Animal Care Instructions

Amanda and Austin are on vacation this week with their grandparents and other extended family. I miss them a lot but I'm glad they are having fun.

Before Amanda left she wrote me a complete set of instructions for taking care of her pets, It was so cute I have to copy them here.

Remember to put Toby's food on a plate so he does not cut his tongue.

Only put his food near his beds. I am trying to teach him he can't come on the entrance porch.

Please, please, please make sure Scout AND Toby know they are good boys.

And sometimes can you pet them a little bit.

And if you see one of Scout's toys can you throw it for him so he can chase it.

8:30AM - Toby's first meal

Noonish - Toby's 2nd meal

5:30PM Toby's 3rd meal

The rats can eat leftovers from meals or just about anything actually.  Please make sure that they have PLENTY of water.

Thank You.

Another Day in the Life

Some days I sit down to write and think that I really don't have anything to say, that nothing has happened today. Then I realize that I am just so used to the daily chaos, drama and doings around here that I forget that it may be at least somewhat interesting to write about.

One parent today experienced a lot of frustration and what she felt was unfairness at work today, leading to her walking out. She called me and asked to come by and talk. The kids had just gone down for naps so I met her outside and we talked. She decided go talk to the owners of the business she had worked for to make sure they understood her side of the story and then she was  planning to see if she could put in some applications at other places. About 45 minutes later she called me back to tell me that she was back at work. When she came in this evening she told me that when she went to talk to the business owners and they in turn called the manager of the place where she was  employed and they were able to work things out so that she could return to work.

Another parent, actually a grandparent who has custody of her grandchild, has started radiaton treatment for breast and thyroid cancer this week. She had breast cancer five years ago and just a couple months ago found out she has it again. It has been really hard for her to make the decision to go ahead with treatment but her love for her grandson has won out.  Prayers for her and her grandson would be greatly appreciated.

Still another grandparent is temporarily taking care of her granddaughter for about ten days after the child's mother was unexpectedly unable too. I have cared for this child in the past and received a rather frantic call from the grandmother wondering if she could come here again for a little. I'm glad to say it worked out that we can so she was back today after being gone about six months. It's amazing how much a toddler can grow and change in six months.

 The stepmother of two of our kids works at Hershey Chocolate Factory brought us a whole box of Mounds candy bars this afternoon. SO GOOD! I don't think they're going to stay around long at all. Especially with four tween/teens in the house this evening. Of course I have definitely had my share of them as well.

I had a little scuffle (playfully) with one of the kids this afternoon and lost. Painfully. I was sitting in a lawn chair outside and just when I said "You win!" the chair tipped over backward and I hit the ground so hard I heard my teeth grind together. The chair folded up and I folded with it. I think I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow. The fourteen year old I was scuffling with thought it was a lot funnier than I did (although I think it did scare her a little at first.)

Amanda is still spending a large amount of her free time with Toby, the cat who showed up at our door last week. Wednesday evening Toby discovered Amanda's pet rats, who were safely in their cage. Of course he had to get as close as he could and try to figure this out. Two of the rats stayed at the back of the cage, but Amber, the feisty one, was not going to be afraid in her own home and gave him a good little nip on the nose. He jumped and fussed but went right back to the cage so she nipped him again. At that point Amanda seperated them and took Toby outside. Our other cat, Scout, just considers them a  normal part of the family and ignores them, even if Amanda has them out of their cage playing with them. He has been known to go to sleep next to them playing.

I made this pizza recipe for lunch today and we really like the flavor and texture of the very simple crust. It disappeared very quickly and even though I doubled the recipe I really should have made twice as much. I'm planning to make it again Sunday evening for a simple dinner. I was going to make this Chocolate Chip Bread for afternoon snack and then realized that somebody (Amanda) had eaten all the chocolate chips. So I guess it will have to wait now until Doug makes another trip to the grocery store.

And now my brain seems to have gone numb and I'm having a hard time writing a coherent sentence. I think it's time to go read a few blogs and maybe play a game or two of Mahjong.

Trying to Walk a Rat, Burnt Pizza, and More!

It's been cloudy all day and rainy this evening, but I am loving the temperatures. It is 67 degrees right now and the forecast says a high of 79 tomorrow. My kind of weather! The 7-day forecast is showing temperatures in the 80's the rest of the week with a 30% chance of showers nearly every day.

Austin's friend Aaron finally went home today. Before he left he said he "I may be back in a week, or two weeks, or three weeks, or four weeks, or next summer." I have a feeling he's going to be back long before next summer. He and Austin ordered some things off E-Bay that they are excited about so I'm sure he'll want to be back to play with them when they come in. Plus they have so much fun together. They've been staying up way too late though and today it finally caught up with them and they didn't get up until about 1:00 this afternoon. Austin said they slept 12 hours so that tells me how late they were up last night.

Michael was busy almost all day going places with Daddy. They started out at the laundromat early this morning (I'll explain why in a bit), then went to the grocery store, the landfill, Wal-Mart, PetSmart (more about this one in a bit as well), and then to take some groceries to a friend who is fighting cancer and unable to work right now. When he wasn't with Daddy he was pushing a stroller around the house. He told Gabe to get in and drink a bottle and then pushed him around the house.

And the trip to the laundromat? Well, Doug has been trying to help me catch up on laundry and finally decided the easiest way to do that was take it all to the laundromat and put it in the biggest washing machines he could find. When he came home with all that clean dry laundry it took very little time to get it all put away. And now we're enjoying the wonderful feeling of being caught up on laundry. . . . until tomorrow. Oh well. Sometimes it's worth it even if it doesn't last long.

And the trip to PetSmart? Amanda has been researching online how to train pet rats and decided she wanted a harness for her rats so she could walk them. So she convinced Doug (as in begged from the time he walked in the door from work Friday evening until they finally went this afternoon) to take her to PetSmart so she could buy one. We tried to put it on the calmest rat (Micki) this evening. Twice. But she didn't like it. I'm sure Amanda will go back online and get some more information on how to get a rat trained to wear a harness and keep at it until she gets it. That's just the way she is.

And now I'm laughing at myself because I just wrote a whole paragraph about training rats. Seriously? When did this happen! Sometimes real life IS stranger than fiction. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

I did get a picture of this though. It's what happens when I get interrupted by wild kids and totally forget I put a pizza in the oven.

Thankfully we had three others so no one went hungry. And Austin actually ate part of this one just because he's goofy like that.

As for me, in between all these other fun things and lots of kids (seven daycare kids ages 6 months to 10 years, plus a couple extras just for fun) I worked on getting the menu and activity schedule and supplies ready for next week.

And now it's time to call it a day, read a few minutes and get some sleep.

Good night everybody!

Childcare Photo Journal Monday April 5, 2010

The kids loved that it was warm enough for water play today.

It wouldn't be a normal day without a playing ball at least a little.

Enjoying a mid-morning snack of apple slices and milk.

Amanda brought out her pet rats, Micky and Amber, for some fresh air and a little company.

We had a picnic lunch.

 Enjoying a book in the sunshine.

 

 

 

 Taking an evening stroll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Few Updates

Here are a few updates on some of the fun Austin and Amanda have been having.



The grass that Austin planted in the cricket terrarium is beginning to grow. And he added another cricket to keep the first one company. In this picture there is one on the cardboard roll and one in the bottom left corner.


Razor, Austin's hermit crab continues to do well in his new home and Austin is a very good caretaker. I'm still surprised at how interesting it's been to have a hermit crab. I guess I thought they just spent their lives hiding in their shells but Razor is an active hermit crab.
Micki, the baby rat is also doing well. This is the home Amanda has set up for her. The bathtub is her water dish and the Little People figures are there to keep her company. We will definitely have to get a bigger home for Micki but for now she seems comfortable. She spends a lot of time riding around on Amanda's shoulder.



We found some helicopter pictures that Austin liked so I printed them for him. He colored them and we added them to his helicopter display.

A Rat and a Hermit Crab

Amanda has been asking for several weeks now to go to the pet shop and with everything going on the last few weekends we just haven't made it. Well, yesterday we finally got there. And we came home with two new pets.

I was pretty sure I knew what Amanda would get as she's had these before and loved them. And sure enough after looking around awhile she chose a young pet rat. Here are some pictures of Amanda introducing Micki to Michael.




Micki and Michael weren't too sure they liked each other.


I was a little surprised at Austin's choice of a pet but he's really enjoying it and I have to say it is turning out to be a more interesting pet than I thought it would be. I always imagined hermit crabs always hiding in their shells but this one has been quite active, even when being held. Here's Austin holding Razor, the hermit crab.





Both kids used their own money they earned to buy their pets and the needed supplies.I'm sure we will have many adventures to share with everyone with the new members of the family.