Welcome Bear Estes Howell

 We added 4 more legs to our family on January 3rd.  We adopted Bear through Lucky 13.  He was living with his mom and several of his siblings in Kansas City.  He was originally from California.  

Bear is a mix of 13 breeds, but he's mostly Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler).  

He's 58 % Australian Cattle Dog

5% Great Pyrenees

5% German Shepard

3% Collie

1% Australian Shepard

7% Chihuahua

3% Pit Bull

2% Rottweiler

2% American Staffordshire Terrier

5% Chow

4% Lab

3% American Eskimo Dog

2% Estela Mountain Dog

Bear has been a great addition.  Winston adored him from the beginning and Bear quickly warmed up to Winston.  Bear is a vocal and timid dog, so it has taken us some time to get used to that.  Winston and Bear spend a lot of the time wrestling and fighting over toys.  They always seem to want to the same toy, even if we have two of the same toy.  They also do quite a bit of snuggling, usually Bear is the one who goes up to snuggle Winston and Winston doesn't usually mind.

Anna -8th grade

 Eighth grade went by in a flash for Anna.  She had a great year academically and successfully participated in two semesters of finals.  Anna worked hard all year and had great study habits.  During her 8th grade graduation she got to stand up when her principal asked for students to stand who got all A's during their middle school career.  Mike and I are so proud of her hard work ethic!

Anna stayed busy with 8th grade school sports all year too.  She played volleyball, basketball and ran track.  She also played club soccer all year too.  Her club team traveled to Iowa and St. Louis during the fall.  They traveled to Oklahoma in the winter and Nebraska in the spring.  This summer she got to regionals in Sioux Falls since they won the Kansas President's Cup and we are headed to nationals in Wichita next week.  

Anna lives and breathes soccer.  She practiced 4 days a week most of the school year.  She absolutely loves her soccer team and they have the best time hanging out with all the travel they've done.

Anna was confirmed in April.  She went to weekly confirmation classes from September through most of April.  She enjoyed the group she was in, it was mostly friends from school.  She also took driver's education and got her permit.  She's been driving quite a bit (with Mike).  

We just love watching this girl grow up and cannot believe she is about to enter high school (although she's more than ready).