A quick journal entry about the beach... with no pictures.

We went to the beach again on Saturday as a family. It was a bit overcast so we didn't really get in the water, but we had a picnic, played Frisbee, collected seashells (but didn't bring them home) and dug in the sand.

At one point the kids and I were collecting shells near the water and Derek was sitting on our blanket a little ways away. There was a couple nearby who said to me, "Did you see the dolphins?"

Sure enough, there was a little family of dolphins swimming by - much closer than I expected they would. We could really only see their dorsal fins and part of their body. They never poked their heads out of the water or jumped up or anything, but it was still fun to see. There were probably between 6 and 8 of them.

A few minutes later Derek called my name to get my attention. I turned and he pointed toward the water, so I looked again and saw another dolphin. Fun! I looked back and he said, "Ryan." So, I told Ryan that Dad needed him. He goes running across the sand to Derek and I had to gasp when I noticed that he was running across the sand nude from the waist down! Oh - THAT's what Derek was talking about. Ryan had apparently wet his swim trunks and didn't like the feeling, so he stripped down.

Later on when we were playing Frisbee, Ryan and Katie were having a blast in the dry sand. There was a sort of sand ledge and Ryan was running and jumping off of it, rolling around in the sand. Katie would ask for help getting up and then she'd slide down on her belly. Once she REALLY ate it - face in the sand and then she got smart and slid down feet first instead. I have heard that baby powder does wonders for getting sand off of your body when you go to the beach. I sure wished I had some to try it out. Sand in diapers is practically impossible to get out.

SHINER!

.....

The same step that cut Ryan's head open reached out and smacked Katie in the forehead pretty hard today. I actually almost considered taking her to the doctor over it - but then I came back to my senses. This was about 2 minutes after it happened. It looks totally different now. I'll take another picture and show you tomorrow.

(I couldn't get the bubble wand out of her mouth to take this picture)

"Her Name Was Lola, She Was a Bunny"

Yeah, we haven't been able to stop singing "Copacabana" this past week. Meet Lola -

Cozmo's previous owner said that Lola was acting really depressed and since Cozmo was becoming a total escape artist, we thought there was a chance that they missed each other. Apparently bunnies will form lifelong attachments to each other and some just really need to stay together.

I picked Lola up Saturday evening and it's pretty obvious to me that they really need to stay together. She doesn't act depressed to me at all - so it seems to have solved HER problem, and Cozmo just can't get enough of Lola (darn good thing she's supposedly spayed). The thing is, rabbits actually are quite a bit of work - I don't think I'm cut out to own 2 AND take care of my kids. SO, Lola is just here on a trial basis and we'll decide what to do in the next week.

There's a good chance that we'll try to find a new home for the two bunnies and then maybe we'll adopt one of Cozmo's new babies in a few weeks when they're old enough to leave their mother. I think ONE bunny is more our style.

Lola has been fabulous so far. She will actually let us touch and hold her which is a BIG improvement over Cozmo. She's as soft as silk too - it's almost therapeutic to pet her. Problem is, since she arrived they are each trying to "mark" their territory and there has been poop ALL OVER my house. They are spending more time in their cages now remembering where poop goes. Am I really potty training 3 bodies right now? I did this to myself - I asked for it.

Ever See Anything Like It?

This is SO funny to me. It's an apple jacket - to keep your apples from bruising! WHAT!?

Some Pictures Say it All

(warning: format on this posting may or may not drive you crazy)

...but if I didn't take this opportunity to ramble on about my frustration, you might be disappointed.

This is a small sampling of Ryan's destructive phase he is currently in. (He's less than 2 months shy of being 3 years old. I REALLY thought he was too old for this.)

-Entire box of Q-tips in the toilet (oh yeah, I still owe you a new box of Q-tips Mom),

-baby oatmeal cereal dumped all over the highchair/floor,

-rolls and rolls of toilet paper emptied in the bathroom,

-mascara painted all over the carpet (and as a result, carpet fuzz all in my mascara),

-two buckets full of sand dumped on my doormat,

-handfuls of sand piled in Katie's hair,

-kitchen cleaner sprayed in her hair (yes, I lost mother of the year award on that one - but I didn't DO it),

-coconut oil rubbed into my wood kitchen floor (not GOOD wood, luckily),

-salad dressing dripped on the kitchen floor,

-cup of juice poured on our rabbit (which resulted in me giving our bunny a bath - have you ever given a rabbit a bath before? Avoid it if possible),

-cat shampoo (used to give said rabbit a bath) painted on the toilet in the bathroom with my blush brush,

and plenty of others that are too mundane to list.

I keep telling myself that I'm not giving him enough attention, but I promise I'm not just ignoring the boy all day long.

I should probably clarify a thing or two about this picture, for Ryan's sake. I went in and said, "only toilet paper can go in the toilet - we can never flush anything else or it will get stuck."

He said, "But I went potty in there (the trash can) and needed to put it in the toilet."

Darn potty chairs! Now he thinks he needs to "go" somewhere else and dump it in the toilet afterwards. UGH!

Because I never record anything for this girl

At her 12 month checkup today (she is currently 14 months old) her stats were as follows:

weight - 18 pounds 4 oz = <5%

(Went home and weighed the diaper she was wearing. ACTUAL weight - 17 pounds 12 oz)

height - 28 1/2 inches = 20%

head - 18 3/8 inches = 85%

Got 4 shots. Isn't wearing this shirt today - but should be.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Look at all of these darling kids in our neighborhood. Katie was asleep for the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, but these kids had a blast. We just hid eggs in the park for them and they all went to town.

Kirsten
Teagan (I know, I should've cropped out Ryan's head)
Ellie, Kelsey, Kirsten

ChloeGarrett and William

Ryan

A Few More Bags

Trying out a New Bathtime Approach

I know, they look SO happy don't they!? I thought this might improve the hair washing time.

Unfortunately, it was a raging failure... on both accounts.

Wouldn't Want Her to Get Thirsty

My kids seem to have a thing with drinking water when they go to bed. This seems like a little much though, I must admit. Especially since she has been sleeping for 2 and a half hours in this picture and she's STILL hugging one cup.

Rabbits really multiply - they are everywhere in our house!

Oops!

I just barely got this email from the gal who gave us Cozmo.

Jennifer,

Hope to be finding you all well.

I wanted to first check on him to see how he is doing....also I wanted to let you know....that to my suprise apparently he is not nuetered....because yesterday morning we awoke to find 5 baby rabbits in one of my lil girls cages.....it gets funnier....apparently your bob is quite the ladies man...because Im pretty sure that the other 2 girls are also expecting.....

HA imagine the look on my face.....yeah Im still in a bit of shock....wanted to let you know so you don't end up w/ any accidents....or lots of accidents....

ps if you know anyone who would make a loving baby bunny home I will have anywhere from the 5 I have now to umm maybe as many as 14 more....they will be ready for homes in 8-10 weeks....ahhh.... gotta love this stuff that keeps us on our toes....

thanks,

Brittany...

So, Gina, I know where you can get a bunny if you are still interested. :)

Happy Easter

The Runaway Bunny

Yes, folks. You read that correctly. Here is a picture of the bunny haven we developed for our new pet. You can see that it has a luxurious cage loaded with soft litter/bedding for him, a loft with a bowl full of leafy greens, more timothy hay than a rabbit could dream of, and a fancy side hanging water bottle. This large estate has a skylight and front entrance, a 1 bunny garage, and a fenced in "entertainers" yard. (okay, so I got carried away with the real estate hilariosity all around me). Still, you've got to admit, this is a great hang out! My kids were aching to get in.

Not Cosmo though. I spent about an hour putting that fencing together with those darn little zip ties. We coarced Cozmo inside with all of those lucious greens, and closed off the entrance. He was inside chowing down when I walked away.

About 4 minutes later he hopped into my room. "What the?? How did you do that?"

Can you tell how it was done?

Yes, he rammed his nose into the top door of the cage and opened it up. Then he hopped on Pop (I mean top) and squeezed right in between the side of the cage and the wall.

So, I put him back in and secured the side. As I was doing so I watched that tricky thing jump right over that fence on to my COUCH! So much for that fence. I took it down right away because it sure wasn't doing any good.

I was thinking that an outside bunny would be nice. We could just bring him in at night so the coyotes won't get him. So, we let him out on our little patio. Derek was out with the kids and Cozmo jumped right up onto our 2 ft wall. Derek gingerly hopped the wall and scared him back over to our side of the wall before he jumped into the park. Then we REALLY would've had a runaway bunny. There goes the outside bunny idea.

It looks like he's back in the kitchen. I didn't like that his cage was in there - I'm not interested in bunny smell while I eat, but he's gotten into a bit too much trouble while having free reign of the house. He's chewed through the power cord on Ryan's cd player, and our TV antenna cord. Plus, yesterday I found him sitting on our couch and he had used IT as his litter box. Luckily, rabbit poop is a cinch to clean up. I just hope that he doesn't chew through the baby gate that keeps him in the kitchen. *sigh* Like I didn't have enough keeping me busy before we adopted our bunny. Still, I can't help but like him.

I cut up a couple of apples yesterday and gave them to the kids while I was making lunch yesterday. Cozmo kept licking Katie's fingers so she started sharing her apple with him. I was really nervous that he'd end up nipping her finger but luckily he never did. Can you see that he's standing on his back legs to reach the apple?

It was really very sweet to see. She came over to me a minute or two later and said, "Ap" so I gave her another apple piece and then she said, "Coz" and went over and gave it to him. She'd take a bite and then she'd give him a bite. Come on, admit it, that's cute.


Maybe next time, I'll get a little video. That is, if Cozmo lasts another week at our house.

Crabby But Cute

I know, I know, my blog bores ME too. Sometimes I check it myself just to see if something has magically appeared. I actually have like 3 or 4 things that I could blog about (not terribly exciting, but they are things.) The question is, should I spread them out a little bit or blog them all at once?

This post is titled, "Crabby But Cute" because that's what Katie's shirt says. I thought I'd take a picture of her with the "no bangs" look I tried out on her today.