Pictures from the past

Giecko and Shayden

Poppet holding a Rosy boa


Uncle Micah holding a desert boa


Shelbie getting ready to drive


Poppet putting a puzzle together

Shylile playing in her play pen

SLEEPING AT JEFF'S HOUSE

On April the 16th Shayden and I sleep at Jeff's house. (Because Shyloh slept at our house because she was on bed rest). While we were at Jeff's house we played cards watched movies and played video games. That night Shayden stayed up until 3:00am and I stayed up until all night. That morning we went to the store and got pancake mix and eggs so I could make breakfast. (With coffee ) After we ate breakfast we made some tea and went out to do some yard work. We mowed, weeded and cleaned. And then went back in side and cleaned the kitchen washed dishes and watched Sponge Bob. After that we went to the park and played football. Then we went back home and rode Jeff's motor scooter (you have to say "motor" scooter or he'll correct you if you say electric scooter. ha ha) We had a BLAST!

~Shannen~

Anacondas

Before I tell you about Anacondas I am going to answer some questions. Someone asked what type snake lives by the water and is black and yellow? The answer is a Garter snake and they do not bite or sting they are harmless. They also grow to be 5 feet. I live in the city but I visit my uncle and aunt and while I'm there I look for snakes and lizards. In the summer my uncle takes me and my brother snake hunting and on snake drives.

Now I will tell you about Anacondas.
The Anaconda is one of the largest snakes on earth. This Snake can grow up to be 20 feet long and wider than a mans arm. The anaconda is the one of the heaviest snakes in the world. This huge snake can weigh 500 lbs. Anacondas belong to a family snakes called Boas. Boas kill by constricting. They squeeze the animal until it quits breathing. Anacondas are the most amazing animals on earth.
~Shayden~

An Anaconda

Answers

Today I am going to answer some questions.

1. I have seen 5 rattle snakes.

2. The black and white snake in my king snake post is a king snake. There are Mountain king snakes, California king snakes, Mole king snakes, Scarlet king snakes, Florida king snakes, Western and Eastern king snakes and many other types. If you go to Wikipedia you can see many different types. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsnake


3. All snakes can swim. They use the top of the water to help them swim by lifting about 1/2 of their body out of the water. Some snakes, such as Northern water snakes, redbelly watersnakes, brown water snakes, banded water snakes, and cottonmouth snakes are more likely to be seen in the water.


Shayden

Sonora Whipsnake

I had a question to answer so I am going to answer it real quick. Someone asked me if garter snakes can be together? Yes they can.

Sonora Whip snakes are slender and fast like a whip. That's where it got its name from. An observer only gets a moment before the snake runs off. Because the snake is a good climber they often spend most of their time in trees or in a steam bed. They have large eyes and grayish faded olive bodies with lighter stripes on each side that fade toward the tail.

Coach whip

Coach whips go in trees too.

You can print out a snake bookmark

Prayer

Could you pray for our sister, Shyloh? She is sick. She's laying on the couch, barely able to move. She is staying at our house until she's better.
Thank you
Shaylah, Shayden, and Shannen

King snakes

A Mountain King snake is a snake from the mountains. They bite a lot, but their bite does not hurt. They do good in captivity. Once you've had them for a week they wont try getting out. If you wanted to get one you would have to hold it a lot so it won't bite anymore. Their bite feels like a pinch. The "king" in their name (as with the king cobra) is because of their taste for other snakes.

Some species of king snake, such as the Scarlet King snake, have colors and patterns which can cause them to be confused with the venomous coral snakes. There are rhymes to help people distinguish between the coral snake and its non-venomous look-alike, including "Red and yellow kills a fellow. Red and black is safe for Jack." My uncle Micah taught us that.

Kingsnakes are commonly kept as pets in the United States. You can feed them rats and mice depending on how big your snake is. If you were to mix snakes you need to be careful because my uncle had a kingsnake eat his gopher snake!

This is a King snake


Here is a King snake color page
(click and print)

You can do your own report on snakes!
(click and print)

Learning how to ride a bike.

I am late posting on this, but I still want to. Poppet learned how to ride her bike in March. Daddy, Shayden, Shaylah, and I took turns helping her ride her bike. It was a lot of fun. At first she was really scared, but after she got the hang of it, well that's a different story:) She is really good at riding her bike now, and can even go to the bike trail with us. Every spare moment she has she rides her bike. Every time we are in the front, she rides her bike. All she does these days is ride her bike. She loves her bike!

~Shannen

How To Store and Organize Cats

I recently got this email and I thought it was really cute, so here's for all you cat lovers (including me:).

~Shaylah

How in the world did they get these pictures???

Cats won't sit still!!!

To those who have cats living with them.

Even if you don't, you can still enjoy these pictures too:)

HOW TO STORE AND ORGANIZE CATS:

Rattlesnakes

I am going to tell you about Rattlesnakes today. Rattlesnakes are the best known venomous snakes in the United States. There are more than a dozen different kinds. The largest is the Eastern Diamond back.

Rattlesnakes may grow up to 8 feet long and wider than a man's arm. The bulges at the rear of the snake's head are its poison glands. The holes, or pits, below each eye are sense organs that can pick up the smell of mice or birds from far away. They help the snake easily locate its prey, even in the dark.

A Rattlesnake's upper jaw contains two very large teeth called fangs, they are sharp and hollow. They fold back when the mouth is closed. The snake uses its fangs to inject venom into its pray.

The Rattlesnakes rattle makes a noise that sounds like dry leaves rustling. This is a warning signal to predators or other enemies .

Next: King snakes

This is a Eastern Diamond back


Click on this to print

~Shayden~

Please Pray For My Sweet Little Skittles

You may remember Skittles, the rat I got for my 12th birthday. Well it's been a WHOLE year now, my 13th birthday was on March 25, and Skittles turned 1 on February 18th ( I know because when I got her the pet store told us how old she was:) she's still as fat as ever, but she has changed and not feeling so well anymore, and that's what this post is about.

About a month ago Shelbie and I started noticing that Skittles was acting strange. She used to be so hyper, she would eat a TON. She was always awake, and she always looked happy. Well we had started noticing that she wasn't hyper anymore, she still eats, but not as much, she sleeps all the time, and always looks sad and in pain. We started watching her more closely, I held her more, and another thing we noticed about her was, every time I picked her up she squeaked.

A couple weeks past and Shelbie was holding her one day, and she called me over. She sounded really worried and scared, I walked over there and she told me to hold her and feel her side. As I did we felt this big lump, we showed her to Mama and held her a little longer till we knew for sure. We waited a couple day and tried not to jump to conclusions, but after about a week I had to face it, my sweet little skittles had a tumor.

At first it was about dime size, but its been about 3 weeks and its gotten bigger. We have done a lot of research over the couple weeks on different kind of tumors and signs to know what kind of tumor it is. After about 2 weeks of studying we have found the tumor that Skittles has is a, Mammary Tumor. All the research that we have done says the only way to cure it, is to have it removed. Now I have to make the decision to ether continue trying to help her at home, or save up money and bring her in to have it removed. I really love Skittles and will do anything I can to help her. Please pray for me to make the right decision and for Skittles to get better. Also please pray that if I do have to bring Skittles in to have it removed, that it goes great. Thanks for praying.

~Shaylah

Excuse me! Your bugging me!

Wow! That was a bright light!

What's up??

I'm tried, leave me alone!

Snakes - Garter snakes

I love snakes! My uncle Micah got me into snakes and I love reading and learning about them. For the next couple of weeks I will be sharing some stuff about snakes so that you can learn too! The first snake I want to talk about is a Garter snake.

Garter snakes are common throughout the United States. They are often seen on lawns and in gardens. There are more than a dozen different kinds of them. Most Garter snakes are less than 4 feet long and have a red or yellow stripe that runs the full length of there body. Each of there scales have a keel or ridge down it's center. Garter snakes are generally peaceful and do well in zoo's and specially designed reptile houses. They may give birth to more than 50 babies at a time. Garter snakes are harmless.

Thanks for spending time with me and reading this. Hope you have fun learning with me!

Next: Rattlesnakes
~Shayden

Garter snake

If you click on this picture you can print it to color it.

My New Knife:)

Yesterday I went to get the mail. While I was getting the mail I saw something in the road. I walked over there and it was a knife. I showed Daddy and he said I was allowed it. I brought it in and showed Shaylah, and she said it was Shyloh's. That night Shyloh came over and I showed Shyloh it and asked if it was hers. She said yes it is. But you can have it. I was so exited. Here is some pictures.

~Shannen~

Can we PLEASE go home now?!?

That is what we where saying sitting in rain, soaking wet, watching a baseball game, freezing cold, on Easter Sunday. You're probably thinking "What is she talking about?", so here's the story.

A couple of weeks ago my "Brilliant" Dad was on the SF Giants web site, trying to get some tickets for a game. Well why he was looking for his tickets, he saw some tickets for a game on April 4. The tickets where REALLY cheep, so him and Mama talked a decided that they would buy tickets for the whole family (including Shyloh and Jeff) and it would be a fun family day. The whole family was pretty excited about the game...until... Jeff called Daddy and asked if he knew the game was on Easter Sunday? Yeah, well, that about busted our bubble, cause you see, we DIDN'T know that. Well Daddy tried to cancel the tickets, but it wouldn't let him. So everyone talked about it, and we all decided that we would invite Aunt Lynette, Uncle Micah, and Grammy and just try to make the best out of it. Well Aunt Lynette, Uncle Micah, and Grammy wanted to come so daddy bought them tickets also.

A couple days before Easter, Daddy found out that it might rain, yeah, you read right, RAIN! And to make matters worse it was going to be COLD! Well we all just tried to think positive about it and look on the bright side and just think about the fun we would have. WAIT A SECOND, HOLD EVERYTHING, PAUSE!!! What was the bright side?!? Oh, yeah, that's right, there was no bright side! Oh, well, you get the point.

Sunday crept along and we all got up early and got ready, packed our lunches and snacks and waited for Shyloh, Jeff, Uncle Micah, Aunt Lynette, and Grammy to be ready.

Last year Mama made baseball shirts for everyone with our names on it, so she did it again this year. She started making them early this year, so they would done in time for Easter Sunday to wear to the game. We all wore our shirts to game thinking, "maybe we would get on TV". We left late and got there late unfortunately. When we got out of the car it was FREEZING. So we all ended up putting sweaters over our shirts, which was really a bummer, we where all excited about our shirts. As we were walking in it started to rain, thank goodness Shyloh and Jeff had bought us all ponchos to keep dry, but they didn't exactly work for me, i still got SOAKED! And to make matters worse my "Brilliant" Dad had bought us seats right in the RAIN. So that is were I started the story, with Shyloh, Poppet and Me yelling ..."Can we PLEASE go home now?!?". We ended up leaving right as they called the game because of rain. YES, ON OUR WAY HOME!!! Anyhow, besides that it was a great day. So HAPPY LATE EASTER EVERYBODY!

~Shaylah

P.S In case you were wondering, the GIANTS lost:(

The whole group

Poppet's nose and cheeks were as pink as her hat.

Yeah! Going back to a warm home!

The Giant Banana

The Giant Banana

Sorry, I have not posted in a while I have been busy. Today Shylie ate her first Big banana. It was so cute!!. She grabbed the banana went to take a bite and she opened her mouth so wide. And took a bite. And then she ended up eating it all.

Open Wide!!

Smile for the camera

~Shannen~