Unexpected arrivals

A few months ago, Jason decided to get the boys a pet. Since we travel to see you all in Smryna and Germantown often, we agreed that it needed to be something that could be left for a few days. Pet mice or a hermit crab were our options. As it so happened, the pet store did not have any hermit crabs when we visited but plenty of pet mice. To not disappoint the boys, I gave in to having pet mice on the condition that it would be Jason and the boys' responsibility to clean the cage, feed and water them. Yes, I did say "them." Andrew picked out a black mouse and named him Harvey after our neighbor's dog. Ethan picked a white mouse and named it Squeaky. Original for a two year old, huh? Well, what transpired is a love affair between the female Squeaky and male Harvey. Jason noticed last week, Squeaky was double the size of Harvey. I've been waiting and hoping that it was not true but yesterday, we found them. Six if them! Brown kidney bean looking babies. How did I find them? I was fishing out crayons and alphabet puzzle pieces from the cage from my mischievous 2 yr. old's daily rompings. Just what I wanted for Christmas, six baby mice. Here's a picture of baby mice in case you've never seen one.

Oh, to top it off too, my neighbor's kitten has adopted our family. They had to downsize to an apt. and left their kitten for a few days. They are waiting for a family member to come get her. Since the low last night was 20, Jason and I decided to put her in our garage with a blanket for the night. But beforehand, we rubbed on her and gave her some attention, which sold her on us. She cried so hard in our garage that we had to let her back outside. But we gave her some milk and let the boys play with her a little inside today. Hopefully the new cat owner will arrive soon because 8 mice and 1 cat are not a good combination! Two little boys would be crying over that clash.