Bedtime Doodles

The girls enjoy doodling on their Doodlepads at bedtime.
Lately, they have been drawing bedtime pictures for me. They leave their masterpieces outside their bedroom doors for me to see when I go to bed. It makes my heart melt every time.
Here are a few of my favorite doodles:

I love you to the Moon and Back, by Piper









Rainbow, by Lucy









Ducks Quacking, by Piper









Licorice Man, by Piper

Pumpkin, by Lucy

Disco, by Piper









Under the Sea, by Piper

Firsts...

It's been a pretty exciting week!!!

Piper is in the School Age Summer Program at Kindercare and the kids going into Kindergarten this fall get to go on weekly field trips!

This week it was a pizza party at a bowling alley!

Piper was soooooo excited and could hardly sleep the night before. The next morning she was up and ready to go in 2.2 seconds!

She said it was SUPER FUN and loved riding on the big school bus!!

This same week, Lucille learned how to swing by herself and blow bubbles with bubble gum!

She now tells me that she's ready to be five because she can do everything Piper can do!

Oh Chewy...

While at the pet supply store getting our fat cat his special and expensive diet food, I thought getting the girls a little pet of their own was a brilliant idea. We wandered over to the small animals and the teddy bear hamsters caught our eye. We picked out a cute fluffy white one, but the clerk told us she was pregnant and that we should pick out a different one. So the girls picked another white one, but I was little nervous about pregnant white hamsters, so I talked them into bringing home the beige one. We picked out a super fun cage with tunnels and wheels and all the crucial supplies needed to keep the little guy healthy and happy. By the time we reached the check out counter, the hamster had chewed through the travel carton. The clerk transferred him into another carton and by the time we reached the van he had chewed through that one as well. I transferred him into a plastic exercise ball and away we went. On the ride home we asked the girls what we should name him. They both agreed on Chewy!
We made space for little Chewy up on Lucille's dresser and girls had a great time watching him eat, spin on the wheel and travel through the tunnels. They had slumber parties in Lucy's room and giggled while Chewy ran and ran and ran in his wheel. By the third night, Lucy asked if we could move Chewy because he ran too much and the ruckus made it hard to fall asleep.
On the third day I couldn't handle the stink coming from the cage any longer and decided it was time to clean it out. While cleaning it, I realized that the cage itself wasn't all that stinky, but Chewy was unbearable. That night I told Trent that I had buyers remorse and didn't think I tolerate eau de Chewy and cleaning his cage every three days. We tossed around the idea of Trent developing a strange allergic reaction and having to bring Chewy back, or maybe Chewy could look sick and would have to go the doctor...
The next morning I did a little research on the ol' internet and discovered that I could buy some Wet Wipes for small critters to give them a sort of sponge bath and if I kept the cage clean, the odor should be minimal. The internet did mention that IF it was a girl and she was in heat, the female hamster would be quite stinky during this time and it would pass.
After a lot of thought, I decided to keep the little dude and I would just have to buck up and be a responsible parent and make the best of the situation. I mean, IF she was girl in heat, at least we didn't have another male hamster to knock her up.
That evening when we got home we went straight to Lucy's room as usual to say hi to little Chewy. I noticed that he was still in the top tower where he had been the night before. I also noticed that he dragged all of his bedding up there along with every bit of food that was in the bowl. I said "oh you like it up there don't you Chewy?". The girls couldn't quite see all the way in the tower so I brought the cage down off of the dresser for the girls to see him sleeping in the tower. As we peered into the tower we realized he wasn't sleeping and he was...he was...he wasn't a boy hamster at all...he was having BABIES...OMG CHEWY IS HAVING BABIES!!!!!!
LUCY "mommy look at the pink babies"!
PIPER "there are THREE babies"!
TRENT "what the"?
ME "he's not a boy, he's not a boy, he's not boy"!
LUCY & PIPER "is he ok..is she ok...are the babies ok?"!
We explain to the girls that Chewy is now a mommy and yes she and the babies are ok, but we need to call the doctor to make sure.
I step into the other room and call the pet store, aka The Doctor. I tell the girl on the phone that we just purchased a hamster the other day, and that what we thought was a boy is now a girl delivering babies! I tell her that we can not keep and momma and three babies and she tells me it's no problem just bring them in and I can either make a return or even exchange.
I hang up and return to the other room to hear and see Lucy jumping around screaming "THERE'S A BABY IN CHEWY'S BUTT, THERE'S A BABY IN CHEWY'S BUTT"!!!
Apparently there wasn't enough room for mommy and the babies in the tower and the babies kept sliding down the tunnel. Chewy went down the tunnel to retrieve the little one that slid down and when she bent over to go down the tunnel, Lucy got a clear view of baby number four being delivered!!!!! OGM!!!!!!!!
We tell the girls that Chewy needs to go to the doctor to have her babies and maybe some day we can get another hamster that is for sure a boy. They say good-bye and away I went with a cage full of hamsters.
By the time I arrive at the pet store there are six babies. The poor momma keeps going up and down the tunnel to retrieve the ones that fall every time she gets back up to the tower and I am starting to feel queasy.
The girl at the pet store decides to move Chewy and the babies to a safer cage so she doesn't exhaust herself keeping track of the babies and to keep the babies from being gobbled up by their mommy! The girl then tells me that hamsters can have up to fifteen babies at one time and then she also mentions that when they are in labor they can get VERY stinky - oh really?!?!?!?
Then girl smiles and asks "would like to exchange her for a different one"?
I simply say "no thank you we've had our fun with hamsters".
That evening the girls and I snuggle into bed and talk all about Chewy and the fifteen babies and Piper says "see mom we should of got the other white hamster we picked out, but you picked the beige one with all the babies in it's tummy".