gerbil mania

We've now had the gerbils for just over a month.  There simple starter homes have evolved into palaces, but I think the additions are over and we are just down to rearranging what we've got.

Max got his girl first - on his birthday.  Her name currently is 'Miss Miss Mouse Speedy Young.'  It changes pretty frequently.  We should call her Dracula.  She's a biter.  Now that we have a little more experience with gerbils, it's obvious that she was older when we got her.  She's gotten Alex pretty good twice, me once, and Max once - about 5 minutes after taking this picture.  I thought he was going to remain unscathed.

Katie and Alex got their girls a couple weeks later.  Their gerbils are sisters and sweet as can be.  They are also about half the size of Max's gerbil, and I'm guessing 6 months younger.  The pet store was NOT forthcoming on Max's girl's potential shortcomings.  We hoped they could all live together, but I don't think these two would make it through until morning, so we have two separate palaces.  Guess which one is called 'Alex SquirmyYoung.'  The other is 'Addison Silky Young.'

This is just my favorite Max outfit of all time. He had a brief phase of having to choose different colored socks each day.  Now that he has some dinosaur socks, he only wants to wear ONE pair of socks every day . . . new challenge.  I just love that he's young enough to not care what anyone else thinks.  He just knows what he likes, and that always involves green - usually at least part of his  'Hawaii' outfit.  And a Snow White helmet works just as well for him as any other.

We recently walked around some ponds that had TONS of cat tails. Roger introduced us all to the fun of 'cat tail wars.'  It's all fun and games until somebody gets one in the eye!

Max's preschool class made their annual trip to the fire station. I think it's great that the kids can see that the fire fighters are real people, and that they don't need to be afraid of them when they have all their gear on.  Added bonus with Max's class is watching the fireman giving us the tour trying to get a word in edgewise over Max's preschool teacher!