Dog Days Of Summer

The kids and I are enjoying our long awaited summer. We haven't really done much, just kinda been hanging out at home. We've has many fun days with our backyard neighbors playing in the yards and playing wii and watching movies. It's been great.
Recently we watched Scout for a few days which added some excitement to our backyard. Cute little Scout wanted desperately to get back home and would occasionally disappear under the fence only to realize that no matter how much barking she did at her back door, no one would open it for her. So she reluctantly would allow herself to be picked up by Hazel or August and brought back over the fence to our backyard. She's a funny little thing.
You can't really blame us for having to make a quick stop on our way to the dog park to grab some doughnuts. I made everyone chuckle by not ordering a doughnut for myself. Instead, I took bites of everybody's choices. What? I was able to nibble on a variety of tasty treats and was left feeling better about myself for not eating an entire doughnut.

Say What You Will...

My dogs drive me crazy. They are overly excited when people come over to the house, they are hairy, they beg too much, and I can go on and on...but then Penny does something like this:

And all the annoying things they do go right out the window and I just want to get on the hairy floor and play with them.

Birds

The play is over!
Let me just say that again, the play...is over!
It was great working with Heather, I think this year was easier than last year and my hope is that next year will be even better. I'm looking forward to having lunch with Heather so we can talk through things we'd change and keep the same for next year.

I worked today and one 4th grade girl came up to me and said, "My days are so empty now that the play is over." I had to laugh a little because she sounded so down about that...I, on the other hand, am ecstatic!

Yesterday I walked the kids to school with the dogs. There was nothing on my schedule until pickup so we walked down to Green Lake and walked around it, then went to the off leash area for a while. By the time we got home it was almost noon. I did have to go into the school because even though the play is over there is still plenty of paperwork to wrap up. I should be finished with everything by the end of the week.

While the dogs and I were at Green Lake we saw a bald eagle. I've seen a few here and there but they are usually soaring. This one was just perched on a big ole tree.
I know it doesn't look like much through the lens of my phone but it really was quite something.

The other night I purchased an application called Hipstamatic for my phone. I think the pictures turn out pretty cool. Here are a few from the dog park:
I think that first one kinda looks like a ghost dog. And the green one looks like something out of Neverland (from Peter Pan, not Micheal Jackson...)

From Tank and Penny

The Many dogs wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Lesson Learned

You remember that movie, Marley and Me? The one where the dog eats everything in sight and destroys the furniture but the owners just love, love, love him anyway? I've never actually seen the movie, but it was playing on a plane ride and I was able to listen to all the sobs from the many, many passengers who were watching it.
We've been pretty lucky with our dogs. Jack Russell Terriers can have some crazy behaviors, including some pretty severe separation anxiety. Our dogs are good, they sleep in their kennels and have a bed upstairs that they rest on during the day if they need it. We always kennel them when we leave the house because, well, Tank taught us a lesson when he was about 5 months old and he ate 2 holes in the hallway wall. Since that time, they have been kenneled.
This summer has brought us late nights and restful mornings, which means that we're all waking up when our bodies are good and ready...around 10:00...it's lovely. But poor Trey has to wake up and get going earlier so he's been letting the dogs out and keeping them away from our bedrooms so we can continue to rest. It's worked very well all summer. Until today.
Today Trey woke up before everyone else and let the dogs out. The gate was up by the hallway leading to the bedrooms and the back door was open so the dogs could play outside. Once Trey left Penny apparently got bored of all the room outside and came in to see what she could do in the living room.

And this is what she did. To our brand new coffee table. Hazel found it first and was very quiet about it. When I came out of my room she implored me to not be too mad but that Penny did something real bad.
Oh, yes, this is real bad. We all got dressed and took the dogs for a long walk to the pet store and bought a big bottle of Bitter Yuck to spray on every piece of furniture.
I'm not sure this dog will be with us much longer if this becomes a habit for her. Trey and I are nothing like the owners of Marley.

Tank and Penny

This is what the dogs do when they go to work with Trey:



It also happens to be the reason that I want to kill the dogs when they get home...they've got all this energy at the end of the day because they've been lounging all day!

Dog Picture of the Day

Trey and I were lucky enough to escape to LA to go to Hank's wedding this past weekend thanks to Ann and Rachel. They divided and conquered and each took a kid...Meredith was also super amazing and stayed at our house to watch the dogs for us and because of those three amazing women, we were able to fully enjoy our quick trip.
Thanks Gals!!

Today was a beautiful sunny day. Kat came over a little before lunch with her dog Royal and we sat in the backyard watching our silly dogs play together...then we went to Blue C for lunch. It was the perfect lunch for a warm afternoon.

Penny and Tank spent most of their day outside wrestling or lounging in the sun.


August and Hazel both slept in a little this morning due to the fact that I turned my alarm off...all was well though as they only arrived a few minutes late for school. It felt so naughty for them to walk up to the school after everyone had already gone to class. I think it started them out on a good note.
Both kids came home happy and hungry. After a quick snack they ran outside and started playing with our backyard neighbors. August climbed a tree, Hazel slid down their slide. They played outside until dinner and then after dinner...they went back outside. It's been just great.

Then did come in for a quick break to attempt to do some origami...it didn't last long as both of them became very upset that they could not figure out the directions.

Dog Picture of the Day

The day started COLD but the sky cracked at poured the sun down on our thirsty skin. The dogs have spent a record amount of time out in the backyard. Tank does this funny thing where he'll run laps around the yard. Penny only wishes she could keep up with him and often tries to cut him off through the middle of the yard...it's quite entertaining to watch. While Penny can not run as fast as Tank, she is quite crafty at escaping her backyard confinements. We had the side fence barricaded for a while but had to move things in order to mow the lawn. I thought that maybe she'd gotten a bit too big to squeeze through, alas, I was wrong...I'm comforted by the fact that she's escaping only to run up to the front door.
Hazel loves the sun almost as much as Tank and Penny do. Immediately upon coming home from school she retreated to the yard and began building things for fairies. I gave her some string and this is what she came up with:"It's a fairy suntanning thing."

Dog Picture of the Day

Hazel snapped this shot on Easter while Penny slept.

Dog Picture of the Day

Penny likes to take naps on my shoulders during the day...it's a good thing she does this cause it makes me think twice about giving her away to the highest bidder...she's driving me nuts right now!

Dog Picture of the Day

Wednesday. Hump Day.
I spent the better part of this morning getting information out about the 3rd Annual Hootenanny at the kids school. I've been putting this "talent" show on for the last three years and have got it down cold...but getting things rolling takes a while for me...everyone has their info sheets and the sign ups are...up. Now I sit and wait for all the calls and questions and emails and for the 27th. On the 27th I get to start screening the acts. I'll let you know more as things unfold.

August has Ultimate Frisbee practice today. We've been lucky enough to have a few of his friends on the same team so there has been some great carpool action going on, today he's being picked up by one parent and dropped off by another...gotta love it!

Hazel is sitting next to me on the couch right now. She's reading "Are You My Mother?" and she's doing a pretty good job with it! I love hearing her successfully read a sentence...I'm her biggest cheerleader.

Dog Pictures of the Day

Dog Picture of the Day

Rain, rain

It's party time at the Many house today. There's no school (teacher in-service day) and we've got Francis staying with us for the weekend...and August has another friend and his sister over...and we had to invite the backyard girls over too...and their dog! It was a bit crazy for about a half hour until everyone figured out where they wanted to be and what they wanted to do...and now it's all quiet in the Many house. The girls wanted to play pick-up-sticks and the boys wanted to play Wii. Then the girls wanted to watch High School Musical 3 while the boys watched Iron Man. And the Dogs? They are shredding a new toy Kat made for them:

Dog Picture of the Day

Tank is going in to see the vet today because he has a cut in his ear that just won't heal. He continually scratches at it and shakes his head and last night it started bleeding again. Dang dogs cost so much money!! But they're so cute together, huh?

Older and wiser?

I've just spent the last half hour reading over the months after Tank joined the family. We really didn't know what we were doing...I think we did okay in spite of that, in fact, Tank is a great dog right now. He turned 2 in February and he's just turned into this amazingly patient and very obedient dog.
Many of you know that we now have 2 dogs...and not just any old 2 dogs, no, 2 Jack Russell Terriers!
There are many differences between these two dogs outside of the obvious: Tank is a boy, Penny is a girl. We got Tank when he was 8 weeks old and completed his first puppy training class by the time he was 12 weeks whereas Penny came to us when she was 12 weeks and she still hasn't taken any classes because dogs have to have certain shots before they can attend said classes. Penny weighed 5 lbs at her 12 week vet check...Tank weighed 10 lbs!!
For a while here I thought that maybe Penny was a little slow because she really hasn't picked up on her name and while she's very energetic when she plays with Tank, she is also very unsure of herself around other dogs. I'm thinking that I might be very wrong about her...It's quite possible that Tank is slower than Penny. Tank has been with us for 2 years now and he's never found a way out of the backyard. Penny has been with us for 2 months and she's squeezed her way out of every little hole in the fence at least a half dozen times...I'm also quite sure that she'll figure out how to move the lock on her kennel and Tank doesn't even try to push on the door to his kennel to see if I locked it! The case is still out on this issue. Tank is amazing and not very typical for his breed and we're very happy about this, Penny may be more Jack Russell than we had planned for...but dang! She's cute!

Dog Picture of the Day

Come on now...they're cute together, huh?
Tank is so patient with his little half sister. She loves to climb on him and nap throughout the day. She's real good at doing this head tilt thing...it about drives me crazy with the cuteness!