Moving into a new nexting box...

Yes these are jockey's fingers in comparison to their size. They are about 3" long.

All four of us has a part in building the nesting box, the boys even screwed in a few of the screws. Then we got it all ready and then transfered the babies to the new box. (They were at risk of wandering out of the old "nest" and getting too cold, getting hurt on the wire floor, or trampled into the wire mesh.)

So one by one we placed them into the nesting box. Yes, there are 8. So far to the untrained eye there aren't any obvious runts who won't survive, but time will tell. The boys are of course excited. Rosie seems to be doing just fine and is actually more mellow and friendly (nuzzling, greeting and eating out of our hands.)

Rabbit is as Rabbits does...... Surprise Babies. I thought Mike was joking today when he says to come outside I've got to see something. But sure enough... best count 6 rosie red curled up bald things.


Want one???


edited to add: Yes, I know HOW these things happen, but I didn't know that it took less than a minute for rabbits. Seriously, less than a minute.

And added pictures:

Eyes open in 10 days. And the last count, although they move around alot and don't like up like hot dogs, is 8 babies.

Caleb's birthday came early this year. Rather than a gift that we have to store... Grammy and Papa Dahl got Caleb a really awesome zoo membership (for the family& bring guests) that can be used unlimitedly for the next 10 months. We broke it in with a trip to the zoo today joined by Tessa, Grammy and Papa.

The rain broke about an hour into our excursion into the park. Which worked out fine since the first thing we did was visit the new penguin exhibit and then duck into the indoor Day/Night exhibit. The Day/Night exhibit is closed forever starting Monday, so it was a real blessing to visit it one last time before it's closed and the animals scattered. We also got to view the 9 month old snow leopard cubs. Caleb made Bug World a must see, and Jockey signed up for the kangaroos. (Caleb made the astute comparison today that Kangaroos are like T-rexes with little arms and big back legs.) We were at the zoo for about 4 hours and walked ourselves tired. Then it was bad to the club for a swim with Tessa. We are finally home and ready for a calm down.

That's all for now. I'm beat.

So how's your week going?

We got into the swing of things here with school, school work, bible study. A call from the principal about "no toys at school" (yes, caleb's been sneeking toys to school). More school, work for me, Awana, more school and work. Caleb got additional stages today and Wednesday. We are just not figuring this out... oh, that would be until we talked through his entire day. 5 words.... M&M's, Jelly Beans, Popcorn (commercial type), Frosting cookies, and juice. Can we say Food Coloring? Not to mention the sugar. So I had to be the confrontive parent and shoot off and email (afternoon session is still going) to the teacher to get her back on our side of this issue.

We were blessed to get Caleb's Birthday present early this year. A zoo pass for the family. (Thank you Grammy and Grandpa Dahl.) So we are thinking of going there on Sunday if the weather remotely cooperates with us.

Unfortunately, I got the call today that my grandfather died today. It appears Great Grandpa Severson, 97, got up in the middle of the night and had an instantly fatal heart attack and was found this morning. Curiously, upon talking with my dad, we discovered that we were both awaken last night (he at 2:24 and myself at 2:22) for unknown reasons and unable to go back to sleep for quite a while. Maybe we were on the same 'wave length'. Grandpa lived a long life FULL of memories and leaves only one issue unresolved.... Dusty the cat will have to learn to like a dog to live at my Aunt Sandy's or go hungry because that is where the food bowl will be soon.

These were taken 2/6/2010. The 4 days before we went to California. Great Grandpa Severson was in good spirits, full of memories and things to say despite the increasing ailments. I'm glad the kids got to see him as near as possible to the end.

TTFN

Again very brief:

We are home safe. Relatively unremarkable on time flight.
More park visiting, did go bowling (BTW, real bowling way different than Wii bowling.), did go to Chuck E. Cheese for a good time, watched a couple neat movies in the evenings, took Skeeter (Grandma's Basenji) for walks in the evenings. More hot tubbing, pizza night, another visit with Mr. Phineas who brought the boys cool RC cars which Grandma was happy to let them run in the garage after backing out her car (they were quite noisy in the family room). Picked fresh oranges in the backyard and boxed them up to be UPS'd home....hmmm. Painted tiles for fun and posterity.

So that's the rest of the trip in a nut shell. I will post pictures as soon as I have 1) time and 2) have reinstalled the camera picture software after getting my computer wiped clean and back from Staples....

We are all hitting the ground running. I have to work tomorrow for a brand new company (doing the same old tasks) and have to learn a new software application to report my work. Awana for the boys tomorrow and 2 verses to learn to catch up. MOPS craft and meeting on Friday to get ready for and etc etc etc for the weekend. Sigh.

Good Night. We are home safe.

Ok, a mid-trip update.

Hot tubbed, check.
3 park visits (each over 2 hours), check.
2 walks with Skeeter, check.
new booster seat for Caleb, check.
1 visit for myself to dentist, check.
2 visits to McDonalds for playtime, check.
1 Caleb & Grandpa only outing for ice cream, check.
watched 2 movies (g-Force and Race to witch mountian), check.
Cartoons, check.
Playing individually and together on computer, check.
Renewed lice treatment, check. (Again, so soon, and totally unrelated to the last time? What are the chances?)
And my uncle has passed away.


Planning: Bowling tomorrow, maybe Chuck E. Cheese Tuesday. and who knows what else because the weather is great!

We are working together to turn the tide of Caleb's defiance, and Jockey trying to copy the model of definance. Some days are decent, others are rough. Jockey punched me in the rear and bit my finger yesterday, which resulted in staying home and thinking about this actions and napping while Caleb got to go out. Caleb had some defiant times and is the bad habit of talking back. We are trying to nip that all in the bud. Improvements, yes, even if slow.

And I feel good that even while on "vacation" and being out of our element, we have still been careful to stay away from food coloring, sodium benzoate and excessive sugars. Staying away from these help the boys not to have reasons (outside of childish immaturity) for poor behaviours. So the general wound up craziness is being kept to a minimum. And hours upon hours at the park are a good way to keep the worn out. They play while the adults talk and soak up the sun. Works out great.

One down side, I've been struggling with a tooth ache... so that's been my own challenge, and often it makes my patience short etc. I'll have to come home and see the dentist promptly it looks like. Could I please be hit on the head and left for the vultures instead????

Overall, a good trip, good talks, good cuddle times, good weather, lots of exercise. (even the dog is getting leaner, I've been calling her mini-keg.) More on the next update, have a great week.

Just a brief, and I mean bried update.

We've attended Tessa's family birthday party at the pool. Good times.
We visited Great Grandpa Severson (age 96/97) on Sunday. He's old yet cheerful. And we learned he likes watching sting operations where they catch internet predators...and Msnbc News. Ok Grandpa.
Caleb likes his literacy lab, and I think he's actually learning more in that 25 minutes than in regular class.
We've spent a few days at the park using the unpredictable sunshine to the max.
I have started work at an additional company, that makes 3 employers for myself... tricky keeping which tasks report to which companies! Whew!
My desktop computer has been out of commission with viruses/worms/trojans etc since last Monday, so that's the reason for few postings. Crossing my fingers that Staples can have it ready to pick up tomorrow AM....

The boys are all excited:
We will be in California from late tomorrow afternoon 2/10 through WEDNESDAY night of next week 2/17. We'll hit the ground running with school, lit lab, Awana and work and MOPS with craft that week. Pray for a safe, on time flight and our luggage lands when and where we do!

In the meantime, the boys have "packed" their back packs to include far too many beanie babies. We have an abundance of them thanks to Grandma Judy paring down her collection. And the boys have been inseparable from them. Caleb sleeps in a small pool of them on his bed each night. Jockey takes them in the car EVERYWHERE, to show and tell, etc. The one great thing is that there are so many, there are few fights and never have we not been able to find one to go with us in the car!

So that's the quick low down, good night.