One year older and wiser too....

This week I was doing my normal house stuff and I heard some noises from the chinchilla cage...hmmmm

I go to check on them and I find more BABIES!

What!!???

I guess Chimi had a back to back litter of babies! 

Immediately I started putting the netting around the cage again so they didn't all escape. Then I separated the boys from her (the baby from the last litter is getting old enough to mate too)!

I looked once and saw this guy nursing,

I looked again and saw this guy sleeping in the cup of hay.

These guys looked like twins, small and wiry running all through the cage just a couple of hours old.

There was one last chinchilla in the box house.

It was big and cute but very sleepy. We pulled it out and it didn't squirm it just sat there and kept going back to sleep. I figured it was tired after being born but I noticed it wasn't nursing and kept sleeping. Its breathing looked labored and I warned the kids it might not last through the night.

We thought maybe the other two were too aggressive and I even tried hand feeding it but it wasn't even interested in swallowing. I could tell that it was getting weaker by the hour and probably had something wrong that we couldn't help. I felt bad for momma because I saw her nudge her baby and try and nurse right next to it but it wouldn't even turn around and try. She was trying her hardest but there wasn't any more she could do.

(Reminded me of us mommas that try to nourish our kids spiritually and intellectually but sometimes they are unable or unwilling to take it and there really isn't much we can do about it)

Taylor and Ashley and I held it and pet it while we could but it didn't last through the night. :(

This week I also had a birthday.... hopefully one year older equals one year wiser....I should be getting pretty wise now.

The day started out like any other including homework that didn't get done the night before...

and a trip to the school to stock the nurses office with Taylor's medicine and bring him what he was supposed to wear for spirit day...a shirt and tie with his super short cross country shorts.

He was too chicken to wear the shirt and tie (of course he wore the shorts no problem) ...until he got to the school and he was the only one NOT a shirt and tie.

Peer pressure reigned and mom was called upon to rescue...(I already had to go down there anyway)

I got this in the mail from my mother-in-law and I can't wait until the year is over and I can use it!

Perfect with stickers representing most of my daily routine that I can just put on the calendar and everything is split up between family member. Perfect for us!! (She must be a mind reader)

Then I got an unexpected visit from Mary Ann bearing gifts of chocolate, a balloon and a purse better than anything I own or would imagine to own...very cute and the perfect size!

I think she's been eyeballing my scruffy looking wallmart special and thinking about me ;)

Thanks for elevating me from crappy to classy ;)

Ana Merrill my neighbor and person I visit teach never forgets my birthday because I never forget hers (which is right after mine)...what a sweetie.

As I did housework that day I got a calls from friends and lots of facebook wishes, housework flew and didn't seem like drudgery...

Then Jeff got home and we got the kids pizza and he gave me a present from him and the kids. An i-pod! Yeah, it was a replacement for the two that we strongly suspect got picked up by the thief that came through our house a couple months ago.

Thank you honey...I'm hoping it will keep me working out longer :)

The night was capped off with dinner at Duanes at the Mission Inn.

Very good food!

We were trying for a movie but it got too late and we are too old and tired now days for a late late movie. (I had to be up at 5:20 to get Taylor to his Xcountry bus the next morning)

Bright and early I brought Taylor to the bus and then went back home to bed for a bit before we got up to drive Jacob and friend to his merit badge clinic and then drive out to Cerritos to see Taylor run.

We got there 1/2 hour before Taylor was supposed to race...good thing because they switched the times and Taylor was running just as we walked up! Jeff had just enough time to pat him on the leg and let him know that we were there.

The weather was much cooler than it has been lately. Great for some of the runners...but for the others they got hit with a huge rainstorm (happened right before we got there)

Go Taylor....come on Taylor!!!

He ended up finishing in 17:58 breaking 18 minutes which was better than he had done before.

Here's a group of his sophomore teammates but where is Taylor???

I was enjoying talking to the other moms....but where is Taylor????

I guess he was in the bathroom "cleaning up"

So a lot of times he'll run and feel sicky after well this time he actually got sick. Right as they were lining them up after he passed the finish line. They have to stay in order to get their place and he was losing his breakfast while trying to walk through the line.

I said "what place did you get?"

"45th but they said I got 46th...one guy passed me up while I was throwing up."

Nice

Well Taylor got a medal (the top 60 or so get them)  We were so proud of him.

He was excited too...until he realized he has to do it all again next Saturday :)

The bad thing was finding these stinky, wet, muddy, grassy running flats in his bag two days later.

Peeeeewwwwuuuu

I rinsed them out and had to keep the window open for two days trying to dry them out. Blah!