Oh Snow you didn't!

SNOW!! SNOW!!! SNOW!!!! 

I don't very much like snow.  Its cold, and people don't know how to drive in it.  Thankfully I had no reason to travel out in the disasterous 10 inches of snow that we achieved the other night. 

Devin had I guess what the school called mid winter break yesterday and well its a good thing to because the kid has been coughing all stinking day!  She is sick, she has a cold or something, thankfully no fever though.  Well I was conflicted because she has been coughing alot but I wasn't sure if I should keep her home from school today.  But I got the phone call last night... The call from her school saying that because of the weather and driving conditions there will be no school on Tuesday.  So I guess I don't need to make that phone call saying that Devin is to sick to go to school.

If you were wondering how our new little family member is doing?  Well he is doing good.  I've finally got the kids to leave him alone for most of the day (since he is nocternal).  We've been letting him run around in the play gate and he seems to like it, to get out of his cage and "play" a little.  Today we actually set up a little area just for him, with his cage inside the play gate, so now he can go in and out of his cage when he wants (when we open up his cage of course).  We don't like to let him out unsupervised because well the little guy can jump pretty stinking high.

Have an Oh So Wonderful Day!

Catrina

Our New Family Member....

Meet our new little buddy...

His name?   Is Hoppy

If you didn't know, he's a chinchila

We got him yesterday (2/19/11)

Devin wanted a hamster but we convinced her to get a chinchila instead

The whole family is happy with her choice

And he seems to be adjusting well to the chaos

Although he doesn't like me taking so many pictures of him

Have an Oh So Wonderful Day!

Catrina

Your grounded now go lay down!

Do you have a family pet that is just that... Family? We treat our pets like family (well at least the dog we do.. Shhh don't tell the cat). The girls sometimes say that the dog is thier brother (which obviously we all know is not actually true, but let them have thier fun), I also refer to The Hubby as the dogs Daddy. I know its cooky but we do truely love the dog and I know we would all be heart broken if anything happen to him, which brings me to my story. The other night after The Hubby got home from work he let Jake (the dog) outside. Now in our neighborhood its a subdivision that doesn't have fences, but we've been here for a year and a half now so we got to the point were we could trust the dog not to run off (or so we thought) after about 5 minutes we went to let the dogs in the house and Jake wasn't coming to the door. I yelled and whistled for him for another few minutes and then told The Hubby that the dog was gone, he of course didn't believe me and went to the door to look for Jake. After a few minutes of yelling and whistling for him he realized that I was right (like always) the dog was gone. He grabbed a flash light and continued yelling for the dog for another good 10 minutes, I walked out the front door yelling for him I walked down to the corner yelling for the dog, I had no shoes on and no coat (bad idea on my part). After I yelled for the dog for 5 minutes I walked back to the house. The Hubby got in his truck and drove around the neighborhood looking for the dog. I walked back into the house to get my shoes and coat on and I hear Devin crying. Of course I asked her what was wrong, she was upset because she thought she would never see Jake again. I had to reassure her that we would find Jake but I understand her concern since this was the longest he had ever gone missing for. Finally I got tired of waiting for The Hubby, grabbed a flash light and started to make my way through the woods behind our house. I knew there was a path back there and figured I would just follow the path until I found Jake, but after a while the path kind of disappears and your left with bushes and tree's and branches every where. It was very hard to climb through it all to get out of the woods, but I finally made it out and what do you know here comes Jake running through the condo's on the otherside of the woods. I yelled at him, the way any parent would yell at thier child who is in trouble, I called him Jacob (which is what he is called when he has done bad). He knew he was in trouble he ran (out of my reach) towards the woods with his tail between his legs. Finally after yelling at him a few times he came to me and we began our walk home and he was very smart to stick by my side. Thankfully The Hubby came and picked us up because I really didn't want to walk home after that walk through the woods. Now I know it sounds funny but have you ever grounded a pet? Well we have... Jake's grounded and if he's lucky we won't buy him an electric fence. At this point in time, Jake is only allowed outside to pee and poo and thats it, then he has to come right back in. No more sniffing around and enjoying the outdoors for him.

Have a Great Day!

Catrina

Sushi

No its not whats for dinner, remember the other day I mentioned we found a baby turtle? If you remember that, then you remember that my daughter named him Sushi. Well Sushi has been doing well, he is eating and swimming around his tank. I'm sure he is a little lonely, but he seems content.

So this is Sushi

He's a cute little fella ain't he?

He's got a floating dry area ain't it cool?

This is to show how small he actually is, he's a tiny little guy.

Like I've mentioned before he isn't very big. We're guessing he is only a few weeks old. After weighing the odds of his survival in the wild with his odds of survival with us. We believe he may have a better chance of survival with us being so tiny. We have ALOT of wild life in our area and knowing that most baby turtles do not survive after birth (thanks discovery channel), we though he's be better off. We've been doing research as to how to care for him and I actually found something today that said do not take them out of thier home neighborhood (which we haven't) and if we are to release him back to make sure we release him back were we found him. So thats good to know. So that is our little guy Sushi (or as my mother and husband call him - Turtle Soup).

Have a Great Day!

Catrina

The things you find through the neighborhood.

Yesterday my mom and I started our daily walks. Before we even started to get ready to go for a walk Brooke asked, can I ride my bike? To which me and my mom answered "actually yes you can" (see unless one of us is willing to go sit in the front yard she is not aloud to go out and ride her bike). So we got the kiddo's (Brooke and Kara) ready to go for a walk, We got Brooke's bike out and buckled Kara into her bike, and we were on our way....

As we walked Brooke kept bothering us about visiting the park, we walked across the street from the park and all of a sudden Brooke looks down while riding her bike and says Awww, my mom and I look down and to our surprise there is a baby turtle sitting on the sidewalk next to the grass. I automatically pick it up (sorry its in my instinct when I see a tiny helpless animal (especially turtles since I love them!). We took it on the rest of our walk and to the park and then head home. Once we got home my mom went down to the basement and got a 10 gallon tank (I think its a 10 gallon maybe its a 5 gallon) and we prepared a little habitat for the baby turtle (after 3 attempts to make it look right we finally got it perfect), equipt with rocks, sand, water, stick, and once Devin got home we put grass in it. We already had turtle food (my mom and dad had turtles before), Then we went online to find out what kind of turtle we had found. After looking at many pictures online, thats when we figured out we had found a baby painted turtle, once we identified what we had found we started to research the care for a baby turtle. We had many discussions on whether or not its a good idea to keep the baby turtle or not. Mostly because it is a wild caught turtle and also the fact that its no more then 2 weeks old. We don't want to interfer with nature as there is a risk of us killing the poor baby turtle, but after much discussion and as much wild life is in our neighborhood, we believe that the turtle may have a greater chance of survival with us. We have all the equipment already to take care of the little guy (or girl), and if more is needed we will get it. So far the little lad seems to be doing well. Can you guess what the girls names it? Come on take a guess..... Sushi, yes Devin decided that Sushi would be a good name for the turtle (yeah my daughter is weird). Some of our freinds think its a theme since our cat's name is chop suey, but I had nothing to do with naming the turtle.
So thats our turtle story.... I am still kinda of iffy on whether or not we should keep it. But its been so chilly lately, I wonder how much the little guy can handle.

Anyways..... I'm rambing and I am sorry, my mind is racing with thoughts right now....

Have a Great Day!
Catrina

Bad Kitty

Yesterday we visited the hubby's mom and dad. While visiting my Mother in law tells me that her cat, better known as squeaky is pregnant again. The kids of course are excited, the Father in law not so much. See back before squeaky got pregnant the first time the Father in law said that if she ever came home preggo she was gone! Of course though she did end up preggo and had two adorable little kitty's. But Squeaky didn't go away, and when she came into heat in January the Mother in law kept her in doors to prevent the mishap from happening again. Well she was obviously to late when she kept her locked in the house because squeaky is for sure preggo. Well we weren't exactly sure how far along she was until yesterday. Squeaky was laying on the chair relaxing and the Mother in law and Devin walked near and she freaked and scratched them both nothing big, she got the Mother in laws sweater and 2 little spots on Devins forhead, we figured kitty was just irritated. Well some time later the girls we sitting in the rocking chair with the Mother in law (which squeaky was still sleeping on the top of), well Brooke went to adjust herself on her grandma's lap and squeaky freaked out and just start batting the crap out of Brookes face. Thankfully she missed her eyes, nose and mouth but the side of her face looks pretty messed up (just scratch's but I know it was painful). Of course we cleaned her up and put antibiotic ointment on her face, but my biggest problem I'm having is a fear of her getting Cat Scratch Fever. I don't exactly know what the signs and symptoms are of it but I always end up freaking out when my kiddos get scratched by a cat because when I was 4 I was hospitalized for 2 weeks and almost lost my life from cat scratch fever. So far Brooke is doing good, no signs (that I notice), of course Kara has been extremely irritable and I haven't quite figured out why. So now we watch and wait to make sure that she doesn't end up sick. But so far I think we will be good. :)


Have a Great Night!
Catrina