the sheltiechick blog

Payton is six!

Hard to believe it has been six years since my little guy was born.
I love my Payton so much. We have had six years of struggles and I anticipate those struggles will probably continue – at some point, maybe he will become an easy dog to own; maybe he will become a dreamily simple agility dog; but more than likely, he will challenge me every step of the way. If difficult dogs make great dog trainers, he will transform me into a master.
As my journey with Auggie was summed up by the Garth Brooks song “The Dance,” my life with Payton can be described with “The River.”
Each day a constant battle just to stay between the shores.
None of it matters, because the beauty is that we get to sail our vessel together.


Blue cupcakes for my big boy. The frosting came with these fish sprinkles, so why not? I went ahead and put them on.
The cupcake papers are that same sheep design that is hidden on the plate.


Here are three dogs who are very aware there are cupcakes sitting up there on the railing.


Rizzo wearing a hat… yep. That’s a good thing.


A verrrry good thing.


KK has this down now. He knows cake is coming and he’s totally on board.


Okay, so, back to the birthday boy. Happy birthday my big man. Time for your cake.


Do you think he was anticipating this release to his cupcake at all?


Aaaaand he tried to eat the whole thing in one bite.


Licking crumbs and icing and fish sprinkles.


You should try to find someone in your life who looks at you like Kaner is looking at his cupcake.


Kane had a bit more sense to chew his cupcake rather than inhale it whole but it was still intense for a minute there.


Yeah I eated it.


Rizzo has no idea what’s happening but he wants to eat his hat thing on his head and also the other dogs seem happy so okay.


Waiting for cupcake… waaaaaaiting for cupcake.


NOM.
Eating cupcakes is easier to figure out than hunting Easter Eggs.

Happy birthday my awesome little P. I love you very, very much.


Easter 2017

Real talk guys – I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do an Easter egg hunt this year. Auggie was so boss at it, and I knew I would be remembering him the whole time.
But it was also Rizzo’s first Easter, and it didn’t seem fair not to let him play the game… so I sucked it up and got everything ready.


Waiting outside the gate while I hid eggs.


Inside the gate, and I’m armed with three baskets, one for each dog. Payton thinks he’s ready… pretty sure he remembers this game… here we go.


Yes. Yes this is the game.


Rizzo, meanwhile, is like “Wait what we do?”


Kane found one!
But has no clue what to do with it, so he runs off.


Rizzo also found one!


And picks it up…


And figures out how to open it!


Payton, meanwhile, is channeling Auggie for once in his life.


Bing bang boom findin’ all the eggs


Kane is basically just running around behind Payton trying to figure out what everybody is so excited about.


FINDS IT


GOTS IT


Kane is staring really hard at this one, realizing there’s got to be something… SOMETHING… involving these things… but what?!
I felt bad for him so I opened it for him to get the cookie, and put it in his basket.


Payton rockin’ it.


Rizzo, meanwhile, is also pretty good at this…


…but he also would like to carry around and chomp on the empty eggs once he has the cookie out. Noooo no no, let’s not do that.


And Payton likes to lie down while he opens his egg and enjoy his treat. It’s a good thing the other two are kinda slow or he would miss out on a bunch of eggs.


Kane can’t figure out how to open them. He just keeps pushing the egg around with his nose until I come over and open it for him.


Rizzo doesn’t have that problem.


I PUTS IN MOUTH? But he never got this one open either.


Egg hunt done! Payton is the clear winner, but Rizzo did an amazing job for his very first time playing the game! Kane got several in his basket, but not enough for them to peek out the top. Maybe next year kiddo.


Each dog also got special Easter baskets with a bag of treats AND some bunny ears.
Two dogs think this is funny and one does not.


But first, lemme take a selfie


Payton has taken way better selfies than this before. I guess he just wasn’t feeling it that day.


Big smile from Rizzo!


And Kaner who is doing a shoulder stall also, winning the selfie game for the day.


Family Photo – Rizzo at 30 Weeks

Just a quick family photo to track how the baby is growing…


Family Photos – Rizzo at 21 Weeks

More time to play outside! Today I wanted to get a family photo like we did with Auggie and little Kane, so I let everybody run around and get their crazies out first.


Aaaaand more ganging up on Kaner.


Pretty Payton!


Rizzo sitting on the steps… kinda. Sorta. Like somebody I used to know, Happy.


Family… photo. Ha!


There we go, that’s better!


Looking like real, actual dogs who know how to sit and stay…


Happy baby Rizzo!


Winter Romp in Coats

Another light dusting of snow, but this time it brought bitter cold with it. It is January, after all. Poor naked Rizzo needed a winter coat, so my sister came to the rescue again with some cheap coats she found at Target.


Kaner got a nice black Hurtta on clearance for Christmas.


Perfect for running and playing in!


Payton joins in the game – frequently the game is Brown Dogs Chase The Tiny Black Dog.


P has his beautiful blue Hurtta I found at TJMaxx a couple years back. I like it so much I ordered Kane’s online. It’s a shame they don’t make this style anymore.


More brown dogs chasing the little black one.


Rizzo’s coat doesn’t quite fit and it’s not nearly as warm as the Hurtta, but for a growing puppy, it works totally fine!


Pretty Payton.


Rizzo studying his point of attack…


And little Kaner.


Rizzo beating up poor little Kaner, haha!


More chasing and proinking through the snow!


And more ganging up on Kaner. At least Payton and Rizzo are bonding.


December Playtime and December Naps

Christmas is over and the snow has all melted. I still have a few days of Christmas vacation left, so we enjoyed our time together while I developed a new addiction to Supernatural.


Kane found a nice stick, as usual.


And proceeded to run around with it as his prize.


Rizzo thought he might check out the dog walk and I quickly was like NOOOOOPE TOO LITTLE.


So he just ran around being cute instead.


Kaner being really fluffy and a little handsome.


Where did all this fluff suddenly come from?!


Cute Rizzo butt, checkin’ out the agility field.


Running!!


Also lots of running with Kaner.


CSN Chicago replayed the World Series game 7, which I definitely watched again feeling much less calm this time, and included some Rizzo-watching-Rizzo action.


There was also some quality napping going on.


Rizzo curls up so cute and tiny!


And Kane… well.

On to a new year.


A little bit of winter fun…

Not much snow to speak of, but we still got outside and played a bit in it!


A little family photo – no longer counting in weeks of course, but here we are!


Kaner, showing off his 2o2o he likes to work on.


A little snow-dusted Payton…


and a teensy bit of dust on Kaner, too.

Maybe later this year we’ll get some real snow!


Fall Leaves 2016

So many leaves.
So much time raking and mowing and mulching and bagging.
So much time dragging lawn bags to the curb for the city to pick up on yard cleanup days.
So much time wondering if that’s poop or a leaf…

But both of the boys really, really love fall, so I guess it’s okay.


Fast shutter finger got this one just in time before he moved and the leaf fell.


The happiest Payton to ever Payton.


Seriously like I cannot with how happy he is to play in the leaves. At five years old.


YEAH LEAVES


I tried to get these cute photos of KK holding a leaf and it didn’t work because he just wants to eat them.


Surprise: the tiny black dog looks really nice in fall leaves too.


I eat dis.


Meanwhile MORE HAPPY PAYTON who looks like he could just stay in the leaf pile forever.


EAT LEAVES


The amount of leaves in my dog’s coat right now.


But stiiiill happy.


Stop Kaner stop TOO CUTE


WHEEEEEEE


“I know you like this trick, especially in the leaves, because I’m super cute.”


How about… a double head-down?


*high pitched screaming*


KANER LOVES HIS PAYTON


My boys.


My Little Family

I’m really really blessed that Auggie is still around. I wanted to take the family photos of all three of my dogs together every week so I would never run out of opportunities to have seen how the baby was growing alongside my best dog, who likely won’t be around to teach him how to be awesome like he did Payton. But I also wanted to get a photo of all three of my dogs with me. The problem is it’s next to impossible to get anybody over here to take a photo.

The good news is I own a remote shutter release.

The other good news is, I’m a bloody genius about how to make this work.


All three of my very good boys.


Pool Day (26 Weeks)

Yeah pool day!!

To start with, we took our 26 week family photo. Kaner turned a full 6 months on May 19th, which is also a full 6 months since Auggie was diagnosed with CHF.

We made it a full six months, everybody is happy, everybody is healthy, everybody is still alive.


So we got out the pool to celebrate.


Heat and humidity can be hard on a dog with CHF. The rule is Auggie can only stay out when it’s hot if he keeps himself cool in the pool.
So far he’s totally okay with this rule.


EVERYBODY IN THE POOL


Payton loves his pool.


Even the baby wants to play in the pool.


Family photo in the pool.


Hi I’m a cute puppy in the pool!!


Payton also really loves towel time. Like a lot. Like maybe more than playing in the pool itself.


Being dried off is the bestest.


YEAH TOWELS


Oh my Auggie.


Auggie had a fantastic day. Pools are actually pretty great. Yeah.


Outdoor Toys

Kaner’s ears are back down today. Auggie’s blood work from the vet was unremarkable. The regular vet is guessing he’s just having some trouble with circulation as his heart isn’t pumping efficiently. His respiratory rate is up a bit again, too. Other than that, everybody is just guessing maybe it’s joint related with age. We already know he has arthritis in his front legs so maybe the back legs are setting in, too. She did examine him fully to make sure we’re not all missing something else, just assuming it’s cardiology related and maybe he hurt his back, but that does not appear to be the case.
We all went outside at lunch to play and take more photos.


Happy puppies don’t have any real idea what’s going on so they are happy puppies.


Liiiiike a stick.


My boy.


He ate cheesestick last night. At his worst Auggie wouldn’t even eat cheese when I handed him some – too much trouble breathing to chew a cheesestick piece. So now as long as he’s eating a cheesestick I know his lungs are doing okay.


Tuggy ball. We haven’t done a ton of tugging since joints are still baby joints and teeth are still baby teeth, but Kaner does like to tug. He grabbed my sweatshirt one day and when I tried to lift my arm away to have him let go, he simply came up off the ground with his teeth still sunk into my sweatshirt. Well then.


Chuckit Squirrel is actually dead because Payton killed it during a tug game last year (his fabric body has peeled away from the plastic frame) but Kaner is fine with playing with the dead squirrel.


Also discs. We’re working on this one too.


P cruises around trying to decide how many toys he can steal before he gets in trouble for stealing from the baby.


And the perfect Auggie is being perfect.


Easter 2016

It’s been many years since I thought it would be fun to let Auggie hunt Easter Eggs. He was such a sniffy dog, always using his nose – wouldn’t it be funny to put a treat in an egg, hide it, and have him sniff them out? In some ways we were doing β€œNose Work” in our house and backyard before it was a thing people paid money for to title in. Auggie really loves this game, to the point of getting excited when he sees me get the eggs and baskets out, because he knows we’re going to play. Also, it doesn’t hurt that he gets a bunch of cookies when he finds the eggs, either.


So away we went and Auggie started cruising along.


Georgie came over to play with us all. Last year she ran around stealing eggs from everybody else, especially Auggie, who was having trouble with his old man teeth popping the eggs open. But this year I was going to hoard all of Auggie’s eggs for him. If he found one and tried to open it, but couldn’t, I would step in and help him open it, then drop it in his basket after he got the cookie.


So Miss Georgie had to find her own eggs. But being Auggie’s little niecelette, she’s pretty good at it, too.


Payton found one, whoo!


Meanwhile Auggie just rocked and rolled and grabbed everything he could sniff out or see.


My sister came over with her Henri to hunt eggs, because my yard is way bigger and has more spots to hide eggs in.


It was a bit hard for Henri to stay focused on the eggs when the entire yard smells like Payton pee.


But he did a good job of finding all his eggs, anyway.


Kaner wasn’t very good at the egg hunting. He tripped over an egg and my mom declared he β€œfound” it, then opened it for him, thinking if he figured out there were cookies inside, he might understand the game. She grossly overestimated a puppy brain.


Payton, too, is just a little attention deficit; his constant go-go-go makes it hard for him to spend time actually opening the eggs. Finally we came to a compromise where he finds them, and just like I do with Auggie, I open them for him. This worked pretty well as Payton started looking for an egg, flopped down with it, and then stared at me expectantly to come open it. I think in Nose Work we would call this an β€œalert” so whatever.


I am happy to say that Auggie restored his title of Egg Hunting Champion this year after I protected all his eggs from the thief.


Not surprisingly, Georgie came in second place.


Payton actually found a decent handful this year.


And Kane β€œfound” a whopping two, by which I mean my mom gave him the first and he picked up a second one for about a half second, and we declared he β€œfound” that one, too.


Henri, of course, found all of his eggs.


All the little shelties with their Easter baskets.


Then, because I’m an ambitious dog trainer, I went for all five. This is not Photoshopped, we actually got all five lined up and sitting on the deck with their baskets. It wasn’t easy, but it happened. Meanwhile, the little black dog in the center is only 18 weeks old, and that big one on the end and my big Payton sometimes like to try to eat each other’s faces – but for Easter, we nail beautiful harmony.


Then I pulled out the bunny ears I bought at the Dollar Spot at Target. I may have only bought one St. Patrick’s headband, but I made no such mistake with bunny ears. I bought three pair.


Big handsome Auggie thinks his bunny ears are hilarious and Easter is awesome.


Payton, for the first time ever when he’s got something on his head, doesn’t look like he’s being beaten to death!


And the bunny ears were really too big for Kaner’s head so this was quite interesting to get them to balance and then hurry up and take a photo. But somehow, with the magic of Easter, we again made it work.

I didn’t take any photos, but after all our guests went home, I got the eggs out, stuffed them again, and let Auggie have his very own egg hunt. Just me following him with his basket, letting him find every single egg without any pressure from any other dogs running around, getting all the cookies. I think that was Auggie’s favourite part.

Happy Easter from all the little bunnies!


Baby Dog Outside Games

Another day, and the sun is out for the dogs to play in the yard.


Watching the baby run around. Huh.


I’M A PUPPY WHEEEEE


Look at me I can run and jump and play!


RUN RUN RUN


MORE RUNNING


Payton says ARE WE RUNNING?? THAT’S MY FAVOURITE! Look how happy he is to have a puppy brother to play with. So. Happy.


Proinking around after his big brother.


He even ran some laps around the play cube.


Rarr, big brother!! Not at all phased by the fact that Payton is three times his size.


Happy Payton.


Yeah chasing!

Auggie sat on the deck and simply watched all this nonsense take place with a bit of disdain, which is a step up from his old tactics of running around barking as Official Fun Police, so that’s good.


New Baby, Day Two

Our second day with Kaner dawned rainy and gross! We did take some time to play outside, even in the dreary weather, but it wasn’t very fun getting all cold and wet.


Little guy trying to navigate the steps off the deck.


Payton came up on the deck and then bounded down off the deck like eight times, like IT’S TOTALLY NOT HARD COME ON WHEEE. You’re like three times Kaner’s size. Little bit different, P.


Face through the railings! I have this photo of Auggie and Payton so was sure to snag one of Kaner, too.


Trying to figure out how to get off the deck is hard.


Auggie isn’t really sure what the trouble is, either. I built this deck just so Auggie could safely navigate down into the yard, as the old concrete porch was unsafe and he kept falling. But this one is super safe and there’s really no trouble. You know, so long as you don’t have tiny little baby puppy legs.


Smellin’ brother P.


Just in case you think he’s all cuteness and sweetness, Kaner actually has a very powerful set of lungs on him and enjoys putting everything and anything in his mouth to chomp. Just so you know.


I mean, but he is pretty cute.


I think all of my puppies are cute because if they weren’t nobody would like them at all ever.


Look how cuuuuute I am not naughty at allllll


AND I WILL FIGURE OUT THESE STEPS. ONE DAY.


One thing I want to do is try to take a β€œfamily photo” every week. We just don’t know with Auggie’s CHF how long we have left, so as morbid as it sounds, I don’t want to miss out on getting a photo of all of my dogs together as Kaner continues to grow. It’s also kind of a fun project to see how much the puppy grows and changes every week. This is what counts for Kaner’s first week, what with the baby not knowing how to sit or stay… this is as good as it gets, folks. Don’t worry, I promise it will get better.


Then I made him wear these puppy jammies and it was adorable.


Happy Fall 2015

Ah, fall. Time for cold weather and lots of leaves littering my yard and hours and hours spent mulching and bagging leaves to be hauled away.
And for photos of my dogs looking stunning.


Auggie, the posing pro.


He might be an old man now, but hes still super handsome.


The most wonderful old man dog.


Brothers!


Now serious brothers.


Payton lays down and I asked Auggie to lay down and he said “mmmmmnope.”


He then came to get a cookie from me. Well okay.


Meanwhile, Payton poses.


I will never stop asking for a head down to get cute pictures now that he can do this.


Because its sooooo cute.


A nice sit.


So many years ago when Payton was a baby, I had this cute photo I set up and took. I tried to set it up again and… this happened.


Just kidding, just kidding, we got it.


Big handsome dogs.

Then Payton ran around bark-screaming while I threw leaves at him and then he flopped down and rolled in the leaf pile and I covered him up and he was super adorable.


SUPER adorable.


Sheltie Egg Hunt 2015


Getting ready to hunt… Auggie is like I AM 100% FOCUSED LET’S DO THIS THING


Georgie found the easy one I set right by the deck.


Auggie ran straight past it to grab one in the yard.


And then off into the rest of the yard for another.


Georgie is very methodical, snagging the second one right near her first.


Meanwhile Payton grabbed one and started proinking around with it, then dropped it.


OH NOES EGGY


I GOT IT AGAIN


THEN DROPPED IT AGAIN


Auggie meanwhile is all bing-bang-boom findin’ all the eggs


Payton again dropped his first egg and found another.


Georgie is busy trying to snag as many as she can.


Payton lost the yellow egg to Georgie, did a lap, and came back to his pink egg… while Pepper in the front…


…is maybe finally figuring this game out.


Chomp…


Choooomp?


SHE GOT IT!


Then she found another!


LOOK GUYS SHE CAN DO IT.


I MEAN SHE TOTALLY UNDERSTANDS THE GAME. AT LAST. OMG.


She is having a hell of a time actually getting them open though.


Then she found this one, which I was really impressed with because she had to jump up in the wagon to get it.


Georgie came running over to try and steal it. Georgie was VERY good at stealing eggs from the other dogs…


My mom had to help out. “No, this is PEPPER’S egg.”


She kept workin’ on it…


and got it!


Payton accidentally broke one of his egg-balls and discovered the cookie inside so he’s making an attempt here.


LOOK he figured it out.


Okay so I tried to line everybody up for a group photo, and Payton… well… Payton. So here’s the group photo.


Miss Pepper who got THREE eggs this year!! THREE!!


So very proud of herself.


Auggie is all “I’m old and exhausted, this is tough work.”


Auggie got nine eggs this year. He would have had more if I counted every one he grabbed, but his old man teeth were having a bit of trouble chomping them open, and if he couldn’t get it open he just dropped it and buzzed on to the next.


Payton with his THREE! I think this is exactly how many he got last time too…


Georgie is the WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER this year with TEN eggs. She only really won because a) previously mentioned no-counts for Auggie and b) she kept stealing eggs from everybody else.


I cheat, I still win, who cares, haha.


Happy winning baby dog.


First Snow of Winter 2014

One of my favorite things about my dogs is how snowflakes fall on their fur… so… yeah. And somehow Pepper became the star of this photo session. Normally she is hiding in the background or directly under my feet so I can’t get any good photos, but this time I managed more of her than the boys.


Just one of Pay to start…


Then my pretty girl showed up.


The poor photographer this weekend kept trying to get Pepper’s ears up and I was like “yeah, that’s just Pepper… it’s… that’s just Pepper.”


Ears up! But head down.


Head up, ears back down, haha. My girly.


Another nice one of P…


Meanwhile Auggie.


I mean Auggie.


Seriously he can kinda be a real jerk.


Okay ONE nice one of Auggie.


Back to the pretty Pepper.


I love her expression in this one, but the snowflakes aren’t in focus how I’d like.


Here the snowflakes are better but her expression is not as good. LOL. Oh well… they’re both rather nice.

I’m sure there will be plenty more snow pics to come. Ugh.


Sheltie Easter 2014

I realize it’s like two weeks late.
I had a horrible migraine that day – not the worst of my life, but the second worst of my life. I was heavily medicated and did pretty much nothing all day long. I forgot my Easter stuff at my house (silly me though last year “surely by next Easter we will be moved in!” and took it all over there, and I meant to bring it back on Saturday when we were done working… but I forgot it in the garage.) so I didn’t have their eggs or baskets either.
My mom ran out to the store to buy some more meds for me and found a pack of eggs for cheap there, so she brought them home so the dogs could still hunt eggs. First, we did a hunt inside where she hid all six eggs, then one at a time we let each dog find the eggs. But the lighting in this house is awful and I was still laying on the couch just watching, so no photos of that. But a few hours later, I was FINALLY feeling better, so we went outside. I didn’t really “hide” them so much as just set them down around the front of the yard, so this is officially The Worst Sheltie Easter Ever.
But I did get pics!


The shelties… one egg.


Payton manages to escape with this one.


Cookie inside!


Auggie and Pepper.


Pepper sorta kinda got into it this year since she had time to find eggs all by herself without the other dogs… but she still was like “I found one!” and then basically just sat there with it hahaha.


She wasn’t even motivated to find other cookies… maybe she thought the egg would spontaneously produce more cookies?


Auggie finding more.


Open, eat the cookie…


…find the next egg.


Auggie doesn’t play around.


Meanwhile this was happening… Payton kept running around with an egg and Georgie trying to steal it from him… NOT THE GAME, PUPPIES.


Pepper, by the way, is in the back not grabbing at an egg, but just grabbing at the ground. Because… Pepper. And meanwhile Auggie is looking around for anything still unopened.


A derp-derp!


Yeah… that’s Payton.

That’s all… not a lot. Better ones next year hopefully!


Payton’s ZUMI Lead

Baby Payton has needed a nice agility lead for a while. Since I named him after Walter Payton, I really wanted an orange & navy blue one. After searching the internet, I couldn’t find one.

Enter ZUMI Leads. Who added an orange and blue rope to their line-up.

It had to happen. It HAD to happen. Since I like martingales on my guys, I e-mailed asking if it would be possible to custom make a martingale. They were happy to make a custom lead for me so Payton could run around agility trials in a martingale.
It arrived earlier this week and I couldn’t be happier.

The lighting tonight makes the blue look lighter than it is in real life. It truly is a nice orange and navy blue. The perfect Chicago Bears lead for my Payton.

This photo actually has more accurate colors:

The rope itself is amazing, it feels so soft. I had to show it off to my mom who was also amazed at how soft it felt. LIKE BUTTER.

Can’t wait to take it to agility to start using! Our first trial of the year is coming up in early March, and then after a short week we’re off to Louisville!


Snow Storm Shelties + Arf on the Shelf Outtakes


Runnin’!


Payton says “RUNNING’S MY FAVOURITE”


Georgie: “Oh God it’s coming!”


Peppydrizzle was out wagging her tail all over the place.


The best way to navigate the snow is to hop, really.


Payton was having trouble running… not just because it was deep but because Georgie was pulling on his tail the entire time.


NOM PAYTON


Payton is just like DERP DERP and Georgie is all BANZAI


Mr. Auggie <3
Then the snowballs started.


PAYTON


I hit her with a snowball and she was like “WHAT WAS THAT.” Sorry.


This one’s my favourite.


He also likes the snowballs <3
Georgie really wants a snowball too and also she is freezing.


Yay!


Baby dog’s tongue is INSIDE his nose. Nice, P.


SNOWBALL


This is an accurate representation of Georgie.


Pepper likes snowballs also please!

More snowballs until Georgie was visibly shivering so we all went back inside…


I really love that Pepper got into it this year. I’m so excited when she does anything other than look sad and like I beat her.

Also while out there I decided to take my Arf on the Shelf photo. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do but Auggie had a few ideas.

First he looks quite pretty.


And then.


“Auggie no!!”


“Auggie stop! Don’t eat it!”


I was trying to tell him “no, stop!” and yet it was hysterical and I kept snapping photos at the same time. Poor Francisco.

End! We can’t go anywhere at all until the plows clear us out… who knows when that will be. Yay.


A Few Foundations Videos with Payton

It was really really hot even at 6pm… he started getting really tired and hot by the end of the second video. We tried to do lesson 3 but he was just too hot so I didn’t force it. We’ll try again Wednesday…

Sends to the tunnel are going so well you can’t even see our starting point for most of this video. =P I did not film sends to a jump today.

This is where he starts getting hot and tired. These are really tight wraps and he’s not quite ready for some of them. Bars should be lower but I forgot to put them down… bad trainer.


Hoodies

So I bought these hoodies for the dogs… Payton’s and Pepper’s were on MEGA clearance (five bucks each!) and Auggie’s was pretty cheap too. I just think they’re cute. It’s warm enough that I was out in just a hoodie today so they all got their hoodies too.


Payton was zooming around in his hoodie and I imagine he was pretending to be a hot rod.


Pepper’s!


It has little wings on the sleeves and everything <3 it's SO CUTE.
And of course Augs has a skull on his. <3
Typical Payton. He got nice and worn out chasing after balls and running after Pepper, he is currently recharging his batteries so he can annoy me in ohhhh probably twenty minutes.


“Tee hee I just peed in my sweatshirt!” Payton’s needs to be altered. *facepalm* Just a touch too long… he peed all over it.


Okay, so Pepper was feeling sassy. This is a series of photos of her yapping at me. Bark


bark


BARK.


This girly. <3
And meanwhile, Payton.

Okay, so I don’t know if anybody remembers, but Pepper likes to hop up and down. Vertical. She does this when she’s really excited (which means not often) but she was doing it today and I was trying to get a photo. Unfortunately she doesn’t stay very far away from me and I had the 50mm on so I wasn’t getting the photo I wanted and was kind of bummed.
Then I opened the photos to see what I got and I think these are even better.


Perfect.


The Pepper I know and love and I wish everybody else could know and love it too.


Since she was thinking about playing and kept running after Payton and his football, I went ahead and got the tennis ball because I know she will play ball if she’s in the right mood…


I love how I’m trying to take a photo of Pepper but Payton is the one who shows up non-blurry.


SHE HAS THE BALL. We played ball for a while then Auggie would spoil it by getting the ball then walking away with it, I’d have to go get the ball from him, throw it a few more times, Auggie spoils the game… repeat.


What? I would NEVER do that. I’m not a jerk.


My best girly. Be still my heart.


Punkin Pictures

I bought pumpkins yesterday morning. They were on mega sale so I was like “I will take all your pumpkins plz.” Actually I only bought five, but I wanted more…


Uhhhh unfortunately most of our family photos looked like this.


This was the best I got, haha. Pepper needs remedial stays again.


Just the boys <3
Auggie saw all the pumpkins and the leaf pile and was like “Oh. *strike a pose*” He just knows… he knows. What a good boy.


I told Payton his turn was next and he decided this is what he wanted to do. Also pivots using the pumpkin as his perch. I’m not sure if I should facepalm or be proud.


Since Payton started it I asked Georgie to do the same thing. SHE IS SO CUTE AHHH


Not in focus =< but it's sooooo cute.
The over-achiever, LOL. Oh Auggie.


Aaaaaand the under-achiever, haha. Poor Pep.