Sorry I haven't posted in a while... computer trouble...

So the biggest news... We have found homes for ALL the bunnies!

Friday of last week I received a call from a lady who lives here in Monroe. She ended up surprising her daughter ages (11-13) with a bunny. They chose little Shooter Jr and despite being a girl they were going to keep the name because it went with their dog's name.

THEN, as I was getting ready to take the boys to the Children's Museum another lady called and wanted Lone Star. Because she was in Marysville and we were headed to Everett, Lone Star (my favorite because he was the licker) took a car ride to meet his new owners. He cuddled with us in the car and said good bye.

So as we entered the Children's Museum, we only had two bunnies to find homes for.

Well Tuesday I had 4 calls/emails about the last 2. So I time stamped them and just went down the list. The people who came were from Echo Falls (between Monroe and Woodinville). They have two daughters one is between 2 and 3yrs and the other was turning 6 next Wednesday and the bunny was to be her birthday present. They ended up taking both Pee-Wee and Darko (the twins), and a list of spay/neuter locations that I printed out. By the time they left the little girl had renamed Pee-Wee to Sugar and Darko to Buttercup. Caleb was the first to point out when he came home, "But they can't eat butter cup!" The boys were able to say good bye before the tennis lessons which was a good thing because both bunnies were gone by the time they were back home.

The sad part is when the boys forget that we don't have bunnies and ask to hold them. I miss them too. They really had carved out a niche in our routines and hearts. We might have to do this again. It was a great experience, responsiblity, handling, procreation without the difficult questions... And let's face it. How many people actually get to experience baby-anything in their life. Even when you set out to get a puppy you get it at 8 weeks and miss the first 2 months of it's life. Not this time with bunnies. It was a very special time that I hope that Caleb and Josh remember and value when they are older.

So we've been to the Children's Musuem, Church, the Zoo and met Cousin Tessa and Auntie Kristina, school, work, Bible study, Awana. And we are headed into the weekend with limited plans. Perhaps the fishing derby at Tye Lake on Sunday will be a good thing to try...

We'll see. That's it for now. Thanks for checking in.

Happy Tax Day, for those who have completed their forms... and who are getting a refund.

We are one day away from the weekend. Tomorrow we plan to go to the children's museum.

Yesterday, little "speckles" bunny was chosen by a family who lives in Carnation and renamed Taffy. They have two daughters ages 1 and 3. The 3 year old is handicapped and the bunny was selected as the perfect animal to be held and hop around her. Taffy was the name best pronouced by the 3 yr old. The family was delighted that these bunnies had such extensive experience being held by children. They thought that Speckles/Taffy had the most brillant pure white fur and was just so pretty they were attached almost at once.

Today, little "rosie jr/rusty/Lava boy" was selected for his new home. The family has 9 kids from 2 to teeanagers; all of which drove up from Shoreline to pick up their new family addition. They had had 7 other rabbits at various times, each living long lives. They saw the ad on craigslist and thought that Rosie Jr appeared to have an adventurous look. Ironically, Rosie jr actually DOES have a bit of an adventurous trait. It will be a great fit if they are looking for and expecting adventure and independence and that is exactly what he is.

This leaves just 4 bunnies: Darko-boy and PeeWee-girl both solid tortise colors, Lone Star-boy and Shooter jr-girl, broken tortises (color mixed with white).
For each departing rabbit, it is more and more difficult to see the next go. As the pack dwindles, both Caleb and Jockey are having increasing difficulties saying good bye. Caleb said good by to Rosie Jr before school just in case, and true enough, Rosie was gone when Caleb returned. Caleb had to be held for a couple minutes to comfort him because he was missing the bunny already. It makes it easier to know that they are going to good homes, but still a bit sad. With a smaller pack, we are getting a chance to get to know their personalities better and better. Lone Star is quite a licker, literally. He licks and shows affection that way. Darko nearly always has a plump tummy. PeeWee is basically the same size as the rest of the pack, no longer the runt. And Shooter Jr is a sweet cuddler.

Well, that's the tail of only 4 bunnies to go.

Sunday, today the weather was beautiful. We used it to a great advantage....

Thank you Peter (aka Grandpa Dahl) for coming the second day in a row to work on installing carpet!

Also, the first bunny was picked up today and headed home. One of my MOPS/Bible Study friends came with her son today and picked out a rabbit. They had visited and thought he liked Speckles, but about half way through their visit today, Andrew decided that he would like to have Tawny. Tawny is Jockey's absolute favorite in the world. And the decision was made while Tawny was in Jockey's arms. Jockey's initial response was NO, but he said that once and I stopped and told him that they live near by and that we could visit any time. From there on out Jockey's behavior and maturity absolutely shocked and amazed me. This is a red letter day of motherhood pride. Jockey showed Andrew how to hold it, told him what Tawny liked to eat. Kissed Tawny good bye. He didn't cry, stomp, pout... NOTHING. I was so moved by his behavior. My friend was ready to say not to pick Tawny, but I explained to her that we would rather the favorite rabbit be near by to visit than go to a stranger far far away. She's also got 4 kids from ages 2 to 8, and Tawny was an excellent choice. Tawny has been well acclimated to being held by children and has been well prepared for a home with children.

So when they left. I took Jockey aside and told him how proud I was of him and how adult/"big boy" he had acted. I told him that Tawny would have a great home with the family of kids to hold/play with him and that Jockey had prepared that little rabbit for that perfect home through his care for Tawny. He said, "Yeah. I knew that he was gonna change his mind. I take good care of my rabbits because I'm the special Rabbit Man and I just love rabbits. Mommy, I love you." Jockey is amazing in the way he processed this whole experience. Again, I'm so very proud of him. And we look forward to visiting Tawny at his new home.

Still 6 for which to find homes. I pray that each rabbit departure is handled as maturely by the boys.

That's all for now, for some reason, I'm just worn out and the boys have lots of "mommy will you" and "mommy, can I"... I've got to go take care of some of those.

Three Easter Egg Hunts.... What do to with all that candy (especially when the boys are benefactors of so much food coloring)?

Well, I wish I could say that I'm clever enough to come up with this idea, but as it is, I'll just take credit for seeing the potential and going with the flow. So the boys come down with 2 glasses filled with water and about 1/4 of their candy drowned and stuck in the bottom of the glass saying "Look Mom, a science experiment. You know colors and dissolving". Now I could have freaked out (especially about the wrappers littering the kitchen) and made them dump them out. However, I saw this for the blessing that it truly was. How else do you get two typical candy-crazy boys to be excited about getting rid of and not eating their food coloring bounty... a science experiment. So with the wisdom only God himself could have given, I said "oh, wow, it will take a while to dissolve though. You'll just have to set it down and check on it later." And later they moved on to another set of experiments and now most of their candy is gone. Yes, they did eat a fair share. Fair, not overboard insanity inducing quantities. Happy ending. And Caleb goes on record for saying that Easter is his most favorite day of the year to celebrate Jesus because he can have food color!

I overheard Caleb and Jockey talking the other day. Caleb was telling Jockey that "I have two names that you can call me. Caleb or Brudder (yes, pronounced that way), but I prefer Brudder." Just a cute kid-ism.
Another went something like this: "wow mom, I think I'm going to call you Fire Head. Or maybe Lava Girl"... After a recent hair make over. (BTW, I've gotten several less ambigous compliments.)

So Day One of Spring Break: Science Experiments, Rabbit holding, playing in the backyard, forts.
Day Two: pick up from day one, Tennis and spend the night with Grammy and Papa Dahl.
Day Three: get picked up by Mom and off to a playdate with a Literacy Lab buddy of Caleb's.
Day Thursday: Something with Dad, Mom works.
Day Friday... Don't know yet.

Easter: Church, grocery shopping, house pick up, Dinner with Grammy and Papa at our house.
Dentist: Filling date in May, Cleaning Date in June. Recommended extractions (possible implants later) and root canals on 3 others. Thank God for tranquilizers because if I could remember all of the appointment I'd be panicked right now. I think I'll go be an ostrich for a while.
Bunnies: 1 has a home planned, 6 to find for sure homes. Weaning planned for this week ending.

That's all for now.

It's coming up Easter Weekend.

Jockey is learning about Christ's resurrection at school, and a variety of other Easter-y things Eggs, crafts etc. He loves to play with his friends, and having the extra time for him to play is really terrific. He is doing really well at school. He is a very smart cookie. And he is enjoying his at home school work (not assigned by the school, just something we have.) He surprises me with what he knows or can figure out. He's learning beginning sounds and rhyming.

Jockey-isms... After a baby rabbit scratched him..."The rabbit disciplined me", I can't get over how cute that one is. He's also saying "you are not making me have a good day" when things don't go exactly how he wants. I'm not too hung up on what he is saying, it's not my job to MAKE him have a good day... especially when the reason he's saying that is because we have to leave the playground to pick Caleb up from school. But nevertheless, Jockey is especially verbal in what is going on with him. His shoes don't feel "hard" aka tight enough.

Jockey is concerning me when he says his tummy hurts quite often. Although after his recent illness, he's decided that some medicine tastes good, and now it is hard to distinguish a problem from a fish for sweet medicine. But knowing Jockey as a Mom does, I tell him he needs to take time in the restroom to just sit and try. He tells me he likes to talk to himself in the bathroom (and it's true, he does). I also told him he could take the time to pray too. So that lead to a discussion of taking TIME to p**p and TIME to pray, and if he wanted to do both that was ok. (Heck, both are life skills.)

Caleb is pretty sad that we are going to try to find homes for all the bunnies. (Try, and then see what is left over.) He would like nothing more than to keep them all. His teacher is even considering one; they are hard to resist once you've seen them and we visited his class with a couple last Friday. It was a real good session of show-n-tell. Caleb of course had to explain a bit of the conception... Oh, yeah. A real learning session that day. Something about chasing and going behind a tv and shaking a bum even on the head. Uhm, yeah. That's enough Caleb. The kids really were interested, and I tried to provide true information, food, size, birth appearances. DAILY, multiple times a day I'm asked if they (the boys) can hold baby rabbits. Caleb just had a good time being the center of attention and "in control". Our first born really does have a control issue. Not quite sure if it is truly a problem to solve, or just an immature appearance of a character trait of his final personality.
Caleb is excelling in literacy lab. He's learned more in the last two months than ever before. Mike has taken over homework duties. (It became vastly apparent that I'm not it, from what I was told, too verbal for a visual boy.) Caleb had to read during last week's conference. That was the most reading he has ever done in front of me and the best he's done. I tried to provide huge praise so that he had the confidence to do that at home. He is on level with about have of things, and just on the borderline from getting all the other things. He really is quick at math, he gets it. I'm glad that there is an area of academics that is easier for him so that he is not discouraged by the whole school experience. Although, he still says that the only thing he likes about school is recess. But for such an active, competive, what-to-take charge boy... what could be better but sports.

Easter weekend... maybe find an Egg Hunt somewhere, go to the dentist (me), Easter Service on Sunday. Who knows what else. I like the holiday's meaning, but I'm not stoked into activity over it. It's been a hectic week and it's not over. The boys have Awana tonight, verses to learn today, I help in one of their classes, stay afterward to set up for MOPS tomorrow, then attend MOPS tomorrow and then pick Caleb up from school. It's a full set of days.

Well time to get Caleb off to school. TTFN