Hello Everybody!

Well, I decided to start a blog so that I can keep the people updated that want to keep track of what is going on back here at the home front. I'm hoping I can make it worth checking. There's plenty of subject matter--the residents of my household take turns being the star in their own mini-story just to give me something to write about. I need to start with introductions. I'll list them in the order of their arrival in the family so they don't feel like I'm playing favorites (I'm sure if they were here they'd point out that there's only one picture posted so far and if that's not indicative of a favorite I don't know what is, but that's not a discussion for right now).
I'm Jamie. The mom. The head of the house. The boss. They don't all know this, but it's true none the less.
Jorgie: She is a Landseer Newfoundland. Isn't she great? What can you say about a 100+ lb dog that likes to sit on your lap? She makes me smile just by laying that big old head on my leg asking for a small token of affection (I say small token, but don't forget it's a big head so it's all relative). She still acts like a puppy but she's close to 4. Anyway, I've been observing the pecking order and I think she's top dog right now.
Jackie: She's also a 100+ lb dog (a lab, St Bernard mix). She's getting picked on more and I think that's because she's the old lady in the group (well, besides me--even if you take dog years into consideration, I'm still the oldest). She really only bothers to push the issue when it involves dog food. Then it's anybodies game. She can be pretty obstinate and has selective hearing. I can't count the number of nights I've yelled and yelled for her to come inside only to find her sitting around the corner of the house staring off into the distance feigning surprise when she sees me stomping out into the cold to track her down. But when it comes to watch dogs, she's the one I'd put my money on every time. Especially is somebody is trying to steal her dog dish.
Jessie: She's the cat. She pretty much keeps us all in line. The dogs love her because she buries little treats for them in her cat litter and I love her because she lets me live in her house. She lets some mice live with us, too but I've given up trying to fight that battle. We settled on a compromise of sorts. I put out mouse traps and feed her lots of cat food. It sounds like I'm the only one that compromises, but she's assured me that isn't true.
Pepper: He's my sister's dog from Brazil that we were lucky enough to get to keep when they headed to Africa. He's an English Cocker Spaniel so he's a lot smaller than the other two, but since he knows exactly how much of a lead he needs to be the first one in bed he gets along pretty well. He somehow reads body language better, so he knows (sometimes before I do) when I'm about to head to bed. So he gets the best spot which is right on my pillow. Also, when he's playing with the big, tough dogs he just has to make a few quick turns and he's left his slower cousins in the dust. He seems to keep himself out of trouble that way.
Michael: Let's face it. He's why we're writing this blog. There are some very special people that want to keep track of how he's doing. So this is going to be mostly about him. Michael is my son. He's just over a year and right now he's adjusting to a house made up mostly of furry inhabitants. For the first part of his life he had his aunt and uncle and cousins living with us so he had gotten pretty fond of being part of a big family. Grandma and Grandpa usually live right next door, but they had to go far, far down south to get away from this cold weather, so he's had to be happy just talking on the phone with them lately. He gets to meet his other aunt and uncle and cousins next summer so that gives us all something to look forward to.
Well, that's enough to get us started. Now I just have to get the word out that I actually finally did it. I'm a blogger.