got to ride it twice without getting off, laughing, cheering and riding with his arms up the whole time:)

Lucky for us the kids napped on the way down to Orlando and we were actually able to make it until 11:30 before they got crabby!!! By that time, it was extra hours and not very crowded so we busted out Fantasyland and can cross it off our list (which is fantastic since it is always the most crowded area!!!). All the boys were passed out in strollers before we even got to the monorail and hopefully getting re-charged for Day 2...the Animal Kingdom!!!

Disney through the eyes of Brian & Matt!!!

Jacksonville to see The Williby's!!

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Nine years and six kids between us later, Beth is still one of my best friends! We met teaching at Immaculate Heart together in 2001 before either of us had any kids! Though we don't see each other as often as we would like, you would never know it. We make great use of our phones (a bunch of times each week) and pick up right where we leave off every time we see each other!!! A trip to Florida wouldn't have been complete without a stop at their house. Adam is her oldest, followed by Josh and Leah. The kids all had a fabulous time together and played like they were long lost friends (even though none of them remember the last time they were all together)! Some swimming, lots of games and a boys campout on the floor ensured good times for all! The kids are all already asking when the next time they'll see each other will be?!?!?!?

The car ride...

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FYI, Matt & Brian have their own camera and are making use of it!!! So the trip began with us sending all of the kids to Houston on Wednesday to my parents house so I could actually pack and get everything done:) Friday afternoon, Craig and I left Austin and met the kids with my parents around 6:30pm, and set off on our journey for an overnight drive! The theory behind this was that the kids would sleep through the night and when they woke up we would be in Jacksonville...this almost happened!!! Obviously they were WAY excited to be on our way and went to bed much later than normal. But by 10:30, the car was quiet and Craig and I were enjoying a peaceful drive. Brian decided to grace us with wide eyes at 4am and you can imagine how he was the rest of the day!!!

By 6:45, the sun was up and we had a car full of wide awake kids with hungry tummies. One would naturally assume that breakfast at Denny's would be a quick stop...right?!?!?! Ummmmm...no! Denny's took over 25 minutes to get us seated and in that 25 minutes, Brian managed to get himself removed from the lobby by his armpit, shouting "Mom, that hurts" the whole way out! Matt and Luke decided that wrestling on the lobby bench was a fantastic idea and managed to break Matt's glasses...all of this with the three of them in their jammies, making our hillbilly look complete! Breakfast then proceeded to take one hour to arrive from the time we ordered, only enhancing our hillbilly persona for everyone's viewing pleasure:) At one point my dear husband looks at our table, which Luke was currently under trying to tickle his brothers and announced "Thank God we will never see anyone here ever again!" We got to Jacksonville slightly later than planned, and have yet another restaurant on our growing list of places we are probably not welcome back at!!!

We're off to Disney World!!!

Let the fun begin...we are off on a 10 day roadtrip from Austin, Texas to Florida!!! Our first stop will be Jacksonville to see friends, from there we will head to Disney World for six days of Mickey fun, followed up with two days in Orlando to see Craig's sister and her family!!! The boys are SOOOOO excited for the trip...anyone who speaks to Luke has heard nothing except for the following phrase for the past 30 days "Mickey's house, Dinne World, wide wides, Goofy coaster"!!!

"I didn't know I was that GOOD of a boy!"

What an awesome night! We took the boys to the swimteam awards banquet knowing we had awesome kids and left the banquet with the whole team of 300 kids and their families knowing!!! Brian and Matt both proudly received the gold medals and their certificates with their best stroke times for the season listed on them along with all of the 6&under boys. They were beaming from ear to ear so proud of themselves!

Click the picture of Brian to see more!!!

After all of the age groups had been recognized, the biggest award of the night was announced...the Coaches Award. One boy and one girl from the whole team of 300 receive this award and Brian was that boy!!! We sat there as such proud parents listening to the head coach tell everyone that Brian was receiving this award for having the best attitude on the team, for always encouraging others, for having the best effort on the team, for having the best manners on the team, for improving in every stroke by at least 10 seconds, for the willingness to try whatever his coach asked him to do and to do it with a smile, for never saying "I can't", for his compassion to others and for just overall being the kid on the team that everyone should try and be like. To hear someone talk about your child that way is unexplainable...as parents we all know we have the most amazing kid on Earth but to have it told to a group of about 500 people with your precious six year old standing on a stage beaming from ear to ear holding an almost two foot tall trophy brings a sense of pride that we never knew was possible. Brian won this award 100% on his own...it wasn't handed out to the kid whose family donated the most money or the kid whose parents volunteered the most...it was handed out to a little guy that lives his life to please others and is the kindest, most caring six year old I've ever met!!! After he returned to his seat, Brian asked me what all of the things the coach said about him meant and when I told him his reply was "I didn't know I was that GOOD of a boy!"

An awesome first season!!!

Same as usual...click the pic for LOTS more fun!!!

Swimteam is officially over and I couldn't be prouder!!! We finished our last meet tonight and the boys had an AMAZING night:) We have missed the last three meets due to being in Houston, being at the beach and having strep throat so the boys were bound and determined to do well! That is an understatement as to how well they did...Matt knocked a whopping 22 seconds off of his freestyle time!!!! You read that right...22 seconds!!! It was the first time this season he looked like a true swimmer...perfect dive, perfect breathing and no stopping on the lane line:) Brian did equally as well...he was his heat winner in freestyle, knocking 9 seconds off of his time and placing 5th overall!!!

I had no expectations when I signed them up in April other than to become stronger swimmers and to be confident of their abilities in the pool. Three months later they can both do perfect freestyle and backstroke (Matt just finally got backstroke this week after a LONG struggle!!) and both have mastered the basics of breaststroke and butterfly! Matt's biggest accomplishment is that he can dive better than Brian and Brian's biggest accomplishment is that he got heat winner one time in both freestyle and backstroke! I am such a proud Mommy of these two little guys as well as Luke...the best and biggest fan of the boys!!!

Fourth of July on the Beach!

Like always...click the pic to see tons more!!!

Once again living in Texas has advantages...like the beach three short hours away!!! We decided to spend the long weekend on the beach in Corpus Christi and Hurricane Alex made it even better as it scared everyone away (although it did cause a giant seaweed mess but no one really seemed to mind)!!! Corpus Christi has multiple beaches to visit...Corpus Christi beaches, Port Aransas beaches, Mustang Island beaches and North Padre Island Beaches (all within a 20 mile radius of each other). We got down there on Saturday afternoon and spent the early evening beach hopping to see where we wanted to spend our time at the beach:) The kids loved it as every beach we stopped at they got to hop out and "test it out for fun" before we made our decision.

We decided we liked the beaches on North Padre the best (you get to park your car right on the beach next to you eliminating the whole schlepping everything to the beach) so the morning of the Fourth, that's where we headed. Luke has no recall of our week long trip to South Padre last year and had an absolute blast rolling in the sand, playing in the waves and collecting shells. The bigger boys (Daddy included) enjoyed boogie boarding, playing catch and outrunning the waves:) After a six hour day in the sun and sand, we headed to the hotel for showers, dinner and fireworks!!! We literally sat right on the steps of the beach seawall and watched the fireworks shot right off of the back of the U.S.S. Lexington, a retired aircraft carrier in the harbor.

Our last day we gave the kids a choice...go back to the beach or go on the U.S.S. Lexington and explore it. Being active boys, it was no surprise to us that they chose the giant ship! We spent four hours climbing all levels, seeing where all of the important things on the ship are...Dentist, Doctor, Post Office, beds, potties and mess hall:)

Emma's Baptism

Craig and I were blessed to become Godparents for the first time to our sweet Emma, the precious little girl of Aunt Kel & Uncle Chris! While we've done the Baptism thing three times, it was extra special to be on the other side of it:) We already LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Miss Emma like our own daughter so this just makes it a little more real!!!! And the best part is...we feel like she's part ours now so there is really no need for us to have our own little girl:)

He did it!!!

We are the proud parents of a six year old that waterski's!!! We bought Brian a starter ski last year and he decided that the most crowded weekend on the lake was the perfect time to try it out:) He was nervous getting started but Daddy and Uncle DJ had a master plan that worked! Daddy was in the water with Brian holding the ski and pushing him up while Uncle DJ was on the jetski next to him. Brian got up on his second try and was able to ski for five full minutes, even making two turns before letting go from exhaustion!!!

Please excuse my choppy video (it's two and a half min.)...I had tears of pride running down my face, the water was full of waves, I was bouncing up and down and my camera was in video mode that also allowed me to shoot pictures while taping:) On the plus side...you can see all of my pictures during the video:)

Super Swimmers!!!

Click the picture to see more!!!

It's official...my boys are following in Mommy's footsteps and are on the swimteam! Brian and Matt are super proud members of the Round Rock Dolphins. They absolutely LOVE swimteam which after coaching a team for seven years makes my heart proud! Tonight was their first meet, a practice meet against our own team and they rocked it! Brian got 1'st place in his heat in both freestyle and backstroke and went to bed grinning from ear to ear! Matt successfully made it across the pool in freestyle without stopping (a HUGE accomplishment) and even managed to NOT get last place!!

Backstroke was a different story...the poor guy had a meltdown as his heat was getting in the pool and refused to start from inside the pool. He was hysterically sobbing that he didn't know how to do the arms in backstroke and managed to hold up the entire meet for a good two minutes. After finally coaxing him into the water assuring him he would be fine, he pushed off the wall on his back, immediately rolled over and swam the whole lap freestyle (while everyone else was doing backstroke!). He got a standing ovation from the crowd for finishing well after everyone else as swimming while trying to stop crying takes a LONG time!!! Needless to say, Mommy and Matt will be having a backstroke clinic this weekend!!! Craig and I are super proud of our big swimmers and can't wait to see how awesome they will be by the end of the summer:)

Big Tex!!!

So I didn't wake up this morning and think "Hmm...I should get a puppy today", but somehow that is exactly what I did!! Craig was at work, Brian was at school so Matt and I decided to amuse ourselves looking at puppies online. Craig and I knew the day we had to put Mia down that another dog was in our future...particularly a puppy since the boys have been bugging us before Mia even got sick for a puppy. I don't think either of us expected it to be so soon but when you find the right one you seize the moment;) "Tex" is a 10 week old, 18.7 lb. ginormous puppy!!! He is a mix of Great Pyrenees and we think either Newfoundland or Bernese Mountain Dog (all of which are giant dogs!!) He looks like a black and white Saint Bernard and is freakishly calm which was a HUGE selling point! We are expecting him to be well over 100 lbs. fully grown which should be a good match for our three active guys! His freckles on his nose sold me and we are all (even Craig!) in love with our new guy!!!