22 Week Family Photos
Everybody was feeling a bit naughty today so the family photos didn’t turn out the best… Kane has decided “stay” is optional and therefore he does not want to do it.
In this case he will only sit and stay if he is in FRONT of his brothers.
Payton is now so stressed out because I kept having to re-sit the puppy he won’t look at the camera because somehow he thinks it’s his fault.
I give up.
So instead I took some photos of just Kaner.
I have a lot of him running around being a goof but not a lot of cute photos like these.
And he is pretty cute… lucky for him.
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.
21 Weeks and Auggie
Starting Wednesday night Auggie has started to lose motor control in his back legs. It started with what looked like a fluke; he was laying in his bed and I asked him if he wanted to go outside and potty, and he jumped out of the bed but his back legs didn’t quite follow. Almost like he tripped over the bed. He then came slipping and sliding across the room to me. I caught him and picked him up, immediately trying to decide which emergency vet to take him to – the one we’ve been seeing or the university, where they could call the cardiologist for me. A minute later, I set him down, and he was fine. Like it never happened. We went outside and he went down the deck stairs, peed while hiking a back leg, then climbed back up the stairs, no problem.
But then it rapidly got worse. Standing eating his breakfast with his back legs shaking. Falling over when he got out of his crate and tried to shake off and his legs gave way underneath him.
The internet says when dogs with CHF lose control of their legs it’s not long to the end.
The cardiologist has us heading to our regular vet for some blood work to try and see what’s going on.
Kaner is 21 weeks today. One ear came up last night so I took them both out to see how they’re doing.
Slowly trying to be bigger than Auggie.
Not quite there yet… just not quite.
Auggie is still happy and still eating well, which is an important metric for Auggie. So I guess that’s good news.
Still happy.
He is my most wonderful dog.
He looks older, and in my opinion he aged quite rapidly – CHF will do that to you – but he’s still so handsome.
The smile hasn’t changed at all, though.
I love him the most.
Ears up. Looking a bit goofy without a lot of coat.
From the side. I think they are a teensy bit too high so I’ll try setting them a bit lower this time.
Eating sticks – his favourite outdoor game.
If you’re wondering where Payton is in the rest of these photos, he wouldn’t leave my side after I buried my face in his fur and sobbed “What are we going to do without our Auggie?” He’s a good boy.
20 Week Family Photos
20 weeks! I missed a week for some reason and really can’t recall why. Easter Egg Hunt hangover?
And a close-up on baby’s face because people complain YOU CAN’T SEE HIS EYES DOES HE EVEN HAVE ANY
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 “Nose 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 “found” 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 “alert” 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 “found” 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 “found” 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!
St. Patrick’s Day 2016
I was going to be out of town on St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to take some festive photos just a few days ahead of time. Before I even picked up Kaner, I found this green bow headband at the dollar store and bought it to use for photos. But I only had one, and I had three dogs – for the family photos, I thought, I needed two more props.
Return of the hats.
First of all, this is basically an accurate representation of our lives right now.
And then Auggie screamed when I put the bow on him. (Just kidding, he’s yawning because this is booooring.)
Then he gave me a look of disdain because I brought home a puppy.
A grudging decent face. It’s a handsome one.
I’ve got no clue if Payton is giving me a grumpy side-eye here or if he’s hoping I’ll use this as his singles ad to help him pick up bitches.
Oh, but he’s so happy!
Much much better.
Oh, hello Giraffe Neck puppy stage. I did not miss you. You make for really awkward looking photos.
Also these photos were basically all snapped as fast as possible between Kaner trying to eat the bowtie around his neck.
But it tastes like sparkles!!
Then we got the hats out and Auggie gave me a Michael Jackson impression.
Payton was like “herp derp gone fishin'”
Also, it was really windy, so this was an even bigger joke.
GOODBYE HATS. Also Kaner’s ears are trying to blow away. Good thing they’re glued onto his head.
Okay, okay, so maybe we won’t get a cute family photo with the props on. This will have to do.
16 weeks old and rockin’ his sit stays now.
THEN WE RUN AND PLAY AND BITE BROTHERS
15 Week Family Photo
Hey, check out these family photos! Not only am I able to get further back, but I also was able to crouch down and get the photo from an appropriate angle – all while the little baby dog was holding his sit-stay. Way to go baby dog!
And a close-up on Kaner’s face, for everybody who complains about how hard it is to see his eyes.
Valentine’s Day Snow
Valentine’s Day dawned with a threat of a big snowstorm. I left the house early to grocery shop before we got hit and almost bit it in the parking lot leaving the store. The roads got slick and dangerous quickly so I retreated back home to settle in.
We spent most of the day inside, working on how to be a nice, calm puppy and how to actually take a nap outside of your crate. These are things I never taught Payton and things I think he would have benefited from learning then rather than having to teach him at four years old how to settle outside of your crate… so I’m making a point of teaching Kaner now.
We did get a bit of outside playtime done. The snow ended up pretty unimpressive, but it was too cold for me to be able to stand it, so we didn’t stay out very long.
Payton likes it though, it turns him into a coyote or something.
Cute baby prancing through the snow.
Napping in a bed! It’s like a miracle.
I also pulled out the new backdrop I built and set it up to take our family photo. This was interesting as Kaner is still learning what “sit” means, nevermind “stay.” I used my 50mm lense to help get a good shot in the dark house, but this mean I was stuck having to be a certain distance away. So basically, set up the dogs, wrangle the puppy into the center, ask for a sit… wait until he figures out what I want… pop him a treat, then try to scoot back into position quickly but not TOO quickly or the baby is going to get up and follow you.
It was not an easy task, but we managed something that counts.
Nomming a cookie. Literally I shoved cookies in his mouth then started shooting and hoped for the best, ha!
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 Halloween 2014
So I entered an agility trial over Halloween. They were having a Halloween costume and one of the categories was best duo (or group, in my case.) I decided to go as The Justice League. This lead to many many nights working on costumes for the dogs, myself, and my mom who was attending with Georgie. Lots of looking up comic book covers and artwork and trying to decide “which version of Supergirl do I want to do?” Back and forth to make sure I was creating accurate costumes, even though my mom pointed out “No one will know.” I WILL KNOW.
Auggie, of course, was The Flash.
Auggie first of course.
Because he is the bestest.
I actually have some Flash underwear I bought years ago and I wanted to use that, but I couldn’t find any matching GL underwear so I axed that entire idea. It doesn’t really “go” with the actual Flash costume, anyway.
I went back and forth on Payton a little bit as far as who he would be (technically he is supposed to be Kid Flash because he’s Auggie’s sidekick), but I felt the most logical choice was Green Lantern, since Barry Allen-Flash and Hal Jordan-GL were great friends.
I have to admit that Payton’s is actually my favourite costume. I love the way the mask fits on his face, I love the lantern “ring” on his wrist, I just love how I worked this one out. Way better than anything I could have possibly bought.
The only thing I might have changed is to bring the nose bridge further down his nose, but I think that would have ultimately given it a weird silhouette, so I’m pretty happy with it as I made it.
The mask creeped up while we were in the costume contest and I was like “OH GOD NO, THEY’LL FIND OUT YOUR SECRET IDENTITY.”
Pepper did not go to the show with us, not being a competitor, so she didn’t get a costume of her own. But I didn’t want her let out when we took photos back at home, and I happened to have this Wonder Woman costume that I bought her many years ago, so…
Drizzy is soooo regal.
Oh wait no nevermind
I really need to make a far better lasso of truth for this costume though. That one is pathetic.
I also didn’t make her tiara, I bought that at Target a year or two ago, along with the Flash one for Auggie. It also technically needs wrist bands… (my mom’s costume totally had wrist bands. But I forgot about the lasso of truth. I literally sat in bed after we won the costume contest and went OH MY GOD, I FORGOT THE LASSO OF TRUTH. Obviously nobody else cared but DANG IT)
Miss Georgie next. I could have done a few different things with her, but Wonder Woman didn’t suit her, and I was stealing the Superman slot to be Supergirl – so Georgie got to be Batgirl. Basically we went Slightly Alternate Justice League by swapping a few male characters for female counterparts, but otherwise, pretty solid.
I would have done her bat ears a little differently I think… maybe a bit more upright… but I liked the overall shape and wasn’t sure if I could get the bat ears upright and still have the shape look correct, so I let it go.
I DID make her a cape, but I didn’t like how it turned out, so I ultimately didn’t use it. I really wish it had turned out better, or I’d had more time to work on it and make a better one…
Group photo! I have no idea what’s going on with Georgie’s mask. My mom was having malfunction issues with it trying to put it on her.
My Justice League!
All winners. Except Payton. Payton sucks.
I should note that if I HAD gotten a puppy earlier this year, he would have been Aquaman. Poor guy. So it’s a good thing I didn’t get a puppy. Because who wants Aquaman on their Justice League? I mean really.
THE END and I have no idea how I will ever top this. Avengers???
Pepper’s Sixth Birthday
My Peppy-drizzle turned SIX years old today! Holy wow! She’s a for real big girl now. In one more year I can actually start calling her “old lady.”
Middle-child got her VERY OWN trip to the pet store so we could try to pick out a toy. Pepper isn’t hugely into toys anyway so I wasn’t sure if we would find anything. She was horrified by the sliding door when we got there, had no clue what to make of the piles of dog food surrounding her, was slightly interested in the “self-serve” bar of treats, and kept jumping on me to remind me she was there in case I might accidentally leave her behind. We did actually find a nice little toy I thought would be okay, so we bought it, the cashier gave me a piece of chicken jerky to give her (I told him I doubt he would take it directly from him), and then when we left, she tried to make a mad dash out of the store and ran head-first into the sliding glass door before it opened.
*facepalm*
ANYWAY.
Pepper told me she did not want another princess party, did not want a Disney Princess party (not even Frozen which is all the rage right now), did not want a hot pink zebra-stripe party, but she DID want a unicorn party. OMG why is it so hard to find unicorn horns for kids to put on their heads? So once again I bought scrapbook paper and had to DIY.
Payton’s opinion on this whole unicorn party thing.
JK JK he’s actually okay with it so long as we make with the cupcakes. (Meanwhile now Georgie is giving me a bit of a stink-eye because she tried to lay down and I was like “no we are sitting right now.”)
Happy birthday Pepper!!
Yeah she totally did not wait long enough and nommed her cupcake before I was actually ready. She is my worst behaved little girl…
Then she got frosting on her whiskers.
Then I put more on her nose and made her pose that way because.
Auggie next since he is the oldest non-birthday child. He has cake on his eyebrow here because I had to reposition his unicorn horn. Also FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T LOOK AT HIS FEET I SWEAR I GROOM MY DOGS. LOOK AT THE OTHER THREE. SEE? I SWEAR.
Unicorn horns don’t stay on very well for excited cupcake eating.
P next. I unfortunately missed the long string of drool that dripped down from his chin as soon as I set his cupcake down. (You’re welcome.) He’s got a little bit of crazy eye goin’ on here. CAN WAITS.
So he REALLY wanted that cupcake guys. But he made a really good decision to wait for it. Paytons DO have self-control (sometimes.)
Cupcake nommin’!
Miss Georgie did a very nice wait too.
And I actually, for once, got a GOOD photo of her eating a cupcake!
Peppy present!! It’s… A CUPCAKE. I thought it was appropriate, hahaha, and it’s about tennis ball shaped so I thought she might actually play with it.
She likes it when it tastes like cupcake frosting, that’s for sure.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS PEPPER!! Sorry I made you go out in public to a pet store and freaked you out for your birthday.
But the cupcakes were good.
Dogs In Hats
So a few weeks ago I had free bucks to spend at Old Navy. My plan was to buy yet another sports bra, but I discovered they’ve CHANGED their sports bras. WHAT. What am I supposed to buy now??
So I found these hats back in the kid’s department.
So that’s what I bought.
I don’t know why but I’m pretty sure Payton needs to wear his bowtie with his hat.
Auggie’s fits SO GOOD. Payton’s is a little big for his head and kept falling off…
OMG I can’t. They’re like two little old men best friends or something…
Auggie’s is very fashionable.
And then there’s Payton.
Seriously, it’s like it was made for his head. HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPLAIN IT FITTING SO WELL??
Payton’s big fat head ruined this one of the perfect Auggie. Oh well. Still pretty good anyway.
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!
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.
Springy Shelties
The, uh, whatever these purple things are, those are blooming. So I took some photos.
Baby Georgie!!
She’s a pretty little (bad) girl.
Family photo. Pepper was (clearly) not cooperating much. Also I should start a new game where I keep a running tally of how many photos I take of Payton where he’s ruining the photo because he’s looking in the tree for squirrels.
Slightly less squinty Pepper… you’d think she never sees daylight or something…
Georgie refused to sit up (worst. posing. dog. ever.) so I told Payton to down to try and balance it out a bit more.
I got everybody to down actually. Auggie had to ask me like six times if I really wanted him to down THERE and not get up and come down to me (YES I mean DOWN, RIGHT THERE, NOW) and Pepper had to be lured down. And then Auggie was unhappy because I told him “now” and that’s not nice. Sigh…
Georgie and Uncle Auggie!
I would have more but my back was still acting up a bit (super super sore from the half-marathon… what??) so I didn’t want to push it taking too many photos. We are officially into nice weather now though so I think we are clear for more cute shots.
Sheltie Easter 2013
Mercifully it did not rain as much as they said it was supposed to, so we were spared the ultra muddy conditions I was expecting for this year’s Easter egg hunt!
As usual Auggie’s all “EGGS YEAH” and everybody else is all “derp de der what are we doing?”
Big dog loves this game.
Payton has no idea how to play. “I FOUND ONE OF THESE BALL TYPE THINGS IT SMELLS LIKE FOOD YAY”
I can’t believe he’ll be two in a few months, mostly because he still acts like a big dumb puppy all the time.
Georgie found an egg!! And Payton’s egg rolling behind her.
Pepper’s all “oh hey guys what’s going on over here?” (Auggie, meanwhile, is off grabbing all the other eggs like nobody’s business. There are no photos because it’s NOBODY’S BUSINESS.)
Payton’s still playing with the same egg. Derrrrr.
Georgie got her egg open to eat the cookie! Yay!
PEPPER FOUND AN EGG! She didn’t know how to open it so I had to help her, but I was very proud of her that she picked it up at all. Then of course she tried to pick up the empty shell like =D =D. No honey… no. It’s okay.
Payton found another egg (he accidentally broke his first one open and was like “!! There’s a COOKIE in here!”)
This started another round of running around with an egg in his mouth. And Georgie has no idea how to play the game either. CHASE PAYTON
Payton discovered the mass amounts of eggs at his 2x2s and was like “wait, what?” He tried to pick up both.
Okay, one more of Auggie hunting.
He loves this game. I should probably do stuff like this more often. I think his eyesight is definitely going because he wasn’t quite as snappy at it this year…
Okay, ONE more… because I hid this orange one by the basketball and it’s appropriate for Auggie…
Payton still derping with his green egg, the other eggs by the weave poles long forgotten.
Everybody’s baskets – Georgie ended up finding THREE, beating Payton’s two (I didn’t count the weave pole one he left behind because Auggie was immediately on it, opened it, and scampered off.) and Pepper only found the one. Auggie’s basket obviously is the overflowing one. =P
Family photo with baskets!
Family photo outtake. Oh Pay.
Another family shot. Georgie was like “I’m done with this (#*!” and kept laying down. Fine, whatever.
Auggie with his basket.
Pepper’s single egg hahaha. Poor dumb girly.
Payton has no idea why he’s so excited. As per usual.
“Squirrel??” Typical Payton.
Baby girly and her three eggs!
The end. Overall it turned out to be a very nice morning to hunt eggs considering one week ago we were getting over a foot of snow dumped on us.
Big snow dump, big photo dump
This had better be the last photo dump of snow-covered shelties until we’re actually in WINTER again.
It was still coming down heavily while we were out playing. Every few minutes somebody had to shake off to prevent themselves from becoming one with the massive snowfall in the yard.
Payton is not sure what’s happening but it’s kind of fun. Or terrible. Blizzards are awesome! Or maybe the worst??
Frosted pup.
Auggie puttering around in the snow.
Georgie is frolicking. But only for a little while. It’s hard to frolick when the snow piles are almost as big as you. Kinda wears you out.
Auggie appears to think there’s something under the snow and he should immediately plunge his face into the snow to discover what’s beneath it.
Pirate Auggie McSnowBeard has made his return! Arrrrr!
See? I told you they had to keep shaking off…
Georgie and Payton are wrestling and racing.
Pepper isn’t amused by this whole thing. What is this crap? It was 60 degrees yesterday!
More chasing from Payton and Georgie…
Georgie getting Auggie in on the fun. I’m pretty sure he was running off to bark at something and she thought he was playing chase…
A very weird mid-shake photo for Payton.
“YAAAAAY!”
“IIIIII’M PAYTON!!!!”
Baby Georgie, taking a quick breather.
This is Payton.
Payton likes it when I throw snowballs at him.
Pepper wanted to get in on the snowball catching too.
Throw it throw it throw it throw it throw it throw it
Wheeeee!
The kiddos chasing snowballs.
Reaaaaadyyyyyyy…
Oh wait, now ready?
GETIT
Pretty little girl, all frosted from snow!
Auggie would also like a snowball plz.
CATCH.
He didn’t catch the second one, haha.
More from Payton – he’s having fun at least.
THROW IT
Her nails look RIDICULOUS here. I swear they aren’t that bad but she must be all grippy or something when she jumps because they look really bad.
Playing yaaaay~
First picture in which I can tell she’s related to Payton.
Playing doesn’t last very long…
HERE IS A LOVELY PHOTO OF PAYTON
I was trying to take a photo of Auggie and he came up, stuck his chin on my arm, and was like “Hi Mom throw snowball plz.”
But I still got my photo of Auggie.
The end.
It better be. >=|
Just a few of the sheltie crew…
First of all, my boys are quite proper.
QUITE proper.
Also it won’t stop snowing and being cold.
We all hate it.
Uhh… these eyes.
Seriously, what am I supposed to do with this?
For everybody who thinks they want a Payton:
This is totally normal. Expression and everything. There’s a reason he’s the gator. (And Auggie is my shark.)
The very bestest boy. <3
Snow!
At last! Not much, but enough to get some photos.
How I discovered 100% Pepper was in season – she sat in the snow, stood up, and left blood behind. YEP that’s what I thought.
Payton nom-noming snow.
More Pepper.
Ack such perfect sits on this puppy.
LOL Snoface.
How much snow can I possibly cram in my mouth??
Throw snowball plz.
Perfect.
Auggie <3
This photo makes me so happy.
Snow makes Auggie frisky. Normally he doesn’t care to play with Payton outside (too many things on the ground to eat) but he plays outside in the snow, haha.
Auggie’s FACE.
Snow makes Auggie so happy he levitates!!
Ahhh boys <3
BROFIGHT
Really really ridiculously good-looking.
Tomorrow I think I will try and get winter coat pics.
Halloween Costumes
I was trying to decide what Pepper should be when I browsed PetSmart’s website and saw this. Then I went there and they had one in her size and it was 75% off.
PAYTON GET OUT OF THE SHOT. STOP TRYING TO EAT THE PUMPKIN STEMS.
She’s supposed to be Wonder Woman anyway. Since all my dogs get superhero alter egos. But I could totally fashion a better Lasso of Truth for her…
Look, I don’t know what Auggie is, okay? I just saw those pirate socks and they were cute, and also that shark fin was like two bucks. He’s a pirate eating shark. Or maybe he’s a pirate ship in disguise.
Look it really doesn’t matter because he’s Auggie and he’s awesome and adorable so who cares.
I have cuffs that I intended to put on him too… somewhere. I have no idea where they are. =< So he just gets to wear his tie.
The idea is that it goes with his registered name and all. Y’know. Sharp Dressed Man? Silk suit… black tie… don’t need a reason why…
Yes, Payton. We all know. Thank you.
Georgie has a sock monkey hoodie, by the way. We bought it at Old Navy. It’s adorable. No pics because she’s annoying (I’ll get some later.)
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.
Leaf Pictures
I may have a good reason to re-do the family photos this weekend…
Boys! LOL at Payton with a leaf stuck to him.
All three puppers.
Excuse me while my big dog is devastatingly handsome.
Auggie is the bestest boy.
Seriously, it’s kinda ridiculous how good looking he is. Not even a show dog, Augs.
Oh? But I so pretty.
Yeah, he definitely knows he’s a handsome boy.
And then there’s this thing.
This…
…thing.
I guess he’s kinda cute. Maybe I’ll keep him.
Oh fffffffff seriously? Fine you can stay.
Yeah okay, he’s sorta handsome too sometimes.
But only sometimes.
the rest of the time… uh…
That’s okay. I pretty much like him anyway.
Girly!!
She’s actually very good at posing all by herself, but when you try and get them all together, she can’t hold still.
Yeah she’s pretty cute too.
The end… for now…
Payton’s Gotcha Day
And I didn’t even know it was his Gotcha Day… I’m a terrible puppy mommy. I knew it was coming up, but I’ve been juggling so much with buying the house it just sort of slipped by without my noticing. This past week was terribly stressful, particularly on Friday which was his actual Gotcha Day – I wish I had known that was his Gotcha Day, it probably would have helped.
So here’s the unknowingly Gotcha Day photos:
A storm rolled through Thursday night and knocked down some big leaf stalks. I gave one to him to play with. Maybe my heart knew it was his Gotcha Day even if my head didn’t?
YAY YAY YAY
Stopping to nom on it a bit, butt in the air!
This is your Quintessential Payton photo from this set. Yeah, it’s out of focus, but that’s part of the Quintessential Payton-ness of it LOL.
This was the only branch we lost in the storm, apparently in another part of town TONS of trees went down. I told him to nom it.
GIANT STICK YEAH
A brief walk down memory lane, in case you forgot… Payton’s first day home, when he was still Nameless Baby and thus responded to “puppy.”
Can you believe it? I still can’t. I still can’t even believe I went to get him. My brain was so torn and didn’t know if I should really go get him. My heart told me to go get him. I decided for once in my life to just ignore my brain and listen to my heart, and here we are. And once he came home to me I knew it was meant to be. He was supposed to be my puppy and I was supposed to be his person. I had planned to be further along with things than we currently are right now, but I have no regrets about our first of what I hope is many years together.
This also means I’m done with this project! OMG. These last few months have been really uninspiring… he is done growing and our routine is pretty much set without a ton of new stuff going on (or at least new stuff I can take a photo of) so… lots of shots snapped in our quiet time right before bed, or first thing in the morning while I’m getting ready for work.
[url]http://365ofpayton.tumblr.com/[/url]
It may be months before you see another Payton picture now that I don’t have to take any LOL. (kidding.)
