Pet names

Have you ever seen the "buddies" movies? You know Snow Buddies, and Space Buddies, and now Santa Buddies? Well, I have been in the room/car when they were playing on more than one occasion, but I have never really watched them from start to finish. That is my disclaimer if I really screw up any details in this post, K?


Last Christmas, both kids asked Santa for Snow Buddies, and they got it. They had seen the commercial for years, and Jessa even has a Husky stuffed dog who is named "Snow Buddy." They enjoyed the movie pretty much and later, for another occasion, they got Space Buddies. The premise is that there are these 5 adorable Golden Retriever puppies who are thrown into wacky situations. You know, ending up in Alaska to fulfill some kid's wish about having a sled dog team or accidentally getting launched into space and meeting up with a Russian space dog named "Sputnik." Oh, and the dogs talk. I mean, to each other, the people cannot hear them. And the names are all special, besides Sputnik (who speaks with an adorable Russian accent), the husky is named "Shasta." Let's not forget the buddies, they are "Budha," Rosebud," "Budderball," "B-Dawg," and "Mudbud." (OH MY GOSH! OK, so I have heard their names 1, 000 times, but only now as I looked on the DVD cover at the names to make sure I had them right did I realize that they all have something like "bud" in the name. I am slow.) So you with me? Charming, silly movies just right for the kiddos.


Well, Bay went out of town the other week. Actually David was out of town, too, so we were totally man-less for a few days. When Bay leaves, we get to keep Miss Abby at our house. The kids LOVE this. Stewart does not. I mean with 3 dogs, they are practically a pack.

Well, one morning while Abby was here and Jessa was at school, Spencer and I were in the kitchen. I realized that I had not fed the dogs their breakfast (they get dry food in the morning). So I said to my best helper boy Spencer, we need to get those dogs in here for their breakfast. And my clever boy said, "Want to know their names?" And I was puzzled because I thought I knew them already. But I played along, "OK, son, what are their names?" Well, the little brown girl dog, her name is Ash-uh-ley (that is how he pronounces Ashley)." And the white dogs are named "Snowball and Tastebud." I thought I would cry I was giggling so hard. TASTEBUD? Really? I can only assume that is a shout out to Rosebud from the classic Buddies films.

So besides the names being pretty original and silly, we have the added problem that the dogs do not know that they have new names. Almost every day, we have to call the kids different names. They change their names all the time. (For the record: Jessa is usually Shelby Marx, Shelby Macurdigascar or Chloe and Spencer is either Toby or Stewart) But that concept is somewhat hard to explain to 3 dogs who know their names very well. Plus, dogs are not huge into the whole play pretend, imagination thing, you know?

So I start to fix 3 bowls of dry food for 3 sweet terriers. And I without thinking, I tell Spencer to call Abby, Dunken, and Max. Spencer gets upset with me and scolds me because those are not the names of our dogs. So he calls out, "Ash-uh-ley, Snowball, Tastebud! Breakfast!" And not surprisingly, nothing happens. No hungry dogs. No collars jingling. Nothing. Crickets. So he says again, louder, "Ash-uh-ley!!! Snowball!!! Tastebud!!!" Still nothing. So I try to help by saying, "Abby, Ashely, Max, Snowball, Dunken, Tastebud!" He gives me a look like I am the dumbest woman ever. "MO-UHM! Their names are Ash-uh-ley, Snowball, and Tastebud." (picture a look that is usually reserved for 13 year old girls on his face as he says this).

Eventually, he lost interest, and I was able to get the confused and very hungry dogs to eat their breakfast.

Tastebud?!

Field Trip

Last weekend, we had the bliss of a husband and daddy home all weekend. Actually more than all weekend - he was home from Wednesday until Tuesday. A few days of leave, a weekend, and a holiday. Yes, please!

On Sunday, Spencer wanted to show all of us his new park. See, a few weeks ago when Jessa was home with the flu, Spencer's class had a field trip. In preschool, you do not go on the field trip unless you have a parent accompany you. So I dutifully e-mailed his teacher to tell her he was not going to be able to make it. She called me the day of the field trip at 7:45 in the morning to tell me that she would be happy to be responsible for him so he would not miss all the fun. Of course, we accepted and Spencer got to experience a new park. Well, he calls the park "field trip" and don't challenge him on that. Yes, I cried all the way home because I was so so touched at his precious teacher.

He was anxious to show off this find to all of us. It was fun. We enjoyed it a lot. The kids were hysterical because Spencer was the "expert." Every time we would come to a cross roads, Jessa would ask him which way to go. Now, this child had no clue where they went. I mean, it is trails. And trees. And leaves. I was sure that he was clueless when we stopped at a big rain puddle and he explained that this was the "pond" where they discovered a frog. Plus, Jessa was not really asking him. See, she was planting the idea of which way she wanted to go in his putty-like head. He is always willing to let her lead, you know.

J: Spencer, didn't you go this way on your field trip?

S: Mom, Dad, we went this way on my field trip.

J: Spencer, did you see this tree on your field trip.

S: Mom, Dad, see that tree? We saw it on my field trip.

She did not have to work too hard. He was loving the feeling of power he had. He was the leader. He was in charge. Of course, as with most men in power positions, there was a clever woman behind the scenes pulling the strings! Ha! Just kidding, David. You decided that I needed new Polish Pottery all on your own. It was all you. You sure are handsome. How bout those Gators!?

There were discoveries made.

A woolly caterpillar.

We called it a brain. We have no idea what it was. Anyone?

Even bird houses are exciting on at the "field trip."

They had a wonderful time. We all did. It was nice to just walk.

The dogs had a great time, too. Dunken got some awesome off-leash time running around like a puppy.

And even Max has come a long way from when we first took him for a walk. He is learning. Who said you cannot teach an old dog new tricks??

We may have found a new place to hang. Spencer thinks we should go back. At least that is what Jessa told him he thought.

Dunken vs. Max

No, I did not have some sort of snack down where I pitted my baby dogs against each other. I was just thinking if the many differences between my two Westies. Of course, the 2 of them have had very different lives. Dunken has been our baby since we first got him when he was 10 weeks old. He has traveled all over the world. He has eaten in fine restaurants across Europe. And Dunken feels a huge sense of responsibility to take care of us. He protects us from enemies like garbage trucks or passers by or other dogs or the worst of them all, squirrels. We have often laughed at his inability to let go of his role of protector.

Max, of course had a very different life. Many times I want to know what his life was like because I think that it may help me understand some of his little quirks. Other times, I am so happy that I do not know because it would make me too sad. Even today, with us, Max has a different life. We try to make him be a dog, like Dunken. But he is just not interested in chasing things or being a watch dog or even walking around too much. Bless his heart, he is the sweetest, poorest excuse for something useful I have ever seen!

I wanted to share one of the clearest examples of the huge differences in our boys.

Ever since school started, I have been getting up really early to get Jessa's lunch made and both kiddos up and out the door. I always try to be quiet to let the dogs sleep in. Well, Dunken wants none of that. If he doesn't get up with me, I hear a gentle scratch at our bedroom door. He comes down and alerts me to every child who walks to the bus stop. He also lets me know about the arrival of the earlier buses. And if any morning jogger were thinking of sneaking up on me, they can think again.


Then when it is time for Jessa to go to the bus stop, I put him on the leash, and he heads out to the porch with me. He takes this very seriously. He watches all the kids walking, he notices the parents, and then he of course keeps a close eye out for the bus.

On mornings when Spencer has school, Dunken rides with me to take him. He always took them to school with me in Louisiana. I even left the car running if it was hot. . . He is so precious and feels so responsible for us.


And then there is Max. Want to know what Maxie does while Dunken is supervising Jessa getting ready for school and getting on the bus? Or what he is doing while Dunken and I are driving Spencer to school? Want to know what Max would do all the time if I would let him? Want to know what he does every day until I MAKE him go outside at like 11??


This:

We love both of our Westie boys, but they definitely fill different roles in our family.

Dunken: the protector, the guard, the watchman, the sentry

Max: the sweet precious lump of cuteness

Hello New Furniture!

What did David and I get each other for our anniversary this year? I am sure you have been laying awake at night worrying about this. I bet you have a pool going with your friends and loved ones, right?

Well, even though you may not be really wondering, I am going to tell you.

We got new furniture! Yee-haw!

When we got married, we lived in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. Seriously. Tiny. And we had nothing but wedding gifts. No furniture, but we did have 12 5-piece place settings of fine china and 48 crystal stems, darn it. Our only new, real piece of furniture was our mattress and box springs, a wedding gift from Mimi and Poppy. Our kitchen table was a card table that we borrowed from my mom for a while.

That is one fancy card table, huh?
Our clothes were in those cardboard drawers with plastic handles. Our "couch" was a crappy futon that sat on the floor. To make it look more like a couch, we had it up on cinder blocks.

Pardon the silly picture of David sleeping, but it was the only one I could find.

The barrels and milk jug lamps were Momma and Daddy's when they first got married.

We did get a few pieces of furniture from goodwill. (Picture it: me, mom, a rented U-haul pick up truck, a kitchen table, a coffee table, an old chest of drawers, and a small desk, AND a second floor apartment - all for under $100.) You get the point, right? We were pitiful babies just starting out in the world.

When we got to Germany, we had what they call "Quartermaster Furniture." Basically, you can borrow furniture from the government. We had guest beds, couches, dining room table, a hutch, etc. We had that in Bamberg and also in Mannheim. Not the nicest furniture ever, but it worked since it was all we had and it was FREE!

When it was close to head back stateside, we bought our first real, grown-up furniture.

We bought it at the end of 2001. We loved it! We were SO proud of it. We moved it 5 times. It had been loved by many dogs and cats. It had been covered in baby spit-up, formula, juice, ice cream, snacks, and then there was me! I was even harder on it. It had survived David pulling out all the stuffing to "wash" the covers, only to never have the cushions lay right again (I was out of town, bless his sweet heart, he was only trying to help). So when our sad, old, stained, thread bare furniture was unpacked into our brand new house, David looked at it and said (as old Rafiki once said in the Lion King), "It is time."

He was right. I agreed. BUT I was worried because the dogs LOVED what we had.


But we went shopping, and then I got excited! We got a great deal at LaZBoy for 2 new couches. We were planning on a couch and love seat, but for $20 more you could get another couch and way more seating. The lady was somewhat confused because I was so worried about the dogs. I was against leather. She started telling me that the leather is not easily damaged by pets. And I laughed and said, "Oh, no, I am just thinking that the dogs would not be very comfortable on leather." I guess some people do not consider their dog's or cat's comfort when purchasing furniture. I needn't have worried, though.

We finally got our new stuff, and we are all happy with it. Even the dogs:

I did not even get one good picture of the darn stuff when it arrived. I was so tickled that the dogs were happy. . .

We chose the darker color to hopefully not show dirt as much (we also paid for the Guardsmen thing where they'll clean bad stains for us for free.) It does show the lovely white hair a bit. But Momma gave me a sweatshirt once that sort of epitomizes how I feel about that: "No outift is complete without dog hair." I believe that can apply to furniture, as well. Don't you?

Mimi and Poppy had a farm

E-I-E-I-O

We've been in GA, ya know, visiting. During our visit, I wanted for us to all take a trip to Mimi and Poppy's farm house in Adel, GA. So, me, Momma, Jessa, Spencer, Cooper, Dunken, and Max met Mimi and Poppy down there for a few days.

The dogs all loaded up - always ready for a trip!

It is the house where Mimi grew up. It is such an awesome place - full of memories. Lucas and I spent many fun visits down there growing up. And I want my kiddos to have good memories of the farm, too. Sadly, we have not been to visit in a while. For real, look at this picture of Jess and Spence taken on the last trip we took down there:

Easter 2006 - Jessa was 2 1/2 and Spencer was 3 months old!

We had such a great time - catching up with family and just talking about the old days. It is so beautiful there.

The farm house

A family pond - gorgeous!

Although, after we were there for about a day, Spencer came to me. He had a serious look on his face. He said, "Mommy, why doesn't Mimi and Poppy's farm have any animals?" OK, point taken, it is not a working farm anymore. And even when it was, it was about crops, not cows and pigs. They did get to pet and feed the cows at Aunt Leta's house, so I guess they got to do something more "farmish."

We also spent one evening "pin curling" our hair. Momma has always talked about one time when Granny (Mimi's mother) pin curled her hair in the same very house. I decided I wanted us to try it on each other. Mom was not thrilled about this idea, but they all went along with me.

During:

All curled up:

The next morning:

May

Me

Jess looked the best - we looked like we belonged on Coffee Talk.

David was relieved to hear that Spencer's hair was not rolled.

The dogs also had a blast. So many smells and noises that they were interested in.

All these two wanted to do was hang out and take it all in.

I know Max looks confused - he sort of always is, God bless him!

He would go out, do his business, and wait at the door to go back in.

He still does not get the whole being a dog outside thing.

We also got some good front porch time in. Hands down, the BEST thing about Adel is the front porch. Swings, rockers, a dark night, and all of us sitting outside listening to the "night noises."

Lucas and I spent many a summer night swinging on that porch. And it was so awesome for me to get to see my kids swinging in the same swing. It was wonderful!

So our trip was much fun! Jessa said as I was packing for us to head back to Atlanta that she thought we should just stay until we ran out of clean clothes because she was not ready to leave yet. I assured her we would come back - and hopefully we will not wait so long before our next trip. . .

spoiled dogs and boxes

My dear Momma has spoiled my first born "child" Dunken. Ever since he was a baby, Momma has always sent him treats in every box she sends us. When we were in Germany, we got lots of care packages with American things we missed and mail. Each package (even envelopes) had at least a small treat in it. So as Pavlov would predict, each time we get a package to this day, Dunken expects there to be a treat. When we get boxes from UPS, I always have a treat handy when I open it. Now sweet Max is a little slower than Dunken, so he is never sure what is going on, but he is always more than happy for a treat.

Dunken has moved every time with us, so he is used to the whole process. He is usually unfazed by the packing and unpacking of boxes. This was Max's first move with us, so I was not sure what he would think. And having Dunken, Max, Stewart, and the fish, we were somewhat overwhelmed at the thoughts of moving with all of them. Thankfully, Momma served as our pet kennel during the packing process. We never want Stew around because the horror stories about cats being inadvertently packed in a box or hiding in the truck. But with the extra puppy, I figured things were easier without any pets.

Fast forward to the unloading on this end. . . The dogs were hanging at Daddy's house most of the time, so they missed the packing, the loading, the unloading, and a fair amount of unpacking. Once we all moved into our house full time, I resumed the unpacking. But a strange thing happened, the first time I cut into a box, Dunken got fired up and came running. The silly, spoiled dog thought that it was a package with a treat!

So I of course grabbed a few treats and let each dog "find" one.

YAY, Dunken found a treat!

Max is not sure about all this, but the treat was mighty tasty!

I have not given them one a treat every time I open a box, but I do have to keep them happy, right? And they are loving their new house with a great front window to keep an eye on the neighborhood!

Dog Photography

Bless my Daddy! He is as fired up and inspired to try and photograph the dogs as I am. . .

Mom simply laughs at us. It is like that phrase about "herding cats." I am obsessed with having a good picture with all the dogs in it, preferably with no humans. Lucky for me, Daddy shares this obsession.

Our first attempt with Abby, Cooper, and Dunken was in Louisiana. Here are 4 of the 30+ pictures.

This got harder on December 17th when I added a dog to the mix.

The best we could do over the holidays. . .

The weekend of Lucas's wedding, Momma and Daddy spent some time with us. We are more dog friendly than Tybee Island, so we had all 4 terriers with us. What a perfect opportunity to capture the perfect doggie moment, don't you think? We had treats, a place where they were sort of confined, a camera, decent light, and sheer determination. I snapped 158 pictures of the precious puppies. Here are a few that did not go well:

This was the best one:

What do you think?? Should we go into business? Want to order an 8x10 glossy?? At the very least, let's start a new phrase. Instead of "like herding cats," we'll say, "like trying to photograph dogs?"