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Category Archives: caleb

Pet Store Fans – meet Bella

A few weeks ago we made the decision to bring a new member into our family. Obviously nothing TO BIG :) – I am kinda done with the idea of a cat (after the horror I experienced with Cat Scratch and an infection in my lymphatic system)… and im allergic to dogs, so there really aren’t to many other great options that don’t involve hair or vet bills :) – and I really had no desire to get a bunny or hampster. No offense but they don’t interest me in the least.

What did interest me was a bird.

Initially I had my eyes on a bird called A Pine Apple Green Cheek Conure. My Dad use to breed conures and Cockatiels growing up… I have lots of fun memories of him hand raising the babies… and I just recall it being really cool having a bird.

A conure these days will run you around 200-500 dollars though… and the more I looked into it the more I was a bit unsure about it, one for financial reasons but also because conures or any parrot, tend to be very loud.

It's a sit with your bird kinda day... #cockatiels #cockatielsofinstagram #rainmakesmesleepySo! Instead, I went with a type of bird we have experience with and got Bella.

Bella is a pied cockatiel. She was hand raised (meaning after about 2 weeks of age with her mama, she was then fed by humans, with a birdie bottle aka a syringe). This ensures the bird will be friendly, otherwise they are mean.

Bella we got at a small local pet shop off a road called Bell’s Ferry. Which is where we got her name from :) – We happened to find a large cage for $15.00 right down the road from the pet shop. It even came with stainless steel bowls! It was a steal no doubt.

We got Bella set up in her cage, using cheap dowel rods from the craft store and real limbs from the trees in our yard… Within a week she was use to us and our boys loved her. Because we believe she is a female she is “quieter” than a male would be. Which is what we wanted. :) Cockatiels will learn to whistle some and on occasion can talk… but its rare.

They are sweet and social…

A few weeks after we got her we decided to get her a friend. We realized within a week that was a bad idea though… she got very clingy to her new bird mate, who we called Edward… he was a beautiful male cockatiel! What was more important though to us was to have her “want us” more than him… and we just saw that if we kept him it would result in a “mating pair” rather than a fun pet for our boys. So Edward went back to the pet store… and honestly when we dropped him back off he seemed relieved HAHA!!

A neighboring pet store we also discovered has lots to see… but really outrageous prices… SO, we shop at the “smaller store” but do enjoy visits to the fancier pet store, where our boys enjoy holding snakes, playing with puppies, birds and more.

Got to admit, I enjoy going to pet stores too :)


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This snake below looks like a heart no? :) I thought so.
… and yes, those are Owens hands holding the snake.

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Caleb wants to be a herpetologist, a guy who studies snakes.
Im not against that… His daddy however isn’t to thrilled ;-) – he hates snakes!

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I am sure that snake would love to get a hold of this next lil dude…

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Owen loved these!

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Reed wasn’t sure of any of it :)

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*and yes, to those curious who have read my blog for many years… we did at one time have a cockatiel when Caleb was 4? Something like that… we however lived in a very small parsonage and the cockatiel we had was a male and got very loud… being in a small house with small kids who napped with a loud bird was not a good combination… so at that time in our life having a bird was not a great option. However if you have a fairly good sized home or a home where the kids rooms are far enough away from the bird that a few whistles wouldnt wake them, then by all means go find a hand fed cockatiel, they really are awesome pets!!

- To those concerned with cost. A cockatiel is typically $75.00 – hand fed. The cage like I said cost me $15.00 – included bowls. So roughly a $100-125.00 investment. The cool thing about birds is you dont typically ever have to take them to a vet. No shots needed!! no fixing needed :) and best of all to feed these lil dudes it only cost like $25-50 a year! Its a very cheap pet to have. You just have to learn to be creative with making toys for them and perches. Oh and for the bottom of the cage we use walnut, which last forever and is easy to clean out (kinda works like a kitty litter, only way less gross).

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My little scientist

ED9A2316My dad spoils my boys :) – or maybe he is just obsessed with amazon prime? ;-) – aren’t we all?

He sent my boys a fun microscope this week and they LOVED IT. We had a cheapo microscope I got years ago to showcase on She {hearts} It, it however was a total piece of junk and didnt work at all… Hence the reason it never ended up on the site :)

This microscope however works so well and is super easy for them to use.

They had such a fun time looking at things.

They looked at bugs, pieces of food, dirt, creek water and even Bella’s poop. Bella btw is our pet bird. She has been a fun addition to our family and has adjusted very well to a loud house ;-) – she loves Caleb a lot…

Here are a few photos of their first experience with the scope :) – thanks Dad!


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All in Green

The other day my 3 oldest came to me in matching outfits they picked out.

Green T-Shirts teamed with CAMO pants. Can we say “boys live here.”

They were on their way out to explore and “find snakes” – our oldest newest fascination. While I am not a huge fan of camo on myself ;-) – I got to say, seeing all these lil dudes in matchy camo pants and green shirts won me over to the idea of camo :) – and so when Reed got up from his AM nap, I got him in some camo pants and green shirt as well…. and we of course HAD to attempt to get a photo of it.

Here is what we got… quickly in about 3 minutes, before someone protested or someone got hurt ;-)

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No photoshoot with Taite is complete without a goofy face. He is our lil goof ball :)

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& wee Owen, I love how you smile without showing your teeth, although I do love your toothy smiles too.

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He is still trying to master the “non-fake-cheese smile” ;)

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I had hopes to get Reed sitting in the photo… but the area we were was slopped and the cement made me nervous.

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So tummy pictures this time worked :)

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and of course… we attempted group shots. Those are always hit and miss :)

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I know yall love Owen’s “white sock and orange croc look” – right? ;-)

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and my fav… even though Owen has gum showing ;-)

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Just a few grams…

I use instagram A LOT – I think im slightly addicted to it :) – its so easy to use… and just fun. I enjoy posting every day snippets without the process of editing them or lugging around a lot of gear. I suppose its the lazy-mom way of capturing memories? or wait, not lazy… BUSY mom way of capturing memories.

So in short.
Here are a few grams ;-)

Afternoon snuggles with Reed while the other boys nap.
Ive been in the process of growing my bangs out btw, this is one way I keep them out of my face.

#pictapgo_app cuddles with reed while other kids rest :)

Lil’ Owen still loving his blankie – that he forever chews on.

He chews it :)

Babywearing Reed at the park using a converted Didymos woven wrap.
I still prefer my BOBA over this tho…
The Didymos just allows for a higher ride, which helps with long wearing.
It however is a lot of fabric and can get hot.

Wrap #meitaiconversion day :) #babywearing #kidstock

Reed’s first time in the park sandbox :)
He wasn’t sure about it at first.

Reeds first time in the sandbox :)

Our new shelves up in the school room, FREE from a friend.

Got some free book shelves from a friend who's moving. I love them! They are solid wood and spacious. The organ will be picked up Friday by a organ guru :) - its huge and in the way. Love our school room! #homeschool

This lil dude has fallen for my bed these days.
Refusing to sleep in his own.. but thankfully transferring easily at night.
I dont mind all that much… he is very sweet to look at.

My nap time company

Love my cuddles with Owen.

I love when Owens cuddly

We love our creek :) – despite my getting poison Ivy on BOTH ankles recently.
I no longer go into the creek without my rainboots ;-)

In the creek :)

The boys enjoying the Zaza Hammock

This thing is so fun! Called a #zazahammock it's awesome for babes and kids.

A place my kids often hang out :) – inbetween the house window and the deck.

They found a new place to chill and snack :)

A photo taken in the ladies bathroom prior to my husbands official “graduation” from the Academy.

At my husbands official graduation ;) left baby reed with a sitter since we'd be out late.

Baby Reed at his well baby check up :)

Reed at his 7 month well checkup. We missed his 4 month and 6 month :-/ but better late than never hehe. He is in the 5-10th percentile for weight lol at 16.15lbs and 25th - 50th for height at 27 inches and his hrs is around the 15th percentile. In other

& to end, more babywearing love. This was taken before ladies group a few weeks ago.
I had to take Reed with me this morning and I was walking him in the BOBA hoping he’d nap.

Tues am baby wearing at church. Had to bring Reed to ladies group... While Travis went to finish up a few things at the old house. Reed is zonked out as I type this in his #boba_carrier @boba #babywearing #boba_family

oh, and he did nap btw ;-)

And he's out :)

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Boys and I – Birthday for Owen

Yesterday was Owen’s official “3rd birthday…” but because Travis had to work yesterday evening, we decided to post pone celebrating with “cake and all that” until Friday. I had hopes of having a little celebration for him at the park… but I think our spring weather has fled and this week is cold…. and on thur/friday (Travis’ off days this week), it looks like rain. Boooo…. So, I think something intimate and at home is in order…. which is fine. Less is more right?

IMG_2156For fun though I wanted to do something special with Owen even though Travis wasn’t able to join us… and so I packed the boys up after naps and we made our way to the mall. The mall here is actually really nice… I never enjoyed the mall where we use to live… so its actually a treat to live close enough to a nice mall now. The boys love going there.

On the schedule was to stop by the Lego store to let the boys play. Its a great spot where they can build men (they have a little set up in the store that allows this) and they also have some other neat features in the store that entertains them… like this TV thing that will actually ANIMATE any lego box (250 pieces of more) right in front of them. Im not sure how it does it, but its pretty darn cool.

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We then made our way to Build a Bear.

My 1st thoughts on Build a Bear… for years was “what a total waste of money!” – just being truthful here haha…. but I really just thought it wasn’t worth the money… and didn’t understand why people went there.

Well. I humbly apologize for my inner thoughts on Build a Bear.

As over priced as it may be…. on SOME items. I will say for what Owen got, it was well worth the $10.00 we spent.


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It was so stinkin’ cute to watch him get all excited about this little stuff toy…. and then when the worker there had Owen do all these little things with the little plush heart they place into the bear, it was just cute to watch. He would kiss the heart… rub it on his fore head (so his bear would be smart hah…) and so on… he helped push the pedal to fluff up his bear and even gave it a bath.

He named his bear Zane but then told me later his name is just “Bear.”

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To end our evening, we enjoyed a meal together… the boys played with their ninja’s (Owen picked a small set of men while at the Lego store)… and then to end I let them ride the Merry Go Round (sorry no pictures of that, I was babywearing lil’ Reed and holding Owen’ onto a horse during that time).

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While it makes me sad that my husband can’t be here during those times … I am thankful for the time with my boys regardless… I truly enjoy spending time with them like this! They behave well while we are out at the mall too… ::knock on wood::