well, i got more than half of my shopping done! that usually doesn't happen. i guess i should say, i have more than half of my expected shopping done, because i always forget something or someone.
i went shopping on friday with my mom and sister. we had such a great time. i didn't buy much (just 3 regular sized shopping bags). between the two of them, let's just say it was a good thing i drove my big 12 passenger van. they needed the room!
my sis and i had a great time. we were funny and sarcastic, and i think my mom appreciated it. even if most of it was directed at her. she cracked up, and cut up, and it was really one of the best times i've had with them. mom teased me about being prepared and having a list...kate and i teased her about her taste in gifts.


i cleaned out the turtle tank (filter died and it smelled quite funky) and gave them some new plants and fish to clean the tank and some for them to eat. it looks lovely! i gotta say, i do like just watching them when it's clean of course. i bought 8 guppies, but actually came home with about 20 because they don't charge for the babies! how lucky is that? so i made sure i got enough plant material for the babes to hide in until they get bigger and procreate and then get eaten. does that sound callous?


i finished the book i had been reading. it was Queen by alex haley. very good book. it was the story of his grandma. she was born a slave and was freed during the civil war. it starts with her grandpas (her irish owner, and one of his slaves) and then her mom and dad, and then tells of her story to find herself. she could pass for white, but didn't fit in, and basically her story of finding where she belongs. it's a great read!

that was my weekend! poor hubby is stuck working 6 days (10 hour shifts) and i feel bad for him...but i'm not complaining! we know too many people out of work right now, and too many facing the possibility of losing their jobs!

hope everyone's thanksgiving was wonderful!

wtf????

i'm not usually one for profanity...ok, let me rephrase that...i don't use a lot of profanity. the occasional slip here and there. but today? well, the wtf, that almost slipped right out.

i took the kids to the flea market today. i like to go up and see if they have any good deals on produce, check out the animals, see if anyone i know is there. you know, fun stuff. i brought 3 of my 5 kiddos with me. we walked around and were on our way out when i spotted a sign that said "free kittens". oh buddy, i had to check it out. inside this kennel were 4 kittens. one was black, one was solid gray, one solid white and one that was white with some spots. super cute. i couldn't resist the gray one. i picked him up, held him, checked under his tail (looked like a boy to me) and then the crowd came. everyone had a kitten. this crazy lady with the little white one decides she wants to find out if hers is a boy or a girl and proceeds to rub her finger over the cat's butt. i kid you not. this woman was feeling up this poor kitty. then she does it to my little gray one (you know, for comparison) and i have never felt so sorry for any animal in my life. she ended up not even taking one, so i took the gray one...and the white one. what can i say, i felt so sorry for them both. i hope i was able to hide what i was feeling at that moment.



seriously, who rubs a cat's butt?

pigs and sheep and kittens oh my

ok, first off, let me just say, we have a new kitten. he's a little gray tabby kitten. i'm not sure what his name is yet. i've heard "tiger", and "shady", and "take it back where you got it". (guess which one was the hubby's suggestion) so far so good. he hasn't been eaten by any dogs, hit by any cars, or eaten anything poisonous. of course we haven't had him a full week yet, so anything can happen.

last night i took alex to the lincoln county fair. their hog show was last night, so i figured "what better way to see what we need to be doing". well, most of those pigs were bigger than ours. 90% were white (the pigs, not the people...although i guess those stats would work for both). there was a huge age range in kids showing. there were kids as young as 8 or 9 or as old as 18. they all were terrific. we weren't able to stay for the whole show (which lasted several hours), but i think alex has a better understanding of what is expected of him. he's getting nervous now. the fair is only a couple of weeks away.

after we got back from the fair, we took the whole family to see haley's sheep. she has 3, but she has to pick 2 for the show and 1 to sell at the auction. she has to break them before the fair. basically, she has to get her sheep, (which is difficult) and hold them until they surrender, then let it go and catch it right away. she has to do this at least twice with each one. i helped her, so did alex and the hubby. i didn't realize how oily their wool is. (that's where lanolin comes from...breastfeeding moms should have some on hand) and boy howdy, they stink! it's hard to describe, but think wet dog+urine+feces+farm=one big stinky mess! the kids didn't even argue about taking showers...that's how smelly it was. i will be doing this again in a few minutes...and every day until fair. fun.

well, i have dinner to get on the table, kids to get out the door (to do some sheep work), and well, there's always cleaning to get done.

then there's the fact my littlest one is turning 3 this saturday...don't get me started, i can't believe my baby is so big!

rachel, let me know when it is you are coming into town. i'd love to get together!

the expanding zoo

what house is a home without a pig!? not ours, at least not now. that's right everyone, we now have a little piglet. she's about 45 lbs of squealing fun! and in our basement no less! yes, your eyes are not deceiving you...this 45lb pig is in our basement. we thought the box we built for the dog and puppies would be perfect for her. we did not take into account the fact that pigs can jump. and they can jump pretty high. i have had to catch her 3 times in the hour i have been home. let me tell you, pigs don't really like to be picked up and put back in the box. she is now in the dog crate we brought her home in. she stands about 18 inches tall, this box is at least 24 to 30 inches tall, and she is jumping over the sides. i watched her. i was pretty amazed. i thought pigs were supposed to just eat, sleep, and poop. you know, like a newborn. oh no, i was misinformed! she is very active. she is also very curious. ok, let me describe her...she is small, she is black with white on her belly and feet, and she is adorable. she really is.
we are trying to come up with a name for her. i think i might put up a poll about what to name her. i won't promise we will use the one selected when talking directly to her, but i will use it when talking about our piggy adventures.

i had better get back to the kids and pig. i don't want any of them escaping!

miracle monday

another miracle monday here. well, maybe. i'm not sure if this is considered a "miracle" or just "right place at the right time".

yesterday was easter sunday. we had our morning egg hunt here at the house, then off to the grandma's houses. (i know i know, what about church? well we had a rough morning and i didn't make it to church) we got to my grandma's house and hung out, ate some really good food, and had another egg hunt. then we headed over to my in-laws' house. we got there and ate some more, visited with my nephew who had the accident (he's walking by himself now!!), and ate some more. as i am finishing my plate, my father in law says "the cat has something out there, looks like a baby squirrel". so me, being the animal lover i am, i head out the door to see if i can help the baby squirrel or whatever it is. well, it's not a squirrel, it's a baby kitten. a little, new born orange baby kitten, that was still attached to it's placenta. i picked it up, it was so very cold, and wrapped him up in my hands. as i turned to go into the house i saw another little kitten, this one was grey stripped and laying just as cold and still. i was hoping with them being newly born, they might just need to be warmed up some. i started to blow warm breath on them, and they moved just a little. that was all the sign i needed! i took them inside the house and wrapped them in paper towels, and cut the umbilical cord on the orange one. my niece and her boyfriend continued to warm them and rub them as i went outside to check for more kittens, or for their momma. my in laws have about a dozen or so cats so i wasn't sure which one was the mom, and i checked for more kittens but didn't find any signs. i came back inside, and found the gray striped kitten had perked up and was fluffy and moving around. the orange one had a wound on it's back that had started to bleed. i guess either the mom or another cat had bitten it. he held on for 2 hours, and then quietly slipped away. i held him the whole time. as rough a start as that poor kitty had, i wanted to make sure his last moments were filled with kindness. the gray stripped kitten started to meow and move around more, so we put it outside in a box to see if his mom would come back for him. she came and took him back to her little nest.

i think it would be considered a miracle. had God not put us in the right place at the right time, that both kittens would have died a very cold and lonely death. i know they are just cats, but God did put us here to be protectors of the less fortunate, didn't he?

amy amy quite contrary

how does your garden grow?
well, by bitching and moaning until the hubby gets on the tractor and plows, that's how!

yeah, that pretty much sums up my approach to getting the hubby to do anything i want him to do. well, at least stuff he doesn't want to do. he and i had a nice lengthy conversation about my wanting a garden and chickens. he doesn't understand my need to have these things. yes, i would be growing my own food. this would cut our grocery bill down. but then again, it's work. he had to take care of this kind of stuff when he was a kid and doesn't want to deal with it again. i understand that. the thing is, i didn't have a veggie garden when i was a kid, or chickens. i begged and begged my parents for chickens when we lived in the country. i saved my own money for months, subscribed to different chicken hatchery newsletters, and even drew up my own plans for a coop (trying to impress my carpenter father! lol) all to no avail! why is it, as an adult, i still get screwed out of it?
ah, let it go...
ok, i still have some tricks up my sleeve. after all, easter is the holiday when people get things like baby chicks, and little ducklings as gifts for their kids. hahaha.
no i wouldn't really do that. the hubby would definitely not be too happy. that would make me not to happy. i just have to work on changing his mind.

ok, on to american idol. can i just say that i loved jason castro's performance? ok, i loved jason castro's performance. ramiele sang the song that my hubby and i danced to for our first song. i know, kind of a weird choice, but at the time it fit. so i will give her a pass tonight. she didn't do a bad job, just not an original performance. why oh why did kristy lee do that? it wasn't that it was a bad decision changing that song to country, because while it was definitely weird, it wasn't horrible. it was the way she performed on stage. she didn't connect at all. not only did her moves not fit the song or music at all, but her eyes were scared and not at all into selling the song. her performance was the worst of the night. that says a lot considering david hernandez's performance! he was horrible too! of course i don't really care for him anyway, so it's not a big let down for me. i loved chikezie's performance. he took that song to a place i never would have expected from him. totally loved it. amanda overmyer did good too. her performance was definitely not as big a show stopper as last week, she still did good. brooke white was not only awesome, but i loved the sign in the audience that her former employers were holding "we love brooke white, but miss our nanny!" and it had pics of the twins she had watched. loved it. carly's performance was great too. david cook totally rocked out loud! i love how he makes these songs his own. great job boy from missouri! syesha was ok for me. i didn't hate it, but i didn't love it either. what has happened to little davy archuleta? he wasn't bad, but he wasn't his "holy cow it this kid awesome or what?" self. i personally liked micheal johns' performance. (he actually looks a lot like my friend's hubby.)
now who will go home tonight? i have no clue. i really don't. i really hope it's not some of my faves but i don't vote (i know how horrible of me) so i don't feel like i can say if the "right" one is sent home tonight.
ok, rachel, your turn now. and anyone else that wants to chime in!

*i don't vote because by the time i actually get to watch the show, it's the morning after. just a tad too late to vote.

chickens, and pigs and lambs, oh my!

that's right! spring is just around the corner! wooo hooo! i can't wait! i have been bugging the hubby about picking the spot for the garden, fixing the shed, and getting the place for the pig ready. poor guy, i don't think he realized that by marrying me he was getting himself into so much work! oh well, 11 years later, he should be used to it! the kids are so excited about the animals. alex has been bugging me for weeks about the pig. we are going this week to pick it out. haley's wanting to go see her lambs. they actually get 2 or 3, and then pick one to show, and lenny keeps the others. she gets to sell the lamb she picks to show at the fair. i don't know how they are going to do with selling the pig and lamb, but i guess we will see. alex hasn't even gotten the pig yet, and has already decided to show chickens ducks and maybe turkeys next year. why couldn't he have decided this when i tried to talk him into chickens when we started 4-H? *sigh* pigs are so much more work! my husband has actually acted somewhat excited about chickens. we were talking about letting them "free-range" during the day. he said something about building a movable cage for them...just so they aren't completely unprotected during the day. we aren't sure how all the cats out here would react to the chickens. i think if they are older, (the chickens) they could probably handle their own, but i would hate to chance it. plus there are some dogs around...so maybe that would be best. alex is really wanting some ducks. now that the pond is almost full, i think that it would be pretty cool to see some ducks or geese out there. i just don't want too many. last thing i want is kids slipping and sliding in duck/goose poop!
now that we are down to the 2 turtles, the 2 lizards, and the fish, i am really wanting to get some more animals. it just doesn't seem right to be called bauerzoo when i only have those pets, well and the kids. i think it would be good for all the kids here...mine and those i watch. making them earn their keep (lol). i know the older boys would love to help with the pig and chickens. they both live in subdivisions and can't have any type of farm creatures.
oh well, i had better get back to the kiddos!
oh yeah, this is a blogger that is giving away a $25 gift certificate to ideal poultry in cameron, texas (hello rachel?). click over there if you think you might be in need of some feathered friends! very very cool!
http://lifeinthelostworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/spring-blog-giveaway.html

gimpy

i think i am going to get all my "former" pet posts out of the way.

gimpy was a cute little black and white kitten. he was born to one of the nameless cats at my in-laws' house. he was different than the other kittens. i'm not sure if it was something he had since birth, or if it was from being dropped. he had some sort of nerve damage or brain damage. he wasn't able to walk or run like the other cats. he would fall over, and on rare occasions, do somersaults. some days were better, some days you could hardly tell he had any issues. he was a fighter. he was right in there getting food...fighting with the other cats, growling, getting his food. he was tough. i fell in love. totally in love with this kitten. i told my husband how much i liked this little black and white kitten. he told me to take it to the vet and bring it home. he didn't have to tell me twice! gimpy lived in our garage because a boy i watch is very allergic to cats. he adjusted well. he would hang out with me at the veggie garden. he would follow the stroller, or if he got tired, he would crawl into the basket under the stroller. he was the coolest cat. he was so loving, but not in the "in your face" way some cats are. even my husband would go outside and play with this cat. everyone loved this cat.

my sister in law (the one that gave us the 2 dogs) had a dog named maya. maya had been abused and was terrified of men. she would hide when men came around, and if they tried to touch her or get close to her, she would shake uncontrollably and pee. she also had a thing for small animals. since she had come to live there, we had noticed that the cat population had been decreasing. i thought they had just found somewhere better.

one day, i opened the garage door and then went in to get grace and josh. it was november (right before i found out i was pregnant with zack), so i had to get their coats and stuff on. as i was getting the kids ready, my sister in law called. is the cat outside? yeah. "oh my god i think maya has him". i was out the door. i spotted maya down by the fence line. she had something in her mouth and was throwing and shaking it. please please please let it be something else. please. i ran down there shoe less, coatless, and yelling the whole way. she dropped the something, and ran about 10 feet away. please please please don't let it be him. it was my kitty. please please please let him just be hurt. i picked him up and held him in my arms. i held my hand to his chest. please let there be a heartbeat, please let him be breathing. please let him be ok. one look, and i knew he was gone. i was completely numb. i cradled him and walked back to the house. my sister in law was crying, so so sorry. i called my husband. he was upset for me. i couldn't feel anything. i couldn't believe he was gone. i took a shower, and cried. i cried until the water turned cold. my heart hurt so badly. my kitty, my little fighter, my gimpy was gone.

updates

some updates for you...
the great chicken experiment of '07 has been a bust. due to irreconcilable differences, we have decided to part ways. but fear not, dear reader, hopefully in spring of '08, we shall have more humorous stories about life on the farm. well, at least life with some farm animals. i don't think we would qualify as a farm, unfortunately. it would be great if we could (for tax purposes). anyway, come springtime, we should have a pig, haley will be taking care of a lamb or two, and we may do our own chicken thang.

the puppy has finally gotten a name. the kids still don't know she's going to be theirs. they just wanted to be able to call her something other than puppy. her name is "black sally". it was a combination of blacky and mustang sally. jeff wanted sally, the kids wanted blacky. i actually like black sally myself.

i forgot how totally awesome it is to housebreak a puppy. cleaning up the accidents, taking it outside every 15 minutes because she was sniffing around, teaching her not to scratch up the door, i can't believe i didn't want to try this sooner!

yesterday, i got to play hero. sami and black sally disappeared during an unplanned potty break (zack decided to help and let the dogs out with out telling me. and they were gone for like 45 minutes before i realized) and so we called and called, and then called some more. next we got volunteers and did a search (grandpa and alex rode the 4wheelers around looking for them), and they found sami in the creek bottoms, but no black sally. so they kept searching, i went to the neighborhood behind us and looked, but nothing. when i got back, i took the 4 wheeler and made alex stay with the little guys and went to search the creek myself. i guess when grandpa and alex searched, they never got off the bikes or even turned them off. being a woman (and therefore infinitely smarter) i got off the bike and searched the creek bank calling for her. guess what! i found her. when she heard me calling her, she started crying and i found her. unfortunately she was on the opposite side of the creek, so i had to climb in there and call her until she swam for it. it is, by the way, freezing here. so i had to hold her (completely soaked to the skin) and climb up the 10 foot bank, and then drive back to the house. she got a bath right away, wrapped in a towel, and put in a nice warm cage to warm up and feel puppyish again. now she stays pretty close to me when i take her out.

PUPPY WATCH 2007 IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!!

that's right folks. sami delivered her pups last night and this morning. all 11 of them. she only lost 1. pretty good for a first litter. they are all black (i guess, they were still a little wet when i saw them) and a few had white markings. all seem healthy and of good size. i was a little surprised though, i thought for sure we would have atleast one that looked like sami. perhaps a mastiff sized golden retriever? or maybe a golden retriever sized mastiff? by the way, anyone out there in, say, the greater st. louis area need a new puppy? they will be ready around thanksgiving! of course christmas follows shortly after thanksgiving.

oh yeah, the contest! guess who picked 11! NOBODY!!!! ha ha ha ha! we all actually picked around 11. i think jeff and i were the closest...i picked 10, and i gave him 12. (i guess i should say my 2 guesses) so no kids get to fight over which puppy stays with us. darn!



has anyone seen the new show on nickjr called yo gabba gabba? the weirdest show i have ever seen. i think the creators are perhaps involved with drugs and raves...seriously, watch it and tell me what you think. it actually is a pretty funny show, but seriously weird. (if you can find the episode with the "party in my tummy" song, watch it. i cracked up for hours afterwards! i know, it doesn't take much to entertain me anymore.

perhaps i will be able to post some puppy/kid picks soon. but don't hold your breath! (that means you rachel)

POD-PEOPLE HAVE LANDED!!!!!!!!

i am not sure if this is a joke yet. i am actually a little worried. you see my husband has been displaying some very strange and worrisome behaviors. it all started with me telling the kids they could do 4-H.....

strange behavior #1

alex tells us he wants to do a pig project in 4-H. instead of yelling about responsibility taking on an animal like that is, or saying "no way they stink too bad" he says the strangest thing he has ever said: "as long as you keep it in the house and treat it like a pet"


strange behavior #2

i tell the kids "lets have a contest about who can guess how many pups sami will have"
the kids start guessing, i write them down. jeff says "whoever guesses right, gets to keep a puppy"


strange behavior #3

this is actually related to #2...i ask him if he realized he just said this in front of our children (these comments i usually reserve for other people's kids) he responds by saying "i think it would be pretty cool to keep one of the puppies. it wouldn't be so bad having 2 dogs would it?"


now for people who don't really know my husband, these are not common thoughts of his. he is more of the "pets are complications." "i had enough of animals when i was a kid." and the ever popular "amy do you know how many holes i had to dig to bury dead calves, foals and pigs?" in case you haven't caught on yet, my hubby is not an animal lover. you wouldn't believe what i had to do to get my 4 little chickens! (but that is a little personal) anyway, i am not sure what exactly is happening to him. maybe i am slowly changing him? is he becoming more like me? would that be so bad?

wait a minute...does that mean i am becoming more like him? well if i am, i guess i'll at least get a clean house out of it. (ha ha ha)

29

what do i want for my birthday? that was what jeff asked me today. well, i really don't know. i am 29 today. i have 5 healthy kids, a husband who loves me, a roof over my head, parents and extended family that love me, seriously...what else do you need? i really have all i could want...

...

...

...

now if he could lose weight for me, get me in shape over night without having to put any work into it...now i might be tempted. but since that won't be happening, i don't want anything.



since it is my birthday, and i am on the subject of presents, does anyone remember having a birthday wish that wasn't fulfilled? i don't mean like "i want to be a rock star and sing with rick springfield" type of wish. more like "i want to have a pony" type of wish. something that was actually possible and attainable. the thing i always wanted, what i asked for every year was...a turtle. yes, a turtle. a real live turtle. pathetic i know. what little girl asks for a turtle? i'll tell ya who, ME. i wanted one so badly. what did i get every single year? a turtle, or 3. but not real ones. i got glass turtles, turtle earrings, turtle shirts, turtle pins, you name it, i had it. but they didn't breathe, eat or grow. i wanted a real turtle. i used to catch turtles in my backyard. but i always had to let them go, or they mysteriously would run away.

now i am an adult. my birthday wish was fulfilled last year. we now have 2 baby painted turtles.



yesterday i received my first birthday present. a lady i know made me marble squares for my birthday. (marble squares are like brownies, cheesecake and chocolate chips mixed together) she is the nicest lady. her husband built our house. her son is alex's baseball coach. her grandson is alex's friend. i told her she didn't have to do it. that it was so nice of her to think of me, but it was really ok. she said i deserved them, that i do a lot for others and she wanted to do this for me. ok, i felt so unworthy. i mean really, what do i do for other people? i don't do much. now, she does stuff for others all the time. she is one of those ladies at church that is constantly helping and getting involved in anything they can to help anyone who needs it. she really is a great lady, and a really nice person. so i guess i need to go write a nice thank you note to her.

ever shrinking bauer zoo

yes, now we are shrinking. apparently taking care of baby birds was a little more work than my kids wanted to do. after trying their best to feed them as often as possible (every couple of hours as opposed to every half hour for 12 hours), four died after about 4 days. the 5th one i told alex to put in another nest in the barn. yes, this is what i told him to do before bringing them all home, but he insisted he wanted to take care of them. so hopefully the 5th one will have a better chance of survival.
but we may be expanding again soon. one of our feeder guppies looks like she is pregnant. so we will be expanding again, but then again we will be shrinking. (they are turtle food after all!)

grace gets to do her kindergarten screening tomorrow. i was so nervous with alex, making sure to quiz him on things they may ask. now i am lucky enough to remember the appt and get her there on time. i think she's going to do fine. i got lucky enough to have some pretty smart kids, and they all pick up stuff fast. alex and haley are reading well above their age/grade levels. i guess your first child is the one you worry more with, try to get them to accomplish more and do it early as possible. why is that? is it to validate us as parents? are we afraid if they don't do better than soandso's kid then we must not be good enough parents? or is it just inexperience? i had no idea what alex should have known by the age of 5. the preschool i chose was not into teaching things like the alphabet and numbers. their philosophy was more "we teach them those things if they want to learn about them". they weren't a bad school. they dealt with more of the kids with issues. blind kids, deaf kids, learning impaired, autistic, physically impaired, you name it, they dealt with it. alex had none of those problems. why did i send him there? i was a teen mom, and my parents as teachers educator suggested i send him there. alot of those kids (teen parents' kids) had some big issues and they were able to figure them out sooner by having them at this school. not to mention it was free. that played a big part in it too. but when we did alex's screening, i found out he really didn't know any letters, only a few numbers, but did pretty well on the rest of it. (he had 2 screenings. one for zumwalt, which he passed with flying colors, and one for st. paul, he passed with half mast colors) haley did well on her screenings. better than alex. her school focused more on academics, as did grace's. if i had it to do over again, i don't think i would change what schools the kids went to. alex did fine in school. kids learn at their own pace. you can't force them to learn something when they aren't ready. they will get it eventually. no need to freak out that little jenny can read already, and grace only knows 23 letters. she'll get it. i have no doubt. and she'll do great, when she's ready.

only 3 more years until i have all 5 in school. i am actually excited about this. i haven't been one of those "weepy" moms. i don't cry on their first day of school, first communions, anything like that. these are momentous occasions, don't get me wrong, but i can't cry at them. maybe i will when it gets down to the last one. i don't know. i haven't gotten to that point yet.

the ever expanding zoo

yes, that's right. the zoo has grown again. it now includes 5 baby barn swallows. great news, i know. how did this happen? well, alex got a wild hair about wanting to take care of baby birds. being the naive mom i am, i told him about how i took care of baby birds when i was younger. of course mine all died. most because i was not prepared for how much of a responsibility it was. i guess the fact most of the ones i found had taken a 2 story fall from the top of the barn to the concrete floor below didn't help their cases. and of course there was the baby bird i caught and my mom told me to put it back. i did, and it jumped off the branch into the waiting mouth of skipper, the springer spaniel. not a great day, let me tell you.
but i digress. so alex went out and started looking for orphaned baby birds. where do you find those? well apparently in the barn. oh yeah and the chicken coop. he found 3 babies on the floor in the barn, hiding in a corner. the other two he found in the coop, being pecked at by chickens. apparently they had already killed the 3rd in the nest and were going for the other two. now we are feeding these baby birds formula (the baby bird kind), and they have to be fed every 30 minutes. (this hasn't happened by the way). alex has been good about feeding them...when he is home. today is the last day of school and he will be home to do it more. haley has been helping out with them too. so far they are still alive. this has been day 3 i think. so far so good i guess. alex is looking forward to them flying. i don't know why, but he is. i am looking forward to them flying too, but flying away from here to a new life.
zack likes the birds too. i was having a heck of a time keeping him out of the cage. then of course he grabbed one out and tried to feed it to the dog. thank god the dog didn't know what it was and didn't do anything but smell it. that would have been fun explaining it to alex. "hey, your brother thought the dog needed a snack..." baby birds are incredibly resilient. they have withstood several days of being "held" by the kids, all five kids. so now instead of bunny news, i will be providing birdie news. hopefully this will have a much happier ending.

school is out. kids got their awards after mass this morning, and we were done by 9:30. not bad for a last day. haley got awards for excellence in reading, creative writing and music. alex got awards for excellence in science, english and art. i think every kid got at least 2 awards. i don't know how all the kids feel about this last day of school. i know most parents think it's a waste of time. it is, but i don't really care either way. have it or don't, it doesn't matter to me. i don't know how effective this day is. i always felt awards are for kids who deserve the recognition. not that these kids don't deserve it, but when the teachers are just trying to make sure everyone has "X" number of awards, it loses it's meaning to me. but like i said, i don't care either way.

what have you become?

i am still in a state of shock. my little turtles, no bigger that a silver dollar, killed the froglet. now, i feel horrible because i saw the warning signs. they ate some little guppies, but seriously, they're fish. i feed them turtle food. alex found 3 tadpoles in the pond and put them in the tank. one died within a few days. i now suspect the turtles may have been involved. i have no evidence, but it is a little fishy. anyway, the second tadpole and the recently departed tadpole grew and developed into froglets. basically they were frogs with tails. i looked over one day, while doing dishes, and the second tadpole was swimming around the tank...with a turtle attached to his back left ankle. i grabbed them both out of the tank...the turtle wouldn't let go. i tapped the turtle on the head...he still wouldn't let go. i tried to pull the leg (which was ripped open from the knee to the foot)...he still wouldn't let go, but i pulled the poor thing's leg from the turtle's mouth. i made alex let it go in the pond. now to tadpole #3. the last time i saw him alive, he was sitting on the turtles' log. i went down to check on the chicks, i was gone for about 20 minutes. i came upstairs to do some dishes, looked over at my sweet little turtles, and noticed something TORN UP on the bottom of the cage. not realizing what it was at first, i looked a little closer. NO FREAKIN' WAY. it was the little froglet. they were eating him. i feel so bad. i didn't get it out of there. but today, there is NOTHING LEFT. no joke. this made me think about all those people who swim in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. if turtles were bigger, we wouldn't be worrying about snakes, alligators, or even sharks. these little guys have proven what efficient killers turtles are. all this time i thought they were looking at me, and swimming to the edge of the tank to see me because they liked me, when all along it's been them waiting for me to make one wrong move!

have you seen this frog?

our african claw toed frog is missing. i couldn't tell you how long it has been gone, at least a month i think. he lived in the basement, or at least he moved down there. he is green, slimy, and has claws on his toes and fingers(?). if you see him or some frog matching his description, please let me know.
actually it isn't all bad that he disappeared, with him gone, i moved 4 baby chicks in his tank. they are really cute. 2 americanas and 2 little bantam chicks. the americanas are striped, one is like a gold and red/brown, the other is silver and black. grace and olivia (i watch her) picked out the bantams. grace liked the white one, and olivia picked the black one. they are soooo cute.
they are now living in the basement, next to the bearded dragons, and across the steps from the dog's crate. they seem to all be getting along well. the chicks are a little noisier than the last resident, but i think they will get better. i hope anyway, or jeff might try to evict them. did i mention that i forgot to discuss with jeff the chicks moving in? yeah, he was not exactly happy. i had to do some really unspeakable acts to get him to let them stay...please don't ask, i don't want to relive the trauma. no one should be forced to clean AND do the laundry. so now the chicks are allowed to stay another week.
i was actually worried about jeff's reaction. he came home about an hour late, and didn't call. turns out, one of the guys at work was outed for being a swinger. a friend of a guy new to the sales team, is also a swinger and he told the new guy all about him and his wife. now you would have to have seen the couple in question to really know why this is sooo gross. she looks like princess fiona from the shrek movies. not the cute princess, but the ogre fiona...well without the green skin. he is perfectly round, except for his large sharp nose. and weasel eyes. i know it is mean to say, but really, this is what they look like. they also have kids. the youngest is like 5. jeff has known about this for a while. apparently if you google some one's email address or a name they like to go by, you can get a lot of info about them. try it sometime. anyway, it has been a running joke since jeff started there almost 4 years ago. never a dull moment there.

they're here

my brother in law and alex, haley and 3 of their cousins went to get the chicks yesturday afternoon. 36 in all. 15 buff orpington (gold colored chicken with lots of fluffy feathers), 15 barred plymouth rock (black and white chicken...the kind you see on antiques with chicken motif), and 6 red rocks (not sure about these. heard they may not be the nicest chickens that's why they only got 6). now since they didn't get the kind i like, i am thinking i may go to the store and get a couple americanas (they lay colored eggs. i mean like blue, bluegreen, green) and maybe a couple of bantams (basically mini chickens. they are just smaller than the others, and are really pretty.). anyway, so far so good. alex will be going to my brother in law's house after school to see if there is anything for him to do. it will be a little tricky, with baseball and afterschool clubs, but i think he will surprise jeff. i really hope he does, otherwise i will be hearing "i told you so" for ever!
anyway, today is grace's last tball practice. games start next week. i am excited. why? i couldn't tell you. watching tball is like watching paint dry. this is why I picked the team. i picked all parents that i like. (the kids are ok too) paint is so much easier to watch when you have fun people around to watch it with. oh, i meant tball is so much easier to watch, sorry!
3 kids all playing sports. i never realized what a juggling act it was. especially if you have all 3 playing the same day at the same time at different places. luckily that is not me this year. but jeff and i were talking about how we will have all 5 kids playing baseball/softball at the same time in a couple of years. and again in soccer season all 5 will play at the same time again. i am sure i will be totally insane by then!

cluck cluck

yes, we are getting new "pets". alex has been working on the old chicken house for about a month. it had stacks of old tires taller than he is, old supplies, holes in the walls, and was needing new chicken wire. he has been over there everyday, after school, on the weekends. i don't think i have ever seen him this excited about anything. yesturday, jeff, nathan smith, my brother-in-law, and my father-in-law, helped the boys (and morgan and haley) finish up what needed to be done. today is the day they are getting the chickens. jeff is so not thrilled. all i have heard from him is "why on earth would he want those? they are smelly, nasty, disgusting". ok, maybe they are. when i was a kid i wanted chickens pretty bad. saved my money, drew up plans for a coop, even got magazines about chickens. my parents never got them for me. i know, i'm just doing this for the kids because it was something i wanted as a kid. it's true. i will admit it. but i didn't put the idea in their heads. they came up with it on their own. jeff's problem is the kids don't want the stuff he wanted as a kid. but he gets it for them anyway. then he complains because they don't take care of it/play with it. i can give you a few examples: a go-cart, airhockey table, foozball table, golden tee arcade game. these are just a few. these weren't cheap games, he spent way more money on this crap that they kids don't want, than was spent on getting the chicken house going. he brings up the dog we have to usually yell at the kids to take care of. i love the dog, but my kids didn't want a dog. my sister-in-law decided alex needed a dog at the ripe old age of 7. boys need dogs. did i mention she doesn't have any kids of her own? so how can i count this against the kids when they didn't ask for her. they didn't put any work into getting her. i guess that has been my litmus test for getting things for the kids. how much work did they put into getting it? has it proved they are committed to the responsibility? alex is going to be 11 in a couple of months. i think it is time to give him the benefit of the doubt. and if it doesn't work out, we go from there. but we have to give him the chance. i am not going to limit his possibilities at 11. he has been wanting to join 4H. i figured this would give him a chance to see how much work this may be. then we can go from there. with 4H, he can raise poultry, sheep, pigs, cows, whatever. if he is really wanting to do this, i am fine with it. jeff doesn't want the work. he had to do it as a kid. he didn't want to, he hated it. i wanted to, but wasn't given the chance.
it's amazing we ever got together. i have always been an animal person. he is definately not. (although he loved gimpy our cat. gimpy had something wrong with him. he couldn't walk right. when he tried to run he usually fell over or did a cartwheel. but he was a major fighter. he would be out there with 20 other cats at jeff's mom and dad's house, and fight them all off for a scrap of food. totally won my heart, then jeff's)
anyway, soon i will have chicken stories for you. i know how the bunny stories made everyone's day.

count down to first communion

saturday is the big day. haley's first communion. 40 people (give or take) in my house. luckily, that is just close family. thank goodness it is supposed to be beautiful that day. i don't really have much to do, well except clean the house. i have been working on that for about a week now. you know, with me being home all day, you would think it would be easy to keep the house clean. but with 3 kids home during the day, (not to mention any kids i watch being there too) and the 4 that come home from school, my house is constantly dirty.

rachel told me i should start this thing when i kept emailing her about the bunnies having bunnies. well, the bunnies are gone now. i guess now's as good a time as any. we are a bunny free home. i expect it to stay that way. jeff thinks we have too many pets as it is. like a dog, two bearded dragons, two baby turtles, and about 10 fish are too many pets. the baby turtles are the coolest pets though. when they see me in the kitchen, they swim to the glass and watch me, and try to get my attention. they even look at you when you talk to them! i know "what a freakin' geek". well i am rambling now. better get to the kids in the tub!