May 2014

Aaaaaand more hamsters! We gave away the two baby hamsters that our Rosy gave us. So there was room for one more. So we got a new, darker colored one and named her Stormcloud. Well stormcloud and the others did NOT get along. So we traded her for yet another new hamster: a white one that we named Snowflake. Well. As it turns out, SNOWFLAKE was pregnant. She gave us SIX more little hamsters. Unfortunately, Abby got ahold of one of the babies and played with it. To death. It was very sad for me, but such is life.

All the cuties. They eat a ton.

Chelsea turned SEVEN years old this month! She had a Frozen themed party. These are white chocolate covered marshmallows, some with sprinkles. They are supposed to be snowball-ish.

Here is the Elsa cake. It is supposed to represent her in her ice castle. The "ice" is edible, but I didn't add any flavoring to it so it didn't really taste like much. It was really strange to eat a candy that didn't taste like anything. All the sugar was there, but not taste. Kind of an eye-opener. What do they really put in all the candy we eat? I'm not sure I want to know.

Here's two of Chelsea's best buds. Madisyn in blue and Leah in white.

Monkey see, monkey do.

They are waiting their turn to do the obstacle course.

Daddy set up an obstacle course and several other great outdoor games. He had them running, ducking, dodging, high-knee-ing, throwing, and racing all over the place. Marshmallow, I mean snowball, throwing was involved.

They are carrying ice cubes from a bowl over to the plastic bench, relay style. When they got enough ice cubes, they were to build an ice castle.

They worked up quite an appetite, so we figured we would feed them. One of the girls is allergic to pineapple, which I didn't know. Luckily I cut the Hawaiian pizza last, so it was unlikely that we would poison her. She survived. 

Present time! To decide which prezzie Chelsea got to open, we put the hamster in the middle, and whoever she went to got to give Chelsea the gift that she brought. The girls loved that.

Showing off some of the prezzies

Cake with candles

I also made blue gigglers that looked like ice cubes and plain marshmallows that were supposed to be snowballs. I served strawberries to add SOMEthing a little healthier. 

Cake and party number two, the family variety.

More good presents, including a cool Lalaloopsy Puppet Kit assembled by Grandma Heit. It went over really well needless to say.

I'm happy to have a SEVEN year old!

April

 For our Easter dinner contributions we made some chocolate dipped strawberries. They are orange because they are supposed to resemble carrots. Get it? They don't look overly carrot-y but the girls had a great time dipping, and that was most important anyway. Chelsea and Abby prefer plain strawberries and Brie doesn't like strawberries at all, so they didn't really eat them. But the rest of us enjoyed them!

 

 The girls also helped make these lovely nests. They didn't want to eat them because of that poison coconut, but they enjoyed the process and that was most important anyway. But the rest of us enjoyed them!

We also brought some fresh green beans dressed with a bacon and onion and salt and pepper mixture which turned out fairly well. The girls wouldn't touch them, but the rest of us enjoyed them!

Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to get these girls to eat? Ever? It's hard.

 Matt and Jerusha Wilson joined us Heits for Easter, which was pretty spiffy. The girls enjoyed stuffing their eggs with candy and then hiding/finding them. Of course they gorged themselves on the CANDY instead of all the other yumminess involved with dinner. Are we surprised by that? 

No. No we are not.

 It took Abby a while to get the hang of watercolor painting, but eventually she caught on. She kept getting frustrated that it kept "not working" all the time. More water, more paint. That's all she needed in the end. I love Brie's red headed Aurora. I think she thought it was Ariel. Or at least wanted it to be. (There were no Ariels in this particular paint book.)

 And of course we have the circus! This is old hat for Chelsea and Brie, though they still enjoyed themselves.

 But this was Abby's first circus! She chose this cute snake instead of a light-up toy like the other two. Incidentally, yes, one of the light-up toys was broken before intermission. Surprise, surprise. Luckily some superglue has helped. But I am happier with Abby's choice of souvenir than with the annoyingly bright and loud and breakable (heartbreaking!) light-up options.

 Pony rides! Here's Brie. We didnt' get any great shots because we had to walk (very briskly!) along with the kids and ponies. Moving photography can be tricky, and it was over pretty quickly.

 Abby didn't want to do it but I put her on anyway. She clung to me for a few seconds but then decided she'd rather hang on to the saddle and enjoy the ride. She loved it! She wanted to do it again, but that was not an option. ;)

And here's Chelsea! She had the most fun overall. The younger two were basically done with the circus after intermission, but still held out till the end. They complained a bit, but they made it.

Catching Up! Tidbits from January, February, and March

 The girls have been loving play doh, much to mommy's dismay. (I just don't like cleaning it up, bleh)

 On a day that was not sub-zero temperatures, we sent the girls (and Daddy) out to build a fort.

 We took a little mini family vacation this winter. The girls needed some time out of the house and have some swimming fun. So we just stayed at a hotel here in Minot for a night. The girls loved eating their Subway dinner in front of the Disney Channel in the room, and then we wore them out swimming!

 I understand that they don't want kids slipping and falling so they make the floors of the play area rough, but I don't think the floors should draw blood! Don't fall down!

 Even with a few scrapes, everyone loved it!

 We keep a vinyl cover over our tablecloth most days in order to NOT wash the table cloth after every meal. Then when company comes we just pull it off. And the girls play under it.

 

 We went bowling for one of our FHE activities. The girls did very well!

 Don't laugh at our scores. We didn't want to make the girls feel bad by beating them by TOO much...yeah...

  We got TWO new members of the family! Rick and the girls fell in love with these energetic little creatures and decided (after consulting Mommy, of course!) to bring a couple home. They are both female and their names are Katy and Rosy. Rosy (on the right, I THINK) is the one that is a little rounder, slower, and grumpier. That is the only way we can tell them apart, ha!

 Here is their luxurious set up. The cage is sitting on a glider ottoman, so it rocks pretty easily. But at least all the girls can see them well.

 Well we didn't realize we were getting a "Buy-2-get-2-Free!" deal from the pet store. After having our two female hamsters one week, Rick and the girls were cleaning the cage. They made quite the discovery! There were two baby hamsters in there!

 Here is one of the babies about a week after being discovered. They are still blind, but their ears are starting to perk up, they have their markings, and a tiny bit of fur is starting to come in. I have no idea if they are boys or girls!

 This was from this morning. A big happy, munching family! They LOVE lettuce and carrots and cheese and grapes and licking peanut butter off of crackers. They are quite spoiled. They only touch their dry food once every speck of the fresh stuff is gone. And yes, that one is escaping while I'm taking the picture. No worries, she is safe and sound. The babies are starting to open their eyes now! They are escaping from the purple castle (where they were born) and the strawberry (where they have liked to sleep recently) regularly, and mommy hamster and aunty hamster take them back in regularly. They are not weaned yet. A couple more weeks, then we will have to see if there are any boys in the mix. If so they will be separated otherwise...more baby hamsters!....

No, we don't really want MORE baby hamsters. We are probably not even going to keep the two babies we did get. The cage isn't big enough for four. Who wants a hamster or two in a couple weeks????

No, seriously. Who wants one?

 Here is Monica Heit, I mean, Chelsea! On the 100th day of school the kids got to dress up like they were 100 years old. Chelsea's teacher has an app on her phone that ages you. So this is what Chelsea may look like in many years. Does anyone else see the strong resemblance to Rick's grandmother? It's pretty much amazing!

 The elementary schools in Minot had every kid reading the same book. One of the Humphrey books. It's about a hamster. Anywho, that IS part of the inspiration for our pets, but not completely. The school hosted a literacy night and the kids got to get their faces painted (rather, markered! ugh! the ideas they gave my girls by using MARKERS! ugh.) to look like little Humphreys. There were lots of other activities as well.

 Passing the time while big sister is in dance class.

 And finally, just today Brie graduated from Preschool. She's done amazingly well and will be well prepared for Kindergarten. In a year and a half. The kids loved showing us some of their activities and songs and routines. So cute!

They decided packets would be easier to keep all the papers together. Not as pretty, but very smart.

Who wants a hamster?????

Please?