I hope everyone is having a great weekend! The weather is beautiful...It's amazing that 2 weeks ago we were snowed in!
So, Dakota does a funny thing where she runs and slides onto her back across the floor and wiggles around to scratch her back. I was lucky enough to catch it on video last night! Enjoy!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A Typical Day in Our House
A lot of people ask me what we do with all the dogs during the day, if they are crazy and play alot, how much I have to clean, where the dogs sleep, etc. So, over several posts I'll answer all these questions and any more questions, I'll be happy to answer!
I'm going to start off describing a typical weekday in our house (the weekends are always changing!). Here it goes...I wake up in the morning and as soon as my alarm goes off, all the dogs start moving around and getting excited to start the day. They make lots of noises when it's time to wake up, like really loud yawns, drawn out sighs and sometimes it even sounds like they are saying "HI!". I let them outside and they use the bathroom and usually hop back in bed with Chris, except for Gabe who always lays on the bathmat when I'm taking a shower and then he moves into the living room and watches tv. After getting ready for work, I say bye to Chris and all the dogs and leave for the day.
Chris is one of those lucky people who get to work from home, so he gets to hangout with the dogs all day. Usually they just lounge around and play with each other and if it's a nice day they will hang outside for a couple hours.
After work, I head home and every time I get out of the car, I hear them at the door waiting for me. When I walk in I get bombarded with hugs and kisses. Gabe usually howls at me and it sounds like he's saying "ERIN!". All the dogs are usually really excited when I come home and they do the same whenever Chris comes home from being gone. Usually they get so excited that they start jumping on each other and hopping around like it's the best day of their lives. This goes on for about 5 minutes and then they are back to laying around and chewing on their bones.
Feeding time is usually between 5:30 and 6:30 in the evening, sometimes it's earlier or later depending on if Chris and I have plans for the night. Every dog has their specific spot where they eat and they all know where to go. Chris feeds the 4 smaller dogs and I feed the big dogs. When I feed them I like to sing a song that I made up called "Who's Hungry?" (If you know me well, you know that I make up a lot of songs and they usually all sound the same). Anyways, when I sing this song, no matter what the dogs are doing, they know it's time to eat and they go to the laundry room door which is where we keep their food. Then they all wait there until we fill their food bowls and then they go over to their designated spots and eat! Gabe is especially vocal around dinner time, but only when I'm feeding them. He barks at me and howls, like he's trying to tell me to hurry up. The dogs usually finish eating within about 10 minutes but Socks and Simba always take their time eating. Sometimes the other dogs will try to sneak some bites if their bowls aren't being guarded.
A couple hours after the dogs eat, I take Gabe and Chase for a walk. Usually, around that time they start whining at me and standing by the front door because they know it's getting close to walking time. Chris and I take the other dogs in shifts...because it can be tricky walking 6 dogs at one time.
As it gets later in the night and closer to bedtime, the dogs will start moving into the bedroom in hopes that they will be able to score a spot on the bed for the night. We usually kick all the dogs off the bed when we get in but usually we have a few that will sneak up throughout the night. We leave our bedroom door open so the dogs can sleep where ever they want but most of them stay in our room (or hop in our bed) and Gabe usually sleeps under our dining room table. Then we say goodnight and do it all again the next day!
A lot of people say they can't imagine what they would do with 7 dogs, but we have gotten into a pretty good routine and it's very manageable for us. It took some time and of course some trial and error, but we pretty much have it down to a science now.
So that is a typical day in our house...it's not as crazy as many people think it might be!
I'm going to start off describing a typical weekday in our house (the weekends are always changing!). Here it goes...I wake up in the morning and as soon as my alarm goes off, all the dogs start moving around and getting excited to start the day. They make lots of noises when it's time to wake up, like really loud yawns, drawn out sighs and sometimes it even sounds like they are saying "HI!". I let them outside and they use the bathroom and usually hop back in bed with Chris, except for Gabe who always lays on the bathmat when I'm taking a shower and then he moves into the living room and watches tv. After getting ready for work, I say bye to Chris and all the dogs and leave for the day.
Chris is one of those lucky people who get to work from home, so he gets to hangout with the dogs all day. Usually they just lounge around and play with each other and if it's a nice day they will hang outside for a couple hours.
After work, I head home and every time I get out of the car, I hear them at the door waiting for me. When I walk in I get bombarded with hugs and kisses. Gabe usually howls at me and it sounds like he's saying "ERIN!". All the dogs are usually really excited when I come home and they do the same whenever Chris comes home from being gone. Usually they get so excited that they start jumping on each other and hopping around like it's the best day of their lives. This goes on for about 5 minutes and then they are back to laying around and chewing on their bones.
Feeding time is usually between 5:30 and 6:30 in the evening, sometimes it's earlier or later depending on if Chris and I have plans for the night. Every dog has their specific spot where they eat and they all know where to go. Chris feeds the 4 smaller dogs and I feed the big dogs. When I feed them I like to sing a song that I made up called "Who's Hungry?" (If you know me well, you know that I make up a lot of songs and they usually all sound the same). Anyways, when I sing this song, no matter what the dogs are doing, they know it's time to eat and they go to the laundry room door which is where we keep their food. Then they all wait there until we fill their food bowls and then they go over to their designated spots and eat! Gabe is especially vocal around dinner time, but only when I'm feeding them. He barks at me and howls, like he's trying to tell me to hurry up. The dogs usually finish eating within about 10 minutes but Socks and Simba always take their time eating. Sometimes the other dogs will try to sneak some bites if their bowls aren't being guarded.
A couple hours after the dogs eat, I take Gabe and Chase for a walk. Usually, around that time they start whining at me and standing by the front door because they know it's getting close to walking time. Chris and I take the other dogs in shifts...because it can be tricky walking 6 dogs at one time.
As it gets later in the night and closer to bedtime, the dogs will start moving into the bedroom in hopes that they will be able to score a spot on the bed for the night. We usually kick all the dogs off the bed when we get in but usually we have a few that will sneak up throughout the night. We leave our bedroom door open so the dogs can sleep where ever they want but most of them stay in our room (or hop in our bed) and Gabe usually sleeps under our dining room table. Then we say goodnight and do it all again the next day!
A lot of people say they can't imagine what they would do with 7 dogs, but we have gotten into a pretty good routine and it's very manageable for us. It took some time and of course some trial and error, but we pretty much have it down to a science now.
So that is a typical day in our house...it's not as crazy as many people think it might be!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
This Is Why...
I don't like to eat while sitting in the recliner....
They are there EVERY time.
And yes...I have an OU snuggie and I wear it every night. Boomer!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Valentine's Day with my Eight Loves
I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!
Chris and I went out for dinner and instead of flowers, he bought me this cute monogrammed wine glass with the letter "C" on it...he said the "C" is to remind me when I'm drinking that "Chris says only one glass of wine is enough." I thought this was really funny...and then I immediately poured myself a glass of cheap red wine.
Chris and I went out for dinner and instead of flowers, he bought me this cute monogrammed wine glass with the letter "C" on it...he said the "C" is to remind me when I'm drinking that "Chris says only one glass of wine is enough." I thought this was really funny...and then I immediately poured myself a glass of cheap red wine.
 |
| It's even cuter with wine in it! |
After dinner, Chris surprised me with another monogrammed wine glass! He knows his audience well! This time with a letter "S" for "Sexy Mama"...or maybe for our last name?!
Valentine's Day is probably my least favorite holiday, but I like to take advantage of going out for dinner, sweet treats, and fun little gifts like my new wine glasses!
My other seven Valentines enjoyed the beautiful weather and some yummy treats...Our family hopes you had a great Valentine's Day!
 |
| Chase |
 |
| Dakota...she looks like she's doing a modeling pose here |
 |
| Emma...being camera shy |
 |
| Simba and Gabe hoping for more treats |
 |
| Jack! So happy :) |
 |
| Socks...not happy that I made her stay still for longer than 10 seconds |
Monday, February 14, 2011
Erin Doesn't Share Dessert
Let me preface this story with a fact that my family and friends are very much aware of - I DON'T SHARE DESSERT. More specifically, chocolate cake and frozen yogurt.
I'm sure you all have been to, or seen the serve-yourself frozen yogurt places that are popping up EVERYWHERE. Well, much to my happiness, but to my butt's dismay, one opened 2.4 miles away from me...and yes I did clock the distance because I wanted to figure out how long it will take me to walk or ride my bike there. Atleast I can somewhat justify eating the frozen yogurt if I bike or walk there!
Anyways, on our way home from running some errands last night, I pulled right into the frozen yogurt place closest to our house. I felt a huge rush of pure exhilaration as I walked through the door and asked for a couple taster cups (even though I have tried every flavor there, multiple times). I was even more excited when I saw that the flavor of the week was my favorite...red velvet cake! I had to try really hard to contain my desire to hit the person in front of me in the back of the head so they would hurry up and get out of my way. I ended up getting half a cup of red velvet cake and half a cup of cheesecake. I opted out of the many toppings so I wouldn't alter the flavors in any way.
I hopped in the car and since I was driving, I tried to hold on to the yogurt with one hand and steer with the other...mostly just so Chris couldn't steal any of my yogurt. He could tell I was struggling when I was backing out of my parking spot so he took the yogurt out of my hand (but not without a little fight on my part) and held it the rest of the way home. I kept looking over at him the whole 2.4 miles back to our house, making sure that he didn't take any of my yogurt. Thankfully he didn't.
Anyways, I got home and started eating it and because the frozen yogurt was making me cold, I decided to take a hot bath while eating my yogurt. So I did and it was marvelous...in fact, I'll probably make it a weekly Sunday night ritual.
The story doesn't end there though...so Gabe watched me devour my frozen yogurt in the bathtub and even though he was begging for a taste, which I don't usually give in to, he looked SO cute with his little pouty face. He really knows how to tug at my heartstrings. So, once I was done and there was only some melted yogurt at the bottom of the cup, I gave Gabe the cup to lick clean...and he went to town on that cup. Then the funniest thing happened, Gabe finally stopped cleaning out the cup and just laid next to it...then Jack walked in the bathroom. Gabe stared at him for a few seconds then, picked up the cup with his mouth, stood up and turned his back to Jack and laid down. Gabe laid with the cup between his paws for about 20 minutes, guarding it...JUST like how I was trying to guard my frozen yogurt from Chris.
The moral of this story is that I don't share dessert and Gabe doesn't share dessert...this just reinforces my belief that Gabe is my doggie soulmate.
The end.
I'm sure you all have been to, or seen the serve-yourself frozen yogurt places that are popping up EVERYWHERE. Well, much to my happiness, but to my butt's dismay, one opened 2.4 miles away from me...and yes I did clock the distance because I wanted to figure out how long it will take me to walk or ride my bike there. Atleast I can somewhat justify eating the frozen yogurt if I bike or walk there!
Anyways, on our way home from running some errands last night, I pulled right into the frozen yogurt place closest to our house. I felt a huge rush of pure exhilaration as I walked through the door and asked for a couple taster cups (even though I have tried every flavor there, multiple times). I was even more excited when I saw that the flavor of the week was my favorite...red velvet cake! I had to try really hard to contain my desire to hit the person in front of me in the back of the head so they would hurry up and get out of my way. I ended up getting half a cup of red velvet cake and half a cup of cheesecake. I opted out of the many toppings so I wouldn't alter the flavors in any way.
I hopped in the car and since I was driving, I tried to hold on to the yogurt with one hand and steer with the other...mostly just so Chris couldn't steal any of my yogurt. He could tell I was struggling when I was backing out of my parking spot so he took the yogurt out of my hand (but not without a little fight on my part) and held it the rest of the way home. I kept looking over at him the whole 2.4 miles back to our house, making sure that he didn't take any of my yogurt. Thankfully he didn't.
Anyways, I got home and started eating it and because the frozen yogurt was making me cold, I decided to take a hot bath while eating my yogurt. So I did and it was marvelous...in fact, I'll probably make it a weekly Sunday night ritual.
The story doesn't end there though...so Gabe watched me devour my frozen yogurt in the bathtub and even though he was begging for a taste, which I don't usually give in to, he looked SO cute with his little pouty face. He really knows how to tug at my heartstrings. So, once I was done and there was only some melted yogurt at the bottom of the cup, I gave Gabe the cup to lick clean...and he went to town on that cup. Then the funniest thing happened, Gabe finally stopped cleaning out the cup and just laid next to it...then Jack walked in the bathroom. Gabe stared at him for a few seconds then, picked up the cup with his mouth, stood up and turned his back to Jack and laid down. Gabe laid with the cup between his paws for about 20 minutes, guarding it...JUST like how I was trying to guard my frozen yogurt from Chris.
The moral of this story is that I don't share dessert and Gabe doesn't share dessert...this just reinforces my belief that Gabe is my doggie soulmate.
The end.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Little Friend
Our favorite little girl, Morgan, lives down the street from us. She is two years old and the daughter of Chris's friends who he went to college with. Morgan comes over to visit and play with us often and she is always very entertaining. Morgan is used to being around dogs because she has three big dogs of her own (one of them is the sister of Simba, Socks and Emma!). So, Morgan doesn't get upset when she gets whacked in the face with a dog tail or if they lick her face or try to steal her food. Sometimes she either ignores them or puts her hand in their faces and tells them to stop and sometimes she even encourages them to chase after her - it's really funny to watch a tiny little girl running around, laughing histerically because she is getting chased by seven dogs.
Morgan knows all of their names and calls them by their names whenever she is talking to them. For a while she was calling Gabe, "Grape", which I thought was really funny. Sometimes she tries to give them hugs and most of them will stand still and let her hug them but Gabe usually runs away for some reason. Lately, she quietly sneaks up behind him and slowly gives him a hug so he won't run away from her, but that doesn't really seem to work either. There have been a few times when she has tried to sit on his back when he's laying down and he stands up really quick and Morgan topples off and starts laughing, saying she wants to do it again.
Morgan came over this past Sunday and hungout with us for a while. We colored, watched Finding Nemo, did a puzzle, and danced around the living room a LOT, letting the dogs chase us. Morgan thought this was really funny and I thought so too, but Chris just looked at us like we were really weird.
Here's a picture of Morgan, putting together a puzzle and leaning against Gabe. You can tell he was really into the t.v. show that he was watching because he let Morgan lean against him for about 10 minutes. I think he was watching "World's Funniest Pets."
After all the dancing we decided to rest and take a nap so, Morgan, Gabe, and I took a nice, long 2.5 hour nap. Here's a picture of Morgan and Gabe right after they woke up...neither of them look very happy to be photographed.
Morgan knows all of their names and calls them by their names whenever she is talking to them. For a while she was calling Gabe, "Grape", which I thought was really funny. Sometimes she tries to give them hugs and most of them will stand still and let her hug them but Gabe usually runs away for some reason. Lately, she quietly sneaks up behind him and slowly gives him a hug so he won't run away from her, but that doesn't really seem to work either. There have been a few times when she has tried to sit on his back when he's laying down and he stands up really quick and Morgan topples off and starts laughing, saying she wants to do it again.
Morgan came over this past Sunday and hungout with us for a while. We colored, watched Finding Nemo, did a puzzle, and danced around the living room a LOT, letting the dogs chase us. Morgan thought this was really funny and I thought so too, but Chris just looked at us like we were really weird.
Here's a picture of Morgan, putting together a puzzle and leaning against Gabe. You can tell he was really into the t.v. show that he was watching because he let Morgan lean against him for about 10 minutes. I think he was watching "World's Funniest Pets."
After all the dancing we decided to rest and take a nap so, Morgan, Gabe, and I took a nice, long 2.5 hour nap. Here's a picture of Morgan and Gabe right after they woke up...neither of them look very happy to be photographed.
Happy Friday everyone!!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Quality Time with the Family
Our family spent a lot of time together, cooped up in our house last week because of all the snow and ice. Most of the time the dogs laid around and took advantage of having to stay inside. They lounged on the couch, on our bed, on our guest bed, on their dog beds...pretty much anywhere they could find that was cozy. But, by the end of the week they were going a little stir crazy...they started following me EVERYWHERE I went in the house. Every time I got up to walk into another room, they were right behind me. I was even walking into our bedroom at one point and someone bit my hand (playfully) and I turned around and had no idea who it was because they were ALL right there just waiting to see what my next move was. I was really thankful for the real snow on Friday because they were able to get out a lot of energy playing in it for a couple hours.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from our family quality time...
Here are some of my favorite pictures from our family quality time...
 |
| Notice how Socks (middle) has her front leg sticking straight up --she slept like this for an hour straight |
Friday, February 4, 2011
REAL Snow!
After being stuck in the house for 4 days because of ice...we FINALLY got some real snow! The dogs loved it and played for about 2 hours straight, which was perfect because they had a LOT of energy built up from the past few days.
The dogs loved eating the snow and especially liked it when I threw it in their faces. What a happy day!
Here's one of the videos I took this morning and more to come!
The dogs loved eating the snow and especially liked it when I threw it in their faces. What a happy day!
Here's one of the videos I took this morning and more to come!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Snow Day!
The DFW metroplex shut down today due to ice and snow so I got to stay home and hangout with the dogs and Chris (he works from home).
Here's a video of Gabe, Socks and Simba playing in the "snow" this morning.
Here's a pic Chase, Simba and Socks all snuggled up, taking an afternoon nap. Emma was in there too but as soon as she saw my camera she got off the couch. Weirdo.
Here's a video of Gabe, Socks and Simba playing in the "snow" this morning.
Here's a pic Chase, Simba and Socks all snuggled up, taking an afternoon nap. Emma was in there too but as soon as she saw my camera she got off the couch. Weirdo.
Happy Snow Day everyone!! Stay warm and be safe!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
