Hammy the Hamster

Xander wanted more animals then we currently have, which at the moment is one fish….his fish.  So I told him about hamsters.  We had all sorts of pet rodents growing up which I remember with fondness, even if they did eat each other.  I was okay with a hamster, but didn't know if Ryan would be and I wanted Xander to learn responsibility and the value of working hard for a long time for something.  So, our hamster journey started.  We got library books about hamsters and read several of them.  Then Xander made a poster all about hamsters and how to take care of them.  Then we went to the pet store and priced out all he needed for a hamster - which if purchased new is sort of expensive.  So off to craigslist we searched.  While still searching for the right priced cage, Xander gave his Dad a presentation with his poster of the Hamster and how he was going to take care of it.  After Ryan gave his blessing the search continued and Xander started working extra chores for more money to finance his goal.  Eventually he earned enough money and we got the cutes little hamster and all the stuff.  This hamster is perfect.  She is a golden syrian hamster and never has bitten anyone or been aggressive at all.  We love her.  The end.

That is a great story huh?  Xander sounds impressive, I sound like a good Mom and it is all around a good story.  All of it is true too.  However there is a lot missing in this story.  Like, How Xander was obsessed with doing all the things I required of him as fast as possible so he could get his hamster.  It was exhausting!  He pestered me read the books all day, then make the poster all day.  Then he wanted to go to the pet store several times. I had to say no frequently.  He was so driven to make money that he wanted to work all day long.  He was so focused that he didn't want to eat lunch and just kept working. I should have forced him to because by 2 pm he was falling apart and was a total mess.  He would argue with me how much I should pay him per chore and then throw a fit. I ended up firing him and sending him to his room where he cried himself to sleep while I made him a sandwich I planned to force feed him.  It was nuts!  I ended up hating craigslist because Xander would beg me to check my email and craigslist every hour to see if anyone responded or posted something new.  With any free time he had he wanted to peruse craigslist to see what was out there.  And the questions were non stop! It was driving me CRAZY!  It took all my determination to not just buy the cage to make this horrible experience end.  But I really wanted him to learn hard work over a period of time while you work to make a goal happen.  I learned that learning these skills for Xander is very painful for all involved. I am so glad it is over.   In the end it took about 1.5 weeks - and I was putting the breaks on often. We really do love the hamster though.  She is very cute and a great family pet.  We don't know how old she is because she was a rescue hamster, so hopefully she will live for awhile. They usually only live 2 years.

Uncle James

You may not know that the boys have an Uncle James.  That is because he is not uncle by blood.  James Hicks is Ryan's BFF.  James is incredibly handy.  He know a small amount to a large amount about almost everything.  James has helped us with a lot of things from lots of electrical work on our house to souping up power wheels.  Ryan pays off his debt by mowing James lawn for the last 2-3 years.  Ryan drives the lawn tractor a mile on the road down to James house many times a summer.  James has never owned a lawn mower.  Anyway, James is beloved not only by Ryan but by every male in our family.  Soren and Xander jump him whenever he walks into our house.  They know his car and start running if they ever see it in our drive way.  One reason why he is so beloved is because of these wrestling events.  Ah, the joy of boys speaking boy language.

Mindy, a friend of mine with only boys once told me, "I tell my boys, - we only wrestle with Daddy!"  This was such a new concept for me. I didn't know I could do that.  Once I started to implement that, my life changed dramatically. I use to be scared to kneel on the floor, knowing if I got to low, I would be body slammed by one or both of the boys.  Now I just say, "remember, we only wrestle with Daddy" and then I like to add, "Mommy is fragile! We don't want to break Mommy."  I have always wanted to try out being fragile.  My cover gets blown sometimes when they jump me one too many times and I forget what I am suppose to say and in frustration instead throw them off me and half way across the room, which they usually find all too fun.   

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Xander's singing debut

I was making dinner on a Sunday night when Xander started singing a song he made up for Levi.  He is super embarrassed about this song, so don't bring it up to him, but I think it is adorable.  Because I was trying to get Xander's song on film, I let Levi be spun more then I normally would.  By the time the spinning stopped, Levi was so dizzy, that although his body stopped his eyes kept moving.   He took it well though.  Thanks Levi for sacrificing for posterity's sake.

Vogue

I bought a groupon for a photo shoot at Yen Lui in the summer, with the dream of getting an adorable pictures of my 3 boys.  I wanted the best chance of Levi smiling so I booked it 2 days before the groupon expired which made Levi about 3 months old.  So the day arrived and we headed to the studio.  Our last photo shoot was with my friend as the photographer and in my back yard and the boys were AMAZING.  They were so cooperative and it was so quick.  So, I foolishly, had hoped a new picture taking leaf had been turned and it would go well……..not so much.  It was as awful as it historically always has been.  The photographer tried her best, but it takes some serious skills and a huge amount of luck to get my 3 boys being cooperative all at the same time.  It was a bust.  It was so bad that the studio said we could do it again for no extra charge. I took them up on it.  So the next week we headed back, but stupidly I booked Levi's immunizations for the morning of the same day. I didn't think anything of it until he woke up from his nape in a bad mood.  And then I realized I just set myself up for failure.  But we tried anyway.  Luckily me pleading with my older boys, "all I want from Christmas from you guys is a cute picture" paid off and the boys look adorable……..however I didn't realize how scared Levi looks until we blew up the picture.  Ha ha, it is still cute.

 These are some quick family snap shots before the first attempt of the photo shoot.