It's RAINING!!

Last night around 5:00 pm while the kids were playing outside a cold front blew in and sent cooler temperatures and tons of rain!!!!  The temperatures dropped about 15 degrees and it rained a slow and steady rain all  night long.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know we are in a serious drought here in Texas and we need rain badly!  I am so happy we are getting the rain we have been needing.

Bogey and the other dogs were wondering what the stuff was falling from the sky.  Daisy got soaking wet and was walking as if she were melting!  It was so funny to see her all wet and shaggy!  She got a bath right after her outdoor play.

Heehee!  She looks like a drowned rat...she was not a happy camper.

These silly kids got baths after their splash party too.  They LOVED playing in the puddles.

Yahooooo for our much needed rain!!!!

My three dogs!

Today at Kelly's Korner she is hostessing Show Us Your Life, Show us your Pets.  

You guys know me...I am a huge pet lover, so I decided to play along.

My fur babies have always been important to me.  

All of the dogs we have we have rescued from animal shelters.  

They are all the sweetest dogs!

Harley is about to be 12 years old.  She is the sweetest pup. She is some sort of cow dog.  When we adopted her the shelter said she was a terrier mix.  They also told us she would be around 15 pounds, boy were they wrong.  She is 40 pounds and hairy like a cat!   She is a worker breed and all she cares about is making us happy!  She runs the fence line in the backyard protecting us from all the walkers in the neighborhood.  She is known for her grouchy attitude and large ears.  She is all business :)

This is Bogey as our boy puppy.  He turns 1 year old this month. Bogey's mom was there when we adopted him. She is an Australian Sheppard.  His father is a Boxer.  Right now Bogey weighs about 50 pounds.  He is a playful pup and is always making us laugh.  The kids love him so much.   

He is big and silly!

Bogey and Hayden are best buddies!!!

Here is a recent picture of Bogey with our newest puppy Daisy Mae.

We got Daisy Mae one week ago.  She is a Yorkie mix.  We adopted her from an animal shelter also.  She was a stray.   She is such a good puppy!  I am sure her old family misses her very much because she is so so so sweet.  She is around 7-8 months old and weighs about 9 pounds.  I can't get over how good and sweet she is!  Even though we have only had her for one week, she fits into our family perfectly.

I have never had a dog that will actually wear clothes.  Daisy will and she loves her little shirt.  

On the back it says, "I know I am fabulous."  She is a little sass pot for sure!

I can't post about the rest of our pets and not mention our first fur baby.  Callaway was our first dog ever.  We got him in 1997.  He was the sweetest dog and sadly he died November of last year.  I can't believe he has been gone almost 1 year.  He too was a mixed breed dog!  We love and miss him so much.

I can't wait to visit Kelly's Korner to read about other families and their pets!  

Our pets are such a blessing to our lives and I can't imagine life without them.  When our kids were younger our pets demanded a lot from us. I'm not gonna lie, they wore me out and drove me crazy, but now our kids are older we love having them!   Our kids love our pets too and I hope when they are older they will love dogs as much as we do!

household chores & an omelet

Who does the chores in your house?

I really got to thinking about our house and chores when I saw this about Chores or Acts of Service?  Don't you just love crosswalk.com?

As you know I am a stay at home mom.  Gary is a work from home dad.

I feel as if we split the chores fairly equally.

I do all the major cleaning.  I clean the bathrooms, vacuum, dust and I do all the laundry.

Gary mops after I vacuum.  He cleans the shower and takes out the trash. He is usually the one that empties the dishwasher.  Of course he takes care of the yard and all the outdoor chores excluding my flower beds. 

We have a system that works for us.  

Gary likes to cook breakfast.  This morning he made omelets.

I love he loves to make breakfast ;)  heehee!

We both make lunches, and at night one of us cooks and the other usually cleans up after dinner.  Sometimes we tag team it to get it done faster.  Some  nights one of us cleans up after dinner while the other one does kid baths.  We usually both help with kid baths.  It just goes by faster.  Layla pretty much does it all herself, but we help wash her hair.  Gary and I both do bedtime together.  We all read books and say prayers together.  Then Gary will spend time with Hayden while I spend time laying with Layla and then we switch.

With Gary and I there is a mutual respect.  We are buddies.  I am so lucky to have a husband that helps and is an active father and husband.  Even when he worked outside the home he helped with the chores.  We like to help one another and he is very good about taking the load off of me if he sees I am overwhelmed.  There is never bickering about who does what chore and why. We pick up each others slack all the time.  That being said, I do not like to mop. He doesn't like to do laundry.

***

When it comes to the kids...they help a lot.  They are both old enough to keep their playroom and bedrooms clean.   

I do help them quite a bit, but I am trying to teach them at the same time.  I try to make it a game for Hayden otherwise he doesn't know how to clean up. Layla just wants me to do everything for her because she doesn't quite now how to organize things yet.  She is a mess, but our kids know they need to do their part to make our house run smoothly.  Layla does well when she gets rewards for cleaning. 

They know to put their shoes in the mud room, usually I don't have to ask them to put up their shoes.  It is understood.  They know to drop their cloths off in the laundry room.  They take their towels to the laundry room after their bath.  We enforce cleaning and organization because I want them to know that this isn't Gary and I's house alone.  It is our family house and we want our kids to love their home.

Gary and I also want to be good examples for when Layla and Hayden grow up and have homes and families of their own.

We all need to do our part to make our house a clean place to live and a fun place to call home! 

Lots of words on this Wednesday

The past few days have been nothing short of a whirlwind in our house, and that is why I haven't blogged much.

I have been trying to "fall" up the house.  The kids are at the ages now where they completely understand holidays and they really get into the decorations.  I am a 'less is more' kind of girl when it comes to seasonal decorating.  I  don't like to over do it.  I typically put a few fun things out here and there, but now I am changing my ways for the kiddos!  

Look at these adorable cups I found at Dollar Tree.  You would think they were made of gold.  

The kids love them! 

And I got these silly door clings at Dollar Tree also.

Silly & cheesy right? haha!

The kids are giddy with excitement.  We have so many fun fall things to do this month and more decorating around the house too.  I just love to see the look in their eyes when we talk about going to the pumpkin patch.  Hayden can't wait and I am right there with him!  He wants to pick out a huge pumpkin for the front yard. Fall rocks!

We are all getting adjusted to our new family member.  

Daisy Mae is doing well.  She is so sweet and loving.  When I was a kid my parents had dachshunds, so I have been around small dogs, but I personally haven't owned a small dog until Daisy.  Y'all...she thinks she is a princess.  I can't believe how sweet and dainty she is.  She rides in the car with us everywhere we go.  I wanted Bogey to do this, but he gets carsick.  She wants to be hand fed...but that won't last long.  I just don't see any of us doting on her quite that much.  Layla and I love to put silly clothes on her.  All I can say is that she is the perfect addition to our family.

All my little ones.

  This picture was so hard to take.  No one wanted to have their picture made, so this is the best we got!

She is such a stinker!

All three dogs got new beds on Tuesday and Bogey is having a hard time figuring out which one is his....

Bogey is the clown of our household.  He is just too much!

My Harley girl just takes it all in.  She is so laid back.  I think as an elderly dog she just wants to be left alone.  She loves to lay in the sun and relax.  She has been really sweet to Daisy.  I am thankful for this!

I have been taking a million pictures the last few days.  I'm sorry for the picture overload.  I just can't not share the cuteness.  I am feeling so blessed.  God has given me so much to be thankful for and I never take it for granted.  

Now I must get ready for the twice a year community garage sale this Saturday.  Layla has a soccer game too, so it will be a super busy day, but I have so many things we need to get rid of.  One thing we are happy to part with...the potty training potty seat!  A to the men :) 

Happy Fall & Happy Wednesday!!

Muted Monday ~ Silly Masks

Baby Puppy

Friday was a very busy day for us.  It is a day for the scrapbook for sure!

Since I didn't get to blog about our news on Friday I will share today.

  We have a new family member for me to take photos of....

This is Daisy Mae!

We rescued Daisy from a no kill animal shelter across town.

Layla and I have been wanting a small dog for several months. It isn't in our budget to pay a ton of money for a dog and we feel very strongly about rescuing dogs from the shelter. I have been looking online at Petfinder.com.  Friday morning while looking online I found little miss Daisy.  She was a stray and was in a city shelter.  Sadly, no one claimed her so they transferred her to Operation Kindness.  While at Operation Kindness she had a medical exam, got all her necessary shots and was spayed.  This all happened in a five day period and she was adoptable on Friday.  Whew...busy life for a little 6 month old puppy.  She weighs about 8.6 pounds and she is the sweetest pumpkin ever.  She is potty trained as far as we can tell.

I was very nervous to introduce Daisy to Harley. Harley is 12 years old and very grouchy.  Daisy and Harley get along just fine.  They touched noses and that was all.  They don't hang out together at all and that is fine with us.  Harley watches Daisy but doesn't really care to interact with her.  So that went well!

Introducing Bogey and Daisy was a mess.  Whooa! I didn't think their introduction would be as stressful as it was.  I thought Bogey was going to have a freak attack.  He turned into a crazy dog.  Daisy was so scared.  Poor thing.  Bogey wasn't going to hurt her, but he just wanted to play.  He is around 50 pounds and she is tiny!  After 15 stressful minutes all was well and they started warming up to one another.  He still nudges her and wants to play with her all the time, but she is a pistol and puts him in his place.

Whew!

That is what is up with us.  That and soccer.  And yes I realize most of you think we have lost our minds for getting anther puppy, but whatever ....we are so happy and she is a perfect fit for our family.