Meet Ruby

This past week was an emotional roller coaster for my Kyla Suzanne! On August 16th her pet hamster, Patches, passed away. To say that it was upsetting would be an UNDERSTATEMENT!! He was with our family for 2 years and 3 months....which seems to be 77 hamster years according to an online calculator that one of Kyla's friends found. He may have just been a little furball, but she cared for him so deeply and she cried on and off for a couple of days. :( It just broke our hearts, however, we know that is the 'cost' of owning pets and loving them. One of the first things that she said was "I want to go right now and get a new hamster!"...but we took some time...I felt like she really needed time to cope and to grieve.

This past Saturday we DID go get her a new furry friend. We think it is a little girl...she's a little young to tell for sure...and Kyla has named her Ruby for her reddish tinted eyes. We were a little concerned at all of the squeeking she did at us on the drive home from the pet store. She let us know that she was NONE to happy to be awakened and transported from her 'home' and siblings. However, I think she has calmed down much quicker than Patches ever did -- Kyla can already hold her in her hand and pick her up out of the cage. Like Patches, she is a teddy bear hamster and eventually her fur will be longer and thicker than it is right now. It seems that she will be another sweet little fur ball for Kyla to love!

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

I was genuinely excited for school to be out at the beginning of summer. I had GRAND plans to be at the YMCA and/or the pool here in Schertz 3 to 4 times a week. I was going to keep those kids so busy that they wouldn't have time to fight. ha! However, the heat began to take it's toll on all of us and spending time outside...even at the pool became old hat. By the time August rolled around, I was ready to see these kids get back to school. And I think deep down they were ready too...even though Kyla repeatedly referred to school as the 's' word. I had let us get waaay off of schedule and we were watching waaay too much t.v., playing waaaay too much Wii, and bickering waaay too much.

When you see this picture of Summer you can tell exactly what she was thinking about getting back to school today. She bounded out of bed this morning and everyone was ready and downstairs for breakfast LOOOONG before 7 a.m. A special tradition has been Dad's Egg Bread (a.k.a. french toast) on the first day of school and he did NOT disappoint this year. He was even able to ride along with us as we dropped the girls off at school.

They are becoming so independant. Kyla is going into 6th grade and Summer into 4th. Both of them are the 'oldest' classes in their schools and seem to be feeling their 'seniority.' :) I am excited for them to get home this afternoon and tell me all about their day...their teachers...their friends...I'll have to let y'all know what they say...