Archive for category jack
Yay for pretty days
We are having GORGEOUS weather this weekend and have been taking full advantage. Most of yesterday was spent outside, tending to the backyard and playing with the kiddos…we had a flood in December which “relocated” all of our woodchips from the flower beds to various piles around our yard, so finally getting some of those raked up and tossed out. I spent a disgusting amount of time doing the disgusting job of picking up dog poop so that we could freely play. I always tend to neglect that job in the winter, plus we’ve had so much rain this season it’s been hard to find a day to do it. I will spare you all a photo of the giant bag full of poop that I ended up with, but suffice to say that it was impressive.
Charlie's attitude this morning was, umm, less than desirable. 
Jack, however, was having a grand time
Today was bath day since the yard is actually somewhat dried out and less muddy than it has been for weeks. I know you all probably hate Cardi photos in the grass as much as I do, but this part of the yard is by far the best light for taking photos and I wanted to try him on the ground instead of the table. I think he looks MUCH better when he free stacks than when I hand stack him, for some reason he has a tendency to lock his back legs oddly when I hand stack him, so we’re working on that. (I’m speaking in general, not about these pictures. I hand stacked him for these) He’s starting to look like a grown up all of a sudden, is high in the rear OFTEN although these photos turned out ok I threw away a bunch that were really bad LOL. Ah, the fun growing stages of puppies! They turned 8 months old a few days ago.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today I promised Charlie that we would make pink heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. I didn’t have a mold really, so just poured them into heart-ish shapes…not bad, really! They were prettier before they browned but that’s ok, she was tickled. It may have been helped by the chocolate chips inside, too.
Jack wasn't sure what to think at first, but ate them after a bit
And the extra special part of today…..SNOW!!!! After hoping to get some yesterday morning and being pretty disappointed with just a dusting, it starting snowing here early this morning and gave us a good ground cover. The snowman didn’t last long as it was warming up quickly, but the kids had fun! Nash wants to spend the whole day outside. We are supposed to get some rain later (eww), and maybe more snow overnight.
Jack stayed on the sidewalk for a while...he kept pointing at the snow and saying "Yuck!". He did eventually venture out into the yard but mostly stayed in the cleared tracks, LOL.
Throwing snowballs for Nash
Charlie chasing Daddy with a snowball
A very angry Jack-in-the-box
I was in the kitchen when I heard Jack calling for “help, I need help….MAMA!”
Friend or Family?
It’s always interesting when you add a new dog to the household. Even more interesting to me this time because it’s the first time it’s one that was BORN here and now has to live with his mama. 
I know over the years I’ve talked about Brady, who has always been the dominant personality in our house by far. He’s alpha and opinionated, a bit of the fun police, and everyone has to play by his rules. As he’s gotten older he’s gotten less and less tolerant of dogs that disobey him LOL. But at his base, he’s never a mean or aggressive dog…his goal in life is always to play, and play hard. Just as long as everydog knows that All The Toys Are Brady’s.
So, Brady and Nash get along just fine. Nash, at least for now, crawls on his belly and sucks up to Brady, who will then decide to play with The Boy. And they do fine together. What has surprised me is how much Lizzie likes her son. (granted, I can understand, as I’m a bit smitten with him myself…) They spend most of the day together, chewing on sticks and bones in the backyard, wrestling, barking at the neighbors, coming inside to crash on the floor. I still think that Nash would really prefer a more playful playmate…he loves his mama and they do great together, but at her core she still just doesn’t like to RUN that much, so most of their time together is fairly low-key. I try to pick up the slack in exercise because otherwise in the evening, Nash is So. Bored. he is forced to chase his own tail for entertainment, because the older dogs turn into pumpkins at about 8 pm.
First, I bite you face off
Then we can wrastle
What did you roll in, mom?
Pretty boy
The family that chews together, stays together?
Jack is upset because I'm spending too much time with dogs. Anyone feel bad for him?
Maybe he and Nash can share a bone.
Now LIZZIE is jealous!
Walkabout
After a very soggy fall, we’ve had gorgeous weather this week. I’ve been taking advantage as much as I can with walks with the kids and dogs! Jack, naturally, believes that he’s too big to ride in a stroller so each walk starts with a wrestling session before we can begin. I sadly usually leave the old man home…I can’t manage 3 dogs PLUS the stroller, and well…Brady is a pain. I either have to have him in a strict “heel” at all times, which is hard work because let’s just say his focus leaves something to be desired…or if I DON’T have him in heel, he’s straining against the end of the leash, barking at the dogs/construction workers/other walkers etc that we run across, and generally making an ass of himself. It’s a wee bit hard to manage him while I’m trying to steer the stroller also, without running us all into a ditch. Yes, this is despite the fact that Brady has had more obedience training than any of my other dogs, ever. I admit I am a total failure when it comes to training that dog! And now that he’s 11.5 I will officially say that I’ve given up for the most part. LOL
Lizzie, however, is a lovely walker because she Just Doesn’t Care as much as Brady does. And I have always only taken Nash out with her, hoping that he would learn her lovely leash manners, and so far he’s doing great! I can pretty easily have both of them on leash, trotting next to the stroller, and no one even gets run over. Much.
Today I took my camera with us and took only Nash, and of course Jack. There’s a big area of as-yet-undeveloped property that’s connected to my neighborhood…it’s just starting to be built in as “Phase 4″ of my neighborhood, but for now is just acres of grasses and open field. It’s a GREAT place for cricket hunting (Piper, you would swoon!) and generally just being a dog and a 2-year old boy. Later, Nash gets to be a show dog and get a bath/blow dry for tomorrow’s show.
Can we go home now?
How To Exercise Your Puppy
When the weather looks like this for days on end:
Everyone starts to get a little cabin fever.
Cute boy
Pulling a clapping alligator behind him!
Nash wins!
How to be a boy
Specifically, a 2 year old boy.
Get yourself a couple cars. Take them up the playset ladder with you.
Carefully place them on each step of the ladder while you make your way up.
Chuckle a bit at how clever you are.
One car goes down....wheeee!
Other car...wheeeee!
Chuckle again at how clever you are, while you follow the cars down the slide.
Say hi to your puppy.
Speaking of puppy:
I hate my camera.
Happy Birthday little man
Jack turned 2 this past week. My running joke is that now he has the age to back up his behavior! He’s impossible not to adore though, with his infectious smile and zest for life (I joke that Jack likes to live life “out loud”, emphasis on “loud”). He’s also very squarely a mama’s boy, which is fine by me. I love getting my snuggles from Jack. Despite that, he went to Mother’s Morning Out this week for the first time! And they didn’t even have to call me to come and get him.
Happy Birthday baby boy.
Hmm what is this?
I think I like it!
Cute boy!
Horrible squinty picture of me, but too cute of him not to post.
Time for a photo update
From Halloween…don’t you hate it when someone shows up wearing the same outfit? Jack with his cousin Cameron, who is 5 weeks younger than him.
Charlie the apple-juice-running-shoe-upside-down-butterfly-fairy. With bolero sweater.
Pumpkin pickin!
Although ironically, we did not actually purchase any pumpkins. 
There is a pumpkin farm here that puts on quite a show for this time of year…rides, swings, games, pumpkin cannons, hay maze, etc etc. It’s quite a zoo. At $8 per head to get into the joint, I guess they’d better have some stuff to do other than just buy a pumpkin LOL! Of course they also have pumpkins, all shapes, sizes and colors. We decided to forgo the pumpkins for now though, until we get into our new house. Supposedly it will be finished this Friday (19th)…it was supposed to be the 12th but has been pushed back again.
Anywho. Charlie had a good time, although she didn’t sleep well last night and was a bit “on the edge” the whole time we were there. She doesn’t deal well with things when she’s not well rested, but she managed to not throw a fit (oh how I love this age) about anything, whew. Is it sad that I’m happy about that? My standards for good social behavior have obviously dropped fairly low. 
Photos can be found here. I’m too lazy to upload them over here also, so go check them out if you’re interested!