Meet Our New Pets!

This is Gwen. She is a Sugar Glider. We also have her brother, Ben.



They were born July 31, 2009 and we got them last Saturday, when they were 8 weeks old. Here is what they looked like when they were born.



Sugar Gliders are marsupials, so a cousin of the kangaroo, but much smaller, of course. They live in the tops of trees. The females have a pouch. They are great family pets because once they get to know you, you become part of their family. They love you unconditionally. Not like hamsters or gerbils who would run away the first chance they got. These are more like tiny dogs. :) They are called sugar gliders because they can "fly" by gliding. I read that they can glide the length of a football field.

Anyway, we just got them and they are still babies so they are trying to get used to us. Gwen, the girl, is so sweet. She will already climb all over us and isn't scared at all. Ben is still skittish and doesn't like us too much. He yells at us when we come close, but he is getting better. Last night he climbed on me twice. I had to be perfectly still though. :)

The only bad thing is, is that they are nocturnal, and right now they aren't waking up until after 11 at night. This is not making the boys happy. We were able to wake them up last night, so they got to see them a little bit before bed time, but Gwen was not happy. She was a bit freaked out about being woken up. We are trying to change their schedule so they wake up after dinner. We'll see.

We built them a huge cage and they are in our extra room upstairs. They love exploring it. :) We have been up until after midnight playing with them. The other night they were playing hide and seek with each other in the curtains. It was cute. I also made all of the toys and accessories for their cage. I am pretty crafty! Who would've thought?!

They are incredibly hard to take pictures of because 1) they are quick and move constantly and 2) it has to stay dark because light hurts their eyes. So the room is dark and I can't use a flash. I finally got a few pictures last night, but they aren't great.

Anyway, we love our new pets, and it is helping Sam get over losing Angel a little bit. :)


Gwen eating in her "kitchen".

Gwen coming out of her pouch. (They sleep and feel much more comfortable in pouches.)

Gwen

Weekly CVS Trip

All of this would have cost me $90. I got it at CVS this week for $5!

Here is what I got this week.
1 Tide Detergent
1 Package of Charmin Toilet Paper
1 Gillete Fusion Razor
1 Dawn Dish Soap
1 Listerine Total Care Mouthwash
1 container Clorox Wipes
1 Vaseline Body Lotion
3 Wrigley's Spearmint gum
1 Scope Outlast Mouthwash
1 Diabetes Testing Kit
1 package of q-tips
2 Tide Stain Remover Tabs

I did spend $15 out of pocket for all of this stuff, but i get $10 in CVS Bucks to use for next time, making this $5 this week. Yippee!

Sweet Angel

Here are some pictures of our cute, little hamster that Sam misses so much. This was a couple of weeks before she died.

Sad Night at Our House

Wednesday night was a terrible night at our house.

Sam's hamster, Angel, died that night. It was devastating to the boys.

Sam loved her like you wouldn't believe. He got her out every night to play with her before bed, no matter what. He also got her out during the day time, but always, always at night. He loved her so much and she was a GREAT hamster. He got her when she was just a few weeks old, and from that day on they were best friends. She never bit, she played with him, when she would escape from her cage, he could always find her and she would come back to him. She was perfect for him.

That night he went like normal to get her out. Then he called downstairs and said something was wrong with her. She was 2 years old, so I had been preparing him that she was getting old and she would probably die sometime in the short future. We immediately ran up there, and she was walking funny. He said, "I think her leg is broken." He was sad. We watched her and she was dragging the back half of her body and then she would tip over. She also started gasping for air. She never made a sound, but you could tell she was in pain and really having trouble. It took about 10 minutes of doing that before she died. It was terrible to watch. Poor little thing. She finally laid down, just gasping for air. Sam sat down right next to her and started crying. Then she stopped breathing. The kids were sobbing uncontrollably and Sam kept saying that she couldn't be dead. Then all of a sudden, like 2 minutes later she took a big breath again, and then died all over gain. Sam kept watching, hoping she would start breathing again. They were crying like crazy. It was TERRIBLE. I have nver seen them cry like that before. It was real, fullblown grief. It took 2 hours to finally calm them down and get them in bed. I was sad for her, but mostly sad for the boys. It was awful. Sam talked to her several times telling her she was the best pet and he loved her. He held her again. They put a picture of themselves in the box with her, drew her a card, put in a stuffed animal friend, and made her a nice, cozy bed. Poor kids. Sam wanted he rto sleep in his room with him, but we had to say no to that.

The next day was sad too. You could tell from the moment he got up that Sam would lose it at any minute. Thankfully I was at school all day and explained to their teachers what had happened so they were prepared. I ate lunch with Sam and he talked about it. I checked on him several times and you could tell that he was trying so hard to keep it together. Finally at the end of the day, he got to hold his class pet hamster. They had just gotten him that week. That was it for him and he started crying then. He walked all the way down the hall to me, crying. Poor, poor Sam.

He has talked about her frequently and gets better and better each day, but he really misses her. She was a great pet and a perfect hamster.

Goodbye Angel. Thanks for being the perfect pet for us.

Whew!

Well that was a long, but quick 6 weeks! I finished up my long stint subbing for 1st grade. I loved it, but boy was I busy!!!! I had way too much going on and not enough time to do it. That's why there hasn't been many blog posts.

My class was great. It was a lot of work, but they learned a lot, and it was a great time. I will miss them. They were all sad when I left, and told me they didn't want me to go, but they will LOVE their real teacher, so i am not worried about them at all. I also plan on visiting a lot. :) I was ready to be done though, so I could get busy on other stuff. My own school work kinda fell to the way side, so I am not as far as I want to be. Thankfully, I can make up that time now.

The kids loved me being at school every day, and Avery is sort of freaking out that I won't be there anymore.

Not only was I working every day, doing my normal every day stuff, doing college work, and more, but it is also my busiest time of year for the PTO. I am the volunteer coordinator for the school. The beginning of the year, I have to input everyone's information, find classroom representatives, etc. I have literally been sending hundreds of emails the past few weeks, not to mention all the data I have been typing. Whew!

Sam has also been busy. He joined a club at school called the RAK (random acts of kindness) club. He will be perfect for it. He is so compassionate and loving. He stays one day after school for that. Then tryouts for the school play are tomorrow. He will then be staying after school an additional 2 days a week for that. He also has cub scouts. we were going to add swim lessons, but with everything else, I think we will wait. He is doing great in school, although he says 4th grade is pretty hard. He also will be doing lots of projects this year, which I am NOT excited about. Yuck!

Avery loves Kindergarten, and especially loves his teacher. He comes home every day saying, "She hasn't taught me to read yet!" He can't wait to read like Sam. He can already read words, but he expects to be able to read Harry Potter by now. :) He also wants to learn to tie his shoes, and tons of other things. He is definitely a learner!

AJ has been working a ton. He is the only one doing his job and now that business has picked back up, it is making for longer days. He went camping this weekend though, which he loves, so he should be happy for a while.

Next month is our International singing competition. We also have our annual show. We have been working like crazy for that. We have tons of choreography to learn, and since I am on the front row, I am a dancing machine. ;) I also will be singing in a small ensemble group for the show. It is going to be our best show yet. It will be great to watch. Come see us! You will get to see me dance like crazy, I am right up front almost the whole time on all the songs, and you will hear me sing with a small group, plus it is a Halloween show, so you can imagine what else you might see me do. Come see me to find out! :)

Anyway, things should slow down a little bit now, so I will be back around. :)

Football!

A couple weekends ago AJ took the boys to their first ever Tennessee Vols game in Knoxville. That is a BIG deal here in Tennessee. I was busy here at home working on a paper for school. They took their friend Justin, and AJ took some huge fans from church. They had a great time. They drove the 4 hours there and back in the same day so they were tired, but they loved it. Avery said it was a little boring, but Sam loved every moment. They left at 5:30 in the morning! Anyway, I am sure that will be the first of many more games. They are definitely boys!

$12 for all of this, this week at Target and CVS.

Ahhh! I love saving money!

Yes, I know my blog has pretty much turned in to a see how much I saved blog, but I can't help it! Look at how good I did the last 2 weeks!



This is a combination of last week and this week at CVS and Target.

I spent $17 total for all of this.

4 boxes of Special K cereal- Sam eats this every morning. $.64 each after coupons and sale.
1 bag of 22ct. chips- this wasn't the best deal, but it was on sale and I did have a coupon. Avery will take these to his class on his snack day.
5 things of Edy's Ice cream- $.30 each
1 Tide Stain Release Gel Tabs- about $1
1 huge thing of cocoa butter lotion- $2
2 jars of Planter peanuts- $3
1 Fiber One 4 pk of yogurt- FREE
2 big jars of Welch's Jelly- about $1
1 glade candle- FREE
1 glade reed smelly stuff- Earned $1

That's pretty good if I do say so myself. I could be doing better, but working so much is cramping my style. :) I also have brought our monthly grocery bill down almost $100. WOOHOO!