Dog Duty (and pet chart!)

So following from my foster fail with the RSPCA and my fast growing family that now consists of Mr & Mrs Freckle, 5 little Freckles and now 2 dog Freckles (as well as Budgie Freckle and Frecklefish) it was well and truly time to take the dog by the proverbial collar and create a dog-management system.

Previous to this looking after the dog(s) was a job that I tried my best to share around but it usually ended up being mainly myself and the oldest Freckle (who is the most dog-enthused) doing all the dog care. So here is what we did:

1. Family meeting: The Freckles sat down and had a frank chat about who was shouldering most of the doggy duty and who was getting away with very little. We all decided that we love our dogs and want them to have a happy life and that none of us like it when the baby Freckle picks up dog poo and squishes it between her fingers running delightedly to the others squealing "Doggy Play-Doh", "Ooo, stinky Play-Doh!".... yes, not one of my finest parenting moments, that one!

2. We needed a system so that we could all share the responsibility of the dogs.

3. We could all be involved but some of the jobs were more suited to older Freckles i.e. baby Freckle was not so good at walking over-excited Beagle.

So first, I developed this chart ("Pet Roster" so you can use it too):

It has a space for playing with the dogs (help the littlest Freckles feel a bit of ownership and learn some responsibility), walking the dogs (we do this in teams of 2, one of the older Freckles with a middle sized Freckle), poo duty and feeding (also involves putting on the coats - usually I help with this as it is a bit tricky for the kids).

You can download the chart for free here.

I went to my newly re-designed K-Mart for the coolest shopping experience around found this bargain:

Isn't it cool? And only $12... bargain.... I can feel a laundry makeover coming on (watch this space)!!! Also bought this mat, have since discovered that the mat is useless as it moves around all over the place, but hey... it looks good!

And look, magic! The Bits and Bobs is gone and it becomes, Dog Stuff. Thank you Pinterest!

Complete with all the bits and bobs (hmmm....) that the little Freckles need to look after their Furry Freckly Friends:

Also added a container (previous Tupperware Host Gift that I have never used for it's intended purpose) for Poo Duty, containing nappy sacks (what an amazing invention!) and  baby wipes for accidents (inevitable). So now our little Dog Station looks like this:

So what do the little Freckles think?

One is so happy that she can share the burden and joys of pet ownership.... One not so happy as he was first up on Poo Duty.

For other organisational ideas and inspiration check out felicityjd.com/footstepsandfreckles and have a look... keep coming back as I am adding a little more every week.

Until next time,

Felicity x

Foster Fail!

Meet Ginger. A 5 year old beagle. I consider Ginger to be the biggest bait and switch in animal history. We got her from a person who was re-homing dogs. Her family had abandoned her. When I first met her she was sweet, sedate and obedient. She was also 8 kilos overweight. Which for you and me, an extra 8 kilos may be a dress size up or down - it may be looking a bit lumpy around the middle instead of svelte and sleek. For a female beagle she was actually twice her recommended body weight.

So we bought Ginger home. We loved her. We walked her. In fact, all the older Freckles would run her up and down the park every afternoon. We loved her and put her on a weight loss regime. Little did I know that Ginger, like anyone who is carrying around twice her body weight. Had a true beagle inside her, just waiting for the kilos to come off and the real beagle to come out.

She began to act like all beagles. Inquisitive, overly friendly and with a sense of smell that means that if she gets a whiff of something she was off...... the first time she escaped she was picked up about 6 km's from our house. So myself and Miss Freckle set about fixing the fence again, and again, and again. Every time we patched up one hole, she found another. One time we were even at church when Miss Freckle and I saw a brown and tan lightning bolt dash past the window, sure enough another hole in the fence and another scent to follow.

She was eventually picked up and taken to the RSPCA. There she endured what for most dogs would be a sad and sorry overnight listening to the howls of other dogs. But for a beagle trying to re-live the adolescence she had never enjoyed, it was her version of heaven. So when the lovely ladies from the RSPCA suggested a companion for her, and in fact it just so happens they had a little pedigreed dog with grief issues. when I hesitated they said, just try him for the weekend and bring him back.

So I left the RSPCA with a hyperactive beagle, a fence to be fixed at home, torrential rain and a cavalier king charles spaniel on Prozac (I kid you not!).

We now have two dogs.....

We have officially failed as foster dog parents......

And now Ginger and JJ are huddled up contentedly in their kennel. JJ is being weaned off his Prozac and his anxiety only surfaces when he leaves Ginger's side by more that 30cm. And Ginger is happy because JJ still smells like RSPCA.

For the Freckle Family animal management chart:

http://www.felicityjd.com/#!footsteps--freckles/c207w

Watch this space and later in the week I'll go through how we organise the organisation of our fur babies!

Wandering

Planner addict!

I love to plan... Or plan to love! Not sure which one it actually is!

I don't know what it is like at your place but here at Freckle HQ we start the week with a planning meeting... Between Mr & Mrs Freckle that is. We get together and sort out what is going on this week... And what may be popping up in our schedules over the next few weeks. We work out who is dropping off and who is picking up the little freckles and what after school taxi-service we need to be running. We also try to schedule a family night and some couple time each week.... It's certainly not a perfect system but it works for us. I know it works because when we get slack and don't do it we feel the pain! Big time.

Have a look at our little planner.... (free PDF Printable)

What is your planning plan?

The planned unplanned

This weekend in Freckle HQ we planned to have no plans. It was time to take a break from the frenetic visitors and hosting we seemed to have been doing all year and just be. What made it even more awesome was that we had a Thursday public holiday for our local Show and then the kids had cross country on Friday so I took the day off my  normal study to watch them. Despite the hottest March day since 1957, we managed to have an extremely enjoyable (almost) long weekend! 

I am always amazed at what kids do when they have "nothing to do". I don't know about yours but mine have so many toys that we could fill a toyshop and still have truck loads left over! In fact we have so many toys that we haven't even unpacked most of them from our move 4 months ago. And the reason why we haven't unpacked them is that our kids just don't play with them*. They play with each other! Part of the blessing of having 5 kids is that there is always someone else to play with ....And what I love best about being a parent of 5 kids is watching them develop their own relationships with each other. 

This weekend it was the box of dress ups that was found and everyone took turns in being fairies, scientists, maids, pirates and soldiers. And the adventure that were had would turn a Science Fiction novel into a historical drama - the plot twists were doin my head in. My favourite though was when Master Freckle 7, who was at the time wearing an ensemble consisting of a unbuttoned pirate shirt, army pants and 3D glasses, said to me that he was a salesman! That kid cracks me up!

But seriously, this weekend, a simple, "home" weekend reminded me that there is so much power in the unscheduled. In the unplanned and the unorganised (note not disorganised!)..... And part of the fun is watching it happen.

Miss Freckles 1 & 10 casting a spell on their dog... I believe it went something along the lines of "this dog is to grow wings and become a fairy".... Maybe next weekend they'll have more luck with that one!

Let the party begin....

So I can report that the 7th Birthday Bash proved to be a success, despite having a crazy busy weekend on and not getting to bed before 1am the night before we had a simple fun filled party that Mr 7 was thrilled with!

We decorated the hall (very lucky to have a hall in out backyard... literally!) with mine craft bunting, streamers and balloons and the day before I had Mr Freckle and Miss Freckle with their mini rollers painting moving boxes that we had in our garage with leftover paint. They had a ball doing it (although they complained at the time!) and they looked great. Best bit was that the kids just loved them! The boys stacked them, knocked them down, stacked them again, knocked them down - you can see the cycle.

Miss Freckle put her face painting skills to the test and face painted any willing victims who wanted some colour - with fabulous results.... So proud of my budding artiste!

Minecraft Mania

So this week has been a big one for my little freckles! We had school camp, first wee in the toilet and first chess tournament (not all for the same freckle!)... And the planning for minecraft-birthday-extravaganza began. I was a little late with invites but from the looks on 10 little boys faces when they opened their envelope, they didn't care one bit. 

I designed the invitations myself, with input from 3x minecraft freckles who assured me that I was on the right track. I'll keep you posted as to the rest of my Minecraft Party Planning as it unfolds....

Meanwhile, here's the invitations!

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/225158567/minecraft-invitations?