muskrat love?

apparently not.

my mom doesn't love muskrats. 

fortunately, i think the feeling is mutual.

yesterday morning, my mom was out on the back deck when

she thought she heard a scratching sound,

which was actually this happening...

and once she was brave enough to look,

(i'm scared when it's dark and i'm home alone, too!)

she saw ol' muskrat sam.

she got him to run into a kennel by 'chasing' him with a broom,

but there was some felt material that got caught and she couldn't shut him in...

so she called my husband, and sam went to sleep.

it looked as if it was going to be an easy catch,

but he wriggled his way out,

aaaand like a moron, i forgot to change my settings for the action i didn't know was going to happen:

(notice sam was moving much faster than the broom.

for all of you animal lovers out there, he was very gentle)

you should have heard him chewing on the broom!

gotcha, sucka!

i mean, let's get you home, sweet little thing.

this took a whole 2 minutes, maybe? 

sam underestimated jason's sneakiness.

my husband is my hero, if you didn't already know. 

and thanks to the capture of muskrat sam,

he was my mom's hero for the day, too.

we took a nice little trek to the back of mom's property,

and muskrat sam let us know he was still a fighter.

he wasn't very grateful for his rescue, 

and was biting at jason while he tried to set the yellow toothed captive free.

finally, he mustered up the courage to wander out of the cage and into the water.

he knew exactly where he was going,

(props to my hubband for picking the right pond!)

and soon he disappeared under the water,

where his friends and family were waiting 

to gather around the mud pit and hear of his adventures.

and they all lived happily ever after.

the end.

in the bag

in walks jason, from a hard day's work...

me:

"hello, my man. you're so hot. i've missed you...

oh. what do you have in the bag?

is it for me?"

"it is?! how thoughtful of you! but, what is it??"

"a boy! a real boy! i've always wanted one just like this!

thank you so much!"

"i love him!"

the lone kitten

on thursday afternoon, we listed our 7 kitties up for adoption.

within 4 hours, 5 of them were gone...

can someone cue the hallelujah chorus, please?

kittens are actually a lot easier than puppies--

as in it really isn't a comparison,

but they were still on the 

"just one more thing to have to worry about"

list, so i was glad.

all that remained were the 2 ugly black kittens.

now, i'm not prejudiced against black kittens,

these ones were just...ugly.

their eyes made them look--

well, you know--

*special*.

so anyway, we lucked out and someone took the little runt (literally, the runt) the next afternoon.

as of today, we still have this little ugly sweetie left...

i should be nice. it really is sweet.

anyway.

at least there are advantages of being the lone kitty:

...like snuggle time with someone who isn't even a cat person, 

just because they feel bad for you being all alone.

...and special attention from a sweet little boy

who loves to snuggle even more than you do!

see what i mean about its (the kitten, not jaxon's) eyes?

won't someone please take pity on this special little kitty?!

baby robin

  the girls came in from playing with their good friend Jadyn, a 12 year old neighbor girl who recently moved out of the neighborhood, to let us know there was a baby bird outside that couldn't fly.
   now this is big news to any kid, so jason went outside with them to investigate. he found a baby robin, and mommy and daddy robin were none too thrilled that their baby had fallen out of the nest. the baby was close to being able to fly, but wasn't quite ready yet...and jason couldn't find the nest.

so we took baby robin inside.

baby robin wasn't interested in us trying to feed him through an improvised syringe (a straw)...so jason went back out and watched mommy and daddy robin until they flew back to the nest. luckily it was in a small tree and not up in the big maple tree...

so we wrapped baby robin up in an old pink jacket and up the tree he went--

he sat the wrapped robin up in little nooks as he climbed higher,

and once he was within reach of the nest, he unwrapped baby robin

and sat him back in his home.

hopefully he stayed there until he was ready to really fly!

toy boy

**ok, before i start this post, i have to say thank you to all of you who commented and said you make ugly pancakes too...oops, i guess there weren't any that said that...apparently i'm the only pancake challenged one, and that's ok. actually, to be fair, my mix was really thick the night i took those, but i was too hungry to care so i made them anyway...so they're not usually THAT ugly. if i tried i'm sure they would have been fine, but they were just for me. ;) but i still need to work on my june cleaver status...adding to the list high heels and a pearl necklace. (thanks, angie and valerie!) **

 ***

let's just get something out there--

me and jason's room is a disaster.

it's partly a can't-make-it-to-the-hamper

mess, but mostly it's because our room is filled with the girls' toys from their room.

we recently had issues with things being taken care of properly,

and then we had a rough week of behavioral issues...

so every toy was taken out of their room except

for puzzles and books.

harsh?

not so much.

we want to instill in our children how important it is to take care of the things they own.

if they choose not to, and also choose to misbehave over and over again, 

they can lose their toys temporarily until they have earned them back.

we want them to appreciate what they have.

all of that to say, i walked in my room yesterday to find jaxon like this:

(other things are also in the process of being moved outta here)

uh oh, he heard me

oh, hi mom!

funny little man. he's always mulling around, tinkering with things.

i always tease jason, telling him he's a 70 year old trapped in a 25 year old's body.

he's got an old soul and loves tinkering.

maybe it's just a guy thing. 

regardless, it's endearing.

<3

day 46: the last 'first'

jax was happy to celebrate his last 'first' before he turns one...

as we found out, he loves, loves balloons.

so much so, that he popped it less than 24 hrs after getting it...

so he did what any brother would do--

threw a fit for his sisters' balloons!

day 25: 'double' date

the girls went on a lunch date with their daddy.

it was ali's first date.

they were so excited!

it's so special to me that their daddy does that with them.

i can't wait til i can go with jax!

day 22: man things

this is my honey, putting knee indentions into his bike's tank.

he had never done it before, but it's coming out really well. i'm quite impressed.

i love him.

day 7: bite?

my two favorite men, sharing lunch.

<3

ahem, please excuse the horrid quality. it's too terribly dark in the house for my taste, hence the slow shutter speed...i mean, blurry picture.

You Might Be a Redneck If...

Your husband thinks it's hilarious to put the Christmas tree in the front flower bed just to see how long it will take for anyone (his wife!) to notice:

***Be sure to check out my new 365 day photo challenge blog--the link is at the top right! We'll see how I do!**

his daddy's eyes

he's got his daddy's eyes

 daddy's eyes...

the eyes i get lost in

the eyes that give me a calm reassurance

that everything will be ok

the eyes i love

and my baby boy has the very same color

the very same shape...

and if he's anything at all like his daddy

which i'm sure he will be

some day far from now

his wife will get the same reassurance

when she looks into those eyes

but for now

i hold my baby close

admiring how much like his daddy he is

and thank the Lord

that he has a godly man

to follow after

Hatchling--A Science Lesson & Business Success Story

For a couple of years, Jason has been working on the side
at turning his passion for reptiles into a business--
Flatland Geckos
He started with lower end geckos,
and has traded and dealt his way up to higher end ones.
Sometimes I can't believe how much people will pay for a gecko (or any animal, really) and he doesn't understand why camera lenses (glass!) can be so expensive. I don't, either. ;)
Anyway, he's been working hard to come up with the right conditions for his geckos to breed, and then the right substrate for them to hatch--not too dry, not too moist, etc.

He recently got his first hatchling. I was so excited for him!
(& proud, too!)

It's a Crested Gecko, & my favorite out of the ones he breeds.
They're on the lower end, but he likes them and they're popular...
and I think them being my favorite has something to do with him
keeping them instead of selling or trading them out, too.=)

The egg was kept in this deli cup at room temperature
in a mixture of vermiculite and sphagnum substrate.

I put this small pencil

(like the size you would use to keep score in mini golf =P)
next to it to show how small it was.



Only 1 gram!



His former home



It was still covered from crawling around
in the substrate when we got him out



I think our next babies will be quite a bit bigger...





****





Zoe, our Boston Terrier is expecting!




You didn't think it was me who was expecting, did you?!

Jaxon's Room

I was reminded that I never posted pictures from Jaxon's room, sorry about that!

Jason did all of this free hand, with the goal to be very kid-like, with Jaxon being not much bigger than the bugs and such surrounding him.

Mission, accomplished!

When you walk in, the view to the left:

Syd helped paint the ant that is dragging the hot link, and the hot link itself. It's her pride & joy!

The rest of the left wall & then the wall right in front of you:

The rest of the front wall & the wall on the right side:

And the last wall:

All of the food was based off of his bedding from Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The pictures aren't the greatest, and I apologize for that.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!