Our weekend began yesterday. It was supposed to be my semi-day off, but it really didn't end up that way. My mom and Bo took TJ and Taryn to the zoo in Columbia (where, apparently, TJ's main concern was his candy and the person cleaning the tank in the aquarium!), leaving Cole with me.






(note Taryn's butt in the first pic! It seems to enjoy hanging out of her pants!)
My plan was to go grocery shopping, hang out, and take a good, quiet nap. I got my nap, but that's about it. I ended up having to work for a couple hours, but it wasn't so bad. However, before the kids left, we realized that the hamster had gotten out of her cage, and we couldn't find her. Butch found her while I was working...in the back yard! (I can not for the life of me figure out how she ended up outside!) Turns out something tried to eat her, and she was barely alive by the time I got home. I had to take her to the vet and have her put to sleep. I never realized how much it would bother me, but I was very upset about the whole ordeal. She had a seizure while I was on the phone with the vet, and it just made me want to cry. When they took her away to "put her out of her misery", it just felt, I dunno, wrong, weird, something. It was a very sad moment for me. Needless to say, as far as TJ knows, Snoopy is still out there somewhere, and we'll find her someday. We did, nonetheless, get a new hamster last night. Her name is Annie. She is a teddy bear hamster, and she can supposedly eat through metal. Wonder how long she'll stick around?!

Today has proven so far to be another emotional day. We got up early to go to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Y. Of course we were running late, then I went to the wrong place. We got there in plenty of time, though, and managed to get right through the line to take pics w/the Easter Bunny. Taryn refused to pick up her head, so TJ was so kind as to hold it up for her!

After that, they had the hunt for kids 1-3. For some reason, they felt it necessary to actually hide the eggs all over the playground for this age group. Cole found one, which was cool b/c he was more than happy with it. TJ helped Taryn find hers, and she got about six or seven. Good enough, I suppose. It was a little scary in there!


Then came time for TJ's age group, 4-7. I had to stay w/Taryn and Cole, so he had to go it alone. I noticed he didn't look very happy when he was heading out, and when he got to me, he started crying and said he only found one egg. It broke my heart. I almost cried, too. I told him the Easter Bunny's bringing him lots of candy tomorrow, and that we're having another egg hunt at Nana's, which seemed to help. Then Taryn shared some of hers by giving him all but two of them! However, I am still not over it! I still keep thinking about it and wanting to cry for him!


We made it though that, and decided to go to Julia's to play for a bit. We didn't stay too long, and as we were leaving, TJ said his ears itched. I just figured he was hot from running around, and didn't think twice about it. However, as we were driving home, he kept saying he was really itchy, and I noticed, as he was wiggling around and his shirt came up some, that his stomach was covered in bumps. Yeah, so it seems that Julia has poison ivy that will sometimes pop up in her back yard, and TJ managed to find the smallest possible poison ivy plant and get it on him enough to make his entire body break out in hives. The poor kid is just having a rough day! He's now covered in Cole's Desitin, and full of Benadryl. He seems fine, but man, I am just feeling awful for him! I guess that means I have to now put "poison ivy" in the blank at the dr's whenever it asks if he's allergic to anything, eh?

I hope your weekend is going well. We still have tomorrow left, when we will be traveling to Nana's house for church and Easter dinner. I hope you have a great Easter, and I'll see you later!