We might be crazy.....

Once upon a time, my hubby and I were newly married.  We were young, naive, somewhat stupid...you know.

And we got it in our heads that we wanted a ferret!

So, silly us, we went to the pet store to buy ourselves a ferret.  We took one into a back room.  It jumped and played and generally frolicked around with us.

We fell in love!  Well, I admit I did.  I think Scott did too.  She was so adorable and fun!

So, they boxed her up, we paid the nice clerk, and headed out to the car.

And then we stopped. 

Ferrets are cute and playful... and also:  smelly, mischievous, thieving, mess-making, demanding of attention and somewhat expensive.

And we quickly gathered hold of our senses (we weren't THAT young and stupid, after all,)  and marched that brand new ferret right back into the store, collected our money, and hurriedly, if not a little sadly, left.

FAST FORWARD 17 YEARS.....

I was watching Youtube videos of animals with the boys the other day.  An otter came on the screen, and Ben said, "I wish I could have an otter for a pet!"  "Well," said I... "Otters cannot be had as pets.  There is, however a little animal in the otter family that IS a pet."  And we watched scores of adorable and fun ferret videos right then and there.

"We want a ferret!!!" came the chorus of sounds all around me.

And as I watched all those ferret videos, I began to feel a little twinge of stirring within me.  Along with a sneaking suspicion that I was somehow losing my mind a bit...

And before I knew it, I was somewhat chiming in with them about wanting a ferret, and not discouraging them from asking their dad.  Not sure how he lost his mind too, but after much, much research and thought...I promise...

Yep.

I am not sure how it happened that we were so much smarter way back then.  But, somehow it is true.  We went and got not one, but TWO ferrets.  Their names are Flurry and M&M. (Mischief Maker.)  They are really, really fun! 

But something tells me we just might be crazy.....

School's in!

Well, folks, I haven't been on here much because SCHOOL STARTED!  And when that happens...well...I pretty much start going when my feet hit the floor, and then feel like collapsing at the end of the day. So, I apologize for making your lives so much more boring since you haven't had my blog posts to read lately.  So very sorry.


Well, we started school last week.  We got a bit of a late start because we went on a family camping trip the week before!  It was beautiful and we had a wonderful time. 


And then we got school off and running nicely.  Here was part of our first day.  We went hiking on some nature trails near our house and did some tree and wildflower identification with our friends.

And we have also had some lovely moments so far like this...

 During some down time, Jacob made a water spout for Sarah to climb and fall down from.  : )

Making some letter cookies on our first official school day.  (Did you know that you can't really use cookie cutters with chocolate chip cookie dough?  I didn't.  It didn't work.)

So, we have had some fun and rewarding learning time already.  AND we have had some bad attitudes and complaining as well.  I didn't take pictures of those times, but maybe I should.

Sometimes I read blogs and get the feeling that these families I read about are all perfect, and the children look like they are all well-behaved and loving to each other constantly.  And maybe they are...but just in case you are reading this and you think MY children are all well-behaved and loving each other constantly, I just want you to know that that just ain't true.  They are awesome, fantastic kids, and they DO love each other--even if they don't admit it-- and we do have a lot of fun together.  But trust me, they are sinners too.  : )  (Just like all of us!)

So, if you think about it, please pray for me as we plunge into another year of school and battle the attitude monster!  I am adding pre-school for Sarah into the mix, too! (but she loves it of course.) 

By the way, we saw Dr. Aaberg for her routine eye exam recently, and everything still looks great!  Praise the Lord!

I hope you all are having a great school year so far!

Ten years later...Please watch this amazing video of Sujo John, 9/11 Survivor

Waving farewell to summer...

It's September!  It's getting cooler...the yellow school buses have been set in motion...but here at our house, we haven't been quite ready to give up this...

And this...

 And this...

And this...

 And this...

 And this... (Okay, the boys are probably ready to give this up.)

And this...

 Sweet Ben was so loving to Sarah when she was afraid on the "dinosaur ride." 

And this...(petting the animals at the fair)

Yes, I am just really sad to say good-bye to summer.  But I do really love fall, and the boys are actually semi-looking forward to starting school.  And we WILL be starting very soon.  I promise.  So don't go calling some truant officer or something.  

Have a wonderful school year, everybody!