Moldy Worms

Did you know that box turtles really cannot eat a quarter of a watermelon at one time? Huh? who'da guessed. We know because one of the kids tried to feed that much to Cleo. It just sat there and collected flies.

Oh, yes, the adventures we have had with our kids and the box turtle...not always humorous at the time...but, hey, I guess they make for good blog material.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, the kids found a box turtle in our yard several months back. (Actually, it was 2 turtles, and the other one's name was Tony, but he got away somehow. The kids were sad.) So, we, thinking what a good science experiment it would be (Ha! little did we know, WE would be the ones doing the learning) let the kids keep her. We made a terrarium out of a large plastic storage container filled with dirt, some monkey grass, and a little water "pond". Then we researched what kinds of things box turtles eat. Apparently they like bugs, worms, fruit, some greens, mushrooms, etc. All stuff we could find in the yard or from leftovers we ourselves eat. Of course they only eat small portions at a time, but we forgot to specify (or the kids forgot to hear) that part. Hence, we have had to do some major cleaning of poor Cleo's box more times than I care to count. Whole containers of strawberry tops, half a bag of soggy spinach, 8 melon rinds...these are just some of the injustices she has suffered. She seems to maintain a good attitude though and always comes crawling out when we go visit her.

The other thing with these turtles is they need to be misted when you feed them. So we got a special nozzle for our hose that lets you adjust the pressure. It's actually pretty cute to see her enjoying the mist. Did you know turtles wipe their eyes with their feet? Yep, they do. The kids love to see her.

Us, being responsible parents, and wanting to teach our children the same, appointed Aaron or Lela the care of the Cleo. At first, it was so much fun...everyone competing. Who can catch the most doodle bugs or worms, who can find the most mushrooms (yes, we told them not to touch them but instead to use a stick and to wash their hands after), and best of all who gets to drown her with a deluge of water. Oops! I mean who gets to mist her. The thing is, Cleo only got the initial force of the blast. The other children lingering nearby, the porch, front yard and anything else in the vicinity got the rest of it. Yeah, they must have forgotten to hear the part about adjusting the pressure too. Or the part about NOT hosing everyone else down.

We had gotten some turtle food to supplement what the kids found but I think the box got hosed a couple times so we lost about half of that. Then a few weeks ago Ed ordered some worms off the internet. I didn't know you could order worms in a can, but apparently you can.

After the first feeding or two of worms one of the kids confused "the top of the fridge" with "inside the freezer". Imagine my delight when I open the freezer to find a frozen can of worms. Yummy! Dinner anyone. I wasn't sure if it would ruin them or not but we saved them anyway and let them thaw. Guess what? It ruined them.

Lela was going to give some more to Cleo, but when she opened the can she told me "It stinks!". No kidding, worms stink? sure enough...they had molded.

I'm not sure how much longer we plan to keep her, but any talk of letting her go is met with laments and moans of disappointment. =)

I think I would rather let her go before we kill her with our tender loving care.

Toy Patrol

We are so overwhelmed with toys here that I had to come up with a good solution. I had been rotating out about half of them 2 or 3 times a year but that still left so many out all the time that they didn't really enjoy but just had to pick up all the time. Not to mention Ed and I both got tired of tripping over toys every time we turned around.

It came to me the other day when I was cleaning out the shed what my solution could be. We went to home depot and got two large garage storage shelves and I set them up in the shed. Then I took ALL the kids toys out there with only the exception of a special doll or stuffed animal each. By grouping them into boxes or baskets everything fit. Now what we do is every week the kids each get to take their toy baskets and pick a few each from the general stash.

We just got in from "toy shopping" a few minutes ago and you would think Christmas had come again. It is certainly keeping down the clutter inside and I think they will enjoy what they play with more.

Works for me!

Musings

It just occurred to me this afternoon that, for the first time in 9 years, I don't have a single baby in diapers. That's pretty amazing considering it has always been an accomplishment to just have one instead of 2 or 3 in diapers. Of course it's not for long...and I can't wait for this new little one to get here. I'm trying to just focus on school and the everyday things I have to do until it's time to start washing up the baby clothes. Can't wait!!! This pregnancy has seemed like it has taken forever but I know it's just a normal one. Thank the Lord, it has been healthy.

For those who don't know, my due date is Nov. 3o. I can't help hoping it could come earlier ...provided everything is ready and healthy of course. The older kids are all excited. And I know Kyla is going to love it. She already coos at any and all "babies" she sees, even ones older than herself. hahaha. I'll just have to watch her to make sure she doesn't try to be the Mommy.

It's hard to believe it has been 2 years since she was born. It has gone by so fast. We just had her birthday party on Sat. combined with Anna Laurie's (my niece) who just turned 5. They had a lot of fun. I'll have to post pics tomorrow as Ed has all the pictures and he has been at work the last two days.

We will be celebrating our 10th honeymoon in a couple weeks. It has been a great 10 years and I feel so blessed to be married to this man.

Hey, Go'geous!

Kyla has become the biggest ham...she keeps us in stitches (or rolling our eyes) all the time.

Last night she snuggled up beside Ed on the couch and said"hey, go'geous man". She says "Go'geous" with such a southern accent too. It's funny to me because neither of us really have one at all. Between her and Levi though, they can turn your average one-syllable word into about 4 or 5 syllables.

I'm so glad she isn't going to stay the baby... she is already so spoiled from all the attention...hopefully having a younger one will help her realize that it's not all about her. You can only say "stop laughing at her" so many times. If it's not the kids it's other adults too. =}

I don't mean to imply that I don't enjoy her antics...I DO! Maybe too much. She really is a cutie, I just don't want her to be ruined. Guess it's another good reminder to pray without ceasing.

Be careful what you say

Last night, I was doing some last minute cleaning before bed and tried to include a quick fix project that I have been needing to do. Our toilet paper holder gets alot of abuse and it has been missing the holder itself plus one screw for awhile now. I finally got the holder replacement and found a screw I thought would work, so I was trying to fix it really quick last night. First I tried to just put the screw in but it pulled right out of the wall, then I tried to loosen the bottom screw but it refused to budge( in spite of being used as a swing or handlebar several times a day). After working with it for a while I finally called to Ed in the other room that " I need help I can't get this stupid screw loose!". To my dismay, I immediately hear below me "Soopid, soopid" and I look down to see Kyla wielding a pencil in place of a screwdriver in perfect immitation of what I had just done....

  Of course I had to tell her "You don't say that", but it was a very humbling reminder that our children hear every thing. Even the stuff we don't want them too.