Zach and Lilly plus SIX

Last year, the kids got a special gift from Santa Claus (you may have read about it last December). They had been wanting a pet forever so when there were two little gerbils under the tree Christmas morning, they were happy kids. Santa left a note with the two little rats telling us how to take care of them and that he figured they were 6 week old boys. The kids have loved the little things like they are a part of the family. I never had a pet when I was growing up (other than fish), so this has been a learning experience for me as well as for the kids.

A couple of months ago, we started having Josh and Emma clean the cage out without help. A little adult supervision is all that they have needed. I've been impressed with the way they have learned how to do everything (except for the mess they make in the bathroom while washing the cage out). So Thursday morning (Thanksgiving Day), as we were packing for our trip to St. George (I'll post about that next), Jer sent the kids to clean out the cage so that we could leave them for the weekend. Next thing I know, Josh is running up the stairs yelling "Zach and Cody both aren't boys! We've got babies!" Apparently, while getting Zach and Cody out of the cage to change their bedding, Josh could see something over in the corner. He said he thought it was Emma's hand until he realized her hands weren't in the cage. So funny.

Jer and I went downstairs to investigate. Sure enough, there were six little babes in the corner of the cage. Apparently, "Santa" didn't look under the hood very well. We're new at this (given we had two boys for the last year), so we're not sure how old they are. Earlier in the week, I went in to clean up the bedding that they push out of the cage (I usually do this every other day or so), and I could hear little squeaky noises. I thought it was something new/different, but didn't even consider babies. But, now I know, that little squeaking is baby gerbils. We are guessing they are about a week old at this point.

Needless to say, the kids are very excited about the little things. In fact, while in St. George, that's all they talked about. They decided to give Cody a different name now that she is a girl. So we have Zach and Lilly plus six. Erin's response to the whole escapade: "I'm just so excited. I can't stop thinkin' about that Cody turned into a girl and had babies."

These are Jer's hands so that gives you an idea as to how tiny they are.

Mama isn't thrilled with the fact that we were handling her babes.