I am NOT an Animal Breeder

Well our quest for raising bunnies has come to an end.  It is sad, but true.  Last night the 3 remaining bunnies were live and well at 7:30pm.  Kaymin decided to check on them before she went to bed around 10:30pm and they were all dead.  We couldn't figure it out.  She cried and was so upset.  I felt really bad, but didn't really know what could have happened until today.  I feel like I am the bunny killer.  I fed the animals today and when I went to feed the "father" bunny, I saw all of this new fur to add to the nest for the baby bunnies.  Now, only moms do this.  They take their fur off around their nipples to feed their babies.  I only know this because I did LOTS of reading.  Well, I felt until the tummy and sure enough...who we thought was the "father" was really the mother.  So basically the father has been in the garage being pampered with carrots and a warm place to stay with the babies, and the mother was outside by herself without her babies.  The babies probably starved to death.  I really felt terrible.  However, there are two reasons why I thought "Alice" was the mother.  One: the fur on the nest was white and gray...the color of Alice, but now I know Mad Hatter's tummy.  Second: when I heard the bell ringing in the hutch this fall and looked to see what was going on...Mad Hatter was on top of Alice going for a ride.  I should have known to feel, but heck, I have no idea what I am doing.  I guess now we don't have to figure out what to do with baby bunnies.  We have told the kids that we will have babies once more, so they can experience raising them.  This time we know which one is which so that mistake won't happen again. 

HUGE Surprise

I am really glad that I got my new camera in time to take pictures of our HUGE surprise.  Last night the kids went out to feed the animals when Kaymin ran into the house and said that we had baby bunnies.  Now when we got the bunnies we specifically asked for females.  I realize that it is really hard to tell when they are so young, but come on...what are the chances.  Apparently we have one female and one male rabbit.  There were 5 babies, but 2 were frozen.  They were less than 24 hours old since they were not there the night before...either was the fur nest so we didn't have any warning.  So I scooped up the babies and the mommy and moved them into Skipper's pet porter in the garage.  I filled it with straw and food and water.  I have no idea how to raise baby bunnies.  I handled them with my bare hands so I am hoping that is okay and they will make it.  So far today they are still alive and doing well.  My kids are THRILLED and I'm freaking out.  To be honest, Blake and I would not be upset if they didn't make it.  That way we wouldn't have to find homes for them. 

Magnet Boards

I haven't been crafty for so long.  I used to love to do craft projects.  Every year when I worked outside of my home I would take the week of my birthday off and do craft projects with my mom all week.  However, the more kids I have the less I do any sort of craft anything.  Well, my girls wanted magnet boards for their room.  I got a somewhat craft itch as I set out to find magnet boards.  I looked for about 2 weeks and I couldn't find anything that I really liked.  I finally found these at Roberts and painted them black and added some flowers and hooks.  I really liked the way they turned out.  It gave me an itch to do more crafty things, even though this wasn't too crafty, I just had to put it together.  It took me a while to post a picture of it.  I got a new camera for Christmas and more than 60% of the pictures I took, wouldn't turn out.  It was a Nikon so I am guessing that I got a lemon.  So I returned it and got a new one (Canon)  that I LOVE.  So now I am back in business taking more pictures. 

Deilen Turns 6

 On Monday, January 3 Deilen turned 6.  I can't believe he is already 6.  It just floors me how fast time goes by.  The kids went back to school so he was excited to be the Hoppy Helper and give his class a brownie for his birthday treat.  After school he had his best friend, Brayden come over and they played until Kaymin came home from school.  Blake came home early and we took off and went to Chuck E. Cheese and Burger King.  Deilen got to pick. 

My mom also came with us and got to enjoy his whole birthday.  Deilen got bored at Chuck E. Cheese saying it was just for babies.  Since when to 6 year olds act like they are 16?  I couldn't believe it.  So he was really disappointed that there weren't more excited arcade games to play. 

Finally he found one that shot submarines and he LOVED that game.  We had to keep getting the game tech to fix it because it kept shutting down, but we made it through. 

Afterwards we headed to Burger King.  Deilen only chose it because of the playground, not because of the food. 

He got spoiled with a bunch of Legos from us, and his grandparents gave him Lego Batman Wii game and a basketball and football. 

New Year's Eve Sleepover 2010

I swore I wouldn't do the sleepover again especially since we were painting, but I caved.  On New Year's Eve at 4pm I finally told my kids that they could.  So around 4pm I sent out the invitation.  Deep down I was hoping SO bad that no one do it, but boy was I wrong.  Apparently the nieces and nephews were asking if we were doing the sleepover again all day long.  So they were so excited when the invite went out.  Only two couldn't make it, Olivia and Lily.  But Lann, Rees, and Oakley came.  They were really great this year.  They played the Wii for a bit and then watched movies. 

At 11:50pm we began watching the countdown to the ball dropping and Rees fell asleep on the stairs because he was afraid it would land on him if he was on the floor.  After midnight struck I had the kids go in the basement and blow horns so they wouldn't wake up Gerrit and Rees and then we had some sparkling cider.  They finished watching their movie and then went to bed.  I couldn't believe I was in bed by 1am.  The kids slept in until 7am and then made pancakes, cleaned up and played the candy ball game until their parents came at 10am.  I was SO happy that the kids were all great and that I actually got some great rest.  If they promised to be this good every time I would have them sleepover more often.

Painting the Girls Room

On Kaymin's 10th b-day when her friends came over for her party, she was embarrassed that her room still had Disney Princesses on it.  I had painted them on her wall when she was 2 or 3 years old.  It turned out SO cute.  I spent hours, (I lost track after 100) on it.  I felt like I was always painting and it took well over 3 months to do.  It sure was worth it.  I took an overhead projector and traced the princesses from a book onto transparency paper and blew them up on the wall and traced them with a pencil.  However, the castle I did by hand.  It took me forever, but I did it.  I had a hard time painting over them, but the girls were so excited.  We let them pick out the color of paint they wanted and they chose a deep purple.  Since Blake had the week off between Christmas and New Years, we decided to paint then.  It was a busy week with lots of home repairs and painting, but we sure crossed off a lot on our to-do list.  We are still in remodel mode when I took this picture and it is still hard to really tell the color, but it looks really good.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was so fun.  The kids got up and opened up their presents.  Our kids only get four presents.  Something they want (Santa brings), something they need, something to wear, something to read.  Their something to wear is their Christmas Eve pajamas. 

This year Kaymin got an Electric Scooter, Diary of a Whimpy Kid Ugly Truth, and a headlamp and flashlight. 

Deilen got a caster board, a Dinosaur book, and a headlamp and flashlight as well.

Kameni got this scooter, a book about cats (shocking I know), and a headlamp and flashlight.

 Gerrit finally got his very own Wiggle Racer.  He was so excited and now he won't have to share with anyone else.  He also got a Thomas book and a headlamp and flashlight.  Our kids love to play Sneaking Ninjas outside with the neighbor kids.  They play this game with flashlights so we decided to get them for each of the kids.  Blake and I got a new camera, a bluray player with built in wifi so we can stream Netflix, and an electric blanket.  Santa didn't bring us our usual games or movies this year.  The kids were a little disappointed. 

Around noon we went to my parent's house.  Here I knew the kids were going to LOVE their present.  My parents got our family a Wii.  All of our kids have been begging for one.  Our Gamecube is all but dead, but now was a great time to do it.  Our kids were jumping up and down and hugging each other screaming.  I actually started crying it was so much fun to watch my kids get SO excited over something.  They exchanged gifts with their cousins as well. 

Kaymin got this manicure set with a pocket knife.

Deilen got Alice in Wonderland Wii game, which he was SO excited about.  Kameni got these darling pajamas that she had to put on as soon as she opened them.  She is SO like me.  She loves pajamas and any clothes that are comfy.

Gerrit got this bus and loves it. 

Once the kids opened up their presents they went outside for Grandpa to pull them on the tractor in the snow.  At our house, we have no snow.  It wasn't a white Christmas for us.  But once we drove 30 minutes to my parents, it felt like Christmas with their 12 inches of snow. 

I took some really cute pictures of the kids, but it was freezing out there.  The wind was blowing and it was chilling me right to the bone.  I didn't think the kids would last long, but they did.

When we got home that night, we had a big garbage sack of presents from Rudolph.  He had found them in Santa's sleigh.  Inside were a ton of Wii games, and extra controllers, nunchucks, and accesories.  Our kids were freaking out.  They were so excited and Blake had to set it up right then and there.  This is definitely one Christmas they will not forgot.  And, we sure got spoiled.