Hope:  Suso made you that quilt, Ainsley!

Ainsley:  But Suso's not my gwandmudder!

Ainsley:  I wouldn't DWEAM of taking this dwink into the wiving woom, Mommy!

Ainsley, spinning around and mimicking the voice of Swiper the Fox from "Dora the Explorer":  You're toooooo LATE!  You'll NEVER get your toy now! Mwahahahaha!!!!

Ainsley:  Sank you, Daddy! That was vewy sotsful of you!

Noah:  Ainsley, you ate a lot! You must have a big tummy!

Ainsley:  And big arms!  And big legs!

Mom:  And a big nose?

Ainsley!  Yes!  Just like yours, Mommy!

Mom:  We're sending Hope's clarinet in to be fixed.

Hannah:  Is it a boy or a girl?

(you know ... "fixed"? Her main experience with that word has involved dogs and cats. ;) )

Noah:  Mom, will you tell us a bed-night story?

Ainsley:  Noah, Noah, pants on fire!

Meet our newest critters

To the left is Lavendar (AKA Lavendar Brown), a 10-month-old chocolate Havana rabbit.  Hope won her at a rabbit show last weekend.   She bites, but is getting a little calmer.  I hope.  She bit the bejeebers out of my hand, Elizabeth's leg, and Hope's arm.  She is a show rabbit for Hope's 4-H project.

Below is Bella (short for Bellatrix).  She's a 2.5-month-old tort Lionhead rabbit from Mossypossum Farms (AKA, Cousin Jeremy).  If you scout around enough on their website, you'll see her listed under their junior does for sale, with the name Cuddle Bunny.  Obviously, she's been renamed.   There is not a nicer, sweeter, more cuddly bunny on the planet -- oops, guess she was well-named before.  Anyway, Hannah will be taking this little show bunny as a 4-H project.

Fletcher, who was Hannah's original 4-H project bunny, is just not show-quality, poor guy.  He ripped out two claws (ow!), and he has "smut" on his ears and feet, and, well ... he's just a pet. But a gosh-darn adorable one.  We're all totally in love with him.

Well, except for Mark.  He hasn't caught the bunny fever yet.  He will consent to petting Lavendar from time to time.  We're working on him.

Why Daddy hates drive-throughs ...

I wrote down this order for him on our last visit to Sonic, since he is drive-up-window-challenged and can't remember.  (I do these orders from memory, by the way, as they shout out their orders to me!)

Jr. Chili Cheese Frito Pie

Wacky Pack Kids Meal with Jr. Chili Cheese Frito Pie, fries, and Orange Vanilla Sprite

Wacky Pack Kids Meal with chicken strips, tater tots, and Cran-Apple juice

Two Wacky Pack kids' meals, both with Hickory Chicken Snack Wraps, Tater Tots, one with Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper and the other with Raspberry Iced Tea

One large ice water

One Sonic Jalapeno Cheeseburger

Regular onion rings

Large Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper

Route 44 Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper

#1 Hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickles only, with tater tots

(No, it's not a very healthy menu.)

Elizabeth, eating cake: Mmmmm, creamy goodness!!!

I think I'm Shop-tose intolerant.

Hannah, bored while waiting in the car with Dad while Mom picked up some groceries.

Hope:  Mom, when you have mole removal done, do you get to keep the mole?

You know that song, Southwest Southern Man?

Hannah, referring to Alan Jackson's "Small Town Southern Man."

Ainsley: I'm not a pretty princess yet! I will be a pretty princess later.

Mom: How do you become a pretty princess?

Ainsley: I will spin around!

"Poor Gryff! He won't be very happy there. They are KU fans!" Hannah said, dropping Gryffin off at the kennel where he would spend a few days over the weekend, upon noticing that the kennel owners had University of Kansas Jayhawks memorabilia.

Noah: Why did they name Shamu Shamu?

"That woman is cramping my style!" Hannah complained, as the character of Miss Darvis began to annoy her while playing the "High School Musical" DVD game.

Ainsley: Can I play on the computer?

Mom: No.

Ainsley: Can I?

Mom: No.

Ainsley: Can I?

Mom: No.

Ainsley: Say yes!

Hope: Mom, why didn't they name W "double V"?

Dad: Ainsley, what's wrong with your tummy?

Mom: Hmmm ... I think it's just magic marker. Ainsley, you have Pink Belly!

Ainsley: You have Pink Face!!!

Ainsley: EVERYONE WEARS UNDERWEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The newest addition to our menagerie, Seamus, a rat terrier/Corgie mix, adopted yesterday:

I can't even believe I'm thinking seriously about this, but having a second dog around might really help Gryffin to stop chewing up so much stuff and using the kids as chew toys. We organize doggy play dates for him right now, because he NEEDS to be aggressive or he chews on the children. LOL! He is SO much more well-behaved after a doggy playdate, too.
So, we are looking at possibly getting a second dog. Not a lab, but probably a rat terrier.
(Feel free to think I'm crazy. I do. ;) )

Adding to the menagerie, we are now proud owners of Fletcher, a 10-month-old Lionhead Rabbit! He's very, very cute. He's fawn-colored with gray ears.

Apparently he was a rescue bunny -- the breeder (my cousin) was going to feed him to birds of prey, since his ears are gray (which they call "smut") and he wasn't show-quality, so his sister (my cousin Kim) rescued him and took him home for her husband's niece... but the niece's dad said no. So, she kept him until now, and then we (the suckers) said we'd take him.

But he was free, and came with a hutch, a carrying cage, and food/vitamins/litter ... so, what's another animal in our zoo? ;)

Hannah named him Fletcher after Mundungus Fletcher in Harry Potter. (His previous name was Derek or BabyBuns).

Fletcher:

Gryffin tested positive for Parvo this morning -- in spite of having been vaccinated twice against it. (He's been sick since Saturday and we've had him at the Vet twice since then). He has about a 60% chance of pulling through, the vet estimates.

I can't believe this ... but we are the owners of another Yellow Lab!

Since the loss of Grady two days ago, we have been grieving pretty hard. I still see him everywhere. Mark misses him terribly. But we had resolved never to have another dog.

Then, a friend, Loarn, mentioned to Mark that he has a yellow lab puppy he needs to find a home for (AKC-registered, from his controlled-hunting guide dogs). We prayed about it and think it was a God-incidence, so we bit the bullet and picked up a VERY SMELLY puppy. He was born March 8, 2007, so he is 3 months old. We immediately bathed him. He looks very different than Grady, in spite of being the same breed; he's darker, with a longer nose.

We named him Gryffin, Gryff for short; Gryffindor's Magic for his "official" name.

Our 13.5-year-old lab Grady, who was an important member of our family, is gone. :`````( He suffered a stroke on Saturday evening, and this morning had to be put to sleep by the vet. There was nothing more we could do. All of my family is heartbroken, but most especially my son, who is sobbing inconsolably. I'm so grateful for all of your prayers for my family and I know it probably seems ungracious to ask for more, but we need them anyway. Thank you.

Hannah: Where would we be without thumbs?