Cheddar!

4 Years, 42 Weeks.


No, I'm not talking about the cheese.  (Though we are big fans of the aged dairy product.)

This week we welcomed a new family member, a pet guinea pig.

He was given to us by our friends and neighbors, the [Cy & Devi] Mahavirs.  I put their first names in brackets because there is another Mahavir family in our subdivision, who are also friends of ours, and who, coincidentally, is the older brother of the husband of the first mentioned Mahavir family.

Got it?

Anyway, their 2 daughters had a couple of guinea pigs, and what they thought were two boys ended up being a boy and a girl.  You know what happened next; one can't fight primal urges to copulate when you're stuck in a 2 x 2 foot pen with a member of the opposite sex, especially if you've got nothing to do except eat hay, sleep, and go to the bathroom right where you're standing. Can't keep those wild gerbil feelings "caged" up inside.  (get it?)

So they ended up with the consequences:  babies.  They kept 2 of the boys along with the daddy after giving the rest away.  Only thing is, [most] brothers bicker and fight, and it was getting ugly.  So they needed to get rid of one, hence why we are now new pet owners.  Braelyn almost immediately fell in love with the idea of owning a guinea pig, and solidified that sentiment when she held it for the first time. We would wait a couple of weeks before committing to the new pet, so she could prove she was responsible enough to care for it.

It's actually a very low maintenance pet.  She makes sure there's water every morning and evening, fills her food bowl and puts out fresh hay daily.  The cage cleaned and Cheddar bathed once a week.  Petting, talking to, and cuddling are also daily activities.  Not too hard, although we've only had him for 3 days!

The kids settled on his name because he likes to talk.  To chatter.  Although every time they called him it sounded like they were saying "cheddar".   So I clarified this with them, to let them know the difference between the two words, and they chose to go with the cheese because it sounded better.  Cheddar it is!

I told you we were big fans.  At least they didn't choose to call him Gruyère or Camembert!

Here was our week:

Kohl tries out the balance beam at gymnastics.  Can someone say 2028 Olympics???

Someone was a little tired.

Mommy and the girls.  We had a bonfire Friday evening.

With Lolo and Lala at church.  They stayed with us over the weekend.

Double date night with the Jamersons, trying out Susie's favorite restaurant Cress, in Deland.

Went 25 miles with Duncan on Sunday morning.

Creating some sort of wood project in the garage.

Super Bowl get together at the Cochran's.  Great food and company, the game…not so much.  Congrats Corey!

Upon arrival home.

Braelyn reading to the twins as part of her homework.

Buddy helping to clean and set up for dinner while 

Missy cooks it!

At the Mahavirs, eager to get their new pet!

Last minute instructions from the Mahavir girls.
We fashioned a storage bin as it's pen until the real cage arrived from Amazon on Thursday.

Bonding with Cheddar before bedtime.  He stays in her room.

Loves carrots!

And apparently, my finger resembles a juicy carrot.  Ouch!

Kohlden making faces, trying to make little sister laugh.

Her reaction.

The crew at Lowe's helping lug some trim back to the van.

More time feeding Cheddar.

Happy her order is here, the cage arrived

in a box big enough to ship both twins!

Thrilled it came in her favorite color!

Time for bed.  Goodnight!

Food:

Sampling of the cuisine at Cress.  I had Wagyu beef for the first time ever.  Wondrously amazing!!

Rice and Beans "Tex-ican" style.

Randoms:

Empty beer cans inside the handicapped bathroom stall at Walmart…?

Another epic Siri fail.

A couple of chilly mornings this week, but nothing compared to the Northeast!

Quote:

• Driving to pick Braelyn up from school, the twins and I were talking about snakes, and how they shouldn't touch one, because they wouldn't know if it was poisonous vs. non-poisonous:

           Me:  "Who knows what a poisonous snake is?"

           Kohl:  "I know!"

           Me:  "Kohlden, what's a poisonous snake?"

           Kohl:  "A poisonous snake is… a snake that's
                       poisonous!"

           Nice.

Have a great weekend!