Disposable Pets!!!!

Okay when I was young there was this tv show. I think it was Family Ties but I'm not sure. Anyway, I specifically remember this episode where Alex (Michele J Fox) takes the little brother to preschool and teaches the whole class about running a business. As a class they decide to "run" a pet store. So Alex starts helping them plan the kinds of animals they're gonna have. Some little kid says "Lets sell frogs!"
That's when Alex says "...okay now we have to separate the frogs...tree frogs, slimy frogs, disposable frogs..."
At that point the teacher interrupts, "DISPOSABLE frogs?"
Alex's reply? "Yeah you know, the kind that die as soon as you bring them home."

Well, there we go! Because Alex P. Keaton said it was so, we know they exist! All of this story has a point. Little Max is dying! Honestly it TICKS ME OFF! I mean really Is it that hard to check and make sure that the hamster your selling is healthy!?! I mean I paid 16 bucks for the silly little thing! Since we brought him home he's had diarrhea and now he's cold and only moves if you poke him!!!! All any moron would have had to do is check his cage before they sold him to us. THAT'S HOW WE FOUND OUT!!! UUUUUGGGGG! (I DID look but it was spotless...as in just-been-cleaned-so-someone-should have-noticed-the green slime spotless) Can you FEEL my frustration? Poor Ammon! The worst part about it is that we are afraid that what ever Max has... Zorro will get it to!
So, now I can take them in for an even exchange! We can't get our money back and go to a different store AND we can't have little Max back so that Ammon can bury him. What does that teach my 8-yr-old!?!

PET SMART STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Oh yeah, and they're way over priced to!)

Welcome Max and Zoro!

As you all know Ammon lost his Olivia about 3 weeks ago. Knowing that Olivia was going to pass, we have been talking about the option of getting a new pet. Neither John or I pushed and we let Ammon decide when he was ready. Ammon was clear about his feelings that there would never be another lizard like Olivia, but he was interested in getting different pet. His Choice? Russian Dwarf Hamsters. NOT MY FIRST CHOICE... FOR SURE! He loves them though!

This is the tashmahaul (I know I didn't spell that right but I even googled it and could not find the correct spelling!) of all hamster cages. John and I bought the cage and Ammon bought the extra tubes (17.00 can you believe it!?!) Ammon has a grand plan of having tubing and cages running all over our school room!

Ummm...We'll see.Here's Ammon as I tried to take a picture of his squirmy self holding his new little guys. (see bottom right corner) One of them is climbing down his back at this point so the picture was a wash!

Blue and Gold!

Ammon's first Blue and Gold Banquet was in March and with all of the chaos lately I haven't had the chance to blog about it yet. He was so tickled to have an evening all about him! I was so excited for him and he now has a new found desire to earn his Wolf! I'm so excited! We've been working on a couple of his badges and he's just about ready to sign off on them! Malachi and Gabie can't wait until they get to be in scouts to and neither can John!!!! He loves doing all of those activities with his boys!

Farewell Olivia

Olivia passed away this morning. There were tears from all of us (except Gabie) and a funeral. I cannot tell you how difficult it is to watch your son grieve over the loss of such a precious pet.

Sir Ammon, Prince Gabie, and Maggie the Destroyer!

I don't think there is any thing sweeter than Big brothers playing "battle" with their baby sister! They are so careful to only hit her sword...but shes not nearly so cautious! They are so sweet and understanding when she whacks them really hard!

Ammon earned his belt... Sarah earned a stripe

Here are my two Karate kids with their instructor (well one of them anyway)! She is amazing! The whole class is! She said that Sarah is the best in class at her block set. (I still don't know what that means though) Sarah earned her first blue strip by doing one "brave thing" each day this week! This normally constitutes running upstairs on her own (or with Lady) to put something away. But this after noon she braved the bathroom all by herself and took a shower with out any one else in there with her! She hasn't done that in over a year!
Ammon surprised us all by volunteering to demonstrate a few things! That is normally way out of his comfort zone. Thus he earned his belt. I must have seen them cheer for him and hi-five him 20 times during class.
I can not tell you what all this positive reinforcement is doing for these two!!!! It has been a long time since I have been so happy about an extra curricular activity! I can't wait to see what they learn next!!!

Where did my little kids go?

Ammon's baptism

Even though Ammon turned 8 in September, he had not been able to be baptised because we all got so sick the day before his scheduled day. He was so happy when his day finally came!
John, of course, was the one who baptised him. Jedidiah and Paul Schween witnessed. Nana and Papa both came! It was great to be able to have them BOTH for Ammon's special day!!!! The primary presidency gave him a cute little book with his picture and a copy of his testimony that he had written. We are so very proud of him. He is just one of the sweetest most giving boys you could ever know!
This is the whole gang gathered for a quick photo session after the baptism. Papa had already left to get back to Mini Nana so he couldn't be in them.
After we all had lunch and got our clothes changed we went to the zoo for the rest of the day! Then we got to stay for the Zoo Lights and dinner because it was also the day of Daddy's office party.

You gave her WHAT????

Caring for Olivia

As most of you know we've really been trying to take extra care with Olivia. We are feeding her baby food every day and medicating her twice a day now.

We still don't think she's strong enough for surgery. It was originally scheduled for last week but the kids and I were all sick and I didn't think she had gained enough weight yet, so we cancelled. We'll let you guys know more as we do.

Olivia

Ammon and I just got back from the veterinarian's office. We became aware that there was a problem with Olivia last night. For those of you who don't know much about her. Click here.
While the children were holding her, they noticed a bump that has formed on her stomach. They all assumed she was getting ready to lay eggs again but I knew as soon as I saw it that there was a problem.

It was too late to do any thing then so I tossed and turned all night imagining how it would be to tell Ammon the worst. I call my regular vet first thing in the morning. It turns out that they don't see exotic animals so they referred us to a VERY nice exotics specialist.

Longs story short...Olivia has cancer. Ammon doesn't know yet and we won't know if it has metastasised for a few days. If it has there's no point in going any further. If it has not, she can have surgery in about 10 days.

After a lot of crying we have decided that we will give her the chance. If she proves strong enough, she'll have the surgery; but if she doesn't, we are not going to prolong the inevitable.
I know this sounds a little odd but I am asking for prayers for Ammon's lizard (and quite possibly his best friend!)

If you can't find it in your heart to pray for a lizard. Please pray for Ammon instead. This girl is so much a part of our family that I can't imagine how he would take losing her.

A new Chapter...

As most of you know (and some don't, that's why I'm explaining) The boy scout program is a big part of a young man's development in our church. They enter the cub scout program at the age of 8 and the hope is that they will complete Eagle before they turn 18!

Well, Ammon turned 8 in September and tonight was the first Pack meeting he has attended!
He was able to do the necessary requirements to get his basket ball belt loop. (Thanks Jed!)

He was pretty excited about that and had me put it on his belt the minute we got home!

I think the most exciting thing for him was that this also happened to be the week that they had the rain gutter regatta race!

Things have been a little crazy around here with surgeries, construction work, and what not. So we didn't even find out about it until a few nights before. Thankfully, Brother Shumway, the pack leader, was very helpful and even went out of his way
to go get another boat kit from the scout store and bring it to our house!
John and Ammon got to stay up after all of the other kids were in bed to work on it for three nights. I was very please with Johns self control! I knew he would have LOVED to do it all on his own!
But truthfully, except for a minimal amount of help with sanding and the lightning strike that Ammon insisted John paint, Ammon did it all!

This is a very special time for Ammon. He has entered a new and very large part of his life! Scouts will consume him for the next 10 years! John is THRILLED to see his son do something that he never did. He looks forward to working on projects and goals with each of the boys and I look forward to watching!

Of the three races he ran he only won one. But he didn't care! He thought his boat was the fastest! He calls it his "Turtle Lightning Boat!" You can see a good picture of his "turtle" on the sail here.
This is the ribbon Ammon got for participating! He was so excited that he was like a little ping pong ball!I couldn't get him to look strait at me long enough to get a good picture but I think the smile speaks for it's self!

Congratulations Ammon! We love you!

Happy Birthday Ammon!

You can't get much brighter than Ammon's sweet smile!

For those of you who don't know, Ammon turned 8 on September 2! I can't believe it! He is getting soooo big! He is so shy with every one, and rarely speaks to people out side our home but around here he is just one of the crew!He is the perfect big brother! He is enjoying reading and playing a lot of video games lately. (Doctors orders) He's not allowed to run around to much or tire himself out until we get his seizures under control!

We've put off his baptism until December. We were all to sick in September.

Ammon chose an "under water" theme for his party! We had a little trouble finding the decorations we needed but we lucked out with luau stuff on clearance!

I cannot tell you how much it pleases me to see him genuinely excited about something. He rarely asks for anything and is always so subdued that it was a real treat to see him so thrilled with his party!

We tried to make the house feel like we were under water! So we used a lot of blue and green! Ammon's favorite touch was all of the "bubbles" on the table. Funny thing...They tasted an awful lot like those white m&ms you buy for weddings!

We couldn't find any cakes to go with his theme so I bought a bunch of mini animals and ordered a Sponge Bob cake with out the characters!He loved it!

We also blew up about 150 balloons! We made an ocean out of the trampoline. We were going to divide everyone up into two groups and let them have a contest to see which team could pop the most, but it was so hot that the balloons were all popping on their own! So they just bounced on the tramp until they were out of balloons.

Keeping stitches, taking blood, and grey hair...

Keeping Stitches:

So Hannah had her stitches removed today! (you would have known she got them if I had finished the post) True to her personality she screamed the entire time, until the doctor ran out the door leaving us sitting the chair. (that shut her up!) He came back almost as fast as he had left with a strip of scotch tape.

He rummaged through one of the cabinets and pulled out a popsicle stick (tongue depressor) then he taped the stitches to the popsicle stick!

He could not have received a warmer response if he had given her an actual popsicle! She has carried that thing around all day!!! I'll post pictures as soon as I can!



Taking Blood:

As most of you know Ammon has been having seizures. (yet another unfinished post) He is on medication so he needs some routine blood work done about every week now. Well, Gabie has been pretty sick as of late (didn't even try to post that one) At this point the swollen glands, fatigue and enlarged spleen are pointing to Mono. Soooo, he had to have some blood work done too.

When we got there Ammon decided he would go first "To show Gabie how to be brave!"

Now, when Ammon sees blood (especially his own) he doesn't do so well. He WILL NOT speak to the tech that draws it. He sits on my lap and communicates with me through his own version of sign language. He cries silently but does not move! This is all very heart breaking and dramatic. In fact this was the first time I haven't cried and it was solely for Gabriel's sake.

When Ammon was done it was Gabie's turn. He hopped up and cheerfully told the tech how brave he was! While he sat in my lap the was no cuddling or holding that needed to be done. He was ready to get down to business! He barely even flinched when the needle went in and as soon as he saw the tube filling he exclaimed, "Whoa Mommy, look at the cool blood!"

Grey Hair:

While sitting on the couch watching TV with Malachi, one of those commercials came on for those home hair dying kits. Malachi said, "Mom, you should go to Walmart and buy that!!"

To which, I replied, "Do you think Mommy would look pretty with red hair like that?"

His reply, "Um NO. But it might help you get rid of those grey hairs you have!"

Creatures, Creatures Every Where!

Okay it wouldn't be fair to end this night without introducing you to our latest addition to the family so here she is...

This is Olivia. "Livy" for short! Ammon has wanted a lizard for over a year now and things just worked out perfectly with this precious little girl! Weird to talk about a lizard a precious but no joke, she REALLY is sweet! She loves to be held and petted! She takes food right out of your hand and can even walk on a leash!

Livy is a bearded dragon (a species native to Australia, Will) and is just about full grown. from nose to tale she is about the same as Abby from head to hiny! She feeds on Romain lettuce (that's how she gets her water) carrots and crickets. Grasshoppers are her chocolate though! The previous owner seemed quite sad to give her up but was full of information about her. I should have taken notes!

Ammon is thrilled. He was a little nervous about holding her at first but he's just fine with her now. I took some video of them together but, some how, my camera messed it up. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her.

Notice her tail doesn't end until well past his elbow! She's a big girl! Congratulations Ammon!!!!

Ammon's Chainmail

John and I haven't had much time to work on ammons chainmail lately but I thought you might like to see the progress. We're making it a little big on purpose so that we don't need to make another one after his next growth spurt! He loves it and we are all very excited to see how it looks when it's all done!

Amazon Cheese and the Magic Mirror

At the dinner table to night my sweet Ammon asked very politely, "Can you pass the Amazon cheese please?" I was happy to oblige... but I passed him the Parmesan instead.

AND

After dinner I heard Hannah in the bathroom chattering away...
Me: "Hannah, get out of the bathroom please."
Hannah: "I have to go now.. my mom is caw-ying," (not directed at me)
Me: "Who's in there with you?"
Hannah: "No, MY mom." (again, not directed at me)
Me: "Hannah?"
Hannah: " No. MYYYY mom!" (now I could see that she was on the footstool, leaning over the sink, very focused on her reflection, and looking rather irritated.)
Me: Hannah who are you talking too? (I already knew the answer and had just explained to John what was happening)
She crinkled up her face in a very disappointing expression and pointed at her reflection "Da Magic Mirror keeps saying 'MY Mom'!"

Music to my ears!

Did you know that it is physically imposible a boy to do ANY job...with out sound effects?

"Ammon, take this up to your room, qickly please."
"Okay, Shhhwishhh." He's flying

"Malachi, Put your name on your paper."
"Okay, ch, ch, ch" Some type of machine, I asume.

My personal favorite...
"Gabie pick your toys up off the floor."
"Okay Mommy. Ahhh! Hes gonna get me! I got you. Now you'll never get away! Ha Ha Ha! Ahhhh!" For those of you who aren't well versed in boy, I belive that was a villian attacking some one.

As I was going from room to room today listening to all of the boys do their chores I started to get annoyed. I already had a head ache...who needed more noise...not me! But when I was headed up to my room I noticed my Ammon sulking on his brother's bed. I took one look at those big, brown, puppy dog eyes and realized that I had some how hurt his feelings... You can just tell.

I had no clue what I had done to earn his pittiful pout, so I sat down and asked him what was wrong.

"You won't let me clean."

"What?"

"You won't let me clean!"

"Honey, I don't care if you clean. What do you want to clean?"

"You won't let me..."(sob, shudder) "I was cleaning and you told me to be quiet!" (sob, sob)

"Ohhh." (light bulb flips on)

My son knew that he could not clean with out making noise. I had asked him to quiet down. He put those two facts in his brain and stirred them around. The conclusion he had come to was...Mom won't let me clean! I had single handedly taken away his favorite pass time!

Well, right then and there, I decided that if I had to put up with a chorus of sound effects to have a tidy living room and a couple of beds made... That was a price I was willing to pay!

So, if you ever call my house and it sounds like super heros have taken over a few bulldozers, or bombs are exploding and women and children are screaming, dont worry. My boys are just hard at work!

(sigh...)