Lydia's Bird(s!): Polly & Ivy

Last November, Lydia bought a bird: Polly. She specifically only bought one bird because we read that birds will be more attached to their human if they are alone. But Polly is a nervous bird and never really formed an attachment to Lydia even though she was trying so hard. 

Lydia started thinking about getting another bird - and we started making trips to PetsMart to just look at birds and think about it. She finally decided that she DID want another bird and after checking several different stores to find a bird that felt like the right bird -we ended up stopping at a random pet store in the South Jordan area on our way home from a swim party at the Middletons (we were all in our swimsuits, ha) and Lydia found the perfect green-colored bird! She decided to name her Ivy. 

Lydia wishes that they would be more friendly with her and that they would let her hold them and interact with them. However, they are good friends and we are glad that Polly isn't so lonely.  

Lydia is a great pet owner. She takes great care of her birds and she has learned a lot. 

November Wrap Up

November was filled to the brim with fall activities, mostly hanging out at Cornbelly's. However there are a few other things that don't really fit into the other post categories but still should be documented. 

#1- Our kids discovered Kong Kones at Macey's. For only a couple of dollars, you can get a MASSIVE Ice cream cone.   We've gone several times, with money the kids have earned and you just can't beat the joy on these faces. Sidenote: we've instituted "kids fast food" money. We already had a kids fast food budget but we've given the kids ownership over that budget and so if they say "Can we stop at McDonalds on the way home?" we can discuss how much money they have left in their fast food budget and then they get to decide if they want to stop or not. It's a little tricky because some of them might want to stop and others might not and I'm trying to keep a good balance for them. But mostly it's been really good at helping them learn the value of money when it comes to fast food. 

(David and I couldn't decide which Lucy ice cream picture to keep and which to cut. So even though it's going to mess with the formatting, we are keeping both because they are so cute.) 

#2- Melissa invited the girls to come to Disney on Ice with her at the Delta Center. We had such a fun time! Lucy loved the show and has talked about it regularly since we went. She's also started asking to go to "Princess World", which is darling. Melissa got tickets through her work and we got to go to her firm's suite and eat snacks and watch the show from their box. It was fantastic and just such a fun time to hang out with her. I was so grateful that she wanted to spend time with us and that she took the time and effort to make such a fun evening happen for my girls. I love this sister of mine. 

#3 - I occasionally like to document gas prices because I think it's an interesting glimpse into the economy and spending fluctuations. This time I had a particularly exciting time at the gas pump because gas had dropped to $2.99 a gallon, which is hasn't hit in a very long time, and on top of that I stopped at a Smiths gas station which I rarely do and apparently had some rewards which dropped by gas to 2.159! I don't even remember the last time I paid that! I was very excited and thus, documentation. 

#4 - It was Lydia's half birthday and whatever she wished for must have come true because that same week she bought a pet bird AND got to pet-sit Riley for 10 days. She was in pet heaven. All the kids chipped in to help care for Riley and everyone got a small portion of the pet-sitting fee (including mom and dad). It's a great thing for Lydia to have exposure to pets without a permanent commitment. 

#5 - Caleb is so cute. For breakfast one morning he wanted two fried eggs and two pieces of toast. He likes his fried eggs with the yolk all the way cooked through and his toast with melted butter. He's sometimes picky about the food that he eats, so when he asks for something good like this - we are happy to oblige. For how picky he is about dinner, he's kind of a breakfast guy! He likes almost all breakfast food and he eats a lot of it. 

Meet Polly

It's a well-established fact that Lydia loves animals and has a deep desire to own, care for, and connect with a pet/pets. It is also well documented that David and I are not great pet owners and don't have the same desire or abilities that Lydia has. After some good discussions with Lydia, we agreed that she could get a bird. She spent hours researching different types of birds, how to care for them, and which cage would work best. She was so excited about the whole process. She found a darling cage and waited patiently for the time to come to pick her own parakeet. 


She decided to purchase one of the parakeets from Cornbelly's and spent a good amount of time on our Cornbelly's trips walking through the parakeet area thinking about which one she might like. She decided she wanted a white and blue female. The day finally came for her to pick up the parakeet and bring her home! 


Meet Polly. Named for the abstract "P" shape on her shoulder, the character "Polly" in Narnia, and the fact that "Polly Peaden" just sounds good. We think we are going to like having this sweet birdie in our home. 

Happy Birthday Little Blue

This December marks two years since Little Blue came to live with us after a very festive (and surprising) game of White Elephant with the Peaden Family. I'll admit to being resistant at first, but Little Blue and I have developed a fond relationship with each other. For her birthday this year, I sang her a little happy birthday song while I changed her tank water and took a few pictures with a plan to post on instagram.  

Not even an hour later Lydia started calling for me and ran upstairs telling me that Caleb had gotten into her fish food and had dumped the whole thing in her bowl. (Happy Birthday to Little Blue from Caleb.)  I was a little panicked because I knew if she ate too much it could kill her and I really really didn't want her to die on her birthday! I was trying to scoop the food out, but it was sinking too fast - when Lydia suggested that we pull her out and put her into a different bowl. Brilliant! So we dumped some uncontaminated water in a bowl and scooped her into it. I felt much relieved but I had JUST cleaned her tank, which meant that I didn't have any water to refill her tank. (I used to buy special water at the store to dump into her tank, but I learned that if you fill a water pitcher the night before and allow all of the chlorine to evaporate, then you can use that water to replace the fish tank water.) 

I decided to just let her sit on the counter in her little bowl overnight so that we'd have fresh water for her. But, it seems that Little Blue was looking for some more excitement on her birthday because I came down later that evening and saw little blue ON THE COUNTER instead of in the bowl. She had jumped out! I shrieked and ran over to her, picked her up with my fingers and put her back in her bowl of water - thinking the whole time that I had no idea how long she'd been out. Thankfully she just started swimming like nothing had even happened! After that, I learned my lesson and I put a splatter guard on top of the bowl to keep her from jumping out. 

Whew. Little Blue - that was quite the adventurous birthday you had! We're glad you're still alive and that you belong to us. Happy Birthday! 

**Update: A few weeks after this happened, Lydia and Austin were trying some balloons from the cupboard over Little Blue's fishbowl and accidentally knocked something into it (they said he hit his elbow on it but I think they knocked something else into it) and cracked the whole bowl. The water wasn't leaking, but it looked pretty dangerous - so we moved Little Blue out (into a safe container because we learned our lesson last time) and ended up buying her a new fishbowl. Hope you enjoy your new digs Little Blue! 

(Things have been a little exciting regarding Little Blue around here, but I hope that 2020 continues our regularly semi-boring routine of me feeding her every other day and changing her water once every other week and only the occasional child coming to watch her swim in between.)