The Newest Member of the Family

After a busy week with VBS last week, it was nice to have an unscheduled weekend to catch up on rest and family time.  We had a busy Monday with various errands, the last of which was a stop at another homeschool family's house to pick up our new pet hamster, Boots!  The family had posted on our communication loop that they wanted to give away this dwarf hamster with all of his stuff--cage, bedding, and food--as the boy who owned Boots was not really interested in him anymore.  The mom didn't feel it was fair to the li'l critter to not be able to have any playmates!

Arden went through a phase of really wanting a hamster about a year ago, which I detailed in his little spotlight paragraph in this post.  But somehow there was never any follow-up with this...I'm pretty sure Arden ended up spending all his money on Legos, and even though he still wanted a hamster, he kept choosing to purchase other things with his money. 

So when I talked with the older 3 kiddos about whether they wanted to accept Boots as a free pet (I had already contacted Tina to let her know we were interested), you can imagine how thrilled Arden as well as Tobin and Charis were!  They promptly agreed to divide hamster duties and take good care of him, so I contacted Tina again to tell her for sure we would come take Boots off her hands.

So far Boots has been a wonderful addition to the family!  The kids have given him a LOT of love and attention, and we found a perfect spot for his cage--in the family room on the top of the microwave cart we've used as a toy shelf for years.  This allows Lucan to peer in at his new friend but also allows us to keep a close eye on him to make sure he isn't opening the cage!  The kids get Boots out often enough that Lucan seems to be kept happy with seeing "Butts," as he pronounces Boots.  The older kids (including Kenna) have done a great job of cleaning up after him (he seems to poop wherever he goes), and Arden has proudly been on Hamster Detail this week.  (Cage Cleaning 101 will take place on Saturday--we'll see how interested he is after that chore, LOL.)

The K family had Boots for approximately 2 years and said that the life spans are typically 3 years, which works out wonderfully since we're slated to move next summer.  The kids have been warned that we don't know how much time we'll actually have with Boots, but they are happy enough to have him while they can and pointed out that we can always buy a new hamster since we already have all the accessories! 

Boots is a dwarf hamster, and while some people warned us that they weren't the friendliest breed, the family who originally got him has handled him since he was 3 weeks old, and it's obvious he adores attention--he has not once tried to nip or bite any of the kids.  He's pretty darn cute, too, but very fast; it's hard to get good pictures!