Sunday, January 2, 2011

For anyone considering a Sugar Glider...




Our Sugar Glider pets...


I'll share what we've learned since adopting our two this fall from an animal sanctuary...

Ours didn't come with a history like a person would normally get when buying gliders from an owner or breeder. (I'm pretty sure some of our information was not correct.) We were told we adopted two females. However, one seems to be a male based on what we've learned online. I guess time will tell! We were also told ours are 3 years old. So, who knows how much they were handled, etc. The one we think is a male is very friendly. Gavin named him Kiki when we thought he was a female, so we're keeping the name. The female is named Grumpy. You'll hear her in the video. Her name is self explainatory!


The thing they having going for them is their looks. They are super cute. Everything I read supports that the amount of time an owner puts into bonding determines how good of a pet they will be. The tough part of this is that they are active at night, so kind of difficult for young kids to spend much time with them! They love to play in exercise balls like a hamster, so that can be pretty entertaining.


One feature of our Sugar Gliders that I am not fond of is their scent. It is musky and I can't imagine a person keeping them in a main living area! Ours have been banished to the downstairs bathroom... The other feature I'm not finding adorable is the noise in this video...yikes.

They also have a complicated diet, but it's fun to watch them eat!

Oh, and they live a long time, so it looks like we're in for years of "fun."

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy 2011

I just reread "the list" I wrote one year ago of my recap of 2009. Wow, we've come a LONG way as a family of seven. In 2009, God knit us together as a family and it was "new". In 2010 we grew from "new" to settled and "normal." Life feels settled and completely as wacky and crazy as any other normal family out there. =)





The list for 2010...





Thankful to have all of Mical's planned surgeries completed...

Mical's eye sight continues to improve so we have said goodbye to glasses, for now at least...

We have a teenager in the house...

We have a hunter in the house, who successfully got his first "trophy tom" this fall with grandpa...

Mical started school...

Moses embraced potty training...

Mical learned to ride a bike...

Nerf bullets and the unlimited places you can find them...

I am learning to embrace my roll as a taxi service...

Chlorine. Lyric spends lots of time these days working out in it...

Cole loved playing basketball and baseball...

Laundry...there is as much as in 2009 and I don't see this changing any time soon...

Doors no longer open and close as much...

Lights get turned on and off...but they are no longer a main attraction...

Dogs...we all like dogs now...

The penny horse is a big deal at Meijer for Mical...

Moses doesn't dare ride it yet...

Legos...they love to be where I step...

Dora. Someone in our house LOVES Dora...

Elmo. the youngest memeber of our family LOVES Elmo...

Running. When Lyric isn't swimming, she tends to be running...

Moses' favorite word...drumroll please..."MINE!"....It is commonly coupled with the word "NO"...

Gavin turned double digits...

Lyric was baptised!!!...

We grew our pet collection to include sugar gliders...

Everyone has accepted that we eat veggies and oatmeal in our family...

Adoption day!!! July 2010, we all finally share the same last name on paper...

I could go on and on....


Happy 2011!!! We look forward to all God has planned...



Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas 2010

*Christmas Eve with the Bronkema fam*







*Christmas Day with the Thede fam*






Oh, how we 'heart' our families!!!







Friday, December 24, 2010

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas..."

Merry CHRISTmas to all of our loved ones!

We are so blessed to be surrounded by loved ones this Christmas!

May that baby in the manger be the Lord of our lives!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Happy Early Birthday

Happy (almost) 10th Birthday, Anna!!!

Go Uncle Cory! He's a climbing machine!


Moses and Aunt Kris at the indoor water park. He wasn't sure about the water at first, but Aunt Kris convinced him it was a good time!


Crazy cousins...



This week we were able to celebrate our niece Anna's 10th Birthday (two months early). They will be heading back to Haiti in the beginning of January, so this was a lot of fun... especially because it was a SURPRISE!














Monday, December 6, 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Little Man Moses


The older four kids got "school pictures" so we were left needing
photos of our 2 year old little man. (2.75 really)

This little heart-throb is not lacking for expression...