Negotiations

So, after our beautiful Brier-Rabbit passed away I knew that I wanted another big bun. They really are sweet creatures. I remember one time Malachi was sick. He was about 2 and a half and really feeling puny and had been needing to be held for most of the morning.
As the day wore on, Solomon and I were getting hungry and I needed to do at least 1 load of wash. I said, "Kai? Mommy needs to put you down for a little bit, OK?"
He was upset, but got down. Then he proceeded to get the couch pillow and his blankie, open the sliding door and trek through the yard. He laid down on his pillow underneath the big pine tree and called, "Waaaabit!" Low and behold her head popped up on the other side of the yard and she hopped right up to his head. She made him giggle by jumping back and forth over him and nuzzled him with her nose. A few minutes later she burrowed into his side and they both fell asleep. It was beautiful.
So, enter a few nights ago where, on a whim, I Googled, "Flemish Giant", which I happen to know is the largest domesticated rabbit breed. Even though I had assumed I would get another French Lop, I fell in love with these rabbits. I found a breeder a mere 4 hours away.
Then I showed Micah the picture.
He wasn't nearly as excited as I was. Matter of fact, he was dead-set on not getting "a poop machine of that caliber in my yard".
Let the negotiations begin.
Pout face with lower lip extended? No dice.
"Pleeeeease, Baby?" No dice.
"Don't I deserve it?" Marterdom was a no-go.
Micah says, "Max out your pigeon population at 5. No more than 5 at any time."
Eeeeeeeek! I'm at 9! I'd have to re-home 4 of my babies! FINE. I have a friend who's asked about them.
"Done."
"AND you have to be RELIGIOUS about "poo-poo-patrol". Without fail, Nee`. I' don't want to have BBQs and there be little farm balls all over the yard."
Big sigh, "Done."
SO! We were agreed!
And what he WAS happy about is the fact that His Aunt Angela and Uncle Daniel and their 2 girls live about 25 minutes from the breeder, giving us a perfect excuse to make the drive and visit. YAAAAY!!
So here's a picture of Gideon and his litter mates whom we'll be picking up next Friday. I also Facebooked that she had 1 remaining buck available and, as long as I was making the drive, if anybody wanted him I would pick him up, too. My friend Lisa decided she wanted the last bunny, so she's getting Gideon's brother.
Oh, and the name? Mr. "I-don't-want-a-big-poop-machine" named him.
Because my name wasn't good enough, "Pfffffft! Shiloh? Shiloh is a hotel chain". And, apparently it's very important that we don't name bunnies after hotel chains.
So my name was unanimously nixed by all the men in the house in favor of a more macho name that means, "Destroyer or feller of trees". Because we don't want rabbit to get some sort of complex by having a sissie name.
Anywho. At least I'm getting my bun!
Picture by: Get Er Done Rabbitry @
http://johnsonsflemishgiants.webs.com/litters.htm

Summertime is Wrapping Up.

Whew - what a fun Summertime we've had! With the exception of the death of our beautiful French-lop, Brier-Rabbit, our days have been full of joy. Here's a quick overview on what's been going on in the Lewis lives:


Rosie is now 6 months old and that half a year has FLOWN by. She's now sitting up pretty well by herself, with only a few "tilt and tumble" episodes.














































She's also trying all sorts of Gerber! Some she likes, and some.....welll.....

One of the advantages to having older siblings is that, if you flash your smile and baby blues at them juuuuust right, they're apt to give you a lick of their blackberry fruit pop. An advantage to drooling excessively is that said sibling will probably not want it back afterward and just give you the thing.























So Mom turns around to see a very happy 6-month-old child eating a pop-cycle. Oh, well. Since they've been talking about a return home for her this Fall/Winter, we really don't care about not spoiling her. She gets everything she wants. My first kid didn't get a cookie in Safeway until he was 2. Rosie's? 6 months. I guess I just feels that we probably won't be having to deal with the consequences of spoiling her, so why not? If she weren't so darn cute, it would be a lot easier.

Let's see, we've done a lot of camping, too! Mama doesn't do tent camping when we have one under a year, so we've fount that yurts are a good choice for us and even found one with a microwave, fridge and heater. Yeah, we really rough it :)
















































































































It was so fun to be close to the water and some of our friends rented the yurt across from us. We went in together and rented a boat, as well and were able to goof around and fish, play cards and Mama read some of her book. I was really glad that we had the accommodations we did, as it rained the whole second night and third morning. My hubbs also took the 3 biggest on a Father-son Camping Trip with our church and had a good time.

The boys had a good time on July 4th, too. We went next door to our awesome neighbors' for a BBQ, then did some (legal and not-so-legal) fireworks. Rosie slept right through it all. Zephan did much better with the noise and lights this year. We still used the ear-protectors, but now he loves them and even uses them when the vacuum or lawnmower is going. His over-stimulation/social anxiety is either lessening or he's managing it better. He's such an amazing guy and we're so thankful that God has seen fit to heal him of any issues from his past. GOD IS GOOD!






























































































Our DHS also put together a beautiful baseball game package for fostering families. This included admission to a Volcanoes game, $5 coupon per child to spend at the food vendor, a t-shirt and tons of give-aways and prizes at the game by different companies who each ran a booth. They also had fire trucks, ambulances and police officers on hand to show kids around them. The night ended with a huge fireworks show. MUCH better than what they did last year. It was great!























AND.....Malachi turned 7!!!! We had a party for him at the splash park and got him some things he's been wanting.






















After his party he and his brother tested for their orange belts and passed. This was the most intense test by far and I walked out with an upset stomach. They're to the level where they get large sticks swung at them relentlessly and one boy got hit hard in the face. Another boy got hit in the thigh and the class stopped as he began to cry. They were both fine, but I've been having my hubby take the bigs to class as much as possible because it's difficult for me to watch. Unfortunately he's going to be back in school here pretty soon, so Mama will have to suck it up or stay in the van.
















































So, I guess the last new-ish thing is that I finally did something with my hair. I usually (and by usually, I mean for the last 3 years) just throw my hair into a messy top-knot and call it good. But I was pretty sick of it, so I "went all 90's on it" and got a perm. Most of the comments I've been getting are something like, "Oh! I didn't know that you had long hair..."
























Well, I hope you're summer is going great. I'll leave you with some archival pics of our beloved bunny, Brier. Malachi was especially close to her and he misses her (as a matter of fact, the only pics I could find are of her when she's with him) quite a bit. She sure was a sweetheart and we really enjoyed the time we had with her!





















































































Rabbit-Kisses!