Busy Times...

Well, we have a new addition to the family... 8 to be precise...Jake has, for the longest time, been dying to have fish again.  When dropping his friend off last week and having tea with his parents (2 wonderful moms!), I spotted a baby fish in their tank that they hadn't noticed.  By the next morning, they had 21 babies and insisted that Jake come and get some.  We had nothing, so needed to get an entire tank set up for his new babies.  As most of you know, Jake's quite a money hoarder.  He's incredibly sneaky and will promise to refund me if I buy him X at the shops, but always forgets.  And yes, I fall for this every time.  Anyway, he had accumulated quite a bit, which he put towards his tank and, sucker that I am, I chipped in the rest.  We haven't had fish in ages, the last ones were washed down the drain when Jake tried to clean their tank alone.

 

Jake is THRILLED with is hew tank, which he has set up on his desk.  In the picture above, the fish are still in a bag, adjusting to the water temperature after their trip to our house.

Tiny baby guppies (they really are tiny, about 1cm in length)...

A very chuffed little man with his new treasures.  The babies are in there, you just can't see them, they're that tiny!  Jake has to take full responsibility for these little guys, he's got to keep the tank clean and feed his fish every day.  He's already started saving pocket money to buy some other fish once his babies are big enough to defend themselves...

In other news, we had a swarm of bees that settled on the park opposite our house.  We didn't see them swarming, but did see them chillin' on the lawns.  I tried calling just about everyone I could to have them removed for the safety of our neighbourhood dogs, cats and kids, but believe it or not, nobody wanted a swarm of bees.  Beekeepers wanted to charge me up to R750.00 to collect and our council couldn't (or wouldn't) help.  I wanted to check again last night if they were still there, but completely forgot.  They made for interesting conversation, Jake was stunned to see so many bees all at the same time.  And someone walking his dog saw me taking these photos at 7:30 yesterday morning and told me that what I was doing was weird.  Perhaps, but then he obviously doesn't read my blog...

Just to show you how many there really were, with Jake's foot for scale...

For a whole host of reasons, we didn't see the puppies over the weekend, so took a quick drive that side to go check them out yesterday.  They have grown and are getting nice and steady on their feet.  They're also starting to get teeth, which might explain why Laila's not all that keen on feeding them at the moment.  Jake managed to get her to lie down when we got there and she fed them well, but it's going to be quite a bit of work from now onwards...

 And for those of you who have younger daughters, another selling point is that Jake is incredibly gentle with babies.  He will make a great dad...

 A cuddly, furry baby... 

 Getting lots of love...

 Soft furry noses all in a row.  I play with their noses all the time, they are too soft for words.  Like the softest velvet...

 Jake had rugby practise after school yesterday and we didn't go home to change before going to see the pups.  Jake would be there every day if he could...

 And he'd sleep with them too....

 Jake... smile...

 No! You still can't have one!!  Not even when you look at me like that with those GORGEOUS eyes...

 Bok's still our funniest puppy.  He's very laid back.  He's also very white, which worries me a little, but he's got a great sense of humour.  Check out that tongue.  This is his dead dog impersonation...

 Alice is also a gentle soul.  And I love her freckly nose...

 Unlike me, Jake doesn't have a favourite puppy.  He gives them all an equal amount of attention.  Now that I know Rosie & Gareth are getting a little boy, I am drawn to holding their puppy (OK, there are 2 boys that they have to choose from, so I cuddle them both) most.  The little boy Jake's holding up in the 3rd & 4th puppy pic is the one I'd probably choose if I had to choose a boy...

 Puppy love is a very real thing... 

 Their noses seem flatter this time when we visited.  But still wrinkly and soft.  And don't get me started on their coffee puppy breath.  Oh my...

 Jake also wants a photo of himself with each and every puppy every time we visit them...

 He always tries to get in nice and close.  He knows how to look at the camera for a great photo.  Not like me...

Hello Bok.  I love your flat face and your coffee breath and your pink paws...

 No sis man!  You can't just pee on me (he didn't really, but looks like he might have)...

 There, there... that's OK, I still love you... 

 This is a photo of me holding a puppy, taken by Jake.  And no, I still haven't been for that manicure yet.  Jake's actually pretty good with my big camera.  All I told him was not to get my face in the picture and to get as close to the puppy's face as he could.  Am impressed...

 Paws.  Oh my...Their paws are so cute and so tiny.  Not for long though.  In a couple of weeks time, those paws will be digging up gardens...

 It looks like Jake's trying to burp a baby when he does this...  They all seem to put up with Jake's manhandling pretty well.  Hopefully it makes them people-dogs when they move on.  They've been forced into being kid-friendly in any case...

 By for now, freckle face... 

And that's it.  Life is busy as usual and it looks like tomorrow might be Jake's last rugby match of the season, which is always sad and exciting - it means we have 2 days a week back again.  I'm trying to calm things down a bit, everything just feels totally out of control at the moment.

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead...

Sue XXX