spreading christmas cheer

Christmas Morning we took Ollie to visit my grandma...complete with his santa hat!  I think she was happy to see him as he was happy to see her. i'm so glad he's able to bring a smile to her face, especially on days like Christmas!

"i'm dressed to spread christmas cheer!"

kisses for christmas!

i think she likes my hat!

i got distracted by christmas decor with ringing bells...

pictures!

mission accomplished!

happy holidays!

man oh man, the holidays have just flown by and i've been neglecting ollie's blog...so i figured i'd stop by and post tons of pictures of ollie's holidays:

yappy howlidays!

family photo!

christmas eve 

do i look like a reindeer?

i love opening gifts!

LOVE

december bark box

we finally got a box on time!!! woop woop!
The December box came to us in a matter of DAYS.

There were some good goodies in this month's box...but i still felt a little...underwhelmed. maybe because i was hoping--because it was december/christmas--that it would be extra special or something.  This is Ollie's last box in the 6-month bundle we signed up for. i think we are probably not going to reorder. :(  While we were introduced to fun new treats (we especially loved barkworthies!) and we loved getting mail every month, i think ollie is just TOO picky for this. 

But without further adieu, his December box included:

1.Bocce's Bakery: natural dog treats...this brand was featured in a previous box but this time these treats are featuring a more "holiday" flavor: chicken, pumpkin, cranberries, & cinnamon.  ollie ate a few pieces, but lost interest. biscuit type treats are not his favorites, i have no idea why. he just loves chewy sticks and soft jerky-like treats best. {boccesbakery.com}

2.  Fresh Dog: Oatmeal Shampoo  i have yet to give this a try. but his bath day is tomorrow so maybe we'll try it tomorrow. :) {freshdog.com}

3.  simply fido: reindeer ("holiday moose") toy. ollie does like this guy. ollie likes plush toys. i know a lot of people are probably going to complain that their dog destroyed it in 2.5 seconds, but this is the first "plush" toy we've seen and we're happy campers.  {simplyfido.com}

4.  puppy cake:  red velvet cake mix for dogs! i'm super excited to try this, the only thing is that it makes A LOT...ollie is a little guy, so i'm not too sure when i'll be making this. or...maybe i could freeze it. i think this is such a cute idea :) {puppycake.com}

one thing i do like, is that barkbox has made a barkbox app where you can purchase items that were featured in their boxes...which i think i will do to buy some barkworthies products, since they are not available for sale...

i wonder if i should try a different box subscription....

November bark box

Ollie's November Bark Box finally came in at the ending of the first week of December. I finally figured out why it takes soooo long for the box to arrive, and why tracking seems to stop and remain idle for about 2 weeks....they sent it parcel post! so for those of us in hawaii....that means our box gets shipped via boat. mystery solved.

this month's box was a bit of a miss for us, there were some good stuff, just not stuff ollie is interested in....so the contents of this month's box included:

1. Bionic Bone: it's kind of like a kong toy where you fill it with treats and let your dog work at getting it out. i haven't given it to him yet, as kong type toys were never his cuppa tea.  (bionicplay.com)

2. fruitables:  i haven't opened this either as i already know that ollie doesn't care for this type of treat (my mom had previously bought him a bag) so i think i'll give it to my coworker who just got a dog... (fruitablepetfood.com)

3.  Arcacia Antlers:  this one is cute, it's a mini antler on a rope...so it's a chewy toy. ollie didn't seem very interested...sigh. (arcadiaantlers.com)

4. mr. barksmiths: bully stick. now this he LOVED!!! (thank god!)  (mrbarksmiths.com)

5. there was also one of those ice cake treats that you freeze and it's a little slushy treat for dogs. ollie has had them before and loves it. the flavor we got was pumpkin...we have yet to try this one.

and there were some coupon codes/gift cards for the bark box app site (which sucked because we got our box AFTER the coupon code expired. boo, that's the one i would've used too) mr. chewy ($10 gift card), Rover.com ( a pet sitting service), and DogTV (one month free subscription...dog tv? interesting)

sadly, you can only purchase from the barksmith website if you are a retailer buying in bulk :( 

stay tuned for the December box, which came in yesterday (NOT via parcel post!)

Door prize

Ollie goes to work with me everyday, but he doesn't get to attend the company Christmas party because Hawaii is so NOT dog friendly.

So....
Every year I get him a toy and give it to him as his "door prize" since all employees get one!

Where's Ollie?

Can you find Ollie amongst his toys? He's started to bring all his toys to this bed...