Chuck E. Cheese & Holly the Hamster

Boy have we been busy! We're wrapping up the end of the year and are ready for summer. Last Thursday was, of course, Hannah's birthday and the one thing she wanted from us was a hamster. She started telling us back in January that she wanted one, and we have been telling her that she needed to show us how responsible she is in order to get one. Jimmy and I were going to get her one, but just hadn't yet. I knew I had time since her party isn't until this weekend, but Jimmy called from work Thursday morning to tell me that I should take her to go pick one out. He wanted her to have it on her actual birthday, so I headed to Rocky Mount with one excited little girl! Well actually three excited girls! They were all anxious and thrilled that Hannah was going to get a hamster. Since it was lunch time when we arrived, our first stop was Chuck E. Cheese. We stayed there for about two hours then headed to the pet store. Hamster: $9.99....everything that goes with the darn thing:$100.00! Did you know that they put them in a box like you get chicken in when you go to KFC? Hannah was holding the box on the way home, and all of a sudden the girls started screaming. The hamster was making a hole in the side of the box and trying to get out! They were screaming and it was freaking me out so I had to pull over quickly. I would not have been able to handle that thing getting loose in my car. So I pulled over in an abandoned parking lot on the side of the road, and there just so happened to be a cop checking traffic there. My plan was to put the cage together so we could put Holly the Hamster in there for the rest of the ride home, but then I remembered that we bought a ball for her to roll around in so we got that out instead. I opened Hannah's door and peaked in the KFC box but was way too scared to pick the hamster up and move her. Hannah was too scared also, so what were we to do?? Of course! I walked right over to the policeman and told him how desperate I was. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he politely obliged. Out of his car was this 6'4" man in uniform coming to move a hamster from a chicken box to a plastic ball! It was funny! He was very polite and helpful, and he saved my life because I know that if that thing got loose I would have wrecked..lol! So now we have a new addition to our family.

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!

Today is Hannah's 8th birthday! How can that be? My first baby already eight years old! We started the morning with our traditional icecream for breakfast. After we do some school work today we will go to the park. She decided on a sleepover for her birthday, but not just any old sleepover, instead a campout! Because of other things we have going on, we will have her campout next weekend. We are going to set up tents in the backyard, have a fire pit, roast hotdogs, and make smores. My plan was to find a dvd projector, hang a sheet from Jimmy's barn, and we could watch a movie outside when the sun goes down. But I cannot find a projector! I've found some online, but they are really expensive. I saw one at Christmas that I could kick myself now for not buying. So I guess we will have to skip the movie.

This is a picture Mrs. Lowe did for us. I think Hannah was about two months here.

Hannah at age one, blankie in hand and fingers in mouth....not much has changed!
Hannah's very first dance picture! She was two years old here.

Hannah in pre-k

And this morning....with her bowl of icecream for breakfast! Happy Birthday Baby!

With all the cat drama we had going on, I thought this was cute.

Five Year Trophy

This was Hannah's fifth year in dance and since the beginning of this dance year she's been looking forward to the spring recital so she can get her trophy. They start giving trophies for five years and longer. Last night was her night! She was really excited, and I was excited for her. This is also the first year I had no idea what her dance routine looked like. In all the years past I've either been in her dance with her (Mommy & Me) or have been the one to take her to her rehearsals and dress rehearsals. But this year, because of me testing Rebecca, Hannah and Leah were in Roanoke Rapids during rehearsals so other people took her. Jimmy had to work last night but was able to take her to her dress rehearsal on Friday so he was at least able to see it. I had heard from her aunt who took her on Thursday that the dance was kind of chaotic and had to be redone several times. That is usally the case during rehearsals, but on the actual day of recitals it all comes together. And this year was no exception. Her clogging class did awesome! It was really cute.

Hannah in the bathroom at The Center after getting ready

Hannah and I
Two of my beautiful girls, Hannah and Rebecca

Grandma Trudy and "her girls"

HANNAH'S FIVE YEAR TROPHY!!

Series Finale

After seeing nature take its course with Mama and her babies, I came in. I couldn't sit there and watch that. But, I teetered with the idea of bringing baby in so I could feed her myself. At last I decided to leave her since she was in the basket with Mama. I figured now maybe Mama would be relaxed enough to nurse her and take care of her, so I left her. As I was getting ready for bed I could hear baby meowing over and over. My heart was breaking so I decided I would get her and feed her. I warmed up the formula mixture I concocted from a friend whose done this before, but by the time I did all of that and got outside, Mama was on her way with baby to go under the shed. Relieved. That's how I felt. I just knew then that Mama wanted her baby and would go under there to feed her and protect her. When I woke this morning she was under our carport again, alone. I went out there to pet her. She looked so much better, relaxed, flat belly. My spirits were high and I couldn't wait to see baby. Rebecca and I went to the shed to see if baby was under there and ok. Jimmy didn't nail the floor back down from yesterday, so we were able to go in there and lift the floor again. As soon as I lifted it I saw baby. She wasn't moving at all. As I was holding the floor up, Rebecca went down there to feel the baby. "Yep, she's dead," was all she said. My heart now aches that I didn't take her when I had the chance. I know that's nature, but I'm still sad. I could have saved her.

Real life or Cujo movie??

Do Not Read if you have a weak stomach!!!

Ok, so the saga continues. Mama has been in the basket next to the steps with baby all evening. Still looking like more babies are in her belly. I just went outside to check on them both. I brought a little flashlight since my porch lightbulb is blown and we haven't found time to fix it yet. I open the porch door and walk down to my usual step and sit down. Then I turn on the light and shine it in the basket. Another kitten!!! I knew she had more in her. Then I noticed. All that was left on it was the top half, from the stomach to the head! Mama cat had eaten the rest! Oh my gosh!!! It was horrible! At first I thought she was just cleaning it, but oh no. She was eating it. Oh my gosh. I guess it was dead and that's just how they dispose of them. Still, I felt like I was in a Cujo movie, for real. I am so glad the girls did not see that!
**Update** Mama just had another one that was dead. Poor Mama.

Test and Cats

First things first....Rebecca finished her end of year tests today and only missed 2 on the whole thing!!!! Woohooo!!! Hannah is testing Monday and Tuesday, so I'll be ready for hers to be over. Now, on to the cat and her one, yes still one, kitten. For the simple fact that we don't know the name of this cat, we just call her Mama. Well, Mama returned to our carport this morning, but without her kitten. Rebecca went out to the shed to see if she could see the kitten and she could so we knew she was at least alive. Mama pretty much stayed in her basket we fixed up and we were worried her baby needed to nurse so Jimmy cut a piece of the flooring out of his shed so we could get to baby. Mama looks pretty sick and she still looks pretty fat too like she still has babies in her. She still is meowing quite a bit, and she wants us to sit right with her. If I get up to go in the house then she gets out of the basket, leaves her kitten and waits for me to come back out. So basically, since Rebecca finished her test this morning, I've been sitting right on the step just comforting Mama. As long as I'm out there with her she will stay with baby, but I can't stay out there all day. I'm not even sure Mama is nursing baby. I guess she must have nursed her some or she probably would have died already. I don't know, like I said I'm not up to date on cats. I just hope they both end up being fine.

Cat update

Well Mandy, I did end up having to call Mr. Phil. Poor mama cat had one coming out and she tried getting it out for a good 20 minutes with no luck. He said to massage her belly and if that didn't help then try to pull it out. I went to help with her belly and she got upset, so I quickly left her alone and went back on the porch. My parents came over and about that time she delivered what I guess was a kitten, but I can't be sure b/c before I could get a good look, my stinking dog took it and ate it!! Yes you read right, she ate whatever it was. I can only guess it was dead b/c I can't for the life of me imagine Sammy eating a live kitten. She loves cats! Well then I had to leave to go to Jackson and when I returned she had moved to under the shed. So now I can't see what's going on. She has been under our carport since yesterday afternoon, going back and forth between the bed we made for her and Sammy's bed. So I hate we had to leave because maybe she would still be under there for us to see. I don't think I mentioned this yet, but our neighbor have two other cats that had kittens about two weeks ago. Sammy will go over there every now and then and lick them all over. Well one evening this past weekend when we returned home the girls ran over there to see the kittens. They quickly returned yelling, "Sammy has a kitten in her mouth and we think it's dead!" Sure enough, she brought a dead kitten home and just dropped it on the grass next to our driveway and kept running up to me then the kitten. It was like she wanted me to help the poor thing. She kept licking it. At first I was mortified, thinking she did this. But then after watching her, I realized she wanted me to do something. We ended up burying it. I told the neighbors about it, and she said she thought Sammy was trying to help too, because that morning they noticed that one kitten looked like it wasn't going to make it. So I think that when we got home that evening she went over there to get it for me to see. Anyway, that's why I can't imagine Sammy eating a live kitten. But who knows? Poor kitten. And poor mama cat.

The neighbor's cat

Our neighbor has several cats roaming around. My kids can tell them all apart, but me, not so much. But I did notice a few weeks ago that one looked pretty pregnant. We've been keeping a close eye on her. Two of the other cats had kittens about two weeks ago in our neighbors house, and I didn't even know they were pregnant. Anyway, the one pregnant cat that I noticed has been acting like she is in labor since yesterday afternoon. She rarely ever lets us get close to her, and yesterday she started meowing really funny, and very frequently and wants us to rub her. She wants to stay very close to Sammy (our dog) and you can tell she wants Sammy to love on her. Well, I thought for sure she would have her kittens last night, but nothing. So then when I went to bed I thought I would wake up to kittens. No again. She keeps hanging around here, laying with Sammy and meowing like crazy. But still nothing. I've taken a laundry basket and lined it with old towels for her to birth in, and she will occasionally get in there. But I'm worried she is having trouble. I really don't know anything about cats, so I can't tell for sure she is even in labor. But it sure seems like it. Anyone have any advice??

Who did this to me?

The kids went to bed around 8:30 last night and I stayed up waiting on Jimmy to get home from work. It wasn't too long after he came home that I made my way to the bedroom. Usually I put my pj's on my dresser in the mornings, which consists of a t-shirt and sleeping pants. When I went to put my pj's on I saw a t-shirt laying on my bed. I couldn't remember if that was the one I wore the night before, but I thought it must have been since it was on my bed, so I put it on. This morning Hannah came in my room, woke me up and asked, "Who did this to me?" I swear, I wish I had my camera next to my bed because it was the funniest thing! She came in my room with my long skirt on that I wore yesterday to church around her neck, kind of like a shawl. When I got out of bed, she pointed at my shirt I was wearing and said that that was the shirt she put on to go to bed! When I changed clothes after church yesterday I just left my skirt on my bed (or floor, can't remember). Sometime between me putting her to bed and me going to bed, she got up, went into my room, took her shirt off, laid it on my bed and put my skirt over her head and wore it to bed!!! She did this all while sleepwalking! It was so funny. That is not the first incident we've had with her and her sleepwalking. I have a picture in one of my albums of her asleep on the bathroom floor. Anyone else sleepwalk??

Recent Visitors

Recently, we've had family fly in from everywhere. My dad's brother and his wife flew in from the Phillipines, his sister flew in from Colorado, and his cousin (the mother of Jenn whose blog some of you read) flew in from Florida. I know my grandma was glad to see everyone, and it was the first time my dad and his siblings have all been together in well over ten years.

My dad (on the right) with his mom, sister, and brother

My dad with his siblings and his cousin Cheryl

We all got together a few times while everyone was here, but one of the more entertaining evenings was when we all did karaoke! That was a trip!! We do have video floating around somewhere that I might can get my hands on soon...hehe! The only one I have so far is of my dad singing. We laughed and laughed over that!

Here I Am!!!!

I am so glad to have our internet back up and running. We had to have someone come out twice to fix it. The first time apparently didn't work, but the second time someone else came and realized that he had to drop another line to increase our signal strength. Even our cable was not really working, but now all is well! Many good blogging situations have come and gone so I will just highlight a few. The first of course is our embryology project. We started with twelve eggs, hoping all twelve were fertile. During the course of our 21 days with the eggs and candling them, we realized all but one was fertile. Sunday morning, April 19th, I woke up, went to turn the eggs, and realized that one of them had a crack in it! I was so excited because we weren't expecting them to start hatching until the next day. The girls were so excited that it was all I could do to get them to go to church. We left early so we could come home and hopefully watch them hatch. When we returned things were basically the same as they had been that morning. My parents invited us to go eat with them, and since there wasn't much change we went. On the way home I dropped my dad off at his house while my mom came home with us to check the eggs. Several of them had cracks in them, and one of them we knew was well on its way to hatching, so my mom stayed to watch. It was like waiting for a mother to give birth. We were all gathered around the incubator waiting for the first chick to emerge from the egg. How exciting it was! The first one was a black chick, and we all (except Hannah because she was on the couch with a bad belly ache) were able to see it hatch. That night the girls slept on the couch so they could come get me if more started hatching. Those girls didn't budge until the morning! But during the night several more did hatch, and the next day Jimmy's parents came over and we were able to see another one hatch. One of the eggs started hatching during that Sun. night, but for some reason died during the process. When we woke the shell had a wide crack almost all the way around, like the chick was just about to emerge. But it died. There was another egg that we were anxious to see hatch because the girls had named that egg from the get go. The egg was speckled, so they named it sprinkles. But that poor little chick died trying to hatch as well. They were both fully developed, so I don't know what happened. We were disappointed about that. So we ended up with nine chicks total. The girls had a great time with the cute little chicks until that following Friday when Mrs. Anne came to pick them up. They were cute, but they sure do poop A LOT!

Here is the first chick in the process of hatching.

Wild, huh?!

Poor thing was wore slam out after all that hard work.

The girls looking at them in the box. Rebecca looking like she's getting a little bossy over them!

We had four black chicks and five yellow chicks.