Strawberry Picking!

Today was a beautiful day to go strawberry picking! We always head to Sam Mazza's farm stand. They have pick your own, and they also have a cute store and tons of beautiful produce for sale. They also have a little playground with some random animals for feeding and petting. We've been picking strawberries there since Connor was about 2. I remember my first time picking I was 9 months pregnant! (good times....). We've also gone with Siobhan as a tiny 1 month old in the Bjorn!

This time, however, I had bigger kids able to actually pick and help out. What a difference that makes! They were all able to pick good ripe ones. They were also able to refrain from eating their weights in strawberries.... =) Dad was up for a few days so he came with us too. A nice treat!

Siobhan munching away!

Obviously the coolest picker there....

If you say to Siobhan "Let me take your picture", this is what she does.
I am not sure if it means she has a future in modeling,
or in dorky picture taking...but there it is.
We brought a picnic lunch and ate there.
(A picnic for me means purchasing sandwiches at Subway;
you didn't think I actually had time to make a nutritious meal, did you?)
We then had some time for my animals to visit with the animals there.
Connor loved feeding the animals. The kids hung onto their apples from their lunches and fed them to the horse. Then they managed to clean me out for all of my quarters so they could buy those little pellets.Connor was right at home.
Aisling is generally more timid around animals. She was a trooper though and fed the animals with my hand under hers. She was super cute and I was very proud of her. Siobhan wanted nothing to do with feeding them, and who could blame her really; the animals were mostly bigger than her!
By the end of the afternoon, Aisling was feeding this little guy all by herself.
(Of course it helps that this was a tiny little baby, but still!)
I had heard there was a pregnant goat at Mazza's.
While I am no expert on goats, I may be an expert on being pregnant;
having been so a few times... you know, for over 2 years when you add it all up....
Anyhoo.... I can be relatively certain this was indeed the pregnant goat. I also will wager a bet that there are two babies in there.
She and I had a little chat about how miserable it is to be pregnant in the hot summer.

We came home from picking strawberries and jumped in the pool. Correction, the kids jumped in the pool. I am a water wimp, and anything below hot tub temperature does not appeal to me. I now am off to cut strawberries for our home made strawberry shortcake for tonight! =)

cats, and rabbits, and well, that's enough. (oh my)

Our cats are outdoor cats. I don't love the idea, but we bought them when they were about 2 years old, and they had already been outdoor cats. We tried to keep them inside, and they were miserable.

Anyhoo, they are outdoor cats. As such, they do outdoor things. One of these things is chase mice. Every spring/summer we get dead and half dead mice left for us in the backyard. When we're really lucky (and we've left a screen door open) Smokey will bring a mouse inside for us. Sometimes, if we're extremely lucky, the mouse will still be alive. Oh yes, those are the best. Who doesn't love chasing around a half dead mouse through your house. No lie, once the cat brought a mouse into our bedroom for us. We were chasing this mouse around at 5:00 in the morning. He's also brought us a couple of birds.

Yesterday.... he upped the ante. He brought in a dead baby rabbit. Oh yes, that was an adventure.
HOWEVER.... today he brought in a LIVE baby rabbit!!! I knew because I heard the screaming in the living room. What they say is correct; there is nothing like the screaming of a rabbit....

I've never picked up a rabbit carrying cat so quickly. Out the door that scoundrel went.

We shall be revisiting our screen door policy.....

and perhaps our outdoor cat policy......

I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont.... I love Vermont....

The hamster dance.

Connor has been getting an allowance for a few years now. What that means is that when we remember, we give him a few bucks to put in his bank. He has a bank that breaks up immediate spending money, donating money, and saving money into three separate places for him. He's been putting money into his saving place the entire time, and never spent a dime. He counted it the other day, and had just over $60.00. Pretty impressive I think! He would have had more had I not taken some for coffee money, but I digress.

Anyhoo, he decided he wanted to buy a hamster with this money. Originally he was going for a $100.00 Lego set, not sure what changed his mind. Maybe he figured the hamster would be an even bigger way to make a mess. Of course, 1200 legos would do the trick too....

He picked out a hamster and a cage. This cage in fact. Cool, no? He played with the hamster for a bit, and went off to bed. The next day he was full of hamster joy at church. Then came Monday.... (suspenseful music cue here...) Some time during Sunday night, a curious cat came into Connor's room and knocked the entire cage, yes the Crittertrail X, onto the floor. Lo and behold, one less hamster. We looked for a bit, with no luck. (Not only is it a hamster, but it's a dwarf hamster. It's like as big as the foot of a one year old. Not that I measured or anything... no way). My poor son went off to school so disappointed. I stayed home with Siobhan that day because she was sick, and I turned the house upside down. It turns out hamsters are really good hiders.

Tuesday we went to the store to find a new hamster, having given up hope on the old one. After a few let downs we did find a good one. New hamster in old cage, all was right in the world again. On Wednesday we brought the hamster in for "share" (What hamster hasn't dreamed of going to a first grade classroom, really?)

Wednesday night was interesting (suspenseful music....) At about 9:30 that night wihle I was checking out facebook doing some important computer work, I heard the most freaky, high pitched, scared scream I've ever heard. There was Al pointing at the stairs saying "hamster, hamster, hamster...." Yup, he's great with the beasts. The original hamster had returned to us. Oh good. Now we have two hamsters. Great. I am so happy. I scooped up that one and we made a temporary cage for it. She was filthy and starving, but she had survived.... (I'm hearing Gloria Gainer here...)

Today I ran out and got another cage. Now each kid has a hamster in their bedroom. Awesome, just what I always wanted....