We're back!

Sorry for the absence and lack of posting. We've been gone on a road trip type vacation. A little over two weeks of driving all over the place. And, although we had a great time, we're all glad to be back home.

Here's a picture from the day before we left as part of the process of getting ready.

As you can imagine, getting five dogs to the kennel is somewhat chaotic!

Spiders, feet, and dogs, oh my!

Friday night was the homecoming dance. Kirsten and Abigail went to a friends and spent the night at her house. Since they got dressed for the dance over there I didn't get any pictures. The game is not until this Thursday so I'm trying to get mums made by then. Everyday this week there is a theme at school. Tomorrow's theme is 'twins' but my kids are automatically disqualified. Hmph!!

Saturday while they were still at the friend's house, Kirsten got bitten by what I assume was a spider. The redness had gone away by Saturday evening, but now it looks like this:

It still looks like that now. It's all red and swollen. Everything I've read says that there isn't really anything to do at this point. So I guess we wait and see. In the meantime I'm pumping her full of benadryl.

The dog is in her cast for another week.

Otherwise, not much going on here. Just our usual kind of crazy.

Missing

One of our dogs got out a couple of days ago and we haven't been able to find her.

It's Daisy and she's Wyatt's dog.

Poor kid is having a pretty sucky start to this year.

The drums are an even bigger blessing to give him something to be excited about in the midst of the not-so-fun stuff.

Just Wrong!!

It's just wrong to do this to a male dog......

Especially one that's a pit bull!

Even he can't look at it.

Actually, the kids have done this to all of their dogs.

May need to find something else to help them occupy their spare time.

Once again....

Guess who greeted me at the door when I got home today.

Anyone? Anyone?

Yes, Kuddles got out of her kennel again. Gaah!!!

Thank goodness I got home before lunch time so she wasn't out all day. Who knows what she might have done then.

And this isn't the worst of it!

I had baked cookies for the kids' lunches and made some extra for Dax. There were also two orange rolls left over from breakfast that were in a dish on the stove. Kuddles actually got on the counter and ate them all. I don't mean that she jumped up and ate the cookies. I mean she climbed up ON the counter and ate the cookies and orange rolls. There were muddy little foot prints all the way down the counter (she knocked over a cup of water too). The footprints even went through the kitchen sink and out onto the counter on the other size.

What to do.........

Kuddles' Big Day

When I got home from the office today, Kuddles met me at the door.

That's not a good thing.....she's supposed to be in her crate.

When I got into the house, I found she had been mighty busy on her big day out.

She played with (and tore up) stuffed animals and ate beaver nuggets:

She ate a tootsie pop also, along with more stuffed animals:

Used the footstool by the kitchen cabinets to get down some crackers and fritos:

And she even had some 'nilla wafers:

And of course this all made her sick. Bleck!

I was afraid that I had put her in her crate and then not locked it. But, Dax and I went to the late show and when we got home she met us at the door again.

Oh, joy!!

I'm so happy that Addison decided to teach her how to get out.

Dax bent the cage by the lock so that now it's hard to get open (or closed for that matter.)

I must be getting mellow in my old age though, because she still lives here.

 

Miss 'em....

The kids are gone to my parents for spring break. I dropped them off yesterday.




Their dogs already miss them.




This is what I had to deal with while trying to cook dinner tonight.

Out of all the available room to play (both outside and inside the house) they only wanted to play at my feet at the stove.



WHY?!?

Dog Grooming

Before Dax left for the office this morning, he told the kids that they need to work on clipping their dogs' nails.


We have a Pedi-Paws thing so they decided to use that.


Here's how it worked out with Rocky.



This was their second try and Abigail never got the silly thing turned on.


As you can see, he's not having any of it.


By the time they make it through all four dogs, the dogs and the kids should all be exhausted.

That was a close one!

Last night the dog was prancing around at the door wanting to go out.


Ha! I say 'The' dog like it could only be one dog and I don't live in a zoo.


It was this dog, Daisy.


(Even though she looks possessed in this picture, she's really not.)

Sorry, back to the story.


So, I let her outside and she immediately took off around the side of the house barking at something.


When the other dogs heard her barking, they all wanted outside too. So one of the kids opened the door to let them out and was smacked in the face with the smell of skunk!


I didn't want to even let the dogs back into the house because I was scared that Daisy had gotten close enough to be within firing range when she took off barking.


So I made the kids do it.


Luckily, she had not been sprayed and all was good. But, that was just a little too close for comfort. I'll be checking before I let her outside at night until the skunk mating season is over.

Schoolin'

There are times that I feel like I live in a circus. Now that we have 4 dogs those times seem to come around more and more often.



The other night the kids were all working on the sit command with their dogs. All of them doing it at the same time and all right there together.




(And, no, that's not a meant-to-be-matching outfit that Addison has on. She put a jacket on over her pajamas.)


We've been to dog training classes that are less chaotic than this was!


Addison seems to think that if she just keeps saying 'sit' louder and more urgently that somehow Kuddles will understand and do it.


It is pretty funny to watch, though.


Even if it craziness right at home.

We have a rule breaker!!

There are not a ton of rules at our house.




Yes, there are rules. Just not a ton of them.




One of those rules is that the dogs are not allowed on the leather furniture.



Makes sense, right?



Hmmm....



Maybe he's trying to explain it to Rocky?



Maybe he's afraid they're going to get caught?




Nope! Neither one seems to be uncomfortable with breaking the rules.

I give you Rascal.....

Dax and I have totally lost our minds!!



Kirsten decided that she did indeed want a dog. Since the other three all have their own dogs it was either get her a dog or pay for years of therapy because we wouldn't let her have one.



Up until she decided this, she had been our favorite child. We told them all that now that title is back up for grabs.



I'm just kidding about the favorite thing.



Kinda'



No, really I'm just kidding.



Anyway, we went to the shelter on the 26th and left with Rascal.









As you can see, he photographs as delightfully as Kuddles did.


But, we may still have to pay for therapy.




For Dax & I!!!


What is wrong with us?



Seriously! We must have lost our minds.

Better than a dog sled

Since we live in a relatively warm climate and don't have much chance of snow we don't ever get the joy of having a ride on a dog sled. I think Abigail's found the answer to this problem.




(Did you notice Abigail's socks? She matched them all by herself.....we're so proud of her. LOL)


In all reality, I don't think he even notices her there. When she's trying to get him to stay beside her and holding onto his collar he just drags her off to do whatever it is he wants to do. Often times she's lying down while he does it.

He's just so goofy!


He had been dragging her around for quite some time but when I got the camera out Abigail was trying not to let him do it anymore. She stops whatever she's doing every time she sees me get the camera out. She's afraid it will end up on my blog.







Where would she ever get that idea?

He's still testing me....

So Rocky and Daisy did this yesterday.



That's a quilt on the sofa to keep the dogs from getting the sofa dirty. It used to be free of holes.




Then Rocky knocked a plate down and shattered it.



This is the problem with getting a dog that's already big but still a puppy at heart and has not learned any manners. He really can't learn them fast enough for me.



Or for his own safety.




There's a chance that I've threatened everyone in the household with their lives if a hole 'appears' in my couch because the dogs have been left to play unsupervised.


But just a chance.

New Family Member

I know. I know.



I've lost my mind.




We have a new family member.



He's a little goofy looking...that tongue is often hanging off to the side like that.


His name is Rocky. We adopted him about a week ago. He's only about a year old and still acts very much the puppy but he's been a pretty good dog so far.



I decided to get another dog mostly because I thought Daisy needed someone to play with.



Daisy has really enjoyed having him to play with but she's also exhausted by about mid-day. He's never too tired to play some more.

Can you guess?

Can you guess what these have in common?






What was your guess? Really. I want to know. Did you guess that we used dog treats to lure homeless dogs and shot them? Did you guess something worse?!





Well, they describe our weekend.

Saturday Addison & I made dog treats. She even insisted that we cut them out in shapes (I guess the dogs prefer them that way?)

On Sunday we took the to the closest animal shelter and fed them to the dogs there. Of course the kids wanted to bring another dog home and were not happy that the answer is NO!!! :0)

After the stop at the shelter we headed into Austin to the gun show. I found a little pistol that I really liked and it fit well in my hand but they wanted $875 for it. Yikes!! Needless to say, they can keep it for that price.


When we left the gun show we stopped and ate at Golden Corral on the way home. We haven't been there in ages and we certainly ate like it too. Everyone was misserable on the way home because we all ate far too much.

I hope your weekend was close to the excitement of ours.