Rats?! Really?!

My house has become infested.  I have just over a thousand square feet.  There are six people sharing our house plus two dogs.  I do not need rats.  I don't.

Unfortunately, my kids did not agree. They decided they wanted a pet of their own.  They vacillated between buying a tarantula, a lizard, parakeets, or rats.  They started saving their money and hatching plans to buy their very own pet.  They looked on Craigslist and at Zamzows.  They started comparing animals and costs.  In a hazy moment I said that they could buy a pet if they paid for it themselves, it stayed in a cage, and they did all of the animal care.  Why did I say that?  I could have just said no.  But I didn't.

After a trip to Zamzows the kids had narrowed their choices down to rats.  They are sociable, don't bite, can be handled and petted, and can even learn tricks.  These reasons combined convinced the kids rats were the way to go.  I was just relieved to see their average life span is only 2-4 years.  The birds could live twenty years and the turtle I loved could live upwards of 80 years.  I'm not going to let the kids adopt a pet that will still be around when they go to college.  That cute turtle was probably going to outlive me.  I may not want rats but at least they won't come with me into retirement.

The rats were about $15 each and even buying a used cage and supplies it was going to cost the kids about $50.  They had $15 saved up.  I figured I was safe for awhile.  Secretly I hoped they would get bored with saving their money, blow it on candy, and I would never have to welcome rats into my home.

Their dad (who loves rats and has supremely fond memories of his childhood rats) helped the kids do some Craigslist searching.  While I was out grocery shopping he found someone selling two well mannered rats, with cage, accessories, and food for $10.  The posting was a month old so the kids called with trepidation in their hearts.  They quickly found out the critters were still available and amazingly enough the family wanted them gone bad enough to offer them for free.  I came home from grocery shopping to kids waiting on the front lawn.  I barely had time to turn off the car before the kids announced the fantastic news.  We were getting rats today!  I could barely contain my glee.

So with no further ado, may I present the newest (and definitely last addition to our household):

Excuse the blurry picture.  Fast moving, light colored rats are exceedingly difficult to photograph.

I believe their names are Bolt and Clever.  The names have been much debated all day today.

They are kind of cute, as long as you don't acknowledge the long, scaly, disgusting tail trailing behind each one.

Tooth Troubles

It was time for the kids dental check up.  Easy peasy.  Ethan and Libby got an appointment time together and Grace and Sam were scheduled for a week later.

At Libby's appointment we were reminded she had a tooth that needed pulled.  One of her front baby teeth had something blocking her adult tooth from coming up.
 
Ethan still had a couple small cavities we hadn't fixed after his last checkup.  They hadn't grown, but they still needed to be filled.  The dentist also discovered that both of Ethan's six year molars, for mysterious reasons, had huge cavities.  These teeth were perfect at his last checkup.  They just decided to fall apart, quickly.  We were sent us to another dentist because the cavities were so huge.  He ended up needing one root canal complete with crown (that can't be finished until his roots finish growing; he is sporting a temporary filling for the next six months) and an almost root canal on the other molar.  I asked both dentists what we could do to prevent this in the future.  They basically shrugged.  Ethan, apparently, has old man teeth.

Meanwhile I took Libby to the oral surgeon to get her tooth extracted.  They decided she needed to be completely sedated to have her tooth removed.  After she was sedated the rest was a piece of cake.  Libby had one baby tooth, five baby tooth buds, and an adult tooth all trying to share the same spot.  Libby didn't get to take the buds home but the tooth fairy still gave her two dollars and five quarters.  The tooth fairy was just glad everyone survived.

They both still have a couple small cavities that need filled and follow ups with the specialists.  I truly hope they can make it to adulthood with all their original teeth at this point.

Grace and Sam's appointments went much smoother.  Sam drove me nuts by playing with the buttons on the dentist chair but he got his teeth cleaned and was pronounced cavity free.  Grace cried, and hid behind the chair, and sat on my lap, and in the end she didn't even show the dentist her teeth.  Next time she swears she will open her mouth so I will take her to the dollar store after.  Only time will tell.  Two days later she announced her tooth hurt.  Dreading the reason why, I asked her to open her mouth.  I was able to quickly diagnose the problem.  She is losing her first tooth.

Who knew teeth could cause so many problems?

Hello, Blogger.

My old friend.  I've come to talk with you again.  
 

For eight years I have been mostly faithful.  You have been with me through ups and downs.

Then things got crazy busy and I left you behind.  I am sorry.  I plan to renew our friendship.

My days are crazy and I dropped you.  I didn’t realize how quickly my time would start to fill as the kids got older.  I remember going stir crazy when they were little.  We went to the park daily and my house was clean. Now we manage the park monthly, my house is a disaster, and I LOVE the days we don’t have outside activities.  Ethan has Cub Scouts, Libby has girls' activity day through church, they both have violin lessons (When does the squealing stop?! When?!) and Grace has piano (her playing doesn’t sound like music but at least it doesn’t cause my fillings to vibrate).  The three older kids have classes with other homeschool families on Wednesday.  They also spend one afternoon a week cleaning for a woman in our ward who has limited mobility.  Add in the occasional doctor and dentist appointment (lots of dentists lately) and my days are overflowing.  

A year ago I decided I was not busy enough.  I decided it was time to finish my degree; into my crazy schedule I decided to add two classes a semester.  Thankfully I am able to attend BYU-I online, otherwise it would not even be possible.  My classes all seem to require a lot of writing and I’ve been running out of words.  Hopefully I can get back in the habit of sparing some for you.

Thank you for being here, even when I've neglected you.  I will seek to be more committed to our relationship.

The Last Hurrah of Summer

Vacations have been few and far between this summer.   Before we all started back to school we planned one last bash.  We tent camped in Wallowa Lake State Park in Oregon for five days.  Upon arriving I observed our campground was really for people who didn't like camping.  There were flush toilets, showers, and right behind our campsite a huge modern playground.  The roads were constantly busy with RVs, motorcycles, and bicycles.  It wasn't exactly roughing it, but it was lovely.

The kids spent a lot of time working on their Oregon State Parks Junior Ranger badges and attending park-hosted activities.  We learned how to tell the difference between a pine, spruce, and fir tree.  We learned Douglas firs are actually spruces and Ponderosa pines have reddish bark which smells like vanilla on warm days.  We learned young thistle and stinging nettle are good to eat.  We learned about the Nez Perce and the foods they ate.  We practiced throwing a spear with an atlatl and explored a tipi.  There was also a bit of swimming in the clear, chilly lake, bike riding up some crazy steep hills and then hitting 35 MPH coasting down them, ice cream eating, and eating a ton of food we made in our new pie irons. When we weren't doing all our other activities the kids played on the playground for hours with newly-made friends.  They enjoyed playing and Michael and I enjoyed the peace of no children under foot.

The third day we were there (after selling a kidney or two to raise the money) we rode the Wallowa Lake Tramway gondola to the top of Mount Howard.  My sister Heidi, Libby and I rode in one car while Michael rode with the rest of the kids in the other car.  The moment the gondola started its 13.5 minute, 4,000 foot ascent, Sam immediately grabbed himself and announced he had to go potty while Grace started fussing because she was scared.  Michael and Ethan had to tell the Goldilocks story two and a half times to maintain order.  In our car we spent a lot time talking about how far up we were and feeling a little nervous we were looking down at the tops of very tall trees. 

 

Going up.

 More going up.

 Sam really needed to use the bathroom.

 

At the top.

 Looking out on the valley.

 There were chipmunks.

 They were friendly.

We brought sunflower seeds.  I know you aren't supposed to feed the wildlife but just once I decided to live on the edge.  This may have well been the kids' favorite part of the trip.

 Look at that view!  It almost looks fake.

 So very pretty! 

On the way down.

We all came home relaxed, fat, and happy.

Fair 2014!

The fair this year was one snafu after another.  I had the kids decide what they wanted to enter early on so we could do the early registration.  We got it all filled out and turned in on time.  Ethan and Libby each entered nine items, Grace entered five and Sam entered three for a total of 26 items.

After dropping the entries off I got a call from the fair office.  I hadn't completely filled out a couple of spots on the entry forms.  The woman on the phone promised me she would just take the incomplete items off the entry form and we would have to enter those separately.  I messed up a bit, but it was salvageable.

The day we went to drop off entries we were juggling photos, paintings, Sculpy figures, and cut flowers in water.  After struggling with transporting the four vases of flowers across town I was informed they couldn't be entered for another two days.  Then they couldn't find our early entry forms.  So we stood there and filled out forms for four different children entering twenty six items.

After making it back to the van with the rejected flowers I decided we wouldn't worry about entering the flowers this year.  Then I remembered I told the kids if they watered, tended, and weeded the flowers, they could enter them in the fair.  For two months they upheld their end of the bargain and I had to uphold mine.  Two days later I was whiling away the morning until we could drop off the flowers.  I thought the entries couldn't be dropped off until after 11:00.  Around 10:00 I decided to fill out the flower entry forms.  That's when I realized that entries were accepted until 11:00.  We had another fun-filled mad dash to the fairgrounds.  We finally got everything entered and just had to wait until we visited the fair the next day.

All the pictures were taken with a camera phone so forgive the quality.

Ethan's entries:

 

1st place - "Day Lily"

4th place - "The 4th"

 4th place- "Shed"

 

 4th place- "Dragon"

 2nd place - Gluten Free Monster Cookies (for all youth ages)

 

1st place - "Pirate Teddy" Sculpy

Libby's entries:

 2nd Place - "Bridge"

 She didn't place with this picture but she loved it.  It was a little rabbit we found in a local park.  Libby stalked the poor critter to get this picture.

2nd Place - "Fudge Brownies"

 3rd Place - Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies (for all youth ages; Ethan beat her out for second place)

 2nd Place - Zinnias over two inches

 2nd Place - Zinnias under two inches

 2nd Place - "Cookie Monster" Sculpy (Ethan and Libby were in the same age category and Ethan took first)

Grace's entries:

 2nd Place - Ornamental Sunflower

 

 2nd Place - "Cookie Monster" Sculpy under age six

 3rd Place - Three Zinnias

1st Place and Special Youth Award! - photography under six (and taken with the same camera phone these photos were taken with)

Sam's entries:

 2nd Place - "Bubbles"

 2nd Place - "Libby's Eye"

They didn't place with all their entries but they came close and did rather well.  We're very proud parents.  And very nice parents for not collecting all their prize money as compensation for all my hard work and the money I shelled out to get the dang photo prints.