The Tail of a Squirrel

Kurtis calls me and tells me he found a baby squirrel lying under a tree near one of his job sites.

This is the picture he texts me!!!
"Oh my goodness, he's so cute!  Bring him home"!

So, I take this adorable creature (or varment, as aunt Hailey calls him) to the local feed store.  I show the owner the squirrel, and his brief response is, "what do you want me to do with it"?  Clearly, he's not as impressed with the squirrel as I am!  He rolls his eyes as he shows me to the kitten formula and bottles.                              

I bring him home, whip up a batch of kitten formula and dump it in one of those miniature bottles the feedstore man sold me... and, as luck would have, like my "real" children, we have a picky one on our hands.  He hates the nipples on those bottles.  Great!!!  I try all kinds of contraptions and we finally resort to a surrenge... and he takes it!!!  Yay!!!  This is a piece of cake...

He's got a full belly, we're off to a good start.  Google, here I come.  Caring for an infant squirrel.  Sweet!  All kinds of information, including the following:

How old is the baby?

1-5 days: tiny, size of a thumb, totally pink (no hair), formula every 1 to 2 hrs.... (NOPE)

5-10 days: development of soft, reddish, sable hair around nose and mouth, formula every 1 to 2 hrs.... (NOT OUR SQUIRREL!)

10 days to 2 weeks: grayish purple color on back, shoulder and head, belly and legs still pink, formula every 2 hrs.... (STILL NOT OURS)

2-3 weeks: gray/purple color deepens until the emerging hair is identified as hair, eyes still closed, formula every 2 to 3 hrs....

3 weeks: baby's lower teeth begin to emerge (hmmm... do you have teeth?  Yup, sure enough), hair is now slick and shiny, still no hair on legs and belly, formula every 2 to 3 hrs....

4 weeks: has light gray-brown hair all over except lower legs, eyes still closed, formula every 3 hrs.... hmmm. we could have a winner!!!  (Formula every 3 hrs... Are you kidding me???)

So, I am (unfortunately) becoming attached to this creature as we've been spending the wee hours of the night AWAKE together!

Kurtis is pretty attached as well...

Ok, a week of every 3 hrs.  what are we in for next?  When can he come off this formula and eat some nuts?  Back to google...

5 weeks: thicker hair, including legs and belly.  Tail hair is short, straight and lies parallel with the bone.  Formula every four hrs., eyes open... (Awww... sweet, an extra hr. in between feedings.  I'm in heaven....YEP, YEP, YEP... that's him).

5-6 weeks: Upper front teeth begin emerging (eeeek, that makes me a lil nervous), begins curling tail over back (awww... cute)

6-7 weeks: fully furred, sleeping less with more active periods (awesome), offer Zupreem primate chow, fruit and a couple slices of avacado (is this a joke?), formula as much as the baby wants (Ok, so does he really want it at 1:30 a.m.?  I sure do hope not).

7-8 weeks: tail is fluffy (cute), should be placed in a cage with plenty of room to play (What the hell?  Tell me more people... why a cage?  He does just fine in his laundry basket, with grandma Sandi's heating pad!), formula 3 times a day, plus solid food listed above; add broccoli, green beans and other veggies except corn and sweet potatoes.

8-9 weeks: Looks like a miniature squirrel (cute, our lil baby all growed up!)  Very active and and shredding your sweaters, curtains, furniture, and arms with its claws, has lost infant appearance (HOLY...What in the world did I get myself into?)

9-10 weeks: develops more muscular physique, formula 2 times a day, add corn and sweet potatoe to diet (this is ridiculous, my kids don't have this well of a balanced diet)

10-12 weeks: about 3/4 full size - release at 12 weeks (release at 12 weeks, ya freakin right, get me the abandoned squirrel hotline.  There's gotta be someone that will take him before that 8-9 week mark!!)  Will reject formula during this period (thank goodness), add to food list a couple almonds or pecans a day and a small handful of large stripped sunflower seeds.

The destroyer!!!       

...to be continued  

Kase: Soccer 2011

Ok, so we found Kase's sport.  I should've known that the child that never sits still would do best in the sport that you run and run and run!!

Kase was super lucky and had an awesome team and an awesome coach!

Grandma Kay and Oscar were at every game...

Aunt Hailey and Tatum were at most of them...

and Uncle Talon aunt Sheena and the twins even made it to one!

Soccer 2011

... No seriously, poor coach Jen!!

The superheroes were so good at T-Ball, coach Jen kept the team together and rolled them into the next sport!

So, Kash wasn't too interested in T-Ball, but he was even a little less interested in soccer.  However, again, very cute in his cleats and shin-guards!  Mama always says, "cute is everything"!



T-Ball 2011

Kash's first year of T-Ball

He loves to run around and chase his friends, but really not too interested in playing baseball :)

Seriously, the best coach ever... poor coach Jen!

He looks way too cute in his little baseball uniform...

The superheroes were a hit... their biggest competition this season was the Donkeys!

Baseball 2011

Second year of baseball... and lovin' it!

Kase had some of his best friends on his team

The Huskies went undefeated.... just like all of the other teams :)

Kase loves baseball, he wants to win, win, win...  Everything is a competition to this kid!  Oh ya, and he doesn't like to lose.          

Easter Weekend

To start the weekend off, we went to the "primary easter egg hunt".  Kase and Kash hunted eggs with all of their friends from church.  It was super fun and what a beautiful day!!

                                                                                       mmmmmm.... those tulips smell amazing!  They're my fav...

The next stop was Grandma Sandi's for her famous "easter clue" egg hunt.  That silly rabbit puts clues in eggs when he goes to her house.

                                                                          We have to wear our bunny ears and a big smile too... as we riddle our way from clue to clue.  The scavenger hunt becomes more challenging each year.

Especially for "Mr. Enthusiastic"... Kurtis Wiser!!!!!

The bunny doesn't understand the bad attitude.  It really hurts his feelings when Kurtis growls, "I'm not wearing those ears dude".  Year after year, we hear the same.  "I'm not doing this next year, it is too lame"!  Leave it to Kurtis to do the party bashing! Just remember, my dear, those ears make you look dashing.

                                                                       Kase loves the egg hunt

and Grandma Betty does too...

We can't wait for Easter 2012 to hear our next clues!!!!

What will come of next year?                      Nobody knows...

                                                                                   Up  high...    down low...  or   too slow Joe!

The next day was spent a little more seriously.  In our Sunday Best and off to worship Thee!

The Museum of Flight

We got to see and learn so much about aviation...

I don't think anybody had as much fun as daddy did!  He loves airplanes!!!

We even learned about space travel.

Walking through airplanes like the West Coast's only Concorde and Airforce One (the actual plane that presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon flew in) was super cool!

Kase and daddy got to do the flight simulater ride.  It went upside down and all around and they got to pretend they were in a war and shooting down enemies.  They had so much fun!

Kash-man didn't meet the height requirements and was a little bummed.  Better luck next time, bud, only a few more inches!