Flashback Friday: Silly Girls, Dargo, and a Fall Festival
Watching Daddy bring in a train toy! What is it!? Looks like fun!
Today’s Flashback Friday goes back to when the girls were 8 months old. They would get so excited to play with various toys. If you pulled out a new toy that they haven’t seen before they would eagerly check it out. The hard part was when both wanted to play with it at the same time. They were pretty good at sharing back and forth with only a few exceptions at this point. If one would take a toy away the other one would just play with another one, no big deal.
Fascinated by the moving and musical Mickey Mouse train – Karlie and Brina.
Goofy girls – Brina and Karlie
Karlie loved to “talk” with you as you changed her clothes. Her little babbling and smiles were so cute.
We have one thumb sucker (Karlie) and one two finger sucker (Brina)….oh boy. At first we thought it was “cute” until it was time to break them of it. You can take away a pacifier, but it is a little more difficult with fingers…
“Dargo what big nose and teeth you have!” – Brina
Dargo thought Karlie’s belly was the perfect chin rest. He was so gentle with the girls. They could do anything to him and he would just lay there enjoying the attention. He was a big black lab, but was so sweet with the girls.
Karlie more interested in relaxing, but Brina wants to talk and play with Dargo
Where are my Oreos?! Sneaky Karlie…. She had no idea it was food and was more interested in the crinkling of the container.
I wonder who has been watching Brina….. Daddy put the stickers on her face and it didn’t bother her at all.
My sweet babies, Brina and Karlie, playing away and totally ok with the stickers on their faces. Don’t worry we didn’t leave them on long. They weren’t easily upset by that type of stuff.
Happy Karlie Kool Kat
They loved any toys that made noise. It was hilarious when they discovered it made noise for the first time. They both stop and stare at it confused by the noise. Karlie proud of her noise making skills and Brina watching.
Their 1st local Fall Festival. They were fascinating just watching all the activities around them. Karlie got a flower and Brina got a butterfly painted on their face. They did much better with this face painting session.
Karlie won a stuffed pumpkin door prize. As soon as they handed it to her Brina immediately swiped it to investigate it further. Karlie didn’t care she was having fun.
Karlie giving us a winning smile.
Brina and Karlie shrieking and laughing as Daddy lifted them up in the air. They thought it was so much fun playing with Daddy!
They spent most of their time at home when they were eating or sleeping playing – Brina and Karlie
Brina wants the cool toy Karlie is currently playing with. Thankful that the were pretty good about sharing.
Skipper Being a Good Sport
Skipper claiming a new bed on the back porch!
Earlier in the day the girls were out on the back porch coloring and drawing in a couple big boxes we gave them to play with. The girls get so excited about getting large boxes to play with around the house. Every time we get a box or a group of boxes of any size they usually ask for permission to use them for their play time. Jake and I try to give them as many opportunities to explore creative play, but sometimes the boxes hang around for longer than intended or can get in the way or make a mess with all the “decorating” paraphernalia scattered around.
Sometimes when the boxes are big, taking over the house, and it is going to be a sunny day we will send the kids with their goodies outside. They have been know to play with boxes building various forts and structures for hours. Skipper loves it any time the kids are outside playing. She usually hops right in the middle of everything and at times is in the way, but the kids and the dog love it!
Skipper snacking on a treat from the kids.
Even after the girls came inside Skipper decided to hang out in their box.
Waking up from a nap in the box. She slept in the boxes for several hours in the sun that day. I am not sure who enjoyed it most the kids or Skipper.
Flashback Friday – General KaDargo
Dargo sporting some Christmas wrapping paper!
Today we are flashing back to Christmas 2004! General KaDargo was the first dog Jake and I had together after getting married. We called him Dargo for short. His name was taken from a character on the Farscape show. We got Dargo a couple years after we had been married.
He was a big black lab, but a real sweetheart. In this picture Jake had wrapped him in Christmas wrapping paper. He was being good sport while silently begging me to help him get it off! The kids were pretty little when he got cancer, but we have a lot of great memories with this wonderful dog. It is amazing how quickly animals can become one of the family!
Who Chewed on THAT?
Skipper’s birthday “pig” is now missing a tail!
We love our Puddle Skipper, Skipper, Skippy, Skipp-A-Doo along with a lot of other nicknames we call our Black Lab. However, Skipper has a “passion” for chewing. Occasionally she gives into temptation and chews into a flipflop, the garden house, newspaper, or some other random item she is not suppose to chew on. The majority of the time she is great but like us she has a bad day every once in awhile.
When we joke about her chewing passion we often get suggestions….one of the most common is to make sure she has plenty to chew on in the yard so she is not tempted to chew on the other items. Well, this dog has more chew toys then any other dog I have seen. It is pretty common for me to walk out and see a line of toys she has recently been throwing up into the air or chewing on. We have ropes, tennis balls, birthday pig, chew bones and sticks in every color of the rainbow (red, green, white, black, orange), antlers, and a variety of other fun dog toys.
Red Chew Bone
The chewing can be a little much on some days, like when she tried to flood our house earlier this year when she chew the garden hose off the outdoor faucet while the water was on full blast and rushing down the wall of the house into the garage, however, she has a lot of amazing positive traits that far outweigh the occasionally chewing.
- Plays well with our kids, the neighbor kids, and any other kid that happens to be over
- Protects the house and property (and is even more protective when Jake is traveling
- Less door-to-door salesman and random stops, not everyone is brave enough to walk up a sidewalk with they have to pass a big black dog in the front yard or on the porch (even though she would probably lick you before bite you).
- Protective of the other pets and livestock (aka goats) in our yard
- Helps control our squirrel population
- Great friend to have hanging out with you in the yard
- And Many Other Great Positive Traits!
Just this past week I was home for a little bit prepping for dinner when Skipper started barking. I looked out to see a man walking up and down our street, I am not sure what he was doing but Skipper did not make our yard an inviting place for a stranger to walk into especially with her sitting at the edge of the driveway watching his every move.
Yes even a corncob makes an excellent chew toy!
All the other traits far outweigh the chewing. We love our puppy and enjoy having her around. She loves running around the yard, hunting squirrels, swimming in the creek and playing with the kids. She even goes up in the jungle gym with them!
Brina hanging out with her buddy Skipper!
Yes, this sweet looking and innocent Black Lab named Skipper was the one who chewed on all the toys above. Even though we find the random flipflop or torn newspaper in the yard we are thankful to have her around. She is wonderful with the kids and does a great job protecting our home.
Our Black Lab – Skipper
Skipper – “What! Can I help you?!”
As I was thinking about summer and all the outdoor activities we have planned I decided to share a post and a few pictures about one of the girls best friends and playmates….Skipper.We are thankful for our sweet black lab puppy. Well….I guess she is really not considered a puppy anymore since she is over a year old now. We got her when she was a puppy, the first weekend we had her it rained all weekend and she had a blast splashing from puddle to puddle thus her name, Puddle Skipper Hayes. She is always ready to play and there to greet you when you come home or outside. The girls love playing outside with her and even though she is a fairly big dog she is really gentle with the kids. I know she’ll be excited to have the girls home more often when school is out for summer break.
Skipper, our sweet black lab
Skipper can be found running around the yard, chasing squirrels (or any other animal that comes into our yard), and swimming in the creek. Winter or summer….rain or snow……she will be swimming in the creek. She is willing to do almost any outdoor activity from popping bubbles that the girls blow, to walking with me down to the compost, playing fetch, or taking a nap in the jungle gym. Skipper is the only dog that we have had that will literally climb the ladder to play with the kids in the jungle gym, she’ll even sleep in the jungle gym sometimes.
On guard and watching for any squirrels or other wildlife
When she is not swimming, playing, or chasing the animals in the yard she’s chewing on something, one of her favorite chew toys is my garden hose (not sure how many patches it has in it at this point). She’s a great watch dog too (although she’d lick you before biting you) but she has deterred several “sales” people from coming into the yard! It is amazing how quickly pets, like Skipper, become such a wonderful part of the family.
