We have a "new addition" to our family ... "Boxley" the dog!  He really belongs to our teammates Lee & Joanne Freace.  They have had to go back to America unexpectedly (Joanne's father is quite ill), so "Boxley" is staying with us for awhile.

I have nicknamed him "Shadow" because he tends to follow me around ... especially if Emma is anywhere nearby or the least bit interested in him.  Yup, he also knows who is more sympathetic towards him ... me or Joel?  I let him sleep on the bed and Joel makes him go downstairs into his own bed at night.  Boxley growls at him the whole way down the stairs :0)  All in all, Boxley is fitting in quite well with us ...

 

When Boxley first came to stay with us, we were skyping with my parents and I told Emma to show Amma & Granpa who was staying with us ... At that moment, Boxley walked into view of the camera, Emma pointed to him and said to Amma & Granpa, "That is my brother Boxley!"

We laughed and thought "Oh, how cute!" ... then, after a full day with the two of them, I realized how true that statement seemed!  They love to play together (Emma is the only one who will throw Boxley's bone for him for an hour at a time) and then they love to NOT play together (Emma will annoy Boxley by loving him too much, and Boxley growls at Emma when she hasn't even touched him or when she is actually being nice to him).  Yup, there are times that I feel like a "referee".  Joel's description of the two of them is that they have a "love/hate" relationship: Emma loves Boxley and Boxley hates Emma.  Thankfully this is not entirely accurate ... its probably more along the lines of:  Emma is young and energetic, and Boxley is old and cranky :)