Forgot....no problem

If you forget the lyrics to a song, no problem!  Just make up your own.  Hope you find this amusing as I did.

Popping colors

Fall has really popped at our house.  Happy fall every one!

Dada saves the day

The kids were playing t ball in the front driveway.  They ended up hitting the ball into the culdesac and it rolled into the gutter (one of many times we've lost a ball to a gutter) Dada, and all his ingenuity, rigged a butterfly net to a broom stick and fished it out.  It was kinda cute watching the kids trotting behind him determined to retrieve their ball.  I couldn't believe Dada did it in his dress cloths.  Such a good Dada!

Downsizing....again

Every time I try to watch more than two daycare kids, it NEVER works out.  The baby I have been watching is probably the most demanding child I have EVER watched for a baby.  The little baby I watched a year ago came close, but this one wins the cake.  I am almost as stressed as I was when I was watching those two rowdy boys.  She is six months old. I have had her since she was 8 weeks.  I kept thinking things would get better as she ages, but they have only gotten worse.  Today she wouldn't even take a nap.  She was here for 5 hours and dog tired and CRANKY.  I tried 4 different times to get her to go down and nada!  She would throw fits EVERY time I put her down to do anything so there's definitely some separation anxiety at play here too.

I hate that I will probably be sending her on her way as I have really enjoyed working with her parents and we have a good friendship which makes this all the more awkward, but at the end of the day I am running a business and I have to do what is in the best interest of myself, my family, and the other daycare kids.  They are being robbed of time with me because of her.  They are also being robbed of a sane woman watching them.  I have tried every trick under the sun to make this little girl happy and get her on a schedule. It always ends the same, crying, crying, and more crying.  Yes, it is time.  A child like this needs to be a facility where there are more hands to help.  This way they can take shifts so it is not at the expense of the baby or the other children.  I simply do better with older children.


Anyhoo...I wish I could say that this is the last baby I will watch, but the little boy I watch has a little brother on the way and I have agreed to watch him next year.  This little guy is a typical toddler, he likes to pick on Brennan, but overall he is a sweet boy and if his brother on the way is anything like him, it should be fine.  It would seem I'm not a baby person.  I've watched two babies in two years, and I had to let them go.  However, I have watched two newborns before them while I was in Springfield and didn't have the issues I'm having now.  It really is a child by child basis.  Thankful God gave me easy babies.  I'm not cut out for the fussy ones.  Sure am looking forward to getting back to teaching in a school again soon!  God has made it very clear that daycare is not my true calling.  Thankful for the what it has taught me and the perks it has given our girls socially and our family financially, but I know deep in my heart that I am meant to be teaching in a school.  Just two more years....hopefully ;)

Hoping for the best

I can't even begin to tell you how crazy I am about our new pets.  I know it sounds silly.  A rat right?  They are everything you read about them and more.  They really are like little dogs in rat bodies and each with their own very unique personality.  Every morning when we wake they are just as excited to see us as we are them.  Daisy especially is known to scale the walls of her cage to let us know she wants out to see us.  She will even bypass a treat to get to us.  She is soooo playful. I have been able to wrestle with her, play tug of war with her, hide and seek, and peekaboo.  She doesn't like to sit still very long and has even started giving me kisses.  Not one bite, only what I like to call "love nibbles" because they are friendly and tickle.

Daphne is so much more laid back, however, I'm not sure how much of that is due to the fact that she is not feeling well.  Both rats were sneezing when we brought them home. I thought it was just them adjusting to the new smells in our home and read that sometimes happens, but Daphne is getting much worse.  I'm not sure she'll make it.  She is super snuggly and chatters when we hold her (supposedly a sign of contentment).  She will even take a snooze and snuggle with us.  We are too attached to take them back to the store, and if we loose one or both we will certainly get some more, maybe from a different store.  It just makes me sick to think we got sick rats.  The man at the store said they were sneezing because he had just used hand sanitizer.  I stupidly believed him. 

Anyhoo....preparing for the worst, hoping for the best.  Didn't think we'd be loosing any of them this soon.  Just wish I wasn't attached; can't believe how easy these little rodents are to love. 

Let me introduce....

Daphne

and Daisy.

Now before you get all, "Ewww gross, you got a rat?", let me assure you that rats get a bad rap and there's way more to them than you really know.  My mother used to always tell us stories about their pet rat named "Newt."  He sounded like the coolest pet ever.  I always wanted a rat.  In college I finally got that chance when I rescued someone's pet rat who was donated to a pet store to be sold as snake food.  I only had him for one short year, which is why I was OK with adding him to my family.  Jeff was in total shock and thought I was nuts, but my rat, Nubby, won him over very quickly and he was soon a fan. Why?

You see, he quickly learned that rats are actually very cute little critters with tons of personality.  Unlike their hamster counterparts, they actually bond to their human parents and are very affectionate.  Many people describe them like little dogs in a rat's body.  They are super intelligent, very social, and playful.

Jeff and I had been talking for awhile about getting a hamster for the girls, but I talked myself into another rat because I knew that it was very rare for a rat to bite.  Hamsters, on the other hand... let's just say I've been bitten my fair share of times by hamsters as a child.  I knew if a hamster bit one of my girls, it would be the end of them wanting to hold it.  Then it would just become another thing to take care of that served no purpose.  The girls haven't been around a rodent before, so learning how to handle them is a process. The baby rats have been very accommodating to the squishing that goes on when a little one tries to hold a squirmy rodent.  We've only had them 24 hours and already they are calming down significantly and snuggling with us.  They are just very, very sweet little baby rats.  We also enjoy giving them treats and watching them wrestle in their huge mansion of a cage.

I also like that they have a short life span, 2-3 years.  I figure this way, if the girls loose interest, I'm not in it for very long anyways.  Bren thinks they are cool but isn't overly in love with them.  She does squeal and giggle when they pay attention to her and tickle her with their whiskers.  Kadyn on the other hand, she LOVES the ratties.  I put the cage in their room for the night and left the room.  I heard a thud and knew they had snuck out of their beds.  When I opened the door, there they were crouched down on the floor with their night light turtle, trying to shine it in the cage to get a good look at what the rats were doing in the dark.  I realize once the newness wears off they will become more work, but I hope that they give the kids at least a little of the experiences I had growing up.  I loved animals so much.  It was a big part of my life.  I want to provide that experience for my kids too.  Fish are great, but they don't allow for much interaction with the girls.  Now that I don't have to care for a huge tank (or at least once it's sold anyways, the man who spoke for it didn't show today), I am not really adding anymore work than I had before with the tank.  It all kind of evens itself out.

So welcome to the Bilberry clan Daphne and Daisy.  You sure are cuties!

2 year old Fashionista

Nothing is quite like a two year old's sense of fashion.  Priceless!

Yum!!!

I have been eating a mostly vegetarian diet for almost 2 years straying only for vacations and a handful of times at home during some weak moments.  Lately, I've decided to go ahead and add turkey and chicken back into my diet on occasion. I don't think I will ever go back to eating meat for every lunch and supper though.  In fact, I still prefer to eat vegetarian for most meals, I just want to allow myself the option of white meat because....it is good after all, and it sure gives me more options when I cook for my family.   So I really can't classify myself as vegetarian anymore.  Wish there was a word for a person who prefers to eat vegetarian, with occasional white meat.  Maybe....occasionarian?

I love that I did the vegetarian thing for as long as I did.  Actually, I didn't think I'd last that long or enjoy it.  I actually loved it.  It made me a better cook. It opened me up to vegetables in a way I had NEVER been my whole life.  It helped me manage my weight.  And it improved my health overall.  There were so many things I wish I could've tried, but they were things that could only be found at a health food stores, and we don't exactly have a budget that lends itself well to health food prices.  Maybe someday.

Anyhoo...on to the point of this post.  Tonight we tried a BLT recipe that I found on AllRecipes.com called "Super BLT."  It was so delicious.  I will definitely put this into my rotation of meals. For the record I used turkey bacon:)  I prefer it anyways.  Here it is:

Ingredients

• 8 slices bacon
• 8 slices bread, toasted
• 1/4 cup guacamole
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 4 lettuce leaves
• 4 slices tomato

Directions

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate.
2. Spread the guacamole on 4 slices of toasted bread and the cream cheese on the remaining 4 slices. Arrange a lettuce leaf, tomato slice, and two pieces of bacon on top of 4 slices of bread and top with the remaining slices.