Thanks Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick

Let me set the stage by telling you that my Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick somehow come up with the most WONDERFUL Christmas presents ever! A couple of years ago, Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick (AKA: The Greats) gave PrincessGirl a Subway backpack.

PrincessGirl loves it - still. I can't tell you how many plastic sandwiches she has prepared over the years. Garage Sale after Garage Sale, the SubWay backpack has not only survived but it has been uttered at least four times, "Mommy, that is my best backpack in the world because you can see all the plastic yummy thru the plastic backpack!"

Well this year, The Greats came thru with what I was sure would replace the SubWay backpack. People, may I present the Hamster Ball?

PrincessGirl and LittleMan were instantly in love with their hamster balls. DaddyMan and I were amused by their entertainment. It was NUTS! Our kids carried those hamster balls everywhere. Grocery store, hamster ball. McDonalds, hamster ball. Target, hamster ball. Church, well, you get the picture. That is until the batteries died. We are fairly sure they cannot be replaced. The hamster balls were replaced with other toys and we thought we had seen the last of them. About 3 weeks ago, the dead hamster balls reappeared. Mind you, they are dead - no batteries - just laying there in the balls.

I was so taken by the kids love for the Hamster Balls that I actually suggested that we look into getting real actual live hamsters. DaddyMan began what DaddyMan always does when we are considering a purchase, he hit google. It was promptly (about 3 hours and 300,000 links later) it was determined that gerbils would be better for our family. And so that is the long version of how Samson and Delilah (both male for all friends of Bob Barker) came to live in our house.

We have slowly introduced Samson and Delilah to the gerbil ball. We all sit in the hallway on the tile and watch the little guys go! Occasionally, one of them will poop. Occasionally the poop will come out of the ball and cause me to bring out the bleach. Tonight was one of those nights when one gerbil pooped and the poop came out of the ball. I didn't jump up and get the bleach right away because it was down the hall from us. PrincessGirl and LittleMan were sitting in the hallway watching the gerbils and eating Nerds candy. We were all laughing. It was a blast!

But then LittleMan reached over and picked up what looked like a little gerbil poop off the floor and quickly put it in his mouth. I threw up a little bit in my mouth before DaddyMan could tell me it was only a Nerd not a poop.

Thanks Aunt Carla and Uncle Rick. I'm going to go brush my teeth, oh, and bleach the floor.