Life with our Lads

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Furry Friends

The day that mum & Tom left we liberated the frogs, those that were left. I have come to the conclusion that rearing tadpoles is a walk in the park but rearing frogs is near impossible. A frog expert friend told me this fact and said that frogs generally die in captivity - but they still have a better chance than in the wild. Well I'm not much keen on animals dying, so our frog rearing days are over.

So as far as pets go, we have Ben, our most wonderful dog who turned 3 this month...

Loved by all of us.

"Can't help myself mum"

Ben is such a good lad. He'll be as perfect as Cody in a few years but right now he still has his mischievous & downright naughty side. I like that though. We still miss Cody a lot of course, but it's only been a year since we lost him & that's normal.There's no way we could spread his ashes yet and neither of us can talk about Cody without crying, so there's still a long way to go, grieving for our boy. We'll probably miss him and Frank our whole lives actually.

Well moving on - we have two new pets in the house! Whitey (Danny's dwarf hamster) and Luke (Jack's regular hamster) joined us last week.
Whitey doesn't bite, is tiny, and cute as a button - perfect for Danny. Unfortunately they only live about a year but I'll deal with that as it happens.
Luke is awesome. I like him a lot - feisty, cute and conquered the odds. He had a very nasty wound in his belly, right down to his intestines, that has healed. Between us applying Savlon and him cleaning it's almost gone (other hamsters bullied him at the pet shop).

Hamster love

I like this cheeky little guy

Luke spent 30 minutes filling his cheeks with his bedding, travelling up the tube to the upper level of his cage and making a new bed. It was great to watch. What a character.

Eat them or play with them?

So there we are. A dog and two hamsters. I am still hankering for a cat to lay on my lap, but that's for another day.

Saturday, July 06, 2013

Jack's 7th Birthday

It was Jack's 7th birthday on Wednesday. Instead of having a traditional kiddie party we invited adults and kids alike for a open-house party where they could swing by and say hello or stop for longer. I think we ended up with about 40 people and it was a tad manic at times but a good time overall. Mum & Tom enjoyed meeting everyone and of course Jack was lapping up the attention. Although he did go shy when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

We got him an Avatar Air Bender cake with his favourite character, Ang, on top. He had asked for an iPod but we got him roller blades instead. Between the iPad, laptop, Wii and phones he plays too much on video games as it is. I can't bear the thought of him having an iPod in his pocket the whole time. He seems okay with it and went out oh his roller blades already.

Roller blading, with some help from Grandad Tom

So who is Jack at 7? Well he's still a social butterfly, talking non-stop. He wants to do everything and see everything and can be a bit exhausting at times but his personality is infectious. He loves people and animals and he has an amazing imagination. One minute he's pretending to be an animal catcher and the next he's chasing dragons or building a fort. His Grandad Tom has told him that he comes from a long line of Pirates, dating back to Blackbeard, and he totally believes it. I am playing along with it but have put my foot down at the mention of a pet parrot.

Opening his presents - a kite from Grandma & Grandad Lewis!

He's an outdoor kid and loves to mess about with insects and climb trees and dig in the dirt. He gets that from me. I was not surprised to get a letter from his school this past week telling me that he is going to be in a gifted and talented program this coming year in "science". He still doesn't enjoy reading and writing and I need to help him more with that, but he obviously loves science so that makes me happy.

He has a typical sibling friendship with Daniel - playing one minute and fighting the next, usually over a revered toy or the iPad. Daniel adores him though and will always ask for the same things as Jack - ice cream flavors, toys, you name it, it's always "I want the same as Jack". I hope they are lifelong friends.

Happy Birthday My Love

So I asked Jack "What's the best thing about being 7?" And he said "Being taller". Then he asked for a hamster and what time are we going to the pool and can he have an ice lolly and can he play on the iPad...........

Today we are going to go to the pool and and then we are just going to enjoy the weekend. The last two days have been absolutely manic and stressful, with July 4th celebrations, parties, saying goodbye to mum & Tom at the airport, and rearranging the house. I also have a nasty viral chest infection so have been coughing so much my ribs ache. I think an afternoon at the pool will do us all wonders.

Monday, July 01, 2013

A Most Wonderful Holiday to South Dakota

We just got back from a 3,000 mile round-trip and I have a terrible head cold so am feeling too tired to write much, but wanted to get these pictures up straight away before Jack's birthday celebrations.
So here's tons of pictures with captions. They are not in chronological order, but that's okay.