April 2010

She didn't make these giant candy bars - just fun to look at!

Ellie with her Fish Kite.

Newer Cuter Rattie pictures!

OH Rats!!

I Love them! My husband really likes them! My kids love them!

I'm having too much trouble trying to move all the pictures where I want them in relation to the words that I've written, so you get to see the cute babies first! Here is a little girl, Cocoa. She is all black back with white socks and a white under belly. We will probably keep her. This is one of the most recent pictures.

These are champaigne colored. There are 3 that have these colors so I'm not sure which ones these are. One is so pretty, completely champaigne color. Then there is the runt who is half champaigne and half white. Then there is one that has a champaigne hood with stripe.

These little cuties are Mama look alikes. There are 7 that are almost identical to Mama Alice.

These are when they were about 13 day old babies.

It all started out with Drew who purchased 3 pet rats from a pet store and thought it would be fun if they had babies. He had them for months, (no babie) I really have no idea how long since he is living in an apartment, not with us. One day, he decided to bring them to our house. Being the Mom that I am, I FED them, (more than a cracker here and there) bought them much needed water bottles, real "pet rat" food and oops, didn't really think about separating them and didn't really love them yet at this point.

It was very apparent that they needed a larger cage and the talk of separating the female began. Steve found some cheap aquariums on Craigs list. And shortly thereafter, we were convinced the female was getting really fat and oh, boy, I guess all that good food and loving care I gave them made them really healthy because about 4 days after separating "Alice" from "George" and "Indiana Jones" - she gave birth to 13, YES, 13 baby rats!!! The really special part is that they were born on my daughter's 9th birthday. We knew she was expecting and every morning and everyday after school we would run to check on her. The morning of Ellie's b-day, I could hear lots of little squeeks but couldn't see them as she had made a nest in the kleenex box (in her cage). It was so fun for the girls when I woke them up with , "guess what? " and we crept downstairs to quietly listen to them.

By now, Steve and I are both reading up on "pet rats". Wow, we found out that we are terrible for letting our rats breed! Of course, we won't do it again but it has been a wonderful experience and we just love these little babies. It has been so fun watching them grow. First the markings of their colorings, then the colors filling in and more hair growing then on the 15 day, most of their eyes are open. Now, at 26 days old, they are FAST little cuties! Although we can let the adults roam around while we are in the "rat room" (large, long room in the basement), we can't do that w/the babies. We get them out everyday and do a head count, hold them, pet them, let them play around in a large box. They are also eating a lot!!

This is the home of the 2 males.



This is "Curious George" - His name So fits him! The cats enjoy watching them. Alice, the Mama, will chase the cats. We wouldn't ever leave them alone together though.

A lady at work would like to adopt 2 of them. They must go in same sex pairs since they love company and it would be cruel to keep one by itself. We want to keep a couple of the females to be Alice's companions since she can't rejoin the boys. We've invested in 2 really nice cages. Both found reasonably priced on Craig's List.

I'm a little tired of the "Ewww, rats!" response that I get but I guess I wouldn't have known how much I would enjoy a pet rat until we got one ( or 16!) In our readings we have found that they do NOT bite like hamsters and gerbils, they are intelligent, and very loving and enjoy human companionship, can be taught tricks, etc. There are some really nice videos on youtube, if you search "how to introduce your pet rat to water" you will find them.

Hooser Burn Camp Winter Gathering. This is a wonderful gathering time for Burn Survivors and their families and the staff of the Hoosier Burn Camp to come together and get to know each other and just have fun!

We stayed at the University Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in West Lafayette, IN. The food, hotel and activities are all paid for by the Hoosier Burn Camp (a not-for-profit organization).

Saturday we arrived just in time for lunch. The room was so full of people that we had to split up and didn't get to sit together but Katie and I sat at a table with a family we had never met before and Beth, who is a camp counselor and part Riley Child Life Center. I'm not sure if she is an employee or a volunteer at Riley but she was one that came to visit and bring Ellie games and surprises when she was in the hospital. Beth is a joy to know and it was fun to see her again.

The two girls on the left of Ellie are burn survivors that were in her cabin at camp last May.

At the skating and game center.

Girls like their hotel room! Gee, getting them to take showers was no problem on this day!

This is the view right outside or hotel doors. (since we were special and got 2 rooms!) LOL

View from the pool.

After lunch we had a large group picture (there were about 150 -170 people there). Then some Ice Breaker games. 1-4 was Swimming and free time in the hotel and we got to see our rooms. They were so nice! We got 2 adjoining rooms - one for the kids with 2 double beds and ours had one king size bed. I love the pillows at hotels! They are the best.

5:15: Everyone was transported to a skating rink with laser tag and Arnie's salad and pizza for everyone! 3 large buses were used for transportation but our family was assigned to ride with HBC Director Mark Koopman's wife in her van. We felt special!

At the skating party, I got to talking to a lady whose daughter goes to my old high school and her nephew married the daughter of some people I used to know. Small world! This lady was into photography and had a new camera with a fancy lens so she had fun trying to take pictures of Joel and me skating. In a few days, she is going to email me the pictures!

The evening finished back in the conference center with the staff putting on a cute program to show us what the campfire programs are like when the kids are at camp. Then we finished by all holding hands in a large circle and singing this song that made me cry every time: Friends, I will remember you, think of you and pray for you. And when the day is through I'll still be friends with you". (not sure if I got it completely correct but mostly)

Christmas and January 2010

Joel

Katie and her bendaroo mouse

Merry Christmas Cookies!!

First Grade family project - Decorate the Gingerbread Person - Steve had a lot of fun with this! He was basically the master designer. Look closely at the little glasses!! So cute - Katie's project was a huge hit at school and was placed at the TOP of the Gingerbread Christmas Tree!
I will have to add that picture later as it is on my phone.

We found this fun and easy recipe from the Hillybilly Housewife and the Virtual Cookie Exchange!



Ooops, looks like a couple are missing !!!